Everything you Need to Know to Run a D&D Campaign

Everyone wants to run or play a DnD Campaign, but what do you need to know before you are ready to do actually run D&D? We're gonna look into it in this new episode of Tip of the Hat!

[pointyhatstudios]

Welcome to Session 0, everyone tell me your lines and veils real quick

[GinnyDi]

when you said that you hate the D&D advice of "don't overprepare, " I was like.... this is why we're friends 😤

[ryansullivan]

For a guy who doesn't like the "don't over prepare" advice, you did an excellent job of explaining what that advice encapsulates!

[mitchellpatterson]

4:07 as a forever DM By choice (i just REALLY like DMing) my favorite tone is: "Serious Nonsense" where 90% of the time it's what you expect. But every now and then...there's the rediculous. Like when the barbarian rolls a natural 20 on an Intelligence Check they suddenly have glasses on and know EXACTLY what the party needs.

5:50 not sure where mine lands. Likely on higher concept. Mine is "World Divded into 8 elemental Provinces and the people therein have adapted to their elementa while becoming vulnerable to another."

[LOBricksAndSecrets]

Everyone seems to forget that Tolkien started off only worldbuilding enough to write some silly poems and give his kids bedtime stories

[blarzz]

Please, bring back "But Make it DnD!". The first episode on Pokémon inspired me to run a Pokémon themed campaign. Plus, I'd love to see things like Monster Hunter or some kind of anime to "Become DnD"

[minedark]

About to run a Oneshot to some players I've been playing with, with 2 of the players being previous DMs. This came just in time. Notes are ready, let's learn

[wired]

I have never felt more seen than when Pointy Hat described all those unfinished campaigns...like tears...in the rain...lost to time
Lmao

[artemiswolf]

My favorite tone for DND campaigns is Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.
A wacky strange world fill with irreverent stuff with either extremely bizarre or non existent explanations, but the people inhabiting said world are very real and so are the consequences of their actions.

I think it comfortably fits all the funny nonsense players bring to the table AND a storytelling that can be just as moving as anything in lord of the rings.

Like yes, the personification of death is a stereotypical cartoon skeleton with a black cloak and scythe, he once had to step in for fantasy Santa Claus who’s real as well.
Also he had a daughter that died very young right after having a baby of her own and HE had to personally reap his daughter’s soul (after trying to bring her back and failing), he’s still deeply mentally fucked up about that and having to raise his granddaughter alone.

Those two things coexist perfectly in the world and are the epitome of the ttrpg vibes.

[fogdance]

Can i just say that aside from the great info and tonality of your work, I'm literally always floored by the clever, seemless transitions in the cinematography. Just. Magnificent. Give your familiar a treat or something

[jaceg]

Early Mistborn, you know, light, fun, concentrating on adventure.
To be fair, you specified early, however it still does the cold open with something along the lines of "under a bloodred sun where ash rains, a small crew plots to kill god"

[EduardoHernandez-elit]

THIS IS A GODSEND! I am a newbie to DND and I am the group dm!

[sTribak]

As a long time DM of 7 years having been blessed by a consistent group of players, this is still a VERY useful video. Sometimes, one forgets even the smallest of things, and I thank you for making this, it's very nice to be able to come back to and just remember what is needed for a successful campaign.

[Nosidda]

Including your players is definitely the most important lesson in this video, because there's a shocking amount of DMs who don't do this. Admittedly I am still new to DMing, I am running my first campaign next month, which will be Curse of Strahd, and I found the idea of making sure my players are a major part of everything that's going on to be of huge importance, and have prepared things as such.

The best part about CoS to me was how open this module is to just adding things in and making adjustments to fit the stories of your players, and I have taken full advantage of that.

I'll give an example, and let me say this before I give my example that if my players happen to see this post, everything below this point is MAJOR SPOILER territory. I doubt my players will see this, but just in case, if any of my players see this, do not read past this point. PLEASE!
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So my example is this. CoS provides an excellent vehicle to tie your players stories to the module that I absolutely love. And that vehicle is the Vistani. They act as the primary connection between what happens in the material plane, and what happens in Barovia. I love this, because in addition to hooking them with the idea that they are now trapped in this demiplane and need to find a way out, this connection means major events that happened in the material plane can translate to character arcs in Barovia.

My favorite example is one of my players is playing a satyr who was told of a gemstone of untold riches on the Sword Coast. The satyrs lover warned her that the place the gemstone is said to lay is dangerous, and asks her not to go, but because she is so obsessed with pretty gems, she does it anyway. When she ultimately finds the gemstone and marvels at its beauty, the man who told her about it appears and tries to kill her and take the stone. Her lover arrives to protect her and sacrifices himself to ensure she gets away. Grieving her loss, she later makes a deal with a devil to erase the memory of her lovers death in exchange for a pact (She's playing a warlock, so pact backstory there). She now doesn't remember his death, but believes him to be missing, and that the gemstone she has may be a key to finding him.

Going into the stuff this player doesn't know about now, I'm sure anyone who is familiar with CoS already knows where I am going with the gemstone. Yes, it is the third gemstone of the Wizard of Wines. It ended up on the Sword Coast because it was stolen by a vistana who fled Barovia to sell it for personal riches. He was never seen again. Additionally, the man who told her of the gemstone and tried to kill her was Arrigal. I am setting him up as a minor villain in league with Strahd as opposed to an ally, and he wants to get close to Strahd for the sake of having influence, and finding an opening to kill Strahd and seize control from him. By getting the gemstone and returning it, he would gain praise from many, making him more of a favorite amongst his people to have influence over many things. Essentially, people will see him as a light in the darkness, but in reality he's only doing it to gain power and influence, as well to get Strahd to notice him and get closer.

Even more tragically though is the lover was not killed, he was still alive. Arrigal strapped his unconscious body to a pile of other bodies to present to Strahd, and brought him to Barovia. There, Strahd bit him and drank enough of his blood to kill him. He was later and buried and, yup you guessed it, he is now a spawn under Strahds control. And the best part about this is I can insert him in place of any spawn where I feel its appropriate. He can appear at the feast, or he can show up in Castle Ravenloft. I can put him anywhere I want, and thus I can decide when the best time is to reveal him to the players and let that arc begin. And this has so many interesting outcomes that I really can't wait to see what the players decide to do!

This is one of the things I am doing to make the threat of Strahd feel more personal. I want my players to grow to truly hate him, I want them to get intense satisfaction from the idea of destroying Strahd. I want Strahd to be a villain that my players love to hate, and making the stakes feel that personal to the characters is going to really increase the tension, and I love that!

[prettiestdunce]

this comment is a sacrifice to the algorithm god

[matthewholevas]

I'm feeling validated that I accidentally did all of these! And all it took was making a questionnaire the first thing I give my players. Sew your pertinent lore inside the questions and it will inform the tone, concept, setting, and conflict. Additionally, the characters they make with that will give you ample ways to integrate into your plot. I couldn't figure out who the BBEG was until I had a player answer the questionnaire with a tie-in

In the spirit of "Pointy Hat free" I've provided a sample below from my current film-noir game set in a bubble city in Hell:

Player Character Questionnaire:

Provide your DM with answers to the following questions. If there is anything you feel is important to know about your character that is not addressed in these questions, please provide that as well. Motivations, Backstory relationships, Ideas for their character arc, etc.

Q1: The city is a sanctuary city built in Avernus (Hell with Mad Max cars, ) and has taken many precautions to keep threats out. Why are you in [My cool bubble city]?

Ex: Are you a citizen? Are you here on a temporary basis like a diplomatic, engineering, or refugee permit?

Q2: The city has become a trade hub for its proprietary technology called "Glasswork" that has created many inventions that resemble 1920's America. Namely radio, electricity/lightbulbs, and cable cars. What is your profession?

Ex: Inventor/Engineer? Actor/Singer? Reporter? Guardsman/Outrider/Law Enforcement? Municipal Worker? Small time Criminal or involved in Organized Crime?

Q3: The first session will begin with a Guardsman (Cop, ) asking you to take a meeting with him about a job he has for you. Why do you take this meeting?

Ex: Is he blackmailing you? Are your friends with him? Are you an upstanding citizen who is volunteering? Are you trying to get in good with the Guardsmen? Did someone tell you to come and give you no further details?

Q4) The campaign begins with an election. The previous mayor served an unusually long-term (5 years instead of 2, ) but has officially stepped down the morning of the first session. All citizens are eligible to run for mayor. Is your character running for mayor? Are you planning to get involved in politics or endorse a candidate? No one is obligated to run. Multiple players may also run against each other

[pedrostormrage]

7:19 The cyberpunk anime is called Psycho-Pass, btw

[isaacsurbey]

I wish so badly I’d listened to this. My first campaign suffered from the combo of sandbox with a story and I just fluffed my way through the first month of play. Finally got a story down and if I ever ran for new players I would basically start with exactly what you’d advised, more direct conflict to initiate and build the world around their decisions. Great video, sad I missed you at Gencon

[riverplasmahero]

One of the best pieces of advice was 3-6 players.
Started my first time DMing with 13 because I didn't want to tell any of my friends no. Would definitely not recommend. We made it work but it was very rough.

[shadowfox]

I love your wit and meme/image usage. I laugh every time. Your videos are always a hilight for my day/week.
I would love to see a continuation of this series (the rest of that long script you alluded to) and am looking forward to them!
I have faith in you! You're amazing and thank you for all your hard work and countless hours you put into these videos. 💜