r/DMAcademyNew

Okay, so I made a stupid mistake. I made a puzzle for my players and told them they needed "the shape, the voice, and the memory of the sea" for a ritual, thinking they would figure something out. It was literally meant to be whatever they came up with.

Fast-forward to the end of the session: I asked them what they thought about the riddle and what they wanted to do next session, and they want to ask an NPC for the solution to the "shape of the sea" part. I told them above table that I'd rather they figure out the riddle instead of simply getting the answer from someone else, but I'm pretty sure one of them is still gonna ask an NPC for the solution, especially because they think it's gonna be something really smart and witty.

Can anyone help me figure this out?

So, I have a question. Can you carry a body when you use Teleportation Circle to jump from one place to another? I know a corpse is not a creature, it is an object, and Teleportation Circle does not specify anything about objects, but you do cross with things when teleporting. So can you carry anything? THe spell doesn't say anything about carrying capacity so, would it be just what you can wear?

So unfortunately, my friends and I are struggling to finish a dnd campaign as the Dm is running dry on ideas and the gameplay is stale. they openly refuse to stop as they say, I quote “I’m at the climax of the campaign“ yet it is abundantly clear they and the rest of us are not enjoying it. we’ve tried to prompt them into realising the issue but they’re very stubborn. we dont meet up often and it would be nice if they had a session planned, yet most of it is improv and them thinking about where the story should go next. my other friend, has a campaign ready to play and have been waiting over a year for there turn to dm. they’re really passionate about it and the story has branching pathways, and Idea I would quite like to try. Advice would be nice! :) (It rhymed!)

Whether your playing D&D or Pathfinder it seems like the level cap is pretty settled at 20. So how do you deal with a campaign large enough that 20 levels probably won't cut it?

I have a campaign idea that I'm planning that will span not just a continent but two actual settings. Obviously it'll be a long while before it's playable, but I want to figure out the solution to this problem early. I know back in 3.5 we had epic levels but we don't really have anything similar besides the "epic boons" which isn't quite the same.

So how would you deal with it? Raise the cap and rig a way to go above it? Set up leveling based on milestones that will just have a very long period of time between levels? Reduce the exp gained from everything by enough to delay leveling up? What's everyone's thoughts?

EDIT: I do think the point is being lost that I am intending the campaign to go on for that long. I WANT to have a giant, sprawling game that will take a long time to complete. I'm not planning on dumping exp down the players throats in the course of a year. That's why I'm asking. The game is meant to take a long time and they will eventually reach the level cap and beyond.

So, I am here thinking: I kept DMing for years, placing characters from the USSR into my games;, and now I was thinking, well, heck, why not move the entire next setting into Soviet Russia?

Do you know of any ideas for formats I could use as inspiration, both for homebrew gameplay mechanics and story ideas? I am very familiar with DND 5th, have no idea if 5.5 would work; I know a few other games, Blades in the Dark and Cyberpunk, that could be somewhat adapted. But still DND feels like the most applicable to what would be a world exploration and lighthearted campaign. I mean, one idea that is popping into my head is fusing a slav-flavoured dark magic world, an impending demon apocalypse in the style of a Secret War episode from Love, Death and Robots and a general steampunk treatment of technology. With the Germans at the border, and the destiny of the Revolution in their hands, why not, right? Please criticise me, offer insights, help me out! Can the USSR flavour survive all these other elements? How do I make that one pop?