How realistic is it for me to continue this campaign? (as a new DM).

[Sir-Carlos]

So, we were playing a Module. My players messed up and might TPK today (long story). They are so far in the campaign (literally in front of the boss room) that I won't continue it after this. If they die here, they'll loose the campaign. We were originally planning on playing "Rime of the Frostmaiden" next, but I kinda like the idea to build a new campaign for a party dealing with the aftermath of the previous parties failure.

The Problem: I haven't written any home-brew until now. Only some side-quests. I have a year of DMing experience and 2 years as a player. This new campaign will probably start at level 8-10ish. I have never written anything for that tier of play too.

The question: Do I offer my players to continue the campaign? Even if I don't know how it's gonna be? How difficult will you think it will be to pull this off? Or do I play it safe and search for an easier entry-point into the world of home-brew?

[thoroughlyS]

This is not a flatly impossible course of action. If you feel comfortable running sessions for the party, and you feel like they would enjoy this, then you can suggest it for the next campaign. There will almost certainly be some growing pains, as you get used to whipping up everything from scratch, but there are some great resources availible for new DMs.

[Mastikator]

You don't need to write a complete campaign if you're homebrewing it. A zoomed out general idea is nice to have (and you already have one, aftermath of the TPK). Then a zoomed in start.

Personally I don't find it difficult to make a homebrew campaign, it is however time consuming.

Edit- if you feel like it's difficult to homebrew scenarios/dungeons/NPCs then there are some really good guides online in addition to the DMG.

[OldTrees1]

The question: Do I offer my players to continue the campaign? Even if I don't know how it's gonna be? How difficult will you think it will be to pull this off? Or do I play it safe and search for an easier entry-point into the world of home-brew?

1) How difficult will you think it will be to pull this off?
Continuing a campaign with homebrew is not much harder than the workload of back to back homebrew sidequests. Maybe 1.5x the workload? The main additional work is from brewing the main quest. You have an idea ("the aftermath") and are likely to be able to imagine what would arise from that aftermath. Then just be flexible and improvise when the players surprise you.

2) Do I offer my players to continue the campaign? Even if I don't know how it's gonna be?
Yes. Fill them in on what you know, including your concerns. If they can make an informed choice, they will be in the best place to answer your question. If they are excited and "all for it", then they are interested by the idea and are confident you can do it.


Expanding or continuing a campaign is probably one of the easier entry-points into the world of home-brew. You can leverage the world building from the main campaign, you know the characters, and you have established consequences to explore. Go for it!

[Lvl 2 Expert]

You could consider some sort of middle ground. It is now 50 years later, a new group of heroes one or two levels lower than the ones that wiped enter the region (or live there and are provoked into doing something, or...). They will be confronted with the fallout of the failure and have to deal with the consequences. This allows for some cool variation*. But ultimately it all boils down to a retry of the boss fight 3-10ish sessions from now. If they have seen enough of the boss fight before they wipe give him some flashy new power that makes sense. Maybe have the final fight at a level higher if you want to really add some oomph.

This would give you a chance to flex your homebrewing muscles without committing to more than you might be able to handle.

That said: if you feel like you can and want to handle it, your players will probably love your homebrew custom made campaign. It'll just cost you some time, and maybe stress. Especially with the higher levels.


*The child they saved from the arm eating hag is now missing an arm as well as a leg, had to sell them to pay the evil overlords taxes. The orphanage has long been abandoned, so they have to find or create some form of safety for the city's street urchins. The elves now live in hiding, which is a problem because they are the ones that had the one short range teleport wand that lets you sneak into the castle. The new and imporoved evil city guard needs to be taught a lesson. And the healer outside of town curiously still looks maybe even younger than last time, and gives off a serious vibe of power. Maybe just buy some potions and not ask too many questions...

[JonBeowulf]

Don't stress until you know their answer. They say "no", then roll with RotFM and have fun. They say "yes", let them know they need to give you some time to put a rough outline and a proper start together.

[Kenny_Snoggins]

So, we were playing a Module. My players messed up and might TPK today (long story). They are so far in the campaign (literally in front of the boss room) that I won't continue it after this. If they die here, they'll loose the campaign. We were originally planning on playing "Rime of the Frostmaiden" next, but I kinda like the idea to build a new campaign for a party dealing with the aftermath of the previous parties failure.

I'm curious about generally what happened in the last session that might kill the whole party today. Are you starting the session mid-combat carrying over from the last time?

I think the homebrew level 10 start campaign would be a lot more fun as a PC than a hardback module. That's always been my experience. Idk your party dynamics, newer 5e players can rage quit parties and friend groups when their PCs get dropped, which is ridiculous but there you go. For "safety's sake" I would try to get at least one PC to run away if things are seriously screwed and that's a possibility. Running away is always a good option, to keep the narrative going, maintain continuity, NOT DIE, lol various other things. I'm amazed how many 5e groups I've played in (mostly newer players) that don't realize once more than half the party is down, don't stick around

[Sir-Carlos]

I'm curious about generally what happened in the last session that might kill the whole party today. Are you starting the session mid-combat carrying over from the last time?

I think the homebrew level 10 start campaign would be a lot more fun as a PC than a hardback module. That's always been my experience. Idk your party dynamics, newer 5e players can rage quit parties and friend groups when their PCs get dropped, which is ridiculous but there you go. For "safety's sake" I would try to get at least one PC to run away if things are seriously screwed and that's a possibility. Running away is always a good option, to keep the narrative going, maintain continuity, NOT DIE, lol various other things. I'm amazed how many 5e groups I've played in (mostly newer players) that don't realize once more than half the party is down, don't stick around


Yep, we are starting mid-combat. This combat was the players choice though and they accept that their characters might not make it. I already talked about that with them :-). Let's see if they stick around or if they try to flee. I think that's up to them. They know that is an option.

And thanks about for the encouragement, regarding the home-brew campaign!

[clash]

My advice is do homebrew. If you've been running official wotc campaigns already I find homebrew to be a much lighter workload as a dm than trying to run the official campaign settings that expect you to both create the entire story for the setting yourself and make it match with everything they have outlined in the setting. At least with homebrew you can make it up on the fly when things go sideways and not worry about your consistency with loose plot points provided by someone else.

[JonBeowulf]

My advice is do homebrew. If you've been running official wotc campaigns already I find homebrew to be a much lighter workload as a dm than trying to run the official campaign settings that expect you to both create the entire story for the setting yourself and make it match with everything they have outlined in the setting. At least with homebrew you can make it up on the fly when things go sideways and not worry about your consistency with loose plot points provided by someone else.
The value of that kind of freedom cannot be overstated. Keeping the party "inside" the scope of published content can be exhausting.

[crabwizard77]

Yep, we are starting mid-combat. This combat was the players choice though and they accept that their characters might not make it. I already talked about that with them :-). Let's see if they stick around or if they try to flee. I think that's up to them. They know that is an option.

And thanks about for the encouragement, regarding the home-brew campaign!

If the players don't want to create new characters, you could have the boss or whoever they are fighting take them prisoner, or something similar. I agree with some of the other posters. Talk to your players and see what they want to do.

[KorvinStarmast]

If the players don't want to create new characters, Then there won't be a campaign if there's a TPK.

[da newt]

I agree with the idea of a 3rd middle option. If this does go TPK, maybe create a homebrew of a shorter arc that culminates in a second chance against this boss. You could go w/ PC's souls end up on plane X of the afterlife and have to quest to get back to where they failed (combat or make a deal / sell your soul or what ever) or any plot that fits your situation / tastes. This will give you the opportunity to try your hand at homebrew but with a limited scope and provide your party with an opportunity for closure / revenge. Most folks prefer to finish something off feeling like they 'won.'

Then you can decide what to do next campaign with a little more understanding of what it will take to go 100% homebrew, and your Players will have a taste of published vs homebrew and can provide input too.

[Lord Ruby34]

Can you make your idea work? Yes. It'll require stretching your wings a bit and developing some new DMing skills, but you can absolutely manage that. Your players will likely enjoy the continued plot, and you'll likely enjoy providing it for them.

Good luck.