Halloween Oneshot! | 18+ | Lairs of Etharis, Grim-Dark Horror

Creating your character

Standard: Characters are created on D&D Beyond. You will receive a campaign link wherein you can create your character with content sharing enabled, giving you access to my library. In the Home page of the D&D Beyond Character Creator, the only sources that should be enabled are 5.5e Core Rules, 5.5e Expanded Rules, and D&D Beyond Drops. All Partnered Content should be disabled (ensure you open the Choose Partners drop-down menu to ensure they are; many are on by default). No "Legacy" content is allowed. For this game: You will be level 8. Stats will be Point Buy or Standard Array (your choice). Characters should be created and ready to go before the start of the session with time for me to review. The third party source Grim Hollow is allowed; check this on in the Partnered Content dropdown menu if you wish. One Rare or Uncommon magic item is permitted, subject to my approval.

Preparing for the session

You will need a D&D Beyond account as well as a Discord account. You need to have installed Discord, as well as the browser extension Beyond20, which allows your rolls on D&D Beyond to go through to the virtual table top. The game will be played in Foundry VTT; you do not need an account to join, and can run it through your web browser. Links to the Discord server, D&D Beyond Campaign, and the campaign in Foundry will be provided upon joining the game.

What Jordan (Jay) brings to the table

I run my games in Foundry VTT, which you do not need an account to join. Foundry allows me to include a host of fun effects, which includes ambient lighting, music, sound effects, and more. This one-shot will be rather light on roleplay, but for what there is I will be doing character voices and at times making my own vocal sound effects. I play fairly by the rules, but certainly not strictly. Ultimately, I think telling a cool story and having fun is what we're truly here for. I believe I know the rules to D&D 5.5e very well, which allows me to understand the ramifications of what bending/breaking specific rules will result in. This allows me to feel comfortable doing so when the moment calls for it. I do my utmost to run my combat encounters fast paced and provide a satisfying challenge without them being unfairly difficult. I pride myself on my ability to adapt mid-combat in order to ensure we're playing a satisfying game together. I believe a large part of encounter balance happens in real time. I have an extensive library of content on D&D Beyond which you will be able to use (following my character creation rules above) to create your characters via content sharing. If you provide me with art for your character, I can create a token to use in FoundryVTT. This one-shot is far from the longest I've ran, but there is a fair amount of content to get through; be prepared to get into the meat of the adventure right away!

Homebrew rules

I run a number of homebrew rules in my campaigns, however in my one-shots they should not be of note. If there are any pertinent to the adventure, I will let you know beforehand.

How Jordan (Jay) creates a safe table

I like to do a debrief/check-in after my games end, often with stars and wishes, to see how everyone felt about the game; what they enjoyed or what they would like to see more of in future campaign sessions or one-shots. I am also open to one-on-one calls to discuss any private feelings or ideas! During the game, we will have short bio-breaks, typically five minutes every hour or so. You are free to chat with one another during this time, or do whatever you need to do! I use X, N, and O cards using a mod through Foundry VTT. You will have small buttons on your screen that allow you to anonymously display the card (of course, you can then take claim of having used them if you wish). That said, keep in mind this is a grim-dark horror game. If that genre doesn't appeal to you, and/or if any of the content found in the content warnings would be triggering for you, then this may not be the game for you. I believe that no triggers beyond the listed content should appear in this one-shot, so hopefully this safety tool ends up being superfluous! :)