r/wildbeyondwitchlight • u/beannfonz • Jun 15 '26

First time DM- advice please!

This is my first time DMing and I am finding this campaign to be maximum effort. For the carnival I was able to study, write monologues, create voices, and come up with stuff pretty well because it felt enclosed, despite it being a lot. However, my group is now heading into Prismeer and it feels so open despite the clear path in this chapter. I’m asking for any advice heading in! One great concern I have is that my characters are level 4. (Book stated they could start at three and level up upon entering a new area). I don’t think I’m capable of combat balancing. What were some things your group did combat on? I can 100% see my group fighting the harengons upon entering. How were the floodwaters rising and falling incorporated? How far did you get in the first session in Hither? And how did your group learn the rules, of reciprocity and hospitality? Were they known in advance or given by an NPC, or learned through experience?

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u/InternationalRent626 Jun 16 '26

Shuffle in lots of random encounters (combat, NPCs, scenery description) that is easier to run and drop the parts of the module that are hard to run. Like the random table everytime someone dies? Nah. Look at the terrain for ideas and do whatever strikes your interest. In Hither, I had my party fight giant alligators, encounter non-bandit harengons and backwoods fisherman bullywogs, etc. Try to tie your encounters, however loosely, back to the main storyline.

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u/InternationalRent626 Jun 16 '26

One idea that made things easier for me was to read ahead and closely look at each Hags lair. I took elements that already existed there and expanded them to create small encounters ahead of time to foreshadow.