Whither the Wood Would Have You

Creating your character

Character Creation Character creation will take place together during our first session. We’ll build the party as a group, giving everyone a chance to learn the rules, ask questions, and create characters who have reasons to adventure together. Characters will begin at 1st level, and we’ll use the standard Dolmenwood character creation rules, including randomly generated ability scores and the setting’s classes and kindreds. No previous knowledge of Dolmenwood or Old-School Essentials is required—I’ll walk everyone through the process. We’ll also spend some time establishing personalities, ambitions, and connections between the characters. In a player-driven sandbox, these things matter: there is no predetermined quest waiting for the party, so what your character wants can help determine where the campaign goes. For character creation and advancement, we’ll use the Dolmenwood Player’s Book as our primary rules source.

Preparing for the session

I use Discord for video, and Use Fantasy grounds a a VTT. You can download it for free

What Lance brings to the table

What I Provide as Your GM I get heavily invested in the roleplaying side of the game. I try to give NPCs distinct personalities and voices—some of those voices are better than others, but even the terrible ones are usually entertaining. NPCs that the players take an interest in will often develop over time, becoming recurring friends, rivals, enemies, or simply familiar faces in the Wood. I'm not a rules lawyer. I prefer keeping the game moving rather than stopping play to hunt through a rulebook. We'll generally play by the rules as written, but when something is unclear, I'll make a ruling at the table and keep things moving. The world will also respond to what you do. Your choices matter, and actions have believable consequences. Break the law and the local authorities may come looking for you. Make an enemy and they may remember it. Help someone and you may discover much later that they remember that too. The world doesn't revolve around the player characters, but it does react to them. I usually use ambient music to help establish the mood, whether you're drinking in a crowded tavern, wandering through a strange fairy wood, or exploring somewhere you probably shouldn't be. Finally, you don't need to buy any books to play. I have all of the Dolmenwood books and resources we'll need and will provide players with everything necessary for the campaign on Fantasy Grounds.

How Lance creates a safe table

I want everyone at the table to feel comfortable speaking up when something in the game isn't working for them. Before the campaign begins, we'll establish Lines and Veils and discuss boundaries, expectations, and tone. Dolmenwood can shift between whimsical fairy-tale adventure and genuinely dark or unsettling material, so knowing everyone's limits is especially important. During play, we'll use X, N, and O safety tools. These can be communicated however you're most comfortable—verbally, through chat, or privately to me. You never need to explain or justify why something makes you uncomfortable. If we need to stop, change direction, fade to black, or remove something from the game, we will. I'll also check in when a session becomes particularly intense and leave room after sessions to decompress or discuss anything that came up. The goal isn't to remove danger, horror, or difficult situations from the game; it's to make sure we're exploring those things together and with everyone's consent.