Hello - and thanks for reading! I'm David - I'm coordinating a group of friends who are interested in playing D&D for the first time. About us: We are a group of friends (five guys, three gals) from the UK who have long talked about setting up a D&D group, but for whatever reason have never gone beyond purchasing the odd Players Handbook or listening to Critical Role. Now that we are glued to our couches (and potentially soon-to-be on lockdown) for the foreseeable, we're keen to finally give this a go and get a weekly D&D session on the cards. We are all in our late 20s/early 30s and all but one are originally from Scotland (the odd one out is Californian). There may be one or two additional individuals who, where appropriate, drop in for the odd session from time to time, but that would be discussed and signposted well in advance. The core group are those that you will meet in session zero. I appreciate that the group is a bit on the large size, but I'm hopeful that this will give us some flexibility. We have never played D&D before, either individually or as a group, so an experienced DM who has previous with introducing new players to the game is a big draw for us. Our interest is in working through interesting scenarios and roleplaying our way out of tricky situations, but we're also interested in fighting our way out of a bind - we'll leave it to you to determine the appropriate RP to combat ratio. Decisions about suitable characters and their alignment will be at your discretion - we're happy to listen to the expert! Our game: As completely new D&Ders, we would like to start an established entry-level campaign. Ghosts of Saltmarsh or Curse of Strahd would be our preferred adventure (based on overviews, we haven't looked up any spoilers!) - but the important thing is that we have a campaign that introduces beginners to the world of D&D, allows us to embrace role-play and develop our characters over the different arcs that the game throws up, all while doing some really cool heroic stuff! We are adults, and have no issues with mature content, adult themes or naughty language. We will almost certainly use profanity when excellent or terrible dice rolls occur, or when a big bad boss decimates our plans - but we won't be directing that ire towards our DM. We have zero tolerance for abuse, but as pre-existing friends, we know how to get on with one another and can act appropriately. We would be looking to play Monday or Tuesday evenings from 1800 through 2200 (give or take) GMT. We would like to start the week beginning 30/03 - so this coming Monday or Tuesday. About you: Ideally, you are an experienced DM who has taken groups of new players through their first campaign before. can give voice to your NPCs and breath some life into the roleplay interactions. You don't have to be a professional voice actor, but a little bit of characterisation goes a long way. We'll do the same, I promise! have access to Roll20 Pro and are adept in using maps, tokens, and other visual aids use background music and sound effects to build tension, add a dramatic soundtrack to the story and build an immersive atmosphere have a good sense of humour, and rule on the side of (very) cool, from time to time. Tech and Logistics: We will bow to your expertise in this area, but are looking to run the sessions over Roll20 with voice chat via Discord. We can look to use other platforms if required. Payment: We understand the hard work and preparation that goes in to being a good DM. We also understand that professional features on Roll20 aren't free. To that end, we're happy to pay £5 per player per session (~£40) . I'll coordinate payments and send through as a batch so that the DM doesn't have to chase any truants. While we are happy to pay in advance to ensure nobody flakes, its important to appreciate that sometimes life gets in the way and some weeks there may be a reduced player pool. This will be communicated in advance wherever possible with as much notice as we are able. It's also worth flagging up here that we've never picked up dice before and it might not be for everyone - the group that starts may not be the group that continues on - but this will become apparent over time. We would need a session zero to go over character creation, the rules and an overview of the campaign. It would be helpful for this to be unpaid to give players an idea of what they're signing up for and ensure that it's something they are willing to commit to for the duration. It will also provide an opportunity for you to meet everyone and for everyone to meet you and make sure we're all happy to go ahead. Questions, comments, further information?: If I've missed anything, I'm happy to provide further information as required. Either post a comment below or direct message me. I'm also happy to chat over Discord to flesh out some of what we've discussed here.
