Setup

Lobby and Platform

Voice games on the server are hosted in dynamic voice lobbies in the In Session category. You also can use your platform of choice to run the game such as Theater of Mind with dice rolls handled with the Avrae bot or a Virtual Tabletop (e.g. Roll20, Foundry, etc).

Play-By-Post (PBP)

Besides voiced sessions, you can choose to run a game in text as a Play-By-Post in the dedicated PBP forum channel or an appropriate text RP channel. A PBP session can be ran over an extended period as needed, but should involve a narrative and challenge for the PCs to overcome like a regular session. Each scene (consisting of an extended combat, exploration, or social interaction encounter) is treated as the equivalent of 30 minutes of a voiced session for purposes of both PC and DM rewards.

Co-DMing

Besides DMing by yourself, you can choose to co-DM a game with another DM and run the game together. Only up to two DMs can co-DM a game at a time, and both DMs earn DM rewards for the game. Additionally, the DMs share their DM privileges for the game: for example, a Trial DM and a Full DM co-DMing the same game can use all of the Full DM privileges.

Encounters

You can run encounters at your discretion but you should strive to provide a fair and balanced experience for PCs at the intended tier and APL. Adventurers of the Hawthorne Guild have ranks according to their tier of play and are dispatched for missions they are expected to be able to handle. To help balance encounters, refer to the 2014/2024 Dungeon Master’s Guide and reach out to fellow DMs in #dm-chat and #dm-collaboration.

This doesn’t mean that the PCs can’t potentially encounter a threat far above their capabilities, such as a threat you’ve telegraphed that the PCs are expected to try to avoid, if the PCs decide to try their luck in spite of in and out of character warnings and knowledge, or as a narratively coherent consequence of the PC’s actions (e.g. a PC attempts to kill a ruler and is overwhelmed by their guards in response). Beyond that, don’t pit PCs against impossible scenarios solely designed to kill them with “falling rocks” or the like.

Player Character Resources

As per the Player Guidelines, PCs can bring into games creatures they control due to a core class feature (e.g. a Beast Master’s animal companion or an Artificer’s mechanical servant) or from the Find Familiar, Find Steed, or related spells. Any other summons or creatures they control can be brought into a game only if you allow it as the DM (e.g. a Simulacrum or a creature under the effects of Planar Binding).

Additionally, PCs can receive outside assistance in a game (e.g. a PC not in the game casting a spell on behalf of the party) only if you allow it

After a Game

Logging

PC Rewards and Resource Expenditure

At the end of a game, the PCs gain Experience Points (XP) and Downtime Points (DTP) and can divide any found treasure and loot among themselves. Additionally, note any items that the PCs used or lost.

• PCs earn 5 DTP per real life hour of the session (2 DTP for a half hour).
• PCs earn XP at a flat rate per real life hour of the session as per the table below (half the listed amount for a half hour). This is earned on a per character basis e.g. a level 5 PC and a level 6 PC in the same 3 hour game would separately earn 1500 and 1800 XP respectively. No other form of XP can be awarded.
• You can use the following bot command to quickly calculate XP: /hgexp [PC level] [hours]
• A PC can elect to take no XP for the game, which should also be noted.
• Any items a PC used or lost, such as gold or consumables, should be noted.
• Any treasure and loot the party finds should be fairly split among the party as supervised by you. As a general rule of thumb, a PC that can use or “needs” an item has priority over those that don’t. Disputes over loot are often resolved with opposed 1d100 rolls by players.

Consequences and Story Outcomes

Note if any PCs died or other consequences occurred (e.g. lycanthropy), following the the Player Guidelines. You can also give PCs a Story Outcome due to session events. Story Outcomes summarize either a positive or negative narrative outcome of the game. For example, friendly NPCs in the region will shelter the PC if they pass by in later adventures. Alternatively, a faction becomes Hostile to the PC and will try to attack them in future adventures. Story Outcomes only come into play in future games at the discretion of the presiding DM. If a Story Outcome has a mechanical effect, it shouldn’t exceed the gold and loot allotment for the game or have a significant mechanical effect greater than a minor item property (in Fair Game). More mechanically significant Story Outcomes require a Rules request in #dm-requests.

Session Logs

The events of the game must be posted in #session-log using the pinned format with the following information:

• The session name, APL, and participating players
• Which ruleset the session used (2014 or 2024)
• A summary of the key events of the session All information noted regarding Player Rewards and Resource Expenditure Any consequences or story rewards Descriptions of any unique or homebrew rewards
• Your DM rewards (see below)

After you’ve posted the session log, update your MAL as a game with your DM rewards, selecting the sheet for the session’s DMPC (see below). Bear in mind that PC and DM rewards don’t apply untl the session log is posted, so please try to post a session log in a timely fashion. If need be, you can always edit in a session summary later.

DM Rewards

After you have posted the session log for the game, you can select and apply the following rewards to a PC you have on the server (DMPC), editing the session log after:

• Your selected DMPC earns the same amount of DTP as the PCs in the game
• Your selected DMPC earns XP per session hour and gold for their level as per the table below. For XP, you earn half the listed amount for a half hour.
• Your selected DMPC gains a Loot Reward: you can either (a) select a T0 item in Allowed Content (following the guidelines for predetermining T0 consumables if selecting a consumable) (b) roll a random loot roll for your DMPC’s level in #treasure-log using the pinned format (treat the number of players as 1 and the APL = your DMPC’s level) or (c) gain either 1 Renown or 1 Piety for a group or faith the DMPC already has 1+ Renown or Piety with.
• DM Gold and DM Loot is only obtained for sessions that last 3+ hours.

DM XP and Gold

Extended Sessions

Full PC and DM rewards are earned after a session of 3+ hours. For games that were planned to be or ended up running for much longer, every additional 3+ hours is treated as a separate game for purposes of PC and DM rewards. You can declare additional loot for each session of an extended game in #treasure-log. For example, a 6+ hour game would be treated as two sessions, and a 9+ hour game would be treated as three sessions. Each session must be logged separately.

These separate sessions do count towards the minimum session requirements for multisession loot. (Note: Please take breaks as necessary for long games) Additionally, item slots across multipart sessions can be shared for purposes of predeterming loot: for example, a two part session for 5 players can have 10 item slots, with up to 5 permanents predetermined.

DM Incentives

Besides regular DM rewards, DMs can also obtain additional rewards to encourage and reward DMing.

Completing Jump Start On your 10th and final Jump Start game, you can create a new level 11 PC of your choice. In addition to their normal starting equipment from their background and starting class, they start with an additional 6000 GP and your choice of 2 T0 items, 3 T1 items, and 1 T2 item from Allowed Content: Loot (Rolled Loot). The items can have Fair Game properties in Allowed Content: Item Properties. These items can’t be sold or traded. Log this information in the game’s session log.

DM Incentives only apply to games that last 3+ hours. DM Incentives that add to a “Loot Pool” let you to add additional items to your DM Loot roll, but you select one item among the list. To claim a DM incentive, clearly note the name of it in your session log. Different DM incentives can stack as the same game can qualify for more than one DM incentive if it fulfills the requirements of each.