I wanted to take some time to write a little bit about myself, the sort of GM that I am and my expectations for the game and generally how I'm going to run this. Hopefully this is all ok but if there are any issues with any of this then please by all means speak up.

I have been around D&D for a very very long time, first really getting into it in the late 80's. I started with the Red D&D Original Basic Set and went through all of the sets back at that time, from Basic to Immortal (BECMI). I think it was originally AD&D 2nd Edition that really ignited my love of D&D back in the crazy days when TSR had about 10 or 11 different Campaign Settings and the massive assortment of Campaign Sourcebooks and Adventures that were released for each setting. Back in the day my favourites were Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Ravenloft and Dragonlance, and I am very happy to be able to bring you this game set in the Forgotten Realms Setting.

So a little bit about my GM'ing style and the game itself. First and foremost, I am a writer and I love writing. I particularly enjoy creating vivid and interesting NPC's for use in the game and I consider my strengths to be around character and world building. What I ultimately want from this game is to build a world that you will find yourself immersed in and love to be in. A lot of things will happen in this game, and not all of them will involve the PC's. Part of what I like to do is create events and happenings that take place without you being there -- although you are the center of the main plot, the world will move around and without you.

In terms of the NPC's of the game, I love to create interesting, driven yet flawed characters -- basically as close to real people as I can manage. If ultimately I invoke enough emotion and empathy to get you to care about not just your characters but others too then I have succeeded in my goal for the game. If, however, you see "Random NPC #1" a sheepherder with no definable traits or qualities then I am failing in my mission as storyteller.

As far as the game goes, there is a defined start point and there is a defined end point. I will not railroad you and I will not hold your hands throughout this -- however you choose to tackle the challenges I pose is entirely up to you and you will quite literally live or die by the strength of your decisions.

This is a dark game. This is a very dark game. Things might not entirely go your way, but win or lose, what I want here is an experience that will live with you for a very very long time.

As far as myself and the site goes, this will be the only game that you see me GM'ing. I'm very well aware of my strengths and failings as a GM, and the one thing I truly hate is someone treating a game like its nothing. I haven't taken this game on lightly, and all of my thoughts, energies and creativity will go into making this a success. If I was to take on and GM a second game it would detract from the effort that I put into this one.

You will find me quite responsive as a GM, if you all post one post a day I will try my utmost to update before that day is out. If I cannot then I will update the day after.

I tend not to use initiative, generally when a combat begins it will be players first, monsters second, and you may post in any order. I will sort any combat actions out into a coherent whole. Trust me, you will thank me for this later .

For combat encounters where appropriate we will use Google Maps. I'm not an artist unfortunately so if you're looking for beautiful hand drawn maps I won't provide them. They will be functional though and provide everything needed to get by. For smaller encounters we may rely on theater of the mind but I will assess on a combat by combat basis.

I hope you all enjoy the game and I hope that, for better or worse, it stays with you for a long long time after it has finished!