I want to start a FR campaign, can you help?

[AstralFarmer]

I want to start my first campaign, but the worse part is coming up with the first adventure and uniting the players. I have the "big picture" more or less drawn, but I can't seem to start the game without giving it all away. I want the plot to unfold slowly. I also don't want to force anything upon the players, like railroading them into anything. I want an initial hook to bind them all together and that would be interesting for any adventures.

Lastly, I need many suggestions, because a few might not fit into the great scheme of things, and I don't wanna say much here for now, because I don't know if my players use this website. (I will write a succinct campaign journal in here though if things work out, only containing the story itself and how it progresses; I could also write more detailed posts of stuff that happened, like clever/silly things the players/myself did, etc).

[Unoriginal]

Talk with your players. Have them come up with a reason why their different characters are adventuring together.

It's really for the best unless you have a specific idea for getting them together, and avoids the "my character doesn't want to adventure at all/with [insert other PC]"-type situations.

[Yora]

You're really not giving us much to work with.

Tell the players to create characters who are already a group and then they get an adventure. That's almost always better than making random individuals and then telling them to form a group.

[IDontKnow]

You don´t give us a lot.

Can you tell us the big picture of the campaign.

[BarneyBent]

Run Lost Mine of Phandelver to start, weaving in little specifics of your campaign throughout?

[J-H]

I want to start my first campaign, but the worse part is coming up with the first adventure and uniting the players. I have the "big picture" more or less drawn, but I can't seem to start the game without giving it all away. I want the plot to unfold slowly. I also don't want to force anything upon the players, like railroading them into anything. I want an initial hook to bind them all together and that would be interesting for any adventures.


Unless you are DMing for an experienced group that has played together before, don't start in a sandbox. Stick them on a railroad for at least half of the first session to give them time to feel out their characters, gel as a group, and start to build trust. Besides, not everyone does well in a sandbox - especially the newer players.

I'm assuming low level, so just tell them that they've all (for whatever reason) decided to answer the call of a local cleric who's had a dream about an ancient tomb that poses a threat...then run something short like....this.


I made this up as a Egyptian-ish flavored small dungeoncrawl for my wife, who is still new to D&D and wants to be on the railroad while she learns things like "What dice is it for a stealth check again?", managing spells per day, etc. She's about halfway through it. I have down-powered several enemies, as you may note. Her party is 3 level 3 characters currently (Alissandre - rogue; Tash - half-orc Champion; Zhrogar - Paladin).

The first part is narrative because it was originally a much shorter quest...

Zhrogar’s had a few dreams and has found a cave up in the mountains that match them, but she can’t make the 30’ vertical climb herself…she needs someone agile to climb up and secure a rope.

Alissandre takes 20 and scales the cliff without any issues. She sees that deeper in the cave is a mass of spider webbing. After calling down a warning, she drops a rope, and the other two climb up (+5 Athletics check and rope and plenty of time, no rolls needed). They advance up to the webbing, and then toss a lit torch into it. Not much happens at first, and then a giant spider becomes visible!

Alissandre goes first, and misses with her bow. The spider lunges out and rolls really poorly, missing Tash. The party clobbers it, with Alissandre finishing it off with a natural 20 and overkilling it. As the webs and the spider’s body burn, the group moves back near the entrance of the cave to get away from the smoke.

They see the webbing burn free of two bundles, and a couple of zombies tear themselves free (with 6hp damage from fire each). I give the party auto-win on initiative since they got the chance to stand there and watch the zombies, so they all use ranged attacks and damage one some. The zombies use their entire turns moving up to Tash, who then chops one of them down with his attack. Alissandre moves to flank the other one and rolls well with her sneak attack, landing nearly max damage and killing it.

They spot a hole in the back of the cave that is squared-off and leading to something artificial, and they find two potions of CLW on the bodies of a more recently-deceased zombie.

Alissandre makes a good stealth check and uses ropes to lower herself and peer down into the area below. It’s a partially collapsed old structure, with 4 skeletons standing around, and a 5th one with glowing eyes pinned under a collapsed wall.

The paladin (Zhrogar) jumps down (passing her Acrobatics check to go 15’ without falling), and moves next to a skeleton. Tash jumps down and rolls a 3, falling prone and only able to get up. Alissandre moves most of the way down and fires an arrow, which misses.

After that surprise round, the party wins initiative. They swiftly deal with the four normal skeletons. The pinned skeleton has Eldritch Blast (1d10); it misses with one hit, and by the time it gets to go again, the other skeletons are all kaput. It uses Poison Blast, hitting Tash for 5 damage; Zhrogar makes her save.

The group finds about 1100 gold, the Cat’s eye dagger, and determines that the tomb may have been engineered to collapse if anything tried to leave the area that the glowy-eyed warlock skeleton had been buried in.

(Enemies: Regular skeletons; Trapped Warlocky Skeleton with +10hp, Eldritch Blast +4/1d10 or Poison Spray DC12/1d12)

Zhrogar the Paladin will say “This isn’t it…I feel like there’s more.”

The tomb of Azar-Khuresh:

You dig through the collapsed wall, eventually clearing a pathway (faster: crawling size; slower: walking size).

A 10’ hallway leads down past two supply rooms. Doors are rotted. Each one contains a skeletal lizardfolk servant (no weapons). Appear to be food, water jars, and other consumables for the afterlife. Nothing of value save for 3d100 gold

Lizardfolk servant:
AC 14
HP: 24 (4d8+4)
Speed 30’
Str 15, dex 10, con 13, int 7, wis 12, cha 7
Multiattack:
Bite +4, 1d6+2
Claw +4, 1d4+2
CR ½
Vulnerable bludgeoning
Immune, poison

Results: 5 damage from the second lizardfolk landing a bite. No other injuries.

Right turn at end of hallway to a line of 6 skeletal guards equipped with partly-rotted metal shields and breastplates (+6 AC from base skeleton stats) stationed in two lines, in a room covered with hieroglyphs and paintings about the glory of some ancient ruler. The sun features prominently in many of the paintings, including him drawing power from the sun.

Skeletal Guard
AC 16 (armor + shield scraps)
HP: 13
Speed 30’
STR 10 DEX 14 CON 15 INT 6 WIS 8 CHA 5
Vulnerability: Bludgeoning
Immune: Poison
Attack:
Longsword +4, 1d8+2
One instead wields an adamantine short sword.
Each has a single iron javelin +4, 1d6+2

Results: Alissandre snuck ahead to peek around the corner. I rolled a dice pool for the skeletons, and it ended up positive and with a 20. The group engaged the skeletons in the hall, where they could only come two at a time.Substantial injuries to all party members. 6 dead skeletons. Adamantine short sword loot. The Dragonborn Paladin used her cold breath for 2d6 (10!) damage, hitting all 6. All 6 skeletons made their save! It still removed one damaged one from the table and put the others down to 8hp left. 30 damage from a single action is good.

A set of broad steps leads down and to the left. You enter a room stacked with Egyptian-themed storage stuff, and piles of gold and gems that used to be in chests. An inscription on the floor reads in draconic. “Take a tithe and leave Azur-Khuresh to his fate. May he rot forever in darkness.” A pair of statues of winged lions are recessed into the far wall, flanking a stone doorway. (2 gargoyles, attack only if someone tries to pass through). [Investigation dc10] pictures of solar eclipse dot the room.
Investigation DC12
2000 gold
Investigation DC15
+500 gold
Investigation 20
+500gp worth of gems


Gargoyle (weakened by age, -4 con)
Medium elemental, chaotic evil
Armor Class 15 (natural armor)
Hit Points 38 (7d8 + 7)
Speed 30 ft., fly 60 ft.
STR 15 DEX 11 CON 12 INT 6 WIS 11 CHA 7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons that aren’t adamantine
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities exhaustion, petrified, poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Terran
False Appearance. While the gargoyle remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from an inanimate statue.
Actions
Multiattack. The gargoyle makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) slashing damage.

The stone doorway is a single slab, press-fitted within a heavy and perfectly smooth doorframe. You could use ropes and a chain to pull it out, but you would not be able to get it back up.
[I](this traps the fire elemental “buffer/insurance policy” forever in the next room until opened.)

The next room is featureless and black, with the rock all burned to ashes. A large, humanoid form stands ready, and moves to attack. It breathes words out with the fire, but none of you can speak Ignan, so you can’t understand it. It seems dimmer and cooler than you’ve heard of such things being.

Weakened Fire Elemental
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 102 (12d10 + 36)
Speed 50 ft.
STR 10 DEX 17 CON 16 INT 6 WIS 10 CHA7
Damage Immunities fire, poison
Condition Immunities: exhaustion, grappled, paralyzed,
petrified, poisoned, prone, restrained, unconscious
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 10
Languages Ignan
Fire Form. The elemental can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. A creature that touches the elemental or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet of
it takes 1d4 fire damage. In addition, the elemental can enter a hostile creature’s space and stop there. The first time it enters a creature’s space on a turn, that creature takes 1d4 fire damage and catches fire; until someone takes an action to douse the fire, the creature takes 1d4 fire damage at the
start of each of its turns.
Illumination. The elemental sheds bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light in an additional 30 feet.
Water Susceptibility. For every 5 feet the elemental moves in water, or for every gallon of water splashed on it, it takes 1 cold damage.
Actions
Multiattack. The elemental makes two touch attacks.
Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target.
Hit: 2d4 + 3 fire damage. If the target is a creature or a flammable object, it ignites. Until a creature takes an action to douse the fire, the target takes 1d4 fire damage at the start of each of its turns.

The other door is similarly wedged into place.

The fire elemental was placed here as a trap to bottle up Azur-Khuresh in case he "woke up." As a mummy, it could slay him easily.

Beyond it is a room, decorated as though it were the tomb of a king. A golden sarcophagus lies on a dais in the middle of the room…. But dirt and rock shards fill three of the four corners of the room, and a narrow, crude tunnel has been dug out through the back wall. The contents of the room seem to have been gathered into a messy pile, and scraped and dusty shards of metal dominate – perhaps things used for digging.

A dead man wrapped in cloths sits in the tomb. Rising, he takes hold of a mace with a head shaped like that of a cobra, and proclaims something in a long-lost language. Two lizardfolk skeletons come out of the tunnel, covered in dust and dirt.

(in case you can't tell, he's awoken from his long death for some reason and is working on escaping - the implication from prior rooms is that he drew much power from the sun or a sun deity, and that he's weakened by his millenia in the dark)

Azur-Khuresh
AC 12 (+2 natural, -1 dex, +1 bracers)
HP 58
Speed 20’
STR 16 DEX 8 CON 15 INT 6 WIS 10 CHA 12
Saves: Wis+2
Vulnerability: Fire
Resist: physical damage from non-magical weapons
Immunities: Necrotic, poison, charm, exhaustion, fear, paralysis

Multiattack: Any two of
Dreadful glare: DC11 wisdom save or frightened and lose a turn. If succeed on save, immune for 24 hours
Cobra Mace: +7 to hit, 1d6+3 damage plus 1d4 poison damage
Cursed Touch: +7 to hit, Constitution save (DC 11) or HP recovery from all sources of healing is halved until the next long rest.
Loot: Bracers of Armor +1, Cobra Mace (magical mace, does +1d4 poison damage on hit)

Lizardfolk digger skeletons (no weapons)
AC 14
HP: 24 (4d8+4)
Speed 30’
Str 13, dex 10, con 13, int 7, wis 12, cha 7
Multiattack:
Bite +3, 1d6+1
Claw +3, 1d4+1
CR ½
Vulnerable bludgeoning
Immune, poison

[ImproperJustice]

A simple exercise is to have your players write down 3 items on a piece of paper.

1. A goal that once acheived, will leave the PC feeling satisfied enough to retire from adventuring.

2. A short term goal or series of short term goals that can be seen as benchmarks for #1.

3. A reason for seeking the company of others, and why they might be willing to delay #2 and #1 while world with the others.

Then work with the Players on combining their goals and motivations so everyone has a reason to be risking life and limb together in pursuit of fortune and glory.

[KyleG]

A simple exercise is to have your players write down 3 items on a piece of paper.

1. A goal that once acheived, will leave the PC feeling satisfied enough to retire from adventuring.

2. A short term goal or series of short term goals that can be seen as benchmarks for #1.

3. A reason for seeking the company of others, and why they might be willing to delay #2 and #1 while world with the others.

Then work with the Players on combining their goals and motivations so everyone has a reason to be risking life and limb together in pursuit of fortune and glory.

that is real simple and cool. Im going to work with that. Would you work with the players collectively in combining their goals an motivations?
the trick will be to then as a DM to actually incorporate that into your story so your characters are both surprised when stuff relating to them happens, and also that they don't expect too much from you as the DM when you are the one having to craft these X number of characters stories into your game world.

[tchntm43]

When I started my campaign, and explained some aspects of the country it would take place in, I told each player separately "We'll be starting in this city, so you'll need to incorporate into your character history a reason why you are here, and why your character would be open to seeking out easy mercenary work."

[TyGuy]

Maybe try this

https://youtu.be/w5yIvDiu6tg