Home
Creators
Search Recent Missing Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Submit Your Questions for the September (actually in October) Q&A Livestream! (Patreon)

Published:
2020-09-25 15:02:21
Edited:
2020-09-25 15:02:26
Imported:
2026-06

Content

Due to a scheduling flub, our September 2020 Livestream will be on the first day of October! It will be a Campaign Planning Workshop! Join us on stream  Thursday, October 1st from 6 PM to 8 PM ET.  

Please submit any questions you may have about campaign planning for D&D 5e by replying to this thread. Possible sub-topics might include: 

Brainstorming and designing a campaign concept 

Adventure design over worldbuilding  

Involving the PCs backstories in the campaign 

Choosing a setting and creating special house rules which support a theme 

What to plan and what not to plan 

Useful tools and resources for campaign planning (mapping software, writing applications, templates, books, etc) 

Please leave your questions in the comments below by Wednesday September 30th at 11:59 PM. To begin, we’d ask that you submit no more than one question for consideration.  We hope we can answer most submissions, but we may need to narrow our selections occasionally depending on the quantity. We’ll curate the questions to avoid duplicates, and we encourage you to LIKE questions submitted by other patrons which are of interest to you so we can prioritize if necessary. We’ll read out your questions out during the stream, and hopefully take a few extra questions from the live chat as well. 

If you miss the live stream, don’t worry — the full recording will be available on YouTube a few days later. 

Cheers Kelly & Monty 

Comments

Rick Wilmeth

I've been playing for over 10 years and am wanting to run a campaign, but I am very nervous about it as everyone else I game with has been playing D&D for over 30 years. How much planning should I do before I attempt to run a long campaign OR should I try my hand first with just a short 2 or 3 session scenario set in the world I want to create to get my feet wet? Suggestions for a first timer?

Matt Martin

When a character sends me their background, we always chat after and do a little tweaking so that it best fits in the campaign narrative and so I can later easier give that character some personal tie-ins to the story. But how much DM background intervention is too much? For instance, I recently started a horror campaign and one character's goal is elimination of the vampire that killed his mother, took his sister, and almost killed him. But I also have secretly made that character a werewolf by birth who's family traditions keep the curse at bay (a magical/herbal daily remedy; he has no idea the tea is keeping him from wolfing out). The lycanthropy is why he was attacked and didnt become a vampire spawn (my own interpretation) and will also be a great aid in a later chapter that features werewolves. Have I overstepped too far into the PC's background story?

Alexander Feoktistov

I want to continue my first campaign from the LMoP module and my plan for saving me time was to pilfer adventure ideas from community sources like adventurelookup.com or dmsguild.com. How do I link these adventures together in a campaign without them feeling stilted? Should I have a BBEG in mind or can I let my players pursue certain goals without a central villain? I imagine some PCs will want to pursue certain parts of their backstories, some will be motivated to restore the spell forge, others will just want to tag along for the ride. I plan on polling them about what they'd like to pursue and what play style they want in their next series of adventures. I'm thinking a central theme in the campaign could unite the narrative arc. I want to explore the tension between the stability of tradition and legacy institutions and the chaotic but unpredictable freedom that jettisoning ossified practices can bring. A related theme using the power of lost secrets of the past comes with dangers of unlocking secrets that should have stayed long buried. The PC backstories make me think these themes will work very nicely with my PCs and the theme of LMoP transitions nicely into this campaign concept (restoring the Spell Forge is probably a good first plot hook moving forward). Can I get away with letting my players play around for tier 2 without having a bbeg in mind yet? I'm thinking that if I poll them about what kind of setting and playstyle they prefer I can explore these themes in nice mini-arks that take a level or two of progress. How do I do that without railroading them? I probably won't be able to have a fully sandboxed world built by the time we finish the module because I'll be in the midst of a big life transition around then (hopefully moving up the academic career ladder).

Michael Epp

When planning a campaign, how much thought should one give to sequencing encounters that are battle-heavy and battle-light? I am planning my first longer campaign, and want to make sure to keep things exciting without wearing down the dice, allowing for some real role-play while still giving players a chance to flex their muscles.

Daniel Gray Webb

I wanted to ask a different back story question however, I want to make sure a specific question is answered. We get this question all the time in the patreon DM channel; "How do I design a one shot campaign?" Or we get; "What is the best published DnD campaign for a one shot inspiration? " I will define one shot as a game with 1 to 3 sessions over approximately 6 hours of total game play time.

Roger Bron

At what point is the campaign "ready to go?" What are indications that the campaign (or DM) is not ready to be played? Are there indicators that the DM is overthinking it, and as a results, the campaign never gets played? Or the opposite, starting a campaign and maybe more thought or prep was needed.

Colton Parker

Two Questions: Do you have any thoughts or recommendations on running a futuristic / scifi themed campaign? Campaigns are expected to grow after the DM's initial planning, as PCs play through the game. Obviously, if we're attempting to simulate a world, there will be many activities, many plot points, many NPCs, etc. After you add in the campaign's plot, individual character arcs and anything else the PCs may catch interest in, campaigns can feel sprawling, massive, difficult to manage and unfocused. How do you manage to simulate an open world feel without adding too many things into the campaign? **Bonus question: If I'm looking to run a high level campaign, what rules / ideas can I adopt to keep the game as challenging as it can be in lower levels? Or should you approach running high level campaigns completely differently? -Marowak

Alexander Dove

I have a campaign going with a large group that can't meet super frequently, and I want to give them little points for decision-making and roleplaying between sessions (I've given them a crumbling manor to run and a valley they're essentially lords of). I don't want to barrage with emails, but it seems like no seven people use the same social media nowadays. What tools would you use to manage the inter-session discussion and how would you approach it as DMs?

Samuel Cavender

So I was recently prepping Tomb of Annihilation to run for my home group, and then I recently picked up Rime of the Frostmaiden, and recently I've been fantasizing about Auril wandering the frozen wastes of Icewind Dale and it's really piqued my interest. I believe reasonably I'd enjoy running both, I think RotF is just new and exciting right now. How do I determine which module I should run?

Patrick McKay

How do you handle backstories? Do you write detailed, down to the location events and relationships before session 1 or do you use a sketch with a few key anchors that organically develop over time knowing you have months to tie up all those loose ends? I normally just message people back and forth to fit the campaign and character story items that I can write in later as the campaign evolves.

J. Cruelty Catalog

Tips for dungeon masters on how to deal with players who get bogged-down going off-the-beaten path (literally) for hours and hours, without railroading them.

Tony Jones

A good campaign will have challenging encounters and there is always the chance of a Total Party Kill. Do you make contingency plans for that? In season one of Drakkenheim it appeared you had (no spoilers!)

Robert Gregory

At what point of a campaign should a BBEG or the plans and workings of the BBEG be introduced? Or at least some of it be made known, however discreetly, to the party to give them a sense of urgency for something outside their personal goals.

Seth V

How much of the campaign should be ready before the players make their characters, and what stuff should you wait to prepare until after you know who the PCs are going to be?

Peter Jorgensen

How many Random encounters do you have planned and ready to go when you play.

Walt Flood

I've noticed that Monty doesn't tend to use too many of the skill check chase-scene (not sure what to call them) types of encounters that I see in other campaigns/adventures; for example, the run from the executioner in Drakenheim, or more typical in other campaigns where you have to do a strength save this round and next round this could happen if you aren't 400 of 600 feet along... etc. What's the reasoning for not using many of these and then any guidance on building these types of fast-paced encounters?

Riley Wildman

Do you approach campaign planning for episodic campaigns and epic campaigns differently (and do you have a preference?)? I'd think of episodic as something like the MCU movies - different stories featuring the same characters over time, whereas an epic campaign would be something more like Lord of the Rings - a single story/goal tying together all of the adventures.

Landric Hakon

How do you handle magic items for low level/just starting out characters? I’ve just started running a game where characters started at first level. I want magic items to be rare/special but I also don’t want to set the party up for failure.

Peter Jorgensen

I have have changed my games, from having Extensive backgrounds, to just superficial backgrounds. The reason being, its so much easier to develop the charracter in to the story as it goes, that to fit the story to 5-6 Deep Backgrounds. QUESTION : What is the Pro and Cons on the two different approaces, in your oppinions? (The best thing ive done about backgrounds, is - I made two players come up with a Secret about the other player. It gave me SO MUCH to go with as a DM :) )

TimberWolf

have we seen a permanent move towards an increase in online play?

Edward Obarowski

The question I can't seem to get an answer for is this. Does inflict wounds burn out if you miss your to hit, or, like smite, is it only expended after you successfully hit the target?

Bradley Travis

How do you avoid defeating yourself during prep? There are many pitfalls a DM must avoid in prep to ensure that their campaign is not Dead on Arrival, or that it even arrives? How do you maintain confidence in your campaigns?

David Morgan

Any tips or advice on planning episodic (rather than serialised) campaigns? I've just started running my first campaign as DM and due to scheduling issues we can't guarantee a regular time slot or full attendance, so I'm running each session as one-shot 'episode'. Looking for ways of giving a sense of continuity/on-going story, and minimising rail-roadyness.

Kate

This is exactly what I was going to ask! How do you start planning a campaign (scope, length, number of players, setting, etc) as a player thinking about moving to the other side of the DM screen?

Preston Cuer

It's a melee spell attack- it either hits or misses. The rules questions channel on discord is a better place for this question. People are super happy to help over there!

Preston Cuer

Any tips in mid to late campaign (so 100+ hrs in, level 10, with a few established npcs and cities) to prep adventures without railroading? There are 5 or 6 hooks for the PCs to choose from and I’d rather not prepare all five adventures ahead of time, yet I would like to give them complete freedom to travel the world and pursue the hooks in the order they want.

Gregory Russell

How would you best create and introduce a rival team that were later going to be villains?

ttyybb

How do you create an active religion for your world

J.B. Wolfe

For backstories and getting the PCs involved in the campaign and the setting, I tend to weave different parts in at different times. Some start out with a hook right away. Do you have any advice on the pacing of this kind of thing? Should background hooks continue throughout, or is it preferable to have character decisions bring it to a head quicker than originally planned? I think I know the answer, but I'm really curious what you have to say on this!

Everett Patterson

Chapter 1 of the DMG suggests a core assumption that "the world is ancient." Chapter 3 recommends that adventures have "a clear focus on the present." How do you reconcile these two elements (which could just be called "world building" and "adventure design")? Specifically, what are some ways a DM can suggest layered history or create a mood of ruined antiquity, without getting too bogged down in writing backstory that PCs may not even care about?

KrushIt

I guess my question verges on the possibility of being two, but I'm just rewatching your "Behind the Screen" video in preparation for starting a campaign as a first time DM. I'm feeling a little freaked out or overwhelmed by the level of organization required and don't feel like I'm organized at all. So...what are specific tools and methods each of you recommend for keeping your sh*t together :) and do those tools and methods change when playing online/at-the-table?

Danny Rider III

In brainstorming a campaign do you prefer to focus more on a theme or idea for a party/world such as "soldiers in a rebellion," "paranormal investigators," "city intrigue" or do you spend more time on the target end of the campaign, big bad encounters, dungeons, overriding conflicts and the like? Is there one you favor more or a particular mix in how you approach campaign creation?

Tinytalkingtina

How would you get players to be more interested or invested in the world building aspects of your campaign?

Noah Harris

How do you prepare NPCs for a city - if you aren't sure what your players will do and where they'll go, how do you make sure to create enough interesting NPC's to encounter without burning yourself out?

Mark Walter

How do you use high level campaigns vs lower level hack and slash to keep the party interested?

Derunis Nil

I have the problem to fill my Cities with life. I mean yeah every city got a smith, a herb seller, a grocery etc. etc. a market.... but i feel like they always miss the small details to make them really feel alive. Any Ideas where to begin with the inclusion of such details ?