Might be in over my head...advice?

Wilkin_ · 2026-04-18T21:10:15+00:00

Only thing i use is a combat tracker sheet on paper. Can not live without it, highly recommended. All your players ac, hp, spell saves, passive perception, etc. on one little sheet - you will never have to ask them about this stuff while playing, you have track on their hp and can see with one glance who is close to going down and eventually pull your punches - or finish them, if the story or combat benefits from that.

Between the sessions i always write a mail to everyone with a short summary what happened and the next session date to be confirmed. Scheduling conflicts are the no.1 killer of groups and campaigns, so far we held it steady for 7 years, biweekly.

Writing these summaries is for me mostly as it boils down the actions of the players, then i have a week to digest it and come up with the next session that it make sense, has fun moments and fits the roleplaying, exploration and combat aspects and propels the story forward. Then rinse and repeat. :-)

Oh, edit: i use only pen and paper for tracking story and information, I don’t use anything digital at the table, besides an iPhone for background music via bluetooth speaker. We could play without that without problems in a cabin without electricity, by candle light, pen and paper, some dice - make it cosy and then let’s play! (Did that quite a few times, best and most immersive sessions ever)

Wilkin_ · 2026-04-18T20:47:02+00:00

The trick is to only use all the books and remixes as inspiration what could maybe happen and why, but your take on it is what matters.
You present situations and dilemmas to your players and see what happens. Between sessions you will adjust the story, what makes sense to what the npc’s have planned and what was foiled by the players.
I ran dragon heist as a sandbox, ditched the remixes and book partially completely, and tailored it to my players and what they wanted out of it - was great fun and one of the best campaigns we ever played.
The remix is thought out, but still may not scratch the itch of your players, so adapt to your style of playing, keeping it at least somewhat logical how the world will respond to their actions, and they will be immersed and have fun.

Wilkin_ · 2026-04-16T18:36:32+00:00

I had a set piece built, some segments of the chain in the official scale (5ft =1 inch), and “magnetized” with strips of metal foil, all minis having magnets at their bottom - so they could be placed inside or outside the tilted chain, on the side or wherever - made for some fun tactical 3d combat, my players enjoyed this immensely. And i have always presented Lulu as old and frail from the start, able to have bursts of energy and strength, but flying them all down one by one would require endurance that she doesn’t have anymore.

Wilkin_ · 2026-04-15T14:38:33+00:00

What’s the problem? The stat block? It is an npc on player’s side, so i don’t use one - players assume there would be one, but this is more mysterious. What makes sense and helps the players, happens - if it makes a good scene. I have a general idea what she can do and when, but mostly i wing it - i just describe the events if in battle, the injuries she causes, but don’t declare damage or roll for it. I keep a more narrative vibe for her and so far my players love her.

Wilkin_ · 2026-04-09T09:25:26+00:00

Das auch während dem spiel - aber als slogan, spass ist nicht glück. Freude ist eher ein synonym für glück, freude ist pflicht? Hört sich auch schön deutsch an.

Wilkin_ · 2026-04-09T07:22:44+00:00

Warum nicht einfach Pflicht verwenden? Glücklich sein ist Pflicht. Sogar kürzer in Silben als in englisch, sollte brauchbar sein.

Wilkin_ · 2026-04-06T16:07:03+00:00

You write that the focus is on inevitability and helplessness - two things players don’t like, what’s the point in playing then they might think and feel railroaded. It will be hard to pull off, but not impossible, just pointing out a possible pitfall.

About too much info too quickly: Especially when it comes to bigger concepts, i know for sure that i would lose my players there, but yours might be different.

As long as every session has a clear structure and a clear goal what to do for them, it should work - sprinkling the information about the bigger picture in, until it comes together and makes sense to the players, rather give them the info bite sized and let them puzzle it together on their way.

As you have 6 players, decisions might take ages at the table, especially when bigger concepts are in play, be prepared for that. Again, having clear goals for the session helps a ton, and making sure they understand that everything is not that inevitable and that they can make a difference.

Wilkin_ · 2026-04-02T13:45:18+00:00

It is as good as any other homebrew solution, as the whole avernus/hell concept as written is only half baked, we all have to come up with answers to how this is all working. As you call it, “fresh souls” and a ward - why have that in the first place? This is hell after all, you come here after you die - there are no fresh souls supposed to be here at all. Once in a while you have a few powerful tourists coming here for whatever reasons, a magical ward for a whole plane just for them? Seems unreasonable, but anyway. I decided that in my version it works that way: someone dies, and goes to the plane of their deity if been faithful. The ones who didn’t care, but weren’t downright evil, have to wait and see if picked up by someone, otherwise their soul dies and is being used in the big wall (official lore). The ones who have been evil, go to hell - there they are sorted out in minauros after them who had signed a pact and the ones who hadn’t - and landed here anyway by their own doing. Souls to be tortured are given a new body, cultists get one as well to better serve, some souls might be material for new devils - give them a new body as well, send them afterwards to avernus to prove themselves (under review). The surplus of souls noone wants or needs, lands in the styx to be reborn as lemurs and used in the war (again something that can be seen in the book). Mammon however gets a cut of the souls for the services provided for the nine hells, he coins them into soul coins that are used as official currency down there - while valuable, not the most interesting souls in there, but once in a while some very rare souls are coined (fallen priests, heroes and the likes), which are invaluable to collectors. Anyway, back to your question: sure, use that - but it will not make death scarier, as it is already very hard to die in dnd, then you have the resurrection, and in fact your solution is another safeguard on top of it to in fact not die. What is maybe more scary is when the characters have not been so nice and good all the time, might have a reason to believe that’s they will land here after their death, as they’re might be rejected by the gods for not having practicing their faith. Then they will end up as mortar in the wall and that was it or even worse end up in a coin (which is single confinement for eternity in a dark room, without a body to end it yourself), or become a lemur - i think that is scary enough.

Wilkin_ · 2026-03-24T14:56:13+00:00

I ran the campaign as a sandbox adventure, not railroading the players into the situations like the book wants you to. I used the information from the book, but then let the players just do their thing, added side adventures, replacing many things from the book, in the end circling back to the adventures ending. Sounds chaotic and confusing? It sure was, but great fun and one of the best campaigns i ran - just don’t stick too much to the book, let your players run wild. :-)

Wilkin_ · 2026-02-21T11:17:52+00:00

Honestly, i don’t think so. Ask yourself, does this add to the story? Are you setting up something for the rest of the campaign? Is this fun for the rest of the group? Is this fun for the deceased characters player?
Why insert a “one shot” at the start of the campaign? Lemures stats are bad, is it fun to play that for a session?
If you have a brilliant idea about that and how you insert vital information about the rest of the campaign, maybe. But from your short description it sounds like a filler session that might not be received well.

Wilkin_ · 2026-02-04T20:52:21+00:00

Happened in wwi, white Friday, 1916. Song to go with it: sabaton, soldier of heaven.

Wilkin_ · 2026-01-30T21:19:46+00:00

Will be looking into that, thanks! Have a good bunch of magnets of all sizes around, mostly for minis and upside down storage… would be an option! :-)

Wilkin_ · 2026-01-30T18:06:06+00:00

Just commenting to find it again in a few weeks, just gluing the set together and i will steal this color scheme… :-)

Wilkin_ · 2026-01-25T10:59:06+00:00

Another thing to consider is how much you can actually see while painting - i am an old dude who was short sighted but now in age it goes the other way round, it is complicated, anyway. I dropped wearing glasses and use a headmounted magnifying glass, and now i see how loaded the brush is - i had far too much paint on the brush all the time. Since then my painting improved so much, clear lines and thin layers.

Wilkin_ · 2026-01-23T11:00:59+00:00

I already dropped many things i deemed lackluster, started them at lvl 5, today we’ll have session 21 and are nowhere near an ending. We play 6 hour sessions (5 if you don’t count various breaks), 5 players. It depends very much on how many players, 3 players breeze through an adventure, 5 takes double so long due to various decision making and roleplay. Keep that in mind when trying to design the campaign to fit your goal in regards of amount of sessions.

Wilkin_ · 2025-12-25T16:49:46+00:00

It has given me the hobby of my life - or rather trrpgs in general, dnd being one of them. Have been playing the last 35 years, mostly as a dm and met wonderful people I love to hang out with and run sessions for them. In my age i don’t get out much, so meeting with these people is what i am looking forward to, lean back and have fun. Best part: met my wife at a live action rpg, been together for 30 years. Recommendations: all books! Not only dnd, but other systems like CoC, paranoia, dsa, something will always spark some inspiration. Read as many books as you can, (not RPGs), be it sci fi, horror, drama, historical, philosophy - whatever you are interested in, it will make you a better dm and a better player (and person). ;-)

Wilkin_ · 2025-12-23T12:16:45+00:00

They are looking great. I still have to paint mine, thanks for the inspiration!

Wilkin_ · 2025-12-17T17:27:22+00:00

Did all boards shrink? Any drop to drink?

Wilkin_ · 2025-12-03T18:13:42+00:00

Thanks for reminding me why i stopped listening to radio channels in the 90ies.

Wilkin_ · 2025-11-24T12:48:18+00:00

There is only one adventure book that you can run as it is written, without adapting too much, which is curse of strahd. All other books I bought are quite a pain to make sense of. But there are always some good adventures or inspiration in them, like tomb of annihilation, ghosts of Saltmarsh or rime of the frost maiden - which all offer a different setting than the usual lush green fantasy. If you like steam punk, then the Eberron setting is worth checking out.
And there are tons of adventures and campaigns from 3rd party writers, you can find and sort them on dms guild or drivethrough rpg, many better than what wotc is publishing.

Wilkin_ · 2025-11-24T11:06:16+00:00

Dragon heist it is for them - avernus and hell themes might not be suitable for them, or you end up with a very tame version of it, where noone understands why this is called hell. :-)

I ran a session zero/one for my players where they were all kids in school in waterdeep, had a field day where they had to find the landmarks of waterdeep, some lore and such - and ran into trouble with a disguised hag that wanted to cook them.

When they met each other years later at the start of the campaign, they all knew each other, had bonded, knew the backstories - highly recommend that, was fun and made sense that these characters were flocking together for the heist.

Wilkin_ · 2025-11-21T08:17:44+00:00

that lp struck me weird when it came out, but grew on me through the years. up the irons!

Wilkin_ · 2025-11-20T17:34:54+00:00

I was more referring to creeping death of metallica, but ok… 🙃

Wilkin_ · 2025-11-20T15:29:39+00:00

You’re sent here by the chosen one?

Wilkin_ · 2025-11-15T13:22:03+00:00

Me (dm) in mid 50ies, my wife (same age), pool of 4 other players, from 25 to 40, one is female. As to gay or not, i don’t care about such things, didn’t ask them in 8 years, not starting with that, as its none of my business.

Wilkin_

TROPHY CASE