Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer Creatures
Frozen Sick
D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Basic Rules (2014)
Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
Sign in- Marketplace
Monstrous Compendium Vol. 1: Spelljammer CreaturesFrozen SickD&D Beyond Basic RulesBasic Rules (2014)Sign in to view your library & saved favorites.
Sign in
So, I've been DMing my group for a while now, but up until now we've done prebuilt campaigns so I could get a feel for it.
We now have started my own homebrew campaign (only 1 session so far) and I'd like to know if anyone has some tips for the following situation. I'm keeping things somewhat vague because I'm not completely convinced at least 1 of them wouldn't stumble upon this.
It's a bit of an open map where they have basically started in a corner. The BBEG is located in a desert in the center (think Hyrule Castle in Breath of the Wild), but they don't know this yet (hell, they don't even know yet who or what it is, that's something that will come up during the next session). During or after the next session they will receive their main objective which would lead to them circling the map, and they have to make a choice of which direction they are heading first. They have 2 directions to choose (the general direction of 2 roads), but technically nothing would stop them from going quite literally off-road and just head central. I know that we're supposed to allow them to make their own choices (and mistakes), but I also don't want to subject them to a TPK, at least not this early in the campaign. (For the record: storywise, it doesn't matter that much which direction they circle in, just that the middle is too dangerous for them to cross)
First, I’d say, do NOT tell them the middle is too dangerous to cross. That’s catnip for PCs, and they will 100% try to cross it. Just reading your description, it screams out to me, there’s something going on in the middle, and I really want to know what it is, so that’s where I’ll vote for us to go.
But, in a larger sense, you can’t stop them doing it. You can encourage either direction, but there’s always going to be a chance they choose some other option. In this case, I think my solution would be the BBEG isn’t there, yet. Maybe some cultists are going to summon it there, or maybe there’s a portal there that’s not yet opened, or it’s buried beneath the sand. Something like that.
You can’t control where the characters will go, but you can control what they find when they get there.
One option if there's something that you really don't want your players doing is to just tell them so out of character. Yes, it breaks immersion a bit, but can be the lesser evil compared to coming up with one in game reason after another.
Adapt your campaign as they make choices. If they choose to go right up the middle and you don't want them to engage with the BBEG just yet, put your BBEG on the right or left and give them some dangerous stuff in the middle to chew on.
DM mostly, Player occasionally | Session 0 form | He/Him/They/Them
EXTENDED SIGNATURE!
Doctor/Published Scholar/Science and Healthcare Advocate/Critter/Trekkie/Gandalf with a Glock
Try DDB free: Free Rules (2024), premade PCs, adventures, one shots, encounters, SC, homebrew, more
Answers: physical books, purchases, and subbing.
Check out my life-changing
Give them choices, but using the fork in the road example, let them choose left or right, and whichever way they pick, is the way you wanted them to go.
Or have the way they choose, to loop toward the way you want them to go.
Basically, let them think they have freewill, but in reality it is predetermination.
The big issue if one or two want to go left, and the rest want to go right. They split....so yes you need to come up with something for both routes.
The OP asked how to go this without railroading. Your example is a railroad, as the players have no actual choices.
The way I am running my current campaign is that I have them in a region, I have fleshed out the details of the various different areas, and I have written down mentally what's going on in each one. I subtly drop clues as to what is happening in each area, then I ask them where they go. Wherever they go, I fill out what they're going to do (make a dungeon/encounter table, make relevant NPCs, etc.) I find that they have engaging discussions about where they want to go next, and it makes me happy as a DM. It can take a bit of work, but it definitely *simulates* free will.
As for the central thing, 100% do not try to make it clear that they shouldn't go there yet. They will. Give them three roads, and put more relevant objectives at the end of the roads that you want them going down. If they intentionally try to fight the boss early, sucks to suck, because you can't dodge in DnD like you can in video games.
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?"
The important part of not railroading is letting the party choose its own goals. The BBEG is presumably doing something that's evil. The players should witness the effects of this as they travel around. You want them to choose to confront the BBEG on their own accord. But if what the players want to do is tangential, like establish a kingdom/duchy/whatever, the BBEG is going to be a problem because presumably his goals clash with the players establishing a realm, so he or his minions should get proactively involved in thwarting the players, which will create the incentive for the players to go confront him eventually. And, you know, if the players decide they want to become his henchmen instead, well, that could be a fun campaign too...
Don't think of it as 'the campaign will end when the players confront the BBEG'. Think of it as 'There's this evil character here doing stuff and commanding minions to do stuff. He has motivations. He takes actions that affect the world. Conflict arises because his goals and the party's goals are incompatible, and that makes the conflict organic.
As far as avoiding TPKs, telegraph difficulty. NPC rumors in town are one way to do it, and you can be as subtle or unsubtle about it as you like. Or the players could witness him doing something. Or come up with some other way to let the players know any fight is going to be rough. (Also, if they head into an area where dangerous minions are going to be, maybe the players get captured by the minions instead of killed, and have to escape).
So this is where I point to the core books and remind you that they give multiple examples of how a villain can dispose of the heroes that aren't death. In Out of the Abyss for example, the Drow persuing our heroes have poisoned darts that knock the PCs unconscious. The Drow don't kill the PCs, they'll aim to knock them out and recapture them. So, you could choose that route with the PCs waking up in a dungeon somewhere having to escape.
Similarly, there could be a Hag or other trickster Fey creature lurking nearby, if the PCs get into too much trouble you can have the characters awake with the BBEG believing that the players have been killed. In reality the Hag has saved the PCs and placed them into a debt which can be repaid through a side quest.
It also doesn't hurt to remind players that sometimes, running away is a legitimate answer.
Finally, there's the environment which can turn and alter the way a battle is occurring. If they pick the more risky path have the weather be described as unusual, maybe a sandstorm is kicking up. Then during the battle, if a TPK looks even slightly possible, have that sandstorm sweep in across the battlefield. The BBEG isn't going to waste time with this nonsense and will simply Dimension Door out of the area. The party meanwhile make some CON saves, but wake up beaten and bruised, but alive.
We as DMs get to put our fingers on the scales and we're playing asymmetrically to the players. That's kind of how it's meant to be. You've got the world on your side that you can turn for or against the player characters. The options then really do become endless.
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.
Just to second what one person said, you can always have in-game information about a region that's too dangerous. Like "that's a known area with lots of hill giants" or something like that. If you just generically tell players "that area is super dangerous" they'll often see it as a challenge. If you give specific details, they're a lot more likely to understand what they specifically can't handle.
You can also just not tell the players what's out there yet. So you say that the BBEG is in the central desert, but the things they currently need are to the north and south. So maybe just tell the players about the things to the north and south, but don't bring up the desert for the time being. If they look for what's out in that direction, the local maps could tell them it's a big wide desert. But maybe just don't tell them there's any reason to head out that way.
Or, if you do want the players to know about the BBEG, you can always make a quest structure where they specifically need the things they'll find around the map. That is, it's impossible to get into the BBEG's castle, or he is only vulnerable to very specific weapons, etc. Then make sure the player's know that. From there they can make their own choices. Like "you need the earth and water crystals to open the doors" just tells your players what's going on in their world. What they do with that information is up to them.
Finally, if you haven't already, look up the Curse of Strahd adventure. That solves a similar problem, where Strahd's castle is prominently in Barovia. So the adventure has to keep the players from simply charging in. It could be a good source of inspiration!