VII. CAMPAIGN ERRATA

METAGAME NOTES

Campaign Tone

Gaia’s Dream is a reactive campaign with local, regional and global events which may be influenced to varying degrees by PC actions.  As a DM, my players may rest assured that I will never force them into a particular course of action; individual choice is always in play, but actions have consequences and some of those consequences may be deadly. 

That said, the preferred table culture and game tone is of heroic questing against a backdrop of magical pre-industrial society set upon by the encroachment of dark powers, and PCs are strongly encouraged to be of good or neutral alignment.  This is not a hard requirement, but as a DM I prefer to engage players in tales of heroism and good deeds.  Not every PC need be altruistic, generous, honest or self-sacrificing, but thoroughly evil PCs will not be likely to suit the campaign’s overall themes.

Character Trees

Gaia’s Dream is an epic journey through a tumultuous new era of Gaia’s history.  The intent of the campaign is to create an interlocking world of characters, locations and stories that will all be part of a steadily unfolding tapestry of heroic deeds against a backdrop of war and dark fantasy.  In the course of the campaign, PC death is practically inevitable, and shifting focus from one locale to another is a planned part of the game and can therefore certainly be considered inevitable.

                The concept of character trees allows each player to control multiple PCs simultaneously.  This does not mean that you will be role-playing multiple PCs at once (this is discouraged in the extreme – I feel that it hurts focus and character development), but that from time to time you will be asked to create new characters for a different phase of the campaign, taking place in a different part of the world.  When we shift focus from one locale to another, understand that returning to previous parties and their ongoing quests is assured, and that the overall goal of the campaign is for our rotating group of players to portray four or more different adventuring parties simultaneously (following one global timeline) in different parts of the world.

                At the start of the new campaign branch, new players will have no more than one active PC.  At a certain points the temporal or geographical focus of the campaign may shift and we will generate new PCs.  The other PCs can still take action during “downtime” if synchronization with the game calendar allows it; they can perform spell research, craft items, earn money at a non-adventuring profession, or simply travel from place to place on business.  At no time will the PCs leave control of the player, they will simply be acting “off stage” as it were, on non plot-critical activities.

Player Absenteeism

In the event that a player misses a game session, he or she may use one of the following three options.  The choice is to be agreed upon by all players before the start of a given campaign as “standard operating procedure” for absent players.  First, the PC in question departs on a personal errand or is magically summoned away, and receives no XP for the session(s) missed, but is in no danger from death or maiming.  Second, the PC is run by a pre-designated player whom the absent player trusts, and earns a half share of XP for the session(s) missed, but the PC cannot be permanently killed or maimed except in the event of a total party kill (TPK).  Third, the PC is run by a pre-designated player whom the absent player trusts, and earns a full share of XP for the session(s) missed, and the PC can be permanently killed or maimed just as though his player was present at the table.

Table Rules

Please follow these simple rules of respect and order so that everyone can have a great time at the game.

1.        Everyone at the table has a right to calmly interrupt crosstalk and ask for quiet during the game.

2.        Be respectful of your fellow players and the DM when it is not your turn in combat.  Keep crosstalk to quiet, off-table levels.

3.        Only the DM is allowed to make hidden dice rolls.  Please keep all rolls in view of the DM and other players.

4.        Keep character sheets neat and orderly to reduce calculations during your turn in combat.  If you are unsure of your calculations, please ask the DM for a friendly character audit before or after game sessions. 

5.        Get in the habit of rolling attacks and damage at the same time; this allows everyone to have more turns at a given session.  For multiple or iterative attacks, please roll only one attack at a time.

6.        Feel free to speak up when you feel a rule is being misapplied or misinterpreted.  We are all here to learn and play the game within the rules, so your rules knowledge is welcome at the table.  Be mature enough to know the difference between asking for a rules clarification and “rules lawyering.”

7.        Play within the spirit of the D&D rules by optimizing your PC builds but not exploiting rules loopholes or unbalanced/broken and unintended rules synergies.  If you have any questions about your PC build or would like a friendly audit of your character’s abilities, please do not hesitate to ask. We are all mature gamers who want to have fun and no one is here to cheat or exploit the rules.

8.        A certain level of metagaming is expected and welcome.  We are playing a game, and even during deep immersion role-playing scenes a player needs to consider the mechanics of the game.  As mature persons we know the difference between metagaming to teach new players and/or optimize characters versus metagaming a module or scenario with extreme levels of out-of-character knowledge.

Campaign Gazetteer