The Coven Greyhawk

Session -1

We call ourselves "The Coven", for reasons shrouded in antiquity.  Our D&D campaign is set in the world of Greyhawk.

Canon is broadly adhered to but there are differences, so canonical history and geography should not be taken for granted; consult with the DM if unsure.

The campaign has been running for a long time.  According to some definitions of "campaign", what we refer to as a "campaign" might be referred to as "multiple overlapping campaigns run in the same setting."  In real time, the campaign began in 1994.

There is a large mix of player characters and character groupings, with a heterogenous level mix.  The highest level player character in the campaign is 24th level.  The lowest is 1st.  New players are not handed new-build characters of level equivalent to the highest level PCs in the campaign.  However there is not an insistence every new character starts out at 1st level, either.  Decisions are driven by situations.

We run 3.5 rules, but include such 3.0 material as is compatible and has not been subsequently replaced by a 3.5 version; and Pathfinder material that expands the range of possibilities, is reasonably balanced, and has no equivalent already existing in the 3.0/3.5 rulesets.

We are in principle liberal about multiclassing and sourcing of prestige classes though these must be DM-approved.  Often a rationale for a prestige class choice will be required; characters don't suddenly obtain prestige classes with weird abilities out of the blue.  Our approach to feats and spells follows a similar pattern.

On a No-to-Low-To-High magic scale of 0-10, personally I would rate us at about a 6.5.  Are there magic shops?  Y-e-s but not ones where you walk in and there are shelves and racks full of newly made magic armour, weapons, potions and scrolls.  More like, places that mainly sell alchemical stuff, maybe have a few random second hand trade ins for sale, and can make something to order, maybe depending on what it is, oh and you'll need to bring me the brain of a mind flayer if you want one of those.

The DMing style we have encouraged is to stick to rules and precedents unless there is a good reason to overrule the rules in a particular situation.  DMing by fiat is discouraged (though not forbidden).  This helps preserve fairness and consistency.  It does mean that the flow of play might be interrupted from time to time for rules checking.  It's understood that this is anathema to some RP styles but we have found that this has helped extend the longevity of the campaign and stopped things going off the rails as past experience running other campaigns has found.  Where there is a Rules-As-Written vs Rules-As-Intended contention, the tendency is to adopt a RAI approach unless the proposed interpretation would be adverse to game balance.  (As a DM, a stubborn RAW approach to spell descriptions is often a lifesaver against PC's "breaking the plot" of an adventure in an un-fun way.  Though we are not overly precious about our plots.)

Content Warning: our World of Greyhawk is decidedly non-utopian, meaning that sometimes bad things happen to good people and there is unfairness in life.  This is not to say that player characters can expect such treatment as a matter of course; DMs do not set out to upset players for their own cruel amusement.  But things like racism, gender bias, slavery, class injustice, ableism, emotional and physical abuse can and do all happen within the environment PCs find themselves in, in the interests of quasi-medieval verisimilitude.  If anything, to a lesser degree than one might find in a real medieval/renaissance culture.  Having said this, these behaviours are not continually thrust in players' faces.  Player characters, generally speaking, represent the more enlightened section of the populace who rail against such things; and DMs are (one hopes) sensitive to specific issues that particular players find upsetting.  But it is understood that some roleplayers prefer to avoid such settings altogether ("monster" slaying aside, perhaps, on which I make no comment) which is why I provide this fair warning.

There is a flip side to this warning.  Yes, characters can be "part of the problem" of such unjust behaviour, in principle, if this is understood to be an exercise in roleplay.  It is acceptable to roleplay a "flawed character".  But NOT if the player is deliberately using the environment of the campaign to give free rein to their own personal character failings with impunity, and particularly not if they are using this as a vehicle to harass or bully another player.

Sex: It doesn't happen all the time, but yes, it happens sometimes.  It can happen in ways that challenge social conventions, even, depending on the characters involved and their mores.  We don't go overboard on the details though.

Evil characters: within certain limits, yes.  You can play an evil character so long as you realise that you must be creative in finding reasons not to do harm to other player characters unless it is somehow warranted by circumstances that they can agree are sufficient justification.  PvP stuff has happened within the campaign but it is very rare and generally non-fatal.

DMPCs: we have a long and honourable tradition of DM's running a character in their own adventure, longer than this campaign even (some of us have been D&D players since the late 70's).  We know the pitfalls.  Trust us, we've had a lot of practise.  But in today's febrile social media environment it is evident that this is a fault line for some roleplayers, who prescriptively declare that this must never happen.  Hence - this upfront declaration.  It doesn't happen in every adventure.  And some of us are a bit famous for killing our own characters in our adventures!

Sandbox vs Railroad: Get thee hence, thou false dichotomy.

"Because Fireball":  No, we do not accept the premise that because magic exists then we should discard any and all attempts to depict a rational world.

We do love our crunchy character building (subject to moderation) but we love roleplay too.  Many of our characters have richly developed lives outside the dungeon.  Characters can have relationships, marriage and kids, buy property, boats, start up businesses, run monster zoos, make stuff, collect stuff.  Start secret societies.  Get ennobled.  Get involved in politics.  Visit their friends, give each other gifts.  They have opinions (sometimes strong ones) on each other.

Welcome to our roleplay playground of the past quarter-century plus.