You don't need to put more than "Extensive House Rules" Rules Variance - If using any custom rules changes (ignore encumbrance being the most popular) or additional subsystems are allowed. In AD&D's Dark Sun, PCs started at 3rd level.īackground - Are the PCs from an established campaign world? Are they from distinctly separate cultures? Are PCs allowed from multiple existing settings (most of my games are planar in nature, so this is my personal default).ĭowntime - How will downtime and associated events (magic item creation, etc.) be handled? Before or after a regular session? Between games via email / Forums / Discord? Etc? Rules For example, in Spelljammer 5e, characters are supposed to start at the 5th level. You can even see this in published products. Some people like to have a little more punch at their disposal, and some DMs like to get right to the larger challenges. Starting level - Many campaigns do not kick off at first level. Tablets, phones, and digital tools - Are they permitted, encouraged, or banned? Do you use online tools like Obsidian Portal or Roll20? Characters Scope- How far will the story range? Is it a Small town horror story? A multiversal epic? A journey to the center of your mind? Somewhere between? Would the theme music be Carmina Burana or the Monty Python theme music? (Beware the Macarena.) I like to think of it in terms of a movie soundtrack. Is it going to be grimdark, action comedy, cartoonish, drama, etc. Tone - This is an important one, and one that tends to evolve a bit over the course of play. Style - Is the game focused on exploration? Social (investigation, political, etc), action? Heavy or light combat? Anything PG-13 or more, and I note adult content here. Online or in person?Ĭontinuity - Are the sessions episodic? Large arcs? Combination? Where and when do we play? Day, time and frequency (i.e. System - What game will you be playing? Pathfinder 2, D&D 5e, GURPS, Savage Worlds, Dr Who, etc. This is also valuable information to present at your zero session. Keep it short because all of this will be expanding rapidly. Each bold section should get one to two sentences worth of text. This not only lays out the fundamentals of the game but also gives you a nice condensed way to explain the campaign to potential players. I've always been fond of creating a statblock for the campaign as though it were a creature combatant. (Ronan The Accuser in the first Guardians of the Galaxy movie is a terrific example of this.) Your Big Bad Guy usually sees himself as a hero or crusader. Their motivations can give you an endless array of plot hooks giving the overall campaign a consistent "feel."Īlways remember that no one is the villain in their own story. Once you have that, you can begin fleshing out the details and tone.Īlong with the endgame, get an idea of what your prominent Big Boss at the end will be. Whether it’s saving the kingdom, bringing down the government, or defeating a major devil on its own turf, it pays to know what you are working towards. This is how I design my home campaigns, which usually run for three to five years in real-time. It is also a gratifying thing to pull off. The rest of the stuff that you mention is just fluff saying "Be careful when allowing things in your game" but that's true of everything really.Long-term play is fun, but it certainly takes some work from the Dungeon Master, especially if you are not running a published Adventure Path. From that point onward, he gains levels normally. This process repeats at 10th level, making him a minotaur barbarian 8 when the group reaches 10th level. Using the minotaur example, when the group is at a point between 6th and 7th level, the minotaur gains a level, and then again at 7th, making him a minotaur barbarian 4. Repeat this process a number of times equal to half the monster's CR, rounded down. It is recommended that for every 3 levels gained by the group, the monster character should gain an extra level, received halfway between the 2nd and 3rd levels. Note that in a mixed group, the value of racial Hit Dice and abilities diminish as a character gains levels. For example, in a group of 6th-level characters, a minotaur (CR 4) would possess 2 levels of a core class, such as barbarian. Treat the monster's CR as class levels when determining the monster PC's overall levels. If you are including a single monster character in a group of standard characters, make sure the group is of a level that is at least as high as the monster's CR.
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