At the beginning of Quaratine, I started an online DnD campaign with freinds and family from around the US.  There are nine players over all.  Some of them are roommates and friends from college in the 90s, one is my younger sister, and others are friends and fellow actors/improvsiers that I have met throughout the years.  Because there are so many of them, I have had to expand every encounter and story line to make them challenging and engaging. We started playing once or twice a month on 07-20-2020 with Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, during which the faction activity of finding the talking horse became a much more complex storyline, requiring the adventurers to take down a smuggling ring, during which they unexpectedly trapped the hag that was running it and are now the proud owners of a shipwrights in the dockward of Waterdeep that has a smuggler's Den beneath... More on that later.

The Heroes of Trollskull (as they were called with the finish of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist) are now 11th level and have gained regional reknown as they worked through the final chapters of Storm King's Thunder. Before they started off to ferret out these rumors of increased giant activity, however, they took it upon themselves to not only invest their coin to refit Trollskull tavern, but the Shipwright's as well, and in so doing created "the Trollskull Trading Company".

At first it was just a subplot used to generate good content for one of the characters who really wants to be a spy master, but about a year ago a subgroup of our main group said that they would like to play more frequently and we decided to have a hiring event for Trollskull Trading and a new group of 6, 1st level characters was hired to take the Trading Company's first legitimate shipment north to a small village known as Phandalin.

For this group I combined both The Lost Mines of Phandelver and The Dragon of Icespire Peak into a sweeping story of regional mayhem that found the party's bugbear barbarian as the defacto leader of the goblins through some pretty spectacular dice rolls, the two dragons fighting for regional control with the town in the middle, and the adventurers closing in on the last battle with Venomfang, who has happily accepted the Cultists and is using them to his advantage.  

With the slaying of both Venomfang and Cryovain and the retaking of Wave Echo Cave, Trollskull Trading as joined forces with the Lionshare Coster and the Rockseeker Brothers to forge a new trade route through to Westbridge using the underground river that Connects Wave Echo Cave with the Old Dwarven Fortress of Southkrypt and on through the Kryptgarden - compelte with all of it's dangers.

To keep the party progression in synch with the needed levels of the published adventure (a table of nine players means action economies are out of wack and character progression is slower as Experience Points are distributed),  I created 10 minor story archs with their subsequent encounters and maps (some one shot, some multi level / encounter sub plots).

During their course through Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, I introduced a BBEG that has periodically surfaced through action and renown but has eluded them at all turns, and early in this arc I also introduced a sub plot that was initially intended to only be a short side quest that has since expanded into their current story arc which includes a family lead by a powerful medusa - these two threads give me plenty of room to develop Tier 3 play and set them up for a big climax that I have had the outline for since the end of our first arc.

So, first and foremost, I could not keep my game organized without Obsidian[1] (not to be confused with Obsidian Portal[2] - Which I also use to for my players). Being able to use it as a PKM has upped my DM game INCREDIBLY, and if you aren't a user, I HIGHLY recommend it.

Next, Heroic Maps[3] and Morvold Press[4] (coupled with Roll20[5]) - I CANNOT proclaim enough how much having their maps has lifted a burden from off of my shoulders. Their work as map makers and artists has allowed me to move from ideas, to encounters, to story so much more quickly, and their visuals have made my games so much more immersive, especially given the VERY remote environment I am working in.

And about visuals... I'm the artistic equivalent of a five year old with sidewalk chalk, but I'm also a technologist and heavily involved in the implementation of AI in client organizations, and if it wasn't for Midjourney and DALL-E, I wouldn't have the incredible visuals that are used to highlight significant events across all of my campaigns.

Finally, to all of the authors, developers, and creators on the WotC / DnD Beyond staff (past and present) and in the community, a huge thank you for nearly 40 years of joy.