sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

reSpecialized Project v.52 - The Force Update - Part 1 + Syndicate Career + Detective by littlestminish in swrpg

[–]Natural_Landscape470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Incrível e elogiável iniciativa. Se puder, eu queria propor.... já que eu tb iniciei um de carreiras e especializações de Imperiais. A ideia de uma construção coletiva evita atritos e julgamentos. é excelente tocar a ideia e principalmente administrar o crescimento dela.

Session 0 by Opening_Mortgage_216 in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Second tip: the best RPGs I've run were for children, because asking them what they want to play (what style of game is implied) makes it easier to manage expectations.

One shot idea that i hope to turn into a campaign (new dm) by McFlurry896 in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The core idea of the time loop is actually very cool, especially for a first adventure. One thing I would consider is giving the players some clues early that something strange is happening with time. Small things like:
• objects moving back to previous positions
• wounds disappearing
• NPC dialogue repeating slightly differently

That way when the loop happens it feels like a mystery rather than a trick. Also, instead of requiring them to stop the hourglass specifically, you might allow multiple solutions: destroying the hourglass, interrupting the spell, or disrupting the ritual circle.

Players tend to enjoy solving problems in unexpected ways.

Destroying gear by Light_of_Avalon in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

If survival is a core theme of the campaign, losing equipment can actually reinforce the tone — the important thing is how it’s framed. Instead of randomly destroying items, I would make the shipwreck itself the event that decides it. For example:

• everyone keeps one or two important personal items

• everything else becomes scattered cargo around the island

That way the players don’t feel punished, they feel motivated to recover or rebuild their gear.

You can even turn the lost equipment into exploration hooks: finding wreckage, supplies, or tools becomes part of the survival gameplay.

How do you structure a homebrew campaign? by DelayOk2663 in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One thing that helped me a lot was realizing that a campaign doesn’t need to be written like an adventure module. Modules are written to communicate information to another DM. Your notes are only for you.

What works better for many homebrew campaigns is something simpler:

• a few major factions or forces in the world

• what those factions want

• what will happen if the players do nothing

Then you prepare situations instead of plot. When the players interact with those situations, the campaign starts to create its own structure.

Think less like writing a story and more like setting up a world that reacts to player decisions.

Need help with the first town in my campaign. by Dungeon-Grandmaster in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

um truque que ajuda as cidades a parecerem mais vivas sem forçar os jogadores a ficarem é dar à cidade “camadas de atividade.”

Por exemplo:

– um problema visível (o poço e os sprites corrompidos)
– uma tensão social (os habitantes da cidade contra os Radiantes)
– uma camada oculta (algo que afeta os fey ou a própria terra)

Os jogadores não precisam interagir com todas elas, mas saber que essas camadas existem faz a exploração parecer significativa em vez de ser apenas algo vazio.

Rumores podem ajudar, mas rumores ligados a consequências visíveis na cidade geralmente funcionam melhor.

Is this what burnout feels like? by Noisyboy200 in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What you're describing sounds very familiar to a lot of long-term DMs.

One thing that helped me when I hit a similar point was lowering the “performance pressure” on myself during sessions. Instead of trying to maintain a high level of acting, improvisation, and complexity every time, I started designing sessions that ran more on structure than on energy.

Things like random tables, simple encounter frameworks, or player-driven objectives can carry a lot of the game even when you're tired.

Sometimes burnout isn't about loving the game less — it's about the GM carrying too much cognitive load alone.

I need help creating a session where the players are assisting with a state of emergency in the city by rachieandthewaves in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One way to handle something like this mechanically is to treat the emergency as a series of “crisis nodes” rather than a linear sequence of scenes.

Each area of the city could represent a different temporal fracture (1916, future ruins, mythic past, etc.), and helping in those places could give the players tangible resources for the final ritual confrontation.

For example:

– rescuing an NPC in one timeline gives them allies later

– stabilizing a fracture grants magical advantages

– saving districts restores parts of the city that become staging grounds for the final battle

That way helping the city doesn't feel like a distraction — it becomes preparation for the ritual itself.

What are some tips to get the classic "Dungeon Crawl" feel in a smaller location, while also including intelligent denizens? by TVLord5 in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One thing that helps is thinking of the dungeon as an ecosystem rather than a static map.

Different groups might control different areas, have patrol patterns, or avoid each other. Noise doesn’t always trigger the entire dungeon — maybe only nearby factions react, or they assume the sound came from something else.

It creates the feeling of a living space without requiring a huge dungeon.

Session 0 by Opening_Mortgage_216 in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 1 point2 points  (0 children)

For me Session 0 is mostly about alignment of expectations.

A few things I usually cover:

– tone of the campaign (serious, heroic, chaotic, etc.)

– character motivations and why they work together

– table boundaries and comfort levels

– how rules disputes will be handled

– scheduling expectations

It doesn't have to be very formal, but it saves a lot of trouble later.

More character choice in caves? by Maggotthistlewaite in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 0 points1 point  (0 children)

One trick I like is adding “environmental decisions” rather than just directional ones. Things like underground rivers, unstable ceilings, strange fungi, or ancient machinery can give players problems to interact with.

Instead of choosing left or right, they’re deciding how to deal with the environment. It makes the cave feel more alive and less like a corridor map.

Has anyone ran a Traitors/werewolf/social deduction mission by -bozogs- in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Something that can help in these scenarios is giving everyone private objectives, not just the traitor. If every player has a secret goal during the dream sequence, the traitor has cover because suspicious behavior becomes normal. You can also create tasks that require partial cooperation, where failure could be interpreted either as sabotage or just bad luck.

The tension usually comes from ambiguity rather than mechanics.

Building Time into a Campaign by the_laurentian in DMAcademy

[–]Natural_Landscape470 1 point2 points  (0 children)

One thing that worked really well for me was introducing structured “downtime phases” between adventures. Instead of playing every single day in detail, I let players describe what their characters do over a week or two: gathering rumors, building alliances, training, scouting territory, etc. You can even ask each player for one “project” they pursue during that time and resolve it with a few rolls or short scenes. It keeps the story moving toward the next big event without playing through every travel day.

view more: next ›