The Starstruck Isles- Adventures in the New World

Creating your character

-= PRELIMINARY =- Character creation will begin during a session 0. During this session, the party will have an opportunity to meet each other, get the link to the Roll20 game, and begin to create their characters. This session 0 will also contain some lore information, as well as an opportunity to ask questions about the campaign and its setting. This collaborative session will also be used to help each player get ideas for what character they may want to play, what kind of backstory they want to explore, and who they want to be. -= CONTENT =- We are playing with the Dungeons and Dragons 5e (2014) rule-set, and you can use content from any of the available source books. If you're unsure on what to choose or where to find information on your choices, feel free to reach out and I can assist you, or discuss it openly during the session 0. I have a number of custom classes, subclasses, and races that I've made for the 5e system, as well as a few custom rules, and I intend to go over these options during our first session together so you're aware of them. I'm also open to creating new content to better suit your character, or creating small custom mechanics if needed to better allow you to roleplay your character. All of that can be discussed ahead of time! -= STATS =- Your characters will begin at level 1, and you will roll for your stats. Stats will be rolled using a modified formula that will have you roll 4d6 and drop the lowest, and you will do this 6 total times. You will also roll 2 additional times to determine your replacement numbers. You can replace any of your initial rolls with one of these replacement rolls if you choose. Your stats must equal 70 or more total. This formula will be provided in roll20, and each player will get to roll it multiple times and pick the best of the results. I don't want anyone to feel the pain of rolling poor stats, so know that I'm quite forgiving. -= BACKGROUND =- In this campaign, your backstory will be important to your personal character development, and I want players to focus especially on who their character is, what motivates them, and who they are striving to be. All characters must be from the super-continent known as the Mainland. You can have just about any kind of background you want, and be from just about any kind of place within a general high-fantasy setting, but your character MUST have a detailed reason for why they are joining the first expeditions to the Starstruck Isles. Perhaps you seek personal fame and glory, and wish to make a name for yourself as an adventuring pioneer. Perhaps you seek answers to the many mysteries of these islands, and wish to uncover more about their magical nature. Perhaps you seek a new beginning as you run from your past, hoping these new lands will offer you some form of escape or redemption. Whatever your reasoning, you must define a clear reason for why your character would choose to travel on this expedition.

Preparing for the session

The game will use Roll20, Discord, and HeroForge. You'll need both a Discord account and a Roll20 account to play. Both are free! You'll receive a link to both the game in the discord server closer to our start date, and the invite to discord server in your email once you sign up for the game. You're also welcome to add me on discord ahead of time! My Discord username is Gundois. HeroForge is a free website that allows you to design your character. I like to help all of my players in creating their characters with the program to help create a uniform style for the campaign. I'll help in converting your character concepts and inspiration boards into a fully realized character made in my style, and we'll work together on the details. I enjoy having a uniform style for the games I run, so you can also expect your HeroForge characters to be used to make custom tokens, player cards, and other assets which can be used in the game to create a uniform look. I also recommend this website, which has information on everything 5e. As a general rule, almost everything listed on this site is allowed for use in my games: https://dnd5e.wikidot.com/

What Brandon brings to the table

I've spent a long time creating the ideal gaming space for my players, including a large music library, ambient tracks, character voices, custom assets, maps, and open world mechanics to immerse the players and tell a compelling story. -= THE OPEN WORLD =- My open world allows players to slowly uncover the map, deciding where to go and what to do next. I always try to include a few plot hooks and story lines to help guide players, but the choice will always be yours. The map itself has a weather system that changes how you travel and can add new conditions to the game, allowing each encounter to remain dynamic. There are unique world events that have a chance to occur which completely change the mechanics of the world for a short period of time. In addition, each location on the map has maps made to reflect these dynamic elements, allowing me to adjust them on the fly to help further immerse my players in the world. As an adventuring party, you'll have the opportunity to travel to a variety of locations with rich history and atmosphere. Different areas of the map pose different challenges, but also boast unique rewards. The map is labelled with key locations that determine the kind of content you might find. There are dungeons to explore, ruins to pillage, and puzzles to solve. Whatever you're looking to accomplish, the open world has options for you. -= SETTING THE MOOD =- I have a considerable library of sounds, music, and atmospheric tracks to help immerse the party in the world. I cycle between these tracks often to keep things interesting, and I try to pick music sparingly to allow the natural sounds of the world to shine through. If there's something happening in the game that would provide some level of ambience, like a gentle rain storm or a dense jungle forest, I want the players to be able to hear it. Despite having maps made for most of my locations, I still enjoy describing them in detail to set the scene. I don't believe in over-explaining the scene and try to keep it concise, so players will have the option to ask for more detail should they choose to. -= PLAYING THE GAME =- I believe the rules are a guideline that help the game flow, but I don't adhere to them too strictly. I do want to use the rules whenever possible as a baseline, but I also believe strongly in the rule of cool. Using things in creative ways is encouraged, and I often reward the creative use of mechanics, especially with my custom Stellar Sparks. If you disagree with a ruling, or want to challenge a rule to do something outside the scope of what's possible, feel free to bring your ideas to the table! I want to keep the floor open for discussion, but be ready to hear my opinions on the matter as well. If I make a final ruling, I ask that you respect that ruling even if you disagree, and we can re-open the discussion after the session if needed. I'm pretty easy-going in this regard, so never be afraid to throw your thoughts my way!

Homebrew rules

I love creating custom content. It's one of my great joys, and something that has become a staple for many of my players. In every single one of my games, most of my players use some form of custom content willingly, and I attribute that to the time I spend designing the mechanics and the theme of any custom content I create. I invite you to read more about what I have to offer! -= CLASSES =- While I focus primarily on adding subclasses to the game, I occasionally add entirely new classes as well. So far, I have added 2 fully developed classes to the game that fill their own niche, and each with their own list of subclasses. I promise you've never experienced anything quite like them in DnD! -= SUBCLASSES =- Subclasses are where I put a lot of my developmental focus towards. In total so far, I have conceptualized 34 subclasses, with many of them being finished or near-finished. You're welcome to use any of them, even the unfinished ones, as I always welcome live play-testers and would love your input as you play with the content. -= RACES =- I've made a few races, though a lot of them are redesigns of races that already exist in 5e, but tailored to my games. Feel free to use any of the races available to you. -= RULES =- I employ a few different custom rules in my games, but generally nothing major. I try to stick to the base rules of 5e and modify a few things here and there along the way to prioritize player enjoyment, and give people more options both in combat and outside of it. -= MORE... =- With all of my custom content, I try to think outside the box and spend a considerable amount of time ensuring the content I add to the game is unique and has a proper place. I also enjoy reworking some of the concepts in 5e I dislike and making them better and more engaging. Should you sign up for the game, you'll be provided with a link to "Gundois' Grimoire of Grandeur", which is what I call the 'source book' for all of the content I have developed for the game! Feel free to look through the options and use them as you please, or ask questions about them! In addition, if you have a unique concept you'd like to bring to me, I'm always open to working on new concepts and ideas to make your character come to life. If your idea isn't covered by anything and I like the direction, I'll work with you to make it into a reality!

How Brandon creates a safe table

While any of my players are welcome to reach out to me in DMs at any time to discuss the campaign, there are a number of ways I prefer to use to stay on top of things. -= SESSION 0 =- The game will begin with a free session 0 where all players will have the chance to meet me, meet each other, and ask questions on the campaign and the setting. This will also act as a collaborative, structured session where I will assist each player in coming up with their character ideas, and we will build out the party, make character sheets, roll stats, and other similar things. I like to include everyone in this process. -= DEBRIEFING =- I like to debrief after sessions, which allows us to discuss the session, plan for the next one, and address any issues, concerns, or requests that may come up. I will always make sure a debrief doesn't run later than the allotted time we have together, and I'll always try to keep them shorter if possible so we can play for longer.