D&D 5E Running two campaigns at the same time.

[Ezequielramone]

Hi, here is the thing:
My group is about to finish Hoard of the Dragon Queen. I want to continue running both Rise of Tiamat and Storm King's Thunder. Both at the same time with the same characters. I need you to advice me. I know I should abandon xp and manage that by myself saying when to lvl up.
I have run Tyranny of Dragons with another group so I'm familiar with that and know that RoT is an episodic campaign. But I didn't read SKT yet.

What advice can you give me? Does it make sense to run both at the same time? I'm not afraid to change things in order to make things make sense.
I'm the kind of person that don't read the entire adventure before the first session. But I read one or two chapters before the next session.

 

[Bitbrain]

You'll probably want to go something like HotDQ, then SKT, then RoT.

 

[Jester David]

I'd skip the intital hooks of SKT and just jump in with Hoard. But add some of the wandering encounters and random monsters of SKT. Replace some villiages passed through during the travel sections with giants behaving badly. Rather than teleport places in that module, include more overland travel for the sandbox.

In quite a few places ToD has really short levels, where a small scene and 2-3 fights is meant to grant a level. That might be good places for extra giant stuff. Maybe replace an encounter location you dislike with a giant lair.

I'd end SKT first. Near the end of ToD there's a bit where you're gathering allies. Early in that section you can do more of SKT to get the giants as allies. It fits in rather nicely. Then have the giants involved when bringing down Tiamat.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

I know I should abandon xp and manage that by myself saying when to lvl up.

I wouldn't do this. It removes a large part of the fun for many players, and it doesn't really buy you much of anything in terms of simplicity.

You can abandon "XP for kill" if you want and give out XP based on other things e.g. "5000 * Chapter Number" per chapter finished, or XP based on specific quest goals. But abandoning XP entirely can make advancement feel arbitrary instead of earned, reducing the players' fun. It's typically done more for the DMs' convenience than for the players' sake, but it doesn't even really help.

 

[Blue]

I was expecting something different. Sounds like you are running one campaign, but interleaving two adventure paths.

Should be doable without a big problem. Personally, I'd go through looking at various XP-filler and side-quest material that won't impact the main story lines and yank it unless it would be of particular interest to your players. I'd also be willing to rework encounters up or down some to meet the current level of he party. Between the two of those you should be able to run the main plots of both adventures are around the correct levels.

 

[Ezequielramone]

You'll probably want to go something like HotDQ, then SKT, then RoT.

We are about to end HotDQ and want to run SKT and RoT at the same time.

I'd skip the intital hooks of SKT and just jump in with Hoard. But add some of the wandering encounters and random monsters of SKT. Replace some villiages passed through during the travel sections with giants behaving badly. Rather than teleport places in that module, include more overland travel for the sandbox.

In quite a few places ToD has really short levels, where a small scene and 2-3 fights is meant to grant a level. That might be good places for extra giant stuff. Maybe replace an encounter location you dislike with a giant lair.

I'd end SKT first. Near the end of ToD there's a bit where you're gathering allies. Early in that section you can do more of SKT to get the giants as allies. It fits in rather nicely. Then have the giants involved when bringing down Tiamat.

Random encounters is a great idea for mixing both adventures.

I wouldn't do this. It removes a large part of the fun for many players, and it doesn't really buy you much of anything in terms of simplicity.

You can abandon "XP for kill" if you want and give out XP based on other things e.g. "5000 * Chapter Number" per chapter finished, or XP based on specific quest goals. But abandoning XP entirely can make advancement feel arbitrary instead of earned, reducing the players' fun. It's typically done more for the DMs' convenience than for the players' sake, but it doesn't even really help.

I talked to my players and they are ok with this.

Thank you all for your time.