I'm a fairly new DM and I still have a lot to learn. One thing I'm curious about is the relationship between these three things. How would you explain the difference between an encounter, an adventure, and a campaign? How many play sessions would it take you to get through one encounter? One adventure? One campaign?
An encounter is likely to be less than one play session and is just an interaction with something or someone.
Adventure and campaign could be synonymous, perhaps the PCs look at it as an adventure whereas the players look at it as a campaign.
In the instance that you want to look at them as completely different, perhaps the adventure is a shorter series of related encounters and the campaign is a series of related adventures.
I think of an encounter as a scene in a movie. It's the conversation the PCs have with the shopowner, the fight they have with the bad guy's minions in the entry hall of the dungeon, th efight with the dungeon boss. You'll have many, many, many encounters in the course of an adventure or a campaign. An adventure is like a story arc. You'll have many of those in a campaign, but fewer than you will encounters. Your campaign will consist of a single adventure or multiple adventures. During an adventure, characters may only level a couple of times, or more or fewer depending, while over the course of a campaign your PCs may go from level 1 up to level 20. Think of them not as separate things but as pieces of the whole. A campaign could even be comprised of several unconnected adventures, though it may feel smoother and more coherent if they are at least loosely connected.
In my opinion, the glue that holds all these together is conflict. Someone wants something, someone else wants something that conflicts, the two ( or more ) of them act to get what they want, until one of them gets what they want, or they all withdraw from the conflict.
I think of an encounter as a roughly equivalent to a scene in a book, movie, or game - a series of actions, usually in a single location ( counter-example: a chase scene ) where the Characters are in conflict. The Characters need to fight some orcs? Encounter. The Characters wants the King to commit troops to the Northern keep, and he doesn't want to send them? Encounter. One is resolved with violence, and one with diplomancy ( hopefully ) but they are both encounters.
An adventure is a series of encounters, where the goals of the encounters are connected together, and whose outcomes move a larger overarching conflict. The Players need to convince the King to send troops to the northern border, and they need to find defeat the bandits who were hired to prevent them from reaching the King, and they need to rally the townspeople who want to flee, ( 3 encounters ) to bolster the Northern Keep against the imminent invasion of Gnolls ( a 4th encounter), withe the larger "adventure level conflict" being The Gnolls vs. The Northern Keep.
A campaign is a collection of adventures, in which most of the adventures ( if not all ) deal with an even larger conflict. Adventure threads can run in parallel, or be strung together sequentially. Adventures might be chopped up in sections, and run between other complete adventures. Adventures might stand on their own as diversions, or breaks, from the main campaign.
Throw in things like scenes - interactions with NPCs and the world, which don't actually involved opposed conflict ( talking to shop keepers, usually ) , transitions - a section roughly equivalent to a scene in a book, movie, or game where a lot happens, but there is no actual conflict and the DM sort of zips over it ( you spend three weeks on the southern seas making you way to the trade port of G'thar... ), exposition where the DM just describes large complex set ups ( use with caution ), and RP downtime ( or planning sessions ) where the Party Characters are just interacting and talking with each other, and mostly likely others I'm not remembering right now, and you have a game :)
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I think Vedex did a great job of breaking it down. I disagree that conflict is the glue. Your story/narrative is what connects everything together. A collection of related encounters/scenes creates an adventure. A running set of adventures creates a campaign. These are all connected via your overall narrative however.
As a DM you create encounters, they can be combat, puzzles or social encounters (ie talking with the tavern owner to hear local rumours).
You connect a few encounters together via narrative to create an adventure. (ie we escorted a wagon, defeated some brigands, tracked them back to their hideout then defeated them in the lair and that gave us an item..)
Then the campaign is the connection between the set of adventures that you have set up. (ie brigands have run of these lands, but they have been under the influence of a greater devil which the party divines having followed some long stream of adventures :)
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"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
I'm going to explain it in terms of a movie franchise.
Encounter=scene. Adventure=movie (including direct sequels with little to no time skips). Campaign=all movies (spinoffs/sequels) that take place in the same continuity (I.e. MCU).
I think Vedex did a great job of breaking it down. I disagree that conflict is the glue. Your story/narrative is what connects everything together.
First, thank you :)
Secondly, I think we're really saying the same thing :) I agree that a Story is what is told, but I think the motivation for the story to unfold is the central conflict. The adventure is the story of the Characters rescuing the princess, or slaying the dragon, on infiltrating the bad guys, or stealing the idol from the lost temple of .... Stories are about conflict :)
I cannot name a story based novel, movie, or video game, which does not have conflict at the core. Even purely Character based novels which all take place in and around a series of conversations, are about internal Character conflicts that are resolved through the conversation and discussion.
While I can - theoretically - envision a bunch of Players sitting around just talking in Character, and never doing anything which put them in conflict - no Combat, and only the most timid of Social Interactions, and only risk-free Exploration - I think that would be a very odd D&D group - and I wouldn't see it as much of a story, more an acting exercise. It definitely would not be a game ( another form based around conflict ).
And that's what defines the beginning and end of a story's encounters - the introduction and resolution of conflicting motives. Likewise, related conflicts weld encounters into adventures, and adventures into campaigns.
There are parts of stories - which I classify as "scenes" - that aren't based around direct opposed conflict - exposition scenes; transition scenes; and Player in-character downtime scenes such as rests and "planning sessions" - but these are what are used to set up, move between, or control the narrative pacing of, conflict encounters. They aren't the "meat" of the story, and story can't be composed only of these - while you could have a very crude story based solely on a string of encounters.
And even many of what I classify above as scenes - contain Puzzles ( which can be viewed as a contest between the Players and the Puzzle Designer ): the slow witted keeper of the fruit stand isn't trying to be difficult, but he's not that bright, and the Players need to devise a precise set of questions to get the information they want out of him.
In short, my interpretation is that Story is central, but Story = the Narrative which details the results of the Players Actions; Actions are motivated by Goals & Motives; and that in most - if not all - Adventures, Goals & Motives are opposed by others. That's the whole role of the Villain, after all, to oppose the Players and bring about a conflict.
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An encounter I see as any meaningful interaction the players have, or could have. This could be a fight, a trap, talking to an NPC, or even just reading text scribbled onto a wall. As long as it's something that the characters can stop to interact with, I think you can call it an encounter.
An adventure is a goal and how the party goes about fulfilling that goal, along with any obstacles they have in doing so. This can be pretty small (I.E: Going to look around a house, scout out an area, etc.) or pretty big (Think the plot of The Hobbit).
A campaign is either the overarching storyline of the game. I have also frequently seen a campaign used as a colloquialism for a DnD game, so keep that in mind.
An encounter is a scene in which the player characters meet something and interact with it. This could be an NPC, a monster, a trap, or puzzle.
It is possible to have scenes which are not encounters, the characters interacting among the party while seated at a table in a tavern would be an example. Nothing outside the party is being encountered or interacted with.
An adventure is a series of connected scenes and encounters that together make up a single story arc. The Hobbit is an example of an adventure. Star Wars: A New Hope is an adventure, it has a beginning , a middle, and a definite ending.
A campaign is a series of linked adventures. The Star Wars movies are a campaign. There are encounters and adventures that when strung together tell a lager overall story.
Star Trek is also a campaign. The original series a very episodic campaign. Each episode is a self contained adventure, and each adventure has little connection with other adventures in the campaign. The characters and setting are the same, but the events of one adventure do not have much if any effect on the events of future adventures.
So, um, i'm new too. I want to write a campaign, but i'm trying to understand: Are the separate chapters in the adventure books adventures in a campaign, or are you supposed to link multiple books into one campaign?
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thoughts:
most people online are like beholders. everyone has a different opinion, and they think everyone else has an incorrect opinion. they will fight you over it, usually without thinking. try to avoid beholder fights.
Credits for my profile pic go to Micro Bihon, this guy who does a lot of fan art for the band Good Kid (among other stuff). While I'm at it, listen to Good Kid. They make some pretty great music.
So, um, i'm new too. I want to write a campaign, but i'm trying to understand: Are the separate chapters in the adventure books adventures in a campaign, or are you supposed to link multiple books into one campaign?
An adventure book is just that, A book with an adventure
The books are meant to be stand-alone weaved into a homebrew campaign, or played as a whole campaign. If you want though, every book has guidance on how to string it with other books.
So, um, i'm new too. I want to write a campaign, but i'm trying to understand: Are the separate chapters in the adventure books adventures in a campaign, or are you supposed to link multiple books into one campaign?
Most 5th edition 'adventure' books are campaign scale, though you can link them together (for example, start with Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and proceed to Dungeon of the Mad Mage, or Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat)
So, um, i'm new too. I want to write a campaign, but i'm trying to understand: Are the separate chapters in the adventure books adventures in a campaign, or are you supposed to link multiple books into one campaign?
Most 5th edition 'adventure' books are campaign scale, though you can link them together (for example, start with Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and proceed to Dungeon of the Mad Mage, or Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat)
Thank you. I've been trying to figure it out, and you and Zenlos have helped.
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thoughts:
most people online are like beholders. everyone has a different opinion, and they think everyone else has an incorrect opinion. they will fight you over it, usually without thinking. try to avoid beholder fights.
Credits for my profile pic go to Micro Bihon, this guy who does a lot of fan art for the band Good Kid (among other stuff). While I'm at it, listen to Good Kid. They make some pretty great music.
Also, I'm unsubscribing from this forum now so I won't get more notifications. Bye!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
thoughts:
most people online are like beholders. everyone has a different opinion, and they think everyone else has an incorrect opinion. they will fight you over it, usually without thinking. try to avoid beholder fights.
Credits for my profile pic go to Micro Bihon, this guy who does a lot of fan art for the band Good Kid (among other stuff). While I'm at it, listen to Good Kid. They make some pretty great music.
I'd remember it this way: encounter, adventure, campaign --> day, month, year.
Just like how a year is made of a group of months, and a month is made of a group of days, an adventure can be a group of encounters along a particular plot thread, and a campaign is a group of adventures tied together by a larger macro-plot thread.
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I'm a fairly new DM and I still have a lot to learn. One thing I'm curious about is the relationship between these three things. How would you explain the difference between an encounter, an adventure, and a campaign? How many play sessions would it take you to get through one encounter? One adventure? One campaign?
Thanks!
My thoughts:
An encounter is likely to be less than one play session and is just an interaction with something or someone.
Adventure and campaign could be synonymous, perhaps the PCs look at it as an adventure whereas the players look at it as a campaign.
In the instance that you want to look at them as completely different, perhaps the adventure is a shorter series of related encounters and the campaign is a series of related adventures.
I think of an encounter as a scene in a movie. It's the conversation the PCs have with the shopowner, the fight they have with the bad guy's minions in the entry hall of the dungeon, th efight with the dungeon boss. You'll have many, many, many encounters in the course of an adventure or a campaign. An adventure is like a story arc. You'll have many of those in a campaign, but fewer than you will encounters. Your campaign will consist of a single adventure or multiple adventures. During an adventure, characters may only level a couple of times, or more or fewer depending, while over the course of a campaign your PCs may go from level 1 up to level 20. Think of them not as separate things but as pieces of the whole. A campaign could even be comprised of several unconnected adventures, though it may feel smoother and more coherent if they are at least loosely connected.
My Homebrew Backgrounds | Feats | Magic Items | Monsters | Races | Subclasses
In my opinion, the glue that holds all these together is conflict. Someone wants something, someone else wants something that conflicts, the two ( or more ) of them act to get what they want, until one of them gets what they want, or they all withdraw from the conflict.
I think of an encounter as a roughly equivalent to a scene in a book, movie, or game - a series of actions, usually in a single location ( counter-example: a chase scene ) where the Characters are in conflict. The Characters need to fight some orcs? Encounter. The Characters wants the King to commit troops to the Northern keep, and he doesn't want to send them? Encounter. One is resolved with violence, and one with diplomancy ( hopefully ) but they are both encounters.
An adventure is a series of encounters, where the goals of the encounters are connected together, and whose outcomes move a larger overarching conflict. The Players need to convince the King to send troops to the northern border, and they need to find defeat the bandits who were hired to prevent them from reaching the King, and they need to rally the townspeople who want to flee, ( 3 encounters ) to bolster the Northern Keep against the imminent invasion of Gnolls ( a 4th encounter), withe the larger "adventure level conflict" being The Gnolls vs. The Northern Keep.
A campaign is a collection of adventures, in which most of the adventures ( if not all ) deal with an even larger conflict. Adventure threads can run in parallel, or be strung together sequentially. Adventures might be chopped up in sections, and run between other complete adventures. Adventures might stand on their own as diversions, or breaks, from the main campaign.
Throw in things like scenes - interactions with NPCs and the world, which don't actually involved opposed conflict ( talking to shop keepers, usually ) , transitions - a section roughly equivalent to a scene in a book, movie, or game where a lot happens, but there is no actual conflict and the DM sort of zips over it ( you spend three weeks on the southern seas making you way to the trade port of G'thar... ), exposition where the DM just describes large complex set ups ( use with caution ), and RP downtime ( or planning sessions ) where the Party Characters are just interacting and talking with each other, and mostly likely others I'm not remembering right now, and you have a game :)
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.
I think Vedex did a great job of breaking it down. I disagree that conflict is the glue. Your story/narrative is what connects everything together. A collection of related encounters/scenes creates an adventure. A running set of adventures creates a campaign. These are all connected via your overall narrative however.
As a DM you create encounters, they can be combat, puzzles or social encounters (ie talking with the tavern owner to hear local rumours).
You connect a few encounters together via narrative to create an adventure. (ie we escorted a wagon, defeated some brigands, tracked them back to their hideout then defeated them in the lair and that gave us an item..)
Then the campaign is the connection between the set of adventures that you have set up. (ie brigands have run of these lands, but they have been under the influence of a greater devil which the party divines having followed some long stream of adventures :)
"An' things ha' come to a pretty pass, ye ken, if people are going to leave stuff like that aroound where innocent people could accidentally smash the door doon and lever the bars aside and take the big chain off'f the cupboard and pick the lock and drink it!"
I'm going to explain it in terms of a movie franchise.
Encounter=scene. Adventure=movie (including direct sequels with little to no time skips). Campaign=all movies (spinoffs/sequels) that take place in the same continuity (I.e. MCU).
First, thank you :)
Secondly, I think we're really saying the same thing :) I agree that a Story is what is told, but I think the motivation for the story to unfold is the central conflict. The adventure is the story of the Characters rescuing the princess, or slaying the dragon, on infiltrating the bad guys, or stealing the idol from the lost temple of .... Stories are about conflict :)
I cannot name a story based novel, movie, or video game, which does not have conflict at the core. Even purely Character based novels which all take place in and around a series of conversations, are about internal Character conflicts that are resolved through the conversation and discussion.
While I can - theoretically - envision a bunch of Players sitting around just talking in Character, and never doing anything which put them in conflict - no Combat, and only the most timid of Social Interactions, and only risk-free Exploration - I think that would be a very odd D&D group - and I wouldn't see it as much of a story, more an acting exercise. It definitely would not be a game ( another form based around conflict ).
And that's what defines the beginning and end of a story's encounters - the introduction and resolution of conflicting motives. Likewise, related conflicts weld encounters into adventures, and adventures into campaigns.
There are parts of stories - which I classify as "scenes" - that aren't based around direct opposed conflict - exposition scenes; transition scenes; and Player in-character downtime scenes such as rests and "planning sessions" - but these are what are used to set up, move between, or control the narrative pacing of, conflict encounters. They aren't the "meat" of the story, and story can't be composed only of these - while you could have a very crude story based solely on a string of encounters.
And even many of what I classify above as scenes - contain Puzzles ( which can be viewed as a contest between the Players and the Puzzle Designer ): the slow witted keeper of the fruit stand isn't trying to be difficult, but he's not that bright, and the Players need to devise a precise set of questions to get the information they want out of him.
In short, my interpretation is that Story is central, but Story = the Narrative which details the results of the Players Actions; Actions are motivated by Goals & Motives; and that in most - if not all - Adventures, Goals & Motives are opposed by others. That's the whole role of the Villain, after all, to oppose the Players and bring about a conflict.
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.
An encounter I see as any meaningful interaction the players have, or could have. This could be a fight, a trap, talking to an NPC, or even just reading text scribbled onto a wall. As long as it's something that the characters can stop to interact with, I think you can call it an encounter.
An adventure is a goal and how the party goes about fulfilling that goal, along with any obstacles they have in doing so. This can be pretty small (I.E: Going to look around a house, scout out an area, etc.) or pretty big (Think the plot of The Hobbit).
A campaign is either the overarching storyline of the game. I have also frequently seen a campaign used as a colloquialism for a DnD game, so keep that in mind.
An encounter is a scene in which the player characters meet something and interact with it. This could be an NPC, a monster, a trap, or puzzle.
It is possible to have scenes which are not encounters, the characters interacting among the party while seated at a table in a tavern would be an example. Nothing outside the party is being encountered or interacted with.
An adventure is a series of connected scenes and encounters that together make up a single story arc. The Hobbit is an example of an adventure. Star Wars: A New Hope is an adventure, it has a beginning , a middle, and a definite ending.
A campaign is a series of linked adventures. The Star Wars movies are a campaign. There are encounters and adventures that when strung together tell a lager overall story.
Star Trek is also a campaign. The original series a very episodic campaign. Each episode is a self contained adventure, and each adventure has little connection with other adventures in the campaign. The characters and setting are the same, but the events of one adventure do not have much if any effect on the events of future adventures.
So, um, i'm new too. I want to write a campaign, but i'm trying to understand: Are the separate chapters in the adventure books adventures in a campaign, or are you supposed to link multiple books into one campaign?
thoughts:
most people online are like beholders. everyone has a different opinion, and they think everyone else has an incorrect opinion. they will fight you over it, usually without thinking. try to avoid beholder fights.
Credits for my profile pic go to Micro Bihon, this guy who does a lot of fan art for the band Good Kid (among other stuff). While I'm at it, listen to Good Kid. They make some pretty great music.
An adventure book is just that, A book with an adventure
The books are meant to be stand-alone weaved into a homebrew campaign, or played as a whole campaign. If you want though, every book has guidance on how to string it with other books.
My homebrew content: Monsters, subclasses, Magic items, Feats, spells, races, backgrounds
Most 5th edition 'adventure' books are campaign scale, though you can link them together (for example, start with Waterdeep: Dragon Heist and proceed to Dungeon of the Mad Mage, or Hoard of the Dragon Queen/Rise of Tiamat)
Thank you. I've been trying to figure it out, and you and Zenlos have helped.
thoughts:
most people online are like beholders. everyone has a different opinion, and they think everyone else has an incorrect opinion. they will fight you over it, usually without thinking. try to avoid beholder fights.
Credits for my profile pic go to Micro Bihon, this guy who does a lot of fan art for the band Good Kid (among other stuff). While I'm at it, listen to Good Kid. They make some pretty great music.
Also, I'm unsubscribing from this forum now so I won't get more notifications. Bye!
thoughts:
most people online are like beholders. everyone has a different opinion, and they think everyone else has an incorrect opinion. they will fight you over it, usually without thinking. try to avoid beholder fights.
Credits for my profile pic go to Micro Bihon, this guy who does a lot of fan art for the band Good Kid (among other stuff). While I'm at it, listen to Good Kid. They make some pretty great music.
I'd remember it this way: encounter, adventure, campaign --> day, month, year.
Just like how a year is made of a group of months, and a month is made of a group of days, an adventure can be a group of encounters along a particular plot thread, and a campaign is a group of adventures tied together by a larger macro-plot thread.