Working on developing my first campaign. Looking for general advice on how to tie it all together, have appreciate the advice I have received so far but I feel like I needed to make some sort of general plot concept to start to look into those resources more. This is long so no need to read or reply but if you have the time and interest I appreciate it! I mostly want to know if my general plot actually makes sense in some way outside my own mind! Started with Dragons of Stormwreck Isle DnD starter set with the idea of having a time portal appear at the end. PC’s include Paladin Aasimar-goal is to find his grandfather (or more likely information) who was allegedly carried away from the island by a dragon a long time ago Tabaxi Rogue-No clear goal yet but following the will of Bast, ((ancient Egyptian goddess of home, domesticity, fertility, childbirth, and protection)) was suggested here to help her find a powerful form of catnip Sword-wielding human Wizard-being chased by a Wizards guild because they don’t like him pursuing training in sword fighting etc. Guild is called The Trust of the Song Warlock with a patron called the Deity Moander, which I’m just learning is an actual deity in DnD materials. Warlock wants to find some dirt on his patron so he can no longer be manipulated by him. How can you find dirt on a deity? Or am I missing something? Can they just kill him in a future time period? Sorcerer-occassionally when he rolls on the wild magic table he gets pulled to the elemental plane, so he would like some type of power to stop doing this. and/or maybe learn additional wizard magic more easily. The idea is they have just defeated a dragon (in a clifftop observatory) that wanted to perform a magic ritual during a celestial event, they have gotten rumors of some type of time portal potentially opening up during this event. So the next scene would be they’re in the observatory with the dead dragon, and they see the celestial event cause the observatory and telescope to glow and they see someone appear holding a large staff. This is a wizard human named Ebeneezer holding a time staff (I found online has certain stats etc.)

Something that has always been a part struggle as I get older is finding a group. Not just a one shot. But a real campaign group. With my schedule and living on the West Coast. And to be honest I am use to a gaming on every other Saturday. I know that might be old school. But beside when I was in grade school for a sleepover. I never played during a week. For my mind set weekdays is for school and sleep and some TV hehe. When Civid happen Before then I never thought of playing during the weekdays. And boy did I do a lot of gaming during that time. But now we are back to a similar normal life. So my weekdays is too busy or too tired to even think of gaming. So besides solo gaming I have tried. But the thrill of a group it is ok. So I have thought about play by post. But my experience with playing what will is beyond zero. I got some serious questions. How does combat and a social reaction work. I have a hard time seeing how that could work well. I feel like I want it to work but I have a hard time seeing how it works. Help me I want this to work.

I thought long and hard about this. And played a lot of systems. And I have to say I like it better to gain XP with bother my completing micro task to keep myself engaged in the story we are trying to tell. But at the same way I am torn by getting XP by failures. The idea getting XP by learning from your mistakes. Speaks to me. And then again I like what as a group we all level up with milestones. I know how bad it felt when one class would level up and you did not.

Hope this makes sense. I am continuing a campaign someone else did a couple sessions of, Dragons of Stormwreck Isle, dnd 5.5e if that matters. The concept in my interpretation is several adventurers go there because they're seeking something at the island, wisdom, spells, etc. One PC is looking to find out what has happened to his long lost grandfather. This whole thread has nothing to do with the prewritten material other than there's a dragon type quest to resolve and the rumor about the grandfather is he was carried away by a dragon over 50 years ago. I have planted a couple clues that would lead the crew to think this PC(paladin aasimar) has a "twin" that has been seen on the island and that there are some signs of a time travel vortex or field or something. I'm thinking maybe they'll find the twin and realize it's actually the grandfather and there's a time warp. Then I'm thinking maybe they'll get pulled into some other world/timeframe/something and that might be the new proactive campaign. I'm planning to tell the actual players about these concepts a little bit each week as we resolve the pre-written scenarios/adventures prior to the time warp. Any thoughts on how to transition in a cool or conflict driven way? Or any suggestions on moving forward? While on the island I have a sorcerer & wizard who both want more magical powers/spells etc., a tabaxi rogue who wants cat nip but is holding back on other motivations, a warlock on a quest for knowledge, patron still a mystery. Open to any reactions, thanks.

I read Proactive Roleplaying a few months ago and now I’m in to the second book, which has options for wiring with a homebrew or published book. How many of you are using homebrews? I started playing in 1980 and have played and DM’d on and off since. I had a traditional homebrew created with key elements and lots of choices. I had thought to use it for our first Collaborative Campaign, but I’m so excited as I read the book that I may start from scratch to get more player agency. I would love feedback on that, too.