Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
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Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
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Hi! i'm a rather new DM and running a homebrew campaign for approx 4 players.
so far, we've had two sessions, and i'm unsure how exactly to maintain engagement and keep the game from sounding like i'm just telling a story.
the first session was great, however, the second... was rather dull and didnt have a lot of action. it was mostly roleplay.
Does anyone have any tips or advice on how i can maintain engagement, excitement, suspense, et cetera? and how on earth i'm supposed to write something to have all of that and keep it with smooth transitions, a decent balance of RP and combat, and generally something they'll like...
Ask your players what they want out of the campaign. I can't recommend this approach enough. Drop a little email, ask before or after a session, or any other time. If you know what they want out of the game, you can tailor it to their preferences. If they want more action, add a few extra combats. If they want tense roleplaying, add some important and complex NPCs for them to talk to, and let them resolve things socially, and not just with combat.
He doesn't have much besides the skin on his bones. Me: I'll take the skin on his bones, then.
"You see a gigantic, monstrous praying mantis burst from out of the ground. It sprays a stream of acid from it's mouth at one soldier, dissolving him instantly, then it turns and chomps another soldier in half with it's- "
"When are we gonna take a snack break?"
I completely agree with all the points Wolfe made. Overall, don't try to force anything on them, and ask them if they want something more combat based or more roleplay based.
Star Trek enthusiast, UTDR fan, Dean Winchester lover, and aspiring author/artist.
SPAMTON G. SPAMTON FOR [[present]]IDENT!
Was the second session dull or did you just find it dull? Because those are two different things. I had a three hours session yesterday where not a single dice was rolled, we just roleplayed and everyone loved it. As the others have said ask your players what they want, communication is key, because while you may think they’re getting bored without a combat coming along every twenty minutes they might be really enjoying it. Having a decent Session Zero solves so many problems in terms of what everyone is expecting and whether you’re are looking for the same things from a campaign.
Any reason you’ve decided to run a homebrew for your first campaign? I get the excitement of having loads of ideas you want to share but I’d normally suggest new DMs run a short prewritten campaign first because that teaches you so much about how to structure a campaign so it doesn’t feel like you’re just telling a story. Try flicking through something like Lost Mine of Phandelver and seeing how that is structured but the main thing to bear in mind is make sure you’re offering players choices. The quickest way to make something seem like you telling a story rather than you running a campaign is if you’re telling your players what to do, what to feel, how to react. You’re setting up the plot but remember they’re the ones telling the story