Playing your Character

Article Summary

This article describes RPG mechanics. Replace this text with your own description of the purpose and summary of the mechanic.

What to expect from a session.
Preparing for your first and subsequent session.
Joining your first and subsequent sessions.
Playing the session.
Wrapping up after the session.

Sessions

Gaming sessions in Akadimía are held online, generally on Sunday mornings AEST Time / Saturday evenings EST. During the course of the session other materials (e.g. DMs Guild sources) may be used for discussion. In those cases a sharing link will be provided in the Discord in the tools channel, your character's channel or the content will be shared on screen. Any DMs Guild material to be used for prolonged period of time will be loaded in D&D Beyond as homebrew with source credited.

Before you join your first session

World familiarization

Take some time and read through the Introduction to the Akadimía materials and the Adventuring in Zihæt materials.

Difficult Themes

In particular, pay attention to the Themes outlined in the introduction material. If you have any particular trigger warnings, please make sure that your party & GM are aware of them before joining your first session. This will make the sessions safer for you, and more enjoyable for everyone else.

Character creation

Be sure you've followed the DM's guidance and instructions in the Creating your Akadimía Character article to create your character on D&D Beyond.

Technical preparation

You will need to join the Discord server above, and have the correct permissions granted to use the server for gaming. This will need to be done live while you're on the discord server the first time with the GM. Note: This assumes you're primary browser is Chrome and you are on a device that can use chrome extensions. Other configurations are available, but please discuss those with the GM. You will need to install the Beyond20 chrome extension, and configure the extension with the unique Discord secret code. The secret code will have been provided in your character's discord channel. You will also need to change the Discord Default Destination Channel to session-stream. Note, if you use Beyond20 for multiple campaigns, you may need to change the default destination channel before each different session. Also ensure that the "Select the VTT tab or Game to send rolls to" as "All VTT Tabs". Finally, be sure to activate the "Always roll twice" Type of Roll (Advantage/Disadvantage) option. You will also need your character's individual password to the Foundry VTT tabletop. This account will have been precreated. The password will have been provided and pinned in your character's discord channel. You will need to create a free WorldAnvil account. Please make sure you subscribe to the Akadimía world and either join or request access to the unwilling students group.

Joining Sessions

In order to join a session, you will need the Zoom link for the session.

Joining Your First Session

When you join your first session ensure you:

Log into Discord and open the Akadimía server to the session-stream channel.
Open D&D beyond and navigate to your character sheet. Be sure to click the Beyond20 icon at the top to allow access to this tab.
Open the Foundry VTT and log in with your character's view. Be sure to click the Beyond20 icon at the top to allow access to this tab.
When the session is scheduled to start, join the Zoom meeting and wait to be admitted. Be sure your video and microphone are working, and your bandwidth is reasonable.

Joining Subsequent Sessions

Follow the same steps as your first session. Be sure to read any pre-read materials distributed before hand. These will be links to the WorldAnvil site sent via email, or via your character specific channels on Discord.

Running the session

The primary goal is to role play and have fun. As players it is your responsibility to stay engaged with the storyline, ensure that your characters are acting reasonably collaboratively, appropriate for the world and appropriate for your character. In the event that these three heuristics come into conflict, apply them in priority order. That is ensure that you don't create too much disruption for the party (and thus ruin the experience for other players) and only then that it's world / setting appropriate, and in line with your chracter. "But it's what my character would do" is not an acceptable excuse for being disruptive or completely inappropriate to the world/theme.

Following sessions

Please be sure that when the session logs (Episode entries) are sent out that you review them and make sure that they are accurate, and that you have made any changes to your character sheets reflected in the notes. (E.g. conditions, leveling, treasure distributed, etc.) If you need to have a one-on-one session with the DM for a private scene or character question, please be sure to schedule it well before the start of the next scheduled session.

Beyond the Session

Tools Required

Zoom Video Conferencing. Video conference for remote gaming. Invites will be sent out in advance and Zoom link/passwords are different for each session.
Akadimía Discord. Discord for basic collaboration and coordination with table top integration.
D&D Beyond. Used for character generation, resource management. Join the campaign link provided in your area on Discord for access to the Dungeons & Dragons 5th edition source books and home brew needed to play in the campaign.
Foundry Virtual Tabletop. Used for battle maps, encounter management.
WorldAnvil Content. Used for background information, location detail, and session reports (episodes).
Beyond 20 Chrome Extension. Used integration of D&D Beyond, Discord, and Foundry VTT.
VTTAssets: D&D Beyond & Foundry Integration.. Used for addition of content into FoundryVTT from D&D Beyond (DM Only)
Youtube Archive. Archive of game sessions.