Does anyone know a good platform to create an ongoing/anthology campaign? I have a group of friends who are newer to DnD who would be interested in playing a Witcher themed game, but didn't necessarily enjoy the "we have an overarching mission that eventually we need to complete" mentality. They felt too pressured to stay on task I guess the thing was. They get more out of combat and puzzles than they get out of completing the main quest. Any tips for a running a game like that but finding ways to keep it interesting? This is only my second run at DM'ing so if I missed some good stuff out there I apologize. Still getting my bearings.
If you're looking for published stuff, I believe both Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Candlekeep Mysteries can be played that way. more like a series of one-shots with a bit of connective tissue, rather than a single, big arc.
Look into setting up something like an Adventuring Franchise with info from the Acquisition Inc. book. Maybe play it a bit more seriously, but set them up as a group working for an organization and doin a bunch of interesting missions that don't really have to link up into a real story.
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"The mongoose blew out its candle and was asleep in bed before the room went dark." —Llanowar fable
Xalthu named two books that are a collection of different dungeons (Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Candlekeep Mysteries). In addition, there are:
Tales from the Yawning Portal, which is a similar style of actually being several dungeons taken from several sources and slapped togetherness a single book.
Dragon of Icespire Peak, while technically a main quest, the various quests have little to nothing inherently to do with each other. Breaking them apart so they're all solo quests would have next to no work involved (in fact, only two are actually related to the main quest, and would take 30 seconds to adapt them to be solo quests, the rest are solo quests. One of my criticisms of it is how there is little overarching story to the adventure, actually.
For a more "slap together" job, I can suggest the following as well:
Dungeon of a Mad Mage is, from what I'm told, essentially just a series of dungeons with, again, very little overarching plot. You could just steal a few dungeons from there and make up quests to motivate the players.
Chapter 1 of Rime of the Frostmaiden has ten quests that you could easily cannibalise. Just alter then slightly to suit your setting (it's set in an Alaska-type environment) and you have ten quests ready to go. Later chapters may as well, but I haven't read that far yet.
Beyond those, most adventure books will have quests that can be cannibalised for your own purposes. The only one that I'd be wary of to my knowledge isnStrixhaven - because it's set in a Magic School, the nature of the quests may well be incompatible with normal quests. Those are all official and from WotC. DMs Guild may have more, and possibly even for free, but I've never actually used then so I can't give any recommendations.
Personally, I'd follow the format of the Icespire Peak series, it keeps things simple. You're in a town, and the local government has a series of quests it would like you to complete. Give 3 options at each level (or more in later levels) and use milestone levelling. First quest gains you a level, then two quests gains you levels upto level 7, then 3 quests to get a level upto level 9 (I haven't gotten that far, so I don't know how it works thereafter). Just ensure that each quest is appropriate for the level (and numbers) of the party. You're golden. No need for an overarching narrative, if the party would prefer not to.
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If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Adding to the existing resources pile, if your friends like the Witcher, it wouldn't be hard to set a campaign like that in the Dark Domains from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. The Travelers in the Mist section contains a number of groups (Order of the Guardians, Keepers of the Feather) and NPCs who could recruit a party and send them off on missions to Thwart Evil with little overarching plot
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Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
My usual group has been tossing around the concept of a pirate-oriented campaign like this: basically with each island/job/battle being more or less a self-contained "episode" as opposed to part of an overarching plot and instead treating the whole thing as a sort of management "keep the ship running or perish" sort of thing.
If they get more out of combat and puzzles than a larger story arc, you could simply not have one. Just ask them what they want to do and then throw little hooks at them while dealing with that. To stay with the Witcher theme, there's nothing really wrong with them being a group of monster hunters for hire travelling around looking for jobs. The game doesn't require some grand story for them to live through.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
What I do is take an adventure book and set the main quest up as is, then add in quests, and other things for them to bite on so they don't feel so railroaded. Everything has the ability to be expanded on with enough thought! I see most of the books as "guidelines" that can help steer you, but ultimately your players have control of the wheel.
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Does anyone know a good platform to create an ongoing/anthology campaign? I have a group of friends who are newer to DnD who would be interested in playing a Witcher themed game, but didn't necessarily enjoy the "we have an overarching mission that eventually we need to complete" mentality. They felt too pressured to stay on task I guess the thing was. They get more out of combat and puzzles than they get out of completing the main quest. Any tips for a running a game like that but finding ways to keep it interesting? This is only my second run at DM'ing so if I missed some good stuff out there I apologize. Still getting my bearings.
If you're looking for published stuff, I believe both Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Candlekeep Mysteries can be played that way. more like a series of one-shots with a bit of connective tissue, rather than a single, big arc.
Look into setting up something like an Adventuring Franchise with info from the Acquisition Inc. book. Maybe play it a bit more seriously, but set them up as a group working for an organization and doin a bunch of interesting missions that don't really have to link up into a real story.
What do you mean by platform?
Xalthu named two books that are a collection of different dungeons (Ghosts of Saltmarsh and Candlekeep Mysteries). In addition, there are:
For a more "slap together" job, I can suggest the following as well:
Beyond those, most adventure books will have quests that can be cannibalised for your own purposes. The only one that I'd be wary of to my knowledge isnStrixhaven - because it's set in a Magic School, the nature of the quests may well be incompatible with normal quests. Those are all official and from WotC. DMs Guild may have more, and possibly even for free, but I've never actually used then so I can't give any recommendations.
Personally, I'd follow the format of the Icespire Peak series, it keeps things simple. You're in a town, and the local government has a series of quests it would like you to complete. Give 3 options at each level (or more in later levels) and use milestone levelling. First quest gains you a level, then two quests gains you levels upto level 7, then 3 quests to get a level upto level 9 (I haven't gotten that far, so I don't know how it works thereafter). Just ensure that each quest is appropriate for the level (and numbers) of the party. You're golden. No need for an overarching narrative, if the party would prefer not to.
If you're not willing or able to to discuss in good faith, then don't be surprised if I don't respond, there are better things in life for me to do than humour you. This signature is that response.
Adding to the existing resources pile, if your friends like the Witcher, it wouldn't be hard to set a campaign like that in the Dark Domains from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. The Travelers in the Mist section contains a number of groups (Order of the Guardians, Keepers of the Feather) and NPCs who could recruit a party and send them off on missions to Thwart Evil with little overarching plot
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
My usual group has been tossing around the concept of a pirate-oriented campaign like this: basically with each island/job/battle being more or less a self-contained "episode" as opposed to part of an overarching plot and instead treating the whole thing as a sort of management "keep the ship running or perish" sort of thing.
If they get more out of combat and puzzles than a larger story arc, you could simply not have one. Just ask them what they want to do and then throw little hooks at them while dealing with that. To stay with the Witcher theme, there's nothing really wrong with them being a group of monster hunters for hire travelling around looking for jobs. The game doesn't require some grand story for them to live through.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
What I do is take an adventure book and set the main quest up as is, then add in quests, and other things for them to bite on so they don't feel so railroaded. Everything has the ability to be expanded on with enough thought! I see most of the books as "guidelines" that can help steer you, but ultimately your players have control of the wheel.