Campaign 2026: Dolmenwood
Diving into Dolmenwood for the new year.
I've decided to answer the call from Press the Beast and will try to run a campaign starting in February running all the way to the end of the year! It's been about three years since I last ran a weekly game with any longevity, but recent experience of weekly play in my flatmate's Curse of Strahd campaign has reminded me how much I've missed it.
I'm very busy at the moment, without the time on my hand to make anything that bespoke. My initial thought was Mythic Bastionland, which I find runs so smoothly with minimal prep. I've run this for a few of my friends before but my impression is that they prefer a slightly more traditional system for long-term play. Enter Dolmenwood. I'm hoping that the excellent campaign book and adventure scenarios mean I don't have to spend too long on prep, while the more traditional character creation and advancement will appeal to my probable players.
Also worth noting I'm in good company with this choice :)
Admin
Before settling on Dolmenwood, I was thinking about running a game at my local board game cafe with strangers. This seemed a bit ambitious though for a year-long game, and a couple of my friends who are in different jobs/locations this year are now able to commit to a weekly campaign. I'll talk to them about whether we want to expand the player pool, either with other regular members from their flatmates/partners or our mutual friend group, or with a semi-open table arrangement where these two play every week but other friends can show up as and when they're available. Two players in Dolmenwood sounds risky, but there are always companions and hirelings to fall back on if needed. Once moves and new jobs are settled, we are planning to select a regular day and have a session zero in the final week of January, with play starting the following week. I'll be away the third week of Feb, which is unfortunate, but we can probably do a weekend for that week. Summer will also likely be a nightmare, but that's too far away to worry about now.
Prep
I've started reading through the player and campaign books in earnest. Once I've done that I'll start placing modules on the map, certainly the official adventure scenarios and probably a few others I've picked up. I'd also quite like to introduce a campaign theme, based on which parts of the setting players feel interested in and what sort of tone they lean in to. With all this swirling around my brain, a starting town will hopefully become clear and we'll be ready to set off. I'm considering using Phlox's treasure hunt framework as well (spoilers on that link if you might be playing).
Materials
I recieved a set of three very lovely Moleskine A6 notebooks in turquoise for Christmas. This is pretty small for a referee's notebook compared to what I typically use, but I'd like to give it a try. I'll be getting the train home after each session, and I can write in this resting on a hand or one of those fold-out trays, useful for getting notes or a recap while my memory's fresh.
I only have pdfs for Dolmenwood, so will be running off my laptop. This is my usual setup but I'm a big fan of running without any computers when I can. If the campaign really gets going, I'll probably purchase the campaign book towards the start of summer. I'll also take a look at the various Dolmenwood playlists and soundtracks floating around.
Old school essentials
Most of my experience running something-school-something games is with Oddlikes, so it'll be interesting running a much more traditional system. I'm half-tempted to hack it into the GLOG, but have decided for now to give it a go as written. So that the players uncover the whimsy and strangeness of the woods through play, I'll probably limit starting characters to humans (I might be pushed to Breggle too) and go for the more standard classes for each of these kindred. Play reports will probably include reflections on this style of game.