Basic Mechanics

Player Safety

1. I have zero tolerance for intolerance, bigotry, or any form of discrimination.

2. We will warmly welcome and actively support all considerate players.

3. We will collaboratively establish Lines & Veils and agree on how to implement them in our game.

4. This game will strictly prohibit the following content:

   • Any form of harm to children

   • Sexual violence

   • Explicit physical intimacy

   • Non-consensual player-vs-player actions

About the Campaign

1. Something is wrong in the world, but no one has noticed yet

2. You'll start small: a frontier region, local problems, immediate threats

3. The deeper you dig, the larger the picture becomes

4. Trust your instincts when things don't add up

5. This is a campaign about discovery as much as action

Campaign Themes

1. High magic in a multiverse of connected worlds

2. Heroic tone with dark undercurrents

3. Mystery and investigation woven throughout

4. Consequences for power without accountability

About the Director

1. I am Old-School. D&D first captivated me in the late 1970s when I was introduced to it during a middle school class - hard to believe, right? For years, I ran games enthusiastically, and during one of these sessions, I met my future wife of 30+ years. Eventually, career and family responsibilities led me to take a hiatus from both running and playing games.

2. I am In This for Fun. In pre-COVID times, as an empty-nester approaching retirement with grandchildren still on the horizon, I discovered virtual tabletops (VTTs). I started as a player, which reignited my passion for running games.

3. I am Conventional. My style blends elements from Sly Flourish and The Angry GM. I'm decidedly not Matt Mercer. You won't hear voices or sound effects from me. Instead, I focus on vivid scene narration and fair action adjudication.

4. I am Discerning. I have no interest in running games for "edge-lord" type characters or hosting campaigns with overly optimized, min-maxed characters.

5. I have Responsibilities. My job involves occasional travel, and I have a grandson. Some weeks I'll miss sessions due to work or family. I'll always give advance notice for work-related absences. If I need to cancel last-minute because my grandson needs me, I moved halfway across the country specifically to be there for him. I'll provide as much notice as possible.

Expectations of Players

1. You are an Adult. That’s the only demographic restriction that I want to put on this.

2. You might be Diverse. You Appreciate and Respect Diversity in the group you game with, regardless the classification of that diversity.

3. You are Reliable. You keep your commitments. If something prevents you from keeping your commitments, you give as much advance notice as possible.

4. You are Respectful. You participate constructively in the game, acting as a supportive teammate to the other players and the Director.

5. You Participate. You are happy to hold the spotlight for a time, then step back out of it and invite other players to step into it.

6. You are Adventurous and Patient. We are playing a relatively new game system on a pre-release VTT. You’re ready to tackle the learning curve and challenges that come with that.

Expectations of Heroes

1. Your Hero is Heroic. They strive to protect the defenseless. They kill or cause harm only when they must.

2. Your Hero is Respectful. They act respectfully, even to proven enemies.

3. Your Hero is Smart. They don’t take unnecessary risks. They don’t actively seek trouble. They don’t insult or challenge beings significantly more powerful than they are. They don’t advertise their presence to enemies without good cause.

4. Your Hero is Honorable. They go out into the world. They act courageously. They help people. They minimize the harm they cause. They are willing to make the necessary sacrifice. (See Introduction to Honor)

5. Your Hero is reasonably Worldly. By the time they have progressed through their backgrounds and became the powerful first-level Hero they start as, they have learned much about the world.

What You'll Experience

1. Relatively heavy worldbuilding. The more you engage, the deeper this will go.

2. Encounter balance that is approximately 50% combat, 35% montage, 15% negotiation.

3. Backstory resolution. If you build them smartly, over time, probably working with me, I can usually leverage backstory in ways you might not expect. Or appreciate. Consider yourself both invited and warned.

What We'll Avoid

Draw Steel is not your typical survival-based d20 game. It doesn’t track torches and rations. We don’t worry about running out of spell components.

We probably will never see the following during this campaign:

• Rolling dice to answer key plot questions or dilemmas. For example, a die roll, even a very successful series of them, will never reveal conclusively whether a key NPC is truthful or lying. When it’s time to make a decision, you will need to draw your own conclusions based on the information you have available at the time.

AI Usage

• This campaign makes extensive use of AI for image generation. For example, all the icons you see on this campaign's site were initially generated by AI then modified by me.

• I sometimes use AI as a refinement tool during my creative process.

Next Steps

• Read the House Rules document.

• Read the Hero Creation document.

• If you're interested and intend to commit for the duration, please complete the interested player survey at https://tally.so/r/RGP4Yp and I'll reach out on Discord.