Saltmarsh, a small fishing town along the sword coast north of Waterdeep seems an unlikely place for strangers to meet and gather, but yet this seems to be where we begin. Jikra, Thrace, and Phesemir have been around town for a while and have gotten to know a few of the local inhabitants. Jikra arrived with several folks that have joined the town guard but he may be looking to do something a bit different while he is here. Thrace arrived with the dwarven mining group and has been helping them with a few odds and ends but comes to town frequently to spread light among the inhabitants. Phesemir is here on commission from his employer to transcribe a few books. He is staying with his host to make the transcribing more easily accessible. They have learned so far about the town council and a few of the local hangouts. The town council is made up of Eda Oweland, a local noble who owns three large fishing vessels; Gelln Primewater, a dapper older gentleman whose family is primarily focused on trade goods; Eliander Fireborn, captian of the guard; Manistrad Copperlocks, a dwarven woman who leads the local mining group; and lastly Anders Solmor, a personable young man whose family owns several smaller fishing vessels. There is a bit of tension in town as Dagult Neverember, Lord Protector of Neverwinter, has started to take interest in the sleepy fishing town as a possible trade outpost. The mining operations that have recently started are also backed by the Neverember. The ruler has visions of expanding the small town and its docks to increase trade in the area and pad the coffers of Neverwinter. The locals however prefer their sleepy town as it is. There are three taverns/inns in town where folks gather for conversation, food, and drink. The Wicker Goat that seems to be the local hangout for the town guard and those dwarves from the mining community that make their way into Saltmarsh. The Empty Nest that seems to attract a seedier clientele, however the inn owner has no qualms at throwing disruptive patrons over the railing into the cold salt water. Finally, the Snapping Line run by Hanna Rist who offers local faire and wine with a few imported options available if the local “Claw Wine” does not suit their fancy. She has also started to acquire a few fine teas for Phesemir and experimenting with possible delicacies for the fine dwarven noble Thrace to attract their patronage. The Snapping Line is where they meet Tearmann, Laddie, and Tariq who are new to Saltmarsh, although the distance they traveled to get here varied wildly. Laddie was the closest having been in the wilds for some time, wandered into town who shared a handful of orange berries with the group, only Tearmann seemed to be brave enough to give them a try. He also paid some attention to Llewella, the squirrel that seems have befriend Phesemir and appears quite attentive. Tasted a bit like sweet crab but were very filling. Tearmann, who has been patrolling the border lands to the forests protecting civilized peoples from the dangers of the woods. And Tariq, who just arrived by vessel from the far away land of Zakhara in search of artifacts.
During his stay Phesemir heard rumor of a house not far from Saltmarsh that may contain a library and some artifacts that belonged to an alchemist who once lived there. According to these rumors the place seems haunted as eerie lights have been seen emanating from within and those brave enough to enter the run down mansion have heard ghastly shrieks and left before investigating any further. After much lively conversation where berries come from and who may or may not be able to walk on water, the group decided that taking a look at this local site might be an interesting thing to do. Everyone agrees to meet in the morning and heads out to get a night’s sleep.
The games try to favor a good mix of role play opportunities mixed with the opportunity to engage in encounters with the denizens of the campaign. Not all encounters require combat to resolve. I am not and will never be a voice actor, so set expectations appropriately that all the NPC sound like the DM. That however does not prevent the NPCs from having lively discussions with the players where they can use their persuasion and/or intimidation abilities.
The most important thing about any Scroll Case game is that everyone has a good time. It is not the intent of the Dungeon Master to kill off the players (of course that does not preclude from that threat being there if the characters choice to make foolhardy decisions).
In general, if players are interested in doing something outside the normal bounds reach out to the DM to see what can be worked out that will not cause imbalance in the game.
Character Management
Character Creation
Character creation will typically take place as a session 0 with the party. During this session we will discuss the general environment that the campaign will be in. This is also the point where we will discuss and Class/Race/Alignment limitations. For the most party any Race/Class and their variants from any published D&D 5e book should be fine.
All hit point rolls and ability score rolls will be done during the session and will be witnessed by the DM.
Ability Scores
Players have a choice to roll for their ability scores or use the point system. Once the choice is made players need to stick with their choice. For example, if you choose to roll and the results are less then favorable then you cannot change your choice to use the point buy system.
Rolling – Roll 4d6 taking the highest three die for each ability score. You may place the numbers in whatever order you would like.
Ability Point Buy – This is the standard option available in the Player’s Handbook. You have 27 points to spend on the following table:
Score
Cost
Score
Cost
8
0
12
4
9
1
13
5
10
2
14
7
11
3
15
9
Under this option the minimum score is 8 and the maximum score is 15.
Backgrounds
The specific campaign may have some adjustments to the variety of backgrounds available. Those will be discussed during the session 0. Beyond just the standard background players should be prepared to describe their characters specific back story. If any of that needs to be kept from other players, it can be email to the Dungeon Master. Be mindful that the final approval regarding the character backstory is up to the DM and there may be discussion about making minor adjustments to allow the backstory to integrate with the campaign and with other members of the party.
It is encouraged that players utilize this time to create a good backstory for their characters that can help frame the role play opportunities during the campaign. As a note this is also the opportunity for the DM to utilize the same information to incentivize and/or bring the characters into the story of the campaign. For example, if you had a run in with some villain in your past that same villain could appear in the campaign for an opportunity to readdress a past issue/concern.
Alignment
Alignment is only important for those classes dependent on their deity for their spell casting and/or class abilities. The focus of this is however more on the deity chosen for these classes and what the goals, intents, direction, etc. of the deity is. If the character is consistently making decisions that would not be favored by their respective deity they run the risk of falling into disfavor. Typically, campaigns are run in the Forgotten Realms setting. This can change depending on the campaign and may at one point be run in the Scroll Case developed campaign setting.
Hit Points
For first level all characters should take the maximum hit points for your character class.
Leveling Up
Most campaigns are milestone driven rather then utilizing per session experience points. The DM will let the players know when they can level up. If characters have missed sessions, there may be some disparity among the party.
Hit Points
When additional hit points are gained for a level the players have a choice of taking the average for the hit dice or to roll. Again, once the decision is done the player cannot choose to take a different option. A roll of a 1 is always rerolled.
Training
Characters are not required to spend time training when a new level is obtained. The characters are practicing their skills as they progress through their campaign and it is expected they probably practice new skills doing downtime activities. However, if the player would like to role play out how the characters learns something new please get in touch with the DM. For example if you are a melee class learning a few spells via a feat or obtaining a new level the player may want to make a contact with someone who did teach them the abilities that give them a contact in town.
Game Rules
Standard D&D rules apply along, any standard variants will be recorded here. There can be some fluidity to the rules as needed for the campaign at the DM discretion. It is important that there is always (or as best as possible) smooth gameplay. It is not the time during the session to argue rules. It is not an issue for a player to express that something may be off, but decisions will be made to keep the encounter going. If, however it is discovered after the session that the ruling was incorrect that will be explained so that it does not continue. For example, a hold person was successful on an NPC that was not actually humanoid. The DM will provide some explanation of what happened but explain that the type of creature should not have been affected. Or a DM may allow some lee way to player to break the rules a bit to support new players etc. The goal is to keep the game moving smoothly, that everyone has a good experience, and that the party is adequately challenged in the encounters.
Short and Long Rest
During a short rest, a player can use hit dice to recover lost hit points. At the beginning of a long rest additional hit dice can be used to recover. At the end of a long rest hit dice are recovered. A long rest does not automatically heal all damage. This is a variant from the standard D&D rules regarding a long rest.
Game Play
Casting Spells
I encourage players to describe their casting and the effect that is created. These descriptions always stay in the vein of the spell and do not affect the direct stats of the spell but allows for the players to give their characters some uniqueness.
Combat
Critical Failures and Critical Hits are success/failures. By the D&D 5e rules the dice are doubled for the damage done on that attack that lands with a critical hit. A roll of a 1 always misses. A critical fumble/hit chart is in progress and will add some additional flair to both the failures and hits. For example, a critical hit may leave a creature vulnerable to other leave a lasting scar. A critical failure may cause the combatant to drop a weapon, strike an ally, or break a bowstring. This is intended to add some flair to the combat and not intended to completely break the balance of an encounter.
The final killing blow description is left up to the character who made the killing blow.
Player & Character Knowledge
D&D has been around a long time and many players bring a tremendous amount of game knowledge to the table. The players need to remember what their character knows vs what they know. They also should consider the characters ability scores. When the party runs up against a demon for the first time, they might not know at that moment that a demon has immunities to certain types of damage. That is something they should learn as the campaign progresses. The characters also do not know their “Ability Scores”. They have a perception of how they rank on certain abilities against the other players in the group that can be driven by racial tendencies and experience.
One thing to note the DM has the ability to make adjustments for the campaign to keep the players on their toes and based on circumstances the characters may not be aware of. Also the magic shield the band of goblins has is not stashed away in some chest in the back of their lair. They will be wielding it. So don’t be surprised when one goblin in the midst has a little better armor class then the others.
Another thing to note – players can roll their own stealth/insight/perception checks etc. If the players start using the result of the roll as character knowledge, then there may be adjustments made. For example if every room the party searches they have the halfling rogue make the search alone. He has always found everything. If said halfling rolls a 1 on their search roll that does not mean all the remaining party starts to search as well. The characters do not know that the halfling rolled poorly. If your characters rolls a insight check to determine the value of a gem and rolls a 1 and I tell you its worth 10 gold. Then that is what you think it is worth. If this gets abused the DM has the authority to start making these rolls on the behalf of the characters so they don’t know what they rolled.
