Hi, I'm a fairly new DM with some brand-new players. My story is based on the game my players really like called DOORS it's an endless hotel and I was thinking the rooms start out easy, with a few kobolds here and there, and slowly get harder as they get to door 100 with the exit being at door 100. I was thinking about how I'd have them level up and what would happen once they exit the hotel.
End the campaign or keep going as they search for the person who trapped them there?
Can you describe what your plan is in more detail? How long do you expect it to take?
First, there is no need to decide what happens after, until you actually reach that point. If you and the players are still having fun, then take the parts that they like and expand upon that. If they are ready to move on, then end it there.
Second, I don't know anything about DOORS, but if your plan is to have them go from room to room killing things, that could get extremely repetitive and boring. I would hope that the rooms are a "bigger on the inside" situation, where each one might represent its own adventure, rather than just combat. Basically, treating it as a string of One-shots.
Third, don't worry about leveling up. If you're new and the players are new, just let everyone level up whenever you're ready for them to. Keep things simple.
Finally, when you're starting out fresh, don't be afraid to just talk to your players about what they want. You may be facilitating the sessions, but you don't need to be a monolith. Play with your cards on the table, make mistakes, and be prepared to do a soft reset once you get the kinks worked out. The experimentation can be just as fun as the perfect world you see in your mind.
1st: ok thanks for that! We've talked it out and they like a little humor so I'm planning on making it a little more humor than hack and slash.
2nd: The story is kinda like someone trapped the world in a small hotel, so each room is a small part of the world with only small hallways dividing them (so one room could be a dense forest, but the next is a tundra)
3rd: Alright! I'm really bad at planning things out so that helps a lot :D
Thank you so much for this, it cleared a lot of things up.
1. Seeing as there is 100 rooms and 20 levels you could have them level up every five rooms.
2. And after they escape you should ask them, unless if you do have them level up every five rooms then they will be quite overpowered.
3. And I would recommend spicing it up a little so it's not just the same killing monsters every room, that can get very boring and frustrating after a while, especially with all the math and rolling. you could throw in a few trap rooms or puzzle rooms here and there.
To spice things up, you could include items for the characters to connect in some rooms, which could help them open a locked door later down the line, or maybe be the key to exit. Perhaps some other NPCs were taken from one room to another and need the players' help getting back to their own room.
If you want to keep the mystery of the world this is set in, and end the campaign on an existential note, you could have them exit, give each character an epilogue where the players talk about how their characters lived the rest of their lives, and then describe to each one in turn, their character coming across a door that shouldn't be there, that's never been there before, and should they choose to open it, a familiar hallway, and the realization that they never did leave the hotel.
I also don't know anything about DOORS, but this concept reminds me of Infinity Train in some ways, which is a quick watch and could be another really cool source of inspiration for your campaign!
This could be either the most tedious or interesting campaign ever.
To make it the latter, think about:
- Are the hotel doors portals to other worlds? If so, why do the PC's need to enter and why do they need to return? Why not stay?
- Do the doors need to be picked in an order or can the party choose freely?
- Is there a time constraint? Will the hotel cease to exist if not solved (reset?) within a time frame? Then what happens to the party?
- What is trapping the characters in the hotel? Is there a mechanism for freeing themselves? Are there a number of clues or items they must collect to be free? Who is beind this? What do they want? Force for Good? Evil?
- Why (and possibly how) were the characters selected? Do they know? Amnesia? Does "solving rooms" lead to regaining memory? How can you use the answers to these questions?
Don't worry too much about levelling up, either use milestones or XP, and grade the following rooms accordingly
This could be epic (and I might steal the idea at one time)
100 is a lot. You might consider calling it “many rooms” or something. Give yourself wiggle room in case it starts getting dull, then you can have them leave a bit earlier and shift gears into something else. And as long as it keeps being fun, you keep adding rooms. Also, I’d suggest one of the early rooms being a small town. Someplace they can go back to, rest safely and have non combat encounters with NPCs they can get to know.
I'm not familiar with DOORS either, but it reminds me of a Doctor Who episode called "The God Complex" in which the Doctor and his pals had to solve a murder mystery by entering different rooms in a magical hotel. Each room had an encounter that was designed to target and terrify a specific person who checked into the hotel. Only after finding the room reserved for them and defeating what was inside it could the party reach the final boss, confront him, and escape. It was essentially a megadungeon episode.
As for how to end a campaign...it's up to you and your players. If they really want to confront the person who trapped them, make that the climax. If they're just looking to survive and escape and have "you lived happily ever after" be the epilogue, that will work too. You don't necessarily have to have that planned right now. What you should plan is why they get stuck there in the first place and what their motivation is to leave. And be open to your players informing how the story goes. Because player unpredictability is a very real thing - they might decide they want to stay in the hotel and become the rulers of the domain. If you're open to their influences and interests, your campaign could turn in a direction you never realized and become a far more fun story than you expect.
The title says endless, so why does the test say only 100 rooms? You should have
Mirrors on the ceiling, the pink champagne on ice and she said, 'We are all just prisoners here of our own device" And in the master's chambers they gathered for the feast they stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast Last thing I remember, I was running for the door I had to find the passage back to the place I was before "Relax, " said the night man "We are programmed to receive You can check out any time you like but you can never leave"
Well, keep in mind that a hotel is not just rooms. It has a lobby, a dining room, rooms for the staff to do laundry, a kitchen, maybe a gym/training room, a boiler room, etc. Some of the rooms may be suites. Some of the rooms may have secret doors that go to other rooms or allow staff to spy on other rooms.
You might make some of the rooms just really fun, some might be boring, some will be fiercely protected, and many will have clues to take the party elsewhere. There could be all sorts of revelations - who is the night attendant? What is really in the main boiler providing heat?
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Hi, I'm a fairly new DM with some brand-new players. My story is based on the game my players really like called DOORS it's an endless hotel and I was thinking the rooms start out easy, with a few kobolds here and there, and slowly get harder as they get to door 100 with the exit being at door 100. I was thinking about how I'd have them level up and what would happen once they exit the hotel.
End the campaign or keep going as they search for the person who trapped them there?
Can you describe what your plan is in more detail? How long do you expect it to take?
First, there is no need to decide what happens after, until you actually reach that point. If you and the players are still having fun, then take the parts that they like and expand upon that. If they are ready to move on, then end it there.
Second, I don't know anything about DOORS, but if your plan is to have them go from room to room killing things, that could get extremely repetitive and boring. I would hope that the rooms are a "bigger on the inside" situation, where each one might represent its own adventure, rather than just combat. Basically, treating it as a string of One-shots.
Third, don't worry about leveling up. If you're new and the players are new, just let everyone level up whenever you're ready for them to. Keep things simple.
Finally, when you're starting out fresh, don't be afraid to just talk to your players about what they want. You may be facilitating the sessions, but you don't need to be a monolith. Play with your cards on the table, make mistakes, and be prepared to do a soft reset once you get the kinks worked out. The experimentation can be just as fun as the perfect world you see in your mind.
1st: ok thanks for that! We've talked it out and they like a little humor so I'm planning on making it a little more humor than hack and slash.
2nd: The story is kinda like someone trapped the world in a small hotel, so each room is a small part of the world with only small hallways dividing them (so one room could be a dense forest, but the next is a tundra)
3rd: Alright! I'm really bad at planning things out so that helps a lot :D
Thank you so much for this, it cleared a lot of things up.
1. Seeing as there is 100 rooms and 20 levels you could have them level up every five rooms.
2. And after they escape you should ask them, unless if you do have them level up every five rooms then they will be quite overpowered.
3. And I would recommend spicing it up a little so it's not just the same killing monsters every room, that can get very boring and frustrating after a while, especially with all the math and rolling. you could throw in a few trap rooms or puzzle rooms here and there.
I hope this helps!
To spice things up, you could include items for the characters to connect in some rooms, which could help them open a locked door later down the line, or maybe be the key to exit. Perhaps some other NPCs were taken from one room to another and need the players' help getting back to their own room.
If you want to keep the mystery of the world this is set in, and end the campaign on an existential note, you could have them exit, give each character an epilogue where the players talk about how their characters lived the rest of their lives, and then describe to each one in turn, their character coming across a door that shouldn't be there, that's never been there before, and should they choose to open it, a familiar hallway, and the realization that they never did leave the hotel.
I also don't know anything about DOORS, but this concept reminds me of Infinity Train in some ways, which is a quick watch and could be another really cool source of inspiration for your campaign!
:)
This could be either the most tedious or interesting campaign ever.
To make it the latter, think about:
- Are the hotel doors portals to other worlds? If so, why do the PC's need to enter and why do they need to return? Why not stay?
- Do the doors need to be picked in an order or can the party choose freely?
- Is there a time constraint? Will the hotel cease to exist if not solved (reset?) within a time frame? Then what happens to the party?
- What is trapping the characters in the hotel? Is there a mechanism for freeing themselves? Are there a number of clues or items they must collect to be free? Who is beind this? What do they want? Force for Good? Evil?
- Why (and possibly how) were the characters selected? Do they know? Amnesia? Does "solving rooms" lead to regaining memory? How can you use the answers to these questions?
Don't worry too much about levelling up, either use milestones or XP, and grade the following rooms accordingly
This could be epic (and I might steal the idea at one time)
Thanks! these questions really got me thinking. I hope this will turn out good for my players
100 is a lot. You might consider calling it “many rooms” or something. Give yourself wiggle room in case it starts getting dull, then you can have them leave a bit earlier and shift gears into something else. And as long as it keeps being fun, you keep adding rooms.
Also, I’d suggest one of the early rooms being a small town. Someplace they can go back to, rest safely and have non combat encounters with NPCs they can get to know.
I'm not familiar with DOORS either, but it reminds me of a Doctor Who episode called "The God Complex" in which the Doctor and his pals had to solve a murder mystery by entering different rooms in a magical hotel. Each room had an encounter that was designed to target and terrify a specific person who checked into the hotel. Only after finding the room reserved for them and defeating what was inside it could the party reach the final boss, confront him, and escape. It was essentially a megadungeon episode.
As for how to end a campaign...it's up to you and your players. If they really want to confront the person who trapped them, make that the climax. If they're just looking to survive and escape and have "you lived happily ever after" be the epilogue, that will work too. You don't necessarily have to have that planned right now. What you should plan is why they get stuck there in the first place and what their motivation is to leave. And be open to your players informing how the story goes. Because player unpredictability is a very real thing - they might decide they want to stay in the hotel and become the rulers of the domain. If you're open to their influences and interests, your campaign could turn in a direction you never realized and become a far more fun story than you expect.
The title says endless, so why does the test say only 100 rooms? You should have
And in the master's chambers they gathered for the feast they stab it with their steely knives but they just can't kill the beast
Last thing I remember, I was running for the door I had to find the passage back to the place I was before
"Relax, " said the night man "We are programmed to receive You can check out any time you like but you can never leave"
Well, keep in mind that a hotel is not just rooms. It has a lobby, a dining room, rooms for the staff to do laundry, a kitchen, maybe a gym/training room, a boiler room, etc. Some of the rooms may be suites. Some of the rooms may have secret doors that go to other rooms or allow staff to spy on other rooms.
You might make some of the rooms just really fun, some might be boring, some will be fiercely protected, and many will have clues to take the party elsewhere. There could be all sorts of revelations - who is the night attendant? What is really in the main boiler providing heat?