On the 19th day of the first month in the year 2017. The dungeon master and the players of the Redmark 3rd age campaign met and agreed upon items that came to be known as “the social contract”.

Basic Game Rules

  • D&D 5e using standard array
  • Non-evil alignment (good preferred)
  • Non-evil classes (no necromancers, etc.)
  • Tolkien-races only (elves, half-elves, dwarves, halflings, human)
  • Leveling rules: 1 session each at 1st and 2nd level, thereafter level-number of sessions per level. So you’d spend 5 sessions at level 5, then level up and spend 6 sessions at level 6. Leveling gets slower over time, but quickly gets you to the sweet spot of levels 5-10. With this method, it takes 9 sessions to get to level 6, 44 sessions to get to level 10, 104 sessions to get to level 15, and 189 sessions to get to level 20. We’ll target to retire characters at level 15.

Things We Want

  • Rules and playstyles from Adventures in Middle-earth system:
    • Fellowship Phase
    • Shadow/corruption
    • Omens / weather
    • Time and season tracking
  • Player manufactured items (being able to do things during ‘Downtime’)
  • Resource ownership is an end-game goal (priest=temple, fighter=village, mage=mage tower)
  • PC actions have real & appropriate consequences. If you break the law or do evil, folks will try to arrest you (or worse!)
  • No meta-gaming (long discussions during combat, or elaborate out-of-character chat during NPC Interactions)
  • Player indecision IS A decision. If you dither, you’re player should ready an action (‘I’ll stab anyone who gets near’) and let the turn pass to someone else.
  • Be “big ass” heroes where your PC’s stories are stuff of legends
  • PCs can find and have a partner if story appropriate
  • PC death is very possible
  • PC’s have background related story lines and their backstory elements used in campaign
  • Players should have High Quality minis that match the PC
  • Players should stay in character at the table
  • PC picture and name on name tent
  • Role Play combat when story appropriate versus “rolling it out”

Things We Don’t Want

  • Non-game related distractions (no Laptops, iPads, etc.; mobile devices used for sound effects is an exception)
  • Sci Fi themes / story elements
  • DM PC’s (meaning, the DM doesn’t have a permanent NPC planted in your party to steer you around, although occasional NPCs may travel with you).
  • Outright Evil Actions by PC’s
  • “Golf bag of magic swords” (want campaign appropriate magic; ‘attunement’ rules to some extent will reduce this)
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