Beyond the Looking Glass

Creating your character

Before the campaign starts, I’ll sit down with each player for an in-depth character-building session, free of charge. We’ll work through your ideas, backstory, and what you want to explore in the campaign until you have a character who feels right to you and has a place in Velyndor. You don’t need to know anything about my world beforehand; I’ll help you find the parts that fit and I will send you a "World Kit" if you want a bit of extra reading to gain more understanding of the world you're entering. Everyone starts at level 3. We’ll roll ability scores together during your character-building session: roll 4d6 for each score and drop the lowest die. You can make your character on D&D Beyond if you are comfortable enough with it, Otherwise you are welcome to wait until the Character building session. Official D&D 5.5e 2024 options are welcome; please run homebrew or options from different rules versions by me first. All I ask is that your character has a reason to take a suspiciously well-paid job and a reason to work with the party. If you can't think of one, I will work with you to come up with one. We can build the rest together.

Preparing for the session

Welcome to Beyond the Looking Glass. I’m excited to bring you into Velyndor. We’ll begin with a stolen mirror and a job that pays far too well. What happens after that is a story we’ll build together. Before our first session, please take care of the following: Join the Discord: This is where I’ll share campaign updates, run voice chat, and arrange character sessions. The campaign channels won’t be visible straight away; I’ll verify you when you arrive. https://discord.gg/dSRVwHwXNr Install Fantasy Grounds: We’ll use it as our virtual tabletop. The free version is all you need to get started. https://www.fantasygrounds.com/ Book your character-building session with me: I’ll meet with every player individually before Session 0, free of charge. We’ll take the time to build someone who feels right to you and fits into the world. You don’t need a finished character or any knowledge of Velyndor before our call. We’ll also roll your ability scores together using 4d6, dropping the lowest die for each score. Please have a working mic, camera, Spotify, and a stable connection ready for our sessions. More than anything, come ready to roleplay, work with the other players, and give everyone room to tell their part of the story. We’ll go over the campaign’s tone and everyone’s boundaries during Session 0. Optional: You can follow me on StartPlaying if you’d like to hear about future campaigns and one-shots: https://startplaying.games/gm/ragnarrlokk I’m looking forward to meeting you and your character! The world they knew won’t wait for them, but what they do next is entirely theirs. Ragnarrlokk Dungeon Master | Storyteller of Velyndor

What Ragnarrlokk brings to the table

You can expect a story-driven game with atmosphere, character voices, music, meaningful combat, and plenty of room to make the story your own. Beyond the Looking Glass begins with a mystery, but I want the world you wake up in to feel like somewhere you can actually live. Here’s what I’ll bring to the table: 🎙️ Character voices and roleplay: I give NPCs their own personalities and ways of speaking. I want conversations to feel like meetings with people who have lives beyond the next quest. 🎧 Music and atmosphere: I use music and ambient sound to help set a scene, It will change depending on whether you’re stepping into an unfamiliar city or recognising a place you thought you knew. ⚔️ Combat with stakes: There will be exciting fights, but not every problem needs a sword drawn. I’ll give you room to think, negotiate, take risks, and surprise me. 📖 Fair rules and creative choices: I run D&D 5e consistently, and I’m always happy to hear a bold idea. If it makes sense in the scene, we’ll find a way to give it a fair chance. 🪞 A world that remembers: Your decisions will affect people, relationships, and places. I’ll weave your characters’ histories into the campaign while leaving it up to you how they respond to what’s changed. I’ll also meet with you one-on-one for character creation at no extra charge and provide recaps as the campaign unfolds. I want to know what matters to your character, so the thirty years they’ve lost mean something personal without deciding their story for them. My goal is for you to finish a session feeling like you’ve spent time in another world, and that what you did there mattered.

Homebrew rules

To enhance immersion and pacing, I use a few light homebrew rules designed to make the game more cinematic and engaging: - Potions as a Bonus Action: You can drink a healing potion as a bonus action, but administering one to another player still requires an action. - Critical Damage Boost: Critical hits deal double dice and include a cinematic flourish, sparks fly, bones crack, or armor splinters under the impact. - Death Save Tension: Rolling a natural 1 counts as two failed death saves, while a natural 20 counts as two successes. - Heroic Inspiration: Exceptional roleplay, clever problem-solving, or emotional storytelling may earn Heroic Inspiration, a one-time reroll usable on any check. - Rest & Recovery: Short rests take 30 minutes; long rests are 6 hours. However, interrupted or unsafe rests may not grant full recovery depending on the situation. All other mechanics follow standard 5e rules unless adjusted for storytelling flow or immersion.

How Ragnarrlokk creates a safe table

Player comfort and trust are my top priority. My games are built to explore emotional storytelling, heroism, and tension, never harm or discomfort. To be clear: there will never be any references to, or depictions of, sexual assault or sexual violence in my campaigns. Period. These topics have no place at my table. That said, my stories may include themes of murder, mystery, mild horror, and fantasy violence to build suspense and challenge the heroes. These moments are always handled with care, respect, and a focus on narrative impact, never shock value. Before we begin, we’ll go over a Session 0 to discuss boundaries, tone, and comfort levels. I also use Lines & Veils and the X/N/O safety system so players can pause, skip, or adjust any scene if needed. My goal is to create a world that feels thrilling and intense, but always safe and respectful for everyone at the table.