D&D 5E New born hatchling of a DM starting his first campaign in epic proportions! XD

DestinyInTime0208 · Dec 7, 2017

I've always loved D & D but never was able to play with anyone or knew anyone during my formative years. And what seemed like eons of time passed by the adventurer in me had started to awaken. Probably influenced by my hiking expeditions in the mountains of Hunter, NY.

As this summer had closed and a few months into the cold season, winter was coming. Then out of the North came inspiration of an epic tale that was influenced by the union of two soulmates drawn into an inevitable chaos that can only saved by loyal friends.

I bought all three books to help guide me into creating this incredible story: Player's Handbook, Monster Manual and the Dungeon Master's Guide.

I'm actually really excited in creating my first world and first campaign. I'm a bit nervous because I've never been the D&D and I did play a few times (those truly rare occasions when the stars had aligned). So hopefully I'll be ready after finishing up the 3 books. Mostly the Players Handbook and DM Guide.

However, what I've undertaken is just a massive effort. Just reading the DM guide and creating the backstory is just massive. Creating a world is not easy and having all the foundation elements in place takes time to flesh out in this story of mine.

I have until February to prepare for this campaign. I already have an idea for how the first campaign will take place and it will be a foundation story of new heroes of legend. hehe

I would totally love some feedback on how to start things, gameplay and tips for practicing effective storytelling.

Take care everyone and hope to hear from you!

Thanks for having me in the community. ^_^

Swarmkeeper · Dec 7, 2017

First of all, yours is a great story of rediscovering D&D - have fun with it!

One recommendation that I've found helpful: start small and build the world around that. For instance, you can create a village where the PCs meet and where they can set up their "home base". Then create 2 or 3 adventures that happen just outside the village. One could be exploring a mysterious bog where a hunter has gone missing. Another could be responding to sightings of a strange light coming from an abandoned tower in the nearby hills. A third might be delivering some herbal medicines to the next village down the road... you get the idea. Then you and the players can fill in the world together as you go from there. Some of it can be planned just prior to the next session, some of it can even happen in game. Building a whole world all at once can be fun, but it can also be overwhelming.

Good luck!

Swarmkeeper · Dec 7, 2017

Also, this:
Matt Colville's "Running the Game" series, episode 1

DestinyInTime0208 · Dec 7, 2017

DM Dave1 said:
Also, this:
Matt Colville's "Running the Game" series, episode 1

Thank you will definitely check it out!

DestinyInTime0208 · Dec 7, 2017

DM Dave1 said:
First of all, yours is a great story of rediscovering D&D - have fun with it!

One recommendation that I've found helpful: start small and build the world around that. For instance, you can create a village where the PCs meet and where they can set up their "home base". Then create 2 or 3 adventures that happen just outside the village. One could be exploring a mysterious bog where a hunter has gone missing. Another could be responding to sightings of a strange light coming from an abandoned tower in the nearby hills. A third might be delivering some herbal medicines to the next village down the road... you get the idea. Then you and the players can fill in the world together as you go from there. Some of it can be planned just prior to the next session, some of it can even happen in game. Building a whole world all at once can be fun, but it can also be overwhelming.

Good luck!

You're right. I feel the overwhelm a bit. But considering your words I may just finish building the world with whatever time given before my meeting with my friends. Maybe just little snippets here and there to continue to build but just focus on the immediate adventure for now. Thanks!

Nevvur · Dec 7, 2017

[MENTION=6924060]DestinyInTime0208[/MENTION]

Welcome to the deep end!

Make sure you learn all about civic engineering and architecture, ships and navigation, geology, sociology, anthropology, literature, theater, and so on. It also helps if you can do basic math in your head real fast.

<chants 'one of us'>

Quickleaf · Dec 7, 2017

[MENTION=6924060]DestinyInTime0208[/MENTION] There's an unwritten rule among DMs (or maybe it's in writing now) that you want to run a "session zero" before playing. I'd argue a session zero is even more important than your own world-building. During a session zero you talk with your players about what sort of game they want, take notes, and make characters together. The reason for doing this is simple: DMs are easily swept up in their own imaginations – maybe you're envisioning episodes of Rome or inspired by the historical War of the Roses (gritty intrigue/war story), while one player is making a comic relief PC & another is imagining one of those Dragon Age video game trailers (hack n'slash). Aligning expectations prevents loads of suffering later on.

DRF · Dec 7, 2017

You really really have to understand that running a simple, good adventure ("Rescue the blacksmith's daughter from the goblins in their cave!") is ten million times better than an overly-complicated overly-ambitious mess. DM's talk all the time about players not caring about the world, history, mythology, ecology etc etc, and their indifference to what you spent hours on will be frustrating. You will run into the same problem if you try to create an entire world.

The players simply won't care, man. And you will exhaust yourself and burn out.

Also, I'm a big proponent of playing published material because it teaches you the basics of D&D story telling and narrative structure. You can always add/change/remove stuff, but it'll give you a framework. I was actually recently a player in an open-world game, and honestly the lack of direction and goal was just frustrating. If you didn't seem so into the creation aspect I'd recommend just playing Lost Mines of Phandelver. It's fun and easy to run.

So, in short: KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid). It will keep you from burning out and trust me, your players will thank you (but probably not literally because players are ungrateful).

Rya.Reisender · Dec 7, 2017

The thread title is like a red flag to me. "New DM + Make Epic campaign = Uh Oh"

I alctually feel it's better to start DMing using an existing campaign first. Lost Mine of Phandelver is really good for learning to DM.

But if it has to be your own campaign, then I agree with the others who said that it's important to keep it simple and short. Limit yourself as much as possible. For example to a single village.

Stalker0 · Dec 7, 2017

I'll jump on the wagon here. You are clearly enthusiastic to go with a big world.

That is awesome, but I'll be completely honest...its not how you want to start out.

Start small....very small. A tavern, a small dungeon crawl. Get a few sessions under your belt, then as you get confidence you can expand into the larger world.

Trust me...you will thank yourself later for it.