Game Expectations

This is an adaptation of Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen, beginning in 351 AC. This is an epic campaign book, taking characters from about levels 1 to 10 and beyond as they get swept up in and eventually save the world from Takhisis, the Dragon Queen. Leveling is done by milestone. I will accept between 5 and 7 characters. Unlike my current Princes of the Apocalypse game, I will not be running two, separate groups.

   This game is going to feature adventurers who will be swept up into a war and in part, will be invited to be part of an army. Please make a character that is

• good.—not merely “Oh, their alignment is neutral-good”, but will act in accordance to that alignment.
• motivated to save the world from several invading armies of dragons lead by a demonic dragon queen. Having living kith and kin—parents, siblings, spouses, children, and friends for whom you want to save the world is desirable. Orphans who hate the world and everyone in it, or characters who feel the need to ask, “Why are we even fighting?” are . . . probably not a good fit for this game.
• a team player. There’s certainly something to be said about scouting ahead alone for the good of the party. No one ever said that’s bad. But what leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth is the “lone wolf” who “don’t need no party” and only begrudgingly goes along with the party when “what’s in it for me?” is a handsome sum no one can afford to pay, or “Why would my character do this, again?” My RPG philosophy is: when in doubt, your character
  • always wants to find the next adventure (rather than be dragged along, kicking and screaming),
  • always wants to delve that dungeon (rather than be cajoled into it by the rest of an exasperated party),
  • always wants to fight (or negotiate with) that monster (rather than run away from it in fear (the frightened condition notwithstanding)),
  • always wants to find heaps of treasure and magic items (so they can fund more adventures and become more powerful to win those future adventures).

• capable of, at one point in the adventure, being part of a military hierarchical structure and isn’t going to require all of us to bend over backwards to suspend our disbelief that a superior officer would tolerate mouthing off, jackassery, or gross insubordination. Again, this is not a mandatory induction, so if the party doesn’t want it, that’s fine, but please be prepared to go along with it. Rest assured that, by that point in the adventure, your characters’ opinions and council will be sought after and valued, so your characters will definitely have their say. However, once decisions have been made, orders issued, etc . . . your characters will be expected to follow them. Certainly, there is a lot of room for fun, a la every military movie out there. The bants are welcome—even harmless pranks. Disruption of an operation will not be.

   Mostly, this is just advice from the DM to the players and not hard rules. That said, if I’m choosing between someone who checks all the boxes above, and someone who only checks half of them, I think you know who I’m going to pick.

Atributes

Use 27 point point-buy to generate your attributes before adding modifiers from your lineage, or use the standard array (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), whichever you prefer.

Race, Background, and Class Options

You may use any race, background, or class found in

• Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
• Dungeon Master’s Guide
• Eberron: Rising from the Last War
• Elemental Evil Player’s Companion
• Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount
• Fizban’s Treasury of Dragons
• Guildmasters’ Guide to Ravnica
• Ghosts of Saltmarsh
• Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden
• Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
• Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes
• Mythic Odysseys of Theros
• One Grung Above
• Player’s Handbook
• Strixhaven: A Curriculum of Chaos
• Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide
• Tal’Dorei Campaign Setting Reborn
• Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything
• The Tortle Package
• The Wild Beyond the Witchlight
• Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (Dhampir, Hexblood, and Reborn not allowed)
• Volo’s Guide to Monsters
• Wayfinder’s Guide to Eberron
• and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything

Of course, you may make your own Background as outlined on pages 125–6 of the Player’s Handbook.

Posting Rate

I ask for 1 post/week, minimum, with more dependent on schedule. I’m a teacher in Japan, so my posts will likely be when others are asleep, and I don’t have much time at work to devote to this, so they’ll have to wait until I get home from work. That said, sometimes I do have time at work!

Application Deadline

I will begin accepting applications from the moment the game goes live. The deadline is 11:59 PM JST (UTC +9), Friday, March 25, 2024.

MW Character Sheets

So . . . I’ve never really gotten much use out of the MW character sheets, and just stick to stuff posted in your character thread and at the top of your posts, so you don’t need to bother making an MW sheet. You will use your character thread for that.

Homebrew Rule

   My IRL D&D group uses a homebrew rule to great effect to prevent the Yo-Yo of knock-out-heal-knock-out-heal in combat: Whenever a healing spell, or single instance of healing from a feature like a paladin’s lay-on-hands or a healing potion is used, you may roll one of your hit-dice and add that to the total. You may roll one hit-die per spell level, or per 5 points of lay-on-hands, or per level of healing potion.

   For example, if a cleric casts the cure wounds spell with a second-level spell slot, you may roll two hit-dice. If a paladin uses 5 to 9 of their lay-on-hands, you can roll one hit-die, but if they used 10 to 14, you could use two hit-dice, and so on. If you take a potion of greater healing, you can roll two.

   Small Creatures and Weapons with the Heavy Property. A small creature that has an attack stat (be it strength, dexterity, or some other stat used in place of either of those two granted by a class feature) of 15 or above AND has proficiency in the use of that weapon may use a weapon with the heavy property without disadvantage.

Non-Posting Rule

   I really hate being ghosted. If you discover that this ends up just not being the game for you, you don’t even have to tell me why—but definitely tell me you’re bowing out. We can talk about how you’d like your character to leave, too. I’m not just going to kill them violently out of spite.

   However, if you haven’t posted for three weeks straight, with no explanation as to why—you’ve just seemingly disappeared like a fart in the wind—then I will remove you from my game.

   Remember: I only require one post/week for this game. More is great, but at minimum, one.

   On week two of no posts, I’ll at-you in the OOC Thread, asking if you’re planning on posting next week.

   If you have an up-coming prolonged absence, let us know and we can accommodate your character being off-screen.