BEHAVIOR AND CONDUCT
The Good Vibes Clause: When it comes to anything you're doing, the aim is always to preserve the good vibes. We're all here to have a good time. If you can keep this in mind with every action you take, the rest should be easy.
Inclusivity: All players are expected to approach each other with inclusivity, regardless of anyone's orientation, gender (or lack thereof), beliefs, or heritage.
Substances: Use of recreational substances is perfectly fine during a session, as long as your mental faculties aren't so affected that it hinders gameplay.
Player Attention: Players are expected to be present and attentive while we're playing, simple as that. If you're not interested in being here, no problem, don't be here.
Off-Topic Conversation: Some off-topic discussion is ok, especially if players arrive early before the game starts, but should be somewhat limited once the game is in full swing. Making jokes, references, or brief tangents mid game is fine.
Unannounced Rolls: If I don't know the intention of your roll when you make it, I might choose to disregard the roll. The intention of some rolls are obvious, and not every roll has to be announced, but the majority of rolls should have their purpose announced before the roll is made.
Player Vs Player Rolls: Player characters cannot force other player characters to behave differently using rolls (such as persuasion, intimidation, ect.). All player character interactions are resolved through roleplaying. Players can still make rolls against each other, but only if this happens in understanding and good faith between both players.
Player Vs Player Combat: This is strongly discouraged, but not entirely prohibited. If the scenario, and the roleplaying leads to an interesting conflict between player characters, it is acceptable for the conflict to lead to combat. Such a situation should be done in good faith between all parties, if any of the players involved are unhappy and not enjoying the interaction, it is better for the situation to deescalate to maintain the good vibes.
Rules Debating: We will follow the spirit of "rules as intended", generally playing the game as the rules are written, and occasionally interpreting intention when the language is less clear. If I make a rules mistake, or interpret the meaning of a rule in a way a player disagrees with, it's certainly fair for the player to offer their perspective. I'll then have to make a choice, and once the choice is made, it's the end of the discussion. I value a smooth playing experience and sometimes entirely disregard rules to either prevent slowing down the game, or reward good flavoring/roleplaying.
Discomfort: The game takes place in a semi-realistic worldscape. There will be some dark things out there, among them violence, war, racism, sexism, classism, and whatever other 'issms. Torture might happen, but won't be described in detail. Anything of a sexual nature is generally avoided, hinted at or implied at the most, if at all. I won't be expected to omit any of the subjects previously listed, but I will be accommodative as much as possible if a player has a specific problem with one of the subjects. Sexual assault is blacklisted and will never occur, or even be implied. Don't worry, it isn't all grimdark, there is plenty of kindness and acceptance to counterpoint these darker themes.
Trigger Warnings: It's the players responsibility to let the DM know about any triggers they have so that he can be aware and work around them. Send a PM, or ask to talk in private if you wish to be discreet. If you feel secure enough, sharing it with the rest of the party can help them avoid the trigger as well.
Meta-knowledge: Maintain the separation between what you as a person knows, and what your character knows. The DM will usually give out information that is common knowledge that anyone could act upon, and players are always free to ask the DM whether or not certain information is common knowledge. I'd encourage players to try and avoid out-of-character talk about combat tactics, and try to have fun roleplaying giving orders or battle advice, and enjoying the chaos the can happen from miscommunications in battle.
GAMEPLAY
General DMing Style: I operate from the standpoint of "rules as intended", as described earlier. When the rules are unclear, I choose to follow the spirit of the language to make a decision. In such cases, the intent of the rule is preserved, even if the language may not perfectly apply. For example, I might allow a Counterspell to also work on an ability, even if that ability isn't technically a spell itself, yet functions and acts nearly identically to a spell. Most of my content is well prepared and structured, but the often open ended nature of my setting means that improvisation and emergent scenarios will happen frequently. In such cases, the "production quality" may drastically decrease, as I would rather improvise and adapt to maintain the players agency than railroad them. I prefer that roleplay does not become roll-play, especially in social situations. In such social interactions, the words spoken, arguments made, and actions taken will matter greatly, and the skillcheck determines how well the person receives the words you've said.
Type of Game: Each campaign is unique, and will have its own flow. My DMing style may differ slightly to suit the needs of the campaign.
Player Narrative Authority: Players will have a limited narrative authority. I will attempt to integrate their background into the world, and may work with a player to generate new lore and content for the world, perhaps suggesting existing lore and characters for the player to incorporate. This narrative authority has limits, however. The higher level workings of my world, such as the major factions involved, deities, and overall world dynamics, cannot be altered. The players have room for creativity in the space between the lines I've already drawn out.
Character Creation: Will be unique to each campaign.
Leveling Up: Will be unique to each campaign, although I highly favor the milestone system, which I will most likely use.
Alignment: Alignment is not important to the game mechanics, and I like to encourage players not to choose one. If you do choose one, be sure not to use your alignment as a crutch for how you roleplay. Play a character, not an alignment. Let your character change and develop, don't adhere to an alignment for the sake of adhering to it. Make roleplaying decisions because it's what your character would do.
Party Rolls: I handle party wide skill checks in one of two ways. I'll either call upon someone to take the lead, and make 1 check, or call upon every party member to make the check. If the whole party is making the check, success will occur if half or more of the party meet the required DC. Which method the DM uses depends upon the scenario, and whether one characters leadership in a task is more important, or each party member is equally crucial.
Repeating Rolls: Some tasks (and their requisite ability checks) can be attempted multiple times, until success if made. For others, the the result of the roll is final. For example, when picking a lock, or using strength to force it open, a failure means the lock is beyond your skill, and a second attempt would be futile even if you have plenty of time. In other cases, such as searching a library for a specific book, the ability check can be repeated if enough time is present to do so. The scenario dictates whether repeated rolls are possible, and making repeated rolls often has its own consequences.
Stacking Advantage/Disadvantage: Advantage and Disadvantage will usually not stack with each other. In rare extreme scenarios, I may grant Advantage+ or Disadvantage+ to a roll, in which case three D20s are rolled, and the highest/lowest result of all three is used as the result of the roll.
Inspiration: Unless specified for the campaign, I usually don't use the Inspiration system.
Homerules: See
Homerules to learn what homerules I utilize.
Limitations: See
Setting Limitations to learn about certain limitation the world lore has recreated in comparison to typical D&D.
