Hello!

So I am definitely a D and D beginner  (I only have 2 campaigns under my belt) but I would like to try my hand at DMing for my next campaign with two friends.

I had a very loose story line for a campaign set in the Ghibli world (primarily Spirited Away) and my friend asked what kind of gameplay mechanics I thought I might use.  I was like a deer in headlights to say the least but eager to learn more!

I am doing lots of research but wanted to see what ideas the community had for interesting mechanics I could use besides basic 5e mechanics.

Thanks a ton in advance!!!!

Related to Spirited away:

Remember Yubaba is a greedy witch, who runs the bathhouse, has complete control over all her workers and is very professional when it comes to keeping her bathhouse profitable and keeping her servants alive. When in this realm I recommend keeping a tab on negative influence on the economy and servants, because if it gets too high, Yubaba would be likely to either coerce the party away, threaten them, or actually initiate a level of combat to remove them. Inversely, if they have positive effects then Yubaba may find it more worthwhile to trick the party into staying as her own workers.

Not sure how you will be running your campaign, but thats a good start for future plot hooks and giving the players a better feel of direct impact.

Other than that, mechanics such as being able to slip into the spirit world by chance or through resting in certain areas can create an atmosphere much like the ethereal plane to the material one. When they slip in they can now see and interact with spirits and creatures they hadn't previously seen around them.

Using dimensional spells to transfer between certain Ghibli universes. Although they might fit fine together in one continent  it might be more cohesive to create some level of barriers between these places to not create the distraction of lack of interaction between vastly different worlds or for worlds that don't have seems that fit well. It also feels a little more genuine sometimes too, because placing many worlds that dont diverge well together on the same realm creates almost like a carnival feel, where each area is themed, and makes for jarring transfers between them. Spirited away is wonderful, but It'd be odd if Howl's moving castle walked through the modern city on the other side of the river. Abusing multiple planes will also create a possibly more straightforward mapping of travel, not having to interconnect every city you may be including, it will also encourage spellcasters to take up spells many usually don't worry about. They can also include 'hiccups' in these teleportations or portals (or however you determine their travel will be) which can lead to encounters in completely unknown realms or even encounters with the more minor creatures (Like No-Face).

Hopefully this was at least a little helpful to maybe even just getting your creative juices flowing. 

This isn’t a mechanics suggestion, but I have an idea for an early adventure: Let the party maybe meet Kiki, and have to help her with a tough delivery maybe? 

There’s a big emphasis on the power of names in Spirited Away, perhaps that would be an interesting thing to include somehow.