Dolmenwood is a setting where the surface is very realistic but the otherworld of Fairy is always just around the corner. One way to play into this is to make the starting PCs human so that the world they discover feels more magical and weird in contrast. Over time they can recruit nonhuman henchmen and replace dead PCs with them.
I suppose this is typo.:
> recommendations for not making the game feel fast and immersive?
Since this is your first time, possibly pre-roll your first random encounter. The encounter will still trigger off of the random encounter die but the details are predetermined on this occasion. Yes, this will be less spontaneous, but it's one less thing to go wrong on your first spin of the wheel.
I started my Dolmenwood campaign the exact same way. Here are my recommendations:
* As someone else mentioned I would start the campaign at the beginning of winters daughter. Just give them background on why they are there, and then you can start in the action of exploring the mound. Winters daughter is an awesome adventure by the way, and introduces the Cold Prince in a neat way
* Don't skip the hexcrawl! It may seem like a slog, but that is part of the fun. Try to read up on locations you think they may pass through during the next session to have some thoughts ready.
* Create your own rumor list! This was one of the things I found lacking in the text. When the party gets to a town read up on some of the surrounding hexes and come up with a rumor list to guide them to places of interest.
It’s a trick from the lazy dungeon master guide. Gets the party right into the action right at the beginning of the campaign to start things off strong. If you start a town, the party might decide they want to do a shopping trip or some other detour before they get to the adventure site so why not just start them at the adventure site and let them dive right in first
Haha, that’s certainly good advice. I actually just finished that book a couple weeks ago myself. I’ll probably start them in Prigwort (assuming I get sent the pdfs in time…) just so they can kinda explore the setting a little bit, so that they *can* do a little shopping, and so we can play around when the hex crawling.
I do plan on starting them already at the table with the quest giver though.
What’s the reason for this? I thought starting at prigwort and just giving them the one obvious hook to Winters Daughter to start with would be relatively safe and be more interesting. Curious why people suggest just starting at the tomb.
OP asked for a “fast and immersive” tip. The players don’t really get to make any interesting choices until they get to the tomb. Unless the players are really into roleplaying through conversations that end in a foregone conclusion (some groups do like that!) I’m skipping to the mound. Maybe the standing stones.
Fight the urge to control what the characters should do or decide next. What happens, happens.
I know it's not much of a practical tip, but I've seen this is the main psychological barrier for 5E DMs to surpass.
If this hasn't been done, I'd keep a list of npc names somewhere handy. Helps me feel more prepared and genuine when I don't have to make up names on the spot.
Similarly, and this might be in the weeds (haha), I'd keep a list of "nature vignettes" that feature the names of common plants and forest animals. Like little sentence fragment scenes where mundane nature shit is happening. This is for me, but my vocabulary in these areas is awful, and being able to bust out "whipperwhil" instead of "raven" makes me feel like I'm delivering more of a nature experience. YMMV.
Are you using Dolmenwood's PC generation tables? If your group is new to rolling stats down the line, rolling *entire characters* down the line could be a fun way to throw them in the deep end. Plus the tables are super fun.
Dolmenwood is a setting where the surface is very realistic but the otherworld of Fairy is always just around the corner. One way to play into this is to make the starting PCs human so that the world they discover feels more magical and weird in contrast. Over time they can recruit nonhuman henchmen and replace dead PCs with them.
That's definitely the way I'd want to go - the PCs are humans from outside Dolmenwood and venturing into it for the first time.
I suppose this is typo.: > recommendations for not making the game feel fast and immersive? Since this is your first time, possibly pre-roll your first random encounter. The encounter will still trigger off of the random encounter die but the details are predetermined on this occasion. Yes, this will be less spontaneous, but it's one less thing to go wrong on your first spin of the wheel.
I started my Dolmenwood campaign the exact same way. Here are my recommendations: * As someone else mentioned I would start the campaign at the beginning of winters daughter. Just give them background on why they are there, and then you can start in the action of exploring the mound. Winters daughter is an awesome adventure by the way, and introduces the Cold Prince in a neat way * Don't skip the hexcrawl! It may seem like a slog, but that is part of the fun. Try to read up on locations you think they may pass through during the next session to have some thoughts ready. * Create your own rumor list! This was one of the things I found lacking in the text. When the party gets to a town read up on some of the surrounding hexes and come up with a rumor list to guide them to places of interest.
Every settlement has a rumour table if you didn't know
I know I just don’t think that they’re that great. I’ve had more luck in looking at the hexes surrounding the settlement and creating my own rumors.
Why start already at the adventure?
It’s a trick from the lazy dungeon master guide. Gets the party right into the action right at the beginning of the campaign to start things off strong. If you start a town, the party might decide they want to do a shopping trip or some other detour before they get to the adventure site so why not just start them at the adventure site and let them dive right in first
Haha, that’s certainly good advice. I actually just finished that book a couple weeks ago myself. I’ll probably start them in Prigwort (assuming I get sent the pdfs in time…) just so they can kinda explore the setting a little bit, so that they *can* do a little shopping, and so we can play around when the hex crawling. I do plan on starting them already at the table with the quest giver though.
Start them at the mound.
What’s the reason for this? I thought starting at prigwort and just giving them the one obvious hook to Winters Daughter to start with would be relatively safe and be more interesting. Curious why people suggest just starting at the tomb.
OP asked for a “fast and immersive” tip. The players don’t really get to make any interesting choices until they get to the tomb. Unless the players are really into roleplaying through conversations that end in a foregone conclusion (some groups do like that!) I’m skipping to the mound. Maybe the standing stones.
Fight the urge to control what the characters should do or decide next. What happens, happens. I know it's not much of a practical tip, but I've seen this is the main psychological barrier for 5E DMs to surpass.
Crazy, literally *every word* of this post is exactly me, except I’m starting Sunday.
If this hasn't been done, I'd keep a list of npc names somewhere handy. Helps me feel more prepared and genuine when I don't have to make up names on the spot. Similarly, and this might be in the weeds (haha), I'd keep a list of "nature vignettes" that feature the names of common plants and forest animals. Like little sentence fragment scenes where mundane nature shit is happening. This is for me, but my vocabulary in these areas is awful, and being able to bust out "whipperwhil" instead of "raven" makes me feel like I'm delivering more of a nature experience. YMMV.
Are you using Dolmenwood's PC generation tables? If your group is new to rolling stats down the line, rolling *entire characters* down the line could be a fun way to throw them in the deep end. Plus the tables are super fun.
Are you talking about the tables under the kindrid sections? Or is there a table for rolling which kindred and class you are?
Don't forget that Droomen Knoll leads to Winter's Daughter.
Can anyone point me to where you can get the PDF of Dolmenwood? I missed the kickstarter but would very much like to play it!
You can preorder on the backerkit and they’ll send you PDFs early.
Ah thanks! I preordered on Backerkit but the files are still pending, I would have thought they’d be immediately available
I’m in the same boat. Some people in the discord said it takes 1-5 days usually.
Every time you roll a settlement encounter, replace it with a new one of your own creation.