I'm gonna be running a monster hunter (the video game) campaign and I don't want to have my group just hunt monsters, graph materials, and rinse and repeat. So I was wondering if anyone could give me ideas on how to give it an actual story. I was thinking of things like...
Arc 1 (levels 1-3) the greatest hunter (an npc) goes missing and the players have to find them.
Arc 2 (levels 3-6) they find the hunter and he could be corrupted or just a traitor and the group have to find a way to stop him with side story silliness.
Arc 3 (levels 6-10) ???
All of this can change if you have better ideas, or if you have run something with better results. So how bout it can you help me?
Hmmm, I don't know a ton about Monster Hunter, but I am familiar with it. The series does, on the surface, only have a few elements. There are monsters, hunters of the monsters, and crafting things to hunt the monsters. But I'm sure there's enough to work with.
I think maybe the first thing to ask yourself is "why are my players excited about a game in this universe?"
Is it the idea of fighting giant beasts? Tracking them? Learning their strengths and weaknesses? The tactics of battle at that scale?
Is it the crafting? Finding uses for monster parts? Making the giant weapons with wild powers?
Is it the survival element? The dangerous world where only the toughest survive? Making campfires and cooking food for buffs? Exploring strange landscapes?
It might even be the cool costumes? The over-the-top heroics? Rolling in the mud?
The best campaigns start with a list of things the players love. The things they want to see. Even if they asked for it directly, they are thrilled when it shows up. So if you find out what they like about the theme, you can start building plots around that. If they really want to fight big monsters, they might not want a plot centered around another hunter. They might want a plot where one ancient monster is starting to gather the smaller ones around them to fight back against the humans. Noticing strange behaviors in them, tracking them, seeing normally bitter enemies working together. All leading up to the biggest boss fight ever.
If they like the crafting, then best thing might be a story where they search for lost ruins with secret blacksmithing recipes. Finding out where the monsters are that have the parts they need. Leading up to finding a legendary forge, or a mythical material needed for the final ingredient in their magnum opus. All guarded by big monsters of course.
If they like the idea of a small band of courageous humans surviving in an apocalyptic world, then maybe the best antagonist really is the other humans. A hunter trying to control the beasts to make himself king of the ashes. A villain searching for the key to capture the biggest monsters and turn them on the village.
Everything will be included in some part. But you can focus on their favorites if you know them.
Maybe try watching some movies with giant monsters for ideas. The How to Train Your Dragon movies, kaiju movies like Godzilla or King Kong, or even something with giant robots. Monster Hunter is all about the scale. Bigger swords to fight bigger threats. A world so dangerous you wonder how anyone survives. And heroes that are bold and optimistic in spite of it all.
Hmmm, I don't know a ton about Monster Hunter, but I am familiar with it. The series does, on the surface, only have a few elements. There are monsters, hunters of the monsters, and crafting things to hunt the monsters. But I'm sure there's enough to work with.
I think maybe the first thing to ask yourself is "why are my players excited about a game in this universe?"
Is it the idea of fighting giant beasts? Tracking them? Learning their strengths and weaknesses? The tactics of battle at that scale?
Is it the crafting? Finding uses for monster parts? Making the giant weapons with wild powers?
Is it the survival element? The dangerous world where only the toughest survive? Making campfires and cooking food for buffs? Exploring strange landscapes?
It might even be the cool costumes? The over-the-top heroics? Rolling in the mud?
The best campaigns start with a list of things the players love. The things they want to see. Even if they asked for it directly, they are thrilled when it shows up. So if you find out what they like about the theme, you can start building plots around that. If they really want to fight big monsters, they might not want a plot centered around another hunter. They might want a plot where one ancient monster is starting to gather the smaller ones around them to fight back against the humans. Noticing strange behaviors in them, tracking them, seeing normally bitter enemies working together. All leading up to the biggest boss fight ever.
If they like the crafting, then best thing might be a story where they search for lost ruins with secret blacksmithing recipes. Finding out where the monsters are that have the parts they need. Leading up to finding a legendary forge, or a mythical material needed for the final ingredient in their magnum opus. All guarded by big monsters of course.
If they like the idea of a small band of courageous humans surviving in an apocalyptic world, then maybe the best antagonist really is the other humans. A hunter trying to control the beasts to make himself king of the ashes. A villain searching for the key to capture the biggest monsters and turn them on the village.
Everything will be included in some part. But you can focus on their favorites if you know them.
Maybe try watching some movies with giant monsters for ideas. The How to Train Your Dragon movies, kaiju movies like Godzilla or King Kong, or even something with giant robots. Monster Hunter is all about the scale. Bigger swords to fight bigger threats. A world so dangerous you wonder how anyone survives. And heroes that are bold and optimistic in spite of it all.
I love these ideas thank you so much. With what you have given I think with my session 0 I will add a bit of each of the main concepts (Tracking the monster, fighting the monster, and crafting) and get a feel for what they like the most. I greatly apricate the ideas for the plots as well I will keep it open and see witch ways my players lean to liking as the story progresses. Lastly the idea of watching the big monster films *chef's kiss* brilliant thank you for that!
I agree with the above, and also I think that one of the best ways to make an in-depth story in a campaign, especially a homebrew one, is to ask your players for backstories that give you the reigns on at least one small segment of them, (and give their characters a forward-moving motivation).
This could be something like "I woke up one day with no memory, in a house i didn't recognize, with nothing but a knife with an inscription in a language i can't read. I want to figure out what happened to me, and who i was before" BOOM. Now you've got free reign over a whole host of NPCs to be connected to both this character, and anyone else's characters, as well as a mystery you can tie directly to the bbeg. Now, when another player brings you the classic "My whole family was killed by a mysterious cloaked figure, I'm trying to avenge them", you can make the killer be the owner of the knife, who erased the first pc's memory and left them with the last piece of evidence of their crime to frame them, and is now on the lam. Now they have a connection AND a mutual enemy, and are emotionally invested, etc. etc.
As a DM, my personal favorite part of pre-campaign prep is connecting all of the PC's backstories behind-the-scenes into a tangled web of a plot, and, despite the far-reaching implications of whatever you come up with, it doesn't end up being that hard, and gives you amazing guidelines for prepping individual sessions when you're feeling stuck. :)
I'm not exactly familiar with the Monster Hunter games myself, but the first thing that came to my mind is why do they fight monsters? What moves the monsters - are they just wild beasts or does something darker push them?
Alternatively are there those trying to harness the power of monsters for their own evil gains?
You could down a route of mindless beasts suddenly starting to garner intelligence?
If monsters start acting strangely, investigations will be required and stories may be discovered.
You could start small with monster stampedes or monsters disappearing from an area and having the players investigate and discover something bigger is frightening the other monsters away (can't anything too big for lower levels ... unless of course you can find some way to push back the time of the encounter. Like I heard about a campaign once when the players faced the tarrasque with an army at level 3 or 4, but it was banished giving the party time to train) OR with people imitating the actions of monsters to cover their own crimes.
The idea of someone important going missing is a fun idea, but make sure not to make them too big otherwise how are the players supposed to be able to face this legendary warrior.
Regardless of the world you make, however, the great elements of stories remain the same - adventure, danger, corruption (perhaps someone in the guilds has a nefarious plot), mystery, heroism, quests.
This just some ideas off the top of my head, but I hope the help. Good luck and above all else have fun.
I agree with the above, and also I think that one of the best ways to make an in-depth story in a campaign, especially a homebrew one, is to ask your players for backstories that give you the reigns on at least one small segment of them, (and give their characters a forward-moving motivation).
This could be something like "I woke up one day with no memory, in a house i didn't recognize, with nothing but a knife with an inscription in a language i can't read. I want to figure out what happened to me, and who i was before" BOOM. Now you've got free reign over a whole host of NPCs to be connected to both this character, and anyone else's characters, as well as a mystery you can tie directly to the bbeg. Now, when another player brings you the classic "My whole family was killed by a mysterious cloaked figure, I'm trying to avenge them", you can make the killer be the owner of the knife, who erased the first pc's memory and left them with the last piece of evidence of their crime to frame them, and is now on the lam. Now they have a connection AND a mutual enemy, and are emotionally invested, etc. etc.
As a DM, my personal favorite part of pre-campaign prep is connecting all of the PC's backstories behind-the-scenes into a tangled web of a plot, and, despite the far-reaching implications of whatever you come up with, it doesn't end up being that hard, and gives you amazing guidelines for prepping individual sessions when you're feeling stuck. :)
You know I was so focused on the monster hunter aspect that I didn't think to make backstories a big part of the story itself. I was gonna include them in side story stuff and have each character have a shinning moment, but with this I can have them band together and have a great accomplishment together. This is a great idea so I'm gonna send a pm to them all, and get characters and backstories started so I can work off of them so thank you for this.
I'm not exactly familiar with the Monster Hunter games myself, but the first thing that came to my mind is why do they fight monsters? What moves the monsters - are they just wild beasts or does something darker push them?
Alternatively are there those trying to harness the power of monsters for their own evil gains?
You could down a route of mindless beasts suddenly starting to garner intelligence?
If monsters start acting strangely, investigations will be required and stories may be discovered.
You could start small with monster stampedes or monsters disappearing from an area and having the players investigate and discover something bigger is frightening the other monsters away (can't anything too big for lower levels ... unless of course you can find some way to push back the time of the encounter. Like I heard about a campaign once when the players faced the tarrasque with an army at level 3 or 4, but it was banished giving the party time to train) OR with people imitating the actions of monsters to cover their own crimes.
The idea of someone important going missing is a fun idea, but make sure not to make them too big otherwise how are the players supposed to be able to face this legendary warrior.
Regardless of the world you make, however, the great elements of stories remain the same - adventure, danger, corruption (perhaps someone in the guilds has a nefarious plot), mystery, heroism, quests.
This just some ideas off the top of my head, but I hope the help. Good luck and above all else have fun.
Thank you for the great ideas on the the little story I had lol. The small stampede idea is actually wonderful as it works with what the new games introduced it will be a great team building effort early on as well so I love this and thank you!
Monster Hunting sounds like a cool concept for a game, and a good excuse for using all sorts of monsters without any thematic tie between them!
I'm unfamiliar with the game, but I gather it's about killing and harvesting monsters to make stuff. So, here are some potential plot hooks and such that come to mind to make a bigger story out of it:
Why are the parts needed? Likely story is someone has asked for these parts, so you need a motive for either them or their customer. Making a frankenmonster would be a good finale - everything you've faced is now combined into one tarrasque-sized abomination by the mad scientist you've been supplying.
Is there an evil motive behind slaying the beasts? Look to Shadow of the Colossus as inspiration - are these giant monsters actually spirit guardians for something horrible, and your party has been tricked into killing them for their hide and teeth, unlocking the ancient evil which they then need to destroy?
Is there an evil motive behind the beasts being there? Is some dark power sending these monsters out to do their bidding? Are they fleeing from something worse?
Perhaps a Necromancer has plans for a monster army, and they have the party collect trivial body parts - teeth from a beholder, for example - so that they can swoop in and resurrect the beholder as a zombie once the party have left?
Maybe the monsters are attacking the town because the Monster Mother is below the town, and they need to save her - but the government are instead saying we need to slay the monsters?
In basic game play terms, monster hunter is D&D. You kill enemies and take their stuff so you can go kill bigger enemies. That’s been the core play loop since 1e. I understand things are changing to be more story focused now, but the old way is still perfectly viable. At that point, plot and story can be anything you want. Put the PCs in some town on the edge of the wilderness which is constantly attacked by monsters. They go out, kill them, return to town, rest up, go out again. That’s the whole plot for most 1e and 2e games. As they do it, throw in some interesting townspeople. If you’re good at improving, you can pretty much go with that for a start and see what happens. Or take the traditional route of, there’s a cult or evil wizard experimenting and that’s what’s creating all these monsters, and the characters realize this over the course of the game, then resolve to go stop it at the source, return to town as heroes.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I'm gonna be running a monster hunter (the video game) campaign and I don't want to have my group just hunt monsters, graph materials, and rinse and repeat. So I was wondering if anyone could give me ideas on how to give it an actual story. I was thinking of things like...
Arc 1 (levels 1-3) the greatest hunter (an npc) goes missing and the players have to find them.
Arc 2 (levels 3-6) they find the hunter and he could be corrupted or just a traitor and the group have to find a way to stop him with side story silliness.
Arc 3 (levels 6-10) ???
All of this can change if you have better ideas, or if you have run something with better results. So how bout it can you help me?
Hmmm, I don't know a ton about Monster Hunter, but I am familiar with it. The series does, on the surface, only have a few elements. There are monsters, hunters of the monsters, and crafting things to hunt the monsters. But I'm sure there's enough to work with.
I think maybe the first thing to ask yourself is "why are my players excited about a game in this universe?"
Is it the idea of fighting giant beasts? Tracking them? Learning their strengths and weaknesses? The tactics of battle at that scale?
Is it the crafting? Finding uses for monster parts? Making the giant weapons with wild powers?
Is it the survival element? The dangerous world where only the toughest survive? Making campfires and cooking food for buffs? Exploring strange landscapes?
It might even be the cool costumes? The over-the-top heroics? Rolling in the mud?
The best campaigns start with a list of things the players love. The things they want to see. Even if they asked for it directly, they are thrilled when it shows up. So if you find out what they like about the theme, you can start building plots around that. If they really want to fight big monsters, they might not want a plot centered around another hunter. They might want a plot where one ancient monster is starting to gather the smaller ones around them to fight back against the humans. Noticing strange behaviors in them, tracking them, seeing normally bitter enemies working together. All leading up to the biggest boss fight ever.
If they like the crafting, then best thing might be a story where they search for lost ruins with secret blacksmithing recipes. Finding out where the monsters are that have the parts they need. Leading up to finding a legendary forge, or a mythical material needed for the final ingredient in their magnum opus. All guarded by big monsters of course.
If they like the idea of a small band of courageous humans surviving in an apocalyptic world, then maybe the best antagonist really is the other humans. A hunter trying to control the beasts to make himself king of the ashes. A villain searching for the key to capture the biggest monsters and turn them on the village.
Everything will be included in some part. But you can focus on their favorites if you know them.
Maybe try watching some movies with giant monsters for ideas. The How to Train Your Dragon movies, kaiju movies like Godzilla or King Kong, or even something with giant robots. Monster Hunter is all about the scale. Bigger swords to fight bigger threats. A world so dangerous you wonder how anyone survives. And heroes that are bold and optimistic in spite of it all.
I love these ideas thank you so much. With what you have given I think with my session 0 I will add a bit of each of the main concepts (Tracking the monster, fighting the monster, and crafting) and get a feel for what they like the most. I greatly apricate the ideas for the plots as well I will keep it open and see witch ways my players lean to liking as the story progresses. Lastly the idea of watching the big monster films *chef's kiss* brilliant thank you for that!
I agree with the above, and also I think that one of the best ways to make an in-depth story in a campaign, especially a homebrew one, is to ask your players for backstories that give you the reigns on at least one small segment of them, (and give their characters a forward-moving motivation).
This could be something like "I woke up one day with no memory, in a house i didn't recognize, with nothing but a knife with an inscription in a language i can't read. I want to figure out what happened to me, and who i was before" BOOM. Now you've got free reign over a whole host of NPCs to be connected to both this character, and anyone else's characters, as well as a mystery you can tie directly to the bbeg.
Now, when another player brings you the classic "My whole family was killed by a mysterious cloaked figure, I'm trying to avenge them", you can make the killer be the owner of the knife, who erased the first pc's memory and left them with the last piece of evidence of their crime to frame them, and is now on the lam. Now they have a connection AND a mutual enemy, and are emotionally invested, etc. etc.
As a DM, my personal favorite part of pre-campaign prep is connecting all of the PC's backstories behind-the-scenes into a tangled web of a plot, and, despite the far-reaching implications of whatever you come up with, it doesn't end up being that hard, and gives you amazing guidelines for prepping individual sessions when you're feeling stuck. :)
:)
I'm not exactly familiar with the Monster Hunter games myself, but the first thing that came to my mind is why do they fight monsters? What moves the monsters - are they just wild beasts or does something darker push them?
Alternatively are there those trying to harness the power of monsters for their own evil gains?
You could down a route of mindless beasts suddenly starting to garner intelligence?
If monsters start acting strangely, investigations will be required and stories may be discovered.
You could start small with monster stampedes or monsters disappearing from an area and having the players investigate and discover something bigger is frightening the other monsters away (can't anything too big for lower levels ... unless of course you can find some way to push back the time of the encounter. Like I heard about a campaign once when the players faced the tarrasque with an army at level 3 or 4, but it was banished giving the party time to train) OR with people imitating the actions of monsters to cover their own crimes.
The idea of someone important going missing is a fun idea, but make sure not to make them too big otherwise how are the players supposed to be able to face this legendary warrior.
Regardless of the world you make, however, the great elements of stories remain the same - adventure, danger, corruption (perhaps someone in the guilds has a nefarious plot), mystery, heroism, quests.
This just some ideas off the top of my head, but I hope the help. Good luck and above all else have fun.
You know I was so focused on the monster hunter aspect that I didn't think to make backstories a big part of the story itself. I was gonna include them in side story stuff and have each character have a shinning moment, but with this I can have them band together and have a great accomplishment together. This is a great idea so I'm gonna send a pm to them all, and get characters and backstories started so I can work off of them so thank you for this.
Thank you for the great ideas on the the little story I had lol. The small stampede idea is actually wonderful as it works with what the new games introduced it will be a great team building effort early on as well so I love this and thank you!
Monster Hunting sounds like a cool concept for a game, and a good excuse for using all sorts of monsters without any thematic tie between them!
I'm unfamiliar with the game, but I gather it's about killing and harvesting monsters to make stuff. So, here are some potential plot hooks and such that come to mind to make a bigger story out of it:
Why are the parts needed? Likely story is someone has asked for these parts, so you need a motive for either them or their customer. Making a frankenmonster would be a good finale - everything you've faced is now combined into one tarrasque-sized abomination by the mad scientist you've been supplying.
Is there an evil motive behind slaying the beasts? Look to Shadow of the Colossus as inspiration - are these giant monsters actually spirit guardians for something horrible, and your party has been tricked into killing them for their hide and teeth, unlocking the ancient evil which they then need to destroy?
Is there an evil motive behind the beasts being there? Is some dark power sending these monsters out to do their bidding? Are they fleeing from something worse?
Perhaps a Necromancer has plans for a monster army, and they have the party collect trivial body parts - teeth from a beholder, for example - so that they can swoop in and resurrect the beholder as a zombie once the party have left?
Maybe the monsters are attacking the town because the Monster Mother is below the town, and they need to save her - but the government are instead saying we need to slay the monsters?
Hope this helps!
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!
In basic game play terms, monster hunter is D&D. You kill enemies and take their stuff so you can go kill bigger enemies. That’s been the core play loop since 1e. I understand things are changing to be more story focused now, but the old way is still perfectly viable. At that point, plot and story can be anything you want.
Put the PCs in some town on the edge of the wilderness which is constantly attacked by monsters. They go out, kill them, return to town, rest up, go out again. That’s the whole plot for most 1e and 2e games. As they do it, throw in some interesting townspeople. If you’re good at improving, you can pretty much go with that for a start and see what happens.
Or take the traditional route of, there’s a cult or evil wizard experimenting and that’s what’s creating all these monsters, and the characters realize this over the course of the game, then resolve to go stop it at the source, return to town as heroes.