It's hard to write an entire campaign in advance because you don't know what the players are going to do. The game is designed to be more of a collaboration. D&D isn't you telling your players a story. D&D is all of you collectively telling a story. As the DM you're just there to present a setting and maybe a few options, and then the players decide where to go and what to do, and then you respond to that, and then they respond.... and so on.
D&D is improvisational theater. As a DM you'll present a setting, and you'll want to have a bunch of options or possibilities in mind for the theme of the campaign, but most of the meat of the "story" will be created by the players. You'll spend more time reacting to their decisions and their actions than you will spend just telling a story.
I'm sorry if this isn't clear. It's a hard thing to put into words. DM'ing is more of an art than a science. You have to have a good imagination, and you have to have a quick wit to be able to respond to the unexpected (because players will ALWAYS do the unexpected). It's just improvisation.
It's like... have you ever run down a hill really fast? If you run down a steep hill really fast you'll feel in control at first. But there will come a moment where your center of gravity starts to get ahead of you, and you start to feel yourself falling, and there's that moment in time where you're not sure if you're still running or if you're just falling. THAT is what it feels like to DM.
As ANzioFaro says above, the final show is a collaboration. With that said, you can prepare and have things the players should go through in order to reach the final goal of the campaign
One way to do that is to start with what do you want th party to achieve, e.g. kill a red dragon
The you start asking yourself a series of questions. Why should the dragon be killed, what is it doing that is a problem? Why is it doing that? Does it have help? If so, what help. Where does the dragon have it's lair? What's there and what's it like there? How does the party get there? Who else lives around there? What do they want? How might they react to the dragon being slain? etc. In fact the entire story of the Hobbit could be derived from wanting a party to kill a fire breathing ancient dragon and asking this kind of questions
Another way is to do the exact opposite. Instead of start big, start small. Say you want the party to get to know each other by having them participate in a bar room brawl. How does that start? Does the city guard arrive fast or slo or at all? What if someone died? Should the party escape? How could they go about that? Would they be pursued? By whom? etc. A lot of classic westerns could be arrived at in that way
Above all, be prepared to roll with it when the players throw you a curve ball and do something you just haven't thought of. A nimble mind is a DM's best friend
"The kings brother will recruit the party to infiltrate the castle and let him in, and will then assassinate the king. Then he will name the party his champions and they will defend him from assassins, and then he will send them on an epic quest to cement his rule".
This makes a huge amount of assumptions on what the party will do during the game, and will result in you railroading the players because you had a cool thing planned which won't work if they don't do a thing.
Example of what to do:
"The kings brother has been ejected from the kingdom, and seeks revenge on the king. His goals include subterfuge and assassination. If he is successful, then he will want to send a message to show his power. The king knows his brother is still alive, and regrets sending him away, and will consider any offer to find him. The party enters as the brother secretly re-enters the city to plan his attack, and they meet him by chance in a tavern, unaware of his significance. The king has guards searching for his brother."
This givces you motives for the main NPCs (brother and king) and a meeting point for the party, but leaves what the party is going to do entirely in their hands. You've not planned it out, but you know what everyone in the NPC world wants, and so can react accordingly.
How do I write the story for the entirety of the campaign cuz doesn't seem so clear and yes Im new to D&D beyond
It's hard to write an entire campaign in advance because you don't know what the players are going to do. The game is designed to be more of a collaboration. D&D isn't you telling your players a story. D&D is all of you collectively telling a story. As the DM you're just there to present a setting and maybe a few options, and then the players decide where to go and what to do, and then you respond to that, and then they respond.... and so on.
D&D is improvisational theater. As a DM you'll present a setting, and you'll want to have a bunch of options or possibilities in mind for the theme of the campaign, but most of the meat of the "story" will be created by the players. You'll spend more time reacting to their decisions and their actions than you will spend just telling a story.
I'm sorry if this isn't clear. It's a hard thing to put into words. DM'ing is more of an art than a science. You have to have a good imagination, and you have to have a quick wit to be able to respond to the unexpected (because players will ALWAYS do the unexpected). It's just improvisation.
It's like... have you ever run down a hill really fast? If you run down a steep hill really fast you'll feel in control at first. But there will come a moment where your center of gravity starts to get ahead of you, and you start to feel yourself falling, and there's that moment in time where you're not sure if you're still running or if you're just falling. THAT is what it feels like to DM.
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.
As ANzioFaro says above, the final show is a collaboration. With that said, you can prepare and have things the players should go through in order to reach the final goal of the campaign
One way to do that is to start with what do you want th party to achieve, e.g. kill a red dragon
The you start asking yourself a series of questions. Why should the dragon be killed, what is it doing that is a problem? Why is it doing that? Does it have help? If so, what help. Where does the dragon have it's lair? What's there and what's it like there? How does the party get there? Who else lives around there? What do they want? How might they react to the dragon being slain? etc. In fact the entire story of the Hobbit could be derived from wanting a party to kill a fire breathing ancient dragon and asking this kind of questions
Another way is to do the exact opposite. Instead of start big, start small. Say you want the party to get to know each other by having them participate in a bar room brawl. How does that start? Does the city guard arrive fast or slo or at all? What if someone died? Should the party escape? How could they go about that? Would they be pursued? By whom? etc. A lot of classic westerns could be arrived at in that way
Above all, be prepared to roll with it when the players throw you a curve ball and do something you just haven't thought of. A nimble mind is a DM's best friend
Write what has happened, not what will happen.
Example of what not to do:
"The kings brother will recruit the party to infiltrate the castle and let him in, and will then assassinate the king. Then he will name the party his champions and they will defend him from assassins, and then he will send them on an epic quest to cement his rule".
This makes a huge amount of assumptions on what the party will do during the game, and will result in you railroading the players because you had a cool thing planned which won't work if they don't do a thing.
Example of what to do:
"The kings brother has been ejected from the kingdom, and seeks revenge on the king. His goals include subterfuge and assassination. If he is successful, then he will want to send a message to show his power. The king knows his brother is still alive, and regrets sending him away, and will consider any offer to find him. The party enters as the brother secretly re-enters the city to plan his attack, and they meet him by chance in a tavern, unaware of his significance. The king has guards searching for his brother."
This givces you motives for the main NPCs (brother and king) and a meeting point for the party, but leaves what the party is going to do entirely in their hands. You've not planned it out, but you know what everyone in the NPC world wants, and so can react accordingly.
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