The game, the world, the planes
The campaign takes place on a world within a Sealed Sphere. It’s been isolated from the outside for a very long time, leaving only myths and relics to tell of those myriad other worlds and Spheres.
An isolated set of higher and lower planes perform the functions that those you may be used to. The gods – or at least the echoes that their believers brought with them – speak only sparingly to the devout.
It is possible to travel the local planes, but attempts to leave or reach outside the sphere are met with either failure (walking back in the way you came) or disaster (catastrophic temporary rifts in the material plane and mass deaths) to name a few examples).
This world, Iorus (ee-your-us,) has three moons and many varied races who dwell upon it’s surface and in its depths.
There are several other planets in the system, but they are mostly uninhabitable and some provide a trickle of minerals from the far-off stations and outposts scattered between them.
The remnants of 24 spelljammers maintain connections between the planet and it’s moons (and stations), though their owners lack the skill to repair or make new Helms. A number of wrecks and damaged Spelljammers lie in dangerous regions, either totally destroyed or in places deemed too hostile to attempt recovery.
The story
There is an over arching story to the campaign, one of several stories and insertion points have been selected via die roll by the players. The story is going to progress over time as events unravel, albeit at a slower pace, even if the players take a divergent path and ignore the story events.
While you have freedom to explore and learn about the world, taking your time… Time waits for no one and the story will come back to find you eventually.
Table/Party Talk
Talk at the table wanders, it’s always going to happen. Jokes will be made and laughs are going to be had. It’s impossible to keep a party of 4 or more entirely in character and on track. The DM will occasionally steer things back on course if they begin to stray too far.
When you are planning things, or trying to discuss with one another, try to keep it to between your characters, rather than the players where it’s reasonable.
XP?
Xp will be counted in the background, but milestones are weighted more heavily.
Level ups?
Leveling up happens after a long rest, but will generally be done at the end of a session to avoid disruption.
Rules and rule lookup
Rule lookups will be handled on a case by case basis. If it’s something high priority that will hold us up, that can be handled with a quick judgement by myself, then looked up and set in stone afterwards.
Some things may be better looked up, but we will try to do this in a manner that disrupts the session as little as possible
Attendance and Attention
I would prefer to always have 100% of the party present as NPCing missing members may not be possible in all cases.
Certain encounters, especially turn based ones, can take some time and it can be easy to get distracted. Whatever you do behind your screen is up to you, but if it introduces a habit of holding up encounters, or dragging the table far off topic, it’s going to need to be addressed. This might take the form of a turn skip (dodge) or another, less attractive interaction should it become chronic.
That said, if there’s a problem that is preventing you from focusing or comprehending, let me know so I can try to work around that.
Requests and quests
If you have a special request or you are interested in looking for something specific, send me a DM. This is a big world and there are a lot of possibilities, so ideas for things and fine details are welcome. Need a special material? Want to make a case for something? Ask me. It’s likely that you may be able to embark upon a journey to find it, or to learn about it.
Secrets
Not all things need be done out in the open, or in the view of other players. Players may request a separate session to plot or discuss with selected parties, or to do something entirely privately. If the sidebar is expected to last a while, it can be done in DM or after the session.
PVP and PVP Rolling
Players may occasionally have disagreement about a course of action, or explicit tensions between characters that may flare to violence. The first problem can be addressed by one of two methods: verbal persuasion or through a series of persuasion/charisma contests. The first is preferred, and the second must be agreed to by both parties.
PVP can lead to a lot of problems and further infighting between both players and their characters. While PVP is not prohibited, keep in mind the potential consequences.
Resting
Maximum of two short rests before a long rest, unless no one is doing anything/downtime activities are being conducted.
Downtime
Between adventures or travels, it’s likely that you may want to do things. Whether it’s a personal project or a party-improvement regime, discuss with me either in private or at a rest period about beginning one of these activities.
Casting underwater
You may cast while underwater but if you cannot breathe underwater, you forfeit the suffocation timer and go directly to suffocating. You still get the spell to cast. One spell.
Casting in empty space depletes your bubble.
Certain spells will not work or will be modified based upon a case by case basis.
Dying
Characters can die. While I make every attempt to balance encounters and the pace to allow player some breathing room, it’s still possibly to fail and die in spectacular fashion via bad luck, bad rolls or bad allies.
In some cases, it may be possible to revive or resurrect a character through a quest or finding an item or relic. Sitting there waiting isn’t fun for anyone, and thus a sidekick or temporary character can be introduced while a quest to restore the fallen ally is undertaken.
I recommend having a backup character on hand just in case. Talk to me about it
Depending on the density of events during a session, you may be able to be introduced in the same session, provided we have spoken first. Otherwise you will be introduced as soon as events allow or at the beginning of the next session.
Death saving throws
Any DST should be made in private to myself, try not to let the others know how you are doing, save wise.
Certain high value targets will also make death saves, so keep an eye on the battlefield if you need to secure a target.
Injury, disease and mutilation
There is a chance in any battle to sustain an injury, one that may cause a problem in your day to day life until healed. These usually clear up over the course of travel, downtime or with treatment.
Diseases CAN be contracted. You might become ill or catch something unpleasant from an encounter with the environment or a creature. Fortunately, remedies exist in the form of draughts and magics for these purposes.
As far as mutilation is concerned, I’d rather not cause damage to the party that may cripple one or more of them forever. I will leave that up to discussion during the first session as to whether we want to invoke this particular set of rules.
Non-lethal spells
Not all spells will be “lethal”. To Hit, directed spells maybe be designated as non-lethal. Certain spells that affect the whole body or destroy it obviously cannot be used in this manner.
Flanking
Rather than granting advantage, flanking will give +2 to attack rolls. Advantage can be gained through feats, help actions and other.
Oceans
12000 feet deep, 36000 where trenches are concerned.