Learn to Play Dungeons&Dragons: The Wild Beyond the Witchlight

Creating your character

We will be handling character stats and going over all the help you need in character creation in Session 0! Before then, feel free to check out DnDBeyond and play around with the character creation function. You'll be building Level 1 characters, and for beginners I recommend Martial Classes (non-magic users. Think Fighters and Barbarians, they're tanks that get up close and deal damage with weapons like swords, maces, and hammers) however if you want to play a magic user, I'll help you navigate everything! You may use anything created and officially released by Wizards of the Coast (No Unearthed Arcana, Critical Role, or homebrew), and please use EITHER 2014 Core Rules or the newer Core Rules (2024) versions of classes, races, and spells. Both are compatible with 5th Edition (5E), but please don't mix them together. Make sure you think about not only your character's abilities, but also who they are! Where do they come from? What's a secret they don't want known? What are they best known for? What do they want most in life? The best characters aren't perfect, they're mortal.

Preparing for the session

Let's keep this really easy! You need accounts on these three sites, the free ones work just fine. > Discord (All games played on video call in Discord) > DnDBeyond (This will help with character creation and character sheet tracking) > Owlbear Rodeo (This is a Virtual Table Top that will help provide ambient noise, music, visuals, and other elements for an immersive experience) Your welcome email after you've signed up for my campaign will contain all the links you need.

What Harlequin Grey brings to the table

Let's break this one down into a super easy list: > Free Session 0: Session 0 is a session before the campaign actually begins dedicated to getting your character stats rolled, any bits of character creation that you want help with, and getting set up in Owlbear Rodeo as well as addressing safety tools. > Discord: A private section of my discord server is reserved for just your game! It's a place for not only gameplay, but community, questions, and tracking all of the lore we'll be creating together. > DnDBeyond: I own this adventure on DnDBeyond, and content sharing is enabled! While there aren't any special races or anything of the sort, DnDBeyond has tools built in to help you through character creation and with tracking your character sheet. This is especially useful for magic users!! > Owlbear Rodeo: This is a Virtual Table Top, or VTT, that lets me incorporate immersive elements such as ambient sound, music, visuals, and an interactive map! > Immersive NPCs: Non-Player Characters, or NPCs, can make or break a game in my opinion. Worlds are shaped by the people in them, and being able to provide voices and characterization for all my NPCs is a point of pride for me. > The Rule of Cool: This lets you do things that are technically against the word or spirit of the Rules as Written (RAW). I love to see creativity in combat and problem solving, so if you can explain it in a way that makes sense, I'll let you try it and roll the dice.

Homebrew rules

This is a learning game, so house rules will be kept to a minimum. Two will be implemented: The Deal with the Devil and a Modified Critical Hit rule. My guidelines surrounding the use of these will be discussed in Session 0! Deal with the Devil: You may change any d20 roll to a Natural 20 (Critical Success), HOWEVER, I may then change a future d20 roll into a Natural 1 (Critical Failure). This allows you to choose to succeed at something that you really want to succeed at while still providing some form of consequence and keeping the game from just being overrun with Natural 20s Modified Critical Hits: At my table, we do critical hits a little different. Critical Failures (rolling a 1 on the d20), does not stop you from adding your modifiers (different characters get bonuses to different things, these bonuses are called modifiers). If you roll a Critical Success on an attack roll, the first of your hit dice (hit dice decide how many points of damage you'll do) is automatically at the maximum, then the rest of your hit dice are rolled. (ex: your hit dice are three d8, notated as 3d8. The first dice is automatically an 8, and you roll the remaining 2d8).

How Harlequin Grey creates a safe table

First and foremost: Before Session 0 begins, you'll fill out my safety questionnaire. This allows me to navigate any sensitive or triggering subjects and provide a safe environment for everyone. My DMs are open to all both during sessions and after, and I usually hang around the Discord call for a while (usually 30 minutes minimum) after the game in order to chat and decompress. You're always welcome to join me!