Choose a manageable first session

Run Torrii Between Tides: The Tidevault with its five prepared level-5 characters, or adapt the adventure to your own party. Tonight’s objective is simple: enter the Tidevault, find the missing apprentice Brin, and recover the harbor’s beacon lens. The party can negotiate, explore, or fight. You do not need to finish all six rooms in one sitting.

For a short first session, use a harbor briefing, the Salt gate, and the Pump gallery. Stop at a decision about the maintenance passage and leave the remaining rooms for next time. Allow roughly 15 minutes for setup, 15 for the briefing, 45–75 for exploration, and 10 for the close. These are suggested time limits, not a promise about your group’s pace.

This guide contains DM spoilers. Read the prepared session notes and six room previews before sharing anything with players. All three session records start Planned, their dates are blank, and journals and recap history are empty. Begin with “01 · The dark beacon” at the harbor briefing. “02 · The six-room Tidevault” is the dungeon plan and can continue on the same game night.

Make and check your private copy

  1. Explore the campaign, then choose Make a private copy. Sign in or create a free account. The destination is preserved through account setup.
  2. In Campaign transfers, choose the example’s copy action. If prompted, enable Dungeon Master controls for this account. Review the import preview, then confirm the private copy. No ZIP upload or commercial content unlock is required.
  3. Choose Prepare your first session in the result. The Session setup screen brings together your saved opening, first map and table controls. Check that it contains five characters, six saved encounters, four quests, seven NPCs, three planned session records, empty journals, and the linked Tidevault table with its six-room map.
  4. Open Sessions, edit “01 · The dark beacon,” and set your actual date. Prepare the dungeon plan too if you want to enter the vault on the same game night. Keep its status Planned while preparing. No opening event, quest objective or reward has been completed for you.
  5. Read Private Notes → Run this example. Your imported tables start closed, joining is disabled, and player knowledge, recaps and graph editions remain unpublished drafts.

If the import preview lists missing dependencies, resolve the stated source or catalog choice and review again. Default catalogs includes the local original Tidevault Sentinel alongside available SRD sources. Selecting SRD only can exclude local custom content; changing a catalog selection does not grant an account entitlement.

Give the party a decision at the harbor

Mira offers the party a contract to return the beacon lens. Sera wants Brin brought home. Torrii knows the causeway is exposed at low tide. Ilan can help interpret the seals. Choose one player to read the objective aloud, then ask the group what they want to check before entering.

“The beacon is dark. The tide has uncovered a path to the vault, but Brin has not returned. Bring back the lens and the apprentice. The salvage crew is still inside.”

That is an opening you can read to players. Keep Torrii’s concealed lens fracture, Ilan’s family connection and the unpaid invoice in your private notes. Ask a concrete question: “Do you inspect the gate, speak to the salvagers, or look for Brin’s trail?” Record their answer in session notes; let it influence the next scene.

Open the table when the group is ready

  1. Open the campaign’s linked Tidevault table through Party Lobby. Reopen the closed table when you are ready to use it. Leave code joining disabled if you are rehearsing alone.
  2. The five party tokens are manual stand-ins; the full character sheets are separate private copies in Characters. They are not connected to five live player accounts.
  3. For live players, enable Allow joining with the code and give them the current code. Each player joins with their own saved character. Check the party and encounter roster; remove or exclude the matching manual stand-ins from combat so you do not count the party twice.
  4. Open Map Table for this table and select room 1, Salt gate. Check token positions, doors and visible terrain. The maintenance passage connects rooms 2 and 4; doors move between saved map areas.
  5. When play begins, return to the campaign’s session record, change Planned to Active, and save. Record an actual start time if you want a timed session history. Preparation dates and opening a page do not start a session.

Review current recipients and fields before publishing player knowledge or opening a player display. The public Torrii preview deliberately shows DM spoilers; it is not a handout for your live group.

Run the first two rooms

Room 1 · Salt gate

Two Giant Crabs guard a shallow tide pool. Offer the visible choices from the preparation: feed them with rations or move around their nest. They do not pursue beyond the gate. The authored scene has ankle-deep water and no drowning hazard. If the players find a sensible third approach, decide its consequences at the table.

If a fight occurs, review the roster, roll initiative, check the order and choose Begin encounter. Use Shared Combat for the table’s turn order, HP and conditions. Resolve attacks and rulings with your agreed rules. Map terrain, doors and treasure notes do not resolve their own effects. End the encounter when that scene is over.

Room 2 · Pump gallery

Two Bandits and a Scout are salvage lookouts. Showing Mira’s permit and reaching an agreement can get the party through without combat. If injured, they retreat toward room 6. Put their response in the session notes and decide whether the party follows the main route through room 3 or takes the maintenance passage to room 4.

The encounters were prepared for five level-5 characters. Review composition and difficulty for your actual group. Do not launch a saved encounter into a roster that already contains those same creatures without checking the additions. Use Encounter Rehearsal for practice with a temporary copy; its simulation never changes the live session.

If there is time to continue

Room 3 offers a dry perimeter around the silt and its oozes. Room 4 can become a safe resting place after its guardians stand down. Brin is behind the dais in room 5; the maintenance command can stop its sentinel. In room 6, Kest wants a scrap permit and Rook can help move the lens. These are opportunities for decisions, not six compulsory fights.

Close with outcomes, rewards and a next step

  1. End any active encounter, then check saved character values against encounter values before reconciling them. Manual example tokens do not automatically update the separate example sheets.
  2. Edit the session and save Completed when your group finishes. Record what actually happened: rooms entered, agreements made, Brin’s situation and who carries the lens. Update only quest objectives the party achieved.
  3. Record earned rewards once. The prepared coins, potions and harbor fee do not automatically enter a wallet or inventory. For real connected players, review Party Loot recipients and confirm each intended transfer.
  4. Write a player recap that reveals only what the group learned. Review its audience before publishing. Leave undiscovered NPC secrets and unused hooks in Private Notes.
  5. Save three tasks for next time: one consequence of a player choice, one unresolved question, and the next opening scene.

Example close after a short session

“We fed the crabs, showed Mira’s permit and agreed to let the salvage crew leave safely. We have not found Brin or recovered the lens. Next time we take the maintenance passage into the workshop.” No lens reward or rescue objective is complete in that example.

If the lens and Brin do return safely, “03 · The harbor lights” supplies a follow-up: reinstall the lens, settle the salvage claim and choose a new harbor problem.

A five-minute check before game night

  • Your private copy opens; “01 · The dark beacon” has the right date and is still Planned.
  • You can name tonight’s objective and two approaches that avoid a fight.
  • The table has the intended players or manual stand-ins, with no duplicate party actors.
  • You can open room 1 and explain its exit to room 2.
  • You know where to save the session status, outcomes and next opening.

Make your private Torrii copy Use the printable session checklist