The adventure
Torrii is the tidekeeper of Reedcross, a harbor whose beacon has gone dark. Begin with the harbor briefing, investigate the missing beacon lens, then enter the Tidevault to find the apprentice Brin and decide how to deal with Kest's salvage crew. Five level-5 characters; one six-room dungeon; six optional Low encounters. All sessions are planned, quests are open and character journals are empty. Private preparation and player handout drafts are separate.
DM preview: contains adventure spoilers. This page shows only the reviewed fictional example. Your campaigns and copies use their own sharing controls.
DM preparationDM notes and reusable templates
Read encounter budgets, rewards, disclosure reminders and next-session hooks.
Run this example
Begin with planned session 01, The dark beacon, before the party accepts the contract. Journals are empty, all quests are Open and all objective progress is zero. Set actual session dates when preparing your game. Session 02 is the dungeon plan; it can follow the harbor briefing on the same game night.
Open the linked Tidevault table and its map. Imported tables start closed and joining is disabled. Reopen the table when ready. The five party tokens are manual stand-ins; the full example sheets are private copies in Characters. Reconnect actual players explicitly. Use each saved encounter’s rehearsal to practice without changing this table.
Rooms 1–6 have paired doors, terrain, private notes and saved creatures. Party starts in room 1. Reveal rooms as they enter. Use the existing initiative controls; update HP, conditions and terrain manually.
Player Knowledge and graph editions are drafts. Select current players and review fields before publishing.
Encounter budgets
Party: five level-5 characters. SRD 5.2.1 Low budget: 500 XP per character × 5 = 2,500 XP per encounter. Raw XP; no 2014 creature-count multiplier.
1. Salt gate: 2 Giant Crabs, 50 XP.
2. Pump gallery: 2 Bandits and 1 Scout, 150 XP.
3. Silt cistern: 2 Gray Oozes, 200 XP.
4. Brass workshop: 2 Tidevault Sentinels, 400 XP.
5. Echo shrine: 1 Gargoyle, 450 XP.
6. Lens chamber: 2 Ogres and 2 Skeletons, 1,000 XP.
All six preparations are below the Low budget. Total authored creature XP: 2,250. Difficulty budgets apply to an encounter, not an adventuring-day allowance. Resources, immunities, terrain and consecutive fights affect play. Offer the noncombat routes and a rest in the safe workshop.
Source: https://media.dndbeyond.com/compendium-images/srd/5.2/SRD_CC_v5.2.1.pdf#page=202
DM information and disclosures
DM only: Torrii hid the lens fracture; Ilan’s brother works for Kest; the unpaid invoice is private.
Player draft: tide times, Sera’s request, the maintenance command after discovery and the route home.
NPC relationship notes, campaign notes, calendar entries and hidden terrain remain private. A party-known discovery is a record label; it does not publish itself.
Dungeon route and correction notes
Main route: 1 → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6. Branch: 2 ↔ 4, a maintenance passage.
The doors link saved map areas rather than one large drawing. Both sides of each connection are saved.
If a token enters the wrong room, select the intended area and move it manually. If initiative or HP was entered incorrectly, use the correction controls and record what changed.
Room 4 is dry, ventilated and safe after its guardians stand down. No timed damage or reinforcements are scheduled.
Session notes template
Session / date:
Objective:
Opening scene:
NPCs and motivations:
Locations and encounters:
Decisions and consequences:
Rules corrections:
Rewards actually distributed:
Unresolved questions:
Player-facing recap:
Next-session opening:
Private DM follow-up:
Reward and loot preparation
Planned contents: sealed lens case, maintenance chart, 40 gp salvage coffer, two Potions of Healing and the 150 gp harbor fee.
Encounter treasure and quest rewards are preparation records. They do not change wallets or bags. Use Party Loot after the live table has current players; review each recipient and transfer once.
The lens is a quest object with no combat bonus. Write down who carries it and remove that ownership record after delivery.
Edit and re-import the CSV
Packages → Export campaign → Private transfer → Campaign CSV. Original journals are empty. On later private exports, include your own journals only when you intend to carry their played notes.
Each row has a table, id and parent_id. Common text uses name, title, status, notes or body; other fields remain typed in data_json. Keep IDs stable when editing relationships. Copy a matching row and assign a new ID to add a record. Empty text columns are only valid when the matching table uses that column.
Maps use map, map_room, map_token and map_shape rows. Floor, door and terrain arrays are stored in each room’s data_json.
Save UTF-8 CSV with quoted multiline fields. Import package accepts this schema; validate, review, then create a new private copy. Existing content remains saved.
Next-session preparation
Choose the next opening based on actual play. Check only outcomes that occurred: lens custody, Brin's safety, agreements and earned rewards. Draft a recap after the first played session. Keep unused hooks private; do not assume the lens is installed or any quest is complete.
