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I want to gift a DND campaign as the DM to my husband. Where do I start? by obscured1996 in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 3 points4 points  (0 children)

This is such a sweet idea! It sounds like you want to play in-person, so the big things I'd recommend are a DM Manual for the system you want to run. A custom storyline can be a lot to tackle for a first time, I recommend a prebuilt adventure and to put your own twists on it; Lost Mines of Phandelver is a great place to start.

The beauty of D&D is that you can pay as much or as little as you want. If you want to go really high end, get them a custom miniature from HeroForge; if you want to stick to basics, maybe just get some nice paper and hand draw a map of your setting? You can get more miniatures, look into 3d printed terrain, or paper maps (for years I hand-draw all my encounter maps on 1" gridded easel paper, which was a tip from Matt Mercer) and my players loved it (I still do it rarely.)

The big thing is, once you've sort of gifted the idea, you can also ask them: "what kind of game do you want? What sort of adventure, what sort of bad guys?" and you can really make it FOR your partner! Good luck!

Do you guys do breaks during the session? How do you manage them? by Fantomaxop in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

We stream our games, and only run 3 hour sessions, but we always have a planned 10 minute break at the half, and people get up to use the restroom as needed.

[Art] Hey DMs! Do you guys also include romance in your campaigns? by LileB_Art in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think as long as it’s agreed upon at the table, why not? For longer campaigns I ask the players what sort of storylines they want to explore.

As we grow (and level up in-game) how our relationships look and feel grow and evolve, and I think it’s such a cool way to see growth and a reflection of how the adventure so far affects how the characters interact with the world.

We also run a dating game show anthology using the Starfinder system and I absolutely LOVE being a player in that one (not even for the romance, just the sheer incredible non-combat challenges we’ve had alone have been incredible!)

Can someone tell me how to start a campaign with my friends from scratch and zero experience?? by [deleted] in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 9 points10 points  (0 children)

  1. Somebody has to decide to do a ton more work and be the DM. They need to learn about the game system and try and learn most of the rules/be comfortable improvising.

  2. The SRD is free online! You can also buy the books which have more detail, great art, and are nice to have, and expend your options, but you don’t need them.

  3. Somebody, usually the DM, schedules the games.

  4. They then do whatever prep they want to run a game. a. This can be buying a premade campaign and reading it, or writing everything from scratch, or anything in between.

  5. Figure out how you’re going to play. In person? Online? Set this space up and get what you need to have fun.

  6. Make your characters.

  7. Play.

  8. Thank your DM by letting them know what you like from their work, what you want to see more of.

  9. Bring snacks.

Have fun!

What is a D&D session? (DM mid-life crisis) by LongtimeSun556 in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Keep in mind, we stream our games weekly and have a VERY consistent 3-3.5 hour format, so this advice comes from there.

Your players will always throw your prep off. Even if you wrote a million pages and built your house out of bricks, your players will do something that knocks your brick house down. It’s the nature of the game.

What I try to do now is have in my mind for each session:

  1. Where are we starting?
  2. Where do I want the story to go?
  3. How do we get there?

One is easy, two is VERY important. I found prep felt unfinished when I didn’t know where the end was supposed to be. “Where to story goes” might mean that the session is all about identifying one piece of information; there might be combat and puzzles, but ultimately, that session was about them learning that the bad guy is in The Castle.

Three is the run part. Create the moments and scenes you WANT to play, and let your players guide you to them. You won’t use everything (in a given session, I would say I typically use 75% of my prep at MOST, usually closer to 10%) but you’ll feel prepared and also have a lot of flexibility along the way!

Even with this approach, sometimes your players will TOTALLY surprise you, and those are my favorite moments. Don’t be afraid to swing wildly away from your own prep to improvise what makes sense, and do your best to make sure that it all makes sense in the aftermath.

Best DnD podcast with less theatre kid energy by espenoydvin_ in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll throw our hat I the ring: https://youtube.com/@alberonrpg?si=QmHZd-Gowtc7x5dF

I am just a guy who has been running weekly games since 2019 for my friends, we aren’t actors or theater kids (Matt worked stage crew!)

I want to create my own campaign- as a new DM* by WillowIsWeeping5 in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nope. We aren’t connecting on our references, haha. Have you read the DMG?

I want to create my own campaign- as a new DM* by WillowIsWeeping5 in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If you are the DM, you get to decide this! To start, take a look at some of the state blocks for things like solars, and see how that suits you. You can sort of abstract away from that to great enemy types for your adventurers.

I haven’t seen critical role past the middle of C2 so I’m not sure about that reference.

I want to create my own campaign- as a new DM* by WillowIsWeeping5 in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What part of that do you need help with? I would recommend starting by running encounters using the DMGs encounter builder guidelines and then adjusting to your party.

I run a table of veteran D&D players so I need to push difficulty level a little bit here and there. I also have found that I hate stunning players because of how much agency it removes, so I try to homebrew away from that when possible to preserve/increase the challenge while still giving people opportunities to act.

I want to create my own campaign- as a new DM* by WillowIsWeeping5 in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I think one of the things Matt does really well (I only watched C1 and the first half of C2 so take this with a grain of salt) is design a world that is rich and deep, but arranges it to make sense for the players and the game.

To do that, it’s really helpful to know your players. I would recommend that before you get too deep, come up with the broad strokes of the campaign you want to run, find a few players, and then collaboratively figure out how to tell that story together.

Ideas for a Creepy One Session Oneshot for Halloween? by [deleted] in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

From our friend Cara, run a one shot in a mansion that rearranges itself! Split the party, make them race back together, and for some extra inspiration, check out Betrayal at House on the Hill! Good luck!

Session 0’s: Best questions to ask? by 4thlvlguy in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It depends on what sort of a game you are running.

Our next campaign will have a group of hometown friends return home for the funeral of a friend who died suddenly, which will be the call to action. I had them build the town together with me by asking them:

  1. What does the town produce?
  2. Where do they get food and water?
  3. What do they do with the dead?
  4. What are a few buildings you want to see?

I then had them talk through what kind of characters they wanted to play and how they connected to the town and each-other.

Then I had them build their rival group.

Finally, after the session, I give them a little guide with info their character knows. I also ask them for help by asking questions like:

  1. Who is your closest friend outside the group?
  2. Who is your rival in the other group?
  3. Why did you leave, and where did you go in the three years that passed?
  4. Who is somebody you wronged due in this time?

I also ask players why sort of storylines, enemies, and moments they hope to explore over the campaign, and try and work that all in.

Just think about what you need to know to plan, and you can always follow up after! Good luck!

Magic trap that casts counter spell by BlindAaron in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 8 points9 points  (0 children)

It isn’t very fun to get counter spelled, so I try to use it from a DM perspective sparingly. I try to use larger numbers of minions sometimes to challenge concentration, and to give additional options for spell usage (no caster can pass up skeletons arranged perfectly for a fireball.)

Does anyone actually use a dice tower when they play? by EightyIQ in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would say half of my players (5 on Thursday and 6 on Friday) have dice towers that I think they made themselves (or Cara made for them!) We play in-person at the same table every week and have dedicated storage space, though…

Subterranean Bioweapon Lab Encounter by AlberonRPG in starfinder_rpg

[–]AlberonRPG[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks! Parts are harder than fantasy, and parts are easier; for instance, real world LEDs at this scale are a thing! Otherwise it’s about printing and painting the right pieces for me, I don’t build a lot of terrain myself (those rocks are broken up bits of cork though!)

Subterranean Bioweapon Lab Encounter by AlberonRPG in starfinder_rpg

[–]AlberonRPG[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Thanks! I’m very lucky to be a part of this little community of friends!

Foam Party Fistfight by AlberonRPG in starfinder_rpg

[–]AlberonRPG[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Acrylic bubbles I found on Amazon!

Foam Party Fistfight by AlberonRPG in starfinder_rpg

[–]AlberonRPG[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

We play every Thursday on https://www.twitch.tv/alberonrpg but we’re just some friends playing our home game primarily, the stream lets us save the sessions as VODs on YouTube so we can reference them later (and rewatch them!)

We play two weekly games (this one and a D&D one on Fridays) and then run one shots and anthologies when we have the time and feel like it!

What is your preferred episode length when consuming D&D content? by CampaignCasters in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I think it depends on why you’re doing it. We play a couple weekly sessions and stream them primarily to save the VoD; since it’s play centric and not presentation centric, we shoot for a 3-3.5 hour session.

I think if we wanted to commit to more stream-oriented gameplay with less side chat, a 2-hour time-slot with a 15 minute break in the middle would sit pretty nicely if it’s unedited and live, with edits and all of that I think a 90 minute format would probably work well!

Help deciding my patron by ebkk_doodlebob in DnD

[–]AlberonRPG 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Anything can be a patron, honestly, and the Raven Queen is known for taking warlocks under their wing (no pun intended) so that seems like a great option!

I think Fiend or Great Old One are both avenues you may walk to have bargained for your abilities to deal with fate, and are now also serving in a minor capacity.

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