The characters will not know each other upon their first meeting, which will be caused by frequent and insistent dreams that guide the character to a specific location at a specific time. Who or what sent these dreams? Who are these other people / dreamers? And what is going on in this place you have been sent to? With Gods and forces beyond your understanding leaving their mark in this world, who knows what this could lead to! :-) In this campaign the focus will be on exploration, character interaction and finding your place in the world. With it being a sandbox campaign, the characters' actions will shape the world and whatever they 'touch' (encounter) in game will continue moving forward after being influenced (or ignored). There is a bit of homebrew - we don't use the standard map (we have a pretty world map though :) ) and Orcs aren't evil (they have a jungle for themselves as well as humans who are basically everywhere of course). Orcs are honorable people, their culture has survived past slavery and they demand respect as well as appreciate strength of any kind (physical or mental - the latter does not mean insult people). Goblins are also not necessarily evil - sort of regarded as pests that have to be dealt with if they are in tribes, but there are also some that are serfs or settle down in villages / cities. **Time:** Weekly on Saturdays, 7pm GMT+1/CET for 4-5 hours (breaks as needed) - this means 1pm for EST or 10am for PST **Software:** Acceptable mic (no snowstorms, no robot voices) required, we tend to use Skype because roll20 or Discord have proven themselves unreliable at best. The GM will have a webcam but it is by no means required of the players. **Players:** Note: The GM is 35. You have been warned. We are looking for 3-4 additional players (so we will have 4-5 overall for campaign start, me not included) who are active, reliable and 18+. Newcomers to the hobby are welcome as long as they take the group, me as the GM & the game itself seriously. While obviously there are more casual or fun scenes, this is not a beer and pretzels or very casual play with friends kind of group. The characters should be - for one reason or another - interested in working together with strangers (safety in numbers etc.) in order to figure out this first mystery that has been presented to the group. Afterwards, they should (again for whatever reason) be interested in exploring a magical world. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ As for my **GMingstyle** , I'll go over some of the usual points of disagreement / different styles: **Split of combat / other character actions**: 20 / 80 percent, possibly . Don't expect to play out standard shopping trips unless there is something I want to demonstrate or show to the characters & players, we zoom out for the unimportant stuff. **Inspiration**: I hand out inspiration for meaningful conversations between at least 2 player characters (not just an exchange of 'you go stealth and i confront them' or something). This can be a part of getting to know each other, a discussion on what the group should do next or whether to leave that damn rogue who is nothing but trouble behind. Additionally, Inspiration may be awarded to entice players to perform a specific action with their characters that is in line with their flaws or previous character behavior but would (usually) not be beneficial or is somewhat risky. (Some might know these as 'compels', but its also in the Gmbook as an option) These can be refused, of course. Note that these compels can be triggered by other players, too (if the GM agrees that it is a valid compel). **Dungeons**: Theatre of mind, when there is combat we will draw that area - dungeons to me have to feel coherent / make sense, so no dozens of different types of monsters in a dungeon unless they would actually, you know, be there for one reason or another. Character-facing puzzles will be a rarity, I like the traps to be obvious and the players to figure out which ability / what to use in order to get past it. Occasionally there might be a fully drawn out dungeon and whatnot, but don't expect it. **Skillchecks**: Look - if you are a bear, you can break down a wooden door, I'm not going to make you roll for that. 'Cause you are a bear. Same goes for a thief balancing on a steady wooden beam or trying to move quietly on carpet or something. You just do it. I'm not a fan of try, try again that makes characters look absolutely inept. Also: failing will always, always 'cause' something. Whether that's losing a resource, having to make a hard choice (break the lock or make some noise and attract attention f.e.), getting injured etc. Last but not least: no critical fumbles or whatnot. **Success at a Cost**: Somewhat related to the above, if a character fails a roll by 1, sometimes I will offer a success with an added cost or complication. This might be damage, losing a resource, getting temporarily separated etc. **XP**: We will be using a goal based xp system. Meaning, every character has up to two goals and the group receives a variable amount of xp (depending on the goals' difficulty) upon reaching them. This allows players to be interested in other characters' goals and every character to also want to pursue something that interests them (and also, the player of said character). **Team or no team?**: While plans to kill another character are expressly forbidden, different approaches and goals are definitely encouraged. Who will ally with whom and who will emerge to be the decision maker? :) **Starting level**: Depending on group consesus, we will either start at 1 or 3 - probably 1 especially if we get someone new to the hobby. **Ability Scores**: You can roll this (just like HP) with 5x 4d6 and keeping the three highest each or you can also use the standard array of 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 (before racial modifiers, of course) - whatever each player prefers. Once you roll, you have to keep those stats though. On that note, I do expect players with f.e. low charisma or low intellect characters to elaborate on what exactly causes or caused this stat. A low intellect character might just be completely uneducated or they might always go with their gut feeling on things instead of analyzing a situation, rushing right into things if they happen to lack wisdom as well. Note that this does not mean that the -player- can't comment on his characters' unhelpful behavior in the moment or f.e. bring up ideas out of character. It does mean that dumpstats will have an impact on character play. **Spells**: Fire burns things and other magical effects might have a lasting impact on the world around you as well. Crazy, I know, but in my games stuff is not always as limited as it is in the rules. **Slow(er) healing**: Since combat is relatively rare (apart from random travel encounters and whatnot), we will also use this optional rule. Characters don't regain hit points at the end of a long rest. They can still spend Hit Dice and recover them as usual. **Advanced books etc.**: I allow the revised Ranger, other (official) things have to be cleared with me beforehand (and provided to me). ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ That said, what do I expect from players? - Be kind to each other, prompt each other, be interested in what stories other people aim to tell or wish to explore. Ideally, everyone at the table should contribute to spotlight sharing and not openly mock all ideas (standing in a forest and asking something like 'can I find wood' is obviously mock-worthy unless its a special kind of wood that only grows on walking trees that need to be tracked through the moors), especially from quiet players. (Characters, however, obviously can very much mock each other. At the beginning this should be made clear with a quick ooc comment) - As per the above, I expect players to make characters that have reasons to interact with the game world in at least 2 ways (so not just combat since there won't be constant fights anyway). An extreme introvert and agoraphobe is not going on adventures anytime soon. An introvert absolutely excited by the unknown and obsessed with making his mark in history by making discoveries however? Interesting, because there is immediately a nice conflict there and he will even want to ask questions of NPCs (shocking :) ). - Newcomers are very much welcome, but with rules-heavy systems I do expect them to learn the abilities of their character as we play. For a wizard this includes their spells, for a druid how shapeshifting works etc. etc. - Be genuinely open to at least try out other systems. We are looking to build a longterm 'core' group that can have fun in various settings and campaigns - so no applicants whose life and availability will change in the forseeable future (obviously shit happens sometimes) or want to play 5E only. For anyone applying with more than a sentence with several spelling errors, I will probably have a short exchange and an interview on Discord. The application should tell me your age, discord contact info and what you are maybe looking to play (not set in stone as we will make characters together, of course). What are you looking for and what would you like to avoid at all cost? Why did you apply to this game in particular? Tell me a bit about yourself :-) Please post your application in the Listing Discussion <a href="https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/137982/nightmare-truths" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/137982/nightmare-truths</a> or on Discord directly to me Mouse#7334 .