Greeting and salutations! In the far north of the world, a deranged deity has suddenly decided to cover the whole are in a perpetual darkness, keeping the sun from ever rising in Icewind Dale. Travelers wary of the Frostmaiden's magic have stayed away, further hurting the townsfolk's ability to survive. The desperate townsfolk offer sacrifices to the maiden in a vain hope to lift the curse, but nothing has worked yet. Now all of Ten-Towns is beset by odd and unexplainable calamities, and in classic RPG fashion it is up to a newly-arrived group of random strangers to solve it all. About the game Icewind Dale, Rime of the Frostmaiden is all about the little man, the poor communities that suffer when deities go wack; and the heroes that rise up to the challenge for... whatever reasons drive them. It is also about isolation, and the overcoming of it via beating the living crap out of bad guys. I never said it was a good analogy for real life. And also about the horror of the unknown, as you never know when or where lies the danger. Expect a good amount of wildland survival, more so than most if not all other WotC content. Combat wise, it it pretty standard. There are quests, dungeons, etc. Though i will say the bigger dungeons are later into the module. There are some politics, but not much. Some factions can be befriended or antagonized, but generally bad guys are black and white (with exceptions). If only i had the power to do something about that... Oh wait, i do! Lastly, i'd like to try out some realistic resting rules. A short rest being 8 hours, a long rest 24 hours, but with exhaustion being reduced on a short rest so it isn't affected. About the intro session The first session will be a free trial so to speak. It narrates the player's journey to Icewind Dale, containing its own fair share of potential trouble, and is intended as one-shot in and of itself. The goal here is to introduce the party, give some idea of the ambience of the adventure, and of course give you a chance to test my DMing mettle and style. About you You start the game on a ship bound for Icewind Dale. Why you're heading off to the most isolated part of the planet, only you know. Whether your group starts together or is pushed to become a group by circumstance, that is up to you. But everyone has their secrets, and you are no exception. Each player will roll twice on the secrets table, and pick a secret of their choice among the results. About me I've been DMing Dungeons and Dragons for six years. My approach to games is very sandboxy: i create the world, the players create the game. The players can't ruin my plans if i have absolutely no plans in the first place, it's a win-win! Even when designing shorter adventures i go through the extra planning to make sure players have more than one way of doing things. In Rime of the Frostmaiden in particular, that means merging some of the chapters instead of level-locking places. In my earlier days i did the sandbox to a fault, often leaving inexperienced players with no idea what to do. After a while i changed my method to the "infinite +3 alternatives" where the players are presented with clear options and plots, while still having the option to do whatever they want. "Never have I imagined that character creation could be this deep and immersive." - Emajenus, a first-time player. "A quality DM" - Av777, customer. "5/7 DM" - KuriBro, player. "That was a great dungeon, loved how everything fit together and the unique encounters" - Gouresdo, after a quarantine module. "I'm in the first group of Yonapalur colonizers and have been playing with this guy for awhile. He is worth it! Puts a lot of work into his games, and whenever I feel like he could improve on something, I'll tell him so in his evaluations he puts up after each game and its fixed by the next time. In my experience, that willingness to correct is rare among gms! Recommend. :)" - CapnCrinklepants, my first paying player. LGBT friendliness policy I don't care about your gender, biological sex, sexual orientation, political opinions, religion, or pretty much anything. You can tell by the fact I'll never ask you any of that. That means i will neither treat you worse for any of it, nor will i treat you any better. I've studied at a college where 90% of the males in my class were gay (literally 18/20), and last year one of my best friends came out as trans. From my experience, not giving a shit is exactly the right thing. LGBT people just want to be treated as people, and that's what i do. If you're a good player, who gets along with the others and is respectful, that's honestly all that matters. Actually i do care a little bit about your nationality, but only insofar as it affects timezones. New player policy Everyone is a new player at some point. I think its silly that it has to be said, but i'll say it anyway: new players are welcome. I have no problem helping you tackle 5e or Roll20, it is literally part of what I am here for. Technical stuff Session Length: 4 hours per session, with a 5 minute break somewhere near the middle, which is added at the end. As with most groups i know, more often than not we go a little overtime. Time: 7PM CST, AKA 1AM UTC. Date: This game will be run on Mondays, starting with the free session 0 on January 4th Note: Time and date are negotiable. If the time is bad for you, let me know. Payment: 5$ per session, other than the intro session. Players who are with me on another game and make both payments in one transaction get 20% off on a game of their choice. Software used: Roll20 will, of course, be used as the VTT of choice, while Discord will be used for voice chat. Mandatory disclaimer: This game will require payment to the Game Master at a rate of 5 dollars per session. Roll20 is not responsible for any payment transactions and cannot enforce any private arrangements.