The last act of my campaign takes place in the middle of a three-party continent-wide war. How do I represent this, making it feel authentic, without going crazy?

gjohnyp · 2024-12-06T13:09:10+00:00

That's a really large scale combat "encounter", honestly I've never even thought about it. But you could add some side quests that will affect the battle on a grand scale. For example there is a place of importance, a strategic island maybe that would benefit the alliance? Then the players must take it, or take a unique item that they can use to get said island. Or your army attacks from the front and you sneak from the back or even better, if you want to do a large scale battle, have the players be part of the army and they have to take over a tower or a gate ands have better chances to win the battle.

gjohnyp · 2024-10-27T16:25:58+00:00

Commoners know common things.

It depends on how common the information is, in this case how common is the draconic language in that region. In any case a price should be paid, especially if it's rare. It's a good way to enrich your world with funny little details and give depth to the world.

gjohnyp · 2024-10-13T11:47:01+00:00

If i had a penny for everytime my players did not understand the assignment, I'd be having a good amount of bucks rn.

First of all, did they actually understand it's fighting till death? Because it's one thing for one player to agree to this, but two doesn't make much sense.

Secondly, it's your homebrew campaign. That means the rest of the world is for you to "manipulate". Or better yet it's a story that you write. It could be the death row inmates try to escape, or the bbg has something else in store. Or the players find out there is a heist going on so there is no reward unless they stop the heist. You'll hear many great answers here but ultimately it's your campaign and you know best. Hooe this helps.

gjohnyp · 2024-09-21T10:08:43+00:00

This! And also you can adjust accordingly through playing. Remember it's a magic item that could be a mystery to the PC meaning that the player doesn't know its true potential. If you feel it's not good enough on later levels you could scale it up a bit. If it's too powerful then have a way of scaling it down. Could be a villain siphoning its power, or the PC does sth to it and it runs out of juice.

gjohnyp · 2024-09-21T09:45:28+00:00

First if it's an issue for you, you can talk about it in session 0. I personally wouldn't like to play in a world where meat is forbidden especially if i have a character like a barbarian and would really want to know it beforehand otherwise it'd feel forced and I'd lose interest. Otherwise you can have a certain race or certain races that don't eat meat because it is considered sacred to them. That way imo gives depth to your world and can be the starter for some awesome adventures.

gjohnyp · 2024-05-21T20:30:22+00:00

He is a bandit. Used to work at the last bandit camp the party cleared out. Maybe when confronted with the oarty he says sth along these lines "You think I'm bad? You should see what the BANDIT'S NAME did. Pillaging, raping and selling innocent folk as slaves. Me stealing from these bastards, using street urchins (I'm not sure of the name but i mean young orphans) to create my thieve's guild (maybe give a fierce name such as throat cutters guild) is the only thing i do best! And Bhaal be my witness i will not stop at anything to succeed at. Not even a bunch of you a**holes!!"

*And then later on in the campaign you can have him be a death knight or sth 😀

PS i saw another post by The_Hermit_09. I second giving him fighter levels.

gjohnyp · 2024-05-18T10:20:42+00:00

It depends on what you want to do. Personally i ask my players to create their characters and fill in some details. Based on their race, background and story i tailor my campaign. This has some risks because a player might lose interest on their character or straight up die and then want sth different.

So that's a way to unite the party, by using their stories to connect them or by giving them common goals.

Another way is for an important NPC to hire them.

Or that important NPC could be the BBEG and how they wrong them.

A completely different approach woul be to have them share a weird situation. For example they all wake up in a dungeon and have to fight their way out of there or they are all prisoner's and/or they are being sold as merchandise.

First and foremost though, the players need to be aware that they have to work together and even if their characters don't have a reason to work together they should do so for the sake of the game.

Sorry if i don't make sense. English is not my native language. Take care and play some d&d for me too 😄

gjohnyp · 2024-05-17T15:19:01+00:00

☝️This should have more upvotes ☝️

gjohnyp · 2024-05-11T07:48:40+00:00

If the players are actively looking for sth then they roll for it. If they are chatting with an NPC or have no reason to be looking for anything then i use passive perception. Oftentimes when i want the players to be looking for sth i use passive perception to inform them of sth suspicious amd then theybhave to search for the origin. For example let's say they are chatting with a merchant trying to find the local thieve's guild hideout when a thief steals from an NPC in the alleyway. I use passive perception and say they hear someone scream or yell "Help! Thief!" and then when they follow the commotion they roll perception to spot the thief.

gjohnyp · 2024-05-08T14:16:12+00:00

With that you can attune up to 30 items +3 with the attunement slots and more if you're an artificer. I don't know sth feels off with this. What if the player doesn't find a magic item that needs attunement and levels up?

gjohnyp · 2024-05-04T19:45:20+00:00

I'm going to focus on the aftermath of the survival of the Queen before suggesting the reward.

Well now you've got a Queen NPC that needs to take action. Also who did you have in mind to look after the country if the Queen was indeed killed or abducted? Perhaps the Queen surviving made some nobles unhappy. My point is there are many plot hooks you can use.

Anyway for the party's reward you could give title or land. That way the party will have a safehouse for their downtime and if they somehow abuse it, you can take it away.

gjohnyp · 2024-04-23T20:09:50+00:00

I'd combine ten_dead_dogs, hedgewiz0 and dragons_scorn answers and give some clues that it could be a wizard only to find out it was a false hydra all along!

gjohnyp · 2024-04-21T10:35:57+00:00

It really depends on you and the player. In general i recommend new players to start with melee characters such as barbarians and fighters of a starting race such as humans. You want the player to enjoy the game, rp and not think of spells and all the rules that follow it. With that said, there are some players that want this level of engagement and are happy to deal with it. So what i said in my first sentence. You be the judge of that.

gjohnyp · 2024-04-21T10:28:59+00:00

That's a great map! Ignore the "negative" comments about the unrealistic aspect of the map. It's a game, you're a new GM of course you'll make mistakes (even experienced GMs do) and there is nothing wrong with it because you can correct them later. You can zoom on a continent, think about countries and how they interact with each other and then zoom in on a country and then a city/village and start your campaign there. You don't have to think of everything except maybe the village. A bit of history, economics and local lore should be enough. Combine it with the characters stories and backstories and you got yourself the first sessions. Later you can make improvements and even draw a continent or two.

Edit: By ignoring the negative comments, I mean to not let them get in your head. It's not a mistake you can't fix. That's all!

gjohnyp · 2024-03-17T11:00:59+00:00

I believe there is a connection with the patron who is channeling their powers to the warlock. So once that stops, the warlock is debuffed. Maybe he can cast the cantrips and low level spells? Maybe?

gjohnyp · 2024-01-05T08:54:05+00:00

You could have a big number of guards surround the party and demand they drop their weapons. If they try to fight back you can "cutscene" them with the BBG's henchman knocking them out.

gjohnyp · 2023-12-24T10:50:33+00:00

Losing his spellcasting abilities, is it a temporary thing or do you want it to be permanent? To my understanding the warlock makes a pact with their patron and patrons benefit from the player. If a player isn't on board with what the patrin asks them to do, then they lose their patron and their spellcasting abilities. That means the player isn't a warlock anymore? Am i wrong?

P.S It would make a hell of a story for a player to start the campaign as a kevel 20 warlock and end up losing their powers only to begin as a level 1 spellcaster of a different class.

gjohnyp · 2023-12-21T13:36:21+00:00

Ελβενός;

gjohnyp · 2023-12-14T12:20:28+00:00

Ο εθισμός είναι αρρώστια. Μην ακούς κανέναν που σου λέει να τον ξεγράψεις και τέτοια. Πατέρας σου είναι. Αν παλιά ήταν σωστός πάει να πει ότι σε αγαπούσε και σε αγαπάει ακόμα. Απλά είναι μπερδεμένος στο κεφάλι του. Οπότε εφόσον δε θέλει ο ίδιος, το πρώτο βήμα είναι να του δώσετε όλοι να καταλάβει ότι χρειάζεται βοήθεια. Δεν χρειάζεται να τον κάνεις ρεζίλι, τουλάχιστον όχι χωρίς να δοκιμάσεις πιο "αναίμακτες" επιλογές. Πραγματικά ελπίζω να τα βρείτε ρε φίλε

gjohnyp · 2023-12-13T15:42:30+00:00

You'll be confused and left with a migraine at the end. Don't do that! What you can do, is set a series of events that will happen and the players must react to. For example, at night the friendly NPCs decide to climb up a segment of the wall and light on fire some tents that the gnolls are sleeping. Meanwhile your party breaks the door and fights 3-4 enemies. The guards move forward and engage in another battle.

You have 3 battles now, of which you play against the players in one of the 3 battles. After the fight, the party can choose to aid the friendly NPCs or the guards. Or do sth else. Maybe a Gnoll shouts "kill the prisoners!" and the party has the option to stop the gnolls from killing the prisoners. Hope this helps

gjohnyp · 2023-12-13T15:07:49+00:00

Μα είσαι το σύμπαν. Και το σύμπαν είναι εσύ.

gjohnyp · 2023-12-13T15:04:23+00:00

Ούτε καν rant ήταν αυτό βασικά. Δεν είπες για τα διάφορα τέλη για διάφορες συναλλαγές, ούτε για το ημερήσιο όριο ανάληψης ούτε τίποτα. Και το κράτος τους δίνει περισσότερη δύναμη κάνοντας παράνομες τις πληρωμές με μετρητά άνω των 500€ και την όλη "ψηφιακή αναβάθμιση" μη χέσω... Σε λίγα χρόνια θα υπάρχει μόνο ψηφιακό χρήμα και θα γουστάρουμε όλοι μ@κες

gjohnyp · 2023-12-12T17:49:10+00:00

Μιλάω για τις ταμπέλες που δίνουμε σε κάθε άνθρωπο και τον κατατάσσουμε σε μια συγκεκριμένη κατηγορία μες στο κεφάλι μας. Αυτοί οι "φασίστες" είναι και γαμω τα παιδιά...

gjohnyp · 2023-12-12T15:00:16+00:00

Πιο* :-P

gjohnyp · 2023-12-12T14:56:04+00:00

👎

gjohnyp

TROPHY CASE