Director's Notes

The Director's Notes is information the players use when creating characters. The information listed is utilized in most sessions and is to be applied to characters of the world of Blyth. Further questions and exceptions should be directed to the Director.

Version Information
All games that take place in Ara utilize Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 rule books. That isn't to say that additional rules and concepts won't be borrowed from Pathfinder, another edition of Dungeons and Dragons or other publishers. That being said stick to 3.5 when it comes to character creation and interpreting the game unless the Director says otherwise.

Due to the nature of Blyth, many things have been tweaked to make it fit the setting more-- though most of this if flavor. An example being the clerics are doctors as opposed to divine healers or wizards can be engineers and spells act as inventions.

Where to Play?
Adventures in Blyth and all of the related series are run on Roll20. An account is required and while paid memberships are available-- they are not required.

Character Sheets
You may use Roll20's integrated character sheets if you wish, otherwise feel free to use Myth Weavers.

User Interface
Roll20 is our chosen platform because of the integration of music and a built-in-camera feature however admittedly the bright white user interface was something that was a bit harsh on most of the users eyes. An alternative to this is installing a Chrome plugin called "Stylish". Once you've installed the plugin you can change the UI to whatever you want (for many web pages, not just Roll20.)

I personally use one called "Dark Wooden" as it is less harsh on the eyes, the text is still clear and visible, the slider is still utilized and the maps are much more accessible for running the game. Feel free to find your own theme instead of Dark Wooden-- it by no means screams "Blyth," it is just the most practical.

Note: You need Google Chrome as your Web Browser to utilize this feature.

Why all the Telly Talk?
Adventures in Blyth and all other Blyth-based games are modeled to be a mock-television experience, thus many television terms are utilized in place of typical Dungeons and Dragons terms-- though this is merely for fun. Some of the terms are:

House Rules
Every table is run differently and perhaps things in Blyth are done different than you've seen before. There is no right way to play, but for consistency sake here are a list of house rules that may be foreign to players adventuring in Blyth for the first time.

Character Creation
When creating a character in Ara you will roll four six-sided die and drop the lowest result (a 3+4+4+2 would be a 11, for example.) You will do this until you have three sets of six. Once you choose your set you are permitted a re-roll, however you cannot choose to decline the new number you rolled. Once you have six numbers you can allocate them into your abilities as you please. Some campaigns may require to roll stats differently but this is the typical way to do it.

Races
Blyth was originally envisioned to be a human-only setting though to give actors more choice in character building Halflings and Half-Elves are grouped with humans to create the settings form of "Humanity." Elves also exist and are playable, they refer to themselves as the "Siniath." Dwarves and Half-Orcs are incredibly uncommon, both being presumed to be extinct though they are playable if you talk to the Director first. Gnomes are mythical creatures and not a base race.

Other races do exist and while many are synthetic or tweaked to be much different than the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 source material explains them I will occasionally allow actors to portray these beings-- especially in Mini-Series.

Classes
The classes presented in the Players Handbook are all acceptable. Many other base classes or prestige classes are okay as well, however many of them should be re-tooled in flavor to match the setting. Please talk to the Director first when deciding the flavor of your class.

Cleric
Cleric's learn spells like a wizard. While being a typically holy-warrior is acceptable, as contracts were created to appease players who like this flavor, doctors are much more common. It is assumed your cure spells are syringes or potions. Get creative with how you cast your spells as a doctor.

Druid
Druid's are spontaneous casters and learn spells just like a sorcerer. They apply spells known and spells per day as if they were a sorcerer of the same level.

Gossip in the World of Blyth
Blyth is loosely based off the late 1800's and early 1900's. To say the Edwardian England wasn't the main inspiration would be a sin. The setting is rather small and what lies beyond the oceans is rarely touched. However the denizens of Blyth are privy to gossip about their Kingdom because of this-- meaning all characters get bonuses based off their place of origin.

When you pick what county your character is from you get an additional +2 to many knowledges about people, places of things in that area (Geography, Local, Nobility, etc.) Things like recognizing a noble, knowing different bylaws in specific counties or new laws that have passed-- stuff like that.

For characters who relocated during their youth you can choose where you get this bonus within reason. For example, a student who spent their whole life in Parsec but went to Meridoss when they were 16 to advance their education would most likely retain Parsec as the county they get bonuses in. However if someone spent 12 years in Parsec and then 12 more in Meridoss it may make more sense for them to pick Meridoss.

Siniath Characters apply this bonus to anything Siniath related instead of a county.

You must declare your origin before you start you appear in an episode.