Character generation and player guidelines
The 3 starting players should confer and build characters during Session Zero. I want everyone to play the character class and race they wish to, but it will help if the party is designed to cover the bases for some urban adventuring. You can always use muscle, but a clever rogue would be useful, and a wizard too. You will not need the typical D&D party with a couple of fighters, a cleric, a wizard, etc.
Start at level 1, with the standard array for your primary characteristics
Start with maximum hit points for your class and level.
Start with standard gear from the 5e Players Handbook, including money. Buy whatever else you need and can afford.
Races available are those from AD&D 1e - human, elf, half-elf, dwarf, halfling. We're not doing half-orcs.
All character classes from the 5e Players Handbook are available.
No evil alignments.
While no character classes are banned, some might be less appropriate than others for the setting. Notably a Lawful Good Paladin might be hard to roleplay in a setting where Neutral Good or Chaotic Good make more sense. Heroes in S&S tend to have a more flexible moral code. For example, they might go to some trouble to save someone, and the next moment find it convenient to steal some jewels from a noble, or rob a thief who just stole them. Even a Chaotic or Neutral Good Cleric might find justification for some useful larceny.
Character starting backgrounds
PCs start at 18 years of age, or the equivalent for different races. You are YOUNG. You want some backstory, but not too much. One or two paragraphs are plenty, and maybe just a couple of sentences. A few notes about there you came from, a few notes about what motivates you. These can be simple. "Love of adventure" is plenty to justify adventuring. We will explore and develop your character as we play (or until the PC dies).
Play Style
As we are starting with only 3 player characters, this campaign will involve somewhat less combat. So think about your non-combat skills, abilities, and spells. There will be a bit more investigation, problem solving, and involvement of non-player characters. Experience points will be awarded not just for combat, but also for clever use of character abilities, great ideas, good roleplaying, and solving of problems.
As in William's campaign, we'll be using more of an oldschool style of play. Example: if your character wants to check an area for traps, rather than saying "I'm checking for traps and then rolling the dice" and waiting for the GM to describe the results, the player would say something like "I get down on my knees and give the lock a close visual examination to see if there is any trigger for a trap, poison needles, etc." In such a case, it may not be necessary to roll for success if you describe exactly what you would need to do to locate a problem.
We will avoid metagaming. Players should not communicate with each other if their characters couldn't communicate in-game, etc. I'd like players to only communicate regarding in-game stuff as their in-game characters. We all lapse into metagaming from time to time, so no judgement. The DM will try to keep everyone in-game and immersed, and gently nudge if needed. Again, no judgement.
General out-of-character tomfoolery is encouraged. In-character tomfoolery is also encouraged, but if you say it in-character, it happens in the game!
Players are encouraged to keep a character journal, either online or in a notebook.
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