Domain of the Devil | A Curse of Strahd Game | Beginner Friendly

Creating your character

I will set aside time ahead of the first session with each player to talk through the world and create characters. This will likely be a couple hours, or multiple conversations broken up as the players think about what characters they want to play and what type of stories they want to explore. This also means I can more fully integrate the characters into the world before we begin, and help players feel fully invested in the story. Then we will come together for a session 0 to outline everyone's comfort levels, discuss any triggers, and set out the wants ahead of the campaign. I may also use a session 0 to run through the introductory Death House module. All official 2014 materials are permitted. For this campaign, I advise considering both fantasy and gothic horror theming when choosing classes and backgrounds. I am a very flexible DM, and as long as the characters concepts aren't mechanically broken and backstories fit into the world and party, I am willing to work together to enable anything my players want to do.

Preparing for the session

I intend to use Discord and Owlbear Rodeo to run my games, with individual discord text channels for messaging to the whole group or privately between players. I will also use a music bot in order to play ambient music so please have headphones or a device that won't feed music back into the microphone as I have had experiences in the past with muffled sound quality.

What Kestrel the Bard brings to the table

I am a story and character focused GM. My background is in writing and theatre, and I love to incorporate this into my games. I use voices and accents for my characters; I like rich descriptions to set the scene; and I like to give space for players to roleplay between themselves and hold the spotlight during sessions. My worlds tend toward rich lore so there is plenty to delve into.

Homebrew rules

For my games, I have been using several homebrew rules - all of which are contained within a google doc that I share with my players. To give a brief overview here, the rules I use follow as such: Additional Inspiration (alternative effects for multiple inspiration points being used at once) Alternate Skill Abilities (using different abilities for skills where relevant) Fast Potions (drinking potions as a bonus action) Lingering Death Saves (failed death saves last until a short rest) Magical Sacrifice (consuming magical items instead of diamonds for resurrection rituals) Modified Critical Hits (alternate options or crits) Proficiency Dice (using dice instead of a fixed number for proficiency bonus) Resurrection Skill Challenges (as with Critical Role, using a skill challenge to see if resurrection is possible) Weapon Masteries (additional benefits for using certain types of weapons)

How Kestrel the Bard creates a safe table

The first part of keeping players safe comes in the form of our Session 0. Here we will go over any potential triggers the players might have, and discuss Lines and Veils to best keep everyone safe. The RPG Consent Checklist is really good for this too. I always have certain hard rules which I will set for my own protection but we will also have a conversation about what others want or do not want in their game. All of this will be captured as a live Google Doc and kept on our discord so that we can keep ourselves safe and comfortable all campaign. I like to operate an open discussion in my games, as we all know the story can go anywhere. So, if something does come up that makes a player uncomfortable that we haven't already discussed, then I encourage them to raise it to the group and we will navigate a way forward together. The X, N & O indicators can help that very well, and can be used in the form of a message between myself and the players. I also find that after games, a quick 5/10 minute conversation is a good place to check in on how the session went, what people enjoyed and what they are looking forward to about the next session. I ask that all players go in assuming the best intent from myself and others. If people are doing something that is impacting you, the likelihood is that they aren't aware so let's have that conversation. However, I have no qualms confronting any players who blatantly and flagrantly overstep the boundaries that have been set. I will challenge in the moment, and speak with them outside the session, but if an incident repeats then I will have no choice but to remove those kind of players from my games. And lastly, I will put some accountability and ownership on my players to contact me if they ever feel unsafe, uncomfortable or are worried that things might be heading in that direction. I am always willing to talk and will never intentionally put a player into a position in which they are not comfortable. However, I need communication from my players so I can best protect and support them and myself.