r/DndAdventureWriter

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So I’m running CoS but have had to do a few one shots in between when some players couldn’t make it but the rest wanted to play DnD, no problem!

But I find it really hard to write a one shot that is started and tied up in the same session (usually around 3-4 hours) I either feel I’m putting too much in and it drags OR feel I’m just skimming a story that won’t have any weight. No idea how best to get a good balance.

For example I have started prepping last night and the story will be;

• new characters all are kind 10ish years old or so and they are in a new town brought by their parents for whatever reason

• they walk aimlessly until they meet Rick an older cool kid wizard who gets them to do some prank or steal

• he then dares them to go to the abandoned orphanage at the edge of town

• as soon as they all enter all the doors & windows slam shut & Rick transforms into an older man (creepy, tall rotten teeth etc.) the old master of the orphanage (Rickton)

• He wants to punish them for being “Evil children”. as they walk through the building they see flashbacks of the abuse he put the children through & he will periodically appear fight them & disappear (beating them every time)

• there will be the Ghost of a Nun appearing to heal them ( a lady who loved the children & tried to protect them from the Headmaster)

that’s all I’ve got so far. the idea was to make them young kids to make them feel weak and actually be scared of the Headmaster master (Rickton) as well as him being OP.

My idea is to have them solve puzzles fight Rickton as they go until eventually they level up & the Nun steps in to help them finally beat him and escape/ destroy the old orphanage.

This just doesn’t feel up to snuff but not sure if I’m being too critical.

Ps. All players have asked for creepy & grim story

Me and my friend group have decided to start a dnd campaign. None of us have played before and i am the Dungeon Master. I will lay out my session 1 plan and i would appreciate if you could give me your opinions and if i should make any changes.

The session begins in a tavern in a small town called Springwood. The party meets for the first time and presumably have a few drinks. They meet the first npc, Agatha (an old lady who owns and still works at the tavern.) She offers them rooms on the house and is generally just a sweet old lady. they hear rumors and talks about a recent orc problem in the area, how they have been raiding convoys and even villlages.

Eventually, another npc enters the tavern looking for people to join him to help clear out a nearby goblin outpost. Bron is a grizzled war veteran who has retired and serves as the head of the town's meager town guard. the party ventures to the goblin outpost and kills the majority of the goblins. One cowardly goblin named suk surrenders to the party and offers information in exchange for his life.

He tells the party of a powerful orc warboss who's power has recently been growing. He tells the party the location of the warboss' camp and tells them that there is lots of loot inside. Bron offers for the party to return to the tavern so he can pay them what they are owed for the quest

At this point the party has 2 options. They can either return to the town or go to the warboss' camp. If they choose to go to the warboss' camp bron will leave them, but when they arrive they find the place almost completely deserted. they can search through the camp and possibly find some gold, but not very much. As they return, they notice that the town is ablaze and that the orcs had come to the town and were raiding it.

If they chose to return to the town then they would have gone to the tavern immediately and after they were paid the town would have been attacked by the orcs.

The party has to face sporadic waves of orks while trying to save as many townsfolk as possible. After the party is worn down, the warboss apears. He taunts the players and laughs at how weak they are. He also ends up killing agatha (the old lady). Just as the party is about to die another orc runs up to the boss and tells him that the empire has arrived.

The party sees an army of hundreds of professional soldiers arrivng into town being led by a man on an imposing white horse with clearly very expensive equipment. The orcs retreat and the majority of them escape. the man takes off his helmet and introduces himself as Andreus Castus a knight of the empire (he is a very snooty character who clearly does not care and feels beneath his involvement ) he requests immediate provisions for his army for his departure to the capital not caring that the village was just ransacked and had lost almost everything. he will dismiss any of the parties attempts to get him to finish off the orcs saying things like "Unfortunate. But villages burn every day." he tells the party that the king is on his deathbed and he must travel to the capital to cement his position. He tells the party that they will have no help from him with the orc problem and that they should deal with it themselves.

the session ends with Andreus' departure from the still burning village

I put alot of time and effort into thinking of this idea and i would appreciate it if you could give me advice and tips for my campain. I was thinking of the warboss being their first bbeg who takes up possibly 3 -4 sessions and the empire and its state being the main focus. Thank you for reading this absolute essay.

I created my first campaign and it was going pretty well buuuuuuuutttt then my friend joins fun times right? Well no we didn’t have enough time to make his character so we gave him a spare sheet (wizard with no spells) and they were fighting a gibbering mouther some cultists and a hill giant and many other bosses too they should have taken months to beat but he first seduces the gibbering mouther then infkingpregnates a male hill giant (got a nat 20) so obv I had to part the clouds below the giant and it fell to its death then he seduced a sea hag and then someone else seduces the night hag first try and there now on the second to last boss (green hag)

Hi! I've had this idea for a while of a group of evil PCs trying to leave Avernus/Hell. I'm of two minds, either them being there wrongfully due to an error in the afterlife system ala The Good Place (esp seasons two and three) or embracing the chaos of trying to break out of Hell forcefully. So, I'm down for either.

Anyway, I wanted some modules I could reference for the typical vibe of the place, especially if there's any with all the layers. I'm going for a horror adventure feel, so things with that would be nice as well. Any edition is fine, since I'm not looking to directly run these.

I know about Descent in Avernus (my first dice were themed on it- bought by my grandparents lol), although I haven't read through it. I've also heard of Fires of Dis, haven't looked much into that yet.

One 5.5e change I keep going back and forth on is Origin Feats and the new background structure.

On one hand, I think it gives characters more identity and customization right from level 1, which is fun. It also feels like a cleaner way to make backgrounds matter mechanically instead of just being mostly flavor.

On the other hand, I can also see the argument that it makes character creation feel a bit more gamey, or that it pushes people toward thinking about background as a package of stats and feats first, and a story element second.

So after actually seeing it in play, where do you stand on it?

Do Origin Feats make character creation better in practice?
Or do they make backgrounds feel a little too mechanical?

And for DMs, have you found the new background setup better to work with at the table?

Pretty much as the title states.

I'm currently running a DnD session using the 5e version. The main theme is Soulslike and dark fantasy so there are a lot of boss fights, NPCs who gives you lore through interactions and etc.

I'm mostly interested in learning how to make a boss fight or a boss memorable and also enjoyable. Any advice is appreciated! Small and big ones!

Side note, this is my first ever session so I'm as new as one can be when it comes to DM'ing. I've been a hobby writer for the past 5-6 years, but my growth so far was natural. I'm starting to realize that I've hit a wall. Now, I actually need to look up things and not just "write until I get better".

I was just informed that at my family vacation in a month the siblings and spouses want to play a one-shot. It will be 6-8 players
Does anyone have any good suggestions for a one-shot of this size.
I have experience DMing but with schoolwork and baby duty I could use some help with ideas to start the gears.
Thank you in advance