Session 0

About DM
Welcome! Thank you for joining this game run by DM with only few years RPG experience and less than a year PBP experience.
What i lack in experience i make up for in enthusiasm. I promise to put effort into the game on daily basis and be open for feedback
But I expect each player to also invest their time and be flexible to play this game in a way which I am able to manage.
I've introduced multiple restrictions on Session 0 to prevent problems I am not qualified to resolve.

I believe I'm good at analysing module and reflecting it to players, good at enforcing DnD rules (and know them well) but not as good role-playing NPCs and describing environment. Most importantly I am not able to assist you making a coherent team and motivating your PCs to follow the hooks.


Disclaimer
Congratulations of getting invited to Session 0. You are not in the game yet, though! You have only secured your place in game if you meet the one week deadline for steps 1-3 described below.

Prerequisite
All players read policies and rules and sign it off by posting "understand and agree" or ask question. And please do ask questions - those are not common practices I expect you to have questions.

Any questions so far?

NPCs, Events prior to story, Background
Thanks everyone for considering background. I'm afraid I've confused some of you providing overview of first few in game chapters as part of "The Pitch". Your background however don't need to and even should not reflect your involvement with Chult business.
Your PC background shout fit following opening story:

You either live with or visit your prominent parents when an old family friend Syndra Silvane pays a visit and tells your parents that she is going to Chult for business needs and could take your PC with her. Your PC would be able to spend 7 days in exotic city and relax.
You gather your "starting equipment" and visit Syndra on the set date when she teleport you and a bunch of other friends of her to Port Nyanzaru’s Harbor - that's where we start Chapter 1

Human (Variant) , Rouge (going for Arcane Trikster)

Cilia just graduated from the Baldurs gate academy as an Anthropologist.
She had a fling with a fantastic elven (eladrin) guy who showed her some fantastic sights. Her parents did not like the guy made sure that she took a powerful contraceptive just in case. But the damage was done, she was already Fay Touched (Feat). When Syndra Silvane was to take a trip a thousand miles away from Baldur's gate Cilias parants grabbed the oppertunity to get some distance between their daughter and this inappropriate (non-human) suiter.

Cilia's father, Ulder Ravengard is commander of Baldurs Gates Flaming Fist, and he is the first to recognise human superiority. Cilia is not a specisist herself, but she has been influenced.

rolling trinkets just because I get one extra as Anthropologist

Trinket: A white, sequined glove sized for a human
Trinket: An alabaster mask

@runekyndig I have revisited variant human and decided to allow it while it is has feat other than lucky, so your character concept is cool you could proceed with character sheet. Please note how familiar your PC is with Syndra and what she think about her (in one or few words).

Thank you for letting me come aboard this adventure with you all. The character I am thinking of is a Human bard Anthropologist. I saw in the other thread someone else was thinking bard as well, I was thinking 2 wouldnt be bad but if the party would like to have more diversity, I can try something else like a sorcerer or something. I am open to any ideas for combining backgrounds. (I am more than willing to change races or anything if anyone wants to be siblings, cousins etc.) Some ideas may include childhood friends, a colleague anthropologist, neighbor etc.

The background of Ha'aroo:
Living in a Baldur's gate I had many friends of several different types of cultures. I became fascinated with the different traditions that other cultures had and began writing a book on lost civilizations and uncommon cultures from around the world. An old family friend, Syndra Silvane, has told me rumors of a civilization where people not only have humongous creatures, which some are meat eaters, that are larger than elephants nearby but also live and work alongside these creatures. This is something I think some of the city dwellers back home would love to read about and so I set forth to see if the rumors are true and how these people live with such creatures.

understand and agree

Question for you GM. Not sure if I skipped over or not but thought id ask what sources can we use for spells? Is it PHB only or are other sources allowed?

It is safe to assume every published spells, but ask before you dive into published stuff outside the forgotten realms setting. Eberron and Strixhaven spells I would run by GM's anytime

Luck be with me...

@genecortess I was thinking of having Gnomish, Orc and Draconic as my languages. Im sort of picking at random since I dont know what everyones races are right now. If you want to share a language that might be nice to communicate not in common. Also since you are human would you like to be related of any sorts?

@runekyndig would you like to be cooworkers with Ha'aroo since we have the same background?

@natone are you going the bard route? Are you all good with another bard in the party and if so want to have the same music teacher for one of our musical instruments we know?

@Tasrek

The backstory I submitted during application was indeed made for a bard.

This time the Entertainer Background. She is a bard. A dancer and violin player. Playing her music in taverns and inns for a few copper coins. She heard lots of stories from adventurers, even those coming from Chult. Stories of a city full of riches and entertainment. A combination which made her not copper or silver but gold. Dreaming of playing her music for the merchants in Port Nyanzaru was a dream of gold. She would go there, play music, become famous and become rich.

I intend to make her a violin player.

I haven't really decided subclass yet. Maybe we can take different subs.
Having the same music teacher would be great.

Given the different understanding of the background now for the start, I have a minor tweak to my idea.

Considering a wood elf noble druid.

As a child, I learned druidic/nature magic from my mother before she was sent to be an ambassador to Baldur's Gate. Given that my training wasn't complete, I followed along eager to still learn. I settled into a nice routine of working alongside an Alchemist guild supplying plants and knowledge of them to their group to help pass my time. My mother thinks that I'm spending too much effort working with this guild that I don't have designs on joining and is part of her reasoning for funding my trip with Syndra. I was hesitant to go, but the chance to go somewhere new

Read and agreed. It's late my time so I'll start on my character tomorrow.

I see we have fighter, bard and a rogue, so maybe I'll go something magical like a druid.

Hmm, not a great roll

I forgot to mention, but you are more than welcome to change background you submit originally. There may indeed be little sense in multiple PCs with the same background and I would be happy to see more casual backgrounds. Besides you have more info now.

I would also like to ask every player who choose variant human to describe lore wise their feat just as runekyndig did it. I decided not to disallow any. I just think it would be a better experience for you as a player if you could come up with the story that backs up your feat choice.

P.S. PCs who will have stories explain what I see in your charsheets will start with inspiration

@GeneCortess Sounds good to me. So you were saying Jim Corman and Ha'aroo having joint expeditions together like Jim researching a lost draconic civilization a few years back and invited Ha'aroo along as Jim knows Ha'aroo is fascinated by uncommon cultures and also has some experience in draconic cultures. While Jim may have been looking for lost treasure or artifacts of that civilization, Ha'aroo was looking for lost knowledge and find out how these people lived.

@Natone sounds good ill make violin one of the music proficiencies Ha'aroo knows just not the instrument he carries. Ha'aroo may not be as good at the violin as your character but was good enough to compete with you in violin class. A rival as it may.

I will be finalizing my character soon.

Thing is, the art and name I originally had in mind, I already used in a small game I applied to simultaneously to test out :)
I might resuse them though (@Boop hope that won't cause you to much confussion as I refer to the uncaged game).

Also, still a bit between making her human or half elf.

I might make art of my own...

I am surely for connecting our characters.

check out www.heroforge.com its an awesome tool for making figures to use as avatars

Ooh. Thanks. Will look at it for sure!!

I imagined that Cilia was newly graduated, but yes they could have worked together during her thesis

Players who happened to have one stat 6, I recommend you to describe that as a feature in "Features And Traits" section and refer to for role-play opportunities, I may grant Inspiration for that.

Hey all, sorry for not replying yesterday was away at a wedding and got home an hour or so ago.

I pitched a half orc fighter (heading towards battle master I think), a pit fighter and chariot racer in an arena in Balder's gate.

I'm gonna read through everything and I'll get a background written up.

Before I begin the crunchy numbers and so on, here is my idea to make sure it's okay with you all:

Name: Nebula (Nick: Neb)
Class: Abberrant Mind Sorceror
Race: Tiefling
Background: Sailor

Neb has always been an adventurous sailor - however, sometimes she is TOO adventurous. Regularly getting herself in trouble, she has often sailed into terrible storms, been shipwrecked and still continued out the next day - learning absolutely nothing.
Neb's fate took a turn when she sailed into an Abolleth's lair - and for once, had enough sense to flee. She didn't escape unharmed though, being heavily mentally damaged by its psychic influence. Of course, that didn't stop Neb - but it did spark an odd set of powers within her.




@NatOne - I'll be okay ;)

Alright got a backstory written up, not the greatest stat roll but will see how it goes.

Travers is the son of a half-orc and, and a Human commoner from a small town.

As a young boy he used to play with the other children in the town and surrounding forest, one day when he was 7 he fell into the river and was swept downstream, the other children unable to get to him ran for help. Luckily his half-orc constitution kept him alive until he was rescued by Syndra Silvane, an adventurer whom the children had found nearby. In thanks for saving their son his parents welcomed her into their home whenever she was in the area and they became friends.

Upon Travers turning 14 after a series of attacks by orcs on the town his mother and father were often harassed by a group of angry townsfolk, eventually the group hired mercenaries who wounded his parents and burnt down their home before running them all out of town. Travers and his parents travelled around various towns taking work where they could.

After a few years of scraping by, Travers found his way into small underground boxing matches for small amounts of money. He slowly became better and learnt more about arena fighting, racing and competitions. He slowly became noticed and began to fight in bigger matches and occasionally even race chariots.

His parents, at first wary of this new profession, came round to the idea, deciding to move to a bigger city and settling on Balders gate knowing their old friend Syndra had settled there. A few years later Travers is a well known athlete and gladiator in the arenas and has earnt a good reputation. Travers lives in one of the apartments for Gladiators, his parents have a small business and they now have a small house in the city where he regularly visits them.

@runekyndig Sounds like a plan! I am thinking for languages Orc, Gnomish and Draconic do you have any of these languages by chance? If so we can say you joined me in your thesis and lived with a tribe for a time. Although Ha'aroo does not have formal education in this field he has a lot of in the field experience. I am still considering switching up the gnomish language with something else if you want to share a different language saying we explored a different culture than these.

Name: Cilia Ravengard, Human rouge
Cilia just graduated from the Baldurs gate academy as an Anthropologist. She was a good observer and could stay out of sight of the elven village she and Ha'aroo (Tasrek's character) were working on. She wrote her thesis on that expedition. During the trip, she had a fling with a fantastic elven (eladrin) guy who showed her some fantastic sights (in fey) and how soft the leaves were.

When she returned home with a diploma in hand, her parents were less than pleased about this non-human suiter and his relations to their pure daughter. They ordered her to take a powerful contraceptive just in case there was a half-elf growing in her belly. But the damage was done, she was already Fay Touched (Feat).

Cilia's father, Ulder Ravengard is commander of Baldurs Gates Flaming Fist, garrison and when one of the families friends, Syndra Silvane, was to take a trip a thousand miles away from Baldur's gate Cilias parents grabbed the opportunity to get some distance between their daughter and this inappropriate (non-human) suiter.
Cilias parantes are the first to recognise human superiority. Cilia is not a specialist herself, but she has been influenced. Syndra Silvane did know of the eladrin affair, but is a bit more liberal than Cilias parents. Eating and drinking in fay were known ways to get bound to the fey. In secret, she borrowed Cilia two books. A guide to the fey wilds and a wizard primer just in case her midnight meeting had sparked some magical spark.

Just before Syndra Silvane were to cast the teleport spell on group, Cilias older brother gave her a box. It contains a set of beautifully crafted daggers and a short sword in the same style (see the daggers she is holding)

cool i changed one of Ha'aroo's languages from gnomish to elvish to match with Cilia's backstory and also we would be able to talk to @dramasailor's character outside of common if needed.

@balgan144 "well known athlete and gladiator in the arenas" does not match lvl 1 character. You could at most be at the beginning of your gladiator career , but even then please explain why would you choose such a dangerous career given your are a prominent parent's son.

Also - Everyone please do state in your charsheet the organisation/town/church your parts are prominent at. I may want to involve them into the story.

Rolling some more...

Completed character sheet with parents working as head of the alchemy guild. I believe my character is complete and ready for chapter 1. Please let me know if there are any additional changes that need to be made

Ah yes fair enough missed that part apparently.
Bit of an edit then:

Travers' father was a skillful horse breeder, they managed to escape town on their prize stallion and a colt with good potential.

Moving straight to baldurs gate (or just outside),his parents set up buying and selling horses whilst breeding the two they owned with other horses of good stock. After a few years his father became well know as having the some of best horses in the area often putting on exhibitions with some in the arena.

Travers assisted with these exhibitions riding the horses over/around obstacles and even in a few races. He enjoyed being part of the show and began to show interest in the other aspects of the arena.

He has recently convinced his father to allow him to compete in some of the exhibition of skill matches before some of the more renowned fighter take the stage. He still lives with his parents and spends the majority of his time either helping with the horses or practicing riding and basic combat.

For fighting styles can we use the ones from Tashas (thinking superior technique) or just from the phb?

Sure use Tashas or any other official resource for class/subclass features.
The only reason I limit races to PHB: 1. There are few races involved in the story and I don't wand you to chose those races 2. I do not want to spoil list of the races in the story.

Let me remind you - your PCs are going as tourists to Port Nyanzaru. If buying more weapons to prepare for the even would improve your PC story - I wouldn't mind.

You should however bear in mind that you need to have fundings to cover 7 days in a big city: cover your accommodation, any tourist expenses and souvenirs :)

Story wise - the only reason your PCs take armour/weapons with you is representative reason. Syndra insisted you would take a formal military dressing with you to join a party organised by one of the Seven Merchant Prince's (who Syndra is currently trying to make a business with, which is by the way reason she is teleporting to Chult).

Thorem's gear: Bought 5 flasks of oil, dagger, and fine clothes out of his original 25gp.
Would he actually have that Wooden Case with him that contains mostly his archaeology gear?
Is there any other gear too that he would not have with him?
_______________________________________________________________________
Fine Clothes: Waterskin over shoulders

Longsword in scabbard on belt
Longbow attached to backpack
Quiver: 20 Arrows on backpack
2 Handaxes in Holders on belt
Dagger in scabbard on belt

Backpack: Ruin Map, Sledgehammer (Bestie), Tinderbox, 10 Rations, Traveler’s Clothes, Leather Armor
Attached: Two-person Tent, Shield

Wooden Case: Bullseye Lantern, Miner’s Pick, Shovel, Crowbar, 10 Pitons, 10 Torches, 50' Hempen Rope, 5 Flasks of Oil

Pouch: 7gp, 5sp, Silver Skull The Size of a Coin, Old Key
______________________________________________________________________________________________________

Sledgehammer (Bestie) is a favored item to him. It has always done him well. To drive pitons or just break things. He has gotten himself out of fixes with just using Bestie to take down a wall when he was trapped. He always explores with Bestie.
Silver Skull The Size of a Coin is something he took from a previous tomb. He favors it.
Old Key is something he happened on and has no idea of any lock it works. He just keeps it.
Fine Clothes is formal military dressing.

Ah yes makes sense. If it's a different continent and culture I doubt we've come across much if anything from there.

To clarify/modify when I say exhibition of skill matches I mean people juggling swords, training matches, showing the crowd how feints work, more of a show than actual combat. Before the actual gladiators come out.

That is cool. I like that

I have my character for 95% set.

Mechanics are final and up for approval for Grey.
Backstory is in it's core done as well.
Tasrek and I had a little chat and decided to go on half sibling bards.
That is probably also how I know Gene's character.

Some details still needed to be worked out story wise and I will need to still finalize and render the art work.


Lasme is the second child of a rich, human, head of an alchemy trade guild from Baldur's Gate and his second, wood elf, wife.

It was good for Lasme that she had Ha'aroo as an older half-brother for she had no interest or talent in succeeding her father in alchemy business. He could succeed father, for all she cared.
Lasme was good with people, but she lacked pure smarts. Books and numbers bore her to death. She never did well at any studies.

She is the type of girl that needed to do instead of learn. She was all focussed on her intuition and gutfeeling.
One day a family friend, Syndra Silvane, gave her a violin. A talent for music was discovered. She played and played.

And while her father had hoped she would play quality music, worthy for Cormyrean nobles, Lasme rather played faced paced music, while dancing on the tables in harbor taverns.
Her violin case open, to gain donations and soaking up the atmosphere of the tavern. Her dream riches and fame. Maybe, if Lliira wills it, in Waterdeep if possible!

She indeed had a natural talent for performing, but not in the perfect, near noble, picture her rich merchant parents had imagined.

Hi All. Good progress with charsheets so far.
Note that I've decided to allow those who rolled terrible to chose either stay with rolled or use standard array instead
note: I will put some game mechanics ideas into OOC chat right now. I just realised it may influence your character decisions, so if anyone want to go back and change something I'm totally fine, just let me know

Everyone but @Dramasailor characters approved and we could slowly move to chatper 1
I will be waiting for your opinion in OOC by tomorrow (24 hours from post) and for Dramasailor character by Monday - there will be little progress in chapter 1 till then

This is what Lasme looks like.

Travers,

All characters approved, I am accepting any better token pictures for battle maps that we may have in a week or something, so no hurry
And please check if I got your PC names right and if it is ok to shorten those who have two words name

This is how it would look like at the moment

Everyone who will want to have access to player handouts could join roll20 game where I will be managing battle maps . It is optional for players to join there are I will copy all important info here. Only some pictures and unimportant lore details will stay on roll20 exclusively

I posted a token a few posts above. I like round tokens :)

You can just shorten my name to Ha'aroo J. if you would like

Here's a headshot for Pacan, and definitely ok with shortening to just "Pacan"

https://thefatefulforce.com/battle-resources/token-creator/

I wouldn't be as much worried about circle as making the picture readable. I would allow myself to argue that I can distinguish anyone but Travers on the battle map below.

I think I like my square

Might be easier to see?