The World of Tomorrow | A Neon Odyssey Game | Beginner Friendly

Creating your character

For creating characters we will use the Neon Odyssey materials for races and classes in order to make sure that everything is thematically appropriate. Before we get together for our Session 0, I'll speak with people about character ideas so we can get the wheels turning. Then we'll all meet up for a Session 0 to finish off any character creation, learn anything else about the world, and get properly acquainted.

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 create a D&D Beyond game for players to link character sheets, although I am happy for players to create characters on whatever platform they prefer. 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. If players have any other questions, I urge them to get in touch and we can prepare together.

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. When running games online I enjoy leaning towards a more streamlined approach. Rather than webcams or virtual avatars, I prefer to let ambient music and descriptions set the scene. I will use images to enhance where necessary but prefer to stay centred in the story as to not break immersion. I love to reward creative solutions to problems, and challenge players to think outside the box in and out of combat. I do rely on the rules as written, however when those are used in imaginative ways, or when a player engages with the environment or narrative to push the boundaries then I will always lean into that with them. I like to make my combats challenging, and have recently grown my understanding of homebrewing monsters and NPCs to allow for more engaging fights. I find that stages and environments greatly improve the interactivity of my combats, and Czepeku and other maps that I use enable this really well. That being said, I am a firm believer that violence is never the sole option, and clever players who outsmart me are always welcomed. Also, I find TPKs generally to be a flaw of a GM - if the entire party dies then usually the fight was not fairly balanced for that group or the party were not adequately warned of the danger. However, chance is always a factor and character death is always something than can happen. As we say, the dice tell the story. Yet death does not always have to be the end. If a character dies then I will speak with them to understand what they see next for that character (perhaps a new character; or a temporary character while they try to bring the previous back to life; or even their original character returns but now as a revenant or with some lingering curse as payment for their resurrection from a higher power) and similarly if an entire party dies then instead their adventure could continue on as they seek to escape the afterlife. Ultimately, we are all here to have fun, and I want to use what I have learned from running games now for around a decade to share this love of storytelling and adventure with my players.

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. I'll have to double check that these link in with the new 5.5e rules but otherwise they should all be good. 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)

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.