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Game Expectations


  • I will accept 4 PCs.
  • Leveling is done by milestone.
  • This game is going to feature adventurers who will be swept up into a conflict between underworld criminal organizations. Please make a character who is . . .
    • . . . good.—not merely “Oh, my character’s alignment is neutral-good”, but one who will act in accordance to that alignment.
    • . . . a team player. There’s certainly something to be said about scouting ahead alone for the good of the party. No one ever said that’s bad. But what leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth is the “lone wolf” who “don’t need no party” and only begrudgingly goes along with the party when “what’s in it for me?” is a handsome sum that no one can afford to pay, or “Why would my character do this, again?” My RPG philosophy is: when in doubt, your character . . .
      • . . . always wants to find the next adventure (rather than be dragged along, kicking and screaming),
      • . . . always wants to delve that dungeon (rather than be cajoled into it by the rest of an exasperated party),
      • . . . always wants to fight (or negotiate with) that monster (rather than run away from it in fear (the frightened condition notwithstanding)),
      • . . . always wants to find heaps of treasure and magic items (so they can fund more adventures and become more powerful to win those future adventures).

   Mostly, this is just advice from the DM to the players and not hard rules. That said, if I’m choosing between someone who checks all the boxes above, and someone who only checks half of them, I think you know who I’m going to pick.

Attributes

   Please roll three sets of six attributes—4d6, drop the lowest, each. You may pick the set that you like the best, and arrange them as you see fit. If you would prefer not to roll, or if you just don’t like any of the three sets you did roll, you may use a 27-point point-buy or use the standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8).

Lineage, Background, and Class Options

   You may use any lineage, background, or class found in:

  • Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
  • Dungeon Master’s Guide
  • Eberron: Rising from the Last War
  • Elemental Evil Player’s Companion
  • Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
  • Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons
  • Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
  • Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
  • Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
  • Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
  • Mythic Odysseys of Theros
  • One Grung Above
  • Player’s Handbook
  • Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
  • Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
  • Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
  • The Tortle Package
  • The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
  • Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
  • Volo’s Guide to Monsters
  • Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron
  • and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

   Of course, you may make your own Background as outlined on pages 125–6 of the Player’s Handbook.

   I will not be accepting any 3rd-party material, such as found on DriveThru RPG, D&DWiki’s Homebrew, etc..

Starting Feats

   You may begin play with a 1st level feat of your choice between the Skilled feat or the Tough feat. However, if your background provides you with a feat, use that feat as your 1st-level feat, instead.

   If you pick backgrounds from non-FR sources, check to see if there is an FR equivalent, first, and if there isn’t, message me about it, and we’ll come up with something. For example, there are no Knights of Solamnia in FR, but I’m sure we can find an equivalent order of knights in the Forgotten Realms.

4th-Level Bonus Feat

At 4th level, you gain another bonus feat of your choice from the following list:

  • Skilled (Player’s Handbook)
  • Tough (Player’s Handbook)
  • Adept of the Black Robes (Dragonlance Feat)
  • Adept of the Red Robes (Dragonlance Feat)
  • Adept of the White Robes (Dragonlance Feat)
  • Alert (Player’s Handbook)
  • Divinely Favored (Dragonlance Feat)
  • Initiate of High Sorcery (Dragonlance Feat)
  • Knight of the Crown (Dragonlance Feat)
  • Knight of the Rose (Dragonlance Feat)
  • Knight of the Sword (Dragonlance Feat)
  • Mobile (Player’s Handbook)
  • Sentinel (Player’s Handbook)
  • Squire of Solamnia (Dragonlance Feat)
  • War Caster (Player’s Handbook)

   You gain this bonus feat at 4th-level regardless of your background - even if you have the Knight of Solamnia or Mage of High Sorcery background. You must meet all prerequisites if the feat you choose has any.

Posting Rate

   I ask for 1 post/week, minimum, with more dependent on schedule. I’m a teacher in Japan, so my posts will likely be when others are asleep, and I don’t have much time at work to devote to this, so they’ll have to wait until I get home from work. That said, sometimes I do have time at work!

Application Deadline

   I will begin accepting applications from the moment the game goes live. The deadline is 11:59 PM JST (UTC +9), Friday, August 31, 2023.

Homebrew Rule

   My IRL D&D group uses a homebrew rule to great effect to prevent the Yo-Yo of knock-out-heal-knock-out-heal in combat: Whenever a healing spell, or single instance of healing from a feature like a paladin’s lay-on-hands or a healing potion is used, you may roll one of your hit-dice and add that to the total. You may roll one hit-die per spell level, or per 5 points of lay-on-hands, or per level of healing potion.

   For example, if a cleric casts the cure wounds spell with a second-level spell slot, you may roll two hit-dice. If a paladin uses 5 to 9 of their lay-on-hands, you can roll one hit-die, but if they used 10 to 14, you could use two hit-dice, and so on. If you take a potion of greater healing, you can roll two.

   Small Creatures and Weapons with the Heavy Property. A small creature that has an attack stat (be it strength, dexterity, or some other stat used in place of either of those two granted by a class feature) of 15 or above AND has proficiency in the use of that weapon may use a weapon with the heavy property without disadvantage.

Non-Posting Rule

   I really hate being ghosted. If you discover that this ends up just not being the game for you, you don’t even have to tell me why—but definitely tell me you’re bowing out. We can talk about how you’d like your character to leave, too. I’m not just going to kill them violently out of spite.

   However, if you haven’t posted for three weeks straight, with no explanation as to why—you’ve just seemingly disappeared like a fart in the wind—then I will remove you from my game.

   Remember: I only require one post/week for this game. More is great, but at minimum, one.

   On week two of no posts, I’ll at-you in the OOC Thread, asking if you’re planning on posting next week.

   If you have an up-coming prolonged absence, let us know and we can accommodate your character being off-screen.

Flanking

   I do not use the optional flanking rules: flanking does not grant advantage on attacks.

Block Initiative

   I roll initiative for everyone—PCs and NPCs alike. I’ll average the PCs’ initiative rolls and the NPCs’ initiative rolls and whoever wins goes first. Obviously, if you or the NPCs are surprised, by default, the other side goes first.

Open Rolling

   I don’t roll in secret. I roll in the open, right there on the page. If you’re getting barnfarkled, it’s not because I’m being an asshole, it’s because the dice hate you.

Secrecy

   I feel like games like this are a lot more fun when everyone is working together to facilitate each others’ fun and further the characters’ goals. What’s a lot less fun is being out of the loop while others worked together behind your back, or one player knowing something the others don’t. The “big reveal” often isn’t fun, and tends to be a let-down for the revealer, and outrage-inducing for many of the other players who feel betrayed or alienated, or both. Finally, when we keep secrets, our fellow players might inadvertently work against our goals and not understand why we get upset at them, and not understand why we’re doing something suspicious.

   To that end, you’ll be required to keep things out in the open.

   CHARACTERS can have secrets they keep from other characters. But the PLAYERS at the table will know them.

   To whit: I’d rather risk a little metagaming that can be called out with a gentle reminder than risk an outraged player quitting my game because they feel like everyone left them out of the loop.

PvP and Stealing from Fellow PCs

   Neither one of these will be tolerated. Characters are fully free to disagree with one another, but at no point should either of you be telling the other to “roll initiative!”

   Related to the “Secrecy” (above), do not have your character try to steal from your fellow PCs. You have a city absolutely chalk full to the brim with NPCs ripe for the burgling, robbing, and pick pocketing. Your fellow PCs are not part of that group. That said, chances are, if your character was going to do that, I didn’t pick you for my game in the first place!

   Related to PvP, no one will be using skills against one another, either. “I rolled a 20 to persuade your character to . . .” No. Just no.

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