Curse of Strahd (Mon)

Welcome to Barovia - an isolated valley of rustic villages, gloomy woods, and jagged mountains. Your fate has already been chosen for you; the deadly fog and shadows guide your path. Haunted by the souls who cannot escape even in death, hunted by werecreatures, & stalked by Count Strahd himself. Join us and help bring to life this classic tale of gothic horror.

My Style

This game is ideal for players who enjoy creating characters with depth and flaws. For people who don't want to be hand-held down a linear railroad of pre-set encounters. New players are very welcome!

Expect an open world that is responsive to player choices and actions. Curse of Strahd is written as a fairly open campaign with a few required "stations" or touch-points, but I strive to give players as much autonomy as possible. I enjoy adding elements from Adventurer's League, previous editions, and my own devious mind to expand the story line. I have fine-tuned and added a greater variety of loot, challenges, monsters, encounters, NPCs, dungeons, and quests - but every play-through takes on a life of its own. My favorite moments as a GM are when the story goes sideways from what I expect due to strong roleplay.

Expect every session to feature a variety of art and visual aids to bring the setting, people, and situations alive. (No staring at a white screen.) I use Dynamic Lighting, Fog of War, tactical and exploration maps, and/or an abstract game mat depending on the encounter and situation. I am happy to add background music if desired.

Expect fair adjudication - that's always a GM's primary responsibility. I like to challenge players to think tactically, put characters into situations that don't have easy choices, play upon their flaws, or lead to growth or change. I don't set out to kill your beloved characters, but if you do something terribly silly like charge into a Demon Lord at level 3, don't expect deus ex machina to keep you alive.

About Me & Qualifications

Hey, I'm Val. I'm a 30 year old woman who lives in Seattle with my boyfriend and two very silly and affectionate cats named after periodic elements. I'm a small business strategist with a background in accounting who is very very lucky to work from home and make my own hours. Outside of roleplay, I enjoy video games, cooking, tai chi, reading books made from dead trees, and rain. While I do have some Shakespearean acting training, please don't think I'm a vocal or accent extraordinaire.

What I am is passionate, knowledgeable, fair, and flexible. I've been enjoying making up fantasy worlds and playing out combat and drama since I was seven and had no idea what D&D even was. I've had the pleasure of playing and GMing a wide variety of games and genres. I care a lot about continuing to improve my skills as a GM, and follow several great blogs and subreddits to that end.

~ New players are very much welcome. I'm happy to set aside time outside of game to help with Roll20, macros, character sheets, discuss mechanics, answer questions, talk about your character development and goals, you name it.
~ My flexible schedule ensures that cancelled sessions are extremely rare, and only due to illness.

How to Join Us

It's as simple as making a post below and telling me a little about yourself, your experience, and what kind of character(s) you'd like to play. I'm less concerned with a "backstory" as what kind of person you are, what really matters to you, and your goals as a character. (This should be about a couple paragraphs all together.)

Our party just turned level three and includes a Support Bard, Beastmaster Ranger, Paladin/Bladelock, Swashbuckler Rogue & Tempest Cleric. We'd love to add a little more magic to the group. A super nifty concept of any class (we don't already have) will be given consideration.

I try to personally chat with everyone who is serious about joining our group, but if you don't put much into your app or it's obviously a cookie-cutter and you didn't read this intro to the game I don't feel obligated to respond. Its easy for me to find some time to chat or talk online. If you have any concerns or questions, reservations about a pay to play campaign, or would just like to say hi and hear my voice - I'm available.

Allowed: PHB, EE, SCAG, Variant Human, Feats
By Permission: Custom Backgrounds, Multi-classing, other WotC Books, Unearthed Arcana
It's Not Going to Happen: anything on Dndwiki or other non-tested or peer-reviewed homebrew.

The Fine Print

~ Each session will last approximately four hours with a five minute break half-way through. I respect that life sometimes happens, but it's important to me to have players who will be in contact as possible if something comes up. The starting time is open to adjustment.
~ I prefer to use Discord for Voice/Chat, but I am open to utilizing another medium if a consensus of players has a strong preference.
~ This game is a safe space for people of all backgrounds, genders, orientations, races, etc, etc. There will be no tolerance for offensive or harassing behavior. You will be promptly and unceremoniously removed without a refund if you violate this.