WAIT!

Are you looking to apply to Freehold? If so, make sure you're familiar with our community rules and player expectations, before you browse our character creation and other application policies! Make sure you know what kind of game you're getting into before you send a request to join.

Character Creation
Player Wishlists
Posting Rate, Official Hiatus, Flaking, Flouncing, and Bans
Orphan Policy
This page centralizes our policies and guidelines for applying to join Freehold, creating appropriate characters, and everything else you'll need to know in order to submit an acceptable request to join. You can also visit this page to see whether we're currently taking applications for new GMs and/or players. Of course, our "recruiting players" flag will be turned on, too, but the wiki provides the most up-to-date and easiest-to-see yes or no message.

Freehold is currently recruiting new GMs.
Freehold is currently not recruiting new players.

Because we have such a tightly-knit community—including players who have devoted literal years to the success of the game—we don't admit just anyone. You'll need to have an interesting character that's invested in helping the settlement to grow and to overcome challenges, as well as a concept that's compatible with the setting and with our current needs.

New players who are applying should please do their best to fill out an RTJ with their first PM. Messages to the GMs that do not include an RTJ in their initial post are much more likely to be ignored or deleted—not out of malice or discourtesy, but because we have a lot of work to do, and we take Freehold seriously. If you wish to join our community, you should too! Any questions you have about the game are likely to be answered somewhere on this wiki, so be sure to look here before inquiring. If you can't find what you're looking for, send us your concept as a completed request to join, anyway—there's a section at the bottom of the form where you're invited to ask whatever's on your mind that isn't covered in the RTJ, itself.

Note that, because our administrators are often scattered across multiple time zones, you may receive a cut-and-paste response as the initial reply to your RTJ; this is simply to demonstrate that your message has been seen by a GM, even if no one currently has the time to answer you, at length. You will be addressed by personal communication as soon as opportunity permits. We promise!

Also, please do not ask to replace an existing character who is visible on the community roster, or request that the GM staff alter such characters to make room for yours. Extraneous characters are written out of the game, so NPCs still visible on that list are established cast members who are not subject to change—especially by petition from a new applicant.

Finally, we encourage visitors throughout the wiki to familiarize themselves with our community policies and house rules, etc., before visiting this section for a specific reason: We want (and expect) applicants to read those rules before applying, and demonstrate that they have done so by using proper formatting and following whatever rules may already be applicable in their requests to join. If you don't have the time or interest to do that, then you are unlikely to find a happy home in Freehold. Likewise, being informed of our community expectations and the nature of the game will aid you in forming a character concept appropriate to Freehold!

What is Freehold Looking For?
(Applications that align with community interest will receive some preference.)
  1. Artists: PCs who are primarily sculptors, potters, painters, and so on first and adventurers second. If you have real-life artistic skills to contribute to the game and want to make your artwork a permanent part of our community, even better! Your honest-to-goodness art could have a lasting impact on Freehold in the form of murals, statues, portraits, etc.

  2. Druids: Druids employ some unique social mechanics in the Forgotten Realms setting and continue to be an important foundational part of our game. You can learn more about Freehold's druid circle here.

  3. Dwarves: Despite being a core race, dwarves are comparatively underrepresented in Freehold. There is a dwarven nation some distance to the west (the Great Rift) that is home to a substantial gold dwarf population, if you need inspiration.

  4. Evil Alignments: There are significantly fewer PCs of evil alignment, in Freehold, than of good or neutral alignments. While we don't want that population to swell to the point that it unbalances the flavor of the game, the community would like to invite a few more evil characters into the mix. Be sure to read the guidelines for alignments before considering an evil PC.

  5. Guards: As Freehold grows, so do the Freehold Guard and the Greencloaks. These thriving organizations have a lot of work to do, and we'd eventually like to see a dedicated PC in charge of it all. Being a guard in this game is far from boring, we promise!

  6. Laborers: As with artists, above, there is a strong desire for players and characters genuinely interested in exploring the role of farmer, fishermen, miner, and so on. PCs like this have a real opportunity to meaningfully contribute to Freehold in a way they probably can't in most other games, and we want to emphasize that choices like these are just as viable, fulfilling, and important as playing a paladin or wizard in a more typical setting.

  7. Local Races: There are plenty of canon races occupying the game area and nearby regions, but not many PCs that have drawn on that resource. The initial wave(s) of settlers mostly came from elsewhere, but Durpari, Shaaran natives, and local monstrous races have been gradually introduced through plot, and the door will soon be open for many more characters of those ethnicities. You can read about races and classes in Freehold for more.

  8. Merchants: Just like with artists and laborers, above, mercantile PCs have a genuine chance to matter, in Freehold. Businesses exist in the game, and some of them (particularly the influential ones) are even player-owned and -operated. However, there's very little competition to stir interest, and plenty of bases not yet covered (or covered only by NPCs). Now is a great time for new startup businesses and for exploring mechanics and relationships like investments, loans, partnerships, and other topics discussed under crafting, construction, and shopkeeping.

  9. Non-Male Characters: Cis male representation currently outweighs representation of all other gender identities and expressions by close to 300%, among PCs. The community has expressed a strong interest in seeing more PCs of other genders outside this trend, so cis female, trans, intersex, genderfluid, agender, genderqueer, and other identities are encouraged and welcome.

  10. People of Color: As most of the initial settlers in Freehold came from far-off northern and western lands (those being the "favorite" areas of the Forgotten Realms setting), the majority of our human cast is tragically very "white bread," as one player put it. We want to see applicants take advantage of the game region (the Shining South) to help develop more POC presence.

  11. Religious Characters and Institutions: Regardless of one's personal feelings on real-life religion or institutions of faith, the gods are a critical component of the Forgotten Realms, and religious traditions are often an influential element of fun in any fantasy setting. Freehold provides the opportunity for ordained PCs (clerics, inquisitors, paladins, etc.) and lay clergy/worshipers, alike, to delve into aspects of fantasy faith usually ignored or unnecessary in typical games—baptisms, conversions, weddings, funerals, sermons, and other services clergy provide. A wide variety of religions exists in Freehold, but none of them (save the druid circle) yet have a strong, influential presence. Faiths popular in the region include the Adama, Chauntea, Gond (Zionel), Oghma (Curna), Selûne (Lucha), Torm, Waukeen, and the halfling pantheon. Less powerful (or made less influential by distance) but still present are the faiths of Akadi, Azuth, Malar, Mystra, Nobanion, Shar, Silvanus, Solonor Thelandria, Tempus, and the dwarven pantheon. Unpopular faiths are those of Bane, Cyric, and Mask, in particular.

  12. Tradesfolk: The same as with artists, laborers, and merchants, above, we are actively looking for players who have genuine interest in contributing to the community outside of standard adventuring roles. We need PCs in craftsfolk and trained professional (entertainers, furniture-makers, jewelers, journalists/printers, postal carriers, etc.) roles much more than we need another oracle or wizard.

  13. Young Characters: As with evil PCs, above, we don't want to oversaturate Freehold's population with child characters, but some in the community have expressed a desire for more fellow PCs in their own characters' age range. Be sure to read through our policies on young and old PCs before applying.
What Freehold is Not Looking For
  1. Adventurers: We currently have enough characters with typical adventuring builds. We are much more interested in PCs that heavily incorporate or rely on the kingdom building rules or are otherwise focused, mechanically and thematically, on investing themselves in the community and helping it to grow. We want characters who bring adventure to Freehold, not PCs who intend to use Freehold as a base from which to go out hunting for adventure.

  2. Alchemists: We have plenty of characters with ranks in Craft (alchemy), and whose occupation or build relies on heavy usage of that skill. While we are interested in PC scientists and researchers, we are currently less interested in characters who focus heavily on alchemy, particularly on the manufacture of alchemical items.

  3. Cis Male Characters: As described above, Freehold currently enjoys an abundance of cisgender male PCs. Until representation for other gender identities catches up, we are more interested in applications featuring cis female, trans, intersex, genderfluid, agender, genderqueer, and other identities. This preference explicitly extends to include players who will portray female and MOGII PCs in an appropriately respectful manner (bonus consideration for players who identify as female or MOGII in real life—we want to create a safe, inclusive space for you).

  4. Healers: While it is probably impractical to say a community can have too many healers, we have several characters whose build and purpose center on providing medical aid, counseling, midwifery, pharmaceutical products, and similar forms of assistance to Freehold, and we feel that admitting further variations on this theme would negatively affect the enjoyment of all involved rather than adding anything constructive.

  5. Spellcasters: Comparative to its size, Freehold enjoys an overabundance of magical characters, across the spectrum of spellcasting classes. Unless you are applying with a clergyperson (cleric, druid, etc.)—or possibly a guard—as described above, any application for a spell-oriented PC will be much more heavily scrutinized than is our usual policy.

  6. Tragic Backstories: Many PCs come to Freehold, we have discovered, fleeing from something, someone, or somewhere else. While this provides an excellent creative outlet for bringing adventure to the game from outside, we currently enjoy an overabundance of characters whose backgrounds include a price on their heads, an escape from slavery or other inhumane circumstances, war-torn homelands, and so on. We currently would prefer applications that rely less on egress from abuse or tragedy and more on deliberate planning, taking advantage of opportunity, investigation or research within the game area, etc. E.g., archaeologists, merchants, and mercenaries will receive preference over retired assassins, troubled veterans, and criminals on the run.

  7. White Characters: As mentioned above, Freehold's human cast is predominantly white or white-passing. Thus, we are actively seeking black-, brown-, and other non-white-skinned human characters from appropriate ethnicities to increase representation. This preference explicitly extends to include players who will portray non-white PCs in an appropriately respectful manner (bonus consideration for players who are POC in real life—we want to create a safe, inclusive space for you).