General Info: Game: D&D 5e 2024 Group type: Online - Discord for voice/text chat, D&DB Maps for VTT when combat ensues. I can also build character Bastions using custom mapmaking tools based on your vision of the base :) Experience: New players are welcome, but I ask that you read the Player's Handbook and understand your class abilities. I'm willing to do a small session or two to teach game mechanics and I can share the handbook with you virtually through D&DB. As for myself, this is far from my first time GMing, but this will be my first time running a non-linear campaign. This will also be my first time DMing with the 2024 rules. I'll be patient with you if you're patient with me! Location/Timezone: PDT (-7 GMT) Schedule: Main sessions once a week mostly during weekdays after 5 PM PDT, though I may be able to facilitate an occasional weekend session. Weekend sessions should not be relied upon. Shorter one-on-one sessions can happen basically whenever, even via text. Roles sought: 3 - 5 players Game style: This isn't your typical "hand-feed me a prewritten story while I wait for the words 'roll for initiative'" sort of table. This is a collaborative storytelling and worldbuilding adventure. I'm looking for players that are more interested in roleplay, seeking character story progression, and wanting to create and shape the world in a sandbox environment. The weekly gameplay sessions will be more episodic, revolving around a series of one-shots given as "Quests." My vision is to allow players to explore their character's individual story and any side stories they'd like to pursue in one-on-one sessions with the DM (me!) which could be anywhere from fifteen minutes to a few hours to a few days slowly over text. The one-on-one sessions will happen between the scheduled weekly sessions. Then once a week all player characters meet up Avengers-style to take on the quest of their choice.
Player characters will be adventurers in a Guild, sort of like The Guild of Heroes from the video game Fable. The primary method of earning EXP, gold, and loot will be through accepting quests from The Guild. During these quests is when the normal weekly sessions will occur. These quests might be completely 'brewed by me or could be really interesting one-shots that I find around the internet that I'm excited to run. If a player has a request for a specific module(one-shot), I'm open to suggestions so long as they're not willing to metagame. The goal here is to have every session conclude in a good place where characters have downtime so they can pursue other interests between sessions. The Guild itself should also be seen as more of a jumping off point. As characters grow in power, wealth, and fame, they could possibly open up their own Guild chapter, create their own Bastion, or players may even start a new party of first-level characters and have their old characters become patrons or quest-givers. This is our sandbox, after all. We can do what we want in it!
As for the tone, I'm totally okay with humor but don't want joke characters. I'd like to leave space for serious situations to happen. If a player is playing out a dramatic or emotional scene as part of their character arc, I don't want Fartknocker the Clown to be asking the Barbarian to pull his finger.
I would like to use Lines and Veils to nix any content players might be potentially uncomfortable with. I'm generally okay with exploring some darker themes, such as if a player wanted to make racism against Elves a part of the story and influence their character. Or if their character used to be a slave and that shaped their worldview. If you want Elves to be like in Dragon Age, that might be something we could work in. So long as no other players veto these themes, I'm okay with it. However, above-table I have zero tolerance for IRL racism, homophobia, or transphobia, or any sort of discrimination at my tables. If anyone's uncomfortable with anything happening in-game at any time, we can pause and retcon or reevaluate the situation. The goal is for all players to have fun and feel comfortable at the same time. More info on Safety Tools here: https://slyflourish.com/safety_tools.html
As a DM, I'd prefer to make combat encounters challenging in the sense that combat should be a last resort, or as a consequence for when the PC's plan fails completely. I'm flexible on this and am okay with aiming for one combat encounter each session to satisfy the combat enthusiasts. My preference, however, is that players try to figure out other ways to solve encounters before resorting to combat. I also love puzzles and I hope you do, too!
All-else considered, this will be a sandbox environment. I would, however, like to nix Artificers and any sort of Victorian-era technology. No guns, clockwork machinery, etc. This will be a classic medieval-inspired fantasy world, not a Steampunk game. I would also like to collaboratively build the world through the RPG, "Microscope." More info on that below...
PC Backstory:
I have a few requirements on PC backstories, as follows: -Each player character must be tied to each other player character in some way. (both players must consent to the reason) -Each player character's backstory must explain why they took up the life of adventuring and joined The Guild. (adventuring is dangerous... no one becomes an adventurer because they felt like they had better life options) -Optional, but each player is encouraged to leave a few unanswered questions or unresolved conflicts in their character's backstory.
For example, we might have a Sorcerer, a Rogue, and a Bard.
The Sorcerer's family has a magical items shop that has fallen on hard times due to bandits plundering the trade routes. Someone stole a powerful (maybe dangerous) family heirloom from her shop and the Sorcerer became an adventurer to gain access to Guild resources to locate the item and potentially recruit allies to get it back. Who stole the item? What does it do?
The Bard operates a small, local trading company but their trade caravans are often preyed upon by bandits. The Sorcerer's family shop is the last steady customer of the Bard's trading company, and if the shop fails then the Bard's business will collapse. The Bard joined The Guild in hopes of finding powerful connections who might help deal with the local bandit problem. What's the source of these bandits? Why isn't the local government doing anything to stop it?
The Rogue occasionally smuggles high-value items for the Bard's trade company. The Rogue also stole the family heirloom from the Sorcerer's family shop in order to pay a monthly ransom to the bandits, who kidnapped his daughter. The Rogue joined The Guild because it's a steady source of high income to continue paying the ransom, and one day hopes to recruit allies to rescue his daughter. Why did the bandits kidnap his daughter? Is she still alive?
The purpose of this approach is to weave elements into character backstories that can drive the plot forward or create tension.
Goals: Each player must set goals for their character to work towards. They should have short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. These goals need to be achievable and there might be consequences for abandoning them or for failure. For example, instead of "I want to get stronger." A goal should instead be, "I want to become strong enough to defeat my old master." The adventure will unfold mostly based upon these goals. Goals don't have to be part of the character's backstory, but initial goals might need to involve backstory. Goals should also be changing over time and new goals should be added as previous goals are accomplished or failed. I will seed plenty of opportunities for players to create goals that interest them. For example, "I want to discover the secrets behind this magic item we found last session." Or, "I want to compete in the grand tournament for this card game (like Gwent from The Witcher 3, or Pazaak from KotOR)." The point of goals is to create realistic characters with depth and consistent motivations. Otherwise we just have characters that sort of just run around doing random things.
One-on-one sessions: Based on character goals, solo sessions will revolve around that character, but other PCs may optionally be invited. For example, if a Fighter learns that there's a Colosseum in the city the party is visiting, they might decide that they want to participate in the fighting. This will happen in shorter roleplaying sessions with just the Fighter and the DM (me, again!). Other players may be invited to spectate or even bet on (or against!) the Fighter, at the Fighter player's discretion. If there's likely combat in these sessions, they will need to be ran through the VTT to roll dice and present the battlemap. Otherwise, if it's primarily a roleplaying or exploration session, this can be explored in theater of the mind style, or even through one-on-one text chat. For example, maybe a character wants to travel home between sessions to check on a family member. That could be done over the course of a few days via text chat.
Quests: Player characters earn EXP, Gold, and Loot primarily through quests given by The Guild. My aim is to have multiple quest options available at any given time, so players can decide which quest sounds more interesting ahead of time, and then I can prepare the session ready-made for the party.
World building: I would like to build the world using the RPG "Microscope." Basically, we go around the table and everyone takes turns creating and building upon the world. This can all be done in one session and must be done before characters are rolled. Once the world is created, everyone can start thinking about how they want their character to fit into the world we've created together. The benefits to this approach are that everyone is on the same page in terms of history and the setting, everyone is more invested since they helped create the world, and it frees up some of my bandwidth so I can focus on creating content tailored to the player characters ;) It's okay if you've never played Microscope, it's easy and I'll walk everyone through it.
If you've made it this far and have any questions, feel free to post them here in case others have the same question! If you're interested or want to hop on a call to discuss anything mentioned, feel free to PM me here on the forums and we can connect on Discord. Thanks for reading!
General Info:
Game: D&D 5e 2024
Group type: Online - Discord for voice/text chat, D&DB Maps for VTT when combat ensues. I can also build character Bastions using custom mapmaking tools based on your vision of the base :)
Experience: New players are welcome, but I ask that you read the Player's Handbook and understand your class abilities. I'm willing to do a small session or two to teach game mechanics and I can share the handbook with you virtually through D&DB. As for myself, this is far from my first time GMing, but this will be my first time running a non-linear campaign. This will also be my first time DMing with the 2024 rules. I'll be patient with you if you're patient with me!
Location/Timezone: PDT (-7 GMT)
Schedule: Main sessions once a week mostly during weekdays after 5 PM PDT, though I may be able to facilitate an occasional weekend session. Weekend sessions should not be relied upon. Shorter one-on-one sessions can happen basically whenever, even via text.
Roles sought: 3 - 5 players
Game style: This isn't your typical "hand-feed me a prewritten story while I wait for the words 'roll for initiative'" sort of table. This is a collaborative storytelling and worldbuilding adventure. I'm looking for players that are more interested in roleplay, seeking character story progression, and wanting to create and shape the world in a sandbox environment. The weekly gameplay sessions will be more episodic, revolving around a series of one-shots given as "Quests." My vision is to allow players to explore their character's individual story and any side stories they'd like to pursue in one-on-one sessions with the DM (me!) which could be anywhere from fifteen minutes to a few hours to a few days slowly over text. The one-on-one sessions will happen between the scheduled weekly sessions. Then once a week all player characters meet up Avengers-style to take on the quest of their choice.
Player characters will be adventurers in a Guild, sort of like The Guild of Heroes from the video game Fable. The primary method of earning EXP, gold, and loot will be through accepting quests from The Guild. During these quests is when the normal weekly sessions will occur. These quests might be completely 'brewed by me or could be really interesting one-shots that I find around the internet that I'm excited to run. If a player has a request for a specific module(one-shot), I'm open to suggestions so long as they're not willing to metagame. The goal here is to have every session conclude in a good place where characters have downtime so they can pursue other interests between sessions. The Guild itself should also be seen as more of a jumping off point. As characters grow in power, wealth, and fame, they could possibly open up their own Guild chapter, create their own Bastion, or players may even start a new party of first-level characters and have their old characters become patrons or quest-givers. This is our sandbox, after all. We can do what we want in it!
As for the tone, I'm totally okay with humor but don't want joke characters. I'd like to leave space for serious situations to happen. If a player is playing out a dramatic or emotional scene as part of their character arc, I don't want Fartknocker the Clown to be asking the Barbarian to pull his finger.
I would like to use Lines and Veils to nix any content players might be potentially uncomfortable with. I'm generally okay with exploring some darker themes, such as if a player wanted to make racism against Elves a part of the story and influence their character. Or if their character used to be a slave and that shaped their worldview. If you want Elves to be like in Dragon Age, that might be something we could work in. So long as no other players veto these themes, I'm okay with it. However, above-table I have zero tolerance for IRL racism, homophobia, or transphobia, or any sort of discrimination at my tables. If anyone's uncomfortable with anything happening in-game at any time, we can pause and retcon or reevaluate the situation. The goal is for all players to have fun and feel comfortable at the same time. More info on Safety Tools here: https://slyflourish.com/safety_tools.html
As a DM, I'd prefer to make combat encounters challenging in the sense that combat should be a last resort, or as a consequence for when the PC's plan fails completely. I'm flexible on this and am okay with aiming for one combat encounter each session to satisfy the combat enthusiasts. My preference, however, is that players try to figure out other ways to solve encounters before resorting to combat. I also love puzzles and I hope you do, too!
All-else considered, this will be a sandbox environment. I would, however, like to nix Artificers and any sort of Victorian-era technology. No guns, clockwork machinery, etc. This will be a classic medieval-inspired fantasy world, not a Steampunk game. I would also like to collaboratively build the world through the RPG, "Microscope." More info on that below...
PC Backstory:
I have a few requirements on PC backstories, as follows:
-Each player character must be tied to each other player character in some way. (both players must consent to the reason)
-Each player character's backstory must explain why they took up the life of adventuring and joined The Guild. (adventuring is dangerous... no one becomes an adventurer because they felt like they had better life options)
-Optional, but each player is encouraged to leave a few unanswered questions or unresolved conflicts in their character's backstory.
For example, we might have a Sorcerer, a Rogue, and a Bard.
The Sorcerer's family has a magical items shop that has fallen on hard times due to bandits plundering the trade routes. Someone stole a powerful (maybe dangerous) family heirloom from her shop and the Sorcerer became an adventurer to gain access to Guild resources to locate the item and potentially recruit allies to get it back. Who stole the item? What does it do?
The Bard operates a small, local trading company but their trade caravans are often preyed upon by bandits. The Sorcerer's family shop is the last steady customer of the Bard's trading company, and if the shop fails then the Bard's business will collapse. The Bard joined The Guild in hopes of finding powerful connections who might help deal with the local bandit problem. What's the source of these bandits? Why isn't the local government doing anything to stop it?
The Rogue occasionally smuggles high-value items for the Bard's trade company. The Rogue also stole the family heirloom from the Sorcerer's family shop in order to pay a monthly ransom to the bandits, who kidnapped his daughter. The Rogue joined The Guild because it's a steady source of high income to continue paying the ransom, and one day hopes to recruit allies to rescue his daughter. Why did the bandits kidnap his daughter? Is she still alive?
The purpose of this approach is to weave elements into character backstories that can drive the plot forward or create tension.
Goals:
Each player must set goals for their character to work towards. They should have short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. These goals need to be achievable and there might be consequences for abandoning them or for failure. For example, instead of "I want to get stronger." A goal should instead be, "I want to become strong enough to defeat my old master." The adventure will unfold mostly based upon these goals. Goals don't have to be part of the character's backstory, but initial goals might need to involve backstory. Goals should also be changing over time and new goals should be added as previous goals are accomplished or failed. I will seed plenty of opportunities for players to create goals that interest them. For example, "I want to discover the secrets behind this magic item we found last session." Or, "I want to compete in the grand tournament for this card game (like Gwent from The Witcher 3, or Pazaak from KotOR)." The point of goals is to create realistic characters with depth and consistent motivations. Otherwise we just have characters that sort of just run around doing random things.
One-on-one sessions:
Based on character goals, solo sessions will revolve around that character, but other PCs may optionally be invited. For example, if a Fighter learns that there's a Colosseum in the city the party is visiting, they might decide that they want to participate in the fighting. This will happen in shorter roleplaying sessions with just the Fighter and the DM (me, again!). Other players may be invited to spectate or even bet on (or against!) the Fighter, at the Fighter player's discretion. If there's likely combat in these sessions, they will need to be ran through the VTT to roll dice and present the battlemap. Otherwise, if it's primarily a roleplaying or exploration session, this can be explored in theater of the mind style, or even through one-on-one text chat. For example, maybe a character wants to travel home between sessions to check on a family member. That could be done over the course of a few days via text chat.
Quests:
Player characters earn EXP, Gold, and Loot primarily through quests given by The Guild. My aim is to have multiple quest options available at any given time, so players can decide which quest sounds more interesting ahead of time, and then I can prepare the session ready-made for the party.
World building:
I would like to build the world using the RPG "Microscope." Basically, we go around the table and everyone takes turns creating and building upon the world. This can all be done in one session and must be done before characters are rolled. Once the world is created, everyone can start thinking about how they want their character to fit into the world we've created together. The benefits to this approach are that everyone is on the same page in terms of history and the setting, everyone is more invested since they helped create the world, and it frees up some of my bandwidth so I can focus on creating content tailored to the player characters ;) It's okay if you've never played Microscope, it's easy and I'll walk everyone through it.
If you've made it this far and have any questions, feel free to post them here in case others have the same question! If you're interested or want to hop on a call to discuss anything mentioned, feel free to PM me here on the forums and we can connect on Discord. Thanks for reading!
I have Darkvision, by the way.
PM sent.
Hey I'd be interested in joining my discord is Darksteelforge.