So I've looked at a lot of youtube videos on DMing. They aren't as helpful when it comes to creating a campaign. I thought of doing the 'Lost Mine' from the starter pack, but one of the others in my group looked it up already. I'm trying to think of something entertaining, but imaginative enough for finicky teens. Help and Ideas (and tips in general) would be great!
How about stealing some stuff from earlier editions. Making a story based around stealth and intrigue and based in the time of the Dawn War (see forgotten realms) might be interesting. Which side will your players take, will they all be on the same side or will some be secretly working for the enemy?
If your players are into Twilight style romances, you could even throw in a secret love affair between a primordial and celestial as a subplot. With the lovers trying to persuade the party to help them and both gods and primordial trying to persuade them to rat out the lovers and so on.
It not strictly cannon but it would be something your players wouldn't expect.
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A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
You mentioned watching some YouTube videos. Out of curiosity, have you watched Matt Collville's, Running the Game video series? I think he has some great content on the matter and even did a type of "tutorial" video where he shows how he creates campaigns from scratch--maps and all. I'd recommend giving them a watch if you're up for it.
Using material from previous editions is definitely something to consider. I recommend UK1: "Beyond the Crystal Cave" for a fey-focused adventure or the classic "Keep on the Borderlands" for something more down-to-earth, but with many ways to play it.
A general tip would be to make the story about their characters. It may seem obvious, but many DMs get so wrapped up in plots and plans and machinations of their own that they forget that the players are the protagonists. So use their backstories as fodder for your tale. I start every game asking myself "Why are these characters here? Why do they care about the problem I've presented them? What details about them can I use to draw them further into the story?" Make it all swing back around to the PCs, and you'll keep their attention.
Matt Collville's series also gets a thumbs-up from me. Great advice from a veteran DM.
Depending on your world, and your friends, homebrewing is not as easy as say, grabbing an old Dungeon Magazine and converting some 2e into 5e. I personally do not recommend it for DMs with less than a couple campaigns in the completed folder.
Something I have recently considered was to offer a new group the chance to play the Bugbears and defend Cragmaw before discovering from the wicked adventurers the true value of the mine and thus prompting the king to send the PCs to take it for the tribe.
If you do a homebrew, make the map of the world public to your PC's - they lived their entire lives in this world so, at least the better educated, would have a grasp of the geography. Also, I agree with justchriswood on making as much of your plan as possible focused on the lives and times of the PCs themselves while tying their lives to the world around them. If somebody was poor in a city there is a decent chance they at least are aware of someone who claims to be a member of the local thieves guild.... Or perhaps a childhood friend fell in with the wrong crowd... Your dad secretly worked for the king of a rival nation and your birth was part of his cover story????? WTH MOM! Oh Wait, mom, you were a spy for a third country out to destroy the country I GREW UP IN!
Remember, you are here to play a game too, not to work (that is what you do the other six days of the week).
Matt Collville's series also gets a thumbs-up from me too! Great advice from a veteran DM.
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I do not like the word... prisoner. It implies a helpless state, and I assure you, I am never helpless.
The DMsGuild Website has loads of starter adventures for pennies. Creating a campaign is pointless until you know the players and their D&D preferences better - no point in creating a massive renaissance world only to have the players turn around and tell you they want to play Star Wars or something Celtic like Slaine...
He says lazy, but really he means don't move a pile of rocks to there and back again....That book on the front page of his website would be priceless if it didn't have a very reasonable price.
Also, I have a thirteen year old in "my" campaign (Princes of the Apocalypse - loads of work already done for me!) and I don't alter a thing based on his age. Not. A. Thing. He is having a blast! He is the 'best' roleplayer at the table, and his tactics are usually sound, even when they annoy the other players. (jump in, stabby stabby, bonus action retreat so he doesn't suffer stabby stabby.)
Lastly - I will never tire of praising Matt Colville's videos. His books are pretty good too.
Even if your players or player has seen or even played Lost Mines, I wouldn’t worry. It will be your game, and the way you DM it will be unique.
Can you trust your player not to meta game? It is a great campaign with wide open challenges and so much there to help a new DM yet so much room to let you flex.
If you already own it, or want access to the free game, do it!!
the How to be a great GM has a lot of great videos on stories and plots with how to build them. Of course Colville nails these things as well.
But in designing a story I often find it best to work backward, who is the villain and what does he want, what happens when he gets it? Now you work out how he gets it and how the players factor in. Are they against him from the start? Has he been using them to unknowingly accomplish goals?
There is no one, or right, way.
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So I've looked at a lot of youtube videos on DMing. They aren't as helpful when it comes to creating a campaign. I thought of doing the 'Lost Mine' from the starter pack, but one of the others in my group looked it up already. I'm trying to think of something entertaining, but imaginative enough for finicky teens. Help and Ideas (and tips in general) would be great!
How about stealing some stuff from earlier editions. Making a story based around stealth and intrigue and based in the time of the Dawn War (see forgotten realms) might be interesting. Which side will your players take, will they all be on the same side or will some be secretly working for the enemy?
If your players are into Twilight style romances, you could even throw in a secret love affair between a primordial and celestial as a subplot. With the lovers trying to persuade the party to help them and both gods and primordial trying to persuade them to rat out the lovers and so on.
It not strictly cannon but it would be something your players wouldn't expect.
A caffeinated nerd who has played TTRPGs or a number of years and is very much a fantasy adventure geek.
Have you read the Dungeon Master's Guide and the DM Tips articles on this site?
The Forum Infestation (TM)
I have read the guide, but not seen the tips. Is there any certain article?
You mentioned watching some YouTube videos. Out of curiosity, have you watched Matt Collville's, Running the Game video series? I think he has some great content on the matter and even did a type of "tutorial" video where he shows how he creates campaigns from scratch--maps and all. I'd recommend giving them a watch if you're up for it.
Using material from previous editions is definitely something to consider. I recommend UK1: "Beyond the Crystal Cave" for a fey-focused adventure or the classic "Keep on the Borderlands" for something more down-to-earth, but with many ways to play it.
A general tip would be to make the story about their characters. It may seem obvious, but many DMs get so wrapped up in plots and plans and machinations of their own that they forget that the players are the protagonists. So use their backstories as fodder for your tale. I start every game asking myself "Why are these characters here? Why do they care about the problem I've presented them? What details about them can I use to draw them further into the story?" Make it all swing back around to the PCs, and you'll keep their attention.
Matt Collville's series also gets a thumbs-up from me. Great advice from a veteran DM.
Depending on your world, and your friends, homebrewing is not as easy as say, grabbing an old Dungeon Magazine and converting some 2e into 5e. I personally do not recommend it for DMs with less than a couple campaigns in the completed folder.
Something I have recently considered was to offer a new group the chance to play the Bugbears and defend Cragmaw before discovering from the wicked adventurers the true value of the mine and thus prompting the king to send the PCs to take it for the tribe.
If you do a homebrew, make the map of the world public to your PC's - they lived their entire lives in this world so, at least the better educated, would have a grasp of the geography. Also, I agree with justchriswood on making as much of your plan as possible focused on the lives and times of the PCs themselves while tying their lives to the world around them. If somebody was poor in a city there is a decent chance they at least are aware of someone who claims to be a member of the local thieves guild.... Or perhaps a childhood friend fell in with the wrong crowd... Your dad secretly worked for the king of a rival nation and your birth was part of his cover story????? WTH MOM! Oh Wait, mom, you were a spy for a third country out to destroy the country I GREW UP IN!
Remember, you are here to play a game too, not to work (that is what you do the other six days of the week).
Matt Collville's series also gets a thumbs-up from me too! Great advice from a veteran DM.
I do not like the word... prisoner. It implies a helpless state, and I assure you, I am never helpless.
--Artemis Entreri
Why are you trying to "create a campaign"?
The DMsGuild Website has loads of starter adventures for pennies. Creating a campaign is pointless until you know the players and their D&D preferences better - no point in creating a massive renaissance world only to have the players turn around and tell you they want to play Star Wars or something Celtic like Slaine...
http://slyflourish.com/lazydm/
He says lazy, but really he means don't move a pile of rocks to there and back again....That book on the front page of his website would be priceless if it didn't have a very reasonable price.
Also, I have a thirteen year old in "my" campaign (Princes of the Apocalypse - loads of work already done for me!) and I don't alter a thing based on his age. Not. A. Thing.
He is having a blast! He is the 'best' roleplayer at the table, and his tactics are usually sound, even when they annoy the other players. (jump in, stabby stabby, bonus action retreat so he doesn't suffer stabby stabby.)
Lastly - I will never tire of praising Matt Colville's videos. His books are pretty good too.
Roleplaying since Runequest.
Even if your players or player has seen or even played Lost Mines, I wouldn’t worry. It will be your game, and the way you DM it will be unique.
Can you trust your player not to meta game? It is a great campaign with wide open challenges and so much there to help a new DM yet so much room to let you flex.
If you already own it, or want access to the free game, do it!!
the How to be a great GM has a lot of great videos on stories and plots with how to build them. Of course Colville nails these things as well.
But in designing a story I often find it best to work backward, who is the villain and what does he want, what happens when he gets it? Now you work out how he gets it and how the players factor in. Are they against him from the start? Has he been using them to unknowingly accomplish goals?
There is no one, or right, way.