It’s been a few weeks since I wrote about the planning of my D&D campaign. We have now played the first session with the new characters. As we play, I want to talk about what is happening in my D&D campaign, what I did for planning and how the execution of it went. Because I think all of those things can be really nice to help you know how to plan your campaign. Plus a chance to see how much I structure the story, structure sessions and plan elements.

Recap the Arc and Plot

This is the hook that we are going with.

No one would mistake you for the heroes of old. They are now something of legend as were the monsters they faced. The demons of old were locked away. How do you know, because you live right outside one of those dungeons. Something strong is starting to happen around the dungeon though. The terrain is changing and you don’t know why. Some thing it is a sign that the seals are weakening. But if that’s the case, who is supposed to stop them. You are tasked to find those heroes from one of the larger towns and are sent out with provisions, a map, a well wishes.

And the arc that we’re in now.

• The inciting incident
• Town in panic
• Investigation
• The Annals
• We Need To Find Heroes

Session 1 Plan

So the plan was to tackle the first two parts of this Realization arc in the first session. I figure that the players are likely to get through that inciting incident in half of it and then the other part in the the other half of the session. So I split what I wanted from the campaign up.

The Inciting Incident

Imps attack outside of the town near Maggie Ferns farm. It’s close enough for Beau to hear. There are a group of kids, the ones who stumbled across the imps in the first place who warn the others in town. Three townsfolk show up as well for the fight.

The combat is 2 imps and 4 lemure outside a town with Maggie Fern, Chad Ironvale, Jannis and Father Corbin from the town joining the combat.

Town in Panic

After the fight, that evening there is a townhall with Mayor Wilfriend Brumble leading it. The room is packed and noisy because nothing like this has ever happened before and everyone wants to know if there are going to be more imps, where they came from, and what the Mayor and other leaders are going to do to protect them.

The major holds the meeting and all the town is there. The above mentioned Mayor leads it and additionally in the crowd are the owners of the shop as well as other farmers and towns folk.

Session 1 Recap

The Characters

I realize that you need to know the characters. We have Ug an orc monk. The next character is “Jack” – real name unknown – who is a Warlock, though that is also unknown to most. Alf Alfson is an ancient elf cleric. And finally, rounding out the party we have Beauregard “Beau” Vine a human druid farmer.

The Session

The Combat

Firstly, let’s talk about how imps pack a punch. I wanted to go with more, but I realized before the session that it would be too much for them. So two imps, who joined the fight late and then four lemure who were mainly there as fodder.

But to how the session went, I want to start letting the players lead what is going on. This is a town and place they are all familiar with. Ug, Alf, and “Jack” all live in the town, so it made sense to start with them. It also is a chance to start with some role playing for what their characters normal life looks like. The same is true for Beau in the country, but to add to his time, that is when the fight kicks off.

Beau and his dog Tater hear Maggie Fern, the nearest farmer, yell to some kids to run back to town. And then the sound of combat. Beau goes to join in, which takes a few minutes to get there. While that is happening, the kids make it to town and warn everyone else.

The big takeaway is how hard Imps can hit. They got Beau knocked out and almost took down Ug the Orc, but the Orc has Orcish Resilience (I believe it is) where once per long rest they can drop to 0 and bounce back up to 1. Combat was fairly standard combat, beat the monsters

The Town Meeting

Part two of the session is where more happened. That is a chance for the group to form, and it kind of did. Right now Alf Alfson and Ug are kind of the leaders. Ug because he wants to live a more respectable life after being kicked off of his tribe. And Alf is ready for something else. Beau is coming along because he knows where the trail is and it impacts his farm.

“Jack” is the most hesitant to join the group who are looking into the problem. So much so that he didn’t even volunteer. Instead, his contact with some shady dealings, whom he sent Ug to so Ug could sell some weapons, wants him to go and is going to pay him for information about anything that might be valuable.

Takeaways from My D&D Campaign Session 1

New Characters

The first thing is that there is a learning curve, I think, when starting up a new campaign. Especially when three of the players, they all were in my last campaign. So Alf, Ug, and Beau were Bokken, Kip, and Barrai before. And I think looking to create new characters and settle into their role playing of those characters is going to be a work in progress. This is not a bad thing, but I think for newer DM’s who maybe have one campaign under their belt, expect that transition time.

Buy-in

Next is buy in, I think it is fair that “Jack” is hesitant for this. “Jack” does odd jobs around the town, and this one does come with a reward, but it is a bit more dangerous. So I think it is about how players interact with the hook in different ways. Some players make a reason why they would join in. So that is what I gave “Jack” that reason to buy into the hook. This is something that ties back into the first point too. A new player at the table, what is their play style, more generative, passive, or maybe progressing from one to another.

Creating Space

This is something that I’m going to kick off new session with as well. I know that the characters are going to be heading out on this adventure soon. So it is going to be, give them space around town. They head out at 9 in the morning, and it is coming up on that. So what is it that they want to do before they head out? Is there anything important or anyone they want to talk to? Some of that has already happened, but create space for role playing like I did this time.

What’s Next in my D&D Campaign

So this next part of the realization arc is going to probably be the longest part. Checkout some of the reason for the creation of the world and arcs here. But this is going to be them exploring and trying to figure out what is going on, or Investigation as I put it on the arc list.

Why is this going to be the longest, because, firstly, they are heading out into the wilderness. While this area is generally forest, some clearings, it’s remote. So it is very much an unknown situation for the players. And some of the exploring is going to be trying to figure out where the Lemure and Imps came from. But also just figuring out where they are, how to find their way back, and dealing with the nature that is going to be around them.

So my play for my D&D Campaign is to make this last several sessions. There might even be a bit of a dungeon that they come across when they get to where the creatures came from. But it is also to set the tone, this is expansive when it comes to the world. And there is a lot of nature that is going to need to be dealt with to get from place to place.

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