Is there anything in particular you wanted help with? The community here is always full of tips (that usually contradict each other) but it's hard to know where to start without knowing what you're struggling with
Im just kinda struggling with actually making the story
Then don't start one yet. Get some premade adventures, run those. Get more general experience. Understand how those premade adventures are run. While you are running and prepping these, now start crafting the story. Maybe even have it as a "continuation" of your premade ones.
Not that it is required by any means, but the guidance in there is really well laid out compared to the 2014 version, and there is a lot of Lore and Info to help inspire you.
As Character77006 suggested, maybe you could try running a few official D&D One-Shots, like Borderlands Quest: Goblin Trouble, or the intro adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver. These would help you get a feel of how most adventures flow and are laid out, so that you have a better grasp of what you are trying to create.
Don't be afraid to 'borrow' ideas from your favorite media. I once wrote a whole adventure, loosely based around the movie The Goonies, and it was a lot of fun.
You never know when inspiration will hit. I make notes in my notes app if I am out of the house and see something that gives me inspiration for a good idea for things like an antagonist, a great story hook, or even the adventure itself.
Remember that creating an adventure should not be like writing a book with a fixed story path. The DM and the players together create the story off of the backbone of the adventure. Players should feel like they have control of their characters, and have freedom to express their character (again this is covered in the DMG).
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty. Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers; Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas. Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
There's a youtuber named Mystic Arts who is in the middle of a series of videos on how to build a campaign and funnily enough just yesterday he dropped one on how you don't actually need a plot to start a campaign. He suggests a few tips on how to start by having some traditional missions for when the adventurers first arrive in town and then a suggestion on the type of ways to tie those together once you've got the plot worked out.
As others have said above also consider just running a published adventure. If you can't come up with a story just don't, lots of other people have done that for you. I've been DMing for five years and never run my own campaign, I add stuff on, give player focused side quests, and I can continue after a published adventure finishes but creating a story from scratch just isn't something I can do well so I just don't. As Laird suggested Lost Mines is a fantastic story that will give you an adventure from levels 1-5 that also gives you a nice example of how to structure a story that you can then take and you can then use that as a template for your own story as a second or third campaign
Hey I'm new to DMing and i'm writing a campaign and was wondering if anyone had any tips.
Is there anything in particular you wanted help with? The community here is always full of tips (that usually contradict each other) but it's hard to know where to start without knowing what you're struggling with
Im just kinda struggling with actually making the story
Then don't start one yet. Get some premade adventures, run those. Get more general experience. Understand how those premade adventures are run. While you are running and prepping these, now start crafting the story. Maybe even have it as a "continuation" of your premade ones.
Greetings Saggy Shark,
Welcome to the joys of DMing :)
Have you read the 2024 DMG?
Not that it is required by any means, but the guidance in there is really well laid out compared to the 2014 version, and there is a lot of Lore and Info to help inspire you.
As Character77006 suggested, maybe you could try running a few official D&D One-Shots, like Borderlands Quest: Goblin Trouble, or the intro adventure Lost Mines of Phandelver.
These would help you get a feel of how most adventures flow and are laid out, so that you have a better grasp of what you are trying to create.
Don't be afraid to 'borrow' ideas from your favorite media. I once wrote a whole adventure, loosely based around the movie The Goonies, and it was a lot of fun.
You never know when inspiration will hit. I make notes in my notes app if I am out of the house and see something that gives me inspiration for a good idea for things like an antagonist, a great story hook, or even the adventure itself.
Remember that creating an adventure should not be like writing a book with a fixed story path. The DM and the players together create the story off of the backbone of the adventure. Players should feel like they have control of their characters, and have freedom to express their character (again this is covered in the DMG).
Cheers!
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty.
Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers;
Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas.
Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
There's a youtuber named Mystic Arts who is in the middle of a series of videos on how to build a campaign and funnily enough just yesterday he dropped one on how you don't actually need a plot to start a campaign. He suggests a few tips on how to start by having some traditional missions for when the adventurers first arrive in town and then a suggestion on the type of ways to tie those together once you've got the plot worked out.
As others have said above also consider just running a published adventure. If you can't come up with a story just don't, lots of other people have done that for you. I've been DMing for five years and never run my own campaign, I add stuff on, give player focused side quests, and I can continue after a published adventure finishes but creating a story from scratch just isn't something I can do well so I just don't. As Laird suggested Lost Mines is a fantastic story that will give you an adventure from levels 1-5 that also gives you a nice example of how to structure a story that you can then take and you can then use that as a template for your own story as a second or third campaign
I would suggest everything said above.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie;
And with strange aeons even death may die"
-H.P. Lovecraft
This is old but still applies.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-YZvLUXcR8&list=PLlUk42GiU2guNzWBzxn7hs8MaV7ELLCP_
"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