Wow, that's a lot of replies! Thanks so much, y'all! (Still room for more, if anyone wants in!) I'm thrilled to see people in Europe wanting to do this... I was very active on an international forum for many years, and have many dear friends in the UK. I also lived in Germany for a year and a half. This is looking like Tuesday... where I live, the economy depends a lot on tourism, and I'd rather tell my future boss that I'll need Mondays and Tuesdays off than ask off on a weekend. What time would be good for everyone? I'm willing to start at 10 in the morning (mmm. Coffee and D&D) which would be 1 PM eastern time for tktwar, and 6 PM in the UK for Chris. (Not sure which time zones Alexander & family and Xardaras are in.) Does that work for everyone? Again, I'm thinking 2-3 hours of play. I can probably adjust it a little either way, if there's something you can't miss either before or after. I'm moving from one house to another, so we'll start Tuesday after this coming up one: start date August 18 (unless something goes wonky with the move... I just learned that the movers won't be coming Aug 15 but Aug 12-13 and then again 15-17. If that happens I'll let y'all know ASAP). That'll probably be a session 0, where we "roll up" (create) characters and decide things like whether or not we're ok with cussing, for example. In the meantime, let me tell y'all a little about the world we'll play in and D&D 5e - give you some ideas! D&D has had several editions- that's what the "e" stands for in 5e. When you roll a character in 5e, you typically make three decisions immediately: what race, background and class your character is. Then you roll dice for "attributes" and plug them in accordingly - If you have an archer who has terrible dexterity, you're not going to hit your target often. I'm shortening the process by excluding choosing a class. Part of why is to simply get playing faster... classes come with spells, weapons, features and other complications. I also want to give every player the opportunity to see what feels right: casting spells to heal or buff the party, shooting ranged spells or weapons, or running in and wailing on some monster with a sword/polearm/my FISTS. But also, most classes have a defining moment. If you decide you want to be a warlock, this means you'll form a pact with a powerful magical being. Sorcerers have magic bestowed upon them. Paladins and clerics swear fealty to a god. Wizards find a spellbook. I wanna play these moments, not read about them in a backstory! So all we'll do at the beginning is roll attributes and decide race and background. If you have a class (or two) in mind, let me know and I'll tell you where to put your attributes. Wizards need to be high intelligence, rogues need high dexterity, you get the idea. If you really don't know, just roll a character you think you would like to play and we'll figure out a class later. Races: In Samwarter, there are a lot of humans, dwarfs, and halflings. Gnomes aren't uncommon. (Tanzen's a human.) I'm willing to allow anything else that's in the Player's Handbook, but 1) your character will be considered very unusual/exotic, and 2) there isn't any magic in Samwarter... magic is the first big discovery the party will make. Note that humans are just as capable of magic as elves in this setting (as in most D&D settings). Your race will change your attributes by bumping some of them up by one or two. Since race, attributes and class as kind of interconnected, I'm leaving that for session zero. Background, on the other hand, is pretty simple! It just determines what equipment your character has, usually a special ability called a feature, and 2-3 things your character knows how to do. There are 13 backgrounds to choose from and they start on page 127 of the Players' Handbook. If you don't have a copy, I found a website that describes them pretty well here: <a href="https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/blogs/dnd/5e-background-for-dungeons-and-dragons" rel="nofollow">https://www.skullsplitterdice.com/blogs/dnd/5e-background-for-dungeons-and-dragons</a> Since we're starting out in a landlocked, isolated city, I'm not allowing Hermit, Outlander or Sailor. I'm going to modify things like Guild Artisan since there isn't really a "guild" in this world (yet). To make up for it, here's 3 homebrew backgrounds you can choose from: Farmer : You've spent your days toiling on the surface of Samwarter, growing food and managing livestock. Skill proficiencie s: Animal handling, medicine OR performance. Tool proficiencies : land vehicles, herbalism kit OR musical instrument of your choice. Equipment : A set of common clothes, a lantern, a cooking pot, a herbalism kit or musical instrument, a pouch containing 10 gold pieces, and an optional medium-sized pet (dog, raven, cat on a leash, particularly intelligent rat, whatever. No mounts). Feature: I'd Eat it.You can tell if a plant or mushroom is edible, non-edible or poisonous by examining it. You will need to examine it for about 10 minutes before becoming certain, or give it a quick glance and roll a nature check with advantage. Miner : You work underground beneath Samwarter, mining water during the 100-year drought and maybe finding some pretty shinies. Skill proficiencies : Athletics, Acrobatics. Tool proficiencies : Miner's tools, gaming set of your choice. Languages : Dwarvish (2/3 of your bosses are dwarfs; you better speak their language!) Equipment : A set of common clothes, a gaming set, a good luck charm, a pouch with 1d4 pretty shiny rocks of unknown quality, a pouch containing 10 gold pieces. Feature: Quick burrow. You can dig at the rate of two square feet a minute. pit traps? underground camps? Technology Apprentice: You grew up learning the technology needed to pump water up from the mines and irrigate the fields. You're comfortable working with gnomes. Skill proficiencies : Investigation, perception. Tool proficiencies : Tinker's tools, navagator's tools (when they become available). Languages : Gnomish (nearly all your bosses are gnomes; you better speak their language!) Equipment : A set of common clothes, tinker's tools, a pouch containing 15 gold pieces. Feature: McGyver. Using whatever is available, you can roll a d20 plus dex mod to attempt to fix or jurryrig any object. The difficulty of the jurryrig or fix is determined by the DM. If you can explain how you plan to do this with specific available materials, the DM may grant advantage.
