Lost Mine of Phandelver for beginners!

Creating your character

Character creation will happen on a one on one basis after the entire group has a session zero. Per StartPlaying, session zero is a game session that occurs before you start actually playing a TTRPG that allows everyone to get on the same page about tone and content and to discuss the safety tools that you’ll use during gameplay. Character creation can occur during a session zero but I find that one on one character creation works better. Our session zero will also be used to introduce ourselves to one another. We will be using the D&D Beyond site to create your character as well as keeping up with your character sheet. Stats will be decided by rolling dice! Your character will be starting at level 1 and we'll be using the 2024 ruleset, also know as 5.5E. If you have access to the 2024 Players Handbook you can use it to figure out what kind of character you want to play. If you don't have access to it, I will be sharing it with you on D&D Beyond once you are in the actual campaign. And, of course, I'll be helping out every step of the way!

Preparing for the session

For this adventure you will need the following: An account on D&D Beyond. A free account will work fine. An account on Discord. This is how we will be communicating with each other. A microphone and a headset. Webcams are optional. If you're cool with using a webcam, great! If not, that is totally fine as well. We will be using the Maps VTT program that is built into D&D Beyond for combat or anything else that needs to be shown. For this reason I would ask that you use a PC or Mac to play. We won't be using anything that requires a fast computer so a simple laptop should work fine!

What Michael brings to the table

I'll be providing a safe space for new players to learn how to play D&D. All are welcome at my table! I am a big believer in the rule of cool, which means I'm totally willing to bend the rules if it means your character gets to do something super awesome. The combat will be ran in a way that will help newcomers see how combat works. I plan on using ambient music to help with the overall feel of the situation but the players will be able to mute it if there are any auditory stimulation issues.

Homebrew rules

Homebrew rules will be discussed in session zero as well as when the need arises within the game.

How Michael creates a safe table

I am a firm believer in table safety. As someone who has been on an interesting mental health journey for a while I want to make sure that nothing that happens in this game will be triggering to any player. I also recognize that triggering situations can pop up out of nowhere so there will be safeguards in place to ensure that if this happens it is handled immediately. I will be sending the Monte Cook RPG consent PDF to all players...this includes the consent checklist. We all deal with enough bad stuff in the real world so our fantasy world should be an escape from that.