Anatomy of a Campaign - A Dungeons and Dragons Podcast: Recent Episodes
campaignanatomy
Final insights and thoughts from my 5E campaign. Two years in the making and things ended differently than I thought, but that's the nature of the game!
Special sound effect from Daniel Simon, which I found on soundbible.com here: http://soundbible.com/2140-Grenade-Launcher-2.html
Season 2, Episode 13: Cheating the Long Game
Discussing how to pull off a long term story arc with an emphasis on leaving things mutable so you can adapt to developments as they arise. Two key links from this episode are the Front System from Dungeon World and the sample fronts from my campaign.
Season 2; Episode 12: Taking the Long View - I begin plotting out the next big adventure as the party researches an ancient map identifying places of power. This captures a free-flowing creative process to capture the big ideas ahead of adventure design.
Season 2; Episode 11 - Player Screen time: The characters receive some much needed downtime - preparations and consequences of their initial foray in this city in the cross-hairs. Juggling to ensure everyone has enough screen time turned out to be a challenge.
Season 2; Episode 10 - The campaign needed a tune-up so we held another campaign building session. It's like reprising session zero, but with distinct differences. The following organization of the existing plots is referenced in the podcast: A & B Plots
Season 2: Episode 9 - Story Doctoring. Using classic story elements to identify ways to correct story problems at the table. This is a link to the plotted examples discussed in the episode.
Season 2: Episode 8 - Gaming is supposed to be a fun pastime intended to relieve stress, but DMs can burn out, suffer anxiety, and even feelings of inadequacy. Where does this come from and how can you help yourself stay fresh and healthy.
Season 2; Episode 7 - I think character creation is a game unto itself and talk about the process I go through to ensure I have an effective and integrated character.
Season 2; Episode 6: Cry Havoc and let slip the ghouls of war! In this episode I recount our big battle using the Warfare rules from Strongholds and Followers. What worked and what I'll do differently the next time we have a large scale battle.
Season 2, Episode 5: Building Combat - turns out I had more to say about combat. Most notably I'm working through using the Warfare rules from Strongholds and Followers to bring the battle of Red Road to life.
In the podcast I mentioned our subreddit, which can be found here: https://www.reddit.com/r/AnatomyofaCampaign/
And here is a link to the simple stat visualization I mentioned.
Season 2, Episode 4: Understanding the two official methods of combat encounter design, where I think they help and where I break the rules when constructing a combat encounter.
Season 2, Episode 3: In consideration of Theater of the Mind style play. Recent life distractions forced me to employ a purely TOTM approach and it reminded me of the benefits to the game when you put aside the pretty minis and maps.
Season 2, Episode 2: A complex morale scenario traps the players in a town about to be overrun by undead from without and within. Alignment, morality and what makes a character proactive.
Season 2, Episode 1: Discussing methods for designing a city based on the purpose, history and alignment of the location. Unless you're intending to publish your city, you'll need to be efficient and prioritize where you should focus your design efforts. My goal is to provide my players a place to engage and interact that feels unique and distinct within the game world.
Episode 35: The Season Finale! Part 5 of 5 covering the lessons from the Adventure at the Temple of Borlane. What are the components of an ending and how do you pivot into the next story? We have another Player audio contribution and special ending to this episode.
Episode 34: Part 4 of the final 5 part series of this season. Exploring conflict and how it can be used to enhance drama in your game across all manner of scenes, including combat.
Episode 33: Driven to Adventure - integrating character motivation and backstory into the plot. Part 3 in our 5 part series centered on the party's 5th level milestone adventure in the Temple of Borlane. Characters are the centerpiece of any game, but how do you use them, what are the pitfalls and how much or little of their backstory should be included?
Episode 32: The second of the final five episodes for the season. Dungeons can be a challenge, but they remain a viable staple of the game. What are the pitfalls and how did I approach adapting Against the Cult of the Reptile God's dungeons for my adventure?
Episode 31: Season One Finale Part 1
In the first of the final five episodes of this season, we're taking a broader view of the end module at the Temple of Borlane. There are a number of dangling threads and new ideas as we enter this final adventure. Many things have been bubbling up since the beginning and it can be hard to tie things together in a satisfying way. This is about pulling those ideas together so they can work for you.
Episode 30: We went a different way. Events in the session, driven by player choice and the dice, served up a different scene than I expected. Seizing on the opportunity, I changed things up to feed into the emotional impact at the end of the battle around the farmhouse.
Episode 29: The plan is to change gears following the side-track adventure into the Oozing Temple. Introducing comedic characters to break tension and deliver a more varied tone across the campaign. Also, while the party spent two days in the Oozing temple, it took 2+ months of real time - how to re-focus following a long diversion.
Episode 28: The battle between Dragons and Demons is really just window dressing for a simple character decision. How do you bring to life multi-classing at the behest of a god? Our last session was dominated by an epic battle - we take a look at how that battle played out and the critical character decision it ultimately served.
Episode 27: Preparing for an epic battle at the gates of death involving a wing of dragons vs. a Balor and his demon horde.
Episdoe 26: In our last session, another character falls to the gates of death. The players dealt with moral choices that both define their characters and the philosophical differences within the party.
Episode 25: In our next session, one character must choose between their own death or ritualling sacrificing someone else to save themselves. Also, planning a new storytelling technique that gets inside the PC's minds.
Episode 24: Recapping our latest session in the Oozing Temple - how best to manage player absences and how to handle it when the choices your story forces on a character irrevocably change them.
Episode 23: Preparing for the final encounter in the Oozing Temple, I discuss adding elements to combat that are intended to make a basic and even cliched encounter into something more engaging.
Episode 22: On the run from Black Oozes, the Shadow Sorcerer is offered the power to survive, but at what price? Recapping the second part of our adventure through the Oozing Temple.
Episode 21: Prepping for part 2 of the Oozing Temple crawl, I am amending the map and the monsters to deliver a more appropriate experience for the party. Changing things mid-adventure feels like it should be "wrong", but it's reality for a busy DM.
Episode 20: Using side quests to introduce a new PC. If you want to hear how much things can change from prep to actual-play, compare what actually happened here to episode 19. A lot changed in the final hours before our game. D&D, it's not just an adventure for the characters!
Episode 19: Introducing a New PC both as part of the main storyline and through the introduction of a compelling side-quest.
Episode 18: Post session recap of Kalda's fight in the land of death. A complex session with interconnected combat scenes, a skill challenge, and the party's first meeting with the druid's Auntie.
Episode 17: Preparation for Kalda's battle in the land of the dead. This campaign handles death saves a bit differently. You get one roll and if it fails... you have to do battle at the gates of death to see if you get to return to the land of the living. During an elaborate encounter involving only one PC, how do you keep the other players involved and having fun? This and much more in this episode of Anatomy of a Campaign!
Episode 16: Post game recap as the party leaves Outpost Nine. Handling Overland encounters. How players taking on the mantle of co-storyteller helps make the game much better.
Episode 15: Arriving at a more cohesive group dynamic requires that they first be split apart. Preparing for the group's journey away from Outpost Nine. First stop: The Hag Coven in the Gromenghast swamp.
Episode 14: Outpost Nine has been devastated by the Kraken and the DM struggles to keep the game cohesive among all the character's open plot threads.
Episode 13: Following the Kraken attack, I'm preparing for a session that will help to establish the next plot line for the characters while dealing with various story threads that have been developed in the campaign so for.
Episode 12: The stakes are rising and the players are forced to make tough decisions. How far will they go to achieve their mission? The conclusion of their revenge on Captain Castigeri.
Episode 11: How do you prepare when the party is nearly tapped out? Will they press onward to stop the Kraken from being summoned or will they fall back and take a long rest?
Episode 10: The players second guess their choices, but ultimately continue with their assault on the mansion where one of them falls through the gates of death.
Episode 9: Preparing for the party's mission of revenge against Captain Castigeri, how will this second level party fair against the Kraken?
Episode 8: A session with no combat that was filled with tension and drama due to player buy-in and a set of robust NPCs.
Episode 7: With the party back in civilization, I am prepping to deal with all the avenues of story the characters can pursue.
Episode 6: The party escapes the island, but the DM cannot escape his self critique.
Link to the map video mentioned in the podcast: https://youtu.be/kbNXcrYMh4g
Episode 4: The party is constantly on the run from pirates, devilish frogs and the jungle itself as they attempt to escape the island of Skagros. Amidst it all, should a DM fudge dice rolls?
As mentioned in this episiode, here is a link to Hex Kit. All other maps created in Hexographer.
Episode 3: Ahead of our first session of play, I discuss what strategies and tactics I have to bring the game to life. It will begin in the middle of the action, with the party stranded on a dangerous island, surrounded by pirates.
Episode 2: Session Zero was a success, introducing the players to each other and developing characters using tools from games outside of 5E such as FATE and Powered by the Apocalypse.
Episode 1: At the start of a brand new Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition campaign, the DM prepares for running a session zero that places more agency and creative control in the hands of the players.
Anatomy of a Campaign is an audio journal chronicling a D&D campaign from the DM's point of view. Each game session will have an episode ahead of time prepping for that session and a post-mortem episode reporting back on what happened and capturing the lessons learned.