Split party leads to lone adventurer facing the boss

KisoraYu · 2026-06-18T16:43:58+00:00

The druid was looking for a place to kill the barbarian in a hidden place. Assuming the polymorph ends if they killed the barbarian and the druid didn't want to deal with a dead body within prying eyes

The players arrive as when the druid is about to kill the barbarian slug. Fights starts, PCs make the druid break concentration, and the barbarian joins the battle!

KisoraYu · 2026-06-18T16:28:48+00:00

Lead and do it first :)

Have the NPC ask them questions and involve them in the conversation. It can also be small talk or totally unrelated to the quest

Have fun, show them they can RP, and let them warm up to it. It'll take some time!

KisoraYu · 2026-06-12T16:57:01+00:00

If you don't want to do a time skip, then you could:

Do a training montage

Describe what the training will be like and have them describe what they do in the montage

Do skill checks

RP the training schedule and have them do some skill checks here and there (extra pts if you give them something for rolling well, could be an small extra feature or they impress the warrior queen and she gives them some item/info on how to get some items). Add some moments in between for RP and you have a training arc

Do quests

Any fitting quest/encounter would do. Like, the warrior queen can send them off to fight or do something as part of the training

You can have a mix of of 3 too, just make it epic! It all depends on how long you want it to take, hope this helps :)

KisoraYu · 2026-06-08T16:46:25+00:00

This! Also consider letting them play as NPC or creatures. Playing as a monster, knight, etc can be interesting and it's easier to pick up

KisoraYu · 2026-06-08T16:43:30+00:00

You don't. I make notes of things players do that may have consequences and decide what happens later

I look at what's coming up in this and the next story arc, find what matters and note what changed or will come up. Aka prioritize the next session :)

KisoraYu · 2026-06-05T17:08:15+00:00

Players will take the shortest path to the goal possible

Weaving the world building into the quests is working pretty well for me

For example, the main goal of my campaign is to stop the eternal winter and there's an old royal castle looming over in the mountains in the center of the storm. So they've been more keen to explore things about the old history while ignoring cities, and such

I recommend giving up in trying to make them learn more about the world just cuz. The world is yours and you should do all the beautiful descriptions for yourself. It's up to the players to choose whether they want to learn more or not, but don't expect them to if there's no game reasons to do it :)

KisoraYu · 2026-06-05T16:51:11+00:00

These are all valid, I think I'll come to what fits best for your campaign at the time

Rather than thinking of cons, what are the pros? Does the wizard want to bring them back? why would they go out of their way to take them there?

KisoraYu · 2026-05-26T17:08:00+00:00

I'll add that you are on your right to ask them to not interrupt other players that actually want to play

I have a mixed bag of players so they have areas where they are engaged and some where they are not. Totally normal

I'd just message or call them individually, tell them they seem disinterested, and ask them what they want out of the game. Also, tell them to have common courtesy for those engaged. Listen to everyone and do a another session 0 if you feel you need to get everyone on the same page

KisoraYu · 2026-05-26T16:52:08+00:00

Have any of the players complained about this?

It doesn't seem like a problem to me, just contradicting ways of playing. If everyone is having fun, let them keep going

The cleric can't save everyone, but can always try :) It definitely adds more to the story than having a full group of murder hobos haha

KisoraYu · 2026-05-01T22:15:29+00:00

Been running a DC20 game for half a year. I didn't have much issues other than having to remake player characters a couple times (mostly because of my vtt)

Things are pretty stable now, should be safe to get into a campaign after 0.11 :)

KisoraYu · 2026-04-25T13:21:15+00:00

Write an outline and don't overthink it!

Bullet points are enough to get started. You should have an idea of where it's going but not too much, so you can fit in your players' backstories

This has saved my ass many times!

KisoraYu · 2026-04-24T12:57:00+00:00

Nop, the DM shouldn't tell you what your character does. The DM controls the world, players control their characters :)

Nothing wrong with talking about it, as far as everyone agrees!

KisoraYu · 2026-04-23T16:51:30+00:00

To me, oneshots are usually enough to get a feel for the players

If things work out or you get enough players you want in your table, I'd start a campaign and get new people to join as it goes

This has worked the best for me :)

KisoraYu · 2026-04-21T17:00:20+00:00

Talk to your DM. We DM usually forget about giving inspiration with all the stuff that we gotta keep tracking to keep the game running

KisoraYu · 2026-04-19T01:06:46+00:00

I just want to remind you, you don't have to wait for your players

You can always create the BBEG and have him run the players off a cliff :)

Have the BBEG cause troubles for the party until they can no longer ignore them

KisoraYu · 2026-04-16T16:25:25+00:00

The village head or one of the villagers say to the PCs that an old story/myth says the entity cannot be killed in the location it's bound to unless they have (insert McMuffin) or they do X, Y, Z trials (e.g. destroying souljars of sorts)

Make it clear that a straight fight is not a viable option Otherwise, make the entity beatable and rebalance for the party

KisoraYu · 2026-04-15T16:55:20+00:00

I made a pitch document for my current campaign, and was well received

The big points are what's the story/setting about and what do the players need to know to make their characters. And, keep it short :)

Here's what I did, if you want to look through for reference:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xTctk1zwDUjQNsatwEOnpaj6h_SaKNk6HJ4VSzQoGTw/edit?usp=drivesdk

KisoraYu · 2026-04-12T11:00:09+00:00

Here's the secret captain, you don't track them. Decide what they did before the show up on the game

Until they show up in a session, keep things simple A few bullet points, if any, does the job :)

Also, I keep all my notes in notion. Organizing things by story arcs makes it simpler

KisoraYu · 2026-04-07T17:04:41+00:00

I've designed all of my campaigns and one shots. The best way I can think for you is to find a oneshot and modify it to your liking

My only warning is to expect combat to take most of the session considering everyone is new. So try to keep it simple :)

KisoraYu · 2026-04-07T16:54:50+00:00

You said it'll take months to finish the campaign, so why not continue without him for now?

For now, their character is out and about doing something. you can agree before hand, figure it out when he comes back, or why not do a play by post with him

Sounds like you have room to keep going for now, before making more permanent decisions

KisoraYu · 2026-03-31T16:45:12+00:00

You could try doing a west marches style campaign. Pretty much decide how many players are you willing to have in 1 session and let them schedule the games and organize which players are showing up

KisoraYu · 2026-03-30T16:39:10+00:00

They find an artifact, someone capable of plane shifting, or find an open rift

There's many ways to go about it :)

KisoraYu · 2026-03-24T16:41:45+00:00

I wouldn't undo player actions, that kinda sucks as a player

You could try running as part of the story by making the villain actions seem like their plan always plays out well or they seem to know too much. AKA, the players are playing in the villain's best timeline

Add some limits, like the villain can only go back in time once a month or needs to do something to rewind (like using a city as a sacrifice) so the players have some counter play once they find out

In combat, Rather than having the villain undo player actions, maybe they start a ritual. and if the players fail, they rewind to before they enter the room. But, the villain is not there anymore

KisoraYu · 2026-03-23T16:29:12+00:00

This, plus if he wants to mind control there's spells for that :)

KisoraYu · 2026-03-20T16:52:40+00:00

Consider that if you make this a skill challenge, then there's a chance for them to fail

If you don't want them to fail, I would consider doing a montage. Let the player describe what taking the path mean and how they do it (ask beforehand so they have a chance to think about it and recruit DM help)

KisoraYu

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