The Mists Remember You

Creating your character

For The Mists Remember You, please come to Session Zero with a character concept rather than a fully locked-in build. Bring an idea of who they might be, what kind of role you want to play, and what tone excites you. We will refine characters together during Session Zero, then finish details through Discord before Session One as needed. This campaign uses amnesia, mystery, and fragmented identity, so you do not need to know every part of your character’s past. In fact, leaving some doors closed gives us room to make the Mists personal. Characters should be built as people with unfinished business. You should know what your character cares about now, what frightens them, what they might be tempted by, and why they would keep traveling with others through dangerous realms. Strong characters for this campaign are proactive, connected, vulnerable, cooperative, and haunted. They should be willing to pursue mysteries, form bonds, face fear, and make difficult choices. A connection might be a person, place, faith, memory, object, faction, promise, guilt, or unanswered question. This is not a villain campaign. Characters who only want money, chaos, isolation, or cruelty for its own sake will have a harder time fitting the story. The darker side of the PCs matters, but the goal is not to play evil for evil’s sake. Instead, characters should have shadows: grief, shame, ambition, fear, hunger, regret, lost faith, inherited curses, stolen memories, or unfinished vows. The campaign will ask what your character is willing to remember, resist, forgive, sacrifice, or become. Mechanical Guidelines This campaign uses Dungeons & Dragons 2024 / 5.5e as its rules foundation. Official and approved third-party material may be considered, but all options require GM approval. Because this game blends official rules with horror-focused third-party material, the GM may adjust character options, spell interactions, feats, species traits, subclasses, movement, senses, and optional mechanics to preserve tone, balance, mystery, and survival pressure. Starting Level: 3 Ability Scores: Point Buy Hit Points: Manual entry. At 1st level, take maximum hit points. For each level after 1st, you may roll, where any result below the fixed average may be raised to the fixed average. Starting Equipment: Standard starting equipment. Feats: Allowed, provided prerequisites are met. Multiclassing: Allowed, but multiclass choices should support the character’s story, not only mechanical optimization. Some third-party combinations may be adjusted. Character Advancement: Milestone leveling, tied to major discoveries, completed goals, defeated threats, restored places, and meaningful story progress. Final characters will be created and reviewed with the GM before Session One. Bring a strong concept, a few emotional hooks, and some blank spaces for the Mists to fill.

Preparing for the session

Before joining The Mists Remember You, players should complete the following steps so Session Zero and Session One can run smoothly: Create or confirm your Discord account. Discord will be used for campaign communication, scheduling, announcements, character discussion, between-session questions, and voice/video hosting of sessions. Join the Finkz Gaming Discord server. The GM will provide an invite link. Once inside, please review any posted server rules, campaign channels, safety tools, and session information. Create or confirm your Roll20 account. Roll20 will be used for the virtual tabletop, maps, tokens, dice rolling. The GM will provide the campaign link before play begins. Decide where you want to build your character sheet. Character sheets may be created in Roll20 and/or Dndbeyond, depending on the final campaign setup. The GM will provide access to a campaign on Roll20 and/or Dndbeyond with many available character creation options. Optional: Install Beyond20 if using Dndbeyond. Players using Dndbeyond for their character sheet may find the Beyond20 browser extension helpful, as it can connect Dndbeyond rolls to Roll20. Bring a character concept to Session Zero. You do not need a finished character sheet before Session Zero. Please bring a concept, character idea, or general direction. We will refine characters together during Session Zero and through Discord before Session One if needed. Review campaign expectations. Please read the campaign pitch, tone, safety tools, character creation guidelines, and table expectations before Session Zero so everyone begins with the same understanding of the game. Final character approval, rules questions, and technical setup will be handled with the GM before Session One.

What Joe aka. JFinkz brings to the table

As a GM I provide campaign links in Dndbeyond and Roll20 that provide all core, and many third party character options for you to make the character you want. I am a huge fan of incorporating music, for ambiance, and combat, as well as strange sounds and effects, these will be streamed through Discord via Jockie Music or the soundboard. I prefer to bring you a game that has variety, sometimes the combat may feel like you were well prepared, and other times, the enemies may be just as tactical, or maybe even more tactical than your group. Having players do the unexpected or explore the range of possible is always enjoyed, and as such the Rule of Cool is often followed, though keeping to some bounds.

Homebrew rules

Part of a horror campaign is the lack of resources, the loss of usual sense, and the possibilities of the dreadful and unknown, partially to help mold this tone and to keep things more fun and interesting I have define nine Homebrewed or House Rules that this campaign will be making use of: - Torches and Lighting: Torches and lanterns will follow the Shadowdark rules for Torch/lantern Duration. - Darkvision and Devil’s Sight: Honoring the RAW for reduced passives and disadvantaged perception/investigation checks. Devil's Sigh removes the penalty, but doesn't reveal hidden or obscured things. - Rounding Damage: Whenever damage would result in a fraction, always round up to the nearest whole number. - Massive Critical Hits: Maximize the base die (4d6 = 24), then roll it again plus modifiers. - Unstable Magic: Spellcasting normally works as written. However, some places and circumstances make magic unstable. In cursed sites, haunted places, magical storms, dreamlands, dread domains, desecrated ground, or moments of extreme supernatural pressure, casting a spell may require an Unstable Casting Check. - Natural 1s on Attack Rolls: Natural 1s are not just automatic misses in this campaign. Depending on the situation, they may create an opening, complication, or unintended danger. - Critical Injuries: This campaign will use Critical Injuries when characters are brought to the edge of death by devastating blows. These rules are intended to make being dropped to 0 hit points feel dangerous without making every defeat immediately fatal. They also give characters a desperate way to keep fighting, at a cost. - Death & Dying: Failed Death Saves remain until a Long Rest is completed, or a Greater Restoration is used to replenish you. - Inventory as Gear Slots: For this campaign we will be making use of tracking inventory but not as weighted per-item encumbrance as much as adapting the Slot method, adapting such from Shadowdark. You may ask, “But why,” and I do have an answer. While having every solution in your inventory to what you encounter is fun, limiting that to a certain quantity makes people have to think about when to carry what on an adventure. Additionally, this will make those who choose to build strength heavy characters have even more usefulness, they will have more gear slots. - Luck Points: Instead of DM granted inspiration, this game will adapt the Tales of the Valiant Luck System. You as a player are responsible for tracking your luck points. Once you join the discord server, these are all explained in greater depth, and I am open to adjustments and suggestions for any of these.

How Joe aka. JFinkz creates a safe table

Because The Mists Remember You is a horror campaign, the story may include intense, frightening, tragic, or unsettling themes. The goal is to explore dark material while keeping the game enjoyable, respectful, and safe for everyone at the table. These tools are here so players can communicate boundaries clearly, adjust scenes when needed, and take care of themselves without judgment. Lines and Veils Lines are hard boundaries. Content listed as a Line will not appear in the game, no questions asked. Common examples include sexual violence, harm to children, or real-world hate and discrimination. Veils are softer boundaries. Content listed as a Veil may exist in the story, but it will not be described in detail. It will be handled off-screen, summarized briefly, or faded to black. We will discuss Lines and Veils during Session Zero and check in as needed throughout the campaign. Boundaries can be added, changed, or clarified at any time. Stop, Slow, Go, and Break Cards These cards are check-in tools available to players at any point. The GM may also ask for a card check-in during intense scenes. Stop Card: Use this if the current content is uncomfortable or needs to stop. When played, we will pause and change, rewind, skip, or fade out the scene. Slow Card: Use this if a scene is approaching a boundary or needs more care. When played, we will slow down, check in, soften the content, redirect, or fade to black. Go Card: Use this to signal that you are comfortable continuing. This is most often used during GM check-ins and lets the group know the scene can proceed. Break Card: Use this when you need to step away, decompress, handle something off-screen, or take a personal break. This supports the Open Door policy without requiring a big interruption. Using Cards in Roll20 The cards will appear as a deck in Roll20. To use Stop, Slow, or Go, drag the card from the deck onto the tabletop. To use Break, drag the card to your user icon/name to show that you are away. When you return, send the card back to the deck or recall it using the deck actions. Open Door Policy Players may step away from the table or game for any reason without judgment. This includes restroom breaks, phone calls, emotional cool-downs, or simply needing a moment. Please use this respectfully. The Open Door policy is for personal well-being, not for pressuring others to ignore their own boundaries. Aftercare and Debriefing After sessions, we will take time to decompress and talk out of character. This is a chance to discuss what landed well, what felt uncomfortable, what players want more of, and any theories or thoughts from the session. We will use Stars and Wishes to help shape the campaign as it develops. Stars: Things you enjoyed, loved, or thought worked well during the session. Wishes: Things you would like to see, explore, or experience in future sessions.