How do we get started?

Due to recent covid-19 social distancing concerns, Dungeon Master for Hire is now also available for remote games using Zoom. Groups can now play from the comfort of their homes.  Before booking Dungeon Master for Hire for a remote game, please make sure that you have Zoom installed.  Stay safe everyone, and keep making those Constitution checks.....let the adventure continue....

The first step in getting your group started in a game at 'Dungeon Master for Hire' is to have the characters created.  

 

CREATING A CHARACTER

 There is a lot involved in making a character for a game of Dungeons and Dragons, and for a group of new players this can be confusing, and often take several hours just in itself.  As part of my service, I create the characters based on your selections from a list of choices, saving you and your group a lot of time.

  - let the Dungeon Master know what each member of your group wants to be, (race, class, background, alignment and gender), along with any special quirks you'd like the character to have. The players do not roll their own attributes or pick their own skills, but their input is welcomed

 - the Dungeon Master will create the characters based on your desires and have them ready for your first game so you can start right away

 - for experienced players who choose to make up their own characters, the 'customized ability score variant', on page 13 of the Player's Handbook must be used - any characters attributes that do not 'add up' will be corrected before play

 - all classes and races from the core books, (Player's Guide, Xanathar's Book of Everything, The Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide, and Tasha's Cauldron of Everything), are in use, however no dragonborn or tiefling characters are allowed in the Dark Sun or Mystara campaigns,  (these do not exist in the worlds of Athas or Mystara)

 

 SETTING OPTIONS

There are 3 setting options available:

 1)  Forgotten Realms (Faerun)

2)  Mystara

3)  Dark Sun (Athas)


FORGOTTEN REALMS

This is the main campaign setting that I use, however other options (see below) are possible. The focus of the Forgotten Realms setting is the continent of Faerûn, part of the fictional world Toril, an Earth-like planet with many real-world influences. The planet Toril is shared by humans, dwarves, elves, goblins, orcs, and other peoples and creatures. Technologically, the world of the Forgotten Realms resembles the pre-industrial Earth of the 13th or 14th century, however, on Toril, there is the presence of magic which provides an additional element of power to the societies.

 Toril consists of several large continents, including Faerûn, the western part of a continent that was roughly modeled after the Eurasian continent on Earth., which is the main setting of a Forgotten Realms campaign.  A huge number of diverse deities exist within several polytheistic  pantheons.

 Available races are: human, dwarf, elf, gnome, half-elf, dragonborn, tiefling, half-orc and halfling.  Some races also have subraces,such as mountain dwarf or wood elf.

 

 MYSTARA

This setting was used for D&D Basic rules in the 1980's, however, I include it as a possible setting, updated to 5th edition of course. Since this is the most out-dated campaign that I use, the information can be hard to find, so I have provided a lot of information below on the different countries and cultures/races involved.  

Below I have placed a link for you to click that will give you give you a run-down of the countries included in the 'Known World' of Mystara. Here is the link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTesyZDm

 

Available races: human, dwarf, elf, half-elf, half-orc, halfling, gnome. There are no Dragonborn or Tieflings in the Mystara setting.

 

DARK SUN

 Dark Sun is played on the fictional planet Athas.

Athas has a single, crimson sun and two moons named Ral and Guthay.  Dark Sun features a number of important distinguishing features that differentiate it from other Dungeons and Dragons campaign settings. The brutal climate and the oppressive rule of the sorcerer-kings have created a corrupt, blood thirsty, and desperate culture that leaves little room for chivalric virtues common to fantasy settings (hence why paladins are excluded from the setting).  Slavery is wide spread, the people are violent, and monsters roam the wastes beyond the safe havens of the city-states and villages.   Arcane magic draws its power from the life force of plants or living creatures with the potential to cause tremendous harm to the environment. As a result, wizards and other arcane casters are despised and must practice in secret. Psionics are extremely common with nearly every living thing having at least a modicum of psionic ability. Due to a scarcity of metal, weapons and armor are made from natural materials such as bone, stone, wood, carapace or obsidian.  Athas has no deities and no formal religions other than the false cults created by the sorcerer-kings.   Thus clerics and druids instead draw power from the Inner Planes/Elemental Chaos.  

Races in Dark Sun are limited to: humans, dwarves, elves, half-elves, half-giants, half-orc, halflings, muls, and thri-kreen.  There are no gnomes, dragonborn or tieflings in Dark Sun.

 

PUTTING IT ALL TOGETHER

Now that you've seen the options, it's time to make some selections. When contacting DM for Hire for a game,  please have the following choices made:

 Setting: Mystara, Faerun, or Dark Sun?

 

If the DM is making up characters for the group, he will send you a list of choices. Each player will have to select the following;                                                                                                      

Race

Class

Gender

Alignment

Background (what was your character before they decided to become an adventurer?)

Any special quirks that you would like to role-play (accents, a lisp, goes crazy around wine, afraid of bats, etc)

After you have submitted this information, the DM can design a character for you for play and this will save us all some time and you some money. For those new players that want to totally make up their character every step of the way during the first session so that you can learn the process, this is fine, but it is on your group's time.