Hello all! I recently (as in a few months ago) began running my very first campaign. As someone with a creative writing background, I've had a lot of fun making my own world for the campaign setting, and I have a solid outline for a basic plot, along with a couple of subplots. The only problem is that I'm having trouble drawing all the elements I want to incorporate together into a cohesive storyline. I have something of a general skeleton outline, but not enough detail. This whole thing started off as a mostly experimental one-shot that I created and ran mostly to see if I could, and now I find myself scrambling a little to have a more solid plan going forward now that it's become a full campaign. I know where I want the story to end, and I know what I want to include (everything from character backstories to a civil war subplot.) I'm just not sure that I'm doing enough to bring all of these things together effectively and make the plot compelling for my players. Additionally, I've never really been the best at planning anything - as someone with ADHD, it's honestly a miracle that my session notes are always done on time. Does anyone have any general tips as far as keeping the plot interesting and relevant while weaving all of these elements together? Any advice as far as brainstorming/planning/organizing aspects of a campaign would also be incredibly useful. I know it might be a bit unconventional, but I'm excited about where this campaign has gone and I want it to be as enjoyable and memorable for my players as possible. Thanks!
For me, I don't plan too hard. I have a list of beats I want to hit during the session, I have my plots and sub-plots all figured out, and that's all I really worry about.
After a session ends I take a look at what the table has done in regards to the different plots and stories that are in play. I check how that would affect them and make adjustments as needed.
As they go through the session I look at my story beats and see if/when it's time to introduce a beat. Sometimes the players will do exactly what I anticipated and the beats will flow like a song....other times I'll have to scrap a few of the beats and adjust on the fly. However, even if they wander off the expected path, the story beats still give me a goal post that I can adjust and manipulate so the same information or options present themselves.
In most cases I let my players steer the course of events and I simply figure out how the world reacts to them, if applicable, or what the next stage of the BBEG's mission is now in play since the characters were never aware of the current one. I, you, and most other DM's have amazing stories that we've come up with, but our players have a strange way of making them so much better if we just take a hand off the wheel.
Jot down what you'd like to see happen, keep yourself open to them wandering off the path you've come to expect, and adapt to their antics. Planning too much can make your job as DM very stifling.
Generally, I try my hardest to minimize having to many plot threads flying through the air at a time. I find it's important not to worry about paying off every single one. Sometimes you'll need to just walk away from a plot line your party may either not have any interest in, or might not work want to do right now. Be willing to set plot threads down for multiple sessions, occasionally never coming back. There is nothing wrong with it, even the most attentive player's don't remember every plot thread you'll lob out at them.
In addition, I would recommend exactly what DMthac0 said, don't over plan. It's good to figure out what you want your broad strokes to be, and let your players paint in the details. Just remember, always be willing to scrap the "painting" because your characters just don't care, or don't like all of the strokes you laid out. There is nothing wrong with that, but heartbreak comes easy when you spend week's planning a session just for your players to say nope, and move in a completely different direction.
Do not be surprised when your players want to do everything EXCEPT what you had planned out. It's totally OK for that to happen. Drop hints and clues and outright bounties to go someplace, but you NEED to be open to the players wanting to go someplace else and do something different.
Given practice, you can arrange for everything to come together. I assure you, playing out the adventure no matter which direction it takes, is far better than what a single person can come up with.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
Have broad strokes, then fill in the detail. Start with the general plot. Who's the ultimate bad guy. What do they want. Why should the characters/players care? How did they get involved. From there, fill in the details. Again, just dot point it out to fill in the timeline/journey to get to the finale. Appreciate that your players will go off script, it's inevitable. So stay flexible.
With your world, the same rules apply. Have broad strokes of the world/pantheons/guilds/races/major cities. Then get into the nitty gritty for a town/area they're in. If they're starting in a small village called Goats Fore Quarters, then you need to know EVERYTHING about Goats. The shops. The owners. The villagers. What their trade is. Who's in charge. Town guard. Nobles. Estates. Where is the real power. But the village up north some 8 days travel away? You don't need to know a whole lot about that place just yet.
Also, a tip about gameplay and running your sessions. I know the temptation to finish things on a high. You just killed the bad guy/solved the riddle/saved the prisoner(s). So stop, right? Everyone's buzzing. WRONG (imo). Let the players revel in the moment and savour the victory, but to make your job as DM so much easier let it play out a little. What are they planning on doing now? What's the next plot hook? Are they going to take it? Letting the game continue will give you vital planning clues for the next session. They kill the bad guy, then after, they start talking about heading south to WintersVale, because they suspect that the bad guy was working with the Frost Giants. Cool. Now you can plan in that direction. Fill in the detail about WintersVale and look at the travel route. What could happen along the way. What general encounters do you have up your sleeve that you could tailor to fit? Do you need to build in a redirect? All of this gets so much easier if your PC's give you a hint as to their next plan of action, and you can get that at the end of your session.
As an extra note, have as many generic encounters as you can, so you can tweak them a little and insert, changing the monsters or npc's to fit.
I've found that having a "solid [story] outline" to actually be a problem for many people, and not something that you should be trying to solidify.
This is because an RPG adventure is absolutely not a novel, movie, or video game which you are presenting to your Players. As hard as it is for many of us DMs to let go of the story, in the end, we are not the authors of the story. Our Players are the authors.
A DM is really presenting a setting, framework, and supporting cast for the Players to create their own stories and adventures. I used to think this was merely a stylistic preference on my part, but I'm starting to think this is pretty much universally the case. DMs with highly structured and scripted plots will often have Players totally ignore it and run amok ( much to their frustration ) or have Players begin to resent being forced down story lines if the DM enforces their story structure. I'm sure that there are groups where a DM presents a rigid story structure to a largely passive group of Players that is happy to follow the pre-scripted paths - but I believe this is rare, and an inherently unstable situation ( people change ).
I would recommend that instead of spending time scripting a plot line, spend your creative efforts in other areas:
Clearly defining the central conflict - what is the adventure about. Who wants what, who else is opposing them, and how do you tell when one side or the other wins?
Creating interesting and nuanced setting - although it's tricky not to disappear into the lore of the world, building aspects that will never have any impact on your game play.
Creating interesting and nuanced NPCs - who are they, what do they want, what is their personality, what are their memorable characteristics, what is their personality & how will they react to circumstances. Again - don't go overboard and create tons of useless details here either.
That will get the story unfolding without a lot of plot scripting, as it becomes a back-and-forth of a) The Players act, b) The NPCs & World react according to their desires, abilities, and character. Rinse & repeat until the conflict is resolved. Just always keep in mind that the NPCs in the conflict are working toward a goal, and that eventually someone involved will "win" the conflict. This keeps the unfolding story focused in a direction, and helps keep it from just wandering around in random directions until it runs out of steam and falls over.
That is just enough of a structure for your Players to tell the story.
I would really recommend the short book The Lazy Dungeon Masterby Sly Flourish. It's really about what not to prepare, and how to build tools to make details up on the fly as you need them ( which is a good way to ensure that you're only building the details that you need ).
But - you want to make it memorable and engaging ( as you should ), so here's my take on things that will help with that:
Play your World and NPCs well - be interesting & consistent. This means that if you're improvising a lot ( and I think you should ), write it down so you're consistent.
Incorporate aspects and threads of your Player backstories into the world - if they have them. Some players just want to show up to roll dice and kill monsters.
Make the actions of your Players' Characters matter. Show them the results of their actions on the world around them.
Make your world real by having events and plots unfolding outside of what the Party is doing: a plague in the southern province, causing trade to falter; the birth of a new Royal Heir causing a period of celebration to break out across the nation; etc. - just reminders that the world is a complex and dynamic place. This can be as simple as having time and seasons pass, the weather change, and the phases of the moon(s) change.
Don't create "story beats" per se' ( dynamic and unpredictable unfolding of the plot, remember ), but have ideas for "scenes of opportunity", which can be interesting, dramatic, and well prepared little vignettes which you can play out if-and-when their trigger conditions occur: a former NPC companion confronts the Party about being betrayed; a rival NPC at court denounces the Party in front of the King; a complex and emotional scene with a Player Character & the Spouse they left behind; etc. This is kind of like cut-scenes in video games, except they don't have to just be exposition - they can lead to actual contested encounters which the Party can resolve via social or even combative means. Since the trigger conditions might never happen, keep the prep for these short; 2-4 bullet points is more than enough - and this makes it easy to adapt these vignettes if the circumstances your envisioned them happening in have changed.
Watch your Players - see what they react to, what they like, the parts that they talk about outside of the game. Add more of that to your game.
Talk to your Players, ask them the parts they liked, and the parts that were "meh" - you won't always get feedback ( not all Players want to think that deeply about it ) - but sometimes you will, and its helpful.
If you are doing all of the above - the last, and hardest part of it all is: trust your Players. Let them find their own story; let them have fun in your world, on their terms. Help them find the stories of their Characters - don't tell it to them.
It's a lot less work for you, and a lot more fun for them.
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Hello all! I recently (as in a few months ago) began running my very first campaign. As someone with a creative writing background, I've had a lot of fun making my own world for the campaign setting, and I have a solid outline for a basic plot, along with a couple of subplots. The only problem is that I'm having trouble drawing all the elements I want to incorporate together into a cohesive storyline. I have something of a general skeleton outline, but not enough detail. This whole thing started off as a mostly experimental one-shot that I created and ran mostly to see if I could, and now I find myself scrambling a little to have a more solid plan going forward now that it's become a full campaign. I know where I want the story to end, and I know what I want to include (everything from character backstories to a civil war subplot.) I'm just not sure that I'm doing enough to bring all of these things together effectively and make the plot compelling for my players. Additionally, I've never really been the best at planning anything - as someone with ADHD, it's honestly a miracle that my session notes are always done on time. Does anyone have any general tips as far as keeping the plot interesting and relevant while weaving all of these elements together? Any advice as far as brainstorming/planning/organizing aspects of a campaign would also be incredibly useful. I know it might be a bit unconventional, but I'm excited about where this campaign has gone and I want it to be as enjoyable and memorable for my players as possible. Thanks!
For me, I don't plan too hard. I have a list of beats I want to hit during the session, I have my plots and sub-plots all figured out, and that's all I really worry about.
After a session ends I take a look at what the table has done in regards to the different plots and stories that are in play. I check how that would affect them and make adjustments as needed.
As they go through the session I look at my story beats and see if/when it's time to introduce a beat. Sometimes the players will do exactly what I anticipated and the beats will flow like a song....other times I'll have to scrap a few of the beats and adjust on the fly. However, even if they wander off the expected path, the story beats still give me a goal post that I can adjust and manipulate so the same information or options present themselves.
In most cases I let my players steer the course of events and I simply figure out how the world reacts to them, if applicable, or what the next stage of the BBEG's mission is now in play since the characters were never aware of the current one. I, you, and most other DM's have amazing stories that we've come up with, but our players have a strange way of making them so much better if we just take a hand off the wheel.
Jot down what you'd like to see happen, keep yourself open to them wandering off the path you've come to expect, and adapt to their antics. Planning too much can make your job as DM very stifling.
Generally, I try my hardest to minimize having to many plot threads flying through the air at a time. I find it's important not to worry about paying off every single one. Sometimes you'll need to just walk away from a plot line your party may either not have any interest in, or might not work want to do right now. Be willing to set plot threads down for multiple sessions, occasionally never coming back. There is nothing wrong with it, even the most attentive player's don't remember every plot thread you'll lob out at them.
In addition, I would recommend exactly what DMthac0 said, don't over plan. It's good to figure out what you want your broad strokes to be, and let your players paint in the details. Just remember, always be willing to scrap the "painting" because your characters just don't care, or don't like all of the strokes you laid out. There is nothing wrong with that, but heartbreak comes easy when you spend week's planning a session just for your players to say nope, and move in a completely different direction.
Do not be surprised when your players want to do everything EXCEPT what you had planned out. It's totally OK for that to happen. Drop hints and clues and outright bounties to go someplace, but you NEED to be open to the players wanting to go someplace else and do something different.
Given practice, you can arrange for everything to come together. I assure you, playing out the adventure no matter which direction it takes, is far better than what a single person can come up with.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
Planning is fun. My tips....
Have broad strokes, then fill in the detail. Start with the general plot. Who's the ultimate bad guy. What do they want. Why should the characters/players care? How did they get involved. From there, fill in the details. Again, just dot point it out to fill in the timeline/journey to get to the finale. Appreciate that your players will go off script, it's inevitable. So stay flexible.
With your world, the same rules apply. Have broad strokes of the world/pantheons/guilds/races/major cities. Then get into the nitty gritty for a town/area they're in. If they're starting in a small village called Goats Fore Quarters, then you need to know EVERYTHING about Goats. The shops. The owners. The villagers. What their trade is. Who's in charge. Town guard. Nobles. Estates. Where is the real power. But the village up north some 8 days travel away? You don't need to know a whole lot about that place just yet.
Also, a tip about gameplay and running your sessions. I know the temptation to finish things on a high. You just killed the bad guy/solved the riddle/saved the prisoner(s). So stop, right? Everyone's buzzing. WRONG (imo). Let the players revel in the moment and savour the victory, but to make your job as DM so much easier let it play out a little. What are they planning on doing now? What's the next plot hook? Are they going to take it? Letting the game continue will give you vital planning clues for the next session. They kill the bad guy, then after, they start talking about heading south to WintersVale, because they suspect that the bad guy was working with the Frost Giants. Cool. Now you can plan in that direction. Fill in the detail about WintersVale and look at the travel route. What could happen along the way. What general encounters do you have up your sleeve that you could tailor to fit? Do you need to build in a redirect? All of this gets so much easier if your PC's give you a hint as to their next plan of action, and you can get that at the end of your session.
As an extra note, have as many generic encounters as you can, so you can tweak them a little and insert, changing the monsters or npc's to fit.
Best of luck!!
I've found that having a "solid [story] outline" to actually be a problem for many people, and not something that you should be trying to solidify.
This is because an RPG adventure is absolutely not a novel, movie, or video game which you are presenting to your Players. As hard as it is for many of us DMs to let go of the story, in the end, we are not the authors of the story. Our Players are the authors.
A DM is really presenting a setting, framework, and supporting cast for the Players to create their own stories and adventures. I used to think this was merely a stylistic preference on my part, but I'm starting to think this is pretty much universally the case. DMs with highly structured and scripted plots will often have Players totally ignore it and run amok ( much to their frustration ) or have Players begin to resent being forced down story lines if the DM enforces their story structure. I'm sure that there are groups where a DM presents a rigid story structure to a largely passive group of Players that is happy to follow the pre-scripted paths - but I believe this is rare, and an inherently unstable situation ( people change ).
I would recommend that instead of spending time scripting a plot line, spend your creative efforts in other areas:
That will get the story unfolding without a lot of plot scripting, as it becomes a back-and-forth of a) The Players act, b) The NPCs & World react according to their desires, abilities, and character. Rinse & repeat until the conflict is resolved. Just always keep in mind that the NPCs in the conflict are working toward a goal, and that eventually someone involved will "win" the conflict. This keeps the unfolding story focused in a direction, and helps keep it from just wandering around in random directions until it runs out of steam and falls over.
That is just enough of a structure for your Players to tell the story.
I would really recommend the short book The Lazy Dungeon Master by Sly Flourish. It's really about what not to prepare, and how to build tools to make details up on the fly as you need them ( which is a good way to ensure that you're only building the details that you need ).
But - you want to make it memorable and engaging ( as you should ), so here's my take on things that will help with that:
If you are doing all of the above - the last, and hardest part of it all is: trust your Players. Let them find their own story; let them have fun in your world, on their terms. Help them find the stories of their Characters - don't tell it to them.
It's a lot less work for you, and a lot more fun for them.
Best of luck!
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.