Just a few questions for you guys. First, I've literally only ever improvised, I've never tried to create plot beforehand. This worked okay for when I was playing a oneshot with my cousins, but I don't think that I could really run a campaign off of that. So how do you do that? What is your personal process for setting up for a session zero, and then the first session. Secondly, how do you balance encounters? Is CR a decent metric to go by, and is there any way to look at a monster statblock and get a rough idea of whether or not a player could handle that at their level, assuming that CR isn't a good metric. Also, how do you take notes. Do you have a specific structure you use, or perhaps a writing program that you prefer when taking notes? Also, any ideas for the game are greatly appreciated.
Thanks for all the potential info, and wish me luck dming my first campaign next week. Or the week after. Or whenever the heck we actually start.
session zero - make it about what both you and the players want and expect from the game, set boundaries, schedules, variation rules, starting level and be clear on homebrew rules or character creation limitations. Have an idea going in of the type of world you want to DM in but let the character creation process be open and have it help you plan out early encounters and stories.
don’t have a BBEG yet - instead have a Small Bad Early Game Boss. Remember you are not a streamer or live play YouTube series. You don’t need to have weeks of content to roll out. Plan a 10-12 session campaign that can have a satisfying ending but also roll past 10-12 if it goes well. You will know by session 4/5 if you have momentum or not and be abkk look I to start planting longer term seeds
In most of my games, I neither improvise everything nor create one big plot. I come up with an adventure for each session, like “retrieve the dwarf king’s stolen axe,” and repeat each week. That’s a good balance, especially when you’re new to the game! And you can always tie it all together later with a big villain at the end.
Balancing encounters is tricky. I think CR is generally reasonable, but you need to be aware of the “XP per day” chart. The average party will easily steamroll even a Deadly encounter if it’s the only one they have to deal with before a long rest. D&D is a war of attrition, so make sure you have several fights per day. If that doesn’t fit your group’s pace and narrative, consider using the Gritty Realism variant in the DM’s guide, where short rests take a night and long rests a week.
As for notes, I tend to just bullet point. Anything too complex to scribble down that way is more suited for a novel than a D&D game. Don’t stress too much about it: less is more, especially when it lets you focus more on the players.
Good luck and have fun!
P.S. The most important thing with session zero is to define the tone, i.e. what book or movie does this feel like? Otherwise, one person expects Game of Thrones, another expects some crazy anime, and another just wants Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (In my experience most groups fall between The Princess Bride and Lord of the Rings.)
Just a few questions for you guys. First, I've literally only ever improvised, I've never tried to create plot beforehand. This worked okay for when I was playing a oneshot with my cousins, but I don't think that I could really run a campaign off of that. So how do you do that? What is your personal process for setting up for a session zero, and then the first session. Secondly, how do you balance encounters? Is CR a decent metric to go by, and is there any way to look at a monster statblock and get a rough idea of whether or not a player could handle that at their level, assuming that CR isn't a good metric. Also, how do you take notes. Do you have a specific structure you use, or perhaps a writing program that you prefer when taking notes? Also, any ideas for the game are greatly appreciated.
Thanks for all the potential info, and wish me luck dming my first campaign next week. Or the week after. Or whenever the heck we actually start.
I use one note.
session zero - make it about what both you and the players want and expect from the game, set boundaries, schedules, variation rules, starting level and be clear on homebrew rules or character creation limitations. Have an idea going in of the type of world you want to DM in but let the character creation process be open and have it help you plan out early encounters and stories.
don’t have a BBEG yet - instead have a Small Bad Early Game Boss. Remember you are not a streamer or live play YouTube series. You don’t need to have weeks of content to roll out. Plan a 10-12 session campaign that can have a satisfying ending but also roll past 10-12 if it goes well. You will know by session 4/5 if you have momentum or not and be abkk look I to start planting longer term seeds
In most of my games, I neither improvise everything nor create one big plot. I come up with an adventure for each session, like “retrieve the dwarf king’s stolen axe,” and repeat each week. That’s a good balance, especially when you’re new to the game! And you can always tie it all together later with a big villain at the end.
Balancing encounters is tricky. I think CR is generally reasonable, but you need to be aware of the “XP per day” chart. The average party will easily steamroll even a Deadly encounter if it’s the only one they have to deal with before a long rest. D&D is a war of attrition, so make sure you have several fights per day. If that doesn’t fit your group’s pace and narrative, consider using the Gritty Realism variant in the DM’s guide, where short rests take a night and long rests a week.
As for notes, I tend to just bullet point. Anything too complex to scribble down that way is more suited for a novel than a D&D game. Don’t stress too much about it: less is more, especially when it lets you focus more on the players.
Good luck and have fun!
P.S. The most important thing with session zero is to define the tone, i.e. what book or movie does this feel like? Otherwise, one person expects Game of Thrones, another expects some crazy anime, and another just wants Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (In my experience most groups fall between The Princess Bride and Lord of the Rings.)
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club