Scars of the Crossing | Reclaim That Which Was Lost

Creating your character

Character creation, in terms of coming up with ideas, rolling the dice, and going through the initial tedium of making a character in a homebrew world, will be done in a session zero. Creating the detailed backstory or any other polish on your character can be completed after the session zero. You will not need any books other than what you already want to have, as I will use content sharing through DnDBeyond, where the characters themselves will be created. The starting level will be discussed, but last time I ran this campaign we started at level 1, leveling up rather quickly initially, and slowing down the higher the players got in level.

Preparing for the session

We will use Discord and DnDBeyond for the vast majority of the sessions. Because I do not tend to run very combat-heavy games, we will occasionally use Roll20 or DnDBeyond Maps for a map encounter if it is necessary, but we can discuss options during session zero if there is a majority preference. I prefer to share useful information and documents using a Google Drive, which is easiest. For music, making a dscryb / opus account will be recommended. Having a webcam is preferred but not a requirement; I simply find that while sessions are online, webcams, when appropriate, give a better sense of connection to the players and me. Past that, there are no other programs that should be needed.

What Aaron brings to the table

I have access to the majority of the 2014 5e books and will be able to content-share that material with you, the players, using DnDBeyond! I love to have ambient and themed music playing in the background when possible using dscryb. (I love music and am a huge audiophile) I do my best to give each character unique voices and accents. I speak a decent amount of Russian, which I may use on occasion to bring out a language the characters may not be able to understand, as an example! I am also a huge fan of my players being creative and bringing out the creative side in me! I avoid AI in every piece of my life and am a huge proponent of being creative for the sake of creativity and thinking for yourself. I would love for my players to have a similar attitude and pour as much human love and care and creativity into their characters and the story as I do. I am a very roleplay-first GM, and I love an opportunity to let my players not have to roll the dice. I promote getting into character and acting out what your character is doing and letting your words speak for the actions and success of your character. A truly hair-raising speech shouldn't flop from a Nat 1, but in that same vein, a silly antic isn't guaranteed to work; the dice will have more of a say in that matter; it simply depends. All to say, I prefer rolling with the punches and telling a collaborative story more than haggling over the rules.

Homebrew rules

I have a number of homebrew rules that I have found make my games better and more interesting. We will discuss these in far more detail during session zero; however, this is a brief rundown: Because combat can be a bit slow, I want players to be able to work together during combat. So to do this, I have the player with the highest initiative roll against the enemy with the greatest initiative (surprise rules factor in here), and whoever is higher goes first. Instead of individual characters doing their turn at once, the entire party goes at the same time, and so do the enemies. This keeps the game going faster, the players tend to be more attentive, and the combat is more dynamic. Potions can be taken for an action for the max effect, or during a bonus action with a dice roll for the effect. (optional) Death saves are hidden I also use a number of homebrew monsters, items, and effects, and anything else major will come up during the session zero.

How Aaron creates a safe table

Before/during session zero, I will be providing a document that all players can fill out with soft and hard lines. In this document, you can write down (without explanation or reason) which topics are a hard no for you (meaning it cannot be brought up, discussed, or exist in the world) or a soft no for you (meaning it can exist, but we will not talk about it, or if it comes up, we will fade to black). This is to ensure everyone's boundaries and comfort levels, to make sure everyone is safe and comfortable during the game. This will be a living, breathing document that anyone can add to at any time, and if anyone votes to have a soft no rule move to a hard no rule, then it is done without question. During the games, in case there is a topic that comes up either by accident or was not on the initial doc, we will have a yellow and red card system in place. (This can be a physical card you hold up to the camera, or sending YELLOW or RED in the chat/my DMs. A yellow card will indicate that we will quickly wrap up the scene and move on. A red card will indicate that the scene stops immediately and we will pause the game to discuss moving forward. In either case, we will cover which part of the scene or conversation caused the card, add it to the list, and continue the game. No explanation is required by the player. During some of the more intense sessions, there will be short breaks to make sure everyone can take care of other needs and take a quick decompression break before getting back into the game. After each session, we will have a brief conversation (if necessary, but likely only for the first few sessions), which I will take notes on, about stars and wishes. This is a system where you let me know what about the session you liked and want to see more of in the future (stars) and what you would like to see in future sessions that you haven't so far, or things you would like to be removed from future sessions (wishes). All of these safety measures will be discussed at length during the session zero to ensure that everyone fully understands the systems we have in place, and should any changes need to be made for convenience or technical reasons, we can discuss such topics during the session zero or anytime thereafter. Lastly, I will have an open-door policy, in which at any time, you may reach out to me to discuss anything you wish about the game, other players, safety measures, or just general conversation.