Feel free to read the background below, you'll see I took many of your suggestions (had to simplify some for my beginner level GM thought processes) but this is the current status: The adventuring group has gone ahead through a time portal about 100 years with the help of the time staff. The time period they are in is a grim setting, Moander has huge influence and power there although details are light on that right now. Once there they learned that the Paladin's grandfather has likely been kidnapped by the Revenant Occupation from the custody of the Temporal Authority (time cops). The Revenant Occupation (RO) is a group of dwarves & elves who want to purify their race, part of it is they put forth they want to eliminate time travel. The players don't know though that they actually just want time travel for themselves and that is why they kidnapped the grandfather, the idea being to sacrifice him to try to access this magic in a ritual. They believe they know where the grandfather is but have heard that he is safe temporarily. The group became extremely suspicious of the time cops (I wasn't expecting that), so they are working on infiltrating them by becoming recruits and getting more information. They've also realized they don't have much money so they took up an offer to battle in an arena against psychic, mutant, dinos. I'm planning to have them hopefully win some gold and a dino egg as a prize and see where they go with that. (I unconsciously realized I got this idea from dungeon crawler carl) My thought is that as they infiltrate the time cops they will find spies there from the RO and could get more info on the grandfather and time travel in general. They will also learn about how I'm framing time travel in this campaign, I might have gotten this idea here, more that time travel creates different universes so you can't go back in time and change things. I'm afraid of keeping track of things if stuff gets too bonkers with that. They'll learn this in the training process as recruits.

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.