Thread by @zacnaoum

In the last month I finished DM'ing a 4-year AND a 2-year long campaign. Don't make the same mistakes I did.

A lot of these are going to be either SUPER obvious or completely wrong for your table.

But I wish someone had told me this before I started🧵
#DnD

Big 'n' stupid monsters make for bad BBEGs.

The Terrasque is cool, but without pathos or purpose, it can feel more like your party is fighting a natural disaster with hit points. Give your villains reasons for villainy.

Wrap it up sooner rather than later.

D&D struggles with levels 12+. We also have few narratives to inspire us about protagonists with god-like powers that don't revolve around being 'depowered'.

Which leads neatly into...

Don't depower your players.

It's a common trope in some of my favourite stories, but it doesn't work in a TTRPG. Your players will feel more frustrated than anything.

It sucks to suck, basically.

Give your party game breaking magic items after level 5.

By 'game breaking' I don't mean 'woah a +5 sword!'. I mean things that allow PCs to fundamentally change reality around them. Gravity, Time, etc. give them the ability to throw wild curveballs, this achieves two things:

1. It'll cement the character archetype more than the game allows

In 5e, few choices change how your character functions after the first few levels. At 5th, PCs have a handle on who they are, so find (or make) a cool personal item that let's them do *their* thing bigger/better

2. D&D struggles with players having meaningful control over the narrative.

Give them the ability to up-end major events, but these items should also come with interesting and severe consequences.

Giving your players interesting choices is always the goal.

I'm a few sessions in on a new campaign about Post Officers and just about to start another, I'd love to have you join the adventure

Twitch.tv/ZacSpeaksGiant