## ✍️ Draft I recently started running my first campaign as a dungeon master. It's an experienced group of players, we've been consistently questing every Monday since the beginning of the pandemic. One theory I have is that everyone who enjoys *insert thing* should try a hand at running *insert thing,* if for no other reason than the empathy it builds. Whether it's tabletop role playing games, team/functional management, volunteering–everything is always a bit more improved through the experience. But also because I have a theory that this could be a great creative outlet that also makes me a better marketer and go-to-market leader. I made some decisions when planning my first campaign that most experienced DMs would tell you not to do. Were I to start again, I might give myself the same advice, but in actuality I'm fairly happy with how things have shaped up. ### It's all jazz For starters, I wanted a different setting to shake things up for our group. We're coming from a few campaigns in [[Faerun]], most recently a very specific take via *Rime of the Frostmaiden.* Combat and environment heaving, I wanted to introduce more intrigue, more noir, more opportunity for our team to try their hand at *role playing.* It was lucky that from a timing perspective, that we were ready to start this campaign alongside the release of *Forge of the Artificer.* We'd also been looking to give the 2024 ruleset a run, and all the stars aligned for us to head to [[Eberron]]. The obvious downfall here is that while there's plenty of community content in Eberron, not a lot of tried and true adventures, and even fewer emulator ready resources for our group scattered around the country. All of this has conspired to create, to put it mildly, a shit load of upfront work. It's fair to say I thought I knew what I was getting into, but didn't fully appreciate the time and effort that goes into crafting a great experience. I'd planned on a big investment of time for writing and narrative development, I didn't plan on the rest of it. The learning curve on Fantasy Grounds is initially quite steep, the shepherding of character creation, themes and hooks, all of it is much more akin to managing a team through a complex project than I rightly expected. Layer in learning a new ruleset and sourcebook, and let's call it *ambitious.* In practice I'm doing what every great artist does: stealing. I'm pulling from a number of existing adventures [[2957608-Adventures_in_Eberron_v2.40.pdf|Adventures in Eberron]], reworking, smashing together, and assembling a mixture of homebrew and pre-written adventures together into something that I hope will be fun to live in a few hours a week for a year or two. In the beginning I took care to make sure I had every contingency planned, that I had every thread ready. I quickly learned the folly of this approach. Players gonna play. I've come to find that the actual best and most important skill of the DM, at least in session, is extemporaneous, freeform jazz baby. You need to know your theory, you need the foundational knowledge, but when you get to the table you need to flow like water. So in this respect my experience flies a bit in the face of conventional wisdom for first time DM's: I'm not sure it's actually that helpful to run something pre-built first. Certainly easier, but I'm not sure it flexes the same muscles as early. > [!tip]- Dig deeper on Eberron >If you're interested in either the new ruleset or the setting, I've written a condensed primer for my players about [[What's Changed in the 2024 Players Handbook|what's different in the new players handbook]], and even an [[eberron setting primer]] before Forge was released (but based on the Unerated Arcana playtest material). ### You're gonna have a bad time Another lesson I'm quickly learning (and this points to the empathy piece) is that running a good session, let alone campaign, is much harder than you think. Every once in a while, you're gonna have a bad time. In my early sessions I was hugely surprised by how truly terribly the thing I'd written came to life at the table. This is the curse of every creative pursuit, and the important takeaway is the eternal one–the only way out is through. It's seemingly very obvious to observe that the only way to make something good is to make a lot of bad somethings, but it's also a very timely reminder in a world increasingly overrun by slop. > [!tip]- A note on the Sloppening > During my sabbatical I spent a lot of time thinking about [[what remains human|what remains human in a world of thinking machines]] if that philosophical bent tickles your fancy. For more applied writing: >> - [[You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.]] >> - [[Unsolicited advice for the next GTM leaders]] What I'm finding is that simplicity is key. In [[E1 - The City Watches|our first session]] I wrote individual vignettes for each of the five characters. I wanted go give every character the chance to establish their own background, and create a cohesive through-line to the spine of the adventure I had in mind for us. This of course translated to a b --- > [!info]- Wayfinding > - Contributes to: [[The Bleeding Veil]] > - In response to: [[What makes a good campaign?]] > - Builds on: *concepts* > - Developed alongside: *artifacts and ideas* > - ChangeLog >> - Date: meaningful shift