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Personalise A Prewritten Campaign in DD

How To Personalise A Prewritten Campaign in Dungeons & Dragons

By
Lidia Rozo
2024-04-17 10:50:32

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We have made a guide for you to explain how to personalise a prwritten campaign in Dungeons & Dragons.

What to know about customizing a prewritten campaign in Dungeons & Dragons?


Custom campaigns offer a multitude of opportunities for different play styles, transitioning between broad sections that often align perfectly with specific game play styles. Here it is essential to identify the sections that fit our unique style of game management, it is worth noting that knowing how to customize a pre-written campaign in Dungeons & Dragons, since these can enhance and complement our existing preparation processes or integrate perfectly with our approach. Preferred to run the game.

How to personalise a prewritten campaign in Dungeons & Dragons?



Here are the playing style suggestions

Open world exploration or point tracking: Most modules offer sections that allow us to choose the order of visiting places and achieving objectives. This is very beneficial for groups that value player agency.

  • Notable example: Rime of the Frostmaiden allows us to freely explore the Ten Cities of Icewind Dale in any order we choose. In contrast, later dungeon crawls offer a more linear experience.

Dungeon Exploration: If map creation is not one of our strong points. Predefined solutions for room layout, encounter order, and puzzles can save us time and effort.

  • Notable example: Dungeon of the Mad Mage focuses primarily on exploring dungeons, and each floor is independent. This offers the ability to easily skip unappealing sections if we wish.

Wilderness Exploration: Some assemblies have the ability to honor the periods of movement interspersed between the stories as much as the plot itself. Some manuals rely heavily on this approach.

  • Notable example: Ghosts of Saltmarsh features expanded regulations for ships, crews, and vehicular combat. Now, if this doesn't appeal to you, we have the option to "fast travel" the group between notable locations.

Roleplaying Opportunities: DMs and players who struggle with improvised improvisation may find that pre-written characters and character prompts are a valuable asset, while DMs with a different vision may prefer to create the their own.

  • Notable example: In Icewind Dale, each player is often entrusted with a unique secret that can serve as a stimulus for character development. These secrets can create conflicting goals for characters, leading some groups to forego this aspect.

Unique Mechanics: A module's distinctive mechanics can integrate seamlessly with a DM's style of running a game by providing additional rules tailored to the campaign.

  • Notable example: Turn of Fortune's Wheel's Glitch mechanic can complement a DM who enjoys killing PCs (or who hates losing characters). In this case, it is possible to modify the mechanics to suit the preferences of the group, altering the number of character variations that exist and the frequency with which they die.

How to customize gameplay for players in Dungeons & Dragons?


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In addition to leveraging our own strengths as a Dungeon Master, it's also important to consider how the components of a pre-written campaign or our own work align with the specific group we're running for.

These are the various character elements and how we can perfectly incorporate them into our campaign, here are the player's considerations


Legacy Characters: Some characters may have established stories from previous campaigns, with supporting characters, items, and lore properly established.

DM Considerations
  • We need to look for opportunities to adapt the gameplay to integrate these existing hooks, we will replace a minor villain with his recurring archenemy or have a faction NPC recognize our past achievements.

Higher Starting Levels: Many tables swear by starting at level three to improve playability. However, Curse of Strahd is a level one to ten adventure.

DM Considerations:
  •   We must adjust the initial content to match a higher initial level until the characters reach the expected level for a specific area.
  • It is ideal to use alternative starting points that enter the module later in the story. In Curse of Strahd, there is an option for characters who have completed the Death House introductory game.

Homebrew Content: The vibrant community of homebrew enthusiasts is easily one of Dungeons & Dragons' greatest assets. But, these homebrew creations can sometimes clash with modules that assume specific character choices.

DM Considerations:
  •   To avoid potential conflicts, it is vital to determine in advance whether a player's custom species will trigger special comments from NPCs and whether it will affect dialogue with both NPCs and factions.

Incompatible configuration books: Even among the official books, there are cases where configurations may be incompatible. Such is the case with Dragonlance which does not feature Warforged, and it is highly unlikely that the Barovians could trust a Thri-Kreen.

DM Considerations:

  • In such cases, the options can be kept mechanically the same but with a new tradition. Such as the case of, "forged do not exist here, but our character could be a golem."
  • Other times, it may be necessary to modify the narrative to adapt it to the chosen module. For example, "Giff is not native to Icewind Dale, but you were marooned here and your Spelljammer was stolen."

It is crucial to note that sometimes the concept of a character may not match the chosen game. It is important to discuss with players which module they are interested in playing and what limitations there may be for character creation. To maintain continuity between stories, it may be necessary to join characters in creative ways. This can add depth and complexity to the overall narrative.

It pays to use the art of customization when shaping a module by incorporating custom non-player characters (NPCs). Whether derived from our own creative ingenuity or existing within our realm, NPCs from previous modules can be seamlessly integrated into our current masterpiece. To avoid overwhelming the game, we will efficiently replace non-essential characters with these new additions.

It is possible to improve the uniqueness of these interactions by ensuring that players retain the memory of the characters and our shared history. NPCs should reference previous events, fostering a sense of connectivity beyond the boundaries of the module. The primary antagonists, easily identified by the names that adorn the title and the faces that adorn the book covers, pose a greater challenge to recycling. It is ideal to introduce a third party as a link between them or as a sponsor, ultimately serving as a powerful overall villain.

Use smaller segments of larger volumes


Sometimes a piece of literature may not align with our desired campaign theme, and we feel compelled to force its inclusion for fear of waste. It is a dilemma that is not uncommon, but the key to incorporating it successfully lies in dividing the text into smaller portions that can be integrated without problems in future projects, such as the Curse of Strahd random encounter table can add a chilling touch to a gothic themed game. Meanwhile, The Mad Mage's Undermountain is conveniently divided into floors that can serve as dungeons suitable for levels five through twenty. Likewise, the Fortune's Wheel or Ghosts of Saltmarsh side quests are great single-player adventures. It's feasible to try replacing the Angels vs Devil's Baseball game with a conflict between two local factions for a low-risk backup adventure in case of last-minute cancellations.

This is everything we know about How to personalise a prewritten campaign in Dungeons & Dragons, follow these instructions detailed here and enjoy this great game.



Tags:
D&D Dark Alliance
Platform(s):
Microsoft Windows PC, PlayStation 4 PS4, PlayStation 5 PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
Genre(s):
Action role-playing
Developer(s):
Tuque Games
Publisher(s):
Wizards of the Coast
Release date:
June 22, 2021
Mode:
Single-player, multiplayer
age rating (PEGI):
16+

Other Tags
video game, gameplay, price, 60fps, steam


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