First about myself, I am a 51 yr old experienced DM player having played and DMed countless campaigns. I like 5e and the modules and I like playing on Roll20, I tend to take existing modules and embelish them, I don't change rules, but I may add characters, places, plot points etc. My strong suit is developing scenarios, locations, characters and 5e modules are very light on background usually in the middle of the module. There are big "sandboxes" that DMs are expected to flesh out. I prefer 18+ players I prefer players not interested in min/maxing every opportunity. If you are not familiar with this term, it basically means playing the most powerful combat character for the sake of doing the most damage while sacrificing other things. I prefer a mix of role playing and combat, not a hack and slash but not hours of talking either I prefer players with SOME role playing experience, doesn't have to be d&d but understanding the main concepts of rounds, skills, etc Here are some details of the setting and general guidelines I would like to follow. If interested, let me know, this is my first time posting on here as a DM 1. Any official WOTC published material can be used for characters, meaning any books, any races, any classes etc. There is just so much out there that I think would be fun. No need for a healer or tank etc, play what you want and go from there. 2. An adventure that takes place entirely in a city, obviously some "dungeon diving" with basements etc but nothing really outside 3. Leveling without XP using the following formula. Start at level 1 - level 2 is after session 1, level 3 is after 2 more sessions, etc too hard to keep track of XP and this will also remove the need to "grind XP". Many characters start looking for things to kill just to level up. 4. 50/50 mix of combat and role playing - many more characters inside the city with more chances for discussion etc 5. Monetary penalty for death with collateral. So its no fun dying, its even less fun dying and having to start a new character so your "employer" would have access to resurrections but at a cost, you would need to hand over one of your magic items until you gathered enough gold to buy it back. Basically a pawn shop for your life back. Or you could choose to roll a new character 6. Resting would be plentiful, with some exceptions, underground, inside a bad guys house etc, but you would have access to plenty of Inns, however resting would not be free. There would be a gold cost associated. 7. Which brings me to my next point, balancing would be done through the economy with gold being hard to come by. You want a magic item, pay up, you want to be rezzed, pay up, you want to rest, pay up. This allows for more flexibility in decisions, do we want that heal potion for in combat or that full rest now? 8. Many more usage chance of other skills outside of combat, allowing more dice rolls per session. All conversations could have some dice rolls to them, slight of hand, plentiful, history, useful etc. there are so many skills that characters have but few get used in most settings. I want the chance for players to use the performance skill if desired. 9. Magic items would be expensive but plentiful. It's a big city, plenty of magic shops but it will cost you. 10. Plenty of opportunities to earn gold outside of looting goblins. gambling, stealing, mercenary work, small jobs, etc 11. Not much traveling, you are in a big city so everywhere is close. 12. Use of magic outside combat, so many good spells that don't ever get used because they just aren't combat spells, charming people etc without having to kill them 13. Strong set of laws in the city with strong city guard present 14. Plenty of opportunity for alignment shifts, other than the main laws, there are situations that may call for stealing stuff without really affecting being "good" 15. Characters of different alignment can coexist, if someone wants to be the "bad" guy of the group, fine with me, there are dynamics there that may come in play as well 16. Predefined relationships, your characters would have a chance to have some existing relationships in the city that you could define over time. Someone could be related to the Mayor, or someone could be the former companion of a shop keeper. 17. Encounters with more intelligence creatures. More opportunities for interaction with your opponents, not just random spiders or wolves etc 18. Sessions twice a month for 3 hours at a time 19, Depending on how many players we may have some sessions without everyone
