The Haunting of Lament House / Borca’s Baleful Echoes

Creating your character

Aligning themselves with the themes at play, gothic heroes are often virtuous, deeply passionate, or courageous, as sacrifices feature prominently in gothic stories. However, the lines between good and evil will be blurred and choices might involve deciding which outcome is least bad. You could also consider making heroes who are pure-hearted or unsuspecting individuals, whose resolve is shaken by the story’s events, haunted perhaps themselves. In terms of classes, I would propose that we exclude barbarians and maybe druids for thematic cohesion, all the species are allowed. Characters should start at level 3 as it is set by the Dungeons and Dragons 2024 Player’s Handbook. The character creation happens before the game by you. The stats could be rolled (generated) or you could use the standard array given by the Handbook. Your primary sources will be the 2024 Player’s Handbook and any other publication contains subclasses the players consider might be aligned with the themes of the game (i.e. Unearthed Arcana, Ravenloft: The Horrors Within). Your hero begins at level 3, and I would encourage you to consider classes other than druids and barbarians as the game will focus on mostly pre-modern societies and urban settings. I would be delighted to receive a pdf (or a scanned copy) of your character’s sheet and some ideas!

Preparing for the session

I would require you to make an account on roll20 and send me your email in order to invite you to the game. Also you should befriend me on Discord so we could exchange useful artifacts!

What Gavriil Athanasiadis brings to the table

Even if I love Dark Fantasy and Gothic Horror quite much, I am mostly enthusiastic and chill as a Dungeon Master! Although my gaming style is open and free flowing based on conversation and vivid description in order to serve a narrative game, I tend to always serve an atmosphere encouraging “serious” moments from time to time. I create atmosphere using a music selection from movies, TV and games, utilizing distinct descriptions of places and characters and sometimes making sounds and using a particular voice for a specific NPC. I enjoy running battles and danger is always on the table as these can be quite intense and decisive for the course of the narrative. Although I follow the rules of the game I don’t forget the rule of cool! Don’t hesitate to propose interesting ideas, as I am always open in offering situational advantages.

Homebrew rules

The rule of cool goes a long way in my games! Don’t hesitate to propose interesting ideas, as I am always open in offering situational advantages. I‘ve also injected interesting mechanics from other games, like negotiations and montage tests from Draw Steel.

How Gavriil Athanasiadis creates a safe table

I would send you a document detailing multiple themes for lines and veils to be drawn upon, and also some questions that are optional for you to answer relating to specific fears and character death. I am always ready to call for a break and I tend to leave a ten to fifteen minute space after each session for highlighting specific moments that the players did or did not enjoy and for getting a general vibe of how things are going with the group emotionally. The key is for everything to feel light after the session. When it comes to the X card, I would prefer to be held up in video, as I would normally not be checking the chat and focusing on the players’ reactions. Session 0 will be held after the first portion of the adventure (Lament House) where there will be open conversation, some gameplay questions to be answered and backstories to be detailed.