Table Etiquette
Topics to Avoid/Discuss
From what I've gathered from talking to people, we should avoid the following stuff while gaming:
- Sex Stuff - We should keep the game safe for work. If the bard manages to seduce the dragon, it should be a "fade to black" situation.
- Any implication of SA should be avoided.
- Detailed gore - Less detailed gore seems to be fine (blood, dismemberment, etc), but detailed descriptions of viscera should be avoided.
- Self-harm
I'd also like to discuss the following during session 0:
- Character Death - Is everyone prepared for the possibility? How do we want to handle it if it happens?
- Absences - Groups I'm in normally continue as planned if we're only missing one person, so that's my plan at the moment.
- Game Balance - What are your expectations as far as encounter balancing goes? Are you prepared to run away from an encounter if necessary?
- Gameplay - What are you most looking forward to gameplay-wise? What kind of roleplay, combat, etc are you all interested in?
If there's anything else you think we should discuss, let me know!
PVP Roleplay
I'm not going to tell people not to do PVP roleplay, but the defending player chooses if the roleplay happens.
So if a player tries to pickpocket another player, the would-be victim can decide they instantly catch the pickpocket without any rolls being made. If the pickpocket then decides to attack the other player, the defending player can decide their attacker misses without any rolls being made.The defending player can even decide the attempt doesn't happen at all.
The goal of this is just to make sure that any PVP between players is consensual. For that reason rolling secretly against a player won't be an option unless we agree to it beforehand.
Included Content
I wanted to list any controversial content that could pop up so that players can give feedback if I need to hear it.
- Slavery - While unlikely to come up in The CEU, the Akalushan Empire north of Kalshan has a long history of enslaving humans. Their history is really why humans are a bit less common than one might be used to.
- Abuse - Domestic abuse does play a role in a bit of world building I did, not to mention that some NPC's are just abusive jerks.
Game Rules
While I'm largely playing Pathfinder 2e by the book, there are a few things I'm either doing different from the norm or felt were worth mentioning. Any changes to player options are listed on the character creation page.
The Hexmap
Note: This remains a WIP while I convert this from D&D 5e to PF2e and overall just make it more in line with what the GM Core recommends.
For this campaign, I'm making use of hex maps for exploration. Instead of trying to keep track of everything in miles, I'm instead rewriting things so that travel is represented in hexes per day.
While traveling, you'll want to keep the following in mind:
- Miles have been replaced by Movement Points (MP)
- Most adventurers recover 4 MP after 8 hours of sleep.
- An adventurer has a Max MP, which for most adventurers is 6.
- Environment, mounts, landscape features, and other things affect movement.
One thing worth bringing attention to is Exploration Activies. The most common exploration activities can be found here, while an expanded list of activities can be found here.
Encumbrance
Because it's really easy to track encumbrance in Foundry so long as items are added via compendiums, I'd like to make use of encumbrance rules. So you'll want to either sell unused equipment or find somewhere to store it.
Rations
I'd like to keep track of rations, since I think needing to keep track of food makes travel more interesting.
While I know a lot of people don't like needing to keep track of rations, I should have a script that allows me to make everyone in the party consume a ration with the click of a button. My hope is that this will make rations into a fun mechanic instead of tedious micro management.