Welcome to Eye of the Storm's first attempt at a tabletop RPG campaign. As discussed on the guild forums, we will be running through the 5th Edition D&D Starter Set adventure, which is designed to take a group of 4-5 characters from levels 1 through 5. If we manage to get through that, then we will decide collectively what to do next.

Lost Mine of Phandelver


Basic Adventure Premise

The characters have been hired by Gundren Rockseeker to guard his wagon of goods as it travels from Neverwinter to Phandalin. They don't need any motivation to go on this journey, other than the universal need for cash. However, they do need an explanation for how and why they were hired for this job in the first place.

The Quest Giver

Gundren Rockseeker is a dwarf mining prospector. He is fairly well known in Neverwinter and the surrounding area for having found and exploited a number of profitable mining claims in the region. He works these claims with his two brothers, Tharden and Nundro, although Gundren is the face of their mining operation and is the one who conducts all their city business. It is reasonable to assume that in the time he's been doing this, he has traveled widely and has met and befriended many people. There are any number of possible explanations for how he may know the characters, and why he'd be willing to hire them for his latest project.
This message was last edited by the GM at 10:37, Sun 27 Sept 2015.

Game Policies

Game Pace and Posting Frequency

Forum-based games are inherently very slow. It will take a long time to get anything done. Therefore, we really don't want to compound that slowness with excessive player delays. These are the simple rules:

• The Golden Rule: Please try to check the game often, and respond as quickly as possible whenever someone asks you a direct question. Even if you've been flaky and haven't made an actual game post in a long time. Shit happens, we still love you, but if we holler at you and you don't respond, then we have no choice but to assume that you have died.
  
  • I guess this is where the EotS D&D Facebook group comes in handy, as well. Please use it.
• Please try to make at least one in-character post to advance the game each day.
  
  
• Of course, the time will come when you are too busy to do this. This is fine. In this case, all you have to do is just let us know in an OOC post that you will be out of commission for a while. We will wait for you.
  
  
• If you neither make an in-character game post nor announce that you will be absent, and a total of 48 hours passes from the time of your most recent post, then as the DM I reserve the right to post on your behalf in order to keep the game moving. By joining this game, you implicitly agree to this stipulation.
  
  • I expect to invoke this rule very rarely. Usually I will give you quite a bit more than 48 hours, and I will bitch at you first. But be warned; it could possibly happen.
• As a group, we might need to take an occasional extended break from the game. This is also fine. We should be able to work these things out in the forums.
  
  
• Refer again to the Golden Rule above.

Rolling Dice

Any time your character takes an action that involves rolling dice, you must use the in-game dice roller to log your roll.

• Be sure to always check "Record Each Die", and then enter something informative in the "Reason for roll" box, so we know what the roll was for.
  
  
• When copying the results of the roll to post them, please copy from the log at the bottom of the page, not the immediate result that appears at the top.
  
  
• Any time you make an attack roll, go ahead and include the damage roll in the same post, unless you are certain that you missed.

Where to Post What

• There may be multiple in-character narrative threads over the course of the game, but the title of the current one will always be prefixed with the string "[IC]". Post your character's current actions there. See "In-Character Posts" below for the conventions to follow when posting in these threads.
  
  
• Similarly, there will be a single out-of-character thread prefixed with the string "[OOC]", where you can talk about anything you want. However, the main expected purpose of this thread is to talk through what your characters are doing in the current in-character thread. Please keep in mind the below guidelines of "Realism and Player vs. Character Knowledge" when posting there.

In-Character Posts

Please use the following conventions in your in-character descriptive posts:

• Either initiate your post by clicking on the general "Post a Reply" link in the lower right corner of the page, or remember to remove the "In reply to So-and-so (msg # N):" clutter that appears when you reply directly to a previous post. In-character posts are supposed to consist of well-formed narrative text, so I prefer not to see procedural spam like this there. This request does not apply to posts in the OOC thread or elsewhere.
  
  
• Write in the third-person, present tense.
  
  Good Example:

  Luke Nounverber impales the wizard.
  Bad Example:

  Luke Nounverber impaled the wizard.
  Bad Example:

  I impale the wizard.
  
  
• Choose a dialogue color (other than red or orange), and color all of your character's spoken (or telepathically communicated) dialogue with this color. Include the quotation marks in the colored region of text. Post to the OOC thread to claim the color of your choice; colors will be claimed on a first-come, first-served basis.
  
  Example:

  "And now, young Nounverber," the Emperor says, "you will die."
  • Avoid internal dialogue altogether (e.g. thoughts, feelings, etc.). See "Realism and Player vs. Character Knowledge" below for more explanation.
  • Red is reserved for NPC dialogue, and orange is reserved for OOC blurbs (see below).
  
  
• At the bottom of any in-character post involving the use of an ability, dice roll, or any other relevant game mechanic, please add a block of text with a brief explanation of what you're doing, including any relevant dice roller logs. Prefix this block with the string "OOC:", and color it orange.
  
  Example:

  Luke Nounverber slams his tankard to the table with the might of a storm giant, shattering the wooden surface into a thousand puny shards.
  OOC: Attempting to annihilate the table with awesomeness.
  00:00, Today: Luke Nounverber rolled over 9000 using 1d20 with rolls of over 9000. Strength check to crush the table.
  
  
• Never, ever use the dreaded asterisk emote. I hate it, and if you use it, then by extension I will be compelled to hate you.
  
  Horrible, HORRIBLE Example:

  "Why, good day to you," Luke Nounverber says to the nubile young slave girl.
  *Flexes his arms in a flirtatious pose*

Realism and Player vs. Character Knowledge

I believe that role-playing games are more fun if surprises and narrative twists are kept secret from the actual humans involved, and revealed only at the proper time, exactly as in any traditional literary medium. For this reason, please be aware of the following guidelines in this game:

• Players are encouraged to keep secrets from one another, and only share them with other players if and at a time when their characters would logically do so.
  
  
• Feel free to make liberal use of the private messaging feature of this game to work out with me the details of anything your character might privately know or witness, or to hold private conversations with other characters. As the DM, I will be able to see all such private messages occurring in this game, even if I'm not directly involved, so you can rest assured that the content of those messages will properly impact the storyline.
  
  • Of course, be reasonable about this. If the entire group is standing together in a cramped tunnel, for example, and two of you try to carry on a private conversation via PM, then I'll probably clue the other players in by posting something like "A and B huddle together off to the side of the corridor, whispering suspiciously."
• When working things out in the OOC thread, remember to stay within reasonable bounds. For example, your characters probably wouldn't have time in a tense melee to plan out an intricate on-the-fly strategy, and it's unrealistic to share detailed character knowledge in a setting where the characters simply would not be able to do so, such as while negotiating with a local bureaucrat in his cramped office, or while confined to separate jail cells. Try hard not to metagame, or "crossboard" as we call it. You are playing the role of a believable character, not working your way through a cooperative strategy board game.
  
  
• In descriptive posts, refrain from showing your character's thoughts, feelings, memories or anything else that other characters would not know. The characters are not mind readers; concrete ideas can only be communicated through dialogue. If you want to hint at these kinds of things without just coming out and saying them, then you'll need to get creative with mood and body language.
  
  Good Example:

  Luke Nounverber scowls at the halfling innkeeper, unable to hide his obvious disdain. The stink of his glare is colored with an aura of unpleasant personal history, though whether from the innkeeper himself or simply others of his ilk is hard to say.
  Bad Example:

  Gods, do I hate halflings, Luke Nounverber thinks to himself as he scowls at the innkeeper. Ever since that time he was passed out in a drunken stupor and one of them crawled up his pants on a wild bet from his blathering companions, Luke has trembled with rage every time he looks at one. They might make a tasty meal, though, he muses with gritty satisfaction.
  
  
• I will typically make most of your character's initiative or passive skill checks for you, usually in secret. This is because sometimes just asking for a roll in itself reveals something that your characters might not know. For example, I find the classic call to "roll initiative" irritating, since that lets you know that combat is about to happen. Sometimes it's obvious that combat is about to happen, but sometimes it's not, and in the latter case it should be just as much a surprise to you as it is to your characters.

Overall Tone and Narrative Style

I probably don't have to explain this to this group, but I will clarify exactly what I expect anyway, considering the kind of silliness I've seen before on this site. This is a role-playing game campaign, not a collaborative fiction storytelling exercise. Therefore, please try to keep your descriptive posts reasonably simple and to the point. In particular, please refrain from writing ornate purple prose that is best left on the pages of amateur fan fiction buried at the bottom of the ocean. I really don't mean to stifle your creativity, and I strongly encourage you to flex your writing muscles if you so wish, but please try to steer decisively away from the realm of cheese.

Here are some examples:

When in doubt, ask yourself: what would Hemingway do?
This message was last edited by the GM at 08:12, Mon 16 Nov 2015.

Character Creation

• Player characters start at level 1, with 0 XP.
  
  • Replacement characters will start at the same level and total XP as the previous character controlled by that player.
  • "Drop-in" characters will start at the same level and total XP as the lowest surviving party member, or at the last recorded such value in the event of a TPK.
• Starting ability scores can be determined by your choice of either rolling (4d6 drop lowest per stat), point buy variant, or the standard set (15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8), as per PHB p.13.
  
  • If you choose to roll your stats, then please use the in-game dice roller to log your rolls. See "Game Policies -> Rolling Dice" above for how to use it.
• Starting HP is hit die maximum plus Constitution bonus, as per PHB p.12.
  
  
• Any race, class or class feature from the PHB is acceptable. This includes variant humans and feats.
  
  
• Any alignment is acceptable, but it's your job to justify why you work with a team if you're evil. You don't have to share your alignment with the other players if you don't want to.
  
  
• Describe your character using the rules under "Personal Characteristics", PHB pp.123-124: two traits, one ideal, one bond, and one flaw.
  
  • You can have more of these if you want. Include whatever it takes to adequately describe your character.
  • Use your imagination. I would prefer that you not just pick options from the background lists; come up with something yourself that is appropriate to your character's backstory.
• Pick one background from the PHB, pp.125-141. If you want to customize your own background, then we'll need to talk about it.
  
  
• Starting equipment can be your choice of either what your class and background give, or whatever you want to buy from the PHB using your class's starting gold, as per PHB p.143. You can't have both.
  
  • As always, log your rolls with the in-game dice roller if you choose the latter option.
• If you want one of the trinkets from the PHB pp.160-161, then either roll for it or just pick one that seems interesting to you. There's no need to log this roll, since you get to pick. You don't have to take one at all if you don't want to; it's only for flavor, and possibly to motivate the storyline.

In-Game Character Setup

Once you've gotten all of the above information to me, then click on "Character Details" in the upper left corner of this page, and do the following:

• Click "Select a Portrait" to choose your character's portrait. Unfortunately, for legal reasons, this site doesn't let you just upload any image you want. You have to either pick from their gallery (which, to be fair, is very large), or you have to go through a lengthy (once per month) approval process to have the image of your choice added to the gallery. So you should probably just pick one of the pre-existing options.
  
  
• Click "Edit Description" to enter your character's physical description. This should not include any backstory or alignment/personality details, only physical features and common mannerisms that new acquaintances would be able to observe, including equipment that the character commonly wears or carries.
  
  
• Click "Change Biography" to add some descriptive lines to go under your name next to every post. Your tag (set by me) will always include your race and class, so I prefer that your first biography line be your chosen in-class specialty, e.g. "Life Domain" for clerics or "Battlemaster Archetype" for fighters. You can then either leave the second biography line blank, or use it for whatever other title or description you prefer, much like a forum signature; e.g. "Slayer of toilet paper", "Likes to rape kittens", etc.
  
  
• You can leave the character sheet blank, since I will fill it out for you once I get all your stats and character details.

Adventure Hook

Once your character is fully created, then you'll need to come up with a reason why he or she is participating in this adventure in the first place.

• Although your character doesn't really need any motivation for accepting Gundren's job other than for the money, you still need to come up with the initial premise of that hire: why your character is in Neverwinter, why you are in a position to be hired by Gundren, and why he would be willing to hire you.
  
  • It's reasonable to assume that Gundren has tapped the local taverns and meeting places in Neverwinter to find the hirelings he needs for this mission. However, he is a dwarf with connections and a need for reliable service, so he probably wouldn't pay good money to any old band of seedy tavern cutthroats who might run off with his goods themselves. Therefore, it might make sense for you to come up with some past connection to Gundren, or at least some reason why he would trust your qualifications, such as your local reputation, word of mouth references, or something more interesting.
• You'll also need to come up with a connection your character has with the rest of the group. You can all be old adventuring buddies who go way back, or you can be a handful of lone mercenaries who meet for the first time as the dwarf's assorted hirelings; whatever makes sense to you. Work it out amongst yourselves.

This message was last edited by the GM at 04:23, Thu 01 Oct 2015.

Leveling Up

• When increasing your HP, you have the choice of either rolling your class's hit die, or taking the static average for your class (listed under "Hit Points at Higher Levels" in your PHB class description), plus your Constitution modifier in either case.
  
  • Of course, if you decide to roll, then you must log it in the dice roller. Do so at your own risk, because whatever you roll, you're stuck with it!
• When you reach a level that awards an "Ability Score Improvement" for your class, you can choose to forgo that improvement to instead take a feat, as per PHB p.165. You must meet all listed prerequisites to take any feat.

This message was last edited by the GM at 15:18, Sun 27 Sept 2015.

Rules Clarifications

1. We are using the "Encumbrance" variant rule, as per PHB p.176. This means that you suffer graded penalties at carry weights of 5, 10 and 15 times your Strength (in pounds), as opposed to the base rule of suffering no penalty until you reach your carrying capacity of 15 times your Strength.
   • These variant encumbrance rules also clearly state that "when you use this variant, ignore the Strength column of the Armor table in chapter 5." The problem is that this breaks the dwarf's racial "Speed" trait (PHB p.20), which states that a dwarf's "speed is not reduced by wearing heavy armor." To resolve this, we will adopt a house rule that dwarves simply do not include the weight of worn armor when calculating encumbrance.
     
     
   • The variant encumbrance rules do not pertain to mounts, only characters.
   
   
2. The listed weight for mount "Feed" on PHB p.157 (10 lb. per day) makes sense for large beasts of burden, but not for dogs, which presumably need much less food per day than a horse or other draft animal. So to compromise, we will use the statistics for human "Rations" on PHB p.150 to represent dog food: the weight goes down significantly (2 lb. per day, same as needed by a PC), but the cost goes up (from 5 cp to 5 sp per day), to reflect the fact that dog food is more refined and harder to come by than just a sack of grain.
   
   
3. As a clarification to the rules for "Long Rests" on PHB p.186, you can occasionally be interrupted by short combat encounters while resting, and still go on to receive the full benefits of a long rest after eight hours. However, if you are continually interrupted during those eight hours, then you won't. Source: http://forum.rpg.net/showthrea...d-you-start-all-over
   
   
4. The equipment tables in chapter 5 of the PHB do not list anything like a blank book, such as a journal or ledger book. The closest things that are listed would be a "Book" (25 gp, 5 lb.), which is described as already filled with information presumably of some value, and a "Spellbook" (50 gp, 3 lb.), which would obviously be of finer quality and therefore more expensive than a typical book. It's reasonable to argue that a plain, non-magical blank book would be a lot cheaper than either of these, and also potentially quite smaller and lighter as well, if intended to be portable and travel-worthy as an adventurer might need.
   
   As a compromise, we will use statistics devised by another DM who has already faced this problem in his campaign - a small, leather-bound travel book filled with 100 blank pages will cost 10 gp and weigh 2 lb. 100 pages seems reasonable since that's how many pages are in a spellbook, and 2 lb. makes sense since a spellbook weighs 3 lb., and would presumably be crafted from sturdier and more secure materials. Source: https://fewilcox.wordpress.com...5e-adventuring-gear/
   
   
5. The "scimitar" from the official weapons table (PHB p.149) is now called a "cutlass", its cost is reduced to 10 gp, and its weight is reduced to 2 lb (basically a slashing shortsword). A larger version of this weapon is now what’s called a "scimitar" - 25 gp, 1d8 slashing damage, 3 lb, finesse but not light (basically a slightly heavier slashing rapier). Bards and Rogues are now proficient in the cutlass, but not the scimitar.

This message was last edited by the GM at 19:40, Fri 29 Sept 2017.