The Ties That Bind – Tying Together Characters, Backstories, And Adventures To Create The Most Immersive D&D Game Ever

Several listener questions came in that were spiraling around the same general idea, and one that DMs have fielded since the very beginning of the game: how, and when, to exert the unlimited level of power that you possess as the DM.In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave, take part in a grab bag of listener questions that deal with players constantly interrupting, as well as how to best approach using, or not using, the newest 2024 version of the Player’s Handbook. For any DM who has wrestled with how and when to exert their God-level power, this is the episode for you.3:30 The first listener question that deals with the player that constantly interrupts the BBEGs monologues.4:25 The pro is that you have an excited and engaged player as well as DM Tony’s idea of the “cutscene.”5:40 Exerting your control to set a scene.10:00 Teaching players how your world works and allowing the players to adjust the setup of the scene.13:15 “We’ll get to that” – a bookmark for all the actions players want to take because it is still a turn-based game.17:20 We delve deeper into DM Tony’s idea of the “cutscene.” What is it and how to use it.21:10 The awesomeness of the hero punching the villain in the jaw and not caring about their speech.24:07 The second listener question regarding using the new 2024 update to 5e.26:00 We already decide what races, classes, and rules we allow in our campaigns – this is no different.29:15 5e.tools – a great digital resource for DMs and the new Mastery properties of weapons.34:00 Changing rulesets halfway through a campaign.38:50 Final Thoughts.

Low Magic. We’ve discussed it before and, in last weeks article, DM Chris delved into ideas of how to make magic rare and special in your D&D campaigns. In our discussion online regarding the article, there was a debate over what low magic means. The issue seemed to revolve around confusing Low Magic with Low Fantasy. Middle-Earth, while being a High Fantasy setting, is, in terms of D&D, a Low Magic setting for the simple fact that there are no spellcasting classes.In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the preparations for the upcoming LOTR campaign; how magic will work, the lack of spellcasters as a class, the types of characters that we’re thinking of developing, among many other topics. For anyone that is hoping to really approach magic differently in their home games, this is the episode for you.1:50 Our continuing discussion about our upcoming Lord of the Rings campaign and how we’re approaching a setting with low access to magic.4:01 What are you going to do now? Trying to top your previous campaigns.7:15 DM Chris delves into his thoughts surrounding how to lessen access to magic as he began preparing and planning his Lord of the Rings campaign. 11:55 Middle-Earth as a world is highly magical, but how that plays at the table changes it significantly from all other D&D settings – Bilbo and the Dwarves didn’t have a Boss Battle with Smaug.17:35 How much Meteor Swarm would change the Arthurian Tales.19:05 How rare magic will turn everything into significant encounters: healing, journeys, rests, etc.22:52 A rare Rock and Roll DM story about short rests and long rests.24:55 DM Chris explains the idea of the “Fellowship Phase” and “Shadow Points” in LOTR, like Call of Cthulhu Sanity points in Middle-Earth.32:05 What’s the economy of Middle-Earth?37:50 How to build characters that will hook into the setting of Middle-Earth.40:30 Final Thoughts.

We’re getting geared up for some new campaigns to begin. Both our Dragonlance and Journey to Ragnarok campaigns are coming near their finale, so we’ve begun thinking about what’s next up. Just in time, DM Chris sent out his Player’s Guides for the upcoming Lord of the Rings campaign that he’s going to be running in the new year. In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss what makes a good Player’s Guide, what to include, what to leave out, and how they can help to start your campaign off on the right foot before your players ever get to the table.2:53 What’s different in this campaign from other campaigns?3:23 Session Negative One; giving your players time before Session Zero to reflect on choices.8:30 The types of choices in different settings that the players might want to reflect on. Including the one-sheet Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign guide.11:45 Some campaign settings, like Lord of the Rings, require a lot of information prior to starting the campaign. These Player Guides can also be helpful as fodder for character backstories.13:55 Depending on how experienced your group is will provide how much additional information you send along. Don’t send a 20-page Player Guide to the newbie player, the PHB is MORE than enough.15:50 Building excitement about the new campaign.18:30 Assembling the Player’s Guide can serve as a focusing mechanism for you as you build out the campaign.23:50 Setting the flavor, tone, and rules of the road before players ever come to the table.25:05 The excitement for the campaign is not just for the players, it’s for the DM as well. Injecting something new keeps your game table fresh.30:20 Final Thoughts.

Play through an adventure and you’ll realize how strangely time can move in your D&D campaign. Longtime friend of the show, Dr. DM (Jason) returns with a question about his ocean-based campaign that we discussed in Episode 148. His question revolves around how quickly leveling can affect the passage of time in the adventure. In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss the strange way time can move in your campaign and how to best handle that. Is your game a non-stop march towards the inevitability of the BBEG or is it more a classic-type of campaign with a bunch of adventures linked together? As DM Tony wisely states, “The passage of time is not nearly as important as the passage of good sessions.”1:25 Dr. DM returns with the ongoing ocean-based campaign that started from our Shipping Up To Boston episode!4:08 How does time work in your campaign? One crazy summer or lasting over decades of the characters lives? How fast, or slow, are you leveling?6:45 Using a campaign calendar and how it shows how quickly time can move in D&D.9:45 Many adventures don’t allow for a lot of “downtime” or times when you’re not actively adventuring. 11:40 Structuring your campaign to allow for time to pass. DM Chris explains the Fellowship phase in the Lord of the Rings 5e campaign he’s preparing.18:25 Does training and time really matter in your campaign? The Luke Skywalker example.23:05 Hiring crew, guides, and hirelings for your keep. How much do your players want control in this? DM Chris reviews the hiring of guides in Tomb of Annihilation.32:12 Using your NPC hirelings and townspeople to hook the characters deeper into the story… the Invasion of Vogler in Dragonlance.37:09 A slight aside to an addendum of Dr. DMs question: paying dues in game… yes or no?42:35 Final Thoughts.

Bad sessions. We’ve all dealt with them and we’ll continue to have them periodically. It’s all part of running TTRPGs. But how to you deal with them when they happen? What do you do to salvage the game at the next session? DM Dave offers a question to his fellow Wise DMs regarding a recent session that he felt he could have run better, smoother, better improv. But he got stuck. Hey, it happens.In this episode, Tony and Chris help Dave talk it out and, in the process, reveal what we all deal with… sometimes, everything just goes south in the game and it isn’t fun. It’s even tougher to deal with when you’ve handled these kinds of issues successfully before. So what are you going to do about it?2:20 DM Dave gives a high overview of his Melora’s Light campaign that led to the recent game that went awry.9:25 Disrupting the DMs plans. How new players are great for this.11:20 Wait, the players just walked straight to the Big Boss? How to deal with it when they walk right up to the front door.12:35 The forever debate between sandbox and rails.18:12 It’s important to be honest about how you’re feeling about the game and what is fun for you and your group. 21:05 “Back in the Day” with DM Tony. 24:25 The unlikely team-up with the arch-nemesis.27:05 Always remember to prep enough for you to feel comfortable improving through anything.28:22 DM Chris reviews his recent issue with releasing an overpowered weapon and how to properly retcon it. Also, Baghtru.35:05 There’s always the next session.42:25 Final Thoughts.

Running the adventure outside of the game session? Yes, that’s right. Starting back in DM Dave’s Curse of Strahd campaign, we began to develop characters and backstories with narrative side quests via text, email, and online documents (like Google Docs). In our Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign, we have utilized them from the very beginning for each character individually, as well as the whole party, to further flesh out the characters, world, and story.In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave discuss their strategies for running narrative side quests outside the game as well as completely text-based campaigns.Episode 358 of Dragon Talk.DM Tony’s article on running narrative side quests outside the game.3:08 What do we mean when we’re talking about a narrative side quest?4:55 Our most recent use of narrative side quests in our Dragonlance campaign.7:25 There must be an active give and take for narrative side quests and campaigns to work.13:00 DM Chris’ Days of Future Past text-based Marvel Super Heroes campaign.14:35 Narrative side quests for individual characters are a time to build out backstory and character, not for leveling and gaining experience.16:48 DM Chris literally “Squirrels”!20:12 Narrative, or “Descriptive”, side quests. What is your threat level? Will the character die while away?22:40 How narrative side quests can help spur roleplay moments in-game. 23:55 How to build out actual side quests with monsters, loot, and experience for individual characters.25:26 How far away are your characters and how long will they be gone? How many players are you currently juggling with side quests? 32:20 Narrative side quests allow players who miss a session to not feel like they missed out.34:35 Excellent method for important plot drops… when they find it, they’ll want to shout it from the rooftops.39:32 Final Thoughts.

Pirates. It doesn’t take long for a D&D group to want to play as pirates, swashbucklers, privateers, and sailors. In our modern day, we can blame Johnny Depp as Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Caribbean. But how do you approach running a seafaring adventure? Is it just a fancy travel mechanic? Is it just a vehicle to get from town to town? Or is it the basis of the whole campaign?In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to answer a question from a longtime friend of the show, Dr. DM himself, Jason, on how to run a great, epic, and memorable ocean-themed campaign outside of just being evil pirates who rob everything.4:00 How is this different from every other setting? Taking care of the business of a sailing vessel.6:30 DM Dave reviews how he has been approaching this in his Melora’s Light all-girl campaign. Including the idea of generating backstories and campaign settings through Call to Adventure.9:10 Playing with resources: water, food, rests, etc. 11:55 Lean into the danger of setting sail in a wooden ship.14:05 Using sourcebooks, like Ghosts of Saltmarsh, to stimulate your imagination.16:25 The unique ability to travel to vastly different adventure locales when in a ship.18:45 Focus in on the theme of the campaign that makes it different.20:30 What happens when the ship is commandeered or stolen?22:40 An ocean-themed campaign can be any type of campaign – High Fantasy, Pirates, Political, etc.23:40 DM Tony using the airship in Storm King’s Thunder.25:25 What are the character’s goals in this ocean-themed campaign? Will that change over the whole campaign?35:30 We discuss how we made hex crawl travel interesting with our homebrewed Journey Cards.39:15 Final Thoughts.

Movies like The Godfather, The Lord of the Rings, Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Gladiator, Goodfellas… the list is inexhaustible. Movies that are “must-see” movies, classics that are nearly required viewing. Many published adventures, like Curse of Strahd, Storm King’s Thunder, Dragonlance, The Keep on the Borderlands, Against the Cult of the Reptile God, Tomb of Annihilation… they’re classic adventures that you want to experience, just like a classic movie. So what do you do if your players want to experience one of these “classic movies” and you’ve been running all homebrewed worlds? In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to answer a listener question about what their top tips are for approaching running a published adventure for the first time.3:45 Tip #1: Know the general plot of the adventure – the “elevator pitch.”4:50 Tip #2: Think of the adventure more like a sourcebook, rather than the gospel.8:10 Tip #3: How to manage a giant adventure? One session at a time.10:40 Tip #4: Focus on the plots in the adventure that will be fun for your players.13:00 Tip #5: Lean on your fellow internet DMs… every published adventure has tons of hacks.15:00 Tip #6: Approach these longform adventures as multiple adventures in your overarching campaign.22:30 Tip #7: Make sure your initial hook is solid. Often, the published adventure hooks are “ehhh.”26:06 PSA: Stop listening to “Tough Guy” DMs who use Railroad as an insult. Do what makes you and your table have fun.36:40 Final Thoughts.

The 3 Wise DMs are all approaching campaign finales: DM Tony’s Journey to Ragnarok, DM Chris’ “Wednesday-Nighters” campaign in our homebrewed world of The Further, and DM Dave’s Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen campaign. Just like the start of a campaign, the end only comes along once. So what should you focus on when your campaign is coming to a climax? What questions should you ask yourself? What do you have to make sure you do? How do you create something that will be talked about for years to come?In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave sit down to continue our discussions from the last two episodes about tying elements of the game together to share their pro tips about designing and executing a great finale that will be the capstone for the game that has gone on for weeks, months, or years!1:10 3WD is Big in Algeria!3:40 What do you mean by the end of a “campaign”?6:40 What has been the Theme of the campaign?8:05 Lessons learned for your games, good and bad, from the ending of Loki.12:00 Does a campaign or campaign ending need to be “epic”?13:45 How our Curse of Strahd campaign really had 2 separate finales.16:40 Does every character’s story need to be tied up by the end? Does the campaign actually end?28:25 The story ends when the story ends, whether it’s 10 sessions or 100.33:10 The pros and cons of running a “Resolutions” session after the finale.43:00 Final Thoughts.

Immersion in your D&D game. It’s one of the most sought after and asked about topics in the whole DMing Multiverse. The real trick always lies in how well you can tie together all the seemingly disparate pieces of your group – characters, backstories, motivations, and adventures – into one cohesive, epic story.In this episode, Tony, Chris, and Dave answer a listener question about how to best tie their characters into their newest campaign, Tomb of Annihilation, following the finale of their Curse of Strahd campaign. Along the way, we brainstorm how to tie these two adventures together into one large epic story. 4:02 We delve into what we thought the question really was… how do you tie Curse of Strahd and Tomb of Annihilation together?7:15 What to do with Curse of Strahd’s Megaliths?8:00 Published material, like Curse of Strahd, is great fodder for ideas of how and where to tie characters into the story.9:10 The heavy lift of some published material, like Tomb of Annihilation, in hooking the characters into the story.11:05 Detailed backstories vs the blank slate as well as DM Tony’s idea of “Reactive” backstories.15:20 Tying in the characters, backstories, motivations, and adventures in the same way as you plan your sessions… one session at a time.24:40 Providing the characters with stakes that really matter.26:15 Weak hooks with adventures that were meant to be from tournament modules and how we’ve tied characters in.29:25 Remembering the perspective of the characters, not the audience.32:00 Creating a one-sheet Campaign Guide (like Mike Shea’s) to help players tie the characters in at creation.38:35 Final Thoughts.