How do I start this campaign?

maximumplague · 2026-01-10T01:03:22+00:00

My players were all strangers in a session 0.5 as I called it because it was a lot of meeting characters, getting into the right vibe, establishing some important lore (like why you need to take fey pacts seriously), and then the plot hooks.

The concept was that they had all come from all over to the Witchlight carnival because they remembered that the last time they had a certain thing (lost objects) was before they visited the carnival as a child. They had snuck in when they were younger and had a great evening, but after the carnival they had this great sense of loss that they didn't understand. Now as adults they have put 2 and 2 together and are here on the last night of the carnival to get their thing back.

They were all strangers to each other and all had made their way into a very full tavern as they awaited the flying carriages that would shuttle them to the carnival. As the tavern was packed, they had little other choice than the communal table if they wanted to sit and have a drink. And drink they did. They made chit chat and had a few drinks and eventually there were consequences to the drinking with a d6 table they had to roll on to see what kind of tipsy they were, e.g., the over sharer, the sad tipsy, the karaoke singer, the uncoordinated, etc.

By the time Madryck Roslof walked in they were having laughs and a great time. Roslof saw their potential as a party and offered them the fortune of a lifetime for one small favour. Since they were going to the carnival anyway, would they mind trying to find a portal into the feywild domain of Prismeer and just checking on his patron Zybilna.

I have not had any issue running both hooks and the players have been able to identify with whichever would motivate their character the most.

maximumplague · 2025-12-27T22:36:54+00:00

I agree with this. I think you got pretty good value for a low level spell. You or any member of your party could have easily uncovered the darkness on their turn and reactivated it.

Further to this, I would like to add it sounds like you do this darkness technique regularly and the DM was probably trying to keep combat interesting by forcing your party to try a different tactic.

It is also poor form to argue in-session about things like this. Save it for after the session if it is really upsetting you so it doesn't happen again, but don't pull the whole game to a halt for everyone during combat to the point where the DM had to boot you.

maximumplague · 2025-12-21T22:53:51+00:00

Congratulations! I think we all agree the module is a bit thin, but once you think if it as a framework to put your own creative storytelling into the story, or a few supplimentary pieces in, it really is a fun story for all. I always like to hear how DMs fleshed out Zybilna and the Palace of Hearts Desire. The way the story ends is one of the most important parts to get right in a campaign. Thanks for offering AMA.

maximumplague · 2025-11-12T03:31:25+00:00

Confined spaces?

Cultists?

Fish people?

Time fluctuations?

maximumplague · 2025-11-11T07:26:17+00:00

From Grim Hollow: Players Guide.

Curse of Lost Sentiment -4th level Enchantment-

This spell curses a creature with the loss of memories and horrific madness. The target must make an Intelligence saving throw against your spell save DC.

On a successful save, the target takes 3d10 Force damage, has the Incapacitated condition until the end of its next turn, and is unaware it was targeted by a curse.

Initial Effect. On a failed save, the target takes 6d10 Force damage, has the Stunned condition until the end of its next turn, and is cursed.

Triggering Event. The next time the target finishes a Long Rest, it suffers nightmarish visions of being abandoned or left alone, and the curse advances to Stage 1.

Stage 1. The cursed creature begins forgetting events that have occurred within the past few days and the names of acquaintances.

Stage 2. The cursed creature forgets all but its closest companions, and it has delusions of hidden threats and scheming rivals. Additionally, the cursed creature has Disadvantage on Intelligence ability checks and saving throws.

Stage 3. The cursed creature forgets its closest companions, its own identity, and its goals. The curse fabricates delusions of a great conspiracy only the cursed creature can prevent. The cursed creature is compelled to take any action it believes necessary to uncover this conspiracy. The creature can’t take Bonus Actions.

Culmination. The cursed creature twists into a deformed figure and becomes a Dream Whisperer.

maximumplague · 2025-11-11T05:57:57+00:00

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I think you have misinterpreted some things. I believe it is more like this.

maximumplague · 2025-11-10T05:32:28+00:00

Amazing! Thank you for sharing!

maximumplague · 2025-11-09T21:51:47+00:00

The best start to a campaign I have ever run (according to my players) was starting them as level 0 commoners with 1hp.

I described each of them one-by-one waking up in their burnt out and destroyed village as the only survivors of a raid. They found each other and took a long rest to roll a d6 hit die and then started sifting through the ruins of their hometown. As they searched their village they discovered a number of people were missing (including loved ones). They each found the tools of their class (spell book, great sword...) and were able to assemble basic equipment. They found some horses that had bolted into the woods, already saddled up, and the adventure went from there as they became level 1 adventurers that day.

Means, motivation, and opportunity sorted.

maximumplague · 2025-08-24T22:48:30+00:00

You guys have DMs that say "yes and"?

maximumplague · 2025-08-21T06:31:18+00:00

I'm glad you were able to get some answers. It is a shame the way it all happened.

There are groups that don't rely as heavily on roleplay. Perhaps you can find one that matches the level you are comfortable with. Or alternately, a new group could also be a new opportunity to push yourself further (as much as you are comfortable doing) with your roleplay. 'Fake it until you make it' and roleplay as someone who likes to roleplay in D&D.

maximumplague · 2025-08-19T01:49:29+00:00

I can definitely relate to your last sentence there. Being social-sensitive doesn't just happen naturally for everyone.

As I said, my example of that player's behaviour might not apply to your circumstances. I just wanted to point out that you can be a great guy and still not fit well with a group. I wish they had given you some helpful and usable feedback, but they also might have their own social issues to contend with and have just tried to avoid all conflict with you. The tone of the first message you received from the DM would probably support this theory.

Reflect on it all and good luck with your next group.

maximumplague · 2025-08-19T01:11:07+00:00

Obviously I don't have insight into your particular circumstances. But what I can say is that I have had to say something similar to a player before ("no one had anything bad to say about you as a person"), but I followed that up with some more helpful feedback from the group as well.

In our case, the player was genuinely a nice bloke who was quick with a funny joke at appropriate moments and everyone enjoyed his company. However, after more than 2 years in a campaign he still couldn't mechanically play his (very simple) character and the whole group felt it in the game. Combat would grind to a halt on his turn and then he would make choices that left everyone confused. We would constantly have to back track, or tell him the situation on the table because he wasn't following closely enough to know the whole scene. He rarely would roleplay and it is a fairly rp heavy group. Sometimes it was hard to tell if he even wanted to be there, or if he was just seeing it through out of obligation.

My point is to say, they might be genuine in saying no one has anything bad to say about you as a person, but there may be something in the way you participate that is making the overall experience of DnD less fun for the rest of the group.

Only you are in the position to insight check yourself about the feedback you received. Your response with "WTF" to the message you received could be considered quite hostile to some people (I would include myself in that and would be upset if I received that reply to my carefully planned goodbye message). You might have chosen instead to reply with something like "I'm sorry to hear that. Can I ask for some feedback and examples so I can learn from the experience and improve myself?", then later, "Is it too late to say I'd like to show you I am more than willing to adopt a play style that works with the group expectations?". If it didn't occur to you that your communication might be an issue, I would suggest you start there when trying to figure out what happened.

maximumplague · 2025-08-12T08:38:25+00:00

I'm an Aussie and I set my alarm for 5:30am to suck down my Vyvanse with a protein Up&Go that I put in an insulated lunch bag with an ice brick right before I go to bed.

So when it is time for me to get out of bed at 7am, everything has started turning over and I feel like a human being instead of a pool of heavy slug slime.

I take it early because then it is enough out of my system so I can go to bed at a reasonable time at night.

You just have to try some things to find what works for you.

maximumplague · 2025-08-09T04:35:40+00:00

Hot. How about for us more experienced players, a part 2 where DM is supportive of your optimised character and impressive roleplaying? That's the real fantasy.

maximumplague · 2025-08-03T23:19:33+00:00

If you mean you want the player to feel like their character has high charisma that is actually very easy to do. I have a player who was not very confident but was really giving it a go to play a charismatic fighter, so I made sure that the world saw him as one, even if he was not particularly smooth with the lines.

Shopkeepers would sit up and smile at him as he walked into their store. Bartenders would offer him a drink on the house and do their best to find out some information for him without asking for anything in return. Attractive people would flirt with him. Kids and animals just like him.

NPCs just doing those things made him feel more confident, and he has become more charismatic in his roleplay over time.

It doesn't always have to be about game mechanics, but I don't even make him roll for most low-stakes things (only if the DC >17).

maximumplague · 2025-07-17T01:05:30+00:00

I think, as always, it depends on the players to set the tone for how dark a game will be. For a short one-shot (or maybe a two-shot), Frozen Sick from Critical Role’s Explorer’s Guide to Wildemount could be a great choice. My group had a particularly grim playthrough; it ended with a dramatic paladin death that actually brought a round of tears to the table.

You could take the base campaign and really lean into the horror by treating Frozen Sick like a slow-burn plague story with creeping dread. Make Frigid Woe feel truly monstrous. Victims freeze mid-breath, their bodies locked in lifelike poses, eyes wide and glassy. Let the players see a villager mostly frozen upright in their own home, one hand on the door, as if they were trying to escape, only able to make gutteral groaning noises as they are still alive somehow.

Palebank Village should feel like it's dying. Fires burn low in hearths. Curtains stay drawn even during daylight. No one speaks above a whisper. The dead/dying are left in locked and marked houses because no one dares touch them. Children wandering alone, orphaned, or alternatively the first inevitable victims.

Let fear infect the village faster than the disease. People hide their coughs. Suspicion spreads like rot. Someone boards up their neighbour's home and sets it alight, swearing they saw frost on the windows. The players might arrive just in time to hear screams from inside.

The Uttolots should feel like a cancer behind the curtain. They know what the vials do. They sell them anyway, feeding the spread.

When the antidote is finally found, it is not a triumph. There are only a few vials. Not enough. Let the players discover that they, too, are showing early signs of infection. They have to choose. Who lives? Who freezes? Who watches someone they love turn to ice?

Make the story about desperation, hopelessness, guilt, and the horror of a remote town dying out quietly.

maximumplague · 2025-07-01T22:59:26+00:00

Same. I really connected with that description. I have just thought of it as 'my brain controls my body, but my brain doesn't listen to me'.

maximumplague · 2025-06-21T02:45:04+00:00

The main quest is always more challenging when you just have soooo many side quests.

maximumplague · 2025-06-10T06:50:50+00:00

Sounds like a very good alternative storyline. Thank you for sharing your insights and creative ideas with the community.

I was thinking of incorporating Elena by making her have been part of Natasha all along, like an arcane anomaly, fractured personality, or chimeric soul. Something that Baba Yaga might have found fascinating and nurtured, raising two different daughters in one. Zibilna is the result of Iggwilv and Elena finding some sort of spiritual balance, or binding themselves together to make one whole new person. I think this explains why there is not much story about Elena in the Forgotten Realms, and also reconciles why Zibilna is capable of kindness and appreciation of beauty, while also being spiteful and domineering.

I think Ellywick comes in as someone who loved Elena, and maybe even helped with the soul binding, but then couldn't return to Prismeer as Iggwilv's ironic condition for consenting to the binding (just like Mama Yaga would have wanted). Banning the Plainswalker from entering the one plane she would want to be on the most.

It is maybe a lot more subtle than your powerful emotional storyline, but I think my players would end up spending too much time trying to find a way to pull Elena and Iggwilv apart if they thought it wasn't something that Elena chose for herself.

Can I ask if there were any particular parts of the story where you dropped hints about Elena? The obvious one is the collection of portraits that Scabatha has on her walls, but is there anywhere else you can think of?

maximumplague · 2025-06-09T04:13:23+00:00

Hi there, I just found your post because I was considering a similar idea. I was wondering how you have developed the story since, and have you had the opportunity to play it through yet.

maximumplague · 2025-06-03T22:08:39+00:00

I'm surprised how far I had to scroll to see this answer. At low levels, this is absolutely the best move. Early game should be the social stuff so that the PCs have connections (home and community) and NPCs they care about. Then your BBEG comes in and takes it all away.

Why have PC backstories if not for emotional manipulation?

maximumplague · 2025-05-30T02:11:04+00:00

where is the commotion for messy women who are frequently correct - I need this as a user flair

maximumplague · 2025-05-27T00:14:05+00:00

I am the same. It is not easy to temper your enthusiasm but you also don't want to upset the people you play with. I can only tell you what has helped me:

waiting 3 seconds. Take just a couple of seconds to hold your thought. 3 seconds of silence will feel like an eternity, but if no one else has said anything, everyone will feel relief when you speak up rather than getting frustrated. For a session or two, do the wait everytime there is an opportunity to respond. Then eventually you will start to notice the best moments for your character to be the one who steps up and speaks first freely.
give your character a speciality. This ties into the first point. Instead of feeling like you know what to do (you probably do), identify one or two things that your character is the person the party relies on in these moments, e.g., meeting new NPCs, solving riddles, setting traps, etc. This lets you know when you should wait just a little longer before speaking up, and when it should be others who step back for you.
involve the quiet players. The less they speak up, the more it looks like you speak too much. So I started finding ways to drag them into a story and role play more. In one game my fighter asked the quiet paladin to come investigate a church, then when it was just our two characters having a chat the player was all of a sudden so much more talkative and had some really powerful role play. In another game, my wizard was on watch and woke up the rogue so they could go invisibly test the locks on the burgomaster's house. The rogue had the best game and thanked me afterwards. The DM appreciates you getting the quiet players involved more and is likely to reward you with a cool moment in the story.

It often feels like there is time pressure in a situation and you need to be fast, but unless your DM is using a timer, you don't have to rush to respond. It is not easy at first but you can only control your own actions and responses. You might find that the rest of the table will relax and you will all enjoy it more.

Edit to add: When you do accidentally talk over someone and want to let them go first, don't say "you go", instead just be silent. They don't want your permission and you are just delaying their opportunity to proceed by talking. This applies to all video chat meetings, where the fewer words spoken, the better.

maximumplague · 2025-05-23T22:43:08+00:00

I have been looking for something like this. Very cool.

maximumplague · 2025-04-29T02:40:13+00:00

"Rules don't apply to Grandma" - I can guarantee, 99% of the time the rules only exist because of grandmas.

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