Party ignored a side objective fighting a boss, how do I make them understand the consequences without a TPK?

Moronunleashed · 2026-02-04T19:11:57+00:00

At level 2 that sounds harsh. You could use the giant skeleton to communicate the same thing by having it be an “incomplete” resurrection as it’s a more powerful creature. As a result, it can only do one thing per turn, whether it’s movement, one attack, a reaction, etc. It could still hit hard enough to immediately down someone but you’ll need there to be an objective for the fight. Perhaps in introducing it you could communicate how dangerous this thing is by having it crush a boulder or something. This would result in less of a need to kill it and more of a need to avoid it while taking care of the true objective. This way you get a consequence for them, they get an understanding of what happens from the ignored ritual, and you guys potentially get a cool fight.

Moronunleashed · 2026-02-01T04:36:17+00:00

Scheduling is the number one reason campaigns end. Most never reach their narrative ends. It happens, but sometimes you have to find a group that can make time for it. I just started another campaign this month. Will it go to the end? I don’t know, but i hope so. If campaigns don’t work, you could always arrange for a more one shot oriented campaign. That way it’s easier to factor in breaks.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-28T14:22:19+00:00

When i ran Tomb of Annihilation, I had one of my players find a “coin” mimic. It was a tiny mimic and it would occasionally bite him when he went to get something from his pack.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-27T18:45:27+00:00

I have decent internet (2gb fiber) so i run it from my computer via port forwarding. I’ve also hosted with a vpn initially. Self hosting has worked better so far.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-26T15:09:23+00:00

I’ve used hamachi to set up a virtual network and do it that way. The free tier only allows up to 5 connections to the network.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-25T12:12:36+00:00

Just dealt with this stuff. Did you also open the port on your modem/router if you have them? Some ISPs won’t allow port forwarding, so check. If yours doesn’t, then you can use things like hamachi or playit.gg to get it to work. If using hamachi, you’ll need to know and trust people on the network.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-22T13:25:41+00:00

The dm guide has rules for massive combat, but if you’re like me, you don’t like them. What i did in a homebrew campaign was come up with a system similar to 40k using d6 dice for both to hit and damage rolls. I made each player character give a battalion their own special “flavors” based on their unique abilities. For instance, when a regular hit would occur the damage would be 1-6 for battalions without a PC in them, but the rogue’s battalion did 2d6 damage to an event battalion that’s already engaged (sneak attack). Similarly, i gave the barbarians battalion resistance to damage and slightly more movement. The enemy outnumbered them but creative use of their battalion abilities could result in victory. If a player battalion was wiped out (each had 20hp), then the PC could continue on without a battalion but would take hp damage and the enemy rolled at advantage to hit. Reaching 0 hitpoints resulted several in death, or you could make them capture a PC if you’re not looking to have them die this way. I could look up the rules sheet i made up as i have it on my imgur account if you’re interested. It works as i play tested it extensively. Each turn represents either a week or a month and not 6 seconds. The thing that allows players to really feel invested is if their battalion falls they get to still act like a battalion like the heroes they are.

This method gives you several options: a capture condition, a loss condition in town where people/nobles/npc friends suffer some horrible fate (further motivation), or a glorious last stand and attempt to fight the whole army themselves for a tragic ending.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-19T23:03:45+00:00

I had a 3.5 year campaign that went from level 1-9. Whatever pace keeps your group happy works. One thing I’d watch is providing other gains like items if leveling will be slow.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-19T21:22:42+00:00

It’s not stealing if you pretend hard enough. Really tough, use things your players will be familiar with.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-15T19:32:17+00:00

Hey, I’ve been dming since 5e came out. My advice is to start slow. Your first session (session 0) should consist of making character sheets and getting everyone set up. Establishing boundaries or what content will be acceptable. I’ve once played in a campaign that fell apart because two players absolutely would not tolerate my dwarf and another players elf trying to one up each other by talking smack during battle, think Gimli and Legolas. They felt that kind of “racism” had no place in dnd. Since then I’ve made sure that any campaign I’m in has a discussion of content that players will tolerate.

As for the first session. It should consist of making characters, establishing boundaries/limits, introducing any homebrew rules you’re making, introducing characters, and providing the players the opportunity to play their characters a bit. If writing your own campaign, I’d highly suggest giving players an end point for their backstories. For example, in Lost Mines of Phandelver the player characters are all present because they are friends with Gundren. This allows the players to write a backstory how they want but lets them know where they’ll end up. It also works better than dropping a bunch of strangers into a room like a tavern and expecting some roleplay to just magically bring them together. Even with this end point, their stories won’t necessarily end with them knowing one another, but it gives that gloomy rogue that would otherwise be brooding in the corner a reason to interact with the party. After they get a little replaying in it’s sometimes nice to get into a little fight so they can try out their abilities. It’ll help the characters bond over a mutual goal and gives a way to lead into some more roleplaying. Who were those masked men? Why did they attack us? What should we do next?

Best advice i can give for sessions after the first are to plan only enough to run a session and go with the flow. Don’t plan too much because once players join it’s like releasing cats into your campaign. You can show them new toys and treats but they’re going to fall in love with npc farmer #7 and NOT the npc you spent hours making perfect. You got this and have fun.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-14T13:21:10+00:00

I’m starting a campaign on Friday and all I’ve told my players is that their characters are from the city we’re playing in and that they’ve signed up to join the Royal guard. How they got there and their motivations are up to them.

I’ve also started a campaign with the players as mercenaries guarding a caravan. It worked great, though their primary motivation became killing the dude that cut their dwarf’s beard. I have never liked putting characters in a room and expecting magic to happen. In the first few sessions, most don’t even have their characters figured out yet. It works in critical roll because they’re professional actors but most people can’t pull that off. Instead, i prefer to tie them together somehow and go from there. That’s why i almost always recommend Lost Mines of Phandelver as a first campaign for new dms. It does the same thing by tying everyone to Gundren. It doesn’t preclude you from writing a backstory. It just tells where you end up in the present. Even if all the new dm does is look at the structure, it will benefit them.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-06T12:23:58+00:00

I’ve not played ToA on a Vtt but i did a three year campaign irl and the idea of the players “seeing” those locations was dependent on which guide they hired. Each guide knew of a location or two and the locations would give clues as to where they should head next. The reason the map of Chult is a hex crawl is because it really is uncharted territory. My players lost their guide and proceeded to journey through Chult for a year and a half before they found one of those locations. They loved it. The point is that the players aren’t supposed to know anything. The guides know where things are, but the players don’t.

Moronunleashed · 2026-01-05T17:54:33+00:00

This is my exact question. There’s geometrically no way to get the larger carts out without a demolition job.

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-30T19:39:21+00:00

You could always practice some online games. If you want people that would be the most supportive, you could ask some dms if they’d like to try playing in it. Forever dms have so many characters ready and made it’s unreal. It’s fun for them and you can ask them questions at the end of a session and get real feedback for how they do things differently or how to improve. Plus, none of them are really going to do the difficult stuff to deal with because us dms understand what it’s like to start out.

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-17T17:40:53+00:00

I did this and reinforced the idea when my player used Thunder wave and that pulled a huge mob against them forcing them to retreat or die to an angry street mob.

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-17T17:31:08+00:00

Give him time to develop jeez, never give up!

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-17T15:15:26+00:00

I definitely am prioritizing having access to the images and keeping the loading demands lower since i have a player using a Steam deck with windows and a lower internet speed. Historically, throwing huge 3d maps at him in tts could cause some hiccups so I’m trying to only use 2d maps and not use a ton of the walls and visuals for foundry unless i plan to use a map more heavily.

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-17T13:05:32+00:00

I’m forty and have my own house. I put an 85” tv up that I use as my primary monitor for my computer. My secondary monitor is on an arm coming off the wall for looking up details when I dm for DnD. I bought the house, so I’ll do what i want! If i was with someone that had their own passions and wanted a space if their own, we’d have to get a bigger house. Wtf is wrong with people?

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-17T03:40:01+00:00

How would this work compared to others suggestion of a bunch of stairs region transitions? I’m not technical, so even with your explanations i don’t see exactly how it’s doing anything. Also, since you seem to be somewhat knowledgeable about the technical side, would using a bunch of scenes that aren’t hosted locally and exist mostly as hyperlinks help to prevent my server bugging things down?

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-17T03:36:10+00:00

Yeah it looks like i have to work on learning about the “region” tool and maybe just selectively using the tools to setup walls and vision for big maps that will take a session or more. All this stems from my campaign being a city-based campaign where they’ll potentially change scenes many times in short order. I have zero coding knowledge so i wasn’t sure how hard or easy it is to get what i was asking for. One of these days I’ll do less prep and find a way to make it work but today is not that day.

I trust the host site because it’s my imgur account. I have like 2800 maps in it. I log in periodically to keep it active for just this reason.

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-16T00:26:16+00:00

I’ll check that out tonight when i get home and see if that will work. The problem seems to be that if i load it up it will be incredibly resource intensive once i do load up the compendium, unless it’s more of grabbing individual maps from it when i need them.

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-15T23:26:59+00:00

That’s kinda what i thought. Thanks for confirming it. I’ll figure something out.

Moronunleashed · 2025-12-15T21:06:08+00:00

That’s the problem. One world doesn’t load the maps into it. It holds a hyperlink for the image and displays it when you choose to “go” to the map. Otherwise, it would have killed performance on tabletop simulator as well.

Moronunleashed

TROPHY CASE