THB Story Time: Running My First D&D Campaign
- Feb 19
- 5 min read
There’s a very particular kind of joy that comes with deciding, “You know what? I’m gonna run MY OWN D&D campaign”. For me, that moment hit somewhere between overconfident theater-kid enthusiasm and utter delusion that I could wrangle my players ... classic DM energy.
And so began my first-ever campaign as a DM (swipe through my session zero, above): a heist-filled, morally gray homebrew mixed with quests from the Keys From the Golden Vault adventure anthology book, suuuper random heist movie tropes and a sprinkle of kind bud🍃
The Campaign Concept: “Let’s f*cking heist, boyyysss!”
I chose the adventure book Keys from the Golden Vault (and threw in random fun from Quests from the Infinite Staircase) as the backbone of the campaign, but I twisted it to better fit my crew of loot-y misfits. Instead of the pristine, dragon-adjacent organization known for moral righteousness, I loved the idea of the party being recruited into the Vault’s newer, highly-chaotic “Second Chance Program”. That one change allowed my players to have a well-deserved shot at redemption and a 'Handler' to ensure they have the tools and information needed for my heist-heavy campaign.
What inspired me to DM this specific adventure? My love of heist movies and “one last big score” but more importantly, I love a good montage (or three). And I'd be lying if I didn't say One Crew Over the Crewcoo's Morty also played a part ...
Now that I had a concept, it was SHOWTIME! Er, time for my Session Zero PRESENTATION!
Sesh Zeroooo
One of my favorite parts of prepping session zero (why yes I AM type-A … how ever could you tell?) was presenting the party with my campaign hook: membership in the Golden Vault means perks, such as, special equipment, protected identities, intel drops from the Handler, safe houses, and of course… LOOT. Obvs.
I used this hook to encourage my players to tie their characters’ motivations and backstories directly into the world. Suddenly, joining the Vault was personal. The book included an NPC known as the party’s Handler BUT having a lawful good human commoner wasn’t working for me. I wanted a Handler that matched whatever insanity my players were going to throw at me … and I’m talking pure insanity …
Helloooo, handler!
Now was the time to introduce my players to Pamnm, a satyr who has trained as a way of the drunken master monk from Arborea.
Pamnm (pronounced Pam), was the very first NPC I ever created and I love her drunk ass sooooo much. I introduced her to my players in the opening scuffle of their first session and even though she used her connections to get them released from ye olde drunk tank, they STILL openly conspired against her. The first four or five sessions they didn’t hold her life in as high regard as I initially thought they would ... BUT, over time they began to trust her (as they SHOULD, damn it) and she’s now a part of the group.
Rival crews & NPCs enter the chat
Because no good heist is complete without competing crews breathing down your neck, adding rival groups became an immediate must. I made sure the session zero presentation warned my players that complications, sabotage, and loot-hungry competitors were inevitable.
Were these rival crews sent by the unseen BBEG in the campaign?
Yes.
Were almost all of crews inspired by different gangs from the 1979 cult classic film The Warriors?
Also, yes.
My thoughts were that if I'm going to have rando rivals popping out of nowhere, I gotta meet my players where they're at and bring in NPCs they'll recognize and have fun with. I ended up making NPCs from Supernatural, Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, Wu-Tang Clan, various Kevin Smith films (yes, Jay & Silent Bob made appearances ... and so did Randall), and more ... so many more.
The sights and sounds
The first location I introduced my players to was Cormyr and I established an accent early on for the town: Bostonian.
Why? Not every fantasy game needs to be narrated by Lady Whistledown (though…could be fun).
Anyway, I kept a lot of my accents tied to standard US areas, which surprised my players but they also dug it. There's something really fun about getting armor made in a little town by a blacksmith who sounds like Joe Pesci or buying potions from a merchant who may or may not be Natasha Lyonne.
How it went (session recap screen/gallery of my campaign)
Y'all, I went in to session one armed with only the knowledge I learned from reading the DMG (Dungeon Master's Guide) and DnDBeyond (ok, and Reddit) while actively high so it was for sure an EXPERIENCE.
I felt like I was ready with all the basics (NPCs, plot hooks, a starting town, etc.) locked in to get me through the end of session 2, and for the most part that session was moving smoothly ... until combat. My first planned combat encounter was derailed immediately because almost every player character was able to sneak past the elaborate bandit crew that I had prepared. I say 'almost' because the party's barbarian and their handler both failed, but before I could tell him to roll initiative, he asked if he could roll intimidation to the bandit captain.
Tell me why this big ass leonin barbarian rolls a damn crit and avoids combat altogether? Bruh, I end up giving his character a nickname ('Cheeks McGillicutty', which is now canon) and it ended up being one of the funniest moments of the campaign.
After that, I went back to my improv roots (y'all, my lore is insane) to include more PC/NPC roleplay opportunities and after I started to just allow myself to vibe, the campaign built itself! Through collaboration, friendship, and a little weed, truly anything is possible 😎
What I learned
As a new player, I brought chaos. As a new DM, I brought structure around the chaos and created the space for my players to have the same kind of ridiculous, meaningful experiences I had when I was sitting on the other side of the screen.
Right now, my heist campaign is paused at one of my favorite stopping points: my players' characters have retired to become small business owners in Little Lockford, the town they saved. When the campaign resumes, I'm planning to hit them with the ultimate movie trope: the call to adventure that brings retired legends out of their comfortable, civilian lives.
They thought they were done ... they were wrong. The Golden Vault needs these anti-heroes to come out of retirement for one last big heist.
In the meantime, I'm living my best multiverse life as a player. I'm running Seph (my underwater-breathing, thieves' cant–speaking rogue) in my husband's homebrew campaign while also splitting time as Morti and Tehr'rr in a friend's campaign, so I get to be on the other side of the screen a couple times a week.
If you’re thinking about DMing for the first time, let me be the one to push you gently (aggressively) into the void: Do it.
Build the world ... invite the chaos ... and let your players surprise the hell out of you!
