I really want to do a short campaign to help get me used to being a DM.
suggestions on short campaigns are welcome but I was considering playing through “The Frozen Sick” and wasn’t sure how long that would last. I know players will go at their own pace but in general; have you run this campaign before and how long did it take?
Hard to know how long something will take if we don't know how often you will play, and for how long.
I'm DMing lost mine of phandelver and we've been going for over 8 months BUT we only get to play a couple of times a month, and a couple of hours at a time.
I recommend just starting, and if it's fun, it doesn't matter how long it goes for 😀
Another thing to keep in mind is how the group plays together. You may run into many tangents that draw the players' attention away from the main story progression that could chew up an hour(s) moving the game forward.
As people said, the frequency can drive how long the game could run and how many hours of gameplay you have available. Though to your question, a 'short' game to me is 4-6 sessions, at least four hours per session.
So, I have never bothered with pre-made campaigns...it's always seemed to miss the point of TTRPGs for me.
When I plan my campaigns, I'll plan them into chapters or more likely seasons and episodes. So to take as an example the TV show Buffy. I'll decide what format the Season has and how many episodes are within it. So, if it's monster of the week format, I might decide on 6-10 'episodes' (or individual games). This means you don't *need* an overarching story necessarily. I always recommend this format to newer DMs because once you've got this format down it makes it so much easier to expand out. Essentially, you provide one very basic quest to retrieve an item, or slay the monster, or escort the NPC. All very basic and simple fare.
Once that's down and out of the way, you could move on to the more ambitious type of storyline. The 'season arc' type of campaign. The main meat of the game is still the typical challenge of the week, but maybe something is responsible for all these little things the party has encountered. Have the party discovered that all these little acts are going unnoticed by the town or city watch? Maybe that means the Captain of the Guard is taking bribes? Maybe the King is being blackmailed to allow these things to happen. This can of course be similarly short to the first 'season' of just 6-10 'episodes'
Both of these two types, I tend to see as games, rather than campaigns. To really make a campaign you want something tying together individual 'seasons', so I would be looking at what links each of the smaller games.
Deciding what type of campaign can help give you the length of time. Are the players weeding out a corrupt guard? Maybe then they need one session to discover the guard is corrupt, a second session to lay a trap, a third session to capture and bring the guard to justice?
Is a Big Bad threatening to destroy the world? That going to take longer, so make a list of the small tasks that need to be achieved first:
-Discover the big bad exists -Discover the big bad's plans -Inform local leaders/kings/tribes -Seek aid from magic schools -Raise armies -Build town defences -Find the magic item to kill the big bad -Discover some long lost lore on the big bad's weakness
Throw in some down time, training, side quests to raise money, develop reputations etc, and you've got a game that can easily break into twenty or more sessions.
In short, decide on the goals for the party, and the to-do list to reach that goal. That will determine campaign and session lengths.
When we played Frozen Sick it took us about 4 sessions of 4 hours. The party took some time investigating and roleplaying a lot with NPCs and some exploration and combat encounters either set or random while travelling between various locations.
If you're up for it, you could start with some smaller homebrew oneshots - that's what I have done.
Just keep in mind, when making your own campaign - combat takes longer than you expect, and fewer but stronger enemies helps keep this down.
Also, don't life dump. Keep it simple and understandable. For example, my group and me are all Scandinavian, and, instead of creating a whole weird pantheon or using the dnd one, we just use the norse pantheon.
Yes, I’ve run Candlekeep mysteries before and thoroughly enjoyed them. I like Ghosts of Salt Marsh but haven’t had time to fully look through the book.
to answer the question of time: I will be doing weekly sessions of 4 hours with a ten minute break in the middle.
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I really want to do a short campaign to help get me used to being a DM.
suggestions on short campaigns are welcome but I was considering playing through “The Frozen Sick” and wasn’t sure how long that would last. I know players will go at their own pace but in general; have you run this campaign before and how long did it take?
Hard to know how long something will take if we don't know how often you will play, and for how long.
I'm DMing lost mine of phandelver and we've been going for over 8 months BUT we only get to play a couple of times a month, and a couple of hours at a time.
I recommend just starting, and if it's fun, it doesn't matter how long it goes for 😀
Lost Mine is really good btw
Candlekeep Mysteries also has a lot of quick adventures, and unlike Tales From The Yawning Portal, they're not all dungeons.
These are good suggestions; ghosts of Saltmarsh are also worth adding to the pile.
Another thing to keep in mind is how the group plays together. You may run into many tangents that draw the players' attention away from the main story progression that could chew up an hour(s) moving the game forward.
As people said, the frequency can drive how long the game could run and how many hours of gameplay you have available. Though to your question, a 'short' game to me is 4-6 sessions, at least four hours per session.
So, I have never bothered with pre-made campaigns...it's always seemed to miss the point of TTRPGs for me.
When I plan my campaigns, I'll plan them into chapters or more likely seasons and episodes. So to take as an example the TV show Buffy. I'll decide what format the Season has and how many episodes are within it. So, if it's monster of the week format, I might decide on 6-10 'episodes' (or individual games). This means you don't *need* an overarching story necessarily. I always recommend this format to newer DMs because once you've got this format down it makes it so much easier to expand out. Essentially, you provide one very basic quest to retrieve an item, or slay the monster, or escort the NPC. All very basic and simple fare.
Once that's down and out of the way, you could move on to the more ambitious type of storyline. The 'season arc' type of campaign. The main meat of the game is still the typical challenge of the week, but maybe something is responsible for all these little things the party has encountered. Have the party discovered that all these little acts are going unnoticed by the town or city watch? Maybe that means the Captain of the Guard is taking bribes? Maybe the King is being blackmailed to allow these things to happen. This can of course be similarly short to the first 'season' of just 6-10 'episodes'
Both of these two types, I tend to see as games, rather than campaigns. To really make a campaign you want something tying together individual 'seasons', so I would be looking at what links each of the smaller games.
Deciding what type of campaign can help give you the length of time. Are the players weeding out a corrupt guard? Maybe then they need one session to discover the guard is corrupt, a second session to lay a trap, a third session to capture and bring the guard to justice?
Is a Big Bad threatening to destroy the world? That going to take longer, so make a list of the small tasks that need to be achieved first:
-Discover the big bad exists
-Discover the big bad's plans
-Inform local leaders/kings/tribes
-Seek aid from magic schools
-Raise armies
-Build town defences
-Find the magic item to kill the big bad
-Discover some long lost lore on the big bad's weakness
Throw in some down time, training, side quests to raise money, develop reputations etc, and you've got a game that can easily break into twenty or more sessions.
In short, decide on the goals for the party, and the to-do list to reach that goal. That will determine campaign and session lengths.
DM session planning template - My version of maps for 'Lost Mine of Phandelver' - Send your party to The Circus - Other DM Resources - Maps, Tokens, Quests - 'Better' Player Character Injury Tables?
Actor, Writer, Director & Teacher by day - GM/DM in my off hours.
When we played Frozen Sick it took us about 4 sessions of 4 hours. The party took some time investigating and roleplaying a lot with NPCs and some exploration and combat encounters either set or random while travelling between various locations.
Thank you that is helpful
If you're up for it, you could start with some smaller homebrew oneshots - that's what I have done.
Just keep in mind, when making your own campaign - combat takes longer than you expect, and fewer but stronger enemies helps keep this down.
Also, don't life dump. Keep it simple and understandable. For example, my group and me are all Scandinavian, and, instead of creating a whole weird pantheon or using the dnd one, we just use the norse pantheon.
Yes, I’ve run Candlekeep mysteries before and thoroughly enjoyed them. I like Ghosts of Salt Marsh but haven’t had time to fully look through the book.
to answer the question of time: I will be doing weekly sessions of 4 hours with a ten minute break in the middle.