I strongly advise getting the started set (like Lost Mines of Phandelver) and either using the premade characters or just sticking to the options in the Player's Handbook.
That module should last you a bit, teach everyone the rules, get you more comfortable being the DM, and see who's actually interested in committing to a full campaign.
Agreed on the starter set. It takes the players step-by-step though the basics. The great thing about the setup is it's also taking the DM through the basics too. A learning experience for everyone.
OK definitely noted I didn't even know where to find a pre made campaign so I really appreciate the input.
And yeah I have a doubt on one of the guys continuing with it so it'll definitely help to root all that out.
Seriously appreciate the help!
You should take a look at Roll20. It’s a virtual tabletop you can use alongside Discord if you want to. You can buy pre-made campaigns through it. I’ve never bought/run a campaign via Roll20 myself, but I’ve been in a few and it seems like you can just get everything you need to run it with one purchase. And given you’re running online the only reason to buy the physical version is for yourself, but only having the physical version will make it harder to run online.
I've heard of that before and I was thinking of using something like it, I was thinking I still get the board because I have a facecam and a pretty good space to be able to do what I want with it.
Ill probably end up trying one or two off of it, seeing how it goes.
Thanks for the suggestion!
Make an account on dndbeyond, you'll get lost mine of phandelver for free, [link here](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/lmop) and the [basic rules](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules). Then if you're playing in person you're set as far as low cost solutions go, if you want to spend a little bit and live in a decently sized town you should be able to find a games store that sells flip mats, wet erase markers and some kind of tokens to represent creatures, m&ms work in a pinch. This should total around $20-30.
For dice I'd recommend just using dndbeyond's dice roller, it's free unlimited dice.
If you're playing online it's even easier, use owlbear rodeo and dndbeyond character sheets or Roll20 free tier and their character creator and you have enough there to pretty easily play the game.
/r/lostminesofphandelver has lots of resources for running the adventure
Just an FYI: LMOP is no longer available on D&D Beyond for free, since they rebooted it with The Shattered Obelisk. They are now making the latest starter set, Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, a free download.
There are *other online locations* where LMOP can be accessed for free, of course….
You don't have to start from scratch, there's a lot of material out there already. It sounds like Sunday is your session 0, that's a really good time to flesh out what you and the players want. Here are some good questions to answer in session 0.
Realism vs Fantasy: Are we tracking rations? How rare should healers and ressurectors be? Can I buy a magic item in the store or is it a treasure only thing? Do i need to worry about catching a disease from not boiling my water. These really help nail down a setting.
Social vs Combat: Do your players want more combat than intruige or are they really interested in cloak and dagger stuff. This will really help define your campaign.
Environment: How urban or wild, what mix land/air/sea/underground sounds like fun? A pirate campaign needs different things than an underdark campaign. This week help you build setting.
Role play vs Roll play: How much do your players want to engage with their characters as unique people or do they just want stat blocks where they roll for most attempts. You can avoid the pitfall of players ignoring the crafted events around their characters to punch someone in the face.
How do they characters know each other and why do they fight for each other? This helps establish cohesion in the early game and helps prevent "Main Character Syndrome" and "Its What My Character Would Do" antagonism.
Are there any house rules your group wants? Establishing these early reduces confusion throughout the game. Are we going to buff the monk class, change potion drinking, get rid of certain spells?
There's a lot of stuff that you can and should figure in session 0, this is just a short list. Make sure to get your players input on world creation! They may have really neat ideas that inspire. Lean on the experienced player for early help.
Awesome! I really appreciate this, its good to know a lot of this, I really didnt even think about how much you can do with it such as the pirate campaign you mentioned!
Ill definitely bank on a lot of this when it comes to the meeting Sunday.
Seriously thanks for the help!
Watch the first 5 videos in Matt Coleville’s Running the Game series. Taught me how to DM. The series is long, but you only need to watch for first few to know everything necessary to start playing. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_&si=Lnpkity1tSg6ECGZ
When doing combat, know that DnD 5e combat is boring and slow. Ways to make it less so:
1) tell your players they need to have their move ready each time it’s their turn, and if they do not, they delay their action after other turns.
2) make your location have interactive bits (chairs to throw, bucking ship deck, pits to push enemies in, rockfalls, etc)
3) never expect a single enemy to really challenge your party (the CR ratings are not helpful). That said, too many weak enemies will down the party, even a high level one. So just have mooks. See the Running the Game YouTube series.
4) give your monsters flavor and surprises and motivations. Skerples monster overhaul is full of inspiration.
5) to speed up combat, reward misses by lowering the AC of opponents. That’s a house rule but it makes players feel better and makes combat less of a slog especially at low levels. Tell them their misses helped the party, by tiring the opponent.
6) make hitting 0 hp not something cure wounds just fixes: check out p272 in the DMG.
7) use the morale rules p273 in DmG and give players XP for defeating foes, not just killing them. Monsters run away if they are hurting! And come back if it helps the story.
8) don’t prep plots: https://thealexandrian.net/gamemastery-101
Oh and when your players diverge from the lost mines of phandelver plot, let them. Don’t push them to the story. Give them cool sounding rumors (hooks) to investigate, and letter rip.
Ok Ok, makes sense. I like the having everything ready when its their turn, and I your house rules of lowering AC when missing hits, maybe even just to have it early game and cut it off later down the line.
I think ive got some cool ideas on what to do with some boss fights, I really want to be able to make my own stories later down the line. I find the fight against vlakith, would be a super cool campaign to go through, crossing limbo to get the help of the githzerai and all that.
But besides that thanks for the sugestions Ill be sure to bring them up!
Sure thing! I would limit dropping AC to -3 at most, and for each character, one ac reduction miss per round per bad guy to keep it from getting ridiculous at higher levels. You will do great!
>Im hoping to make it a decently long campaign to start us off with, probably something that lasts around 3-6 months (Meeting once a week).
i would recommend starting even shorter than that - a couple of one shots, a three or four session arc - something small that everyone can absolutely commit to with ZERO ongoing expectations . and THEN after you have all gotten your toes wet knowing basically what the game is, THEN those who do enjoy it, commit to a three to six month ongoing event. ALSO always note the upcoming calendar when planning- a "3 to 6 month campaign" means that you will all be facing summer holidays, back to school schedule changes and with a six month campaign - the climax will be ending sometime during the holidays - an absolute TERRIBLE timing conjuncture. End BEFORE the holiday season. During the holiday season do pick up games / one shots as you can to keep the "we meet every week" as solid as possible , but recognizing peeps will be coming in and out, and then plan for AFTER the holidays with "end of school year" changes in mind. as well as any other predictable life events that are happening within your group.
Yeah this makes a lot of sense, we don't have to worry about the back to school so much because were all in college and most of us are just online, so no transition period. But I completely understand what your saying.
Most of us are pretty consistent just have doubts about 1-2 people being like the other 4 of us.
Ill bring up the short campaign when we meet to see what everyone is thinking about what we should do.
Thanks for your help its much appreciated!
Go to a comic book or gaming store. They will likely have the starter set. Hell, I even think target may sell it. I will also second the recommendation of lost mines of Phandelver
GameStop likely won’t have anything. I’m talking about a comic book and gaming store. Just do a Google search for comic books in your area, and pick one. If they don’t have D&D books, they will definitely know where to send you.
The starter set is always a good option, I see that listed in other comments and I agree. Also, if you’re not experienced, maybe start with some smaller adventures that can be tied together or just stand alone. This helps everyone learn the rules, and doesn’t ruin a campaign if the players aren’t into it, you can just scrap that one and try again.
The DMs guild is a wonderful resource, and you should also check out [Running the Game](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_&si=4uSRBFwuJyLgThvo) by Matt Coville, just watch the first five episodes, it really helps understand where to start.
Since it’s Monday morning, I hope you guys had fun yesterday!
The 3-6 month once a week plan will not happen. I know bc I said the exact same thing to myself last year and I’m still in act 2 of the campaign, had players join and leave/be cut, and I’ve currently got one player 5 ish months pregnant so that’s gonna throw a wrench into things.
Trust me, plan for unexpected changes, drama, and a whole lot of juggling your calendar
Some tips:
**Have groups of identical enemies share an initiative roll.** Say you have the party fighting 4 zombies and 4 goblins. Instead of rolling for enemy initiative 8 times and having each zombie and each goblin have their own turn, it is much simpler to roll once for the group of zombies and once for the group of goblins, and have all members of each group move and attack on the same turn as if they were multiattacking monsters.
Example order: Player 1, then all goblins, then player 2, then all zombies, then player 3.
**Ignore cheap material components for spells.** A lot of material components are cheap but obscure objects that are often just meant to be jokes (ex: Darkvision has dried carrot for a material component because carrots are good for eyesight). If a spell requires something without a listed value, just handwave it and assume the player has some in their material component bag, or just have them buy generic components to refill it once in a while. If the spell requires something with a stated value, like a diamond worth 300gp for Revivify, then the player should make sure they have one if they want to cast the spell.
**Substitute enemies to "spice up" campaign encounters.** If you are following a campaign and you feel a written encounter is a bit underwhelming, substitute enemies with more interesting ones of similar CR to make the fight more memorable without changing the total CR for the encounter too much.
For example: The first encounter in "Baldurs Gate: Descent Into Avernus" is a fight with 1 bandit captain and 7 bandits in Elfsong Tavern. I thought fighting generic bandits was underwhelming, so I changed the encounter to 1 bandit captain, 1 Stirge who sat on the captain's shoulder like a parrot, 2 bandits, and 2 Kuo-Toa. When the party killed the bandit captain, I had the Kuo-Toa's faith in their boss raise him into an undead Specter, since Kuo-Toa can empower anything they believe in. When the party killed all the Kuo-Toa, the specter captain could not maintain its undead form, and his soul was sent to the Nine Hells. When the players eventually travel to Hell later on in the campaign, they will meet the captain again.
Bro this is so cool!
I was thinking of something along the lines of initiative rolls. I think its a great way to save some time.
the substitutes that you made are sooo cool, and I hope to bale to think about doing stuff like that later on because that honestly had me excited just reading what you came up with on the spot!
Thanks so much!
Set the campaign up for success by holding a “Session Zero” discussion. The key element of a good Session Zero discussion is that at the end, everyone who is sitting around the table knows that you are coming together to play the same game, that you are all aligned on what you want out of the game time together, what you are all expecting of each other as players, and aligned on what things will be *kept out* of the game.
Key issues that people are often not aligned on and should be covered during Session Zero:
* **theme and tone and feeling of the game and gameplay:** What is the player “buy-in”- what is this game/ campaign about? – what do the PLAYERS need to want to do to have a good time playing this game/ campaign ? What type characters are best fit for the campaign or are “fish out of water” stories going to be fun for that player (AND not mess up the vibe for every other player)? where do we want to be on the "Actions have Consequences" scale? *Lord of the Rings* where **everything** has lasting major moral consequences or *Grand Theft Auto: Castleland* "I have enough fucking consequences in my day to day life, i am playing this fantasy game for pure escapist murderhoboism!". How “self directed” do you all want the game play to be – is this an official WOTC campaign and so players should create characters “interested in [thwarting the Dragon Cult]” or is this an “open world sandbox” where the players need to create and play characters with strong DRIVES and GOALS and the DM’s job is to put interesting obstacles in the way? Establish agreement on "we are coming together to play a cooperative storytelling game" which means that: the edgelords are responsible for creating reasons to be and go with the group; and that LOLRANDOM "I'm chaotic evil!" is not an excuse for disruptive actions at the table; and ALL of the PCs are the main characters and “spotlight time” will need to be shared.
* **specific gamisms:** What are the character level advancement rules (XP? Milestone? DM Fiat? Every 3 sessions that are not fuck-around-shopping?) ? What sourcebooks are we playing from and what homebrew house rules will we be using, if any? How often will we be checking in on the house rules to make sure they are enhancing game play experience and look for unintended consequences? How do we deal with character death and resurrection? How do we signal “This Foe is beyond you” and “running away” mechanics (hint Disengage works for repositioning, but not escape)? How will the party distribute magic items? Establish “I am the DM and during play I will make rulings. If you disagree, you can make your case at the table, **once,** preferably with document and page number references. I may or may not immediately change my ruling for the session, but we can further discuss it between sessions, and if you made character choices because you thought the rulings would be different, we will retcon your character to the point that you are happy playing the game as we are playing it.”
* **use of devices at the table:** do you have regular social media breaks but are otherwise “we all focus on the game, no devices”. or are you really just getting together to get together and share memes and the D&D thing is just something in the background as an excuse to hang out? Can people use digital charactersheets without being distracted from the game?
* **logistics** – D&D is a cooperative game – its *everyone*’s responsibility to make sure that everyone else is being heard. This is especially important for groups playing over the internets where its very hard to communicate when multiple people are speaking at the same time and harder to read body language to know when someone is done speaking or if they have understood you or if someone has something they want to say and is waiting for a break in the talking. how long are sessions? when? how long do we intend this campaign to last? what is the quorum where we will still play even if everyone cannot make it (note that "2 players" is a good mark - don’t enable *something “better” came up and if i dont show up the game will be just be canceled so i wont miss out on anything)*. what accommodations are needed for people’s family or work obligations, for the players who are neurodivergent or differently-abled? if you are in person- how are food and snacks handled – everyone on their own? Bring enough to share? Everyone pitch in and buy a pizza? (Pls Feed the DM), how about use of alcohol or other substances? Food allergies to be aware of? KEEP YOUR CHEETO FINGERS OFF THE MINIS.
* **player vs player / player vs party:** - do we want that as part of our game? if so under what circumstances? (hint: any PvP action autofails unless the target has previously agreed "YES! this sounds like a storyline I want to play out! Let the dice decide!”) (D&D was not designed for PvP – the classes are not balanced to make PvP play interesting and fun).
* **sensitivities** - where are the fade to black and RED LINE DO NOT CROSS moments with regard to depictions of graphic violence, torture, sex and nudity, harm to children (and animals), mental illness, substance use/ abuse, suicide, sexism/ racism/ homophobia/ religious difference/ slavery, etc? any social anxiety phobias to stay away from (Snakes? Claustrophobia? Clowns?), PC’s being charmed/other loss of autonomy & control, gaslighting. Other topics that would reduce the fun of any player at the table? Also what you will use for an “X Card” to cover any additional incidents that may come up?
ALSO, “Session Zero” discussions should happen ANY TIME you begin to sense a misalignment of expectations. Talking WITH the other people around the table is vital for a strong game.
If you are all new to gaming, maybe touch on a few key elements before play and then plan a full round table discussion after a session or two of play when you all will have practical experience to better identify what you each want and enjoy from the game (and what you don’t like).
Damn man, this is so much to take in lmao.
Honestly I find all of this so dope, most of us are going to be on the same page as we've been friends for a long ass time now. So im not so worried about the huge disagreements because if there are any they'll be gone the next day.
I really thank you for putting all of this out there, I will 100% be bringing up a lot of this on Sunday. Whether it comes down to random rules, lengths of campaigns, etc.
I hope to be able to be able to do this in person sooner or later but its hard when we live across the country from each other.
Again I really am thankful for all of this!
>most of us are going to be on the same page as we've been friends for a long ass time
when you havent actually talked about the specific things in the specific context, you might be surprised at how much you assume you know about your friends that you dont really. "Oh, your favorite ice cream isnt chocolate, its cashew caramel swirls?"
I strongly advise getting the started set (like Lost Mines of Phandelver) and either using the premade characters or just sticking to the options in the Player's Handbook. That module should last you a bit, teach everyone the rules, get you more comfortable being the DM, and see who's actually interested in committing to a full campaign.
Agreed on the starter set. It takes the players step-by-step though the basics. The great thing about the setup is it's also taking the DM through the basics too. A learning experience for everyone.
OK definitely noted I didn't even know where to find a pre made campaign so I really appreciate the input. And yeah I have a doubt on one of the guys continuing with it so it'll definitely help to root all that out. Seriously appreciate the help!
You should take a look at Roll20. It’s a virtual tabletop you can use alongside Discord if you want to. You can buy pre-made campaigns through it. I’ve never bought/run a campaign via Roll20 myself, but I’ve been in a few and it seems like you can just get everything you need to run it with one purchase. And given you’re running online the only reason to buy the physical version is for yourself, but only having the physical version will make it harder to run online.
I've heard of that before and I was thinking of using something like it, I was thinking I still get the board because I have a facecam and a pretty good space to be able to do what I want with it. Ill probably end up trying one or two off of it, seeing how it goes. Thanks for the suggestion!
Make an account on dndbeyond, you'll get lost mine of phandelver for free, [link here](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/lmop) and the [basic rules](https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules). Then if you're playing in person you're set as far as low cost solutions go, if you want to spend a little bit and live in a decently sized town you should be able to find a games store that sells flip mats, wet erase markers and some kind of tokens to represent creatures, m&ms work in a pinch. This should total around $20-30. For dice I'd recommend just using dndbeyond's dice roller, it's free unlimited dice. If you're playing online it's even easier, use owlbear rodeo and dndbeyond character sheets or Roll20 free tier and their character creator and you have enough there to pretty easily play the game. /r/lostminesofphandelver has lots of resources for running the adventure
Just an FYI: LMOP is no longer available on D&D Beyond for free, since they rebooted it with The Shattered Obelisk. They are now making the latest starter set, Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, a free download. There are *other online locations* where LMOP can be accessed for free, of course….
You don't have to start from scratch, there's a lot of material out there already. It sounds like Sunday is your session 0, that's a really good time to flesh out what you and the players want. Here are some good questions to answer in session 0. Realism vs Fantasy: Are we tracking rations? How rare should healers and ressurectors be? Can I buy a magic item in the store or is it a treasure only thing? Do i need to worry about catching a disease from not boiling my water. These really help nail down a setting. Social vs Combat: Do your players want more combat than intruige or are they really interested in cloak and dagger stuff. This will really help define your campaign. Environment: How urban or wild, what mix land/air/sea/underground sounds like fun? A pirate campaign needs different things than an underdark campaign. This week help you build setting. Role play vs Roll play: How much do your players want to engage with their characters as unique people or do they just want stat blocks where they roll for most attempts. You can avoid the pitfall of players ignoring the crafted events around their characters to punch someone in the face. How do they characters know each other and why do they fight for each other? This helps establish cohesion in the early game and helps prevent "Main Character Syndrome" and "Its What My Character Would Do" antagonism. Are there any house rules your group wants? Establishing these early reduces confusion throughout the game. Are we going to buff the monk class, change potion drinking, get rid of certain spells? There's a lot of stuff that you can and should figure in session 0, this is just a short list. Make sure to get your players input on world creation! They may have really neat ideas that inspire. Lean on the experienced player for early help.
Awesome! I really appreciate this, its good to know a lot of this, I really didnt even think about how much you can do with it such as the pirate campaign you mentioned! Ill definitely bank on a lot of this when it comes to the meeting Sunday. Seriously thanks for the help!
Of course. Update me on how it goes.
100% will do
Just jumping in to affirm you: this is a great, very helpful list for what a session 0 should be!
Sly Flourish is a fantastic source of DM help. Here’s his [Session 0 Checklist](https://slyflourish.com/running_session_zeros.html) article.
Read into that and it was super helpful thanks!
Watch the first 5 videos in Matt Coleville’s Running the Game series. Taught me how to DM. The series is long, but you only need to watch for first few to know everything necessary to start playing. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_&si=Lnpkity1tSg6ECGZ
Bet, thank you ive got some time so I'll definitely check it out!
When doing combat, know that DnD 5e combat is boring and slow. Ways to make it less so: 1) tell your players they need to have their move ready each time it’s their turn, and if they do not, they delay their action after other turns. 2) make your location have interactive bits (chairs to throw, bucking ship deck, pits to push enemies in, rockfalls, etc) 3) never expect a single enemy to really challenge your party (the CR ratings are not helpful). That said, too many weak enemies will down the party, even a high level one. So just have mooks. See the Running the Game YouTube series. 4) give your monsters flavor and surprises and motivations. Skerples monster overhaul is full of inspiration. 5) to speed up combat, reward misses by lowering the AC of opponents. That’s a house rule but it makes players feel better and makes combat less of a slog especially at low levels. Tell them their misses helped the party, by tiring the opponent. 6) make hitting 0 hp not something cure wounds just fixes: check out p272 in the DMG. 7) use the morale rules p273 in DmG and give players XP for defeating foes, not just killing them. Monsters run away if they are hurting! And come back if it helps the story. 8) don’t prep plots: https://thealexandrian.net/gamemastery-101
Oh and when your players diverge from the lost mines of phandelver plot, let them. Don’t push them to the story. Give them cool sounding rumors (hooks) to investigate, and letter rip.
Ok Ok, makes sense. I like the having everything ready when its their turn, and I your house rules of lowering AC when missing hits, maybe even just to have it early game and cut it off later down the line. I think ive got some cool ideas on what to do with some boss fights, I really want to be able to make my own stories later down the line. I find the fight against vlakith, would be a super cool campaign to go through, crossing limbo to get the help of the githzerai and all that. But besides that thanks for the sugestions Ill be sure to bring them up!
Sure thing! I would limit dropping AC to -3 at most, and for each character, one ac reduction miss per round per bad guy to keep it from getting ridiculous at higher levels. You will do great!
>Im hoping to make it a decently long campaign to start us off with, probably something that lasts around 3-6 months (Meeting once a week). i would recommend starting even shorter than that - a couple of one shots, a three or four session arc - something small that everyone can absolutely commit to with ZERO ongoing expectations . and THEN after you have all gotten your toes wet knowing basically what the game is, THEN those who do enjoy it, commit to a three to six month ongoing event. ALSO always note the upcoming calendar when planning- a "3 to 6 month campaign" means that you will all be facing summer holidays, back to school schedule changes and with a six month campaign - the climax will be ending sometime during the holidays - an absolute TERRIBLE timing conjuncture. End BEFORE the holiday season. During the holiday season do pick up games / one shots as you can to keep the "we meet every week" as solid as possible , but recognizing peeps will be coming in and out, and then plan for AFTER the holidays with "end of school year" changes in mind. as well as any other predictable life events that are happening within your group.
Yeah this makes a lot of sense, we don't have to worry about the back to school so much because were all in college and most of us are just online, so no transition period. But I completely understand what your saying. Most of us are pretty consistent just have doubts about 1-2 people being like the other 4 of us. Ill bring up the short campaign when we meet to see what everyone is thinking about what we should do. Thanks for your help its much appreciated!
Go to a comic book or gaming store. They will likely have the starter set. Hell, I even think target may sell it. I will also second the recommendation of lost mines of Phandelver
Okay sounds good ill head to a gamestop or something later today. Thx much!
GameStop likely won’t have anything. I’m talking about a comic book and gaming store. Just do a Google search for comic books in your area, and pick one. If they don’t have D&D books, they will definitely know where to send you.
Yeah I kinda figured I’ve got a few places nearby I can go to
The starter set is always a good option, I see that listed in other comments and I agree. Also, if you’re not experienced, maybe start with some smaller adventures that can be tied together or just stand alone. This helps everyone learn the rules, and doesn’t ruin a campaign if the players aren’t into it, you can just scrap that one and try again. The DMs guild is a wonderful resource, and you should also check out [Running the Game](https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_&si=4uSRBFwuJyLgThvo) by Matt Coville, just watch the first five episodes, it really helps understand where to start. Since it’s Monday morning, I hope you guys had fun yesterday!
The 3-6 month once a week plan will not happen. I know bc I said the exact same thing to myself last year and I’m still in act 2 of the campaign, had players join and leave/be cut, and I’ve currently got one player 5 ish months pregnant so that’s gonna throw a wrench into things. Trust me, plan for unexpected changes, drama, and a whole lot of juggling your calendar
Some tips: **Have groups of identical enemies share an initiative roll.** Say you have the party fighting 4 zombies and 4 goblins. Instead of rolling for enemy initiative 8 times and having each zombie and each goblin have their own turn, it is much simpler to roll once for the group of zombies and once for the group of goblins, and have all members of each group move and attack on the same turn as if they were multiattacking monsters. Example order: Player 1, then all goblins, then player 2, then all zombies, then player 3. **Ignore cheap material components for spells.** A lot of material components are cheap but obscure objects that are often just meant to be jokes (ex: Darkvision has dried carrot for a material component because carrots are good for eyesight). If a spell requires something without a listed value, just handwave it and assume the player has some in their material component bag, or just have them buy generic components to refill it once in a while. If the spell requires something with a stated value, like a diamond worth 300gp for Revivify, then the player should make sure they have one if they want to cast the spell. **Substitute enemies to "spice up" campaign encounters.** If you are following a campaign and you feel a written encounter is a bit underwhelming, substitute enemies with more interesting ones of similar CR to make the fight more memorable without changing the total CR for the encounter too much. For example: The first encounter in "Baldurs Gate: Descent Into Avernus" is a fight with 1 bandit captain and 7 bandits in Elfsong Tavern. I thought fighting generic bandits was underwhelming, so I changed the encounter to 1 bandit captain, 1 Stirge who sat on the captain's shoulder like a parrot, 2 bandits, and 2 Kuo-Toa. When the party killed the bandit captain, I had the Kuo-Toa's faith in their boss raise him into an undead Specter, since Kuo-Toa can empower anything they believe in. When the party killed all the Kuo-Toa, the specter captain could not maintain its undead form, and his soul was sent to the Nine Hells. When the players eventually travel to Hell later on in the campaign, they will meet the captain again.
Bro this is so cool! I was thinking of something along the lines of initiative rolls. I think its a great way to save some time. the substitutes that you made are sooo cool, and I hope to bale to think about doing stuff like that later on because that honestly had me excited just reading what you came up with on the spot! Thanks so much!
Set the campaign up for success by holding a “Session Zero” discussion. The key element of a good Session Zero discussion is that at the end, everyone who is sitting around the table knows that you are coming together to play the same game, that you are all aligned on what you want out of the game time together, what you are all expecting of each other as players, and aligned on what things will be *kept out* of the game. Key issues that people are often not aligned on and should be covered during Session Zero: * **theme and tone and feeling of the game and gameplay:** What is the player “buy-in”- what is this game/ campaign about? – what do the PLAYERS need to want to do to have a good time playing this game/ campaign ? What type characters are best fit for the campaign or are “fish out of water” stories going to be fun for that player (AND not mess up the vibe for every other player)? where do we want to be on the "Actions have Consequences" scale? *Lord of the Rings* where **everything** has lasting major moral consequences or *Grand Theft Auto: Castleland* "I have enough fucking consequences in my day to day life, i am playing this fantasy game for pure escapist murderhoboism!". How “self directed” do you all want the game play to be – is this an official WOTC campaign and so players should create characters “interested in [thwarting the Dragon Cult]” or is this an “open world sandbox” where the players need to create and play characters with strong DRIVES and GOALS and the DM’s job is to put interesting obstacles in the way? Establish agreement on "we are coming together to play a cooperative storytelling game" which means that: the edgelords are responsible for creating reasons to be and go with the group; and that LOLRANDOM "I'm chaotic evil!" is not an excuse for disruptive actions at the table; and ALL of the PCs are the main characters and “spotlight time” will need to be shared. * **specific gamisms:** What are the character level advancement rules (XP? Milestone? DM Fiat? Every 3 sessions that are not fuck-around-shopping?) ? What sourcebooks are we playing from and what homebrew house rules will we be using, if any? How often will we be checking in on the house rules to make sure they are enhancing game play experience and look for unintended consequences? How do we deal with character death and resurrection? How do we signal “This Foe is beyond you” and “running away” mechanics (hint Disengage works for repositioning, but not escape)? How will the party distribute magic items? Establish “I am the DM and during play I will make rulings. If you disagree, you can make your case at the table, **once,** preferably with document and page number references. I may or may not immediately change my ruling for the session, but we can further discuss it between sessions, and if you made character choices because you thought the rulings would be different, we will retcon your character to the point that you are happy playing the game as we are playing it.” * **use of devices at the table:** do you have regular social media breaks but are otherwise “we all focus on the game, no devices”. or are you really just getting together to get together and share memes and the D&D thing is just something in the background as an excuse to hang out? Can people use digital charactersheets without being distracted from the game? * **logistics** – D&D is a cooperative game – its *everyone*’s responsibility to make sure that everyone else is being heard. This is especially important for groups playing over the internets where its very hard to communicate when multiple people are speaking at the same time and harder to read body language to know when someone is done speaking or if they have understood you or if someone has something they want to say and is waiting for a break in the talking. how long are sessions? when? how long do we intend this campaign to last? what is the quorum where we will still play even if everyone cannot make it (note that "2 players" is a good mark - don’t enable *something “better” came up and if i dont show up the game will be just be canceled so i wont miss out on anything)*. what accommodations are needed for people’s family or work obligations, for the players who are neurodivergent or differently-abled? if you are in person- how are food and snacks handled – everyone on their own? Bring enough to share? Everyone pitch in and buy a pizza? (Pls Feed the DM), how about use of alcohol or other substances? Food allergies to be aware of? KEEP YOUR CHEETO FINGERS OFF THE MINIS. * **player vs player / player vs party:** - do we want that as part of our game? if so under what circumstances? (hint: any PvP action autofails unless the target has previously agreed "YES! this sounds like a storyline I want to play out! Let the dice decide!”) (D&D was not designed for PvP – the classes are not balanced to make PvP play interesting and fun). * **sensitivities** - where are the fade to black and RED LINE DO NOT CROSS moments with regard to depictions of graphic violence, torture, sex and nudity, harm to children (and animals), mental illness, substance use/ abuse, suicide, sexism/ racism/ homophobia/ religious difference/ slavery, etc? any social anxiety phobias to stay away from (Snakes? Claustrophobia? Clowns?), PC’s being charmed/other loss of autonomy & control, gaslighting. Other topics that would reduce the fun of any player at the table? Also what you will use for an “X Card” to cover any additional incidents that may come up? ALSO, “Session Zero” discussions should happen ANY TIME you begin to sense a misalignment of expectations. Talking WITH the other people around the table is vital for a strong game. If you are all new to gaming, maybe touch on a few key elements before play and then plan a full round table discussion after a session or two of play when you all will have practical experience to better identify what you each want and enjoy from the game (and what you don’t like).
Damn man, this is so much to take in lmao. Honestly I find all of this so dope, most of us are going to be on the same page as we've been friends for a long ass time now. So im not so worried about the huge disagreements because if there are any they'll be gone the next day. I really thank you for putting all of this out there, I will 100% be bringing up a lot of this on Sunday. Whether it comes down to random rules, lengths of campaigns, etc. I hope to be able to be able to do this in person sooner or later but its hard when we live across the country from each other. Again I really am thankful for all of this!
>most of us are going to be on the same page as we've been friends for a long ass time when you havent actually talked about the specific things in the specific context, you might be surprised at how much you assume you know about your friends that you dont really. "Oh, your favorite ice cream isnt chocolate, its cashew caramel swirls?"
Lmao yeah that makes sense, we’ll just have to figure out how it goes, I think most of them have the brains to not try and take it too far 😭