I want to run my first big campaign. I have Storm Kings Thunder lying around here and I already read it. But somehow it just doesn’t excite me as it should.
I am toying with the idea of getting Call of the Netherdeep. How is it? How easy do you think it will be to run for a relatively new DM? I read it has a strong story, a degree of exploration and lots of RP. That sounds right up my alley. Thoughts?
Well the campaign starts at level 3. So you'd be able to run a tutorial adventure to get warmed up and a feel for the party and how they'll interact with Call of the Netherdeep. Explorer's Guide to Wildemont has a set of adventures that take a party from 1-3 you can choose from if you want to stay in CR world.
I haven't done a deep read of CotN yet, but on a perusal it seems in line with all the other campaign books.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I am looking to run this in the near future as a pretty new DM and was worried about not knowing enough about the world setting. I like that Wildemount has an adventure that can help get acclimated and may run that adventure first before trying to run the full Netherdeep!
I am looking to run this in the near future as a pretty new DM and was worried about not knowing enough about the world setting. I like that Wildemount has an adventure that can help get acclimated and may run that adventure first before trying to run the full Netherdeep!
"Adventures". There are four to choose from.
In fact, just thinking out loud, but am liking this idea: if you really wanted to get your basic DM chops down, and also give the players a range of options before settling on their characters for the "big campaign" run all four. Each adventure the players play a different set of characters, so at the end of that cycle before you start Netherdeep, each player has four characters they've actually played to choose from. You could even require them to switch from Martial to Bard/Rogue, to Arcanist to Cleric/Druid etc if you want to ensure they get a range of character experiences. I may just do this myself.
I think Netherdeep may be in a different geography from the four in Wildemont, but DM has liberty to make the final party happen through creative shoehorning.
Doing the "preview" or extended prologue adventures will also as a DM allow you to get a better sense of what aspects of the game your party is most responsive to, so you can run Netherdeep accordingly.
I will have to get the module for Roll20 eventually than. That sounds like fun. I have never even watch Critical Role so it is all new to me. I have the Tal'Dorei book somewhere and want to read through that first before running the setting. And catch the first CR campaign.
I've run a few things off Wildemont and didn't even really know what Critical Role was when I first did. Netherdeep, to me, reads the same. It's smartly written so you don't need to know all the Critical Role stuff to enjoy it. Sure, being a fan probably enriches it, but it's a pretty cool adventure on its own.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I've run a few things off Wildemont and didn't even really know what Critical Role was when I first did. Netherdeep, to me, reads the same. It's smartly written so you don't need to know all the Critical Role stuff to enjoy it. Sure, being a fan probably enriches it, but it's a pretty cool adventure on its own.
That is good to know. As a new DM I feel like I have to know everything for the players. Which is obviously not true but I want to make sure I am able to answer their questions and have a fun adventure in store for them. I suppose I will accumulate the information as I play and run games.
I think Netherdeep may be in a different geography from the four in Wildemont, but DM has liberty to make the final party happen through creative shoehorning.
I can confirm that linking one of the four adventures from the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount to the campaign Call of the Netherdeep works very well. The latter begins on the continent of Wildermount before eventually journeying to other locations of the planet Exandria and then to the Netherdeep, which is another plane entirely. The book even recommends the Wildermount adventure Unwelcome Spirits as a prologue to Call of the Netherdeep because both take place in the same region. The other three adventures are in different regions of Wildermount, but nothing stops you from having the player characters travel from one region to the next.
The idea of running all four Wildemount adventures before branching off to Call of the Netherdeep is a great idea. Encourage your players to try four different characters before asking them to settle on one of them for the big campaign. You should make everything that happened in those four adventures canon to the main campaign. Each adventure actually takes place at the same time as each other. Should a character die during the big campaign, its player may have the option of bringing back one of their other three characters and find an explanation as to why that old character just happens to be there. Call of the Netherdeep works best with five players. It's why there are exactly five predetermined rivals. The number of rivals should equal the number of players.
While the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount isn't required to run Call of the Netherdeep, both books complement each other wonderfully. The former includes character creation options specifically made for the campaign setting of Call of the Netherdeep.
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Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player
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I want to run my first big campaign. I have Storm Kings Thunder lying around here and I already read it. But somehow it just doesn’t excite me as it should.
I am toying with the idea of getting Call of the Netherdeep. How is it? How easy do you think it will be to run for a relatively new DM? I read it has a strong story, a degree of exploration and lots of RP. That sounds right up my alley. Thoughts?
Well the campaign starts at level 3. So you'd be able to run a tutorial adventure to get warmed up and a feel for the party and how they'll interact with Call of the Netherdeep. Explorer's Guide to Wildemont has a set of adventures that take a party from 1-3 you can choose from if you want to stay in CR world.
I haven't done a deep read of CotN yet, but on a perusal it seems in line with all the other campaign books.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I am looking to run this in the near future as a pretty new DM and was worried about not knowing enough about the world setting. I like that Wildemount has an adventure that can help get acclimated and may run that adventure first before trying to run the full Netherdeep!
"Adventures". There are four to choose from.
In fact, just thinking out loud, but am liking this idea: if you really wanted to get your basic DM chops down, and also give the players a range of options before settling on their characters for the "big campaign" run all four. Each adventure the players play a different set of characters, so at the end of that cycle before you start Netherdeep, each player has four characters they've actually played to choose from. You could even require them to switch from Martial to Bard/Rogue, to Arcanist to Cleric/Druid etc if you want to ensure they get a range of character experiences. I may just do this myself.
I think Netherdeep may be in a different geography from the four in Wildemont, but DM has liberty to make the final party happen through creative shoehorning.
Doing the "preview" or extended prologue adventures will also as a DM allow you to get a better sense of what aspects of the game your party is most responsive to, so you can run Netherdeep accordingly.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
I will have to get the module for Roll20 eventually than. That sounds like fun. I have never even watch Critical Role so it is all new to me. I have the Tal'Dorei book somewhere and want to read through that first before running the setting. And catch the first CR campaign.
I've run a few things off Wildemont and didn't even really know what Critical Role was when I first did. Netherdeep, to me, reads the same. It's smartly written so you don't need to know all the Critical Role stuff to enjoy it. Sure, being a fan probably enriches it, but it's a pretty cool adventure on its own.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
That is good to know. As a new DM I feel like I have to know everything for the players. Which is obviously not true but I want to make sure I am able to answer their questions and have a fun adventure in store for them. I suppose I will accumulate the information as I play and run games.
I can confirm that linking one of the four adventures from the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount to the campaign Call of the Netherdeep works very well. The latter begins on the continent of Wildermount before eventually journeying to other locations of the planet Exandria and then to the Netherdeep, which is another plane entirely. The book even recommends the Wildermount adventure Unwelcome Spirits as a prologue to Call of the Netherdeep because both take place in the same region. The other three adventures are in different regions of Wildermount, but nothing stops you from having the player characters travel from one region to the next.
The idea of running all four Wildemount adventures before branching off to Call of the Netherdeep is a great idea. Encourage your players to try four different characters before asking them to settle on one of them for the big campaign. You should make everything that happened in those four adventures canon to the main campaign. Each adventure actually takes place at the same time as each other. Should a character die during the big campaign, its player may have the option of bringing back one of their other three characters and find an explanation as to why that old character just happens to be there. Call of the Netherdeep works best with five players. It's why there are exactly five predetermined rivals. The number of rivals should equal the number of players.
While the Explorer's Guide to Wildemount isn't required to run Call of the Netherdeep, both books complement each other wonderfully. The former includes character creation options specifically made for the campaign setting of Call of the Netherdeep.
Age: 33 | Sex: Male | Languages: French and English | Roles: DM and Player