Adventures in the Forgotten Realms: Dead In Thay

UPDATE 23/8/16 -
Due to a couple of our overseas players having to drop out due to timings, we will be opening applications again from 23/8/16 up until 30/8/16. If you're a previous applicant and are still interested please bump your thread with your interest. If you're a new applicant, please go ahead and make a new post in the forum with your application.

Please do go ahead and read the full post if you think you'd be interested in playing, but for now the TL;DR is;
We are a short campaign for newer players to 5th edition d&d.
The balance between RP and Fighting is somewhere between 70-30 and 60-40, depending on what the party do in that particular session.
We are playing through some of the playtest packs, with a copious amount of my own changes. The idea is to get newer people settled in and familiar with the forgotten realms stuff, and give them a chance to play in a 5e game. You could then go on to play Lost mines, or Tyranny of dragons, and the continuity would continue throughout most of the published 5e adventures.

Due to party deaths in the last session, this would be a great time to join in as a new character, as you wont be the only new one!

The party currently consists of

Kidmec Quarrykiller, the dwarf druid
Sparky, the Half-orc wild sorcerer
A fighter (possibly champion)
A human Valour Bard.

you'll be joining them, as a fresh level 3 character, made with our character creation rules.

The year is 1484DR.
Responding to a call for aid from Sir Isteval, the former purple dragon knight of cormyr, you have made your way to daggerford (unless you already live there of course, but either way, you will be arriving at his house). Inside you will meet the adventurers, who have troubling news of thayan involvement in the sword coast, and are meeting to make plans to stop this.

If this sounds interesting, do go ahead and read the original listing below, and if you're still on board, drop in an application. When making your character concept, think about what your PC has been doing for the last few months, that has given them these levels and what experiences they may have had.

If you wish to tie things in to the local area, consider

Up until the PC's fixed the problem recently, the trade way was under constant attack by gnolls, Half orcs, and hobgoblins.
The village of Julkoun has been taken by goblins and hobgoblins. Many of the villagers were slaughtered, those who were spared have been sent off into slavery.
The mere of dead men has been unusually active recently, with a lot more undead than before. As such in recent times, the Doomguard of Kelemvor have set up a chapter at the dwarven keep of Thornhold.
Inside daggerford, the refugees have finally been admited or have moved on. Duke Maladywn daggerford is hugely unpopular amongst the common folk, and is more interested in the recent Theft of the Delimbiyr bloke than to the plight of his people. The bloke has yet to be returned.

The Idea
I'm running a game geared towards newer players (including players with zero roleplaying experience), as I've seen many groups of first-timers and newbies on Roll20 seeking a DM. With a couple of more experienced players to help get things going, the aim would be to give new players a chance to take their first step into the world of Dungeons & Dragons.
While this game is new player friendly, I'm not ruling out players with previous 5th Edition experience, or players with experience in previous editions – or other roleplaying games altogether.
So whether you've always wanted to try Dungeons & Dragons, and didn't know where to start, or you have some previous experience, this game will be centred around easing players into the world of Dungeons & Dragons.

The GM:
Hi! I'm Natt. I'm an experienced GM, with 15 years of D&D experience, and several other systems, too. I've been a GM for pretty much every edition of D&D, but I find 5th Edition fantastic, particularly for new players, and I've enjoyed running for new players with this system as I think it is far more intuitive than previous editions.

The Group:
I'm recruiting three people to play with us. The group will consist of a GM, a long-time experienced player, and hopefully three or four of you lovely people who want to get into a game!

What I'd Like from You:
I'd like you to have a good quality headset with a working microphone, and to be happy using voice communications (preferably Discord).
I'd like you to be able to commit to a regular time slot, and in the event of being unable to attend, the longer notice, the better – preferably at least 24 hours in advance. The sessions will run at on a regular day every week.
I'd like you to have little/no experience with 5th Edition, which will be great because this is a place to learn and have fun in a relaxed, chilled environment.

The Characters:
Your character should be made from only the Players Handbook, and the Sword Coast Adventure Guide. These are the official 5th Edition books, and because this is aimed at new players, I'd like to keep it simple.
For that reason, I won't be allowing any homebrew classes, races,the dmg variants, and I will be reluctant to allow anything from Unearthed Arcana until we've got a solid understanding and some experience with the base classes and races.
We will be using the Standard Array for ability scores, and equipment should be taken rather than rolling gold. We will take the average HP instead of rolling when we level up, for the sake of simplicity.
I (and the other players with some experience) will be around to help you roll your character, so don't fret creation too much. We're here to help!

The Time:
The sessions will take place on Tuesdays at 7pm GMT, running until 12am. Please understand that a bit of overspill does happen, and we may end up finishing up to half hour early or half hour late as we try and find a decent stopping point.
The game is intended to be short – medium length campaign, that should take you up to around level 8, over the course of a few months (again, this must be flexible. who knows what the players will do!)
As the game is pretty short, I'd ask that everyone could make each session. If you think there'll be more than one or two you can't make it to, let me know in advance when you sign up.

The Setting:
The game is set in the Forgotten Realms.

It is the year 1484DR. The recent events – and the spell plague, have made for disaster for the world, but the city of Waterdeep – a bustling melting pot of culture and a notable hub of trade – endures.
Perhaps you have travelled to Waterdeep, or perhaps you were already a resident there, seeking to make a name for yourself. Whatever your reasons for being in the city, you find yourselves sharing a drink together on Lliira's night, a festival and celebration in honour of the goddess of joy, freedom, and liberty. 
At first, you are strangers, but as the night wears on, you fast become friends. As you revel in the festivities, you are joined by a group of caravan guards who share troubling news of bandit attacks on their merchant's caravan, and suggest the possibility of rewards should the bandits be dealt with.
This is where our story begins; with the group enjoying a night of drink and merrymaking in the festival of joy, before setting out in search of adventure.

Knowledge of the spellplague is not necessary, but if you're interested, you can find a brief summary of it here: http://dustin.wikidot.com/spellplague
If you'd like to read more about Waterdeep, the Wiki has a summary of the city: http://forgottenrealms.wikia.com/wiki/Waterdeep
The Sword Coast Adventure Guide has some general information about the Forgotten Realms, and a little on Waterdeep, so it's worth a read if you wish to familiarise yourself with the world, but don't worry about it too much as I'll be here to guide you through it.

Applications:
Applications will close on Sunday 15th May 2016, unless there is a large quantity, in which case it may close early. On Tuesday 17th May, our first session will begin at the usual time of 7pm (UK time. that's 8pm Eu, and probably some other time in other parts of the world. I don't know, timezones are hard.)

If it would help people, we can do a live character creation session on a day that suits you, where we go through the mechanics of character creation together

Your application (posted in its own thread, below) should address the following:
Tell me a little about yourself, anything you think is relevant, your interests, hobbies, so I can get to know you.
How much experience do you have of D&D, or other roleplaying games (if any, again no worries if you're totally new to it all)?
In your ideal game, what would be the ratio of combat/roleplay? For example, 80% combat, 20% roleplay would be mostly dice rolling with the intention of killing foes, without too many talky or investigative encounters, or exploration. On the other end of the spectrum, 20% combat, 80% roleplay could end up with us going a session or three without any combat whatsoever. Of course, this depends entirely on the player's actions, but it helps me prepare content if I know what my players want. (i appreciate that for someone who is brand new, this might not mean a lot, and we can always find out in play! but it's worth asking, as combat can take up a significant portion of the game time.)
Do you have any preference on class or race? Or any idea of the sort of character you'd like to play? If so, great, it would be good to see what your idea of the character is, to gauge what sort of party we will have.

Thank you for taking the time to read all of this! I'll be around to answer any questions you might have.