Player Handbook
in VaresianGreetings, traveler!
I am happy you have decided to join my world of Varesian! The information here will act as a thorough session 0. I will cover everything you need to know about my DMing style, typical play at my table, homebrew rules, etc. Firstly: I prioritize player comfort and happiness. I understand work, mental health, scheduling conflicts, etc. The only thing I ask for is respect and communication. The amount of effort it takes to prepare and play these games is astronomical, especially in the ways I encourage player involvement - and I do it very lovingly. So just be respectul of myself and other players' time by communicating openly and quickly. Also, I understand the trials that come with new players if you have little to no D&D experience. Don't worry about not knowing the rules or roleplay specifics. I am experienced in fielding questions and handling problems, and chances are someone else at the table knows the game. And I'm definitely not perfect either! My table is always a safe space for learning. Finally, we use Discord for our virtual meetings and communication in and out of game. For our combats, we use Roll20. If you haven't already, do the following before you get started: 1) Sign up for Discord and send me your user. I will send you a friend request, and then I can invite you to the Varesian channel. Note the Discord app (desktop and mobile) runs way smoother. 2) Sign up for World Anvil. Follow Varesian on its homepage. (We'll figure out the rest together, I'm new to it!) 3) Sign up for Roll20. There is a link to the campaign pinned in Discord (general).The Player's Handbook
General
I try not to railroad parties. You will play the game in this active world and I will mold it around you. I've gotten feedback in the past that players felt there were too many options and needed more guidance, but I acknowledge a weakness in my DMing where I need to say yes to player whim more, encouraging exploration. The possibility of character death is what can make this game so emotionally impactful to some. However, if you are uncomfortable losing your character, I understand and will ask you to tell me ahead of time. Some of you are voracious note-takers and love lore, and I love you! Some of you don't like taking notes at all, which is fine. I will ask that you have a good sense of where the party is going, and I find it helpfully immersive to treat notes like my character would. (Also, a little incentive, I'm considering occasional Kahoot tests on lore/campaign to give magic items to winners. If people want.) Don't meta-game! You only know what your character knows! When you meta, it saps the fun and mystery out of it for everyone. For absences, if you miss a session and not everyone needs to be there, we will ask another player to run your character in combat and fill you in. If two or more people are gone, that's a session canceled. We will also cancel a session if a player whose personal moments come up in-game cannot make it. Finally, I will give out surveys every now and then, depending on play frequency, to get feedback specific to your tastes as a player. My goal as a DM is to make this the best experience it can be for each of you. This is where you tell me about monsters you want to fight, magic items you're interested in, whether there needs to be more/less roleplay, etc. Important for both of us!One-shots & mini campaigns
Not much differs rule-wise between big campaigns and these small snapshots, but I'd like to get all relevant info out here. One-shots are typically one session or a "double session" (two crammed together). I also tend to favor mini campaigns, which are about 3-5 of these longer sessions. Customarily they're on a weekend. Formal rules are relaxed. The pace is significantly quickened from typical D&D - think of one-shots/minis as one questline. I still ask for backstory because you're always a character in this world that I write about, but you're fine writing much less. Revealing this in these happens usually at the beginning and liberally. One-shots and minis are a great opportunity to test a build you like, especially ones you don't think would ever be a permanent character (since they are often, after all, in-world canon). Especially when they are run at higher level. Any other information will be given to you separately, such as what level you start at. The one-shots channel in Discord is a great resource for this.Character creation
There is an interface available for campaigning in 5e in World Anvil and a number of features that look wonderful for character creation/equipment and my PC tracking. I have separate sections for session notes and everything. I have yet to use it and using it for a campaign requires everyone on board, but it's an option. Otherwise, I have a Google Doc character sheet template available that I've used for myself and players before, which I recommend over D&DBeyond only because of homebrews. Please use any character sheet you're comfortable with, as long as you record homebrews and I eventually have access to it just to check for balance/missed features. You can either take standard array or you can roll for your main stats (roll 4d6 for each stat, subtract the lowest number). If you're rolling, make that clear with me. I'll tell you what level we start at, but it will likely be level 3. Roll for hit points. For new players: Your first level you take max (for example 8 + CON mod on a d8). For consequent rolls, I rule you can reroll 1s, but you must take the reroll. (So if you roll a second 1, fate has spoken!) I do not allow evil alignments, as D&D is a cooperative RPG. This does not mean there can't be tension or small-scale, reasonable PvP, but once you start disrespecting or derailing my game/the party, you will be asked to leave the table. (I say this only because it has happened to me.) And regarding race: First and foremost, USE VARESIAN. I have had players miss info they would've liked because they used stats on D&DBeyond or elsewhere without realizing that I changed a few things. There's a reason I put mechanics on the race pages. For instance, the lifespans of satyrs and tortles are as long as they should be. Or dhampirs are a little beefed to better reflect their vampirism. Not to mention you'll always want to know the lore! Another very important thing to me is your love for your character. I will say no to few things on the class/race front, and nos are because I do not have a race in my lore (sometimes yet!), because of specific lore, or because someone has already called dibs on a class for the party (some classes I allow for duplicates). When in doubt, ask me! I'm here to help, since I will know your character very well anyway. Here's the master list of playable races, including some lovely homebrews: Please note that I am actively working on goblin, orc, Underdark, and outer-realm (e.g. Feywild, Shadowfell) lore. Players operating within these encourages me to work on it, so don't let absence of lore deter you!| ALLOWED | ALLOWED WITH EXCEPTIONS | NOT ALLOWED |
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