Summary
Dungeons & Dragonscampaigns are usually high-stakes roleplaying games that, more often than not, lead to the party at the doorstep of a god or god-like being, ready to throw down. However, sometimes life just gets hard and stressful, and you need a good break from all of it.
Having a high-intensity campaign may not be what you need, but something a lot more comforting and cozy might work wonderfully—a gentle escape from life, where you can find your reprieve in a fantasy world. With lower stakes and a familiar setting and system, a good, cozy campaign can help you relax and unwind.
10Run A Session Zero
Establish Boundaries And Expectations
Before you kick off any Dungeons & Dragons campaign, you should probablyhave a Session Zero to start. However, for a cozy campaign, this session may be more important than ever.
It will help youestablish what everyone considers cozyand what they might like to explore, and it will set up a precedent for any conflict and encounters you may have in the game. Not everyone may define cozy in the same way, so having a baseline understanding of what players expect and want is vital.
9Set The Mood
Your Physical Environment Affects Your Mental State
True coziness cannot be achieved in the theater of the mind alone.Your surroundings and environment are just as importantwhen you’re trying to reach the epitome of a cozy campaign. Picking the right sized space, filling it with things that make you and your players comfortable, and ensuring you have proper lighting is important here.
You should even take some time to consider what music or ambiance you’re going to play and at what volume. Don’t hesitate to run things by your players eitherto see what their opinions are.
8Try Out Combatless Campaigns
Combat Can Be Intense, But It Isn’t Necessary
Although Dungeons & Dragons often relies on combat to spice up the game and move things along, there are perfectly combatless campaigns you can use. Things likethe Wild Beyond the Witchlightare made with the idea that you can move through the entire campaign without any combat.
You also don’t have to follow these campaigns to the letter- feel free to experiment and mess around. Add in a dash of homebrew, adjust puzzles, and even adjust NPC behavior to make everything tailored to you and your table.
7Keep The Stakes Low
Fighting A Pantheon Shouldn’t Be Your Priority
You don’t need to fight a pantheon of gods in a cozy Dungeons & Dragons campaign. Instead, you shouldconsider lowering the stakes to, hopefully, mitigate any anxietythat your players might end up facing. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t have any danger - having risk and danger helps to keep things interesting and keep players invested. This doesn’t necessarily mean you’ll havea lot of downtime activities (unless you want to); it just means you need to get a bit creative.
However, instead of life and death stakes, consider things that are more tame. Think of goals to strive for tobetter the community your players have situated themselves in. If they run a shop, farm, or any other business, consider a competition. Perhaps they’re gathering herbs for the local apothecary or helping other local small businesses to stay afloat while they drive out the larger noble businesses.
6Milestone Progression Over Experience
Milestone Progression Puts Less Pressure On Players
In a cozy campaign, the chances of you initiating a lot of combat are probably relatively low. As such, you should consider taking experience-based progression off of the table entirely. Instead, focus onmilestone progression as a way to encourage your playersto keep going, developing their skills and their creativity.
That said, yourmilestones also don’t need to be huge, game-altering moments,either. Small things or moments that your players may have struggled with could be a good enough reason to let them level up.
5Take Inspiration From Your Favorite Cozy Media
Cozy Media Works For A Reason, So Use It
When you’re planning your campaign,don’t be afraid to look to your favorite cozy pieces of media, like books and video games, for inspiration. There’s a reason that they bring you a comforting feeling when you’re indulging in them, and you are more than welcome to incorporate them into your game.
Steal characters and settings and implement them into your games, take plotlines and concepts, and do whatever you want, really.Don’t feel pressure to come up with a completely 100 percent original idea, just do whatever your heart desires.
4Keep The World Small And Familiar
Intimacy And Comfort Stems From Familiarity
You probably don’t want to take your merry crew on cross-continent adventures, chasing after unknown entities and unfamiliarthreats. Consider keeping things contained to a handful of towns orperhaps one of the largest cities, that way players can get to know it intimately. They’ll know the people who live there, those who regularly pass through, and all the quirks that generally only the locals are aware of.
There’s a sense of comfort that comes with the familiar, and it’s a great way to make your players feel at home in your campaign.You don’t have to always stay in one town, but the more familiar something is, the more comfortable and cozy it becomes.
3NPC Connections Are Important
Strangers Are More Likely To Put Players On Guard
It’s no secret that players often find characters and NPCs that they grow almost absurdly attached to. In a cozy campaign, you should be ready to play off of this, inviting warm and comforting characters into your players’ lives. These NPCs could be theplayer character’s family members, friends, or former connections.
You could also havecharacters that want to foster new relationships, in which case, you’re able to explore what it takes to develop and build new relationships. Feel free to explore old, wise characters who pass as parental figures or close confidants, new friends who they can go on relatively tame (and yet somehow still chaotic) adventures with, and perhaps even an NPC or two that they fall in love with.
2Theater Of The Mind Is Important
Try To Be Immersive With Your Descriptions
If you really want to set the scene and send your players into a world of cozy Dungeons & Dragons adventures,take the time to think about how you describe things. If you use the right descriptions, you can help get your players into the right frame of mind.You don’t need to be overly poetic, but think about how you set the scenecarefully.
Instead of saying something like, “You walk into the Inn and are greeted by the barkeep,” consider something like, “You walk into the Inn, the scent of ale and freshly baked wildberry pie beckoning you in. The barkeep looks up and greets you all with a warm and welcoming smile.” Although these are small details you could get to eventually,they help to set the scene and, inevitably, make it feel more welcoming.
1Let Your Players Direct The Story
Players Know What They Like, So Let Them Indulge
Even in your standard, non-cozy Dungeons & Dragons games, players maintain a certain amount of control over the direction that the story takes. However,you should be exceptionally lenientwhen it comes to cozy games. You can give them gentle nudges to keep them on track or perhaps to keep them from venturing outside the realm of coziness, butstrict railroading is decidedly uncozy.
You don’t need to struggle and play catch-up with your players—knowing when to say no or put your foot down is important. However, they will give hints or say what they would like to keep exploring. Consider asking at the end of the session what they would like to keep doing and what they might like to explore next time.
