The Don'ts

1. Don't argue, belittle, or disrespect the DM or the players and the decisions they make. If you have a problem with how the story is moving along and some of the decisions made by the party talk to the DM first.

2. Don't poke fun at the story, or any of the other players, unless given consent to do so. People work hard on their ideas, and it's not fair to laugh at them!

3. Don't take away from the immersion by breaking RP in serious moments of the story. More on this later.

4. Don't blatantly try to break the story or derail the current task, unless justified.

5. Don't metagame; it is strictly prohibited in and out of the campaign. If your character wouldn't know, then you must act as though that is true.

6. Don't take it personal if we say no to or remove a friend of yours from the group. Everything we do is for the benefit of the whole group, and there will likely be ample chances before we remove an individual.

7. Don't be intimidated if you are new to D&D! We are always happy to help newbies learn, and I think you will find that we are very tolerant and patient.

The Dos

1. Do ask relevant questions, either in character or out of character, that will help you and your character understand the story and the lore at a deeper level.

2. Do be willing to explore the world and let your curiosity run wild!

3. Do RP as hardcore as you want (accents and dialects are not required).

4. Do take into account your backstory, alignment, and personal goals when RPing your character.

5. Do come to the table ready to participate and have a good time with everyone.

6. Do invest in your character and immerse yourself into the story. The DM has worked very hard to create the world you are in, so a pretty high level of investment is expected.

7. Do be willing to take notes on the story. There is a lot of information that pops up and you never know when you will need it again. The DM is not always going to remind you of things.

8. Do be honest. If you are feeling any type of way, please bring it to the DM or the group at large. We want everyone to have fun and relax, and we will do everything we can to make it so.

9. Do feel free to talk about the story and upcoming in game events with the group out of the campaign. The DM will appreciate the act.

10. Do prepare for your turn while others are going so as to speed up encounters and make situations move a little quicker.

Breaking RP

It is inevitable that at some point during the session, the RP and immersion will be broken. Valid reasons for this are of the form:

- Asking the DM specific questions pertaining to the story.

- Emergency bathrooom breaks or unexpected important disruptions.

- There is some down time and no serious RP is happening at the moment.

In general we want to minimize the amount of time spent out of RP, and only break it for legitimate reasons. Keep in mind you are not the only one at the table and what you choose to do or not do can have an impact on the others in the party.

Good RP is sometimes rewarded with an inspiration die. This is to incentivize you to RP, so feel free to go as hard as you want, after all, that die could be the reason your character lives or dies.

Adding New Members

If you know someone that may want to join, and we are looking for new people, talk to the DM first, and then to the group at large. They must be willing to play in our style, and abide by these rules upfront. Anyone that does not, will likely not be added. Also keep in mind that we may not be looking for new people, so don't be upset if we say no to your suggestion.

Resurrection Rules

These rules are the same ones that Matt Mercer created for Critical Role. I find them to be a great blend of seriousness and magic and have had them lead to incredible RP moments in the past.

If a character is dead, and a resurrection is attempted by a spell or spell effect with longer than a 1 action casting time, a Resurrection Challenge is initiated. Up to 3 members of the adventuring party can offer to contribute to the ritual via a Contribution Skill Check. The DM asks them each to make a skill check based on their form of contribution, with the DC of the check adjusting to how helpful/impactful the DM feels the contribution would be.

After all contributions are completed, the DM then rolls a single, final Resurrection success check with no modifier. The base DC for the final resurrection check is 10, increasing by 1 for each previous successful resurrection the character has undergone (signifying the slow erosion of the soul’s connection to this world). For each successful contribution skill check, this DC is decreased by 3, whereas each failed contribution skill check increases the DC by 1.

Upon a successful resurrection check, the player’s soul (should it be willing) will be returned to the body, and the ritual succeeded. On a failed check, the soul does not return and the character is lost.

Stat Rolling For New Characters

Again, borrowing from Matt Mercer, 4d6 (drop the lowest) six times, arrange as desired. Re-roll the whole lot if they don't add up to at least 70. I do this same calculation (for the most part) for the NPCs too!

Fall Damage

I feel like fall damage in DnD 5e is utterly broken. The fact that there is a cap on max damage is nuts, and the formula itself is weak! So, as a result, I have developed the following formula to make falling more of a serious decision. Here, n is the number of times 5 divides into the total feet fallen, rounding up to the nearest multiple of 5 and the value of the equation is the number of d6 dice rolled to calculate the damage.

# of d6 = n * (n - 1) / 2

For example, if you fell 25 feet, you would roll 5 * (5 - 1) / 2, or 10d6! Yes, that's a lot, but imagine falling 25 feet in real life... ouch!

Casting Multiple Spells A Turn

If you are a spell casting character, it really stinks that 5e forces you into only casting one spell a turn. As a result, I have allowed all my players to be able to cast a spell of any level paired with another spell of 2nd level or lower. So, if you have a special spell that you can cast as a bonus action, you can totally do that as long as it's second level or lower.

Battlemap Movement

I have moved most of my encounters to maps with hexagon tiles, but in the event that square tiles are being used, all my players are allowed to move diagonally using 5 feet of movement. Keep in mind though, that could factor into melee attacks, so you can get hit by creatures in diagonal squares!

Flanking

Flanking is not allowed in my sessions. Sorry!