TheSword
Legend
So one of the advantages/disadvantages of DMing three simultaneous TTRPG groups and playing in a 4th is that the weighty question of what campaign to run next comes up more often than normal. I’ve bought myself a few months of planning and preparation as one of my players is going to run a mini campaign for the summer - but eventually a decision must be made.
I find the decisions pretty tough. I have high expectations. Not only does it need to be something the players will enjoy, but it has to be something I’m inspired to run. It has to be customizable but not too much work. It needs to be a campaign at least 10 levels but not too long. I’m really lucky that we have a general principle that the DM does the work so the DM gets to pick… that’s a lot of responsibility though when our campaigns generally run for 1-2 years. Sometimes longer. For the record I’m currently running the Enemy Within for one group and the Age of Worms for another, and have just finished Odyssey of the Dragon Lords - which, while a lot of fun, was very combat heavy and fairly shallow. I’m itching for something geographically tied to one location or city with a lot more roleplay.
My original idea was to do a Dark Sun conversion of Hells Rebels set in Tyr dealing with the overthrow of Kalak. I had some cool ideas but the news about Dark Sun definitely not getting a release definitely put me off. I was also a bit frustrated when putting together the players pack for the campaign with all these wonderful weapons and strange materials two players decided to play a soul knife and a monk to avoid the sacrifice in power. I realised that maybe this wasn’t going to be as fulfilling as I wanted it to be. It would be a lot of work to do the conversion and if the players weren’t going to get into the vibe… well I just thought it wasn’t worth it.
Then I considered Kingmaker 5e but to be honest this group doesn’t do well with sub-games and I don’t think the kingdom building element would work. without that, Kingmaker loses a lot of its punch.
I considered a 5e version of the original Baldurs Gate followed up with Descent into Avernus. But to be honest Descent into Avernus is so badly put together that I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for much more than a day. That would be an ideal campaign for a new group that would find it all more wondrous and would appreciate the simpler structure, but wouldn’t work for my more jaded group of veterans.
I’ve settled (for the moment) on a 5e adaption of WFRPs Paths of the Damned partly after reading a very good campaign review/journal by @Charles Dunwoody . I’m bringing all three parts to one City, Salzenmund in the north, so the players can get to know a place well and build contacts and relationships. It should work very well…
… unless of course I change my mind in two weeks. Why am I so fickle when it comes to choosing campaigns? Am I the only one that can never make their mind up? How do you find it/approach the question?
I find the decisions pretty tough. I have high expectations. Not only does it need to be something the players will enjoy, but it has to be something I’m inspired to run. It has to be customizable but not too much work. It needs to be a campaign at least 10 levels but not too long. I’m really lucky that we have a general principle that the DM does the work so the DM gets to pick… that’s a lot of responsibility though when our campaigns generally run for 1-2 years. Sometimes longer. For the record I’m currently running the Enemy Within for one group and the Age of Worms for another, and have just finished Odyssey of the Dragon Lords - which, while a lot of fun, was very combat heavy and fairly shallow. I’m itching for something geographically tied to one location or city with a lot more roleplay.
My original idea was to do a Dark Sun conversion of Hells Rebels set in Tyr dealing with the overthrow of Kalak. I had some cool ideas but the news about Dark Sun definitely not getting a release definitely put me off. I was also a bit frustrated when putting together the players pack for the campaign with all these wonderful weapons and strange materials two players decided to play a soul knife and a monk to avoid the sacrifice in power. I realised that maybe this wasn’t going to be as fulfilling as I wanted it to be. It would be a lot of work to do the conversion and if the players weren’t going to get into the vibe… well I just thought it wasn’t worth it.
Then I considered Kingmaker 5e but to be honest this group doesn’t do well with sub-games and I don’t think the kingdom building element would work. without that, Kingmaker loses a lot of its punch.
I considered a 5e version of the original Baldurs Gate followed up with Descent into Avernus. But to be honest Descent into Avernus is so badly put together that I couldn’t muster the enthusiasm for much more than a day. That would be an ideal campaign for a new group that would find it all more wondrous and would appreciate the simpler structure, but wouldn’t work for my more jaded group of veterans.
I’ve settled (for the moment) on a 5e adaption of WFRPs Paths of the Damned partly after reading a very good campaign review/journal by @Charles Dunwoody . I’m bringing all three parts to one City, Salzenmund in the north, so the players can get to know a place well and build contacts and relationships. It should work very well…
… unless of course I change my mind in two weeks. Why am I so fickle when it comes to choosing campaigns? Am I the only one that can never make their mind up? How do you find it/approach the question?