Session 1:Nothing is Certain Except Death and Tabaxi Porn

This week, our adventurers travelled to Thistletop Inn & Tavern, a cozy inn in Baldur's Gate owned by the family of Paela Thistletop, an old friend of each of our adventurers. While none of our adventurers knew one another, they all knew Paela, and Paela had requested they all meet her at her family's inn.

Meeting up at Thistletop Inn were Sagres (tiefling warlock), Kaely (lightfoot halfling ranger), Xandaros (human fighter), Enna (high elf cleric), and Fitz (human rogue), none of whom knew each other. The adventurers gathered at the back table of the inn and discussed their ties to Paela while they waited for their friend. As they were beginning to get to know one another, Paela arrived with a somber expression on her face and a sun elf named Remalia by her side.

Paela broke the terrible news to the adventurers that she, like so many others in the Forgotten Realms was suffering from something called the death curse, and she was dying. The death curse, as Paela explained to the adventurers, has stumped clerics and healers. No one can explain why it is happening or how to stop it. All anyone knows is that anyone and everyone who has ever been resurrected or brought back to life is slowly withering away and when this next death comes, there is no resurrection - it is an endless death.

Remalia relayed to the group that she was a member of a group called the Harpers, and Paela had sought her group out for help when she was struck by the curse. The Harpers have been studying the death curse and believe they may be on to something that could lead to a break through in stopping it. They believe the curse is similar to the magic a lich uses to feed souls to its phylactery. They've devised a plan to find out more by raiding the home of a well-known lich, Zaldara Cordress, known to most as the Duchess of Rot. They plan to steal her phylactery in an attempt to force the Duchess of Rot to cooperate in giving them information about the curse and the magic behind it.

Paela then tells the adventurers that's why she's asked them to come here - because she has faith that they can succeed in this mission and help save her life. The adventurers are, of course, happy to do whatever they can to save their dear friend and countless others from an endless death. The following morning the group will meet up with Callbrax, a member of the Harpers, who will sail the adventurers upon his ship, the Diviner to the Duchess of Rot's tower on an island off the coast.

Burdened with heavy news, worry for their dear friend, and a big mission ahead of them, the adventurers spend the rest of the day unwinding and exploring in Baldur's Gate, all while getting to know one another. Sagres tries relentlessly to win the affections of Paela, taking her on a date to The Cod Father, where they share a bowl of garlic clams. Xand is scammed by Harriet the fortune teller whose only fortune telling ability is to tell the past, and to do a dubious job of that. Kaely and Fitz both stock up on sweets from Arcanedy, but Fitz puts his candy to interesting use creating a feeding frenzy among the goblins of Goblins R Us. Enna and Kaely spend the evening bonding over beers and animated statues at the Shambling Statue, with Kaely partying all night once the rest of the group turned in. Fitz and Sagres quickly establish a bit of a rivalry, Sagres using his magic to make Fitz unpresentable while he talks to Paela and Fitz slipping some Tabaxi porn he bought at Filch's Pawn Shop in Sagres' bag while he hits on Paela.


Morning broke and the party was ready to set sail on their first big adventure.... which will take place when we meet again on February 11!

The Great Big Session 0 Megathread

Yesterday was session 0. At it, we compared epic drinking vessels and discussed all things related to this campaign. Here's a recap for anyone who missed it or can't remember what we talked about, plus a rundown of rules and stuff that we didn't delve super deep into.

Our Party So Far

j/k

Jeremy - Sagres, the Tiefling Warlock Archaeologist
Annie - Enna, the High Elf Cleric Sage
Chris - Fitz, the Human Rogue of Noble blood
Ryan - Sylwin, the Wood Elf Druid Sage
Bill - Grimblade, the Half-Elf Rogue Smuggler (subject to change)

We don't have characters for our other players yet, but last we heard we had a Dwarven Fighter from Jimmy, possibly a halfling ranger from Nora, and some sort of Paladin from Erik.

Between now and our next session players should work on finalizing their character. If you weren't present at Session 0 and haven't a clue where to start, I'm happy to help. I'd like to see your character sheets by Thursday 1/24, with at least a bit of a backstory even if you don't have it fully fleshed out.

The Campaign

We'll be running a modified published module. At this time, very little details about the module have been given out to prevent spoilers and metagaming. The adventure is designed to take you up to level 11 and we'll be starting at level 1. Our adventure will take place in Forgotten Realms in the late 1400s. We will begin our adventure in and around Baldur's Gate.

We Created A Friend

For this campaign, everyone present at session 0 worked together to create an NPC with whom each of the characters have some sort of bond. This NPC is someone very important to the player characters, someone they hold very dear. Each player needs to come up with a story of how you know our NPC, why she is important to you, and how you've stayed in contact with her. Send this to me when you send me your character sheets. Be thinking of an interesting story or anecdote you can tell about an experience your character had with our NPC.

Meet Paela Thistletop. Paela is a halfing of middle age (about 80) who leads a merchant caravan all across the Forgotten Realms. Paela is a curious halfling; exploration and seeing the world is as much a motivation for her travels as a merchant as earning coin is. Paela loves to discover new things and new people and she will tell anyone who will listen about her travels. Paela is proud of her wares, most of them being unique pieces from distant lands or hand-crafted items made by friends. Paela is warm and friendly, but she is quick witted and playful as well. It's been rumored that once Paela danced her way out of a giant cake for a friend's birthday and she's been known to jump headfirst into the rowdy sport of halfling tossing. Perhaps surprisingly for such a traveler, Paela is very community oriented. She loves to give back to the places she visits and feels a strong bond with those she's travelled with or stayed with on her journeys.

Life hasn't always been easy for Paela. A few years ago Paela was traveling with her caravan when they were attacked by a group of Yaun-ti raiders. Their wares were stolen, their carts burned, and Paela and her companions suffered gravely. Paela herself suffered worst of all, she was killed by a devastating blow from the raid leader's scimitar. Fortunately, a traveller would soon pass by and render aid to the party, taking Paela and her companions to the healers in the nearby city for aid. Paela was resurrected there and didn't take long before returning to life on the road, though she still carries the scars of that terrible attack with her.

Achievements!

We announced that in this game, we will have an achievement system. Players will have the opportunity to earn achievements that come with small rewards, like inspiration. The achievement list will be kept secret to discourage metagaming. We don't want to see you derailing the story or acting totally out of character just to collect an achievement sticker for your character sheet. For the most part, each achievement can only be earned by one person per session unless it is a specific group achievement. Each player can only earn a given achievement once.

Rules / Expectations and Other Boring Stuff

Experience & Leveling Up

• Earning EXP - For the most part, you'll earn EXP by overcoming monsters and challenges. When I say overcome, I mean just that, overcome. It doesn't necessarily mean slay. If you're able to overcome a monster non-violently or get what you need from him by knocking him unconscious, that's good enough for EXP.
• Level-up - We'll be leveling up through EXP and not milestones. Because our group is looking to be somewhat large at this point, the plan is to level you up at the end of the session after you've reached the requisite amount of EXP. If we don't end up with as large of a group as we thought, then we may consider doing level up during session if it makes sense to take a break (e.g. long rest, or returning to town). We will never stop to level up in the middle of an encounter. 

Player, Behavior, Game Behavior & DM Expectations

• Alcohol / Intoxication - You're adults, do what you want. My only rule here is be responsible. Don't get drunk to the point you can't follow the game or participate. I get it, it happens sometimes unintentionally, stuff hits you harder than you expected. I'm not going to throw you out or off your character if it happens, but don't make a habit of being so wasted we can't play. Along those lines, be respectful of people's stuff, don't get "knocking stuff over drunk" and spill drinks on people's books, etc. TL;DR Feel free to drink, this is supposed to be fun, just don't be a frat bro about it. 
• Cellphones & Player Attention - I'm not going to be one of those tyrant DM's that disallows cellphones at the table. But please, do pay attention to the game. Part of the fun of D&D is collaboration and working together. You can't really do that if you're playing candy crush every time someone else is taking a turn or talking. In addition, because we're looking at having a bigger group, combat / encounters are going to run slow already. No one wants to wait on the "oh what, is it my turn, ummm well let me figure out what I'm gonna do." If you are constantly distracted every game, this is something that will be called out. 
•  Disruptive topics - A lot of DMs ban certain topics at the table. I don't. But just be respectful of each other.  
• Unannounced dice rolls - Don't do this. If you want to make a roll for something, announce it. 
• Dice rolls against one another - Just no. Never attempt to use a dice roll to settle in-character arguments. You can't roll to make another player side with you on a course of action or look the other way while you go full on murder hobo against the party's wishes. Use your roleplaying skills for this.  
• Player Expectations, Types, Goals & Diversity - I would like to hear from each of you what your expectations and goals are. You've heard a lot from me about what I want and envision. As I've said, I envision the sessions being RP heavy and there being a lot of creativity. BUT, I need to hear from each of you in order to balance the game and make it fun for everyone. Maybe some of you just want to search for sweet loot. Maybe some of you just want to fight everything and don't care about RP. Send me a brief blurb with your character sheet. 
• Game Balance & Fairness - My goal as the DM is not to kill you. My goal is to make this a fun experience for us all. My goal with encounters is to make them challenging enough to be fun, but not every encounter is designed to be deadly. Some of them will. And all that  said, if you are dead set on a certain path and fail to heed warnings, you could encounter some shit that will almost certainly kill you. Another thing to note, because our group is a little bigger there will be some scaling that has to be done and that may be clunky at first. We may need to make adjustments as we go. 
• Rules Debates - I would like to keep these to a minimum. I am a lawyer all day in the real world and would rather not spend my nights doing the same thing. For the most part, when a rules issue pops up, I will make a quick ruling to keep game flow & then we can discuss and research the rule at the end of the session. If I totally screwed you, I'll make up for it. If I totally screwed the monsters or a non-essential NPC, then oh well, yolo, etc. 
• Spotlight Sharing - Some players will naturally be more vocal and more into the RP aspect than others. That's fine. But again, be nice and respectful. Don't trample over other players' scenes / actions / RP. This kind of thing can ruin another players fun, but it is also the kind of that that a lot of player's aren't comfortable speaking up about. So try to be mindful of it and so will I. 

• Player Absences - For the most part we'll work around these. If more than half of the core group is missing, we won't play the campaign. We can still get together for board games or a one-off session or maybe even mini painting. 

Character Creation for those who still have questions

• Creation Stats - We're using point buy. If you just want to roll for your stats, you're welcome to. 

• Backgrounds - Choose a background. That will determine starting gear and gold. It's also something I will try to work into story as much as possible. 

Inspiration

• Snacks - As I mentioned when we first began, I'll provide a meal for everyone, but desserts and snacks are always welcome. Players who bring snacks to share can gain inspiration. 
• Gaining Inspiration - You'll gain inspiration through achievements, getting rewarded for bringing goodies, and as the rules provide. You can only use one inspiration at a time. It isn't necessary to declare before your roll. I plan to have some tokens to track inspiration. 

Advantage, Disadvantage & Ability Checks

• Stacking -  Advantage and disadvantage do not stack. However, they do cancel each other out. 
• Multiple Attempts - These are allowed with a caveat. The more you repeat an action, the harder the DC becomes. At a certain point it may become impossible. Certain fails will make a repeat impossible (e.g. after so many fails at picking a lock, you may end up jamming it and breaking it or a critical fail may have this effect the first time around). 

NPCs/Creatures

• Group Inits - Creatures won't have group init. Because our group is larger, each monster will have it's own init. 
• Vendors - Most vendors are open to haggling. 

Recap (of a recap, yeah I did that) and Summary of Player To Do List

1. Finish up your character sheets and backstory and send them to me or post in our group (with a pic) by 1/24
2. Work up your connection and bond to Paela and send that with your character sheet
3. Write me a blurb (just a sentence or two) about your expectations for the campaign (goals, etc) and send that with your sheet
4. Next session 1/28 at 6:30p, food to be determined as we get closer.