r/DMAcademy

I'm a new dm and decently experienced player but I'm a bit stumped on combat encounters and I want this one to be really challenging and fun. My combat encounters so far have not been challenging enough to make the players feel as if there was a chance they couldn't win and they've asked about having harder combat encounters. The party is 5-6 people (A rouge, paladin, bard, warlock, and monk as well as a cleric NPC character who a friend will be playing to try out the game. Also every player is pretty new to DND but have gotten a decent hang of the game) at level 4 who are in a changeling storyline as of the previous session. I want to set up a mirror match of changelings plus a boss monster but I haven't decided on how to do it where it's tough but still winnable. I thought about using their character sheets against them for the changelings but if I just did that with an extra enemy, being the boss, would throw off the balance and I think it'd be too much. Otherwise I could make statblocks for the changelings but I'm not the most experienced in that department and I don't want it to be too easy or way too hard. Any advice is appreciated!

So I'm planning to run a campaign for some of my friends and had a cool idea for the first arc:

Long before the campaign starts, the party very nearly defeated the BBEG. Right before he was about to die, he managed to create a 'Truman Show'-esque fake kingdom, wiped the party's memories of him, and trapped them inside.

Fast forward a few years, the party is essentially doing typical low-stakes D&D adventures inside this kingdom but start to figure out something's wrong. They discover that the place is fake, break out, and start looking for the guy that put them their.

At some point either just before they break out or a bit later, I want their to be a big moment where the party gets their old memories back and realise a lot of what they thought they knew was planted their by the BBEG to keep them docile.

So here's the actual problem: I still want my player's to have the agency to write their own backstories, but I know that even if I tell them to act like they don't remember, the meta-knowledge that their backstory is being withheld will likely have an impact on how they play. How do I let them keep that agency without letting them know that something is wrong?

My current idea is to ask them to rewrite their backstory at the pivotal moment, but I'm worried they may not appreciate that if they've grown attached to the "fake" story.

Any ideas? Or should I just be upfront and hope they're able to stay in character and not accidentally meta-game?

Hi everyone,

I’ve been struggling with a problem for quite some time and would love to hear about others' experiences regarding this. The issue is that I’m in danger of losing the joy I once found in this beloved hobby.

Tabletop RPGs have been a part of my life since childhood; for nearly 30 years, I’ve explored and enjoyed fantasy, sci-fi, and horror settings. I collect numerous rulebooks and have run many campaigns and one-shots across various systems. Occasionally, I join a table as a player, too (not as often as I did as a teenager).

Currently, I run games once or twice a week.

My players are mostly longtime friends - wonderful, creative people whom I deeply value.

And yet, the thought of having to prepare for the next session makes me want to scream. Before every game night, I pace back and forth, fighting against a sense of reluctance, feeling completely overwhelmed and unmotivated. I feel pressured, and if I fall behind on prep, I feel like a total failure.

I used to love it when my players wanted to know something or work on details between sessions. Now, however, I feel overwhelmed by the need to be "on call" for them.

I do have fun while actually playing, since my players are great people and we laugh a lot. But I’m not truly engaged. I find myself scrolling through Reddit or BlueSky on the side, and I’m just relieved when the session is over.

I’ve tried to push through it. I’ve adopted different preparation strategies. I’ve openly asked my inner circle for ideas. I’m also trying to find a few games where I can be a player, though that hasn’t worked out yet.

My interest in new books/campaigns remains undiminished.

Now, I’m going to take a two-month break and hope things improve afterward.

Have any of you experienced something like this? If so, how did you handle it?

Thanks a lot!

I just finished my second session with my new party and they just defeated the goblin camp and just got the first clue to following the bbeg. My problem is they killed two non hostile goblins, one was injured and left for dead (which this one wasn’t a big deal, but the other was an old blind goblin that helped the party. Granted the goblin was an old bandit that talked fondly of the good ole days, he still invited them into his camp, fed them and gave them information about how the goblins turned to a warlock and embraced dark magic (he was even kind to their pet). Admittedly I made a mistake and had the town offer them gold for goblin ears, which I regret, it still makes me nervous about the future of the campaign.

Next session I had planned for them to encounter the bbeg’s apprentice who’s a morally dubious young wizard that’s just taking advantage of the bbeg’s lab and resources. I knew when planning he was likely to die, but I liked the idea of him being spared and helping the party. Any tips for keeping my players from killing everything they consider “bad”?

So the campaign I am running is neutral good in theory(sometimes stuff is grey) but I have a party that seemingly wants to take over a dungeon and I guess be evil or what they said something worse…capitalists.How do I remain flexible enough that despite that, they ideally progress the story or does the story basically go through the window and the world bursts into flames while maybe other evil factions send stuff like assassins or even a “misguided” deva eventually to interact with the party?

First time dm here, we are a group of 5 friends (21y-24y) that all wanted to start a campaign, so i took inkarnate and went wild with the world map and the worldbuilding (pantheon, civilizations, cultures, also integrating the backstory elements of each one of the characters).

I didn't have a measure in mind, i just went with the flow and stopped when it felt right.

after the first couple sessions, all the players were giving me positive feedbacks, but now someone, me too, is feeling that the campaign is gonna take too much time to finish.

We amount a total of 11 sessions in 5 and a half months, averaging 2 sessions a month. the session usually lasts less than 2 hours, considering the chitchat and the latecomers (we play online on discord/ owlbear rodeo).

me and a player realized it's gonna take about 5 years (100+ sessions) to finish visiting all the worldmap considering this pace (the "main quest" is still pretty blurred so I can kinda modify it as I like).

I had an idea: cut the content of the worldmap, and just focus on the current region they are exploring? there are still tons of things to do and explore, and I could end this adventure (now only a chapter of a bigger campaign) in about 20/25 sessions with no hurry, reaching character lvl 9-10 (we started at 3), ending all four personal questlines with depth and revelations.

I'm having trouble managing backstory stuff, for example when i should place an important npc related to player 1 character? now or in about 15 sessions? the fact that i need to account for the big distances in the map is killing me, because i want to let them explore everything, but the real time passes and it seems like I'm not giving them enough space for personal moments.

I think this reorganization of the campaign is going to encourage the players on focusing more on the ongoing events, as those ones are even more important than they thought.

After the end of this Adventure 1, we'll discuss what to do, with the rest of the world still brand new to explore, with the same characters or new ones

maybe I'm going to refresh the post with new stuff to say, thank you all for the interest shown till now, I'm glad to hear some experienced masters of the game

My players are about to go on a long journey and they is a monster that preys on travellers taking the road. They'll be with merchants and I want some kind of table I can roll with results that range from:

In the morning you see tracks of a large beast, to food missing or an NPC missing etc.

Are there any tables like that?

Hi,

I'm pretty much a first time DM (version 5,5e/2024) in a group where everyone seems to second guess everything (even if they are not-rarely incorrect). Happy to pick a fight with everything and dismayed when they are met with hostility. Quick to say something is illogical, without knowing half the story (because the first thing they do is fight and make wise-guy remarks when they are overpowered).

After being captured someone (that had managed to say outside when the whole thing was going on) wild-shaped into a rat to scout out the place. They had cast Pass without Trace on themselves beforehand. After gnawing through all the ropes the party was in (and above table comments to not move and act as if they were still stuck, because the guard was right there and could see everything). He wanted to include the rest of the party in their aura. I told them: you cannot, because the guard is watching them. After much groaning they came up with the ides to have a bat-familiar attack a guard to cause a distraction (sorry familiars cannot attack, but he can distract with a help action, I believe). At that moment they said: now roll for stealth because the guard is distracted.

I made a mistake here. They were not obscured, they were not in 3/4th to total cover, but..okay, next time. I was a bit shocked that they would attempt this. They had just gotten a deal to get free if they would hunt a couple of Displacer Beasts, to risk antagonizing their captors even more, seemed suicidal to me.

When the group wanted to get away, they said: we all got our 15 to stealth DC and we leave no tracks, we're invisible, so for about 45 more minutes we can get away as far as possible - and no-one would know where they would've gone. Halfway they did the spell again and walked for another hour.

I allowed it, but it felt wrong. You can read the spells and conditions in multiple ways and I'm not sure how to rule on this. Can you help me?

Tracks: are they footprints? Could it be scent or sound? I would say those could be included, but make it seem much more powerful than you'd expect of a lvl 2 spell. After all invisibility also is a lvl 2 spell and only covers one person (while it does make you invisible immediately a +10 to stealth is also huge!). When you're hidden you become invisible. But it seems to me that if you hide yourself and then walk in front of someone, you'd be spotted - even if you leave no tracks (footprints, scent, sound, etc. included).

Any help is welcome, thanks!

No matter the system, the nights that I remember decades later are the ones we never rolled dice. The players did 90% of the talking, it's just that the story and action took off.

These are the only guidelines I lean on, either for prep or responding in the moment. Hopefully it helps new DMs cut through the noise and see how the engine actually works!

1. Conflict
2. Consequences
3. Connections

Conflict - the only truly essential element of storytelling. No conflict, no story. Yes a story has a beginning, middle, and end but that structure is created by conflict - stasis, conflict, resolution.

Conflict always comes in the form of an obstacle - the door is locked, I need info but can't reveal my identity, the gap is 30ft across, someone is trying to kill me right now, etc.

It's also expressed through antithesis - a conflict of themes or ideas (a powerful evil being taking the form of a small innocent child)

All the juice is here - the greater the conflict, the more compelling the action.

Consequences - this is what players mean by player agency, or having an effect on the world. More simply put, they want their actions to have consequences. Good, bad, or both. It's the chain of cause and effect that gives a world internal consistency and makes it feel real. And therefore consequences should last and not be easily undone.

GoT soared then failed because of this. First 4 seasons - definite consequences. Back half - plot armor and teleportation.

Again with conflict/antithesis, choices that result in mixed outcomes have more bite. Morally grey, or even the basic "which one do I save?" choices are examples of this.

Connections - relationships, cause and effect, etc. This is how you run a game over time without having to constantly create new material. There are 3 named NPCs with a group of bad guys. Do I let them kill all 3 or does the smartest one escape first in case I want to bring her back?

Ghost of a paladin cursed for some reason? Village needs saving? Connection - he's cursed because he refused to protect the village 100 years ago. Conflict - he's only a ghost so can't directly help, or he's trying to hide a shameful secret but the PCs need to know it to handle the situation. You get the idea.

This is literally it - the engine of never-ending and easy storytelling. Consequences hold the world together through cause and effect, Conflict creates all the energy/movement, Connections make it richer over time.

You don't have to plan or even think about resolutions. Just offer up conflicts, the players act, and consequences naturally follow.

And don't worry about if it's any good. If you hit these 3 consistently it will be good enough and better than most tables.

Hey DM wise ones,

Starting up a campaign locally with my gf and a few other friends. I have been playing pretty solidly for the last decade in and out of the DM chair, but they are all new to D&D. Just going to run something easy and breezy as they are all fantasy book/movie/game lovers and want to give D&D a go.

My main problem is my gf, love her to bits and she is keen to give it a go, but struggles maintaining attention in one session, and tends to lose interest around the hour mark. I have run a couple of sessions for her 1 on 1 and they went this kind of way. Thw second time she was even a little frustrated because she missed a few details and then wasn't sure where to go, not wanting to "choose a spot to look for leads" in the town. I know her friends are potentially similar in this regard and aren't really sure what to expect exactly from the game.

I am still hopeful though, and thought reaching out on here might be a good shout as got some good advice in the past.

So, main question is: any tips on keeping short attention span players involved and interested? Thanks in advance for any advice :)

As far as I understand it, DnD stealth rules as written (and probably also as intended) state that when a character is sneaking around, you need to only take the highest passive perception into account. But isn't it kinda weird when you think about it? It means you can pass through a room with 20 orcs in it just as easy as with 1 orc in it. It feels too easy and contraived.

I wonder if it wouldn't be better to add +1 to DC for every additional guard in a place.

What do you think? Am I overthinking it? Do you think it'd be a good idea? How do you do stealth at your table?

Thank you in advance!

5 year DM. I had been running a Homebrew world for about a year and a half that I really enjoyed. We played over tabletop sim and discord because two were in my city while 3 were old friends in other parts of the US. Two players frustrations with each other boiled over, got ugly and the table is kaput.

I still have a desire to DM and am using this as an opportunity to shake up my table. I care about my old players dearly, but I plan on bringing in at least 4 players new to my table.

I loved the world but I dont want to try to recreate the magic. Planning to do a module out of the gate and looking for recommendations. I prefer a longer format campaign, something that might take ~20-30 sessions. Would love your recommendations as well as ones to avoid!

Thanks.

Some context. It’s towards the end of a multi-year campaign. Players are 10th level. The first time playing D&D for many of them.

They’ve fought down to the lower levels of a dungeon where they know there are 5 mcguffins. They know the more mcguffins they take out the easier the final fight will be. But there’s a ticking clock and there wouldn’t be time to get them all. Each mcguffin is in a different section separated by decent distance. They well know there’s danger down there.

They decided to split up and each investigate a different area. At first I thought they were just doing a little recon but kept pushing farther and farther in until each one of them started encountering the different guards for each area. A group of 5 10th level characters wouldn’t have trouble, but just one player is probably toast. They even have a telepathic bond spell cast on them by the party wizard so I let them share what they were seeing and encountering taking turns around the table.

Each of them had multiple chances to back off and regroup but none of them did. There was plenty of foreshadowing for them to know they were getting into something.

I honestly felt like they were punking me! So now I don’t know what to do? Do I play things out how they actually would play out and end with multiple character deaths or probably a tpk 5 sessions before the end of a campaign, letting the chips fall where they may? Or do I finagle things and try and find a way to let them get out of their predicament?

Edit -
I know there's been lots of comments already and that's great. I also know opinions may have been formed already, but I wanted to add a couple notes to the post that I've said in threads that may add some additonal context.

We're running Red Hand of Doom which is a Tiamat/Chromatic Dragon inspired adventure. The 5 chromatic dragon colors have been used throughout the adventure and having 5 characters and 5 dragon themed areas was not an intended thing.

Also, before the characters made any of these choices I was clear that there was a ticking clock (they can see the physical count down die) and that getting each of the mcguffins was NOT intended or needed. They knew each of them should be well defended. We had discussed this is the last section of the campaign and the BBEGs lair. It would be well defended and they had experienced that so far. All of that was discussed above table and through in game information reveals early in the evening.

Multiple times multiple characters said while they were splitting up “I probably shouldn’t be doing this” and I’d ask if they wanted to continue on their path and they chose to.

I'm worried about using D&D rather than BitD (or a similar narrative system) and having my players rely almost exclusively on skill checks.

After researching this topic, I'm also considering adding Flashbacks and Clock mechanics, as well as adopting a fail-forward approach.

I'll definitely explain that well-outwitted and versatile characters can prove more valuable than those focused purely on combat prowess, but most classes' features in D&D are built around combat, especially the first levels (Barbarian, Ranger...) Have any of you found a solution to this issue? Am I worrying too much? I'd love to hear from DMs who ran this adventure, but any advice is welcomed.

Thanks!

First things first, weather and NPC moods/attitudes are going on some of them, I know that for sure.

But this is a lot of dice I have to spare and I'd love some creative ideas for what other things I can put on die faces (specifically d6s). Maybe some of them are numerical but I'm guessing most won't be.

I was thinking I'll set aside a couple to write player names on so I can randomise targets easily, maybe a die to determine whether a monster attacks undefended, unconscious characters instead of being strangely nice about avoiding them, but I have no doubt plenty of you probably have great ideas.

I'm starting a big open-table/Westmarches game, where we will primarily play one-shot sessions. At the end of each session, player characters return to the "home base" so that a new group can be formed for the next session.

Exploration is a big focus of the world, and we want to do that via a hexcrawl.

I want the world to feel dangerous and unsafe. Just visiting a location (hex) once should not immediately "clear" it and make it safe. Travelling through unsafe locations should come with some danger. This way, there is incentive for players to spend sessions making the territory safer by "clearing" hexes.

Instinctively, I would convey this danger with (possibly random) combat encounters. Bandits, goblins, wolves, wandering monsters, whatever. The trouble is that if I do that in a one-shot, most of my session is taken up by the first random encounter. This then leaves little time for the actual location the players were headed for. And then they also need to return home by the end of the session - again through dangerous terrain.

Any ideas for how to make the world feel dangerous without bogging down already-short one-shot sessions with unnecessary combat encounters? How do you handle this in your open-table/Westmarches games?

My party of 5 players, level six, soon got another boss fight coming up, right after a long rest (and no risk of danger afterwards).

They will fight:

A performer maestro

A human death cultist (flee mortals)

A juvenile shadow dragon

Two (might keep it at 1) Ettin

3 Spies

And 10 CR1 minions using minion rules drom Flee Mortals.

This puts the encounter just in deadly.

For the story, it makes sense that all enemies are there at the start. I will also put this all on the table before they'll arrive (we play live) and I want to see the look on their faces. However, I feel like I 'should' phase the enemies, cant tell why. Would you guys say its okay to start with all at once?

My group recently replaced our old dm because they were neglecting the group and some of us had a falling out with them outside of the game. As the only other seasoned dm, I have stepped up to take there place and run the group.

Issue is, my character is already deeply tied into this group (like the adopted father of 2 PC’s) and the group really wants them to continue with the party. The backstory for my character allows them to become the BBEG quite easily (where the other campaign was headed actually) so that’s where im going to take them further in the campaign.

So yea,any tips on running the game and playing at the same time?

Ty!

My players are on a journey that will take 32 days at a normal pace. It will take them through a town, foothills, plains, a city, cold marshes, another potential town, to reach ruins. From there, they have to find three way out to sea.

I need some help making the journey less of a slog without boring my players. One isn't big on combat so, I don't want to throw too much of that in.

I have been preparing to DM for the first time, and there are so many amazing DMs online creating content on how to DM and focusing on different parts of the game. But I haven’t seen anyone specifically documenting and discussing what it actually looks like to DM for the first time and what resources worked and didn’t as they are doing it.

Idk. Probably a dumb idea but I thought I might as well ask here where folks share resources to see if anyone had ever seen a series like this. And if you have, please share it!