Between Adventures - Dungeon Master's Guide (2014)

Between Adventures. A campaign is much more than a series of adventures. It also includes the moments between them-the various distractions and side pursuits that engage the characters when they're not exploring the wilderness, plundering dungeons, and gallivanting around the multiverse on some epic quest. The natural pace of a campaign offers lulls between adventures, time for the characters to spend their treasure and pursue their goals. This downtime gives the characters an opportunity to sink their roots a little deeper into the world, building a personal investment in what happens to the people and places around them, which can, in turn, draw them into further adventures. Chapter 5, "Equipment," of the Player's Handbook details the expenses that a character incurs for basic necessities, depending on the lifestyle the character chooses, from poverty to luxury. Chapter 8, "Adventuring," of that book describes some of the downtime activities they can pursue between adventures. This chapter fills in the gaps, describing the expenses of owning property and hiring NPCs, and a variety of additional downtime activities characters can pursue. The beginning of the chapter also offers suggestions for linking adventures together and keeping track of events in your campaign. Linking Adventures A campaign in the style of an episodic television show rarely needs story links between its adventures. Each adventure features its own villains, and once the characters complete the adventure, there are typically no loose plot threads. The next adventure presents an altogether different challenge having nothing to do with the adventure that preceded it. As the characters gain experience points, they become more powerful, as do the threats they must overcome. This kind of campaign is easy to run, since it requires little effort beyond finding or creating adventures appropriate for the party's level. A campaign with a narrative lets the players feel as though their actions have far-...