How to Begin a Campaign | 5e Dungeons & Dragons | TTRPG | Web DM
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- Опубликовано: 29 сен 2024
- Your first adventure sets the tone for your whole campaign. Here's how we make them memorable! This video is the first in a short series for new Dungeon Masters and seasoned DMs alike: our DM MASTER CLASS if you will.
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5e Dungeons & Dragons is here to stay, and Web DM is here to help!!! Jim Davis & Jonathan Pruitt have been playing Dungeons & Dragons for a combined 30+ years, and on Web DM they demystify, dethrone, and defrock this Dungeon we call Dragons! Subscribe to our channel for weekly videos on 5e Classes, Monsters, DM Tips, and more! Join Pruitt & Jim as we kick down the door and talk some serious Dungeons & Dragons!
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Web DM hey I forget if you guys gave your thoughts yet but what’s your thoughts on dungeon of the mad mage and tomb of annihilation in my opinion the two longest adventures in 5e that are official modules and in one book before the reprint of tyranny of dragons but toa is my favorite module may I ask also what is your favorite module? But my main question through all this any advice on keeping the mega dungeon or the running clock to apocalypse adventure intriguing like those two modules are and not just for those two adventurers.
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“Wait web dm did a video on how to start a campaign?” (Shouting at level six players in other room) “Alright we are restarting the campaign give me 45 minuets!”
😂 how’d they react I’m curious (the players I mean)
@@thedreadedscythe4606 “I gotta take a dump”
Coward. Put it on 2x and restart it in 23.
Just had a session 1 last weekend.
We started in a tavern, but before we could really do anything to have our characters introduce ourselves to each other, an earthquake happened.
All of sudden the tavern is on fire and we're pulling people out of the rubble. We ended up in the street saving people.
One of our players showed up 1.5 hours late (night shift that overslept), and his character was introduced by him running down the street past us to a collapsed building yelling "nooooooooooooo!"
One morning my players woke up in the middle of a big city and they were literally the only ones in the world. That happened in the middle of a campaign, but it might be a neat way to start out.
My last game started with a ship wreck in a foggy island with people just a little too fish-like. Yes, I do like Lovecraft haha.
Good idea though!
Starting level is something I've spent plenty of time pondering, and I've started having players start at level 2, it gives a session or two for players to explore their characters and set up some world building before hitting level 3 and really opening the world.
I'm planning a new game and whenever I think of the beginning I can't help but think that Jim would be proud. The players are a party of third-level adventurers hired by a tier-three party to help with the post-adventure looting of a dungeon (Tenser's Floating Disk, torchbearing, sorting, etc.) but when they get to the dungeon, things, of course, go wrong. For the party's backstory, I'm going to ask each of the four or five players to write a *short* description of an adventure the party might've had, and part of session zero will be talking through the adventures and the characters' perspectives on it.
That bit at the end. I totally took it (for the the whole show) as any level to start a new campaign. Not just first.
All campaigns have starts right, no matter what level.
Its not until later that the party starts their own story. So the start is DM framework.
Imagine if Skyrim had started with you fighting with the storm cloaks and that random horse thief lol
They I'd have never been caught and had to go through that whole carriage ride
I find starting easier than maintaining a campaign. Would love a WebDM video on preserving momentum in mid-level campaigns, inspiration for DMs to keep things rolling and building without repetition, that sort of thing.
Jim referencing Lonely Island is something I didn't expect, but I love it
My game starts in a city setting and I decided to prepare a bunch of npcs in advance. After our session 0 I learned enough about them to design 3 npcs for each of them that their characters already know. I gave them a sheet of paper with what they know of their npcs. Some of these npc know eachother so as the cataclysms happen in the city and they turn to their friends for answers they become tied to the same friend group. I think it's clever, that's just me.
One of the better campaign starts I've seen is the Dungeon Magazine adventure "Keep for Sale"
Nice mix of NPC's a possible base of operations for the characters with money drain potential forcing the party to adventure work with NPC's to rebuild and maintain with a seaport available
My first homebrew campaign.
5 minutes after I ended the season - "fuck, I forgot to give them this really important choice that was going to determine the next session."
Session two was a filler session just to have something to do so I could then give them that choice at the end of the second session.
37:22 I always forget that you guys record episodes way before they get published
I typically start a campaign with...
1. Preparing Four Corner Opposition... 4 different factions that oppose each of the other factions for their own reasons. That creates 12 plot hooks. These plot hooks also offer setting information. For example the Goblinoids and Bullywugs fight for control of the swamp. Thanks to the Great Wizard Zoryya's defeat of the Ancient Black Dragon Vordalleth.
2. Then I set an in medias res scene. After the first round of action I pause for flashbacks saying something like, "As you find yourself surrounded by argry Bullywugs the last few days flash through your brain. How the hell did you end up waist deep in this swamp?" I jot down these answers and use them to seed the next adventure.
3. After the opening battle I steer the action towards a "show don't tell" world building scene. Like a carven of actors who present satirical plays about the egotistical wizard Zoryya who destabilized the region by having an affair with the duke's son and interrupting the betrothal to the Count Viscardi's daughter.
4. Then I present 3 roleplay scenarios that introduce at least 3 of those 12 plot hooks.
5. After that I ask the players what questions or thoughts are important to their character and what do they want to investigate next session.
14:35. DINDINGDIN! CORRECT ANSWER. This is THE best way to get engageent, prevent murderhoboism, and have players taking the lead in advancing the story.
38:13 I also like the idea of starting with the heroes in a carriage. Make them come up with why they are on the journey to the city *and* they’ve each heard a rumor about treasure or monsters or a ruins & have been thinking about getting like-minded people together to check it out. Then have them attacked.
I’m about to start my first campaign as a DM tomorrow!!! Slow start into a combat into the main plot hook aka introducing my BBEG, but he won’t pay much attention to them. Im going to try and slowly pull them into the bad guy. I hope everything goes well...
Hey Pruitt, looking good. Have you been working out or did you just multiclass some levels in barbarian? 👀
Same goes for Davis ❣️
Jim is slimming and Pruitt is buffing up. They must go to a D&D themed gym.
@@gameon_ct Using downtime effectively with 1d6+5 sets of push ups!
Opening up a hexcrawl/sandbox game in a harsh wartorn world (think Berserk meets Game of Thrones meets Primal).
It's gonna open with the party escorting refugees to a new city when they are ambushed, their npc leader slain. Do they press forward despite the injuries? Do they seek shelter nearby in the forest? They need to act quickly as soon the rainy season will creep in.
found out about the Agent X method. Gonna use it for a supers game, have em make the characters they want whom are members of a hero group (think one punch man) who get their first posting, first session is an in game briefing where i'll handout top secret files (irl) to the plays (god i love handouts).
I started in a tavern with the players drinking together at a table. But about 10 seconds into that opening RP I threw a dead body through a window onto their table. It worked; it got my murder mystery opening arc started just fine.
I immediately stopped what I was doing when I heard about the wedding idea. My next campaign will certainly start at "the losers table"!
Some more ideas for people looking for them:
You all start in front of a dungeon, but you don't know each other or how you got there. You feel an overwhelming urge to enter the dungeon.
You are all students at a school (magic, martial, academic, whatever) but the school is attacked by an unknown group. You need to escape and build up resources, allies, and information to take back the school.
I like the Magic Item refund idea.
Give the players horrible magic items, that will net them some gold at the end of a dungeon romp through a con man Wizards tower. They get their money and maybe even a merchant friend depending on the status of the Wizard. I usually have the Wizard stuck in a trap of their own making with a rather mundane solution the Wizard is helpless to do themselves.
We 👏need👏 a 👏warforged👏 race👏 video👏
It 👏 will 👏 happen 👏 eventually 👏
The campaign I currently play in started with my character and my his brother spotting a large dust cloud and running to tell the mayor. The entire village then preceded to duke it out with orcs, which we were supposed to lose to but the village blacksmith killed 30 orcs. We then went to the capitol of the kingdom and get sent on a mission to check on the other towns to see if they were invaded by orcs. We're know a couple thousand miles away and part of a crew of a pirate ship and now have a band that contains a lute, drums, banjo, and bagpipe.
I'll submit my planned campaign start here for critique and suggestions
The first probably 5 levels will be an urban adventure in a city under siege by goliaths. The PCs will have goals of their own outside the city, but in order to get past the goliath blockade, they've discovered that winning the favor of one of the major crime syndicates present the best option of a way through the blockade. They may not like this, but they've found one the crime syndicates to be much more humane and ethical in its methods than the others. Whether it's for this reason, because they are expected to only fight other criminal factions or because they've been tasked by the guard to go undercover, each adventurer has agreed to meet up with a contact of this syndicate at a tavern owned by it. The PCs may or may not know each other at this point, but they each arrive one by one to sit at the same table waiting for the contact to show up. He does, and a short discussion is had, before the inn is attacked by the Dwarven/blacksmith syndicate (The Sodmar Hammers) alongside a few goblin alchemists. These alchemist are from the drug lab that every criminal faction in the city would like to own and take ownership of so the end of the fight should immediately lead to a search for this lab and the first dungeon of the campaign. AFTER that it would open up more with the characters making active decisions about how the syndicate they work for can solidify its powers before the leader has to leave the city with the characters as the escort. I can even see the party realizing that discretely sabotaging the drug lab should be enough to satisfy their employer because it's at least no longer in the hands of a rival.
My biggest concern is of course my desire to run this criminal campaign for a party I would ideally like _not_ to be criminally inclined once the level 1-5 arc of the campaign is over, but I could also use some suggestions or reassurances about the tamplate I'm using to start things of. At session 0 you agree to work for a patron. At session 1 each character shows up to discuss further with the patron and shortly afterwards, the action starts and you're immediately railroaded towards a short term goal before things open up a bit more.
[21:44] "The Big Bad Evil Guy that is scheduling conflicts".
What he meant: Finding a common date for all players can be even the biggest villain.
What my brain got: A BBEG who appears in several campaigns and now plans when to do what and where to do it in order to further his goals. Like
On Monday - bribe the banking clan to tradeblock Naboo
On Tuesday - have Grima Wormtongue poison the ear of Théodon, King of Rohan
On Wednesday - make the people of Gotham City hate Batman.
On Thursday - help that Loki Guy to betray his half-brother and steal the Tesseract
On Friday - take the employers of Nakatomi Corporation hostage
On Saturday - take my cat to the spa and groom
On Sunday - take over Hogwarts and route out all non purebloods
They're so excited, so full of hope pre pandemic. It has taken its toll on us all.
Create a character and then do one-off solo sessions with each player doing different things with each. Then start at that character's funeral.
With experience player I tell them where they are, and leave the rest up to them.
I do this during character creation, I ask them why are they here and how do they know each other.
As A DM you have enough to prep before the game.
we started at a birthday party for a old wizard then we got ambushed by shadows to start the campign
How do I get into a game either as a player or a DM with Jim? I'd even pay to play just to learn to add to my games.
I cant ask directly to my players what they wanted to do to start the campaign. They wanted almost everything to be a surprise...... Cant wait for them to realize they are in a low magic horror campaign
Excellent choice 👍
Pissed at the pub is exactly what you want to be, in Ireland. 🥴
34:30 I'm not sure I agree. Not knowing who knows what about who is sort of a obstacle to role playing.
The BBEG of Schedule Conflicts, I raise you International Pandemic.
Hey guys, I was really interested in purchasing the Grymmworld book that you advertised several weeks ago. Where is the best place to purchase this?
Google.
Go to 2cgaming.com and access the backer kit there!
I started my campaign with my characters having no abilities. They were at a county fair at level 0. They played a few games. Rather quickly, there was a huge flash of blue lightning and they all had powers. That was two years ago and this campaign is going strong.
Do what I do, make them retainers to a Mercenary Company or Knight Order that is heavily in debt. Then throw them in a far flung foreign land with no way to learn the local language other than hiring a tutor and then give them a couple of sellsword contracts that need to be done.
I started my current campaign with all the characters crawling out of a mountain of corpses, wounded on a battlefield. They went in search of a tavern almost immediately.
Ahhh! A ghost!
Siiiick
I've done similar things... waking up on the remains of a battlefield littered with ghouls feeding on the dead... Waking up on a beach after a shipwreck... Waking up in an alley after a night of coursing...
Very Conan story style.
Irony people
I once started a campaign for new players at the county fair. Zero stakes, loads of games to show how various mechanics worked, random events for them to encounter (stop that escaped pig!), and the Challenge of Dread Pin-Ya-Tah (scary music), an obstacle course ending with a 'boss battle' against "the dread beast Pin-Ya-Tah" (don't get knocked off the platform as it swings around wildly, use of fire results in disqualification). Winning the challenge gets the party proclaimed 'Lords/Ladies of the Faire', a nice paper hat, and free drinks.
Turned out great, the new players had lots of fun, and in session two the mayor of the town had a reason to know the party and offer them a 'chance to make some extra money', leading them into the next part of the campaign.
That's super inventive and effective!!! What a great idea!
@@WebDM Thanks! Fair food was also a great way to introduce the idea of edible monster bits (we're all fans of Delicious in Dungeon). I also took your advice from previous episodes and made sure Session Zero also included questions like "what do you hope to find at the fair", and "how do you already know at least one other character", saving me work by putting it on the players to build part of the story themselves.
Keep being awesome!
I want to try this kinda reminds me of an old 3.5 adventure however i didn't know how to put in the county fair or carnival feel into the game
This sounds like fun with the right group, but I could see the DM having to dangle the games infront of them while the players arguing if their high elf mage, or human noble would even be at such a base level event.
Reminds me of the old neverwinter nights 2 game.
You all grew up in the same orphanage, but later you're split up and sent to different schools. You're called upon to provide a cheap bodyguard to the young daughter of a neighboring dignitary, but are quickly drawn into a conflict against a sorceress who you recognize as the matron of the orphanage you were raised it...
Oh wait, no. That's Final Fantasy 8.
I give a lot of shit to FF8 for its terrible romance and messy storytelling, but that game has some amazing things too.
For me "Start in the action" doesn't mean start in combat, it means start in a scenario where action with consequences is afoot. I might throw a singular roll at a party member or two, but the main meat of the scenario would be; you've come to this dungeon, you've slain the goblin king in this area, and you have his treasure, but the bridge to took to get here has collapsed. Now the only way out is to go even deeper into the caves.
Never thought of starting quite like this i like the Elder Scrolls approach you where captured now you have nothing and awaken in a dungeon or jail time to escape.
@@garrettdaly9893 both are equally good, just depends on the kind of story you want to happen.
This is how i run things. I recently ran the start Saltmarsh book and started it out as the players already having agreed to help the sea port. The game started them out meeting their contact, provisioning them and answering questions as to whats expected of them. Having all the introductory crap taken care of, it was easier for the players to role-play and for me to move the game.
@The Game Hey, you’re finally awake
I'd love to see a video on how to END a campaign well.
Ask and ye shall receive! ruclips.net/video/qRATfTGmoH0/видео.html
tpk? lol kidding
Rocks fall and everybody dies.
I think the best way to end a campaign is to set out story arcs that interconnect for people who want more, but are self contained enough to conclude within 8-10 sessions. Have definite beginnings, middles and break off pointes release tension. Big epic campaigns are a slog most people won’t be able to commit to continuously, so having smaller stories helps.
Nah that an impossible task
THE BEARD HAS RETURNED
It's temporary though!! Don't get too attached
@@WebDM You only have the budget to hire it part time?
@@SPTX. I'm sure it's a scheduling conflict. Jim's beard is very busy
@@WebDM too late
@@WebDM All things are temporary, really 🧐😅
My favourite twist to the Tavern Opener was that the tavern itself, located on steep hillside, the final rest stop into a long mountain pass, was caught in a landslide and tumbled part-way down the hill... Open with perception checks to see what order the PC's wake up, then there's other patrons and tavern folk caught in the rubble. Some might be trapped, some in shock. The rugged little town still clings to the hillside above but the alarm hasn't sounded yet.
It's a kind of disaster-relief / first-responder opening... But you can broaden it into a mystery, or an attack of some kind, or a much wider natural disaster.
(Edit: The joy for me was in describing it, at first, like just the most bog-standard tavern opener ever. Then just at the point where it seemed like I was about to hand it over to the players to introduce themselves, that's when the avalanche happened.)
The group missed/ was late for the adventure hook... Like how Ash ocer slept and missed Prof. Oak handing out pokemon in episode 1
So cool, thx man I got a fantastic idea from this
Shout-out to one of the most classic ways of forming a party, the The Breakfast Club method.
A common start I use is what I call "the shipwreck" all the players were passengers on a ship(or airship) when it was wrecked then I have one of the PCs wake up and find the other PCs one by one and perhaps a macguffin this encourages the PCs to work together to survive and find civilization then when they are safe they find out more about the macguffin which leads them to the next adventure.
It is a good way to do it I have my own mini module that shipwrecks the players all it requires for background is all the players were going to the same place at some point and now they have to work together
I love the idea of asking players for a wish list. Definitely going to do this with my next campaign, whatever system/style it ends up being.
I once started an adventure, all Bard party (they were a band,) right after they had dealt with a dragon. They had a real challenge ahead of them back in town ... a battle of the bands! The band leader, Edward von Halen, was putting his new band up against his old band, which had been stolen from him by his mortal nemesis, Samaiel of Hagar! So the adventure started with them trying to get out of the dragon's lair, with treasure and few hp, past the traps that they had not set off on the way in.
The meat of the adventure was at a big tavern, as opposed to starting there and then leaving for the adventure. The battle of the bands took place at that wonderful establishment, the Smurven Hammer. There were on-stage fatalities, but it was okay; no band could compete without signing waivers.
This adventure was run for a friend of mine's bachelor party. All players were musicians. One of the best games I have ever taken part in.
Players not willing to work with a DM on starting a campaign (w/e the scenario) says a lot more about the player than the campaign or DM.
But that’s just like my opinion man.
Edit: also, Jesus! 175k subs. I think you have like 100-200 when I joined. Grats on your much earned success!
Thank you for being with us! It's been a wild ride!
16:31
Question / potential video topic:
With romance in D&D, or any TTRPG for that matter, how do you reconcile the awkwardnes when a PC wants to romance an NPC when in practice it kind of becomes the player "romancing" the GM?
Have you seen our show on romance? We lovingly caress this topic here: ruclips.net/video/E4ZiiMDnV0c/видео.html
Even worse is being the player watching this. The one time i saw this, i just wanted to leave the room so these two could have sex in real life. They definitely weren't there to play DnD and I didn't want to be in the gay orgy it was quickly turning into.
When our bard seduces the monster I have him roll on an STI table. If it’s more than that give your player some fun, but just keep solo story moment brief.
My partner and I are starting a 5e Eberron Homebrew soon and it's literally going to just the two of us. Who else has done successfully fun campaigns with only 2 people? Great video - so many useful insights! Thanks again for really dynamic content!
I've played with just my girlfriend and it was fun. Hard to compare since it was one of my first times dming and her first time playing. From the standard group, it was different, but still fun for both sides. I felt like it moved a lot quicker and I had a lot more control over things. I hope it went well for you.
Just started Saltmarsh with a crew splitting up after their ship was attacked. 3 stuck together, which are the PCs.
Talking about a wake at a tavern. "How do you know the deceased? Who's in the casket." I'm dead.
Plot twist: YOU are the one in the casket
I'm realizing I've been planning campaigns with the assumption that I have to start off with some sort of momentous and intense event, because that's how I'd want a first session to go as a player. I really haven't been able to wrap my head around what it's like to not come to the first session with an extremely fleshed-out character, but this video has given me more perspective and ideas for what that's like and how to plan around a player group with such players.
I would love if they had a look at the compendium of forgotten secrets. it would fall perfectly into what Jim wants in a book.
Roosevelt was a legend.
I like to start campaigns on ships. Its well-defined location, that gives reason for different kinds of individuals to be in the same location and time for player characters to meet in a more natural way. And depending on what the destination of that ship is, it can set the tone and themes of the campaign very well. Is the ship supply ship traveling to a war zone, mercantile ship for coastal metropolis or passenger ship headed for a new frontier town? The ship as a starting location is a place between the worlds, it's not the beginning and it's not the end, but it can take the characters anywhere.
I am actually starting a seafaring campaign with some friends in the near future, and i was wondering if you had a "on a ship" start off point that has worked for you in the past?
I would like to give you something, but I run my games in a homebrew setting and what works for me on my table is more then likely very different then what will work on yours. You know your setting better than me and more importantly, you know your friends, so any advice that I could give to you would be general, not specific.
And there is a very large amount of, IMHO, really good general information on this chanal already.
@@StoicMindproxy aah, ok that makes sense. Thanks!
I'm using jury duty for one of my campaigns.
I've actually never started a campaign in a tavern
I have only GMed a few traditional D&D campaigns but, I realized none of mine start in a tavern but, at the end of the "first act" you are in a tavern. IDK why, but it just always happens.
@@miscellaneousshadow7452 A tavern is a very useful and practical thing for travelers! Hard to avoid them!
My current game started like a scooby doo episode lol we were all invited to a creepy old mansion and (obviously) there be some monster killing people.
Hijinkies insue and turns out the grounds keeper is summoning low level demons to kill the family in order to take over the estate.
Was awesome lol
one week after starting my first home game. lol........Thanks for the great content as always!
Now I know what the drums in the WebDM intro remind me of! It's the negotiation screen in Civ2
Ha, yeah they do sound kinda like that! That was a great game
Epic insight! That’s so true.
@@WebDM That was when Ghandi had that bug that caused him to pre-emptively nuke everyone.
Huh a competitor for Hero Forge. Probably a good thing for us customers.
The free market provides
Competition=better prices
@@hunterskidmore1672 or increased quality
Just about to start a new campaign- handy stuff.
Same! Perfect, though uncanny, timing
I had my players attempt to escape a city under siege, all meeting up on an airship that they stole to escape, as they flew away they watched as their home was destroyed. A scout ship from the attacking settlement tried to disable their ship, we had a combat and set off to warn he rest of the empire about the attacking army. Really fun and exciting session 1, had a chance for an exciting chase, combat, established the greater story at hand and a bit of roleplay to boot.
If you want to steal this, go for it!
(Inspired by the Mortal engines novels)
I know this is two years since you've posted this but I just wanted to say thanks for posting this - my mates and I are getting together to make their characters and I've been trying to figure out what the campaign is even supposed to be. But this is a wonderful starting point, I already have ideas!! Thank you, you've saved me 😂❤
@@a-10warthog23 yo that's rad! Congrats! And I hope it goes well. This also tells me that the airship combat system I've been developing has now been in the works for over 2 years! Goodness that's a while. I gotta get back on that horse and continue developing it.
Oh my jim what is this glorious muzzle you've cultivated here lol
We went back in time a bit for this one- he is still beardless IRL and in future videos
My most memorable start to a campaign was when I had a one on one session with each of the players. This was done so that each if them would have their own unique reasons for joining together in a party. It was played out in their own perspective instead of just saying you have your own reasons. Not to mention it really adds more to the background of the characters because when you play the scinario of how they joined, many new things will be added. The reason for joining the party will be fleshed out and more unique then just "we all know each other." Not to mention there is this aspect of assembling a team slowly as the party find each other one by one.
I remember my first campaign where I DMed. It started after a previous 1 shot. I was hoping to spend some time building up the world and letting them meander about doing side adventures in the meantime. My end goals were to establish the setting and the way the law works (you can pretty much do anything short of theft and assault), introduce the syndicate and a few key players like a silver dragon in disguise and a lvl 20 rouge bounty hunter, and have all of this be done while hunting down a morgue which is basically an undead serial killer.
My friend messed up and invited 8 people who all started at lvl 5 to the first session of my first campaign. At the end of it all, they collectively managed to
A. Pick a fight with the lvl 20 rogue
B. Get caught stealing from the syndicate
C. Assault the silver dragon's kid
D. Kill the morgue.
E. I forget how but somewhere in the midst of this 1 of them managed to get the guards after them.
All of this happened before they even learned the bbeg's name.
So much for starting slow.
the list of things that they feel like they would miss out on is a really good idea
I know Hank from Runehammer also has some great ideas for campaign intro's that are worth checking out if you're thinking of starting a new campaign.
That dude is the best breed of madman. I just picked up the ICRPG core book last week. It's going to be the first tabletop system I play!
Almost at the end of our waterdeep campaign, been writting heavily to start with my first homebrew campaign this time around. This is quite interesting take on it.
I had a session 0, 1 on 1 with every player so far and we played for like half an hour for their introduction and background story. At the end i had a mysterious portal open op and they were put to sleep. All 6 of them. Session one will be all of them waking up in a metal cage on a cart riding through the mountains with 1 NPC added. This is a chance for the characters to get to know each other and to figure out why the hell all of them were captured in the first place. And then an earthquake will happen and they all will tumble down the mountain and be freed from their bounds.
Hey you. You’re finally awake
You were trying to cross the border, right?
Got caught in that imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there
The next game I was planing to start characters off with just their background, equipment and 4hp. No level 1 classes but can list the class they want to get ie training to become. So the players would start in the same area or city. Have the characters interact as their class in training. So a sage could be sent to a nearby village to get information on a folk hero to add to the library and may need an outlander to help with travel to this village. When they arrive they find the village is under attack again by the same or similar creature of people that the folk hero drove off the first time and have to work together to survive the encounter. Then return to tell the tale. The point wouldn't be to fight to defeat the enemy but to survive and perhaps gain information as to why this is happening and if it could lead to a bigger problem on the horizon.
I did something like this. Players were background only with HP decided by race (d12 Goliath, d6 Goblin, etc.). I started them separately and guided the story towards the same town that the others were headed for (so, no one was from there).
They liked it.
@@joshh828 glad to see the idea works.
I started one where the group suddenly came to in a mob. Took them longer than I expected to figure out they're undead, and the mob they are in was the town being raised.
I started my first ever campaign with 3 out of 4 PCs in a tavern and it went awesomely. I think because they assumed they would slowly have to talk to each other and interact but then this weird-ass creature came in begging to speak to one of them. When the player agrees to go with them the creature is shot through the tavern window. Suddenly they're chasing the assassin across the town's rooftops and they pin this little goblin with a smoking gun- our fourth PC. The remaining sessions were investigating the origin of the creature, the mysterious man the goblin was hired by and the meaning behind an unusual hourglass symbol. Been playing for over a year and are almost finished, with those first threads still connected to the story we're telling.
I had a campaign start with the players on a prison island, a couple players knew each other from the outside, 2 pc’s were cell mates, and a couple pc’s became friends for protection. Session zero would be talk of the “purge” where teams were made so winning team gets to leave the island on the supply ship, the losers became dead. They were given very basic equipment and dropped off on the main continent. Once there they had the chance to find “sponsors” who are former inmates on the island to get options to pad out their characters.
The group ended up playing those characters for 3 years.
Great topic, I always look forward to your videos every week
Thank you!
I find, for your first ever DM session, especially with new players: have them be a part of some formal organization. Maybe something like a civil militia. They could be from a village who had a bad crop, and they volunteered to alleviate the tax burden, or maybe they're serving as punishment for some small crime, or maybe they just want a chance to escape their corner of the world, and it's a chance to do that. Then the first 3-5 levels, they are given quests by a senior officer, and then they have a choice: do we continue to follow that regimented path, or do they go their own way. And you lay out plot threads for them to follow, maybe give them a contact who has some authority, and who can help them follow the plot threads without sitting in that power structure.
And, for first timers all around, box things in a little. give them the scenario they're in at the beginning, and then ask them to define a character who fits into that. Have a character creation session zero, where they're allowed to talk about what they're thinking, and encourage them to maybe build common threads to explain why they're around each other. And be willing to say "hey, listen, this is my first game, and so, I'll need a little help, and that means that, honestly, I don't know how to deal with a character who is avaricious and greedy, and stealing all the time." and set those boundaries. Even say "hey, if you're this class, you probably have this kind of background, you're likely to be this race" and things like that. Simplify the game for that early part. And then let the game bloom later.
My favourite opening: The entire party are killed and acquisition Inc revives you, at the price of indenturement
I'm glad Pruitt and I arrived at a similar conclusion about the whole Wake idea for a campaign start. It would be a great way to have all the characters know each other (As Davis points out: "How do you know the deceased?") and regardless of what level you begin at, not only could the reading of the will include an Adventure Hook, but also be a great way to handout some cool starting items via way of inheritance! :D
If you're going to run with the "you all meet in a inn" put a spin on it, give the players a scenario for something to happen.
You can be very creative with the inn starter scenario, give them a good reason to be there.
The inn is the players favorite place to drink, so they know each other that way, and now a local crime gang shows up to rob the place, or shake down the owner for protection money.
Or the inn keeper wakes up the players in the morning (with a bucket of cold water) after a night of heavy drinking that resulted in a bar brawl, since the players are the only one left, the inn keeper now tells them in order to repay for the broken furniture, they have to do him a favor (insert plot hook)
I'm starting my campaign this Saturday :P This is perfectly timed - Thanks guys!
Awesome!! Have a great time!
@@WebDM Bad news >.> one of my players had to cancel due to work so it's been postponed :(
Wish me luck starting a session 0 for my homebrew superhero game
Give me wacky villain ideas, so far session 1 is a cannibal pizza shop owner
What if the pizza shop is a mimic? A cannibal pizza shop owner in two ways.
@@MrDeadend1973 I like how you think
3:05 Gary Gygax started his games at third level because back then first-level magic-users only got one measly first-level spell.
I will start out saying that a new tavern is the last thing they remember. Before doors closed and then it was only darkness. They wake up in cold, on a wet stone floor with metal bars before them. In an underground slave auction. And they hear two people talking:
-"Ya' think this pack is good for use? I mean one of them is a child and -"
-"Sshh! Shut up, if the Baron's folk notice what the fuck is going on here we'all gonna be hanged! And don't worry about the kid, there is an obscure client group on the Sex market. Heh!"
-"Man, that's kinda fucked up. but i guess cash is cash! And what about the fairy? Also selling her as a sex slave?"
-"Yee, Folks love rebelious punk bitches. I don't think the old man is gonna be of use?"
-"We're keeping him here more because he be a dangerous fucker and he freaks me out, man. Look at these eyes."
Yeah, These are the characters Custom nature-elven campaign world - we have a Human Druid drug dealer, a Fey punk assasin, a satyr kid with a magic flute and a mute necromancer.
I'm actually planning to run DCC (Dungeon Crawl Classics, for those who don't happen to know) soon, and my plan for that campaign is having the characters start at the entrance to the dungeon, they're sick of being peasants and want to try their hand at being adventures... trouble is, there's like... twenty four of these level 0 mooks, so they're gonna have to learn about "Wealth by Attrition" really quickly. From there will be hopefully about 5-6 level 1 PCs who have a common backstory because they're all from the same town, went through the same dungeon together and saw eighteen of their other village members die in horrible and gruesome ways.
I hope to get Grimtooth's traps before the first adventure begins otherwise I'm just going to have to deal with standard D&D 5e random dungeon generation.
Campaign my brother and I were writing together starts with the players in a tavern, knowing one another or not, getting involved in a bar fight started by some low level bandits trying to rip off the establishment owner...
Win or lose, the constable shows up with a couple men to either bail them out or give them a back-handed compliment. If the party does well, they're told the town watch is spread thin, and are offered a side job to go after the bandits held up in a cave, leading into more and more side jobs. If they can't handle the bandits, they're asked to go clear a basement of rats or whatever, because the watch sees it as below them to do rodent control jobs. They then gain a little experience, and are asked to go handle bandits in a cave, etc..
It's a great "Zero to Hero" campaign starter, and sets the standard from the first session that players are expected to grab onto hooks, or just stay at home.
The idea is that you're not on a railroad, you're on as street faced one way. You gotta move things forward until you get to intersections where choices can be made. They keep working for the guard, the guard mentions them to the armorer, and the army or noble house takes note of them, and they start getting a bunch of requests from different powers all at once. Think Elder Scrolls. The longer you play, the more side quests you have, until you forget just what it is you were going to do next.
Big bad evil guy mistakes the party for other adventurers who annoyed him and set some things after you. Or a disturbance at a near by ancient graveyard leads to an ancient zealot barbarian being revived, and it leads to a cult bringing back an ancient atilla the gun and his forces who were buried across the land to raise an army
Hey! wake up! You were dreaming...
Morrowind right?
There is one thing I've learned from watching this channel as well as the interviews with Jim on dndbeyond's channel. Jim's beard defies all concepts of continuity.
My current campaign started with a player commuting murder and arsine in the first session 🤣
*Fade In From Black*
"So you're finally awake!"
Love to see a session zero as well as an experienced DM building his game from start to finish to see how it's done and all the thought put into it.
In my current campaign, the kingdom has an official adventuring guild called the "Irregulars"
The players started at lev 1, taking their final.
Their grouping was effectively assigned by the trainers for the test.
The test was a sample, non-lethal, combat that allowed them to feel out their roles.
They succeeded, and were told they worked well together and should consider staying together after leaving the training program.
I want to share my group's first session from this past Sunday. I'm the DM and we have a Tiefling Rouge, Half-Elf Celric, Half-Elf Sorcerer, and a Dragonborne Paladin. There are 2 others but they couldn't make it. We got everyone's characters worked out in the weeks building up to the 1st session. I planned to use the first few episodes of Hoard of the Dragon Queen just to get the group adjusted to D&D (the cleric is the only veteran of the game). We started in a tavern 2 days away and the group already wants to brawl and kill *facepalm* so I railroaded them up to the point they see the town being attacked. They described their characters and that's about it for roleplaying.They wanted to turn and nope the f away *facepalm*.
We wanted to start at 7:30pm but it's already past 9pm at this point due to adding a last-second player and making their sheet + everyone loading into TableTop Simulator + shenanigans. So they eventually made it to town and into the 1st encounter. That went pretty well. I used it to teach the basic mechanics of combat and they really liked it. Only problem was that the Sorcerer didn't have any spells picked. We forgot to go over them. I had to convince the Rouge not to kill the woman, husband, and 3 children. The Cleric wanted to hide them but eventually the family just followed them to the Keep. The Paladin wanted to run down the roads, hacking and slashing hoards of kobolds all alone, while the rest of the party sneaked to the Keep. We ended the session at almost 11pm after they met the governor but they had to "encourage" him for a bounty. I learned a lot that night... I'm going to try to reset and find out what they want to do after we finish this episode. Thanks for the great tips!
Wanted to leave a comment to personally thank you. With help from your videos (as well as videos from Dungeon Dudes) I have finally built a campaign that I feel wasn't exceedingly "mind-mushing", yet has enough information that it wouldn't matter where I start the campaign, or what style of campaign is played (including full on sandbox/player driven). I hope to eventually leave a campaign guide on DM's Guild, but at the same time, I feel empowered to leave it as is and just start running adventures in it, building it as those adventures and sessions come. Due to certain players I had years ago (literally not caring about anything, and just wanting to rob shops and kill whoever got in their way), along with a seriously failed attempt at a campaign about a year or two back, I felt like I fell into a total slump with my DM ability and felt like I needed to make a campaign that forced me to obtain "My Precious Setting Syndrome" and constantly keep it on rails the entire time to make sure these things never happened again. Thanks to all your videos, I feel ready and confident to run this new campaign, and I don't feel like I have the symptoms of "My Precious Setting Syndrome", even at the thought of a meteor being slammed into it.
I like the conversation about not always reaching level 20. I'm pretty new to DND, and I love my current (first ever) character, but it would've been nice to know going in that leveling is a much longer process than you see in games like MMOs. As a new player you start at lvl 1 thinking "man, I can't wait to hit lvl 7 for Aura of Warding", only to realize several games in that you won't be seeing that ability for a loooong time! I definitely look much more closely at the early level abilities now than I ever did when I first started.
I started with my players beeing traveling with a Caravan, all out of there own reason, which where cleared beforhand.
But as the Caravan got attacked and they got split from the Caravan Guards they had to rely on each othere and it worked.
The only problem ther was that i rolled for ever of the eleven bandits its own initative.