How it works...

Zorolai is meant to be a West Marches style game of Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition. What does that mean? Well, this game doesn’t have a core base of four or five dedicated players who meet every week to continue a main campaign. More accurately, what this game offers is a setting where many characters will share their adventures and the life lived between them. There will be many opportunities for characters to go out into the world with purpose, in groups or on their own, and the world can be impacted by events that occur as they are out and about. I will do my best, with the help of other volunteer GMs, to empower players to seek out the adventures in this setting they want to have, with the players interested in sharing them, and ensure that everything plays out across a cohesive timeline for the world.   There will be two overall types of adventures in this game: live sessions, and text events. Both types of adventures can be used to carry out story hooks proposed by GMs as the world story moves along. Players interested in taking their own initiative may also refer to the current Bounty Board for adventures lying in wait (more on that later), which a GM can plan to run for them. Alternatively, players may also describe to a GM an adventuring goal within the setting, and the GM may be able to devise a new adventure to make it happen, though this may require additional preparation time. Some rare occasions may allow for an adventure to be a private matter between specific characters, but in general, players can expect adventures to be first-come, first-serve, for anyone interested in signing up to play — of course, with spots pre-filled for players who requested an adventure in the first place. In all cases, players will choose one (relatively) level-appropriate character for the adventure, and a certain level of commitment will be expected from everyone.  

Live sessions...

will take place within Discord’s voice channels, and generally play out like a common session of tabletop D&D, just without the table. Whether done in theater of the mind or with digital visuals at the ready, live sessions will generally play host to short adventures, wherein characters venture out into Zorolai to accomplish a goal before returning home. Because there is no specific time during the day or week when live sessions can occur, any live session will have at least one week’s notice ahead of time. If the session is for an adventure hook proposed by a GM, the time may be scheduled by that GM, in which case, players who sign up will need to be available at the given time to play. For sessions proposed by or intended for specific players, the GM will work with them to determine an appropriate schedule to play. Ideally, when the live session concludes, the characters involved should be returning home, even if the adventure at hand is not fully concluded. This rule of thumb is meant to account for the potentially changing group from one live session to another, and to help avoid continuity errors.  

Text events...

will be designated a text channel in the Discord server, where the adventure will play out in writing. Visuals may accompany any of these adventures, but not every GM or every event will necessarily have them. The advantage of text events is the fact that players involved do not need to meet at the same time to play together, but the slow pacing of writing back and forth — especially at different times of the day — means that these events could last several days or even weeks. Players who sign up for text events will be expected to respond at a rate determined by the GM, for as long as the event lasts (though, knowing life for the chaotic force that it is, exceptions can be made, based on circumstances). In line with this, GMs should design these adventures to be concise, to avoid stretching out over an excessively long time. As with live sessions, they should end with the characters prepared to return home, for ease of narrative integration.  

Between adventures...

Characters are able to interact whenever they like in any of the available text channels on the Discord server designated for free role-playing activity. Any character interactions that don’t demand a GM’s involvement can take place within these channels, but GMs can also use them to host non-adventuring story prompts as desired. Before using any of these channels, I only ask that you run your intentions by me. Activity can be considered public, in which every player is allowed to join, if they wish. Alternatively, activity can be considered private, meaning that the scenario happening was discussed between certain players and is meant to be kept between their characters. Please be respectful, in either case.   Although players are allowed to have multiple adventuring characters at a time, as well as numerous supporting NPCs, I must request that no player controls more than one character at a time in any role-playing scenario. As a rule of thumb, other GMs should also try to limit the amount of NPCs they are controlling at a time, outside of turn-based scenarios like combat. The only exception will be in private role-playing scenarios, wherein interactions between two or more of your own characters may be key to the ongoing story you have set up. No one wants to restrict what personal tales you wish to tell with yourself or select players on your own time. Otherwise, it would be best to not overwhelm yourself, your party, the GM, or the balance of the game during an adventure, and simply stick to playing one character at a time.       And that long spiel is how role-playing in Zorolai will work!    

Characters and Leveling...

In this campaign, we use Experience Markers, or simply Marks to track leveling up. Marks are gained by participating in live or text events. Once a character gains a certain number of Marks (an amount based on the character’s current level), they level up.   See the document HERE for more information on marks and leveling.   In addition to leveling up through Marks, every character’s actions and interactions could potentially affect their reputation with different factions within the setting. Some characters will be directly affiliated with a Faction (perhaps even more than one), while others may have no direct ties to any of them. In either case, every character will have a unique reputation with each faction, represented by a numeric value called their Standing. If a character acts in a Faction’s favor, their Standing can increase by an appropriate amount. Once it reaches certain amounts, the Faction will offer rewards. Of course, acting against their favor could bring your character’s Standing with a Faction down, which could lead to narrative consequences. Anyone directly affiliated or employed with a Faction will find additional layers to these rewards (or consequences) for their dedication.