First D&D Experience, the world of Nezurguard

[Azazel]

This past weekend was a first for many in the group. It was my first time in any D&D session and I had the role of DM. Prior to this weekend we had a "Session 0" to get our players acclimated to the world, their party members and the setting before jumping into character creation. We discussed rules, world setting, backstory, and overall expectations. It was a successful meeting, but overall quite anticlimactic. Everyone was chomping at the bit to start our first session, and session 0 was just a big tease (D&D blue balls). There has been a lot of build up to this point and over the last few months, myself and the other co-DM have been crafting the setting and overarching plot points.

But this weekend was a momentous occasion and a lot of great stories and shenanigans came out of our first chapter. We're currently in the process of writing down all of our events in a journal which will be told from the perspective of a great poet or bard.

I wanted to share some of the things we've created so far as well as the wonderful backstories of the PC's.

Dungeon Master Stuff



Initial Map (https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/45443223/Map.png)

Lore Compendium (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1LLrju8S6Ypd-Hblv_l2GT6SBbQq4wuS-goGq2bRQemc/edit?usp=sharing)

Session 1 Notes (https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n2pOpZQtEF8sa9tcVB0VIJudH40ecacNlm1s2Cewu3U/edit?usp=sharing)



Player Character Backstory


Darcasson Kon Kaelin II (https://www.dropbox.com/s/pg22rb419mgjwmn/Dkon%20Backstory.pdf?dl=0)

Julissa Liadon (https://www.dropbox.com/s/pv6mny6nn81ayvh/JulissaBackstory.docx?dl=0)

Surrak (https://www.dropbox.com/s/39ts8ueunx62sop/Surrak.docx?dl=0)

Merewin Anaire (https://www.dropbox.com/s/ilt7gii64m219tf/Merewin%20Story.pdf?dl=0)

Thuron StoutBarrel (https://www.dropbox.com/s/2qe95m9bpu81gdz/the_memoirs_of_thuron_legendary_dwarf_monk.pdf?dl= 0)

I've transferred most of these items into Fantasy Grounds and I hope to be able to build a module from this; as we progress through the main campaign. Any thoughts, feedback or suggestions is always welcome.

[LordEntrails]

Sounds like a great time!

You'll definitely want to plan this out just a little bit before you put it all into FG. I would suggest you take a look at this post if you haven't; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?33538-Adventure-Module-Creation-Best-Practices

So, I'm thinking for this you will want several development campaigns (i.e. FG campaigns you use for creating content, then export to modules and open those modules in the the "play" campaign as needed.)
- Campaign & world background reference info: things like deities, world/regional maps, common knowledge, lore, culture & people, major cities (basically anything that corresponds to the PHB).
- Chapter specific: one campaign/module for each chapter, things like local maps, villages, handouts (anything you would find in a regular 'purchased' adventure). This would allow you to close this when this portion is over and keep the number of items shared with the players reasonable.
- NPC's: this one would be something like a monster manual for your use. You would not share this with the players, but any custom creatures you create plus adversaries etc. This way you can use them over and over again without re-creating them. Using this, you could then change the normal philosophy of always copying NPC's to the local campaign (or chapter module) and have a single source, you would always have to have this open, but that wouldn't be a big deal.

Hope that helps :)

[Azazel]

Sounds like a great time!

You'll definitely want to plan this out just a little bit before you put it all into FG. I would suggest you take a look at this post if you haven't; https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?33538-Adventure-Module-Creation-Best-Practices

So, I'm thinking for this you will want several development campaigns (i.e. FG campaigns you use for creating content, then export to modules and open those modules in the the "play" campaign as needed.)
- Campaign & world background reference info: things like deities, world/regional maps, common knowledge, lore, culture & people, major cities (basically anything that corresponds to the PHB).
- Chapter specific: one campaign/module for each chapter, things like local maps, villages, handouts (anything you would find in a regular 'purchased' adventure). This would allow you to close this when this portion is over and keep the number of items shared with the players reasonable.
- NPC's: this one would be something like a monster manual for your use. You would not share this with the players, but any custom creatures you create plus adversaries etc. This way you can use them over and over again without re-creating them. Using this, you could then change the normal philosophy of always copying NPC's to the local campaign (or chapter module) and have a single source, you would always have to have this open, but that wouldn't be a big deal.

Hope that helps :)

Great, thanks for the advice.

[Bidmaron]

Azazel, welcome toFG and the forums. I think you did the right thing introducing everyone like you did even though it might have been anti-climatic.

[Azazel]

Azazel, welcome toFG and the forums. I think you did the right thing introducing everyone like you did even though it might have been anti-climatic.

You're probably right, there were a heap of questions....both from the PCs and myself.

P.S. I updated the map of our land, had the wrong url. Took me a great deal of time to make, but was fun.

[Answulf]

Good stuff Azazel. That map is gorgeous!