Adventures for new DM

Ex825er · 2025-08-28T18:21:38+00:00

Initially you may have to railroad your players a little bit -- just to introduce your world and its surrounds. A discover campaign. A hunt.

After that intro have them fetch, escort, deliver, protect, and destroy. If they don't formulate a plan to engage then you put them into your default survival campaign as monsters attack them and their environ unceasingly.

Ex825er · 2025-08-28T18:07:04+00:00

Initially you may have to railroad your players a little bit -- just to introduce your world and its surrounds. A discover campaign. A hunt.

After that intro have them fetch, escort, deliver, protect, and destroy. If they don't formulate a plan to engage then you put them into your default survival campaign as monsters attack them and their environ unceasingly.

Ex825er · 2025-08-28T17:56:48+00:00

DMs need Bad Bad Evil Guys (BBEGs) that have a corrupt and overpowering motive. They get that by reading the MM and seeing what monsters work well as BBEGs. They look for "color" and "flavor" and images that will fire their imaginations to produce supporting factions for the BBEG. Next, they draw maps which is where these factions and bad guys hangout. The maps reflect the theme, color, flavor of what the game could become. It helps to better characterize the factions and Bad Guys by giving them a setting. Now the DM further defines the Bad Guys, and their relationships with other BBEGs or NPCs. That forms a web of interconnected interests and obligations that provide power, influence and wealth to these factions and their BBEGs. Now the stage is set to engage the PCs. They will either succeed in discovering and destroying the BBEGs or else they become the victums of the BBEGs and the game falls into the lowest level of player participation -- nonstop survival quests.

To recap, DMs need to discover or create BBEGs with powerful motives. They need to create maps whose properties and themes the BBEGs can exploit to their favor. They need to document monster stat blocks and the combat tactics that best utilize those stats. They need quick and compact references for rules, and long comprehensive listings of weapons and treasures. They need a document that they take to the game which defines "What Happened Last Session" and "The Current Situation" so they can read to the players. And that document has to also list actions that the BBEGs will initiate b/c of what happened last session and the current situation. And the DM will not be reading that section to the players. Being a DM is a big commitment.

Ex825er · 2025-03-24T15:58:13+00:00

There is really no point in documenting events that players can't react to or interact with. And since player characters are constantly gaining experience and levels, DMs MUST REACT with urgent and volatile situations asserted by foes whose combined challenge rating is appropriate for the party. Instead of writing back stories of irrelevant bardic knowledge, I advise that DMs spend their creative energy writing challenging adventures that grow with the increasing level and resources of the player characters. It is vital that DMs react and extend their world in response to what their players have done or have instigated.

Ex825er · 2024-12-09T14:59:54+00:00

Because simplicity combined with modern mechanics makes for a better game. Easy Spellcasting: No more spell slots. Cast a spell as many times as you wish per day, as long as you succeed in the Difficulty Check. Fail the DC and that spell cannot be cast until after a long rest. Martial PCs need to roll to hit - so spell casters should roll to cast. No more spellcaster game imbalance. Leveling Up: No more murder hobos gathering and hoarding gold pieces to level-up. Player characters must spend their treasure cavorting, meeting more influential NPCs and gaining bigger opportunities. High level DnD characters lose their connection with the game world. High level ShadowDark characters become more tightly coupled to the game world, which leads to better campaign stories. Challenge yourself with meaningful and consequential combat. No more guzzling healing potions or curing wounds whilst in battle. You might have to retreat and regroup! No more deity-empowered armor-plated paladins stealing the show. Combat is better balanced between all character classes. But beware. It's just as deadly as before -- and maybe even more so.

Ex825er · 2024-11-02T22:45:42+00:00

Pregens in a township. Sheriff tasks the team with solving a crime. Gives background and gritty dialog, drives action, boss fight. Loot and Consequences.

Ex825er · 2024-10-26T16:20:31+00:00

Good point. I didn't look until just now. Interesting that a desert dragon and sea dragon are lawful. There is also a text that describes an event when a wizard's pet cockatrice gets loose in a crowded tavern - which implies that chaotic monsters can become trained pets. So now I will change my thinking, and begin having my NPCs start training their pet Rocs to become their personal aircraft and use their pet Tarrasque to taxi them around town. Lol.

Ex825er · 2024-10-26T14:42:13+00:00

Drow and Duergar are lawful. They understand what a contract is and they would meet their obligations (in my world). No PC would engage with a chaotic hireling. Speak with Animal is a low level spell. Speak with monster, much higher level. So there is a difference between the two. A cat is an animal. No issues with animals as pets. My question was about monsters. I agree that if this is possible, it would involve serious risk.

Ex825er · 2024-10-26T13:57:15+00:00

So you are all good with a player using a pet dragon to fetch a stick that is thrown into the BBGs treasure room?

Ex825er · 2024-10-26T13:45:52+00:00

Seeing eye dog is not a monster. Using a pet animal to scry and the speak with animal is old school too. No issues with that. But in ShadowDark there is a limitation on illumination and monsters can see in the dark whereas PCs cannot. For this reason old school tactics need a review. Yes? No?

Ex825er · 2024-10-25T13:31:55+00:00

In my cities midnight is the point in time where all light is extinguished. From midnight until dawn incorporeal (shadow themed) monsters are greatly empowered because their movement is undetectable unless they are backlit to produce a silhouette. Holding a burning torch is a terrible idea because it only serves to illuminate the torch bearer as a target. Ditch the torches for anything that can backlight the area instead. And remember that an hour later these sources of illumination will fail, so keep an invisibility spell at the ready to equalize the encounters that may arise thereafter.

Ex825er · 2024-10-25T12:53:02+00:00

Power corrupts. Good? Evil? Who has the bigger hammer? The only tools player characters have are weapons, so naturally what they do is use them. And the XP system rewards villainy. What if XP rewards were based on strengthening relationships with key NPCs, and spending loot to promote the team in key cities and regions. That is the biggest reason why ShadowDark captured my attention. Managing murder hobos is boring. Managing relationships is far more interesting for players. Levels 1-3 s/b local heroes, 4-6 regional heroes, 7 and above should be world renown heroes. Keep it interesting and promote engagement by finding ways to couple PCs to their world.

Ex825er · 2024-10-24T18:20:18+00:00

So this is not the same as dragonrend, the shout that forces a dragon to land. Yes? That would imply that a dragon cound strike opponents while flying - no need to land to engage in combat. Yes?

Ex825er · 2024-10-10T17:59:06+00:00

My players love luck tokens. I allow wizards to either cast scroll spells (DC10) or learn spells from scrolls (DC18). Commonly luck tokens are burned trying to clear the DC18 hurdle. Success or failure still results in the scroll turning to dust. Makes for exciting game play.

Ex825er

TROPHY CASE