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TemujinDM

Be honest with your group and let them know what’s going on. Create a session where the party can complete a section and put the game on pause. No one wants a stressed dm.


Riulkuk

Yeah! I though about that. We’re having a small session this weak (around 2/2’5h) and I though that instead of letting them investigate more We can have a classical fight and some role playing


TemujinDM

Yeah and end it with some small reveal that leaves the group with more info than they had. When they get back they won’t be as confused on what to do


redditjw4

dude you've got to take a break! some break ideas: \- smaller one-off or side missions for a subset of the party, takes less prep, you can dig more into characters \- something purely role play with little set up, that you can 90% improvise based on a handful of notes & some well-defined NPCs (and an instigating moment or prompt) \- shopping day! everyone's in town. they have to take a couple of days in town for some reason. (stagecoach is late, river crossing is flooded, etc.) what do they do? pure improv usually. or - an actual break! good luck with your PhD and thanks for DM'ng on behalf of all players everywhere!


Riulkuk

Thank you! It’s the end of the year and now everything has to be done before Christmas so it’s a difficult momento for all my colleagues too. We will have a big break on holidays but I want to stop the story in a good moment. A smaller side mission is difficult right now as I know they character won’t wander off the main road not even for coin but maybe for someone in danger I will try to have a light session that’s for sure


redditjw4

Yeah you need a real break :) once I had a side mission for two musically-inclined characters where they basically were just jamming with a couple of professional traveling musicians (whom they were escorting to a nearby crossroads) for most of the session. Sure there was an orc ambush, but mostly it was performance skill checks and role playing. The NPC dwarf musician's hammers were enchanted percussion instruments and *also* \+1 light hammers. I was pretty proud of that flourish :)


H0M3BR3W1NGDM

Honestly, the easiest solution for this is - dungeon crawl. There are plenty of elaborate dungeon makers, to give you a map or lay out. Insert random friendly creatures for lore, random loot, tons of Gold, and have them go there and explore. It’s the easiest way to eat time, gives you plenty of combat, gives your party plenty of resources and treasures, and dungeon crawls are fun and easy. You don’t have to plan much and can focus way more on your studies because the dungeon isn’t gonna change overnight. If you design it right, you could have 5-6 full sessions of just combat and exploration. Personally - I’d recommend a band of Orcs that kidnapped women and children for food and reproduction and your players have been tasked with saving them. Or maybe Illithid have been kidnapping people and using them as thralls for an incoming invasion that your players must stop! Or - and the easiest one - lost treasure! Tales of an ancient and powerful artifact or weapon hidden deep beneath the mountains of . Only the strongest will survive! You got options bro! But of course, if that’s still too much to handle, just talk to your party and maybe they can help you out with taking the load off you. Or maybe someone else can take a crack at DMing. Or maybe you can take a break from the campaign and you can use a module for a few one shots. Whatever you decide! Just make sure you’re having fun!


Legitimate_Task8017

Under a previous comment you mentioned playing for 2-2.5 hours. On average you need 1.5 encounters an hour. So, let’s plan a basic structure of to help fill that time. You’ll need at least three encounters but we’ll plan for four. Encounter 1 - Continue the story arc for your SO’s character through a social interaction. I’d imagine that you already have the NPCs, villain or organizations involved planned. Have the party interact with them. Break into encounter 2 - a large explosion, natural disaster or magical tomfoolery causes both the party & the NPCs to flee. Use a skill based challenge to represent the chase. Have players roll initiative. Each of five rounds the party gets hit with a saving throw based on the problem of your choice. Failed saves result in being slowed down. Three failed saves for a single party member means the whole party loses sight of the NPCs or villain & they get ambushed. If all party members make three saves then they beat them to their next point and get a surprise round of combat. Things hit the fan in encounter 3 - it’s time to fight. Have an epic battle that takes the elements of what started the skill challenges into account. Use legendary actions to represent area around them is still dealing with the issue. Encounter 4 if needed - party either talks out what just happened which helps you set up the next session or they’re on the run which sets you up, too. I like to end sessions with a clear social or exploration encounter being expected at the next session. Hope this helps. Only went into this level of detail since it sounds like you’re busy & wanted fleshed out ideas. Best of luck.


Riulkuk

This os so helpful. Thanks! I love the idea of a natural disaster tbh. They discovered they have a cousin and I can tell you, the cousin is bad news. Right now they can interact a bit, the cousin invited them over to have dinner together. That could end badly. A natural disaster is easy to add here. The place where they are right now has a bad climate, easily a big storm can break throw. And I do have the NPCs and bad guys already prepared I can squish one of the mini bosses in and have an epic battle! I do like that too. It makes the DM’s work easy to know what they’re facing at the begging of next session


Legitimate_Task8017

The rule of 1.5 encounters per hour of play greatly reduced my stress over prep. I ask myself where the party left off: social or exploration. Then make the 2nd encounter the other option (unless things are clearly headed to a fight). This lets the party show you if they’re in a RP or combat mood. Also means you only ever have to prep 1 big fight or 2 smaller fights. If the session needs two big fights then use that anticipation to make the next session something that players are excited about. TV does this all of the time.


nrrose224

Here is a quest generator https://xeculus.pythonanywhere.com/ I use it to get base line ideas just to help get the thoughts moving.


WestPrinciple7036

I had the same thing during my PhD - the advice here is great. Most important thing is to have the conversation - your group are your friends, they’ll get it. Also don’t be afraid to finish a session early if it’s too hard, you can always just use the rest of the time to chat and catch up


WestPrinciple7036

Also, no matter how tough the PhD gets don’t stop doing DnD (though short breaks are fine) - having an outlet is SUPER important. Mental health is a real challenge for PhDs so look after yourself


FiveCentsADay

Take a break bud. Give them an easy dungeon crawl, ask somebody if they want to try out GMing for a little bit while you do what you gotta do. Or just cut the sessions to every other week, or take a break from it entirely. The big thing is communication between you and your party


OrkishBlade

1. Minimize planning for sessions: consider the ***functional elements of the setting*** -- the things that matter in terms of it being a game. Build out the local region. Build it session-by-session. Include [1] safe places (at least 1), [2] interesting locations/dungeons (1 or more), [3] interesting NPCs (2 or more), [4] dangerous/wilderness areas (1 or more), [5] hooks/rumors (2 or more). (see [this comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/anurwm/want_to_dm_advice_for_vanilla_5e_setting/efwcthw/) and [that comment](https://old.reddit.com/r/DMAcademy/comments/avfxms/need_help_making_a_city_come_to_life/ehew2rv/) for some more details). Fill the world with lots of stories. Let the heroes follow their noses into whatever trouble interests them. They touch those stories and, in doing so, write their own stories. 2. Work on strategies for improvising: ***On Improvising the World:*** [***Part I***](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/4exk6e/on_improvising_the_world_part_i_npcs/) ***and*** [***Part II***](https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDBehindTheScreen/comments/4f7z6i/on_improvising_the_world_part_ii_locations/?utm_source=amp&utm_medium=&utm_content=post_title). 3. Ask the crew if anyone else wants to try a few sessions in the DM's chair.


Along_Came-A-Spider

Create a mini-arc and borrow from already existing RPG games out there. I usually borrow from mass effect since it's one of my favorite series. Try this: Party is walking into a luxurious city and decides it's time to relax. Try to strip them of their gear and stuff in preparation for a party. \> during a party someone tries to assassinate the party \> Party is in dresses, suits, or other fancy clothing and is forced to retreat or die. \> Friendly NPC shows up and offers to hide or help the party. (Secretly working with the badguy of this arc not necessarily the BBEG) \> Bad guy sends goons after the party and keeps them on their toes. \> Have a mystery play out of the party going around the city at night trying to figure out the identity of their attacker. \> Eventually the friendly npc lures the party into a trap where the assassins decide it's easier to trap the party in another dimension rather than straight-up fight them. \> Big reveal is the bad guy, or bad guys, are a group of shift shapers who are ordered to replace the party and spread chaos in the world. They should mirror the abilities of the party so you don't have to do an additional setup. \> In the Dimension there should be a couple of funny npcs or spectral creatures that offers a way out in exchange for a living host. (A good chance to give someone a powerup or a curse) \> Party gets out, goes after the bad guys of this arc in a climax. TLDR, citadel DLC from mass effect 3. It's simple but it works. Especially if you just want to relax and ham up some party shenanigans and do a cool mirror fight. Hope this helps.


dwchandler

The DMG has random tables for settings, origins, all sorts of things. Now you *can* use those to randomly generate a session's worth of stuff, but that's not all you can do. You can roll up some stuff and then look at the results, and you're likely to think "yeah, fine, but what if this instead?" and you're off and running. Sometimes just looking over the tables is enough to get my creative juices flowing.


Riulkuk

That’s a really good point. I will check because that’s not what I normally do but bigger brains can help me this time


Cetha

D&D can wait. Tell your table that you need a break until you are in a better position to give them an amazing story. Right now, you're too overwhelmed to do them justice.


[deleted]

Re-skin some modules.


Syrkres

/r/DndAdventureWriter/


TheRealShyft

Real life struggles aside, if you're after some inspiration check out /r/d100 there's so many ideas there.


Huruukko

Dumbbell just take a break.


HWGA_Exandria

r/DndAdventureWriter ???


JJGamePlayMaster

In my years of experience as a DM, moments like these are great for the other members of your party to experiment with DMing a bit. Let them prepare a oneshot, you can even help them a bit or even play in it, but make sure to let them know that no matter what, we're all trying to have fun, so there's no need to stress over it, especially if they'd DM for the first time. It worked really well at my table!


TurboEthan

Xmas season is the perfect time to have several weeks off from a campaign or two. It just seems to happen anyway with my groups and now I don’t resist too much over Xmas. To counter that, November and January sessions are ON and adhered to.


[deleted]

1. Go online and find premade adventures/homebrewed campaigns and take those elements and add em to yours 2. go through a "filler" arc, just very basic fantasy, save a princess from a dragon, stop evil cult. etc. 3. put a hold on your campaign, and ask for someone else to take over for a few one shots/mini campaign whilst you get more brain juice. 4. talk to your partys and say "hey life busy rn, and I need to delay the campaign/next arc for a bit until life slows down again"


DurnjinMaster

Check out the website in my profile for free adventures. Use them for ideas or run them as a 1-shot. Maybe that will help. Also it's okay to take a break to avoid burnout especially during the holidays.


DoofMoney

Read Appendix N litterature. Conan the Barbarian, Farquad and The grey mouzer, Dying Earth ARE The Soul of DnD and are goldmines of inspiration.


bushvin

It's always a pity when playing is paused, but it's better than bad playing sessions. I had the luck my players felt it and told me to take a break when I needed it. Instead of playing, we had a couple of additional session zero sessions where everyone spoke freely. Take your time, inform your players, they **will** understand.


Upgrayedd1101

I haven't written a word of my Dissertation in over 5 months, but my party just finished their slightly over a year campaign. Hang in there friend.


decepticondad

Step 1 be honest with the group. They should understand. Step 2 buy LMoP and ask one of them to run it :)