Sweet Dreams | D&D 5e Module | Solo Project | 2021
Overview
Sweet Dreams is a Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition module where players fall asleep and enter a dream together. They must find a way back into reality using their newly found abilities. I came up with the concept for this module in 2018 after watching Liam's Quest: Full Circle one-shot, but I never made it into an actual module until 2021. It comes complete with maps included. I wanted this to be as flexible as possible for DMs to insert their own inside jokes and really customize the experience for their players.
Challenges I faced
While I was making this module, I had about two years of experience running D&D games and I had never written a full module out before. My notes are usually just a general idea and in OneNote. Luckily, there is a website called The Homebrewery from NaturalCrit which makes formatting a module very easy. Systems design is also not my greatest strength, so balancing some of the encounters was a challenge for me.
What I would change
The ending of the module is somewhat anticlimactic because it does not have player control. It is an interesting twist, but they have no autonomy for how to end and they should be able to fight back at least a little bit to feel a sense of accomplishment. I would like to have an alternate ending where players can have a "Wizard of Oz" moment where they meet the person who is supposed to save them, but they really do not know how to get them home. They try their hardest to actually get them back, and eventually stumble upon the correct solution.
How I would move forward
I have playtested this module two and a half times. I would love to have it tested more so I can adjust values or adjust some of the storyline. This was originally written with a specific group of people in mind, and it was rewritten that way several times before becoming a more general storyline. Testing it more would ensure that the experience is flexible for any DM to run with their group.