I've been playing D&D as a DM and as a Player for quite some time now, and as a DM, I don't have much of a problem creating one shots or short campaigns (2 or 3 months length), but I recently finished one of them with my group and I was getting a little ambitious in trying something bigger like a 1 or 2 years campaign since I have a very solid and committed group. The problem is, I don't have any idea how to write something so damn long like critical role does where it spans for 3 years long. I've been wondering what's the secret or the method for doing that, like, for some of you who already did 1 year+ campaigns, when you start creating your campaign do you think about what's the end will be? like, you want the end of the campaign the players will be level 17th and they will fight a Lich or something? And then works towards that goal little by little every session, stretching it for 2 years? Or you just improvise and sandbox your way without a clear endgame in mind and let things unfold without worrying too much about bigger plots and stuff?
I hope I was clear enough on my words! Any help is appreciated!
Well the thing is, you don't write a full campaign in advance. You build a setting, which can be just a small town with a forest around it if that's all you need at Level 1. And you make a list of a handful of big monsters that you might want them to meet at some point down the road. Then you just give the players a hook. Something to get the ball rolling. From that point on you're not the one "writing" the campaign. They are. You're just holding on for dear life and trying to keep up with them.
So you say you want the final BBEG to be a lich. Cool. During the first 5 or 6 levels you're just sandboxing. Just following wherever the players want to go and building the world as you go. Then you start to work in subtle clues. Maybe a few bad guys they've killed all have a similar tattoo. Or maybe graveyards keep getting robbed. Maybe a dark storm cloud has appeared over a distant mountain and doesn't seem to move with the wind. After enough encounters with low level undead, your players hopefully eventually catch on that the Big Evil going on is some high level undead thingy. So that'll get them hooked enough to seek it out, or to research big undead thingy lore, or both. Sandbox a bit more while dropping clues to keep them pointed in at least a general direction.
It's like herding cats. Or nailing Jell-O to a tree. It's not an exact science. That's part of the fun of it! You never quite know what's going to happen next. All you have to do is stay one session ahead of your players with the worldbuilding, and drop enough clues to keep them entertained and engaged. Who knows, maybe a year from now your campaign has morphed into something completely different that you never could have expected or anticipated. That's okay, too! Roll with it. It's a game. Have fun.
Well the thing is, you don't write a full campaign in advance. You build a setting, which can be just a small town with a forest around it if that's all you need at Level 1. And you make a list of a handful of big monsters that you might want them to meet at some point down the road. Then you just give the players a hook. Something to get the ball rolling. From that point on you're not the one "writing" the campaign. They are. You're just holding on for dear life and trying to keep up with them.
So you say you want the final BBEG to be a lich. Cool. During the first 5 or 6 levels you're just sandboxing. Just following wherever the players want to go and building the world as you go. Then you start to work in subtle clues. Maybe a few bad guys they've killed all have a similar tattoo. Or maybe graveyards keep getting robbed. Maybe a dark storm cloud has appeared over a distant mountain and doesn't seem to move with the wind. After enough encounters with low level undead, your players hopefully eventually catch on that the Big Evil going on is some high level undead thingy. So that'll get them hooked enough to seek it out, or to research big undead thingy lore, or both. Sandbox a bit more while dropping clues to keep them pointed in at least a general direction.
It's like herding cats. Or nailing Jell-O to a tree. It's not an exact science. That's part of the fun of it! You never quite know what's going to happen next. All you have to do is stay one session ahead of your players with the worldbuilding, and drop enough clues to keep them entertained and engaged. Who knows, maybe a year from now your campaign has morphed into something completely different that you never could have expected or anticipated. That's okay, too! Roll with it. It's a game. Have fun.
That's some really good tips! Thank you man.
So, it's ok to choose a BBEG for the super long run, but you just use it to bread crumb a little along the way, and try to steer the group and make a theme of hooks and quests as they travel the land. But in any case it's ok too if they go completely "off-track" and things change, maybe the BBEG changes too.
@MY PLAYERS, DONT READ. If you happen to stumble across this for some reason.
An example of what I have in mind: The group investigates some rumors, finds a cult that tries to reawaken an alien, ancient evil. The group tries to intervene but fails. The reawakened creature however is not the BBEG. It's not even a companion of the BBEG. It's the son of one of three generals to the BBEG. He makes it his mission to bring back his father and his aunts so the three can resummon the BBEG. The three generals have different approaches, which in turn will affect the world in different ways.
The group however has no idea. They can't yet even tell how dire this situation might become. Which in turn does not push them on a rail to "OMG THE WORLD ENDS, WE HAVE TO GO NOW AND DISREGARD EVERYTHING ELSE". Suuuure, something bad is back. But it's not like a god or something. Just someone to punch in the face later on. The overall quest for them is to gather information for which they will need to travel the land which means interacting with it.
Meanwhile, each player will have an extensive backstory, which will also cause them to do a lot of quests along that ride. On top of that there will be random encounters that also can have consequences and minor storylines.
Player actiosn (or non-actions) will have consequences.
Overall, I don't plan plots. I plan situations and I can highly recommend this:
And I almost forgot, always talk with your players. After every session, ask for feedback. Ask what they want to do. You are playing with them, building the world with them together. Matt certainly didn't just decide that Nott [REDACTED] before she [REDACTED].
For my long campaign, I've been stringing adventures(Yawing Portal, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, 3rd Party, and homebrew adventures) together building an overarching storyline. While the adventures are pre-written I make adjustments here and there to work on my campaign. Is there an end to it all that I have planned? Not yet, I'll know when it's time when I get close, but right now the campaign has been going on for over a year and a quarter and the group seems to be enjoying it so there is no reason to end the fun.
Don’t decide before you start how long it’s going to run, or what level the characters will reach. Just tell the story, and when it comes to an end, end it. If you decide the length beforehand, you’ll either end up rushing through things, or adding in bloated filler. Encourage your players to give you plot hooks in their backstories that you can veer off to for a while.
Listen to your players when they are chatting about what they think is happening, and steal their ideas if they’re better than yours.
Don’t decide before you start how long it’s going to run, or what level the characters will reach. Just tell the story, and when it comes to an end, end it. If you decide the length beforehand, you’ll either end up rushing through things, or adding in bloated filler. Encourage your players to give you plot hooks in their backstories that you can veer off to for a while.
Listen to your players when they are chatting about what they think is happening, and steal their ideas if they’re better than yours.
Many times I've pivoted an adventure based on a passing comment made by players so it is nice to see them have a "We guessed it right!" moment to give an extra jolt to the game.
Don’t decide before you start how long it’s going to run, or what level the characters will reach. Just tell the story, and when it comes to an end, end it. If you decide the length beforehand, you’ll either end up rushing through things, or adding in bloated filler. Encourage your players to give you plot hooks in their backstories that you can veer off to for a while.
Listen to your players when they are chatting about what they think is happening, and steal their ideas if they’re better than yours.
Yes! Start with characters who have aims. Help them all achieve them. That will build a wonderful story! Also let it flow. I didn't start my campaign with a BBEG in mad and now my players have started a multi-planar demon war (it's a thing). Trust yourself to improvise!
My background: I ran to completion the very first ever campaign I ran, which was fully homebrew (100 sessions, about 1.5 -2 years, levels 10-20). I'm currently running 3 long-term homebrew campaigns (at 20-40+ sessions each currently, all planned to go to level 20). I wanted these to be long-term, devoted campaigns with epic storylines.
Worldbuilding is key.Your characters' arcs are key. Conflict is key.
As a disclaimer, I had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING when I started that first campaign. I'd run a couple shoddy oneshots before, but in truth it was my first real DMing experience. I got really lucky with 2-3 super devoted players who stuck around and had patience with me when I made mistakes, and who were in it for the long-haul themselves. One of those players wanted to change their character very early on in the game, about 10 sessions in, so I let them, and they stuck with that character for the rest of the campaign and are now cameoing that character in my other games occasionally!
How do Build Big. You start by having good worldbuilding. You don't need to build an entire huge world to inhabit. I thought I needed that. I didn't. It actually hindered me by making me focus time I could have spent better-building the key areas I needed (where instead I was trying to build an entire world!). Instead, focus on a region that has 2-3 countries in it, 2-5 major cities, and 3-5 major factions. That will give you plenty to work with in terms of creating interesting conflict. Make sure these countries, cities, and factions all have inter-connecting conflicts going on. It doesn't have to be war, but that's a common one.
How to Plot Big. Think of a plot for a one-shot or mini-campaign, as you've stated you are comfortable doing. Now raise the stakes. Now raise them again. And again. And again. Keep raising the stakes. That's the secret to big, epic campaigns - keep raising the stakes. But you do not have to raise the stakes to world-shattering horrors! This is why you start small and gradually raise the stakes slowly. Additionally, you don't have to have ONE HUGE OVERARCHING PLOT, but you could have multiple smaller interconnected plots that gradually lean into each other and become a bigger plot. Additionally-additionally, require each of your PCs to give you good backstories and "knives" (as we've taken to calling them at my table) - things from their backstories that could come back to haunt them or cause future problems. Which leads into...
How to Plot Character Arcs Into Your Overarching Narrative. Each PC should, somehow and some way, play a key role in the overarching plot(s) of the story, even if they don't realize it until that big reveal. To do this in a Bigger Way, instead of giving each PC a character arc, give them a series of interconnected character arcs each. 3 is a good number - a beginning, middle, and end. These could tie into tiers of levels (1-8, 8-14, 15-20), or more reasonably and more easily they could tie into the storyline of that character themselves progressing. Where your characters are in the world shouldn't matter, but it's easier if you ask your players to make them from the region they'll be playing in - or else have an interest in that region, politically, financially, or otherwise. Each part of these character storylines should play some little part of the bigger game at whole - and by doing this, your players are guaranteed to have a fantastic time and be more invested.
Weaving the Threads. Create "threads" - plotlines that will flow throughout your whole story. Each character arc should be one. Your major NPCs and antagonists should all have their own character arcs as well, which should each be a thread. Major magical items that the players might find should be their own threads, if not their own arcs entirely. Each of these threads should give you a little nugget of an idea for at least one adventure your players can take. Now weave them together. Not all in one jumbled mess, but in a pretty pattern. Once the PCs discover one thing, it somehow grants them some glimpse at another thread, and piques their curiosity so they'll explore that thread - then the other, then the other. Before they know it, they'll be embroiled in a plot so thick they won't know how to extricate themselves.
One of the best pieces of campaign-building advice I know comes from "How to be a Good GM" on Youtube. His advice is this: "To build your plot, finish this sentence: Someone (antagonist) wants something (McGuffin usually) badly and needs it by a certain time (the next eclipse, a festival, whatever) because of (reasons here) and is having difficulty acquiring it because of ___."
For the best answer, the last part of that sentence should directly link into what the PCs are doing.
Once you finish this sentence, break it down into 4 Antagonist arcs: Getting Stuff, Building Stuff, Testing Stuff, Achieving Stuff. Then break each of those down into 4 parts of themselves. (Getting followers, getting materials, getting wealth, getting property, finding a suitable location for a ritual, etc; Building Stuff could be literally building their magical item, building more followers and empowering them, building up an empire or army, building a temple, etc; Testing Stuff would be where they are resting their goal on a smaller scale, ie raiding villages/towns with part of their army as shows of power, testing their newly-built magic item, sacrificing a lesser entity in preparation for sacrificing a more powerful entity, etc; Achieving Stuff is where they're actually achieving their goal, such as taking over a city or kingdom with their army, successfully using their magic mcguffin, sacrificing a powerful entity, etc.)
Undoing the Threads. Start small and raise the stakes slowly. Let's come up with something on the fly. A local innkeeper's daughter is missing. He's a single dad struggling to run the local tavern and is deeply in debt, so he's in a bad situation. He takes out a small loan from the local baron to pay for someone(s) to find his daughter, who he thinks was kidnapped while out visiting the witch in the woods for an ointment for his going-bad joints. When the PCs begin investigating, they're cornered by some bandits who want to rough them up and keep them from finding the daughter for some reason - but won't fight to the death, using smoke flasks to get away if necessary. The story here is that the witch wanted something from the daughter that the girl could not afford, because she knows her father is in debt, so she's joined up with this rough gang and quickly become their leader through a unique ability: she is a caster, actually a low-level warlock to some unknown being (even if the party is given a name, they've never heard of it). She's using them to bully the witch and other citizens into giving them money so she can afford her father's joint ointment and collect wealth that she wants to use to pay off her father's debts. She won't fight to the death - instead she'll offer to pay the party a meager sum to tell her father she's safe so she can continue what she's doing until she has saved enough money to return to him.
How do we turn this into an Epic Campaign? Let's focus on that mysterious warlock patron.
Let's say the warlock patron is (let's make up a name) Lady Aznaraga. She was sealed away so long ago that almost no one knows her name anymore aside from a few ancient hags and witches and maybe a couple dusty old books leftover in some family's collection. She wants to be revived into the Material Plane. In order to do this, she'll need first to come up with some followers who can then go out and find more followers. Those followers will need power, so she'll have to grant them a fraction of her power in order to impress others so as to gain them to her side. Those followers will need resources - coin, weapons, books, knowledge, a place to gather, etc. Perhaps that local baron has one of those dusty old books in his collection? Perhaps it is he who introduced our innkeeper's daughter to the idea of the patron, maybe through one of his servants masquerading as one of her bullyboys. But she's smart, and she sees what's going on, or perhaps Aznaraga is telling her what's really going on. So she's actually going to use that gang one day (some while after the PCs are gone and have solved the Smaller Issue) to take over the baron's land and money and begin converting the local people to Aznaraga through shows of power and ruthlessness. While out doing something else (that will also eventually tie into the plot somehow), the PCs receiving a sending from that witch, or the baron, asking them to return to that village. By now, however, the girl's influence has spread outside of just the town. Perhaps the witch is even now in on it, being ancient enough to remember Aznaraga and wanting some modicum of power herself that she has lost in her old age.
The trick is that when the players return, you're not giving up the secrets of this warlock patron. It's a "Mysterious Entity" at best. The town has become zealous over a new religion, and they're all wearing an amulet. But what if the party has found someone wearing one of these amulets before? On a previous adventure? Perhaps even one of the PC's backstory NPCs? Beyond that, Aznaraga won't be putting her entire stock in just one girl and one tiny village. She'll be doing this all over the region that she intends to revive into. That region should have some reason she wants to revive into it - magical leylines or sites, a burried magical object, the hiding place of a book of secrets that holds the power to bring her back, etc. Maybe it was once a land ran by an ancient civilization that she was the goddess of? Anything works!
So everywhere the PCs go, they're going to run into some overlapping patterns. They'll start to see the bigger picture. Just when they think they've nipped the bigger picture in the bud, it gets even bigger. The local leaders of all the village churches are meeting in the city for an audience with the bishop or the king, and they're planning something big - but the party can't quite figure out what, because none of the lowerlings have been told any details. A magical artifact is involved. Perhaps the priests plan to relieve a local lord of a magical family heirloom that will aid them in convincing the bishop or king of their plight for finances and soldiers. Perhaps this kingdom is at war with the neighboring kingdom, and the priests of Aznaraga are using the guise of being under attack by enemy soldiers in order to acquire their own forces? Let's go a step further and say that it's even the truth. But that's part of Aznaraga's plan, too. She's sending the countries against each other in order for her own faction to swoop in and intervene and put themselves in a place of power during all this conflict.
Let's say this all plays out, and the priests of Aznaraga - one of them should be a major storyline antagonist, even better if that character relates to PC backstories somehow, or perhaps even is the innkeeper's daughter raised in power over time if allowed to live - manage to get the McGuffin, secure and desecrate an ancient temple to some other opposing deity, and are in the process of resurrecting her. The PCs prepare for the Big Showdown. If they fail, then the evil goddess is brought back into the world.
Now we raise the stakes again.
Why take over these lands? She wants to raize them to the ground and bring back her old civilization that was briefly mentioned above, those who worshipped her. Only her new followers we survive the fallout. And then from there, with her revived undead army of ancient followers, she plants to take over the continent, then the world. What is her motivating factor? Greed for power. And there we mention themes. You should have some central themes that overlap throughout the campaign and repeat themselves, coming up often. Greed and power, though done often, are solid ones that seldom fail.
An important thing to remember is that as her goals grow, her Sentence changes. New conflicts arise and new threads get woven into the pattern. New adventures sprout. But in order to contain it, the PCs need to keep their eyes on the prize: Aznaraga wants to be brought back into the Material Plane but is having trouble doing so because the PCs keep (accidentally) getting in the way of her plans. Eventually she's going to send people to deal with them directly.
All the while, we also want to be weaving in the PCs' backstories into this plan. Say someone has a noble upbringing. They'll be politically inclined towards either of these kingdoms or cities in some way and have major investment in seeing them not destroyed. Maybe a sibling of theirs has become embroiled in the plot, and has risen to priesthood of the evil goddess themselves, and are trying to subtly (through manipulation, underhanded tactics, and sly charisma) influence that PC to join their ranks. With a graceful enough hand and a clever enough mind, that PC might find themselves stuck between their options, potentially in conflict with the party at some points.
Anyway. Hopefully those suggestions, and this got-out-of-control example, helps a little. Best of luck!
Undoing the Threads. Start small and raise the stakes slowly. Let's come up with something on the fly. A local innkeeper's daughter is missing. He's a single dad struggling to run the local tavern and is deeply in debt, so he's in a bad situation. He takes out a small loan from the local baron to pay for someone(s) to find his daughter, who he thinks was kidnapped while out visiting the witch in the woods for an ointment for his going-bad joints. When the PCs begin investigating, they're cornered by some bandits who want to rough them up and keep them from finding the daughter for some reason - but won't fight to the death, using smoke flasks to get away if necessary. The story here is that the witch wanted something from the daughter that the girl could not afford, because she knows her father is in debt, so she's joined up with this rough gang and quickly become their leader through a unique ability: she is a caster, actually a low-level warlock to some unknown being (even if the party is given a name, they've never heard of it). She's using them to bully the witch and other citizens into giving them money so she can afford her father's joint ointment and collect wealth that she wants to use to pay off her father's debts. She won't fight to the death - instead she'll offer to pay the party a meager sum to tell her father she's safe so she can continue what she's doing until she has saved enough money to return to him.
How do we turn this into an Epic Campaign? Let's focus on that mysterious warlock patron.
Let's say the warlock patron is (let's make up a name) Lady Aznaraga. She was sealed away so long ago that almost no one knows her name anymore aside from a few ancient hags and witches and maybe a couple dusty old books leftover in some family's collection. She wants to be revived into the Material Plane. In order to do this, she'll need first to come up with some followers who can then go out and find more followers. Those followers will need power, so she'll have to grant them a fraction of her power in order to impress others so as to gain them to her side. Those followers will need resources - coin, weapons, books, knowledge, a place to gather, etc. Perhaps that local baron has one of those dusty old books in his collection? Perhaps it is he who introduced our innkeeper's daughter to the idea of the patron, maybe through one of his servants masquerading as one of her bullyboys. But she's smart, and she sees what's going on, or perhaps Aznaraga is telling her what's really going on. So she's actually going to use that gang one day (some while after the PCs are gone and have solved the Smaller Issue) to take over the baron's land and money and begin converting the local people to Aznaraga through shows of power and ruthlessness. While out doing something else (that will also eventually tie into the plot somehow), the PCs receiving a sending from that witch, or the baron, asking them to return to that village. By now, however, the girl's influence has spread outside of just the town. Perhaps the witch is even now in on it, being ancient enough to remember Aznaraga and wanting some modicum of power herself that she has lost in her old age.
The trick is that when the players return, you're not giving up the secrets of this warlock patron. It's a "Mysterious Entity" at best. The town has become zealous over a new religion, and they're all wearing an amulet. But what if the party has found someone wearing one of these amulets before? On a previous adventure? Perhaps even one of the PC's backstory NPCs? Beyond that, Aznaraga won't be putting her entire stock in just one girl and one tiny village. She'll be doing this all over the region that she intends to revive into. That region should have some reason she wants to revive into it - magical leylines or sites, a burried magical object, the hiding place of a book of secrets that holds the power to bring her back, etc. Maybe it was once a land ran by an ancient civilization that she was the goddess of? Anything works!
So everywhere the PCs go, they're going to run into some overlapping patterns. They'll start to see the bigger picture. Just when they think they've nipped the bigger picture in the bud, it gets even bigger. The local leaders of all the village churches are meeting in the city for an audience with the bishop or the king, and they're planning something big - but the party can't quite figure out what, because none of the lowerlings have been told any details. A magical artifact is involved. Perhaps the priests plan to relieve a local lord of a magical family heirloom that will aid them in convincing the bishop or king of their plight for finances and soldiers. Perhaps this kingdom is at war with the neighboring kingdom, and the priests of Aznaraga are using the guise of being under attack by enemy soldiers in order to acquire their own forces? Let's go a step further and say that it's even the truth. But that's part of Aznaraga's plan, too. She's sending the countries against each other in order for her own faction to swoop in and intervene and put themselves in a place of power during all this conflict.
Let's say this all plays out, and the priests of Aznaraga - one of them should be a major storyline antagonist, even better if that character relates to PC backstories somehow, or perhaps even is the innkeeper's daughter raised in power over time if allowed to live - manage to get the McGuffin, secure and desecrate an ancient temple to some other opposing deity, and are in the process of resurrecting her. The PCs prepare for the Big Showdown. If they fail, then the evil goddess is brought back into the world.
Now we raise the stakes again.
Why take over these lands? She wants to raize them to the ground and bring back her old civilization that was briefly mentioned above, those who worshipped her. Only her new followers we survive the fallout. And then from there, with her revived undead army of ancient followers, she plants to take over the continent, then the world. What is her motivating factor? Greed for power. And there we mention themes. You should have some central themes that overlap throughout the campaign and repeat themselves, coming up often. Greed and power, though done often, are solid ones that seldom fail.
An important thing to remember is that as her goals grow, her Sentence changes. New conflicts arise and new threads get woven into the pattern. New adventures sprout. But in order to contain it, the PCs need to keep their eyes on the prize: Aznaraga wants to be brought back into the Material Plane but is having trouble doing so because the PCs keep (accidentally) getting in the way of her plans. Eventually she's going to send people to deal with them directly.
All the while, we also want to be weaving in the PCs' backstories into this plan. Say someone has a noble upbringing. They'll be politically inclined towards either of these kingdoms or cities in some way and have major investment in seeing them not destroyed. Maybe a sibling of theirs has become embroiled in the plot, and has risen to priesthood of the evil goddess themselves, and are trying to subtly (through manipulation, underhanded tactics, and sly charisma) influence that PC to join their ranks. With a graceful enough hand and a clever enough mind, that PC might find themselves stuck between their options, potentially in conflict with the party at some points.
Anyway. Hopefully those suggestions, and this got-out-of-control example, helps a little. Best of luck!
Wow. I would want to play in that campaign. Well done!
My goal is a long campaign as well. I have already been playing for about 6 to 7 months, and unfortunately during the first couple of sessions, they were extremely rail-roaded seeing as how I had no clue how to DM. The way how I prep is I have a general layout and plot hooks of the future, (originally I used to plan exactly what the players would do, DO NOT DO THAT, trust me, they will not do exactly what you want them to do, make the plot hooks loose.) For next sessions I lay out what I want to happen, and plan for both sides of the encounters they face, if they win or lose. Just make things loose, because your players are not going to do exactly as YOU planned. This is their story, and you are narrating. I had to learn that the hard way.
But now that I have learned, I think my players really enjoy our campaign together.
BBEGs have goals: big plans that imvolve multiple steps and many minions and will take months or years to complete. You don't tell your players who the BBEG is or what their plan is. But the BBEG will leave clues as they execute their plan, and you as the DM set the players up to come across a clue or two. Then you hope they follow that thread.
As the players figure out what's going on, they might thwart part of the BBEG's plan. But that's okay. He has backup plans. Or you think of how he can adjust his plan on the fly. You play for the BBEG, and basically you're trying to win, but not entirely: only enough to make it a challenge for the players.
Hey guys, thanks for all the tips and advice's that you took your sweet time to write here! It helped me a lot and encouraged me that with some work I can do a bigger campaign, I learned a lot as I had no idea how to weave something that seemed so overwhelming as a 1 or 2 years campaign.
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Hi,
I've been playing D&D as a DM and as a Player for quite some time now, and as a DM, I don't have much of a problem creating one shots or short campaigns (2 or 3 months length), but I recently finished one of them with my group and I was getting a little ambitious in trying something bigger like a 1 or 2 years campaign since I have a very solid and committed group. The problem is, I don't have any idea how to write something so damn long like critical role does where it spans for 3 years long. I've been wondering what's the secret or the method for doing that, like, for some of you who already did 1 year+ campaigns, when you start creating your campaign do you think about what's the end will be? like, you want the end of the campaign the players will be level 17th and they will fight a Lich or something? And then works towards that goal little by little every session, stretching it for 2 years? Or you just improvise and sandbox your way without a clear endgame in mind and let things unfold without worrying too much about bigger plots and stuff?
I hope I was clear enough on my words! Any help is appreciated!
Thanks!
Well the thing is, you don't write a full campaign in advance. You build a setting, which can be just a small town with a forest around it if that's all you need at Level 1. And you make a list of a handful of big monsters that you might want them to meet at some point down the road. Then you just give the players a hook. Something to get the ball rolling. From that point on you're not the one "writing" the campaign. They are. You're just holding on for dear life and trying to keep up with them.
So you say you want the final BBEG to be a lich. Cool. During the first 5 or 6 levels you're just sandboxing. Just following wherever the players want to go and building the world as you go. Then you start to work in subtle clues. Maybe a few bad guys they've killed all have a similar tattoo. Or maybe graveyards keep getting robbed. Maybe a dark storm cloud has appeared over a distant mountain and doesn't seem to move with the wind. After enough encounters with low level undead, your players hopefully eventually catch on that the Big Evil going on is some high level undead thingy. So that'll get them hooked enough to seek it out, or to research big undead thingy lore, or both. Sandbox a bit more while dropping clues to keep them pointed in at least a general direction.
It's like herding cats. Or nailing Jell-O to a tree. It's not an exact science. That's part of the fun of it! You never quite know what's going to happen next. All you have to do is stay one session ahead of your players with the worldbuilding, and drop enough clues to keep them entertained and engaged. Who knows, maybe a year from now your campaign has morphed into something completely different that you never could have expected or anticipated. That's okay, too! Roll with it. It's a game. Have fun.
Anzio Faro. Protector Aasimar light cleric. Lvl 18.
Viktor Gavriil. White dragonborn grave cleric. Lvl 20.
Ikram Sahir ibn-Malik al-Sayyid Ra'ad. Brass dragonborn draconic sorcerer Lvl 9. Fire elemental devil.
Wrangler of cats.
That's some really good tips! Thank you man.
So, it's ok to choose a BBEG for the super long run, but you just use it to bread crumb a little along the way, and try to steer the group and make a theme of hooks and quests as they travel the land. But in any case it's ok too if they go completely "off-track" and things change, maybe the BBEG changes too.
@MY PLAYERS, DONT READ. If you happen to stumble across this for some reason.
An example of what I have in mind: The group investigates some rumors, finds a cult that tries to reawaken an alien, ancient evil. The group tries to intervene but fails. The reawakened creature however is not the BBEG. It's not even a companion of the BBEG. It's the son of one of three generals to the BBEG. He makes it his mission to bring back his father and his aunts so the three can resummon the BBEG. The three generals have different approaches, which in turn will affect the world in different ways.
The group however has no idea. They can't yet even tell how dire this situation might become. Which in turn does not push them on a rail to "OMG THE WORLD ENDS, WE HAVE TO GO NOW AND DISREGARD EVERYTHING ELSE". Suuuure, something bad is back. But it's not like a god or something. Just someone to punch in the face later on. The overall quest for them is to gather information for which they will need to travel the land which means interacting with it.
Meanwhile, each player will have an extensive backstory, which will also cause them to do a lot of quests along that ride. On top of that there will be random encounters that also can have consequences and minor storylines.
Player actiosn (or non-actions) will have consequences.
Overall, I don't plan plots. I plan situations and I can highly recommend this:
https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/4147/roleplaying-games/dont-prep-plots
And, if you are afraid of your players not finding THAT ONE THING, do the following: Apply the Three Clues Rule
https://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule
Those essays are lengthy but worth it. Trust me.
EDIT:
And I almost forgot, always talk with your players. After every session, ask for feedback. Ask what they want to do. You are playing with them, building the world with them together. Matt certainly didn't just decide that Nott [REDACTED] before she [REDACTED].
Nugz - Kobold Level 4 Bloodhunter/Order of the Mutant - Out there looking for snacks and evil monsters.
Ultrix Schwarzdorn - Human Level 6 Artificer/Armorer - Retired and works in his new shop.
Quercus Espenkiel - Gnome Level 9 Wizard/Order of Scribes - Turned into a book and sits on a shelf.
Artin - Fairy Level 4 Sorcerer/Wild Magic - Busy with annoying the townsfolk. Again.
Jabor - Fire Genasi - Level 4 Wizard/School of Evocation - The First Flame, The Last Chaos. Probably in jail, again.
For my long campaign, I've been stringing adventures(Yawing Portal, Ghosts of Saltmarsh, 3rd Party, and homebrew adventures) together building an overarching storyline. While the adventures are pre-written I make adjustments here and there to work on my campaign. Is there an end to it all that I have planned? Not yet, I'll know when it's time when I get close, but right now the campaign has been going on for over a year and a quarter and the group seems to be enjoying it so there is no reason to end the fun.
Don’t decide before you start how long it’s going to run, or what level the characters will reach. Just tell the story, and when it comes to an end, end it. If you decide the length beforehand, you’ll either end up rushing through things, or adding in bloated filler.
Encourage your players to give you plot hooks in their backstories that you can veer off to for a while.
Listen to your players when they are chatting about what they think is happening, and steal their ideas if they’re better than yours.
Many times I've pivoted an adventure based on a passing comment made by players so it is nice to see them have a "We guessed it right!" moment to give an extra jolt to the game.
Yes! Start with characters who have aims. Help them all achieve them. That will build a wonderful story! Also let it flow. I didn't start my campaign with a BBEG in mad and now my players have started a multi-planar demon war (it's a thing). Trust yourself to improvise!
My background: I ran to completion the very first ever campaign I ran, which was fully homebrew (100 sessions, about 1.5 -2 years, levels 10-20). I'm currently running 3 long-term homebrew campaigns (at 20-40+ sessions each currently, all planned to go to level 20). I wanted these to be long-term, devoted campaigns with epic storylines.
Worldbuilding is key. Your characters' arcs are key. Conflict is key.
As a disclaimer, I had NO IDEA WHAT I WAS DOING when I started that first campaign. I'd run a couple shoddy oneshots before, but in truth it was my first real DMing experience. I got really lucky with 2-3 super devoted players who stuck around and had patience with me when I made mistakes, and who were in it for the long-haul themselves. One of those players wanted to change their character very early on in the game, about 10 sessions in, so I let them, and they stuck with that character for the rest of the campaign and are now cameoing that character in my other games occasionally!
How do Build Big. You start by having good worldbuilding. You don't need to build an entire huge world to inhabit. I thought I needed that. I didn't. It actually hindered me by making me focus time I could have spent better-building the key areas I needed (where instead I was trying to build an entire world!). Instead, focus on a region that has 2-3 countries in it, 2-5 major cities, and 3-5 major factions. That will give you plenty to work with in terms of creating interesting conflict. Make sure these countries, cities, and factions all have inter-connecting conflicts going on. It doesn't have to be war, but that's a common one.
How to Plot Big. Think of a plot for a one-shot or mini-campaign, as you've stated you are comfortable doing. Now raise the stakes. Now raise them again. And again. And again. Keep raising the stakes. That's the secret to big, epic campaigns - keep raising the stakes. But you do not have to raise the stakes to world-shattering horrors! This is why you start small and gradually raise the stakes slowly. Additionally, you don't have to have ONE HUGE OVERARCHING PLOT, but you could have multiple smaller interconnected plots that gradually lean into each other and become a bigger plot. Additionally-additionally, require each of your PCs to give you good backstories and "knives" (as we've taken to calling them at my table) - things from their backstories that could come back to haunt them or cause future problems. Which leads into...
How to Plot Character Arcs Into Your Overarching Narrative. Each PC should, somehow and some way, play a key role in the overarching plot(s) of the story, even if they don't realize it until that big reveal. To do this in a Bigger Way, instead of giving each PC a character arc, give them a series of interconnected character arcs each. 3 is a good number - a beginning, middle, and end. These could tie into tiers of levels (1-8, 8-14, 15-20), or more reasonably and more easily they could tie into the storyline of that character themselves progressing. Where your characters are in the world shouldn't matter, but it's easier if you ask your players to make them from the region they'll be playing in - or else have an interest in that region, politically, financially, or otherwise. Each part of these character storylines should play some little part of the bigger game at whole - and by doing this, your players are guaranteed to have a fantastic time and be more invested.
Weaving the Threads. Create "threads" - plotlines that will flow throughout your whole story. Each character arc should be one. Your major NPCs and antagonists should all have their own character arcs as well, which should each be a thread. Major magical items that the players might find should be their own threads, if not their own arcs entirely. Each of these threads should give you a little nugget of an idea for at least one adventure your players can take. Now weave them together. Not all in one jumbled mess, but in a pretty pattern. Once the PCs discover one thing, it somehow grants them some glimpse at another thread, and piques their curiosity so they'll explore that thread - then the other, then the other. Before they know it, they'll be embroiled in a plot so thick they won't know how to extricate themselves.
One of the best pieces of campaign-building advice I know comes from "How to be a Good GM" on Youtube. His advice is this: "To build your plot, finish this sentence: Someone (antagonist) wants something (McGuffin usually) badly and needs it by a certain time (the next eclipse, a festival, whatever) because of (reasons here) and is having difficulty acquiring it because of ___."
For the best answer, the last part of that sentence should directly link into what the PCs are doing.
Once you finish this sentence, break it down into 4 Antagonist arcs: Getting Stuff, Building Stuff, Testing Stuff, Achieving Stuff. Then break each of those down into 4 parts of themselves. (Getting followers, getting materials, getting wealth, getting property, finding a suitable location for a ritual, etc; Building Stuff could be literally building their magical item, building more followers and empowering them, building up an empire or army, building a temple, etc; Testing Stuff would be where they are resting their goal on a smaller scale, ie raiding villages/towns with part of their army as shows of power, testing their newly-built magic item, sacrificing a lesser entity in preparation for sacrificing a more powerful entity, etc; Achieving Stuff is where they're actually achieving their goal, such as taking over a city or kingdom with their army, successfully using their magic mcguffin, sacrificing a powerful entity, etc.)
Undoing the Threads. Start small and raise the stakes slowly. Let's come up with something on the fly. A local innkeeper's daughter is missing. He's a single dad struggling to run the local tavern and is deeply in debt, so he's in a bad situation. He takes out a small loan from the local baron to pay for someone(s) to find his daughter, who he thinks was kidnapped while out visiting the witch in the woods for an ointment for his going-bad joints. When the PCs begin investigating, they're cornered by some bandits who want to rough them up and keep them from finding the daughter for some reason - but won't fight to the death, using smoke flasks to get away if necessary. The story here is that the witch wanted something from the daughter that the girl could not afford, because she knows her father is in debt, so she's joined up with this rough gang and quickly become their leader through a unique ability: she is a caster, actually a low-level warlock to some unknown being (even if the party is given a name, they've never heard of it). She's using them to bully the witch and other citizens into giving them money so she can afford her father's joint ointment and collect wealth that she wants to use to pay off her father's debts. She won't fight to the death - instead she'll offer to pay the party a meager sum to tell her father she's safe so she can continue what she's doing until she has saved enough money to return to him.
How do we turn this into an Epic Campaign? Let's focus on that mysterious warlock patron.
Let's say the warlock patron is (let's make up a name) Lady Aznaraga. She was sealed away so long ago that almost no one knows her name anymore aside from a few ancient hags and witches and maybe a couple dusty old books leftover in some family's collection. She wants to be revived into the Material Plane. In order to do this, she'll need first to come up with some followers who can then go out and find more followers. Those followers will need power, so she'll have to grant them a fraction of her power in order to impress others so as to gain them to her side. Those followers will need resources - coin, weapons, books, knowledge, a place to gather, etc. Perhaps that local baron has one of those dusty old books in his collection? Perhaps it is he who introduced our innkeeper's daughter to the idea of the patron, maybe through one of his servants masquerading as one of her bullyboys. But she's smart, and she sees what's going on, or perhaps Aznaraga is telling her what's really going on. So she's actually going to use that gang one day (some while after the PCs are gone and have solved the Smaller Issue) to take over the baron's land and money and begin converting the local people to Aznaraga through shows of power and ruthlessness. While out doing something else (that will also eventually tie into the plot somehow), the PCs receiving a sending from that witch, or the baron, asking them to return to that village. By now, however, the girl's influence has spread outside of just the town. Perhaps the witch is even now in on it, being ancient enough to remember Aznaraga and wanting some modicum of power herself that she has lost in her old age.
The trick is that when the players return, you're not giving up the secrets of this warlock patron. It's a "Mysterious Entity" at best. The town has become zealous over a new religion, and they're all wearing an amulet. But what if the party has found someone wearing one of these amulets before? On a previous adventure? Perhaps even one of the PC's backstory NPCs? Beyond that, Aznaraga won't be putting her entire stock in just one girl and one tiny village. She'll be doing this all over the region that she intends to revive into. That region should have some reason she wants to revive into it - magical leylines or sites, a burried magical object, the hiding place of a book of secrets that holds the power to bring her back, etc. Maybe it was once a land ran by an ancient civilization that she was the goddess of? Anything works!
So everywhere the PCs go, they're going to run into some overlapping patterns. They'll start to see the bigger picture. Just when they think they've nipped the bigger picture in the bud, it gets even bigger. The local leaders of all the village churches are meeting in the city for an audience with the bishop or the king, and they're planning something big - but the party can't quite figure out what, because none of the lowerlings have been told any details. A magical artifact is involved. Perhaps the priests plan to relieve a local lord of a magical family heirloom that will aid them in convincing the bishop or king of their plight for finances and soldiers. Perhaps this kingdom is at war with the neighboring kingdom, and the priests of Aznaraga are using the guise of being under attack by enemy soldiers in order to acquire their own forces? Let's go a step further and say that it's even the truth. But that's part of Aznaraga's plan, too. She's sending the countries against each other in order for her own faction to swoop in and intervene and put themselves in a place of power during all this conflict.
Let's say this all plays out, and the priests of Aznaraga - one of them should be a major storyline antagonist, even better if that character relates to PC backstories somehow, or perhaps even is the innkeeper's daughter raised in power over time if allowed to live - manage to get the McGuffin, secure and desecrate an ancient temple to some other opposing deity, and are in the process of resurrecting her. The PCs prepare for the Big Showdown. If they fail, then the evil goddess is brought back into the world.
Now we raise the stakes again.
Why take over these lands? She wants to raize them to the ground and bring back her old civilization that was briefly mentioned above, those who worshipped her. Only her new followers we survive the fallout. And then from there, with her revived undead army of ancient followers, she plants to take over the continent, then the world. What is her motivating factor? Greed for power. And there we mention themes. You should have some central themes that overlap throughout the campaign and repeat themselves, coming up often. Greed and power, though done often, are solid ones that seldom fail.
An important thing to remember is that as her goals grow, her Sentence changes. New conflicts arise and new threads get woven into the pattern. New adventures sprout. But in order to contain it, the PCs need to keep their eyes on the prize: Aznaraga wants to be brought back into the Material Plane but is having trouble doing so because the PCs keep (accidentally) getting in the way of her plans. Eventually she's going to send people to deal with them directly.
All the while, we also want to be weaving in the PCs' backstories into this plan. Say someone has a noble upbringing. They'll be politically inclined towards either of these kingdoms or cities in some way and have major investment in seeing them not destroyed. Maybe a sibling of theirs has become embroiled in the plot, and has risen to priesthood of the evil goddess themselves, and are trying to subtly (through manipulation, underhanded tactics, and sly charisma) influence that PC to join their ranks. With a graceful enough hand and a clever enough mind, that PC might find themselves stuck between their options, potentially in conflict with the party at some points.
Anyway. Hopefully those suggestions, and this got-out-of-control example, helps a little. Best of luck!
Wow. I would want to play in that campaign. Well done!
Only spilt the party if you see something shiny.
Ariendela Sneakerson, Half-elf Rogue (8); Harmony Wolfsbane, Tiefling Bard (10); Agnomally, Gnomish Sorcerer (3); Breeze, Tabaxi Monk (8); Grace, Dragonborn Barbarian (7); DM, Homebrew- The Sequestered Lands/Underwater Explorers; Candlekeep
My goal is a long campaign as well. I have already been playing for about 6 to 7 months, and unfortunately during the first couple of sessions, they were extremely rail-roaded seeing as how I had no clue how to DM. The way how I prep is I have a general layout and plot hooks of the future, (originally I used to plan exactly what the players would do, DO NOT DO THAT, trust me, they will not do exactly what you want them to do, make the plot hooks loose.) For next sessions I lay out what I want to happen, and plan for both sides of the encounters they face, if they win or lose. Just make things loose, because your players are not going to do exactly as YOU planned. This is their story, and you are narrating. I had to learn that the hard way.
But now that I have learned, I think my players really enjoy our campaign together.
A New DM up against the World
BBEGs have goals: big plans that imvolve multiple steps and many minions and will take months or years to complete. You don't tell your players who the BBEG is or what their plan is. But the BBEG will leave clues as they execute their plan, and you as the DM set the players up to come across a clue or two. Then you hope they follow that thread.
As the players figure out what's going on, they might thwart part of the BBEG's plan. But that's okay. He has backup plans. Or you think of how he can adjust his plan on the fly. You play for the BBEG, and basically you're trying to win, but not entirely: only enough to make it a challenge for the players.
Hey guys, thanks for all the tips and advice's that you took your sweet time to write here! It helped me a lot and encouraged me that with some work I can do a bigger campaign, I learned a lot as I had no idea how to weave something that seemed so overwhelming as a 1 or 2 years campaign.