Well this campaign started awkwardly. I like to leave half of the choices to the players, half to the dice, even when selecting encounters. And I had a mindflayer problem when this campaign started. Fate and a back to back critical 20 won a wish. And since this started in dwarven territory, and they performed a miracle, my sweet beings are attempting to form a religion.
I've been trying to being this back into perspective and get them back into the game and out of the town. After I rolled some dice to decide, there were indeed other religions on this island, then rolled a d12, as the only page I found on dwarven pantheons had an even 12. This landed on Duerra. At this point the team leader WANTS to just implode the deep dwarves onle know location and I'm trying to muster an angry deity, rumored to be dead, to counter this, however they're only level 5 at this point. And i dont want to just be like "No, nothing has no effect on the ancient architecture."
Any tips or advice?
I guess I should let you guys know the same guy ends up taking point, and it's usually his point to break the campaign.
It seems like your players might want to play a different game at the moment. Part of me wants to say, that's a bit rude because this isn't what you prepared. The other half wants to say, let's blow up some Dwarves and start a religion.
Here's the cool part if you decide to go down the rabbit hole with them, their antics will lead to no end of story ideas in the future. If the concern is determining when enough is enough... I would be inclined to recommend that you self regulate that. Things may get out of hand, but things may also get AMAZING.
No great advice from me except that your players are advertising what they want, why deny them?
Yeah, valid point, and there are plenty of gods and religion they'd have to take down while spreading the order of the fiery rose.
And deep dwarves ARE diggers, hmmm.
The worse part is one of my friends joined us as a Catfolk Bard. And she had pretty great rolls on her creation, particularly in the Ded and CHA stats, and she found a way in as basically drift wood with amnesia. Unfortunately she almost always succeeds in her persuasions. Which has lead to crazy antics.
On the other hand they did just pit half the town's guards against the other half and only had 7 of 43 come out alive.
The worse part is one of my friends joined us as a Catfolk Bard. And she had pretty great rolls on her creation, particularly in the Ded and CHA stats, and she found a way in as basically drift wood with amnesia. Unfortunately she almost always succeeds in her persuasions. Which has lead to crazy antics.
On the other hand they did just pit half the town's guards against the other half and only had 7 of 43 come out alive.
Persuasion only lets you convince people to do things they might be willing to do, it's up to the DM to decide what they'd be willing to do and how hard it would be to persuade them to do it.
It sounds like they have delusions of grandeur. Basically, they are 5th level heretics and if they are openly trying to do things on that scale its likely that they will invite laughable scorn and if they meet with any sort of success will make enemies much more powerful than them.
Someone else already hinted at it but persuasion isn't mind control.
Yeah, it's fine for them to just stay in this town and play god with the townsfolk, but they're not gods, so to make it fun for them by introducing consequences for their actions. Maybe the Temple of another local God doesn't like these weird adventures messing around on their turf and sends inquisitors to stamp out their heresy? Maybe the local government is curious as to why this town seems to have gone dark, and sends a detachment of soldiers to keep the peace since things have taken a turn for the anarchic.
These new threats can be creatures/npc's more on par with the players' power levels as to present a challenge, or they could even exceed their power level if your goal is to try and drive them from the town.
It's entirely possible that one of the consequences for their decisions, if they continue making nonsensical ones in light of these new developments, is death. Don't shrink away from that. They'll have to learn sometimes that if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. Maybe you have a few character deaths and the party retreats, vowing to return once they're strong enough to re-take the town? Maybe they'll have learned a lesson about expecting things to just always go their way for no reason.
And maybe you'll find as the DM that their quest to re-take this town and defeat the people that pushed them out of it in the name of their new God is maybe just as fun as the game you were planning to run, especially if the players are invested in that.
Glad you brought up this topic. Going to be DMing my first full game this Sunday with a home story. Thought about a module but have not looked into them much. Have 6 people who are new or have only played a handful of times to the game as well. So writing a story then adding in a bunch of side events, skill checks, stores, taverns, multiple endings and consequences for player actions has been fun. Though a lot of work as well.
Things to make it easier on me was to give players a small background. Example, they all grew up in the same village outside a town with a guild. They became friends because they all wanted to join that same guild and the campaign starts with them waiting for my first npc to pick them up at the gates. The same npc who has been mentoring them for that guild.
Hopefully things like that let the players know why they are together and how they know each other at the start. I'll be harder later in future games where no one knows each other.Will see how it goes.
Ah, I didnt know that 😅 still new to the DM side of things, so usually it's my roll versus theirs, but I feel that tip is going to help loads.
Hi Tails. You'll hear plenty of people state that you should let the players drive the game and you just adapt the campaign to suit them. This sounds good in theory but in reality it is tough to prepare for and run. Yes its important the players are having fun but are you?
If you like the way the group is taking the game, then create game around it - Set it up so the game becomes a religious battleground, faith v faith, town/followers v other devotees. Perhaps the god sends an angel/messenger to direct them how to build his followers/influence across the land. Perhaps other religions send knights/inquisitors to warn them to turn away from their actions or be cleaned. Perhaps, there faith becomes widely popular...with unexpected creatures/monsters.
If you find the path they are leading the campaign on is too hard to manage, use NPCs to give it direction. Have the villagers turn away from the group and elect their own priests/leaders. They can't be persuaded away from this course of action after seeing the horrific repercussions of the party's actions (guards deaths/religious persecution).
You drive the game. The players may offer directions but you have the wheel. Its one thing to offer suggestions to what sort of game they want to play but another to continually sabotage the campaign.
In the end though, as long as everyone is having fun, go for it! There is not right and wrong in D&D. Every game and group is different. As long as you are happy and they are happy, make it work. Good luck
Usually I do let them guide the campaign through nonsensical whims. As you guys mentioned, consequences and background events.
They've already been threatened and cursed by an upcoming villain, and I've been exploring their consequences for leading half a cities guards to their deaths, and how that would affect the religious view in that area, in addition to the grand war going on in the continent neighboring this island. I've been trying to show them some epic areas and sides, but it's hard to just drop them into the seventh circle of hell, or the shadow fell, so I'm hoping the under dark can bait them.
But I never considered that, how their aloof behavior could lead to.mounting consequences... especially because in a wish they committed mass genocide that only 43 dwarve survived, and the 33 that went adrift, could tell the world about them in any light.
Well I sorta did the Arena beginning since I didnt know much about the lore of this map they crafted, so I figured they'd start out enslaved, rolled the D4 to choose the nation, which was essentially a Dwarven military state, imagine dwarves with nazi policies and racism. A neutral Elven nation. There is the melting pot of the societies. Then a Human country that for the most part is like Europe or Britain preparing for the war.
The D4 landed on the dwarven territory. They were lined up and shackled together. Then released into a Coliseum, with a list I drafted of various challenges. I was letting them fight their way to glory, and claiming pieces of armor or weapons from the enemies. Eventually they nearly died, and the sorcerer on the road to redemption to become a spell sword, battle mage, or cleric. Performed something of a prayer, god roll, wish spell combo, in a moment of criticality. And I had him roll against me, 2 rolls that were 20's and the last roll I got 1 and he got 19. And he wished for a fissure or earthquake to help escape. This paired with them being in a dwarven city by the ocean, had some originally unforeseen consequences.
During one fight, their bard was paralyzed, so they used their turns to slap on a plate of thorns on him, set him on fire, and threw him at the combatants, and they are attempting to build a religion out of that moment. Hence the religion of the Fiery Rose.
And yeah I think it's time for the consequences since the last session they failed to convert and overthrow the city.
The half orcs in the party are both new to DND, so they kinda follow the ebb and flow, even though I've encouraged the bard and the rogue to look both into their classes and heritages for more depth and flavor to their characters. The elven archer and our human fighter are a wee chaotic, the fighter being Evil of sorts.
Well this campaign started awkwardly. I like to leave half of the choices to the players, half to the dice, even when selecting encounters. And I had a mindflayer problem when this campaign started. Fate and a back to back critical 20 won a wish. And since this started in dwarven territory, and they performed a miracle, my sweet beings are attempting to form a religion.
I've been trying to being this back into perspective and get them back into the game and out of the town. After I rolled some dice to decide, there were indeed other religions on this island, then rolled a d12, as the only page I found on dwarven pantheons had an even 12. This landed on Duerra. At this point the team leader WANTS to just implode the deep dwarves onle know location and I'm trying to muster an angry deity, rumored to be dead, to counter this, however they're only level 5 at this point. And i dont want to just be like "No, nothing has no effect on the ancient architecture."
Any tips or advice?
I guess I should let you guys know the same guy ends up taking point, and it's usually his point to break the campaign.
Sometimes "no, nothing works" happens, especially when high level magic is involved.
It seems like your players might want to play a different game at the moment. Part of me wants to say, that's a bit rude because this isn't what you prepared. The other half wants to say, let's blow up some Dwarves and start a religion.
Here's the cool part if you decide to go down the rabbit hole with them, their antics will lead to no end of story ideas in the future. If the concern is determining when enough is enough... I would be inclined to recommend that you self regulate that. Things may get out of hand, but things may also get AMAZING.
No great advice from me except that your players are advertising what they want, why deny them?
Mavrick The World Bard!
Yeah, valid point, and there are plenty of gods and religion they'd have to take down while spreading the order of the fiery rose.
And deep dwarves ARE diggers, hmmm.
The worse part is one of my friends joined us as a Catfolk Bard. And she had pretty great rolls on her creation, particularly in the Ded and CHA stats, and she found a way in as basically drift wood with amnesia. Unfortunately she almost always succeeds in her persuasions. Which has lead to crazy antics.
On the other hand they did just pit half the town's guards against the other half and only had 7 of 43 come out alive.
Persuasion only lets you convince people to do things they might be willing to do, it's up to the DM to decide what they'd be willing to do and how hard it would be to persuade them to do it.
It sounds like they have delusions of grandeur. Basically, they are 5th level heretics and if they are openly trying to do things on that scale its likely that they will invite laughable scorn and if they meet with any sort of success will make enemies much more powerful than them.
Someone else already hinted at it but persuasion isn't mind control.
Ah, I didnt know that 😅 still new to the DM side of things, so usually it's my roll versus theirs, but I feel that tip is going to help loads.
Yeah, it's fine for them to just stay in this town and play god with the townsfolk, but they're not gods, so to make it fun for them by introducing consequences for their actions. Maybe the Temple of another local God doesn't like these weird adventures messing around on their turf and sends inquisitors to stamp out their heresy? Maybe the local government is curious as to why this town seems to have gone dark, and sends a detachment of soldiers to keep the peace since things have taken a turn for the anarchic.
These new threats can be creatures/npc's more on par with the players' power levels as to present a challenge, or they could even exceed their power level if your goal is to try and drive them from the town.
It's entirely possible that one of the consequences for their decisions, if they continue making nonsensical ones in light of these new developments, is death. Don't shrink away from that. They'll have to learn sometimes that if you play stupid games, you win stupid prizes. Maybe you have a few character deaths and the party retreats, vowing to return once they're strong enough to re-take the town? Maybe they'll have learned a lesson about expecting things to just always go their way for no reason.
And maybe you'll find as the DM that their quest to re-take this town and defeat the people that pushed them out of it in the name of their new God is maybe just as fun as the game you were planning to run, especially if the players are invested in that.
Well, it's not your campaign, it's the group's campaign. That's a good place to start.
Glad you brought up this topic. Going to be DMing my first full game this Sunday with a home story. Thought about a module but have not looked into them much. Have 6 people who are new or have only played a handful of times to the game as well. So writing a story then adding in a bunch of side events, skill checks, stores, taverns, multiple endings and consequences for player actions has been fun. Though a lot of work as well.
Things to make it easier on me was to give players a small background. Example, they all grew up in the same village outside a town with a guild. They became friends because they all wanted to join that same guild and the campaign starts with them waiting for my first npc to pick them up at the gates. The same npc who has been mentoring them for that guild.
Hopefully things like that let the players know why they are together and how they know each other at the start. I'll be harder later in future games where no one knows each other.Will see how it goes.
Hi Tails. You'll hear plenty of people state that you should let the players drive the game and you just adapt the campaign to suit them. This sounds good in theory but in reality it is tough to prepare for and run. Yes its important the players are having fun but are you?
If you like the way the group is taking the game, then create game around it - Set it up so the game becomes a religious battleground, faith v faith, town/followers v other devotees. Perhaps the god sends an angel/messenger to direct them how to build his followers/influence across the land. Perhaps other religions send knights/inquisitors to warn them to turn away from their actions or be cleaned. Perhaps, there faith becomes widely popular...with unexpected creatures/monsters.
If you find the path they are leading the campaign on is too hard to manage, use NPCs to give it direction. Have the villagers turn away from the group and elect their own priests/leaders. They can't be persuaded away from this course of action after seeing the horrific repercussions of the party's actions (guards deaths/religious persecution).
You drive the game. The players may offer directions but you have the wheel. Its one thing to offer suggestions to what sort of game they want to play but another to continually sabotage the campaign.
In the end though, as long as everyone is having fun, go for it! There is not right and wrong in D&D. Every game and group is different. As long as you are happy and they are happy, make it work. Good luck
Usually I do let them guide the campaign through nonsensical whims. As you guys mentioned, consequences and background events.
They've already been threatened and cursed by an upcoming villain, and I've been exploring their consequences for leading half a cities guards to their deaths, and how that would affect the religious view in that area, in addition to the grand war going on in the continent neighboring this island. I've been trying to show them some epic areas and sides, but it's hard to just drop them into the seventh circle of hell, or the shadow fell, so I'm hoping the under dark can bait them.
But I never considered that, how their aloof behavior could lead to.mounting consequences... especially because in a wish they committed mass genocide that only 43 dwarve survived, and the 33 that went adrift, could tell the world about them in any light.
Mounting consequences are the best kind for this type of (chaotic evil? sounds like, anyways) group.
Also, why are they getting access to Wish spells at level 5??? That's VERY early for that kind of thing...
Well I sorta did the Arena beginning since I didnt know much about the lore of this map they crafted, so I figured they'd start out enslaved, rolled the D4 to choose the nation, which was essentially a Dwarven military state, imagine dwarves with nazi policies and racism. A neutral Elven nation. There is the melting pot of the societies. Then a Human country that for the most part is like Europe or Britain preparing for the war.
The D4 landed on the dwarven territory. They were lined up and shackled together. Then released into a Coliseum, with a list I drafted of various challenges. I was letting them fight their way to glory, and claiming pieces of armor or weapons from the enemies. Eventually they nearly died, and the sorcerer on the road to redemption to become a spell sword, battle mage, or cleric. Performed something of a prayer, god roll, wish spell combo, in a moment of criticality. And I had him roll against me, 2 rolls that were 20's and the last roll I got 1 and he got 19. And he wished for a fissure or earthquake to help escape. This paired with them being in a dwarven city by the ocean, had some originally unforeseen consequences.
During one fight, their bard was paralyzed, so they used their turns to slap on a plate of thorns on him, set him on fire, and threw him at the combatants, and they are attempting to build a religion out of that moment. Hence the religion of the Fiery Rose.
And yeah I think it's time for the consequences since the last session they failed to convert and overthrow the city.
The half orcs in the party are both new to DND, so they kinda follow the ebb and flow, even though I've encouraged the bard and the rogue to look both into their classes and heritages for more depth and flavor to their characters. The elven archer and our human fighter are a wee chaotic, the fighter being Evil of sorts.
And now the party has a chaotic good bard calt folk or tabaxi at their backs, which disagrees with their morals.