Game Rules¶

Experience¶

Earning EXP¶

XP is earned via progression. Many encounters will provide XP, not just combat. XP will be calculated between the end of a session and the start of the next. Combat encounters don’t necessarily have to be fought and I encourage creative roleplaying. More roleplaying = more chances of success = more XP! You won’t receive XP for sessions you don’t participate in.

Milestones¶

Bonus XP will be granted for achieving specific milestones or significant challenges throughout the campaign.

Level-up¶

Characters will level up on a Long Rest. This may happen during or out of sessions. If you have enough XP to level up, but haven’t had a long rest yet, you remain your current level until you complete a long rest. You can expect to be Level 2 at the end or during Session 1, and Level 3 at the end or during Session 2. After that it will be slower.

Player, Behaviour, Game Behaviour, DM Expections¶

Unannounced dice rolls¶

Unannounced dice rolls won’t be counted and will be asked to be rerolled whether good or bad. Please announce what you’re rolling for before you roll, and only roll if asked.

Dice rolls against one another¶

We had a 50/50 split with preference on Player-vs-Player rolls. I tend to find that in-character debates offer some excellent roleplay opportunities. As such. PvP rolls will be used vary sparingly. I will allow them but on the condition that for any given roll, all parties involved consent to settle the matter via a roll over roleplay and accept the result of that roll. If any party involved does not want to use a roll to settle something, there will be no roll off. There will be times during the course of the game where as DM I will need to ask you to make contested rolls.

PC Secrets¶

Each character is your own, and it’s up to you to decide what you share and what you don’t share with other characters in-game. In-game, in-character secrets don’t necessarily need to be out-of-game, in-person secrets but I leave that to each of your discretion. Please don’t keep secrets from the DM however, as getting blindsided by hidden lore can disrupt a session somewhat. Feel free to blindside me with schemes and ideas so long as they have a base.

Player Expectations, Types, Goals & Diversity¶

We’re all here to have fun, so keep that the focus. For game style, the preference is fairly silly over serious, with lots of dungeon crawling, fighting monsters and villains, roleplaying and character story building and a little bit of puzzle solving.

Player Discomfort¶

If at any time a topic or campaign setting becomes too uncomfortable for you, please flag it and we can take a break and discuss. Stopping the game for this is OK. We’re here to have fun. I’ve made a note of your no-go topics.

Player Agency¶

You each have agency over your characters to do as you please, however there are some in-game effects or situations that may break that agency. For example if your character becomes possessed, bitten by a werewolf or vampire, petrified by a medusa or similar. In these situations the DM will take agency of the character to such a level as required.

Game Balance & Fairness¶

We'll keep the threat of character death at a medium-level. Not too hard, but not a walk in the park. There will of course be potentially fatal challenges but it's not a world where everything is trying to kill you.

Rules Debates¶

I’ll aim to keep to rules as intended + our homebrew dealings. If a we disagree on a rule and we can’t look it up and agree without too much disruption of the session, the DM’s decision goes at the time and we can discuss it at a greater length later to avoid disrupting the session. I’m happy to be wrong about things, but session flow is more important at the time. We may retcon some things if a rule has been misinterpreted.

Meta-knowledge¶

It’s reasonable that your in-game characters would have some general knowledge and knowhow of the mechanics of the ingame world and monsters. Try to avoid metagaming too much when you can, but having some in-character knowledge that’s not explicitly defined is expected.

MinMaxing¶

If you want to MinMax, that’s OK by me. Playing optimized or unoptimized characters is your choice as a player.

Character Party fit¶

It’s up to you as a party to decide what characters you each individually want and what works and fits in your party dynamic as a whole. If you’re happy, I’m happy. I’m not going to be ruling against “that loner character” or “the antisocial antagonist” directly, but the party can veto another members character concept if they feel that character concept isn’t something they’d like to deal with in the campaign. I should clarify that Party Fit will not at any point limit class and race choice in the campaign, but the in-game party’s characters might not want to hang out with a character that’s hell bent on stealing all their nipples.

Murder Hobos¶

Murder hobo’ing will have ingame consequences. This world has laws and police!

Other behaviour rules¶

Stay respectful to eachother in person, even if your characters are fighting. Peace and Love <3

The DM¶

DM Style¶

I’ll aim mostly for Rules as Intended, though I’m happy to honour interesting interpretations of Rules as Written so long as it’s not entirely broken.
I’ll allow homebrewing within reason, again so long as it’s not entirely broken and makes sense in the game world.
I’ll typically prepare a loose fabric for a session and improvise the contents.
I’ll also typically working with theatre of the mind, but will use pen and paper where we need to clarify positions/numbers/combat/maps/layout etc.
I prefer roleplay over mechanics manipulation and will give advantage on some rolls as a reward for good roleplay.

Player Absences¶

If the session has 2 or fewer people available, we’ll likely cancel or do something else. Abscent players can get on with some “downtime” activities within the campaign setting. Maybe one of you stays behind and cooks up a bunch of ration packs while the rest of the party goes on a short hike. Maybe a party member detours en route to a new place to check in on their old aunt who lives nearby.

Player Narrative Authority¶

I’m keen that the game world is as much yours as it is mine. If you want something in the game in relation to your character, add it to your backstory to chat with me about how we can make it make sense in the game world