[Closed, Waitlist OK] Without Benefit of Compass

Ha! Thank you my friend, I hope we get to play a great game together.

My warlock will be an elf, in case that matters for your application table. Might go human, but if I had to choose right now I'd go elf.

Oh yes - My paladin would be human

Hello.

I started playing D&D back in the 1980s with AD&D1ed, but I haven't been at a table in over 20 years. Full disclosure, this would be my first PbP should you accept :). Also, I have pretty much all the 5e rulebooks and a couple of the converted modules, so it is unlikely I'll invest in 5.5e when it comes out and will need to rely on your rulings.

Concept: Rogue (hidden)
May consider Swashbuckler archetype (Sword Coast p. 135/Xanathar p. 47) at 3rd level if available.

Race: Human Variant (Dual Wielder Feat)
Name: Kyle Thomlin
Sex: Male
Height: 5' 11"
Weight: 175 lbs.
Alignment: NE
Traits: Always nervous, possible to the point of anxiety, given his personal situation. Has a tendency to be sardonic, which he is trying to suppress given that it makes him more memorable.
Bonds: None of which he is consciously aware. He is in it for himself.
Flaws: Impetuous. Short-sighted. Selfish. He understands that cooperation is necessary to advance his own goals of survival and personal wealth, so he will keep his word (so long as it is in his best interest…)
Background: Kyle is a human rogue masquerading as a fighter (with 5e finesse this is easier than in 1ed). A probationary member of the local thieves guild, Kyle's "graduation test" was to steal an item from a mansion, which—unbeknownst to him—belonged to the guildmaster. This way the higher-ranking members of the guild could watch the probationary thief. To make a long story short, it went horribly wrong, and ending up with his killing the guildmaster's young son. So now he is on the run for his very life. He feels that masquerading as a "man-at-arms" will help throw off anyone searching for him, at least for now.
Appearance: Kyle does his best not to stand out. He is of slightly-above average height and tends to a slimmer build. He dresses in muted earth tones such as an olive tunic, beige pants, all covered by a dark greyish-brown hooded cloak. A rapier can be seen protruding from the bottom of the cloak, and careful observation would notice a main-gauche-sized bulge on the other side. His brown eyes and sandy-blond hair are usually occluded by the hood, although his Cheshire cat-like grin is almost always visible.
Other Character Notes: Besides DEX, I would like to place emphasis on CHA. He's always been somewhat of a rake and now needs to rely on his charm even more so. Flawed stat is WIS. Impetuous and unthinking of secondary effects of his actions is what got him into this mess in the first place. Preferred alignment would be NE (he isn't bothered by killing, after all) although I admit I haven't ever run an evil character before. Think of an evil Errol Flynn. While some may consider that to be Basil Rathbone, Basil was more the true fighter than rogue character (and he was a real-life master fencer too!). Also, should the class be "hidden" from the rest of the party (notwithstanding this post :) ) is another interesting question.

I was originally thinking Tiefling for my warlock but the more I think on it I’m tuning to Human Variant.

Come to think of it, how much of the lore for this world is available here?

Just giving this a slight bump for the weekend.

Time for me to ask you veteran types a few questions in turn, as well:

1) I've been doing some preliminary work on a custom character sheet. I absolutely LOVE that this site is capable of that, and the possibilities are completely outstanding, but before I go too far down that rabbit hole... is it culturally okay around here, or are people kinda set with the house 5e sheet?

2) As of this writing, I've got nine applicants. One thing I've never been very good at is cutting people, especially since I'd theoretically only be cutting two people and that's just a crappy statement to make: "You were the two worst." :P I also kinda like the idea of smaller groups anyway, so what I was thinking was taking a group of four for this mission and running a different mission for the other five in the same world. I even have a few cool long-term ideas about how the adventures of the two parties might end up impacting one another. The introductory adventure for the other group would involve the following "hook": Two part question:
A) Is there anyone who would NOT participate in the alternate adventure?
B) Is there anyone who would PREFER to participate in the alternate adventure?

---

If you're a non-applicant reading this for the first time: I'm willing to take one more app, for two parties of five. First come, first serve. Anyone who applies after that will be considered waitlist just in case one of the existing applicants withdraws or disappears.

I'm fine with a custom sheet so long as it hews to the system, which in this case is 5e. For example, for 1e, I'm working on my own custom spreadsheet with lookups and all :).
That is very fair of you. From my perspective, I am ambivalent as to which which adventure to choose. Also, if it makes your life as a DM easier, being the last applicant—and perhaps the only one whose out-of-dateness can be measured in decades and not years—I completely understand if I am cut. Remember, as the DM, you are the lynchpin of the experience and you need to ensure you have the balance and the freedom to run the game without it contributing too much stress in your life. Thank you!

The custom character sheets is a blessing. Here is our repository of all the sheets that have been developed. I myself constantly tweak my sheets to include different rules relevant to a class and so on.
Don't feel that you have to provide the sheet to your players.
The process normally goes like this
1) make a game requirement post (this one)
2) invite selected players to the game forum
3) players finish their characters and submit them, and here you can review them. Some will use the standard 5e sheets, others will use the custom sheet from the repository and some like me, will have a custom sheet that has been altered in some way.
4) the game starts :)

You can also have some dice codes in your game. See this tread for more info
And what does this do? I hear you ask. We can get a quick reading like this if an AC is hit or a DC is met

Hmmmm. Not sure I understand

hehe, dice rules is somthing we can setup in the game setting. Bacaly it will change the formatting on the dice rolls based on some search parameters. In my example below it will highlight natural 20's and 1's and it will set a red X for failed hits against AC and to low DCs checks

1) go to your game page, press edit
2) In the bottom expanded the Advanced rules definitions


As you can see you can choose from the a bunch of community dice rules, and add to them as well. Its also possible to add a background image if you have some cool artwork

If I do create my own custom sheet for the game, use of it would be mandatory. There's a few reasons I'm considering that route, mostly involving wanting a few extra notes fields, a stronger area for demographics, and a couple of customized calculations. My concern is whether such a requirement would be a dealbreaker for many people.
I appreciate the perspective. :) But no, I won't be cutting you. Honestly I could probably handle two groups of six or seven without breaking much of a sweat (new forum home notwithstanding), and limiting it to two groups of five IS my way of being nicer to myself. I can't rely on years of history giving me any insight this time, this is getting to know ten completely new people to me, and I want to have that much more time to really focus on getting to know them well.
It's really cool that the site developed that much automation, but I tend to think that numbers get in the way of immersion. You can't metagame your chances if you don't have any idea what the target number is. ;) Even hit points is something that I only report using the following key:Not knowing the exact number adds a lot of tension to the proceedings.

I presume a diabolic laugh at this point would be uncalled for????
Oooooh boy. Mayhap now is not the best time to admit my day job is being an actuary, so I live, eat, and breathe probability and statistics. Dis gonna be fun :D :D :D

Yes, the custom sheets are great, the ones for 5e are more flexible, interactive and easier for my bifocal-bound eyes to work with.
Our dwarf Bru would be happy to go on either of the two adventures. Wherever DM wishes to fit him is fine. :)

Actually, it occurs to me that I can continue this conversation on the OTHER side of the invitation divide, working out groups and preferences within the game. ;) So I've gone ahead and formally invited all of you.

Reminder that there is room for one more, and that anyone after that is welcome to post interest in order to be waitlisted.

Character sheet:
I would just tell my players that you want the following extra fields (X,Y,Z) in the character sheet, and you have provided a sheet that includes that.
Personally, I would properly take your sheet, and add my own twist on it. For instance, I'm fond of using checkboxes to keep track of use per day abilities or to mark if i.e. if my character has readied his shield or not.

Health key:
There I'm in total agreement. I would rather offer a percentage that a X out of X HP, so I work that into most of my sheets

This one is a pathfinder sheet, but still. When asked I can tell my players that my character is at 34% HP but my GM can see everything.

As a DM I'm used to assume a char-sheet is a tool used by player and owned by player. I ask or even demand certain fields/info to be added there for my as DM's convenience, but players organize sheets the way they are used and they way that best manages the specific class/subclass features ( @runekyndig provided great examples)
As a player I'm flexible to DM's demands though.

I would prefer NOT to participate alternative party with my current PC concept.

I have been a bit busy and not been paying much attention at this thread for a bit.

I personally LOVE the custom sheets. They are so much easier to manage your resources on especially when you are a spell caster class. I can do the normal 5E Sheet, but I prefer the custom one.

I find the alternate adventure hook interesting and I am surely willing to play in that.

However, when splitting the party in a way like this, I do think there should be some balance in party composition. Especially as parties will influence each other and "world is not fair". As such, I am okay with using a different character concept if needed to balance out things.

I'm fine with either plot line and with whatever sheet you would like to use. The DM job is way harder than mine, so if it helps make things easier for you to manage 10 players, that works for me. I do agree adding a few custom things to the sheet to manage resources is pretty nice and I've done that a few times.

Well, so far the way everyone's voted should make accommodating you pretty easy there.