Currently Closing this just to see what I can do with the folks that have responded.  Will possibly repost when I know where things stand for a core group or 2.  Thanks very much to everyone that responded by post of PM!

Game: D&D 5e

Group Preferred: Online

Experience: Veteran (around 20 years experience, but off and on)

Time Zone: Pacific Daylight Time

Availability: Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday; 1 PM PDT – Midnight PDT, with game sessions ranging from 4 to 7 hours roughly.

Preferred Role: DM

Game Style: High levels of roleplay in a narrative-driven campaign, coupled with a DM that loves tactical grid combat with VTT; Expect a fairly edgy game with some mature themes.

• High Fantasy & Gothic Horror collide in a Grim-Dark Super Adventure wrapped in the mechanics of D&D 5 Edition!
• If the Book of Vile Darkness had a list of tourist attractions, Barovia and Ravenloft would rank within its Top 10 (independently).

                        In brief: I’m looking at putting together a group of 4 – 6 gamers to run through a web enhanced version of ‘Curse of Strahd,’ with an expected level range of 1 or 3 to 11 – maybe 12 – level.  Both new and experienced players are welcome, so long as everyone is generally open minded, feeling creative, and excited to play games and have fun.  I’ll be acting as DM but if this game goes well and everyone enjoys themselves and gets along, I wouldn’t mind at all having other players step up to run one shots or a side adventure.  And I myself would love to spin off of 'Curse of Strahd' to a home brewed world with a full 1 to 20 level (+) campaign depending on how things go.  

My own Resources: I will be using a D&D Beyond Master Tier Account, with access to all the Sourcebooks (currently just missing 'Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount') to be shared between players for the campaign.  We’ll be playing on the Virtual Tabletop at Roll20, where I have a Pro subscription to allow for all the options (though I’m still working on what API scripts I plan to introduce and include, if any).  My own plan is to coordinate via Discord with text and voice.  I have no plans for video myself, though I’m picking up a webcam for other reasons shortly, and everyone should feel free to do as they like in that regards (a topic open to group review, basically). 

Feel free to reach out to me by replying here on this thread or private messaging me on D&D Beyond.  My Discord is SergeTroy#1103 and I will be setting up a channel for the game in the coming week or so.  I plan on talking to everyone interested in playing to make sure everyone has the right expectations and to avoid misunderstandings.  My preference for a game start date is within the next week and a half to 3 weeks from now or so.  Something like between Friday, April 10 to as late as Wednesday, April 22.  Obviously this will be dependent on what works for the final group as we coordinate schedules. 

I'll be following up this OP with a second post that goes into further detail about the type of game I intend to run, including style of gameplay, story, rules for character generation, thoughts on house rules and home brewed content, as well as a few things we should all keep in mind with regards to tabletop etiquette and such.  You can read it now or just skip over it as I intend to make sure everyone is on the same page with regards to those topics.  Thanks!

Story & Gameplay

                        ‘Curse of Strahd’ is quite probably the highest rated and reviewed adventure module to come from Wizards of the Coast for D&D 5 Edition.  Having said that, it is not your standard High Fantasy Dungeon Romp where adventurers can expect a pleasant village Inn to return to between weeks spent slapping around goblins, orcs, gnolls, and other humanoids with pointy teeth.

                        ‘Death House’ is the Introductory “Tutorial Dungeon” that may serve to welcome you to Barovia and clarify the nature of the contest you face.  Parties that complete it successfully with all members alive and more in their loot bags than what they entered with, may be better suited to the stresses of exploring Barovia and the Domains of Dread.  Other parties will need to reconsider their approach and tactics.  Once ‘Death House’ has been run, it will not be run again, serving as either a badge of honor, or a grim reminder of what awaits the foolish and ill prepared. 

                        Having said all that, it’s not impossible we will completely skip ‘Death House,’ and the requisite 1 level characters, instead moving directly into the main adventure with 3 level characters.  While the mini quest can serve as an excellent introduction to the dangers and deadliness of Barovia, the mechanical tone of Death House varies greatly from the rest of ‘Curse of Strahd,’ building familiarity with a linear dungeon crawl that contrasts with the open sandbox nature of the rest of Barovia.  Also, my own experience is that more veteran players prefer starting at a level when their character’s have become more complex and their archetypes accessible.  Lastly, ‘Death House’ itself can be easily removed from the campaign without impacting the rest of the adventure, which speaks to its uselessness in service to the greater plot.

                        Reviewing the gameplay options presented: ‘Curse of Strahd’ offers high levels of Roleplay in a narrative-driven campaign.  Collaborative storytelling, character interaction, and dramatic development are highly encouraged.  In regards Exploration, Barovia is relatively small but is nevertheless full of peril, adventure, horror, and fantastic locales waiting to be discovered.

                        Players should keep in mind this is a sandbox adventure that allows you to go wherever you want in whatever order you want.  This means that you may inadvertently run into encounters that you absolutely cannot solve with combat.  Not everything will be winnable or killable the first time you encounter it.  Always remember that running and negotiation are viable options.

                        Lastly, and take note: Being a hero pure of heart doesn’t mean you automatically save the day.  Unpleasant things will happen, good people will suffer, bad ones may prosper, and despite all your effort and intent to the contrary: Evil may triumph.

Building Your Character

Character Generation House Rules

Ability Score Generation: 

                        All Characters will use a campaign specific Point Buy to generate ability scores.  All attributes start at a base of 8, and cannot be raised above a 17 before applying Racial or Feat bonuses (this is an arbitrary maximum set by myself, vs. the arbitrary maximum of 15 in the Player’s Handbook).  You have 37 Points to spend on your ability scores vs. the 27 allotted in the PHB.  The cost of each score follows (and there is an ability score calculator I can provide a link to later without issue for ease of math): score of 9 cost 1, 10 cost 2, 11 cost 3, 12 cost 4, 13 cost 5, 14 cost 7, 15 cost 9, 16 cost 11, 17 cost 14.

                        For hit points beyond 1 level: Whenever you level up, you can either take the static average plus Constitution modifier (my personal recommendation) or roll your hit die and add Con modifier there.  I will allow you a one time and one time only chance to reroll a low hit die result, but in that case you keep the better of the two, and there will be no rerolls going forward, not even for natural ones.

                        Starting gold for equipment will be equal to the maximum possible result for what your class could roll at 1 level.  However, there will be a maximum of 10 gold for funds in pocket when starting, so plan your purchases accordingly.  In addition, some Background specific items may be granted as common sense bonuses.  No magic potions or weapons on start can be purchased, though I myself have a selection of options to present to a party starting at 3 vs. 1 level. 

Races & Classes: 

The campaign world is one of my own creation but it only serves as a very temporary stepping off point, into the main adventure which will be ‘Curse of Strahd.’  While I have no issue with these options mechanically, and feel that they certainly fit many other Campaign Settings and Worlds, they present an issue for the thematic aesthetic of this game.  Also, the location players will be spending the majority of their time in is a very closed off and insular region, where the vast majority of the populace is human.  To quote directly from the adventure, “Although they know that dwarves, elves, halflings and other civilized races exist, few living Barovians have seen such creatures, let alone interacted with them.  …  Barovians thus react to nonhuman characters the same way most humans in the real world would react to elf, dwarf, or half-orc adventurers suddenly walking the streets. Most such outsiders are scorned, feared, or shunned.”  Keep in mind, that’s the reaction to races like Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, etc.  To allow for greater opportunities to role play and interact, I will not be allowing the following Races (and while other races may be allowed, a smart bit of role playing may be called for to avoid being targeted by the narrow minded populace).

Races Allowed: Dwarves, Elves, Gnomes, Half-Elves, Halflings, Half-Orcs, Humans, Tieflings, Genasi, Goliath, Aasimar, Firbolg, Yuan-ti Pureblood, Feral Tieflings, Kalashtar, Shifters, and Gith.

Disallowed Races: Dragonborn, Orcs, Aarokocra, Bugbears, Goblins, Hobgoblins, Kenku, Kobolds, Lizardfolk, Tabaxi, Tritons, Tortle, Changelings, Warforged, Centaurs, Loxodon, Minotaurs, Simic Hybrid, Vedalken, Verdan, Locathah, and Grung.

Somewhat similarly, I'm not allowing the Artificer at this time, as my world is not Eberron.  There have been a variety of advances with regards to the sciences, and I do allow both Firearms and the Fighter (Gunslinger), but not the Artificer for this particular adventure and outing.

Homebrew & House Rules

I actually very much enjoy the idea of introducing both Homebrew content and House Rules, though it’s my intent that things are balanced between my own aesthetic preferences and the mechanical design philosophy as embodied by D&D 5e.  This is something we will discuss at greater detail before starting, with a session 0 and even before that.

Other Discussion Points: 

Caveats and Trigger Warnings, plus General Player Tabletop Expectations.  Those two will be subject to some review by the group as a whole to make sure everyone is on the right page and that we're all comfortable and not likely to have any issues either with the game and story, or with each other.  I look forward to talking to everyone interested by text or voice and kinda making sure the whole thing can come together without immediately going boom.  :)

I would be very interested in this, I have about 40 years of gaming experience, but 0 5th ed. 

Maybe 0 is an exaggeration, I have built a few 5th level characters, some with this site, one with books by hand to get some clue on the rules, but I'm sticking to the 0 experience comment as it's close enough to true.

I am retired, so I am available basically 24/7.  I'm also on discord all the time (Skavies#8786), so pming me there has about a 66% chance of getting me to respond immediately.  If it takes longer than 30 min, I'm sleeping, but will respond when I wake up.  I am slightly disabled, so while I may not be the best player you ever had, I will be the most available one.

I'd prefer a bard or support type character, but I could tank up and play meat shield, it's just not my first choice.

Okay, will keep you in mind and see about starting a conversation via Discord with you tomorrow as I get a few things further sorted.  We can talk about the character(s) you'd prefer to play, as well as the general atmosphere that everybody hopes to have in a VTT space.  (As an aside, a Bard for both support and their  incredible skill at being the Face cannot be anything less than a bonus for every party)  I'm honestly still reviewing this first LFP before posting a similar copy to Roll20, as I always triple check the heck out of anything I put up.  Not always the greatest self promoter, xD

I would absolutely love to take part in this campaign! I have only played in one year-long campaign and one 1-shot (both 5e), so I'm still pretty new. My schedule is wide open, so I would have no issues with availability and attendance. My Discord is Queen0fHearts17#0604. The last character that I played was an Eladrin wild magic sorcerer, I loved that class but everyone in my last campaign told me that I should definitely be a bard in my next campaign if I could (I wrote and recorded a parody love song to one of the characters in the party. Here is the link if you want to hear it https://www.smule.com/p/953590358_2337803488). I'm pretty open to anything, though. 

 Well, I think you have your bard...

Just to clarify, I'm thinking of possibly running as many as 2 different groups, dependent on the response I get here and on Roll20.  My main concern would just be making sure both groups were relatively balanced in abilities and options (class roles, basically).  

@Queen0fHearts - I'll reach out to you tomorrow for sure and we can start talking about the game, via Discord (text or voice as you prefer).

Hey, D&D rookie here, would love to join up with an experienced DM/group for my first run through, and the setting for this campaign sounds awesome.

For a character I have a couple of ideas I've been toying around with as concepts; one in particular that might fit very well with the setting and fill the cleric role in the party if I can iron out specifics with the DM.

Schedule might be my only problem, I work all weekend in a GMT+10 TZ. But I am pretty free during the week so I could make the Wednesday time slot if that's agreeable to the rest of the group. Discord is Revenant#6436, if you're willing to have me on board I'd love to hear from you.

Hey SergeTroy! I would love to join this campaign. I work 8-5 central time, but I'm working from home for the foreseeable future so as soon as 5 hits, I'm ready! Maybe you could hit me up on discord tomorrow? I'll be on my computer all day so any time will work if you'd like to chat. I have about 20 years of gaming experience, but it has been a while since I've played D&D Proper. I would like to play a meaty cleric who's not afraid to get in the fray, or a sword and board fighter to tank for the party. Thank you for your consideration, and I hope to hear from you!

@Larco - Will reach out for sure and see if we can't make it work.  :)  I'll do what I can to reach out tomorrow and see if we can't touch base then or maybe next week as works for you.

Also, I would be willing to play any class. Cleric and fighter are just off the top of my head. I could dive into any of them. 

Hi SergeTroy,

I’m interested in your campaign. I don’t have much in the way of experience though. I played a single session of 3e years ago that got me interested. Since then I have played the role of a 5e DM for a group of my friends that got together. The sessions went good since we were all newbies not knowing what was wrong or right! Anyways, I’m looking to get some xp as a player. I’m interested in playing a rogue or fighter (eldritch knight if allowed) but I am willing to take on any role. Please let me know if you have room. Discord: GhostHacker#3671

If you are open to unearthed arcana subclasses I’d be interested very much :)

I am very interested in joining this campaign, I don't have much experience but I do love hat you want to do in it.

Hi I'm very interested in joining this game I've been playing D&D for about 6 or 7 years and I have been interested in playing through Curse of Strahd. My discord is Thorton Dowsett#6083 and I'm free on most days but when I do work its usually until 3PM CST I'd also let you know if something else comes up. It's been a bit since I last played but I'm very excited to get back into it. Lastly I'm thinking I'd like to play a Half-Orc monk and death house sounds fun.

Phew, okay, think I responded to everyone above this post now, and for those commenting later I will absolutely do what I can to immediately follow up tomorrow.  If I haven't mentioned it already, I have a personal cap of 2 games I'd be willing to run, with a cap of 6 players per game.  I'm not closing things down until we're at or over 15 people though, since some people may not show up and others may just not work out for any number of reasons (we've all been there, it sucks, but the hope is that in doing some networking we find others who can make that more permanent party we're looking for).  I will say I am hoping that the groups that come together are able to form fairly balanced parties (or, if not balanced, super interesting), so the willingness to play more than one character type is a valuable one.  Anyways, nites for now, will see where we stand tomorrow.  

Discord: Caveman#6268

very new, as in no in game experience, I know the concept and can have fun , i'm just not very imaginative trying to open up more.  would love to play with experienced players to try and learn more about it . im sure itd be more fun aswell that way. 

id be available for your Wednesdays sessions any time 

I have some game experience, and I saw that you have disallowed Changelings as player race, was this a decision made before they had a huge errata? It's my preferred race to play for the past year, and I do see the need to play another, but its my favorite thematic race. What is your ruling on multiclassing? And are you still looking for players? I am open to any time to play due to being forced by law to self-isolate.

Hey. I'm interested. You still got space?