Zidovia: City in the Shadow: Session Zero
Calling all Adventurers!
So far I’ve got one brave soul ready to embark on my little journey. Meet Nevan! It’s time to gather a few more PCs and set out some basic guidelines for the campaign.
If you’re interested, check out the info below. In general, these will not be in-person games but rather use things like Discord, and Zencastr to communicate.
Ideally sessions will take place once a week. Sunday evenings seem to work well, but there is some flexibility. As time gets closer we can decide on what is best.
SUBMIT A CHARACTER
- A standard character sheet is fine. I don’t even need all the possible bells & whistles, but the more information you give me, the better I can add some flavor to the story that is specific to your character.
- Everyone starts at Level 3! That’s right, y’all get to start off with some pretty decent abilities. As much as I like to see a character grow, it really wouldn’t make sense to stick a total greenhorn in the middle of an active story.
- No Evil alignment. Sorry about this one, but part of the story’s genesis assumes that each of the main PCs has been brought to Zidovia for a reason and a purely evil character would not have made the cut.
- All classes and races are a-okay.
- Want to homebrew something? Have a cool idea for a trait or ability that isn’t by-the-book? Let me know. Assuming that I don’t think it’ll break the game I’ll probably be all for it. I have zero intention of “playing by the rules” so feel free to be creative.
- I love a good backstory. You don’t need to submit an entire biography, but let me know what makes them unique.
- The backstory does not need to be common knowledge. If you want your character to have secrets, just let me know if any parts of your history shouldn’t be common knowledge. If I can work it into the story, I will.
GAMEPLAY STYLE
- Rules? Where we’re going we don’t need no rules!
- Okay… maybe not THAT extreme, but I’m pretty inexperienced when it comes to D&D and I’m much more interested in the story and flow of gameplay. In general the gameplay dynamics will be based off of 5th Edition D&D.
- Ask questions. Don’t ask for rolls.
- “Can I roll an Investigation Check?” said no Adventurer ever. Do your best to address situations as your PC would. I’m not saying that everyone needs to stay in character at all times, but at least try to stay within the setting.
- C-C-C-Combo!!!
- Something I don’t see a whole lot of is cooperation within the game. Sure, there is often a common goal, but when it comes to initiative or problem solving, it’s always one-on-one. If you can think of a novel way to gang up on an obstacle with another character I’ll do my best to bolster your efforts.
- Whispers
- I’m pretty sure we’ll be using Discord for the chat function. Feel free to PM the other players or the DM if you are doing the equivalent of an in-game whisper or secretive gesture.
- Die Rolls
- Physical die rolls are preferred. I know that using Discord keeps the players honest and creates a nice record of events, but I’m a little old fashioned.
- Even if you do end up using Discord for die rolls, please make a point to say the results out loud.
- Don’t Fear the Reaper
- In general I don’t want your characters to die. Retreat is always an option, and there will usually be ample opportunities for revival. That being said… you certainly could die. No one is invincible.
- On the flip side. If you’re 100% fine with going out in a blaze of glory, let me know.
- Let’s Get Critical, Critical!
- I may not always use the standard procedure on a Crit 1 or a Crit 20. There WILL be some added effect, but I like the idea of massive failure/success having more than one possible outcome.
- Partial Cover
- Think you can protect yourself by hiding behind a boulder while attacking the Fire-Breathing Ooze Monster From Beyond? Cool. This is a strategy I’d love to see more of, but there will be consequences. Usually it will improve your AC a little, but also subtract from your To Hit rolls when attacking.
Okay, okay, okay… I swear I’m not an evil dictator. Just a little too excited to get started with the campaign. I’m sure a ton of things will change as we go along, but this should give everyone an idea of what I hope to create.
The timeline is pretty vague at the moment, but I’ll start constructing backstory sessions as soon as each PC is ready. They don’t need to be one-on-one either. If more than one of you wants to share a little bit of history that’s a possibility as well.