D&D: Best Ways To Use Rivals To Motivate Your Party

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In , players team up to form adventuring parties to take quests and gather rewards, but what if they aren’t the only ones doing that? Rival parties are an excellent way for DMs to nudge players or the plot along by providing dramatic tension. These rivals create competition for the party as they might be hired by opposing factions or go after the same jobs at early levels.

Both and ’s use rival parties in the background that compete against the players. For the heists in, the rivals serve as competitors for the MacGuffin the players are seeking, while in, the rivals show that the players aren’t the only adventuring party in the world. DMs can adapt the reason behind both rival parties for their own campaigns.

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Rivals are a fun narrative tool for DMs that is great for snapping players out of decision paralysis or reminding them of time frames when they take too many side quests at once. Having another party in the background, completing jobs, gaining loot, and slaying monsters can ground the players in the setting by reminding them that they are in a living, breathing world. Here are a few tips on setting up and using rival parties in a campaign.

It’s essential to keep in mind that a rival party should be competition for the players, not their enemies. A rival party is not the same thing as an evil party, and DMs should use rivals to drive the plot forward in a recurring fashion as opposed to confronting the players in battle. Rival parties can be introduced at any level, but when starting a new campaign, bringing them into the story early will have the best results as the players meet the same group repeatedly.

At low levels, a rival party