I'm a first time DM trying to make something for my family, but I'm not that great at making social encounters, and balancing the drow who will fight the PCs. Can someone help me balance my drow, and make social encounters? Here is the link to my campaign = https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XvblOyp-5zckqG1sUf6MhrXeueL9qZOc6QXMhh62yZc/view
Please share your opinions, and help me make a campaign.
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I don't know how much feedback you want with-regards-to your adventure idea.
In general, I like your basic concept sketch:
The Party is attacked by a goblin raiding party
The goblin raiding party is driven off
The party follows the goblins back to their lair
The Party discovers Drow.
The Party discovers the Drow are "up to something" ( invasion plans ).
All that follows is only my opinion, which you are more than welcome to discount - as I'm morelikely than the next guy to spout opinionated nonsense ;)
I think you really have the outline of two small adventures here. It may be possible ( by bulking out the goblin lair idea ) of making this a much easier to handle pair of mini-adventures:
The Goblin Arc: The Party, as caravan guards, are attacked, and follow the goblins back to their lair, defeat the goblins, and find evidence that the goblins are being hired as surface scouts by the Drow.
The Drow Arc: you haven't detailed this as much, so I can't really tell how you're planning on developing thing past the first encounter with the Drow patrol, and the confrontation on the bridge.
In general, I think there's two things you need to pay closer attention to: what is going to motivate the Party? and What happens when the Party fails at something?
Motivation
The Party is asked by Arlayna if they want to go after the goblins. If they say no, you kill off Arlayna.
What do you do if the Party decides they still don't care, and decide to push on to the caravan's final destination? Trust me, it can happen.
You need to give the Party a concrete reason to go after the goblins. Possibilities include:
Some NPC from the caravan is kidnapped ( Party still might not care, unless you take the time to set up a personal connection to the Players/Characters)
The goblins steal something and flee, and Arlayna tells the Party "look, if we don't get the delivery to <insert merchant name here>, we don't get paid. We need to retrieve that <item> from the goblins!"
Arlayna informs them, "these are the infamous black spider clan, that have been terrorizing the trade routes for months. The Duke of L'rae has posted a bounty on the chieftain's head, and a bounty on any goblin hands with the spider tattoo. If we can bring in the chieftain's head, it's worth a lot of gold! I say we go after them!".
Personally, I'd use multiple motivations here, maybe even all three: Caravan leader's young son is spirited off, the Party doesn't get paid without the item the goblins stole, and the bounty for the Black Spider Clan chieftain.
Failure states
You have a section where you say "... a DC 14 Perception Check to find the trail. If the PCs succeed on the check, they realize that the goblins took the right passage, and climbed up the side of the wall and went into a small hole." That's fair - but what do you do if they fail the roll? So far as I can see, the adventure comes to a grinding halt. You really want the Party to be able to follow the goblins regardless of what happens; but you don't really want to hand the goblins to the Party without any work or possibility of achievement here. It's not fun for you, or the Party, if you just give them the goblins.
What I'd do here is set up points in the story where the Party can succeed at a skill roll, or they need to pay some kind of price - but if they do either one, they get to progress in the story.
For example, if the Party makes a DC 14 perception check, they realize the goblins climbed up the wall, and went into a small hole. That hole is a shortcut which bypasses the Giant Spider lair, but the path past the spider cave meets up with the shortcut that the goblins took. This way, either some Player gets to feel clever for being able to track the goblins through the shortcut, or the Party gets to have the fun of battling the giant spiders.
I would set up something like this for every point where the Party needs to make a check to follow the story path. Being clever, allows you to bypass problems, but if you miss, you can still "brute force" your way through the problem, or need to pay some other cost ( e.g. pass through the cave with the poison gas and take 1d4 poison damage if they lose the trail, and go down the wrong tunnel - but the tunnel meets up with the goblin trail, and the Characters spot goblin footprints again ).
In fact, I'd set up 2-3 of these: cave dweller monsters down wrong paths, traps the goblins have set, natural hazards, being stealthy to avoid the goblin patrol ( or need to kill the patrol, or the final confrontation will have reinforcement goblins ), etc.
I'd really make a map or flowchart for showing how these encounters connect. It's probably better to only have a few of these, for interest and flavor. These are just appetizers on the way to the showdown with the Black Spider Clan.
Eventually I'd have this culminate in the goblin lair where the Party gets to battle it out withUzdeelk, the war-leader of the Black Spider Clan, and his remaining warriors, rescue the caravan leader's son, retrieve the macguffin that the goblins stole from the caravan, and lop of Uzdeelk's head for the bounty - that's a pretty solid small adventure arc. The Players get to show off their skills, explore the cave, get in some combat, rescue the captive, and get some loot from the goblin lair! A good time is had by all ( except, probably Uzdeelk).
That's The Goblin Arc.
Now - if you wanted to have Uzdeelk's treasure in a chest, along with a letter which describes the agreement between the Black Spider Clan and House Sin’felle, where House Sin’felle agrees to pay the Black Spider Clan a certain amount of gold monthly, in return for guarding the upper caverns, and keeping the humans at bay - including a map showing the cave which is the entrance into the domains controlled by House Sin’felle - that gives you a transition to The Drow Arc ;)
An additional note: you've detailed out your combat encounters pretty well, but it's hard to judge these, as I don't know the Party you're writing for. I'd check your combat encounter design in something likeKobold Fight Club, to make sure they're balanced for your Party.
All-in-all, I think you've got a solid initial concept for a beginning adventure. If you can make sure your encounters are balanced, figure out what motivates the Party, figure out how to handle situation when the Party misses the roll you expect them to make, and keep the initial adventure short ( probably no more than 5 "events" including the caravan ambush and the final showdown with Uzdeelk ), this could be a really fun little adventure.
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
The Party in mention is my family, and they are first time players. I did not want you to make any edits, as who knows, you might have deleted everything. The drow arc is going to happen with the matron mother discovering a formula for a new magic item, the sunfilter. Sunfilters get rid of sunlight sensitivity, which is how they will invade. The Party will start at level 3, as drow elite warriors are pretty powerful since they have a lot of health for a level 1 party to face. (That is the reason that Arlayna uses archer stats) I will also be asking my friends who are experienced DMs what I should do, but since they never check their email, I thought, I will try D&D Beyond!) Thank you for your suggestions.
I'm a first time DM trying to make something for my family, but I'm not that great at making social encounters, and balancing the drow who will fight the PCs. Can someone help me balance my drow, and make social encounters? Here is the link to my campaign = https://docs.google.com/document/d/1XvblOyp-5zckqG1sUf6MhrXeueL9qZOc6QXMhh62yZc/view
Please share your opinions, and help me make a campaign.
The link might work now. Tell me if it does not.
Please do not make any edits. Just asking.
It doesn't appear to be publicly accessible.
You can - and should - definitely get a view only share link for your document if you want people to look it over.
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
I can see it now - and I cannot edit it :)
I don't know how much feedback you want with-regards-to your adventure idea.
In general, I like your basic concept sketch:
All that follows is only my opinion, which you are more than welcome to discount - as I'm more likely than the next guy to spout opinionated nonsense ;)
I think you really have the outline of two small adventures here. It may be possible ( by bulking out the goblin lair idea ) of making this a much easier to handle pair of mini-adventures:
In general, I think there's two things you need to pay closer attention to: what is going to motivate the Party? and What happens when the Party fails at something?
Motivation
The Party is asked by Arlayna if they want to go after the goblins. If they say no, you kill off Arlayna.
What do you do if the Party decides they still don't care, and decide to push on to the caravan's final destination? Trust me, it can happen.
You need to give the Party a concrete reason to go after the goblins. Possibilities include:
Personally, I'd use multiple motivations here, maybe even all three: Caravan leader's young son is spirited off, the Party doesn't get paid without the item the goblins stole, and the bounty for the Black Spider Clan chieftain.
Failure states
You have a section where you say "... a DC 14 Perception Check to find the trail. If the PCs succeed on the check, they realize that the goblins took the right passage, and climbed up the side of the wall and went into a small hole." That's fair - but what do you do if they fail the roll? So far as I can see, the adventure comes to a grinding halt. You really want the Party to be able to follow the goblins regardless of what happens; but you don't really want to hand the goblins to the Party without any work or possibility of achievement here. It's not fun for you, or the Party, if you just give them the goblins.
What I'd do here is set up points in the story where the Party can succeed at a skill roll, or they need to pay some kind of price - but if they do either one, they get to progress in the story.
For example, if the Party makes a DC 14 perception check, they realize the goblins climbed up the wall, and went into a small hole. That hole is a shortcut which bypasses the Giant Spider lair, but the path past the spider cave meets up with the shortcut that the goblins took. This way, either some Player gets to feel clever for being able to track the goblins through the shortcut, or the Party gets to have the fun of battling the giant spiders.
I would set up something like this for every point where the Party needs to make a check to follow the story path. Being clever, allows you to bypass problems, but if you miss, you can still "brute force" your way through the problem, or need to pay some other cost ( e.g. pass through the cave with the poison gas and take 1d4 poison damage if they lose the trail, and go down the wrong tunnel - but the tunnel meets up with the goblin trail, and the Characters spot goblin footprints again ).
In fact, I'd set up 2-3 of these: cave dweller monsters down wrong paths, traps the goblins have set, natural hazards, being stealthy to avoid the goblin patrol ( or need to kill the patrol, or the final confrontation will have reinforcement goblins ), etc.
I'd really make a map or flowchart for showing how these encounters connect. It's probably better to only have a few of these, for interest and flavor. These are just appetizers on the way to the showdown with the Black Spider Clan.
Eventually I'd have this culminate in the goblin lair where the Party gets to battle it out with Uzdeelk, the war-leader of the Black Spider Clan, and his remaining warriors, rescue the caravan leader's son, retrieve the macguffin that the goblins stole from the caravan, and lop of Uzdeelk's head for the bounty - that's a pretty solid small adventure arc. The Players get to show off their skills, explore the cave, get in some combat, rescue the captive, and get some loot from the goblin lair! A good time is had by all ( except, probably Uzdeelk ).
That's The Goblin Arc.
Now - if you wanted to have Uzdeelk's treasure in a chest, along with a letter which describes the agreement between the Black Spider Clan and House Sin’felle, where House Sin’felle agrees to pay the Black Spider Clan a certain amount of gold monthly, in return for guarding the upper caverns, and keeping the humans at bay - including a map showing the cave which is the entrance into the domains controlled by House Sin’felle - that gives you a transition to The Drow Arc ;)
An additional note: you've detailed out your combat encounters pretty well, but it's hard to judge these, as I don't know the Party you're writing for. I'd check your combat encounter design in something like Kobold Fight Club, to make sure they're balanced for your Party.
All-in-all, I think you've got a solid initial concept for a beginning adventure. If you can make sure your encounters are balanced, figure out what motivates the Party, figure out how to handle situation when the Party misses the roll you expect them to make, and keep the initial adventure short ( probably no more than 5 "events" including the caravan ambush and the final showdown with Uzdeelk ), this could be a really fun little adventure.
Best of luck! :)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
The Party in mention is my family, and they are first time players. I did not want you to make any edits, as who knows, you might have deleted everything. The drow arc is going to happen with the matron mother discovering a formula for a new magic item, the sunfilter. Sunfilters get rid of sunlight sensitivity, which is how they will invade. The Party will start at level 3, as drow elite warriors are pretty powerful since they have a lot of health for a level 1 party to face. (That is the reason that Arlayna uses archer stats) I will also be asking my friends who are experienced DMs what I should do, but since they never check their email, I thought, I will try D&D Beyond!) Thank you for your suggestions.