What would you do differently if you were mapping out this campaign? Thanks so much to WorldAnvil for sponsoring this video! Visit www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike and use the promo code SUPERGEEK to get 40% off any annual membership! www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike
The kobold family idea doesn't prevent the campaign from still happening. If anything, it adds an even greater impetus to solve some of the player arcs. After all, just because the players want a quiet life raising a kobold village doesn't mean the other groups are willing to let it go at that. Faeora's noble family may be content with it, but the Djinn likely won't be. Between whichever sibling has the other Djinn, and the Wolf Spiders and dragon, she's not off the hook. Sterling's family still wants that blade, so Conrick's still getting regular visitors trying to pry it from his grip, and eventually it will come out that it's Sterling's family doing it. Sir Marcellus Medina still owes that debt, and the Duchess isn't likely to let that go just because he decided to become a kobold farmer. Odd possible twist to Medina's plot: The duchess isn't seeking revenge. She wants her favored knight back, as she is so besotted by him that she still believes he's on the level, or there's a child that may be his and she just want him to come home and be a proper father. He'll be Duke Hayden Ironwill-Trevayne, whether he likes it or not. This is, of course, assuming the player is good with that plot idea. They did specify they didn't want him being a "surprise, you're actually a noble" as part of their write up, so the choice is theirs. Possible twist for Histix is that his "friend" Pringot sold him down the river to the slavers, and has been using magic to disguise himself as Histix, taking his place in the family. Hell, Prongot might have done so, and in Histix's absence, he's taken over as head of the family, leaving that to be solved as the players see fit.
I would have Faeora’s Djinn patron’s brother use the Dragon to burn the cities it attacks so that the evil Djinn can pull them in the elemental plane of fire using some kind of ancient ritual. The reason Faeora’s patron was trapped in the bottle in the Dragons hoard is because his brother trapped him there and then gave the bottle to the Dragon to ensure that he never escaped. The evil Djinn is also manipulating a member of Faeora’s family as you said, but is doing so to convince said family member that Faeora and her patron are the ones trying to do all of these terrible things because, after he learned that his brother’s bottle was taken from the Dragon’s hoard, he had to come up with a backup plan which now involves framing Faeora and his brother for all of his evil deeds, making him seem like the hero who trapped his evil brother in a bottle and gave it to the Dragon to keep it safe, lest the terrible evil within be set free.
I love the idea of Histix having a Frodo-like end to his arc. When he finally returns to the undershire, its the same, but he isn't, and he knows he can never call it home again. The next morning, he chases after his adventuring group and decides to remain with them. At least until he can find a new place to call home.
This video is so formative. I think I'm kind of overwhelmed of how much information I need to absorb, but this trilogy was incredible in different ways. Thanks a lot for them.
Adding in a twist idea: Maybe the dragon sent or even was the collection agent. While he may send force in minions his personal approach is to torment and beat his targets intellectually. Additionally maybe the dragon knew of the threat from the fire plane and caught the genie he thought was behind it. Only he got the wrong one. But in a random twist of luck the genie actually behind it does care about his brother enough that he is delaying his plans and to get him out of the danger this destructive syphoning of the material plane may cause. I feel like the wish offering evil genie could give some interesting temptations as non-combat attacks to both the Tiefling noble player (offering him so much of what he wanted without earning his worth) and the Duchess villain if you want her to be more powerful or to fracture a growing resolution between her and the players.
The implications this would have for the dragon's relationship with the kingdom are actually super interesting. The former king attempted to kill the dragon, yet the dragon attempted to stop an existential threat to the kingdom. What order did those events occur in? What motivated them? What do the kingdom's people know or believe about this dragon in the present day? I can imagine a lot of different ways to spin that scenario, each with unique possibilities for intrigue. Also, this brings up the possibility that Faeora's visions came from a kind of psychic resonance with the dragon's own Dragonsight, or from proximity to whatever divination magic the dragon was using to learn of the danger to the kingdom.
I would love to play this campaign. I would potentially make the kings siblings twins or triplets with enough confusion about who was born first to muddy the succession, or make succession based on a test that every potential heir must take. Have the current king be a usurper because the only heir of his generation that passed the test died in an accident.
Your ability to weave so many disparate plot threads into a campaign fundamentally themed around one concept (in this case, family) is really impressive to see.
I like the concept of “plot point mobility”, essentially how fixed a plot point is to a particular location. The more mobile ones I would think to keep in my back pocket for if you realize that it’s accidentally been awhile since you included someone’s backstory into the plot, such as an NPC from their past visiting the city they’re about to go to/are in. This contrasts with less mobile items, like if you specify there’s a holy city (I.e. Vasselheim) and its temple needs a character’s insight in a problem, or their home town has been getting repeated waves of attacks by monsters, essentially plot points that point the players in a direction. The latter I would think to plan ahead for when in the narrative it would make sense to point them that direction, and have them go that path.
Always to to make it easy on my dm when it comes to giving them stuff to work with from my backstory. First I usually try to sound out what style campaign is is. Are we expected to stay in one general area? Or are we expected to travel and keep traveling until a unspecified goal is met? If so, I will try to arrange my character to be motivated to some degree by that, maybe with multiple plot hooks if possible. I also, of course, sound out the other players on what they are creating for the same reasons, to more easily draw themes or connections between us as a party. For example, I have a character I made who is joining the table for an ongoing campaign. This character should be expected to travel a great deal. For that, several things must be set in place. One, the character must have a strong reason they don’t want to stay where they were. Two, they need to have a reason to be where they join the party. And three, the need a reason to join the party and stay with it. So for one, I designed out a few things. One, their home life is one that leads them to have a great deal of burnout from being the parentified eldest child. Now that all siblings and younger first cousins are adults with their own lives, this leaves my character at loose ends not knowing what to do with themself. So that’s first of the reasons. Now I create more motivation to leave. Next I have animosity built up at home by my character figuring out a scandalous secret of their cousin who is not antagonistic towards them because of it. That tension makes the situation less tenable for them to remain home. And then I add the anger the character developed from an arrogant person they defeated in a public sparring match spreading false rumors about them, saying they cheated. This motivates them to further want to distance themselves. But that isn’t enough, so final push is that I have them make a friend who invites them to join their faction, a faction that lets them explore and travel, but most importantly, get away from the tension at home. And with that, my character can and does leave. But then how to get them to the party? Well that last point I had that motivated them to leave? That faction is why. My character is sent to that location to provide knowledge for the faction and reports. It isn’t a super important mission if something happens but it’s enough that they will be there to join the party. And last, I answer the final question by having a mutual friend between my character and the party go missing and need rescue. They join up and work together to succeed on that. But this then wraps around to the first question’s answer. Remember I said this character was a parentified eldest child? Well, what is a party but a found family who desperately needs some support and stability. My character is built to provide that. It’s something they need to overcome of course, but it’s enough for them to emotionally become attached to the party with some affection that will only grow their desire to look after and protect them and integrate with the party. Of course, then comes in an issue of how to get my character to ever return to their home that they left. Well that’s solved by two things. One, another party member is actually fond of their hometown and it’s the same hometown as my characters. The two have never met before but because this party member would gladly drop by their hometown, my character will indulge despite their own issues with the place. And now the second, more personal reason. That scandal? It’s my character discovering in illegitimate child of their cousin that was being hidden. Child is treated well but is a secret. Only my character and the cousin are aware of the child and my character is fond of the child and loves visiting them, sending them gifts and letters, and just generally unconditionally welcoming them and loving them as a family member, despite the tension with the cousin who is this child’s parent. So to visit this child, my character must return home to do so. And so they will return to that area if the party needs to. But my dm also asked me to provide hooks they can use to get my character to another part of the map that they want the party to travel to. I did this by creating another enemy so to speak, more complicated relationships there that have to do with grief, love, and a one sided feud between them and the grieving sibling of their late love (who is the feuding one). This will get my character over to the map if needed. I also provided a mentor character that can be placed anywhere on the map and a dear friend in a location close to the area of the map which can also draw my character that direction if needed. And that’s just it. I create the ties as needed and in multiple directions. But all are hooks that the dm can introduce as needed and can help with my character’s arc and also can be woven easily into the arc of other players too when they need to go to a location to meet said arc. My character is loose enough that I can find their arc no matter which direction it’s pulled in (as they are supposed to conquer their parentified mentality and past and let themselves be themselves and understand what that means) but also is solid enough that they have a goal that can be played out in an organic way and be something the table can invest in. Anyway, that’s my thoughts and process.
Really loved this trilogy, Mike - I shall be sending parts 1 and 2 to my players and this video was really useful in helping me think about how to incorporate disparate hooks for characters
This is honestly one of your best videos to date. Filled with great knowledge and tips for new and old DMs alike. Glad to see your content is still top quality, Mike.
The "this is an attempt to collect a debt" line shot me right back to working in a debt collection law office. I IMMEDIATELY want to add this into my campaign somewhere it's just too good!
This is one of the best videos I've seen in some time. A party of random characters playing in a published adventure that has nothing to do with them general rings hollow, so I was thinking for my next campaign to go more the Brennan Lee Mulligan route of having players roll characters to fit the story I had in mind. Clearly this can work (D20 is a prime example), but you taking the opposite approach is really something I haven't thought of before. Sure, there are plenty of player driven campaigns, but doing an entire campaign based just on back stories is something I never even considered. This was great.
i think this is my favorite video of yours so far! this is such a clear example of how to start thinking about a campaign tied to the players! i love how these give examples of different levels of subplots at multiple levels and can include a main campaign or can be the main campaign! thank you for all your great tips on this video and all your others!
I had a very different idea for Conrick Heartdancer and I think it sounds really fun - He's a hexblade warlock, and he has a "serious weapons fetish." Perhaps the patron within their sentient weapon is seeking a *partner*. They've existed for millennia and are growing lonely. The warlocks that wield the blade are mortal, temporary, and not really compatible with the entity anyways and they want something else, and it manifests in Conrick as a weapons... "fetish." He is compelled to handle and use every weapon he sees, to study it, to strike with it, because the entity is hoping that every weapon might secretly also be a sentient weapon. This is why Conrick is an arms dealer, why he sometimes makes bad deals just to possess a new weapon. I love this flaw, this nigh irresistible compulsion to beg, borrow, cheat, and steal his way into acquiring new weapons.
Enter the dungeon made a really good video on plot webs that falls under this topic. It’s worth checking out and I’d like to hear your take or see how you’d navigate a similar process.
I feel like in the event the DM really wanted Marcellus's backstory to intertwine with the main plot, you could write in a scenario where the duchess knows about the sword and wants to pawn it off. Also I really appreciate this video because now I have a better idea of how to build the Pokérole campaign that I've been preparing for a long while now. I've been building my region and while the foundation of it is nearly done, you've given me a really good idea to use player backstories to not only create a plot, but to further build the lore of the region.
this little mini series has been sooo helpful, thank you 🙏, im a new dm and i'm running a premade campaign, but i also want to connect all the players to the world and the quest
This has been a fantastic series. I'm loving these characters, interested in the storyline, and I'm getting some fantastic dming, and, frankly, writing advice too.
Instead of making the brothers rivals, I think I would make it to where the wind brother was being carried by a second figure from another story line. The genies brother wants to find him and go home, and wants to make as many mortals suffer as possible for trading the jinn for so long
One option that I'm surprised you didn't suggest: what if the various factions that are hunting our heroes got into conflict with each other? If the dragon has come out to start terrorising the local area, perhaps that disrupts the Duchess' business enough that she commissions some "dragon slayers" to hunt it down. They can't win, of course (no fun in NPCs removing the plot off screen), but it could add to the growing tensions of the area, depending on the knock-on effects. Perhaps Sterling's family turns their eyes towards the dragon's hoard, seeing as it may be useful in their own plans. Or maybe the party try to infiltrate the "dragon slayers" that the Duchess hired, because they think fighting the dragon will be easier if they have a few outfitted NPCs (who are ostensibly trained for this sort of thing) along for the ride.
WIth the Histix story, the reason the Deep Gnome that was banished from his city was kicked out was because Histix family was extorting money from his business, and when he could no longer pay, they had him kicked out. So when he hears that Histix is a Bimblebumble, he gives Histix directions to a completely different part of the continent, possibly to a place where rumors the banished gnome has heard have said there is a rampaging dragon (the one looking for the genie bottle). This significantly prolongs Histix being able to reach his goal, as he will be geographically much further away from his city and increases the risk to Faera and the rest of the party, bringing them into much closer proximity to the dragon that is hunting her.
I’m in the process of creating a new campaign for my group, but none of them are particularly interested in providing backstories for their characters. I would love to be handed a few pages of narrative inspiration to work with like this.
Given that this is highly driven by the back stories of the characters, what would you do if one of the characters dies or leaves before their arc is complete? Pivot completely to an arc based on an incoming character, Retain some beats from the old arc, or try to merge the arcs where possible.
This is my favorite video you've done. I'm gearing up to start introducing backstories in one campaign and have been thinking about how to highlight other characters during another character's backstory in another.
I think the Duchess would be more fun if the fake-ass knight was wooing her (for her money ofc), and she fell for him, and now she's pissed. It could be fun to throw in a romantic subplot - maybe there's some actual love/hate tension between the two? Or, if ever the PC gets close to someone, the Duchess will be super jealous and cockblock him by any means necessary - even kidnapping/attempting to murder her rival?
I think one point to consider, what if the character dies. (And the worst main character is the one with obvious plot armor... Either no one dies or all can die)
My big question for you is how do you handle potential player deaths in a campaign style like this, where you weave so much of the PCs and their backstory into the overarching plot? What if a player expresses they aren't enjoying their character and wants to swap them? I've certainly had games like that where a player wasn't all that attached to their character and either didn't care to get resurrected when they died, or worked with me on a way to write their character out in a satisfying conclusion. Would you handle these plotlines in a setting where resurrection magic works every time vs a setting where it was inconsistent and required lots of jumping through hoops and ladders to work? How much of a backstory would you expect from someone whose new character joins halfway through the campaign, and how much import would you give them? Would they also get a fully fleshed out plotline like this, would you make it a bit more bite sized? I for one always love doing what you're talking about in this video, and I'm curious as to how you'd approach certain issues that I've had come up before. Great content all around, excited to see your channel grow more!
I am a big fan of Warlock patrons who are up to sketchy stuff but not ridiculously over the top evil. Maybe your patron just wants to collect new spells so they have agents scouring the globe looking for intel. If a few librarians get killed or tombs get plundered that’s just the price that needs to be paid, but the patron has no plan to wipe out an entire continent. As a DM I would definitely not give a patron a goal like that without first talking it over with my player, mainly because they might not want to be such a central focus of the campaign that such a plot would inevitably require.
I like Histix's story but.. man am I the only one that feels that measly 14 wisdom, and in general no stat higher than a +2, would make him REALLY hard to play?
a ways tht I would love to connect all the player characters stories together is I would say the dragon lair is actually close to the Gnome underground city maybe even under it near the lava. the half drow knew about the dragon liar location but didnt know about the gnome city. and if they connected the cots sooner and try to go to the city or found the turtle cave they will find it destroyed ... maybe melted because the dragon was mad ! and now the city is ruled under a mad dragon ! the sword might connect 4 elemental armies ... or four elemental genies ! either way now the players if the connect those dots can gain an ally with the fire genie inside the bottle to be more reliable or be excited . (a good way to give a boon to the two warlocks because we know that poor class need a push XD T_T) the teifling story is trickeir . it cann work nicely with the fiend army idea . but in the same time . tiefling are rather common in the city of brass either because devils hang around there more often or what . rather than connecting all stories in the same time player might find it too conveniant . tying two or three stories at a time work nicely too
I am not a big fan of backstory-based design. As a player, it makes me feel trapped by a prewritten narrative and a past I can't get away from, like I'm in a fishbowl. I don't love tagging along on someone else's backstory business either. As a DM I tend to make broadly interesting scenarios with appeal for any adventurer and draw the characters into it whoever they are, rather than make worlds revolve around the PCs personally. Plus, if you do prep a game around a particular player's personal narrative, guess who will miss the next two sessions?
So while I get your point, in most heroic fiction the characters have a personal, backstory reason to be doing what they are doing. It's rarely just "it's my job" or "I'm good, the bad guys are bad, so of course I'll risk my life for this". Star Wars works because Luke's surrogate parents are murdered by the Empire and Vader is his father. Raiders of the Lost Ark has Marion and Belloq. Even a film like Beverley Hills Cop needs Axle Foley's childhood friend to get murdered for his call to action. Not every table will want an adventure based around characters backstories given literally every published adventure does this already, so clearly the market wants this, but for certain players, a campaign designed like this would be a slam dunk.
@@andrewshandle having a backstory reason for becoming a heroic adventurer who says YES to dungeons is a great thing, but it is not the same thing as having the ongoing events of the campaign revolve around that backstory. Consider how goofy of a story The Hobbit would be if Bilbo Baggins, supposedly the one hobbit bold enough to travel on the adventure, kept bumping into other hobbits he knew from the Shire everywhere he went. That's what it's like for me when a DM pulls NPCs from my character's backstory into the action. It doesnt add any immersion because it's such bare contrivance.
@@drsnugglesfan if "keeps bumping into people you know" is the extent you take things, then sure. But Bilbo was from a kids story, if you use LotR backstories mattter much more. Frodo meets people his uncle had impacted, Aragorn's backstory has a massive impact on the story, as does Gandolfs. To counter your point, is Star Wars' original trilogy nearly as good without Luke's and Hans' backstories mattering and impacting the plot? Vader being Luke's dad (spoiler alert) is one of the most memorable moments in all of cinema. But a better case is Han. He takes the original job on Tattooine because he needs the money because Jabba is sending people after him (backstory), this continues in the 2nd movie and is causing a problem for the "party" (backstory again), when they need a place to get repairs/lie low, they go to Bespin because Lando, a character from Hans' backstory is there. The entire start of the third film is resolving Han's story arc by rescuing him from Jabba (from his backstory) and he's promoted to General and now he's all in on the rebellion because of his friends, letting him take the backseat as the DM deals with Luke's backstory. None of Han's character arch is possible without a backstory that the DM inserts into the campaign. As I said, there are hundreds of published adventures that don't tie in background at all, so clearly this isn't required at all, but for some tables, especially those where players find it hard to stay engageed, or if they find themselves asking "why are our characters doing this again?", it might help to have things tied more directly to their character. When the warlord they are battling is also the same warlord who burned down their village, the stakes are raised.
@@andrewshandle my initial point is how backstory-based design traps players in a pre-written narrative. Pointing to all these pre-written characters from pre-written narratives just proves my point, really. I want a story that emerges from the scenarios provided by the DM, decisions of the players, and the random chance of the dice, not some precooked storybook. The more you talk about star wars and character arcs, the more sure I am that i don't want any of that. I don't even think star wars is good storytelling. I will reiterate: it's good to have a backstory that explains how the character got to where they are now. Where they got their skills, their motives for adventuring, how they got involved with the other PCs, all that kind of stuff. The only part I don't really care for is when the DM does all this backstory-based design. It's obvious lots of people enjoy it, and some even demand it, but I am not a fan.
What would you do differently if you were mapping out this campaign?
Thanks so much to WorldAnvil for sponsoring this video! Visit www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike and use the promo code SUPERGEEK to get 40% off any annual membership!
www.worldanvil.com/supergeekmike
The kobold family idea doesn't prevent the campaign from still happening. If anything, it adds an even greater impetus to solve some of the player arcs. After all, just because the players want a quiet life raising a kobold village doesn't mean the other groups are willing to let it go at that.
Faeora's noble family may be content with it, but the Djinn likely won't be. Between whichever sibling has the other Djinn, and the Wolf Spiders and dragon, she's not off the hook.
Sterling's family still wants that blade, so Conrick's still getting regular visitors trying to pry it from his grip, and eventually it will come out that it's Sterling's family doing it.
Sir Marcellus Medina still owes that debt, and the Duchess isn't likely to let that go just because he decided to become a kobold farmer.
Odd possible twist to Medina's plot: The duchess isn't seeking revenge. She wants her favored knight back, as she is so besotted by him that she still believes he's on the level, or there's a child that may be his and she just want him to come home and be a proper father. He'll be Duke Hayden Ironwill-Trevayne, whether he likes it or not. This is, of course, assuming the player is good with that plot idea. They did specify they didn't want him being a "surprise, you're actually a noble" as part of their write up, so the choice is theirs.
Possible twist for Histix is that his "friend" Pringot sold him down the river to the slavers, and has been using magic to disguise himself as Histix, taking his place in the family. Hell, Prongot might have done so, and in Histix's absence, he's taken over as head of the family, leaving that to be solved as the players see fit.
I would have Faeora’s Djinn patron’s brother use the Dragon to burn the cities it attacks so that the evil Djinn can pull them in the elemental plane of fire using some kind of ancient ritual. The reason Faeora’s patron was trapped in the bottle in the Dragons hoard is because his brother trapped him there and then gave the bottle to the Dragon to ensure that he never escaped.
The evil Djinn is also manipulating a member of Faeora’s family as you said, but is doing so to convince said family member that Faeora and her patron are the ones trying to do all of these terrible things because, after he learned that his brother’s bottle was taken from the Dragon’s hoard, he had to come up with a backup plan which now involves framing Faeora and his brother for all of his evil deeds, making him seem like the hero who trapped his evil brother in a bottle and gave it to the Dragon to keep it safe, lest the terrible evil within be set free.
Honestly this party composition sounds kinda neat, I feel like this campaign with these characters would be really fun to play in.
I love the idea of Histix having a Frodo-like end to his arc. When he finally returns to the undershire, its the same, but he isn't, and he knows he can never call it home again. The next morning, he chases after his adventuring group and decides to remain with them. At least until he can find a new place to call home.
this is one of the most helpful "get into DMing" videos I've ever seen, on par with only Mat Coville's "Prep Can Be Literally Easy and Actually Fun"
This video is so formative. I think I'm kind of overwhelmed of how much information I need to absorb, but this trilogy was incredible in different ways. Thanks a lot for them.
Adding in a twist idea: Maybe the dragon sent or even was the collection agent. While he may send force in minions his personal approach is to torment and beat his targets intellectually. Additionally maybe the dragon knew of the threat from the fire plane and caught the genie he thought was behind it. Only he got the wrong one. But in a random twist of luck the genie actually behind it does care about his brother enough that he is delaying his plans and to get him out of the danger this destructive syphoning of the material plane may cause. I feel like the wish offering evil genie could give some interesting temptations as non-combat attacks to both the Tiefling noble player (offering him so much of what he wanted without earning his worth) and the Duchess villain if you want her to be more powerful or to fracture a growing resolution between her and the players.
The implications this would have for the dragon's relationship with the kingdom are actually super interesting. The former king attempted to kill the dragon, yet the dragon attempted to stop an existential threat to the kingdom. What order did those events occur in? What motivated them? What do the kingdom's people know or believe about this dragon in the present day? I can imagine a lot of different ways to spin that scenario, each with unique possibilities for intrigue.
Also, this brings up the possibility that Faeora's visions came from a kind of psychic resonance with the dragon's own Dragonsight, or from proximity to whatever divination magic the dragon was using to learn of the danger to the kingdom.
I would love to play this campaign. I would potentially make the kings siblings twins or triplets with enough confusion about who was born first to muddy the succession, or make succession based on a test that every potential heir must take. Have the current king be a usurper because the only heir of his generation that passed the test died in an accident.
Your ability to weave so many disparate plot threads into a campaign fundamentally themed around one concept (in this case, family) is really impressive to see.
Thank you!
8:06 mike, your deadpan delivery of the star belly sneetches joke sent me screaming. Comedy gold
I’m loving these connected videos, not quite a series but enough through-line to look forward to the next
Mike coming in with the BURN NOTICE reference. I thought me and my mom were like the only people who'd ever heard of that show lol
I like the concept of “plot point mobility”, essentially how fixed a plot point is to a particular location. The more mobile ones I would think to keep in my back pocket for if you realize that it’s accidentally been awhile since you included someone’s backstory into the plot, such as an NPC from their past visiting the city they’re about to go to/are in. This contrasts with less mobile items, like if you specify there’s a holy city (I.e. Vasselheim) and its temple needs a character’s insight in a problem, or their home town has been getting repeated waves of attacks by monsters, essentially plot points that point the players in a direction. The latter I would think to plan ahead for when in the narrative it would make sense to point them that direction, and have them go that path.
Always to to make it easy on my dm when it comes to giving them stuff to work with from my backstory. First I usually try to sound out what style campaign is is. Are we expected to stay in one general area? Or are we expected to travel and keep traveling until a unspecified goal is met? If so, I will try to arrange my character to be motivated to some degree by that, maybe with multiple plot hooks if possible. I also, of course, sound out the other players on what they are creating for the same reasons, to more easily draw themes or connections between us as a party.
For example, I have a character I made who is joining the table for an ongoing campaign. This character should be expected to travel a great deal. For that, several things must be set in place. One, the character must have a strong reason they don’t want to stay where they were. Two, they need to have a reason to be where they join the party. And three, the need a reason to join the party and stay with it. So for one, I designed out a few things. One, their home life is one that leads them to have a great deal of burnout from being the parentified eldest child. Now that all siblings and younger first cousins are adults with their own lives, this leaves my character at loose ends not knowing what to do with themself. So that’s first of the reasons. Now I create more motivation to leave. Next I have animosity built up at home by my character figuring out a scandalous secret of their cousin who is not antagonistic towards them because of it. That tension makes the situation less tenable for them to remain home. And then I add the anger the character developed from an arrogant person they defeated in a public sparring match spreading false rumors about them, saying they cheated. This motivates them to further want to distance themselves. But that isn’t enough, so final push is that I have them make a friend who invites them to join their faction, a faction that lets them explore and travel, but most importantly, get away from the tension at home. And with that, my character can and does leave.
But then how to get them to the party? Well that last point I had that motivated them to leave? That faction is why. My character is sent to that location to provide knowledge for the faction and reports. It isn’t a super important mission if something happens but it’s enough that they will be there to join the party.
And last, I answer the final question by having a mutual friend between my character and the party go missing and need rescue. They join up and work together to succeed on that. But this then wraps around to the first question’s answer. Remember I said this character was a parentified eldest child? Well, what is a party but a found family who desperately needs some support and stability. My character is built to provide that. It’s something they need to overcome of course, but it’s enough for them to emotionally become attached to the party with some affection that will only grow their desire to look after and protect them and integrate with the party.
Of course, then comes in an issue of how to get my character to ever return to their home that they left. Well that’s solved by two things. One, another party member is actually fond of their hometown and it’s the same hometown as my characters. The two have never met before but because this party member would gladly drop by their hometown, my character will indulge despite their own issues with the place. And now the second, more personal reason. That scandal? It’s my character discovering in illegitimate child of their cousin that was being hidden. Child is treated well but is a secret. Only my character and the cousin are aware of the child and my character is fond of the child and loves visiting them, sending them gifts and letters, and just generally unconditionally welcoming them and loving them as a family member, despite the tension with the cousin who is this child’s parent. So to visit this child, my character must return home to do so. And so they will return to that area if the party needs to.
But my dm also asked me to provide hooks they can use to get my character to another part of the map that they want the party to travel to. I did this by creating another enemy so to speak, more complicated relationships there that have to do with grief, love, and a one sided feud between them and the grieving sibling of their late love (who is the feuding one). This will get my character over to the map if needed. I also provided a mentor character that can be placed anywhere on the map and a dear friend in a location close to the area of the map which can also draw my character that direction if needed. And that’s just it. I create the ties as needed and in multiple directions. But all are hooks that the dm can introduce as needed and can help with my character’s arc and also can be woven easily into the arc of other players too when they need to go to a location to meet said arc. My character is loose enough that I can find their arc no matter which direction it’s pulled in (as they are supposed to conquer their parentified mentality and past and let themselves be themselves and understand what that means) but also is solid enough that they have a goal that can be played out in an organic way and be something the table can invest in. Anyway, that’s my thoughts and process.
Really loved this trilogy, Mike - I shall be sending parts 1 and 2 to my players and this video was really useful in helping me think about how to incorporate disparate hooks for characters
This is honestly one of your best videos to date. Filled with great knowledge and tips for new and old DMs alike. Glad to see your content is still top quality, Mike.
The "this is an attempt to collect a debt" line shot me right back to working in a debt collection law office. I IMMEDIATELY want to add this into my campaign somewhere it's just too good!
This is one of the best videos I've seen in some time.
A party of random characters playing in a published adventure that has nothing to do with them general rings hollow, so I was thinking for my next campaign to go more the Brennan Lee Mulligan route of having players roll characters to fit the story I had in mind. Clearly this can work (D20 is a prime example), but you taking the opposite approach is really something I haven't thought of before. Sure, there are plenty of player driven campaigns, but doing an entire campaign based just on back stories is something I never even considered.
This was great.
i think this is my favorite video of yours so far! this is such a clear example of how to start thinking about a campaign tied to the players! i love how these give examples of different levels of subplots at multiple levels and can include a main campaign or can be the main campaign! thank you for all your great tips on this video and all your others!
I had a very different idea for Conrick Heartdancer and I think it sounds really fun - He's a hexblade warlock, and he has a "serious weapons fetish." Perhaps the patron within their sentient weapon is seeking a *partner*. They've existed for millennia and are growing lonely. The warlocks that wield the blade are mortal, temporary, and not really compatible with the entity anyways and they want something else, and it manifests in Conrick as a weapons... "fetish." He is compelled to handle and use every weapon he sees, to study it, to strike with it, because the entity is hoping that every weapon might secretly also be a sentient weapon. This is why Conrick is an arms dealer, why he sometimes makes bad deals just to possess a new weapon. I love this flaw, this nigh irresistible compulsion to beg, borrow, cheat, and steal his way into acquiring new weapons.
Enter the dungeon made a really good video on plot webs that falls under this topic. It’s worth checking out and I’d like to hear your take or see how you’d navigate a similar process.
I wish I had done prep like this for my current campaign.
I feel like in the event the DM really wanted Marcellus's backstory to intertwine with the main plot, you could write in a scenario where the duchess knows about the sword and wants to pawn it off.
Also I really appreciate this video because now I have a better idea of how to build the Pokérole campaign that I've been preparing for a long while now. I've been building my region and while the foundation of it is nearly done, you've given me a really good idea to use player backstories to not only create a plot, but to further build the lore of the region.
this little mini series has been sooo helpful, thank you 🙏, im a new dm and i'm running a premade campaign, but i also want to connect all the players to the world and the quest
This has been a fantastic series. I'm loving these characters, interested in the storyline, and I'm getting some fantastic dming, and, frankly, writing advice too.
I've been doing this for my first campaign and having the story be tailor made is just something else
Instead of making the brothers rivals, I think I would make it to where the wind brother was being carried by a second figure from another story line. The genies brother wants to find him and go home, and wants to make as many mortals suffer as possible for trading the jinn for so long
One option that I'm surprised you didn't suggest: what if the various factions that are hunting our heroes got into conflict with each other? If the dragon has come out to start terrorising the local area, perhaps that disrupts the Duchess' business enough that she commissions some "dragon slayers" to hunt it down. They can't win, of course (no fun in NPCs removing the plot off screen), but it could add to the growing tensions of the area, depending on the knock-on effects.
Perhaps Sterling's family turns their eyes towards the dragon's hoard, seeing as it may be useful in their own plans. Or maybe the party try to infiltrate the "dragon slayers" that the Duchess hired, because they think fighting the dragon will be easier if they have a few outfitted NPCs (who are ostensibly trained for this sort of thing) along for the ride.
WIth the Histix story, the reason the Deep Gnome that was banished from his city was kicked out was because Histix family was extorting money from his business, and when he could no longer pay, they had him kicked out. So when he hears that Histix is a Bimblebumble, he gives Histix directions to a completely different part of the continent, possibly to a place where rumors the banished gnome has heard have said there is a rampaging dragon (the one looking for the genie bottle). This significantly prolongs Histix being able to reach his goal, as he will be geographically much further away from his city and increases the risk to Faera and the rest of the party, bringing them into much closer proximity to the dragon that is hunting her.
I’m in the process of creating a new campaign for my group, but none of them are particularly interested in providing backstories for their characters. I would love to be handed a few pages of narrative inspiration to work with like this.
Given that this is highly driven by the back stories of the characters, what would you do if one of the characters dies or leaves before their arc is complete? Pivot completely to an arc based on an incoming character,
Retain some beats from the old arc, or try to merge the arcs where possible.
Awesome video series, I'm actually kinda sad now that this isn't a real campaign. If this was the summary of an actual play series, I'd be hooked!
Great series, Mike! More ideas for adventures, hooks and NPC´s keep popping into my head! xD
This is my favorite video you've done. I'm gearing up to start introducing backstories in one campaign and have been thinking about how to highlight other characters during another character's backstory in another.
I think the Duchess would be more fun if the fake-ass knight was wooing her (for her money ofc), and she fell for him, and now she's pissed. It could be fun to throw in a romantic subplot - maybe there's some actual love/hate tension between the two? Or, if ever the PC gets close to someone, the Duchess will be super jealous and cockblock him by any means necessary - even kidnapping/attempting to murder her rival?
I just caught up on this trilogy and these must be your best videos. They're so good I just wish we had more, very informative and useful.
Thank you!
Excellent ad pivot :D Great video like always, but the ad pivot made me smile and that's usually pretty hard
I think one point to consider, what if the character dies. (And the worst main character is the one with obvious plot armor... Either no one dies or all can die)
My big question for you is how do you handle potential player deaths in a campaign style like this, where you weave so much of the PCs and their backstory into the overarching plot? What if a player expresses they aren't enjoying their character and wants to swap them? I've certainly had games like that where a player wasn't all that attached to their character and either didn't care to get resurrected when they died, or worked with me on a way to write their character out in a satisfying conclusion. Would you handle these plotlines in a setting where resurrection magic works every time vs a setting where it was inconsistent and required lots of jumping through hoops and ladders to work?
How much of a backstory would you expect from someone whose new character joins halfway through the campaign, and how much import would you give them? Would they also get a fully fleshed out plotline like this, would you make it a bit more bite sized?
I for one always love doing what you're talking about in this video, and I'm curious as to how you'd approach certain issues that I've had come up before. Great content all around, excited to see your channel grow more!
Very good video, I will probably use it as an inspiration for my next campaign
This was an excellent little series!
This is a good channel. This is a fun series. I like Mike.
Talks about Dugrey, shows Sterling. Whoopsies
I am a big fan of Warlock patrons who are up to sketchy stuff but not ridiculously over the top evil. Maybe your patron just wants to collect new spells so they have agents scouring the globe looking for intel. If a few librarians get killed or tombs get plundered that’s just the price that needs to be paid, but the patron has no plan to wipe out an entire continent. As a DM I would definitely not give a patron a goal like that without first talking it over with my player, mainly because they might not want to be such a central focus of the campaign that such a plot would inevitably require.
just checkt...and just subscribed .... XD actualy thought i was but actualy wasnt. keep it up. I love it all !
I like Histix's story but.. man am I the only one that feels that measly 14 wisdom, and in general no stat higher than a +2, would make him REALLY hard to play?
a ways tht I would love to connect all the player characters stories together
is I would say the dragon lair is actually close to the Gnome underground city maybe even under it near the lava. the half drow knew about the dragon liar location but didnt know about the gnome city.
and if they connected the cots sooner and try to go to the city or found the turtle cave they will find it destroyed ... maybe melted because the dragon was mad ! and now the city is ruled under a mad dragon !
the sword might connect 4 elemental armies ... or four elemental genies ! either way now the players if the connect those dots can gain an ally with the fire genie inside the bottle to be more reliable or be excited . (a good way to give a boon to the two warlocks because we know that poor class need a push XD T_T)
the teifling story is trickeir . it cann work nicely with the fiend army idea . but in the same time . tiefling are rather common in the city of brass either because devils hang around there more often or what .
rather than connecting all stories in the same time player might find it too conveniant . tying two or three stories at a time work nicely too
Keep up the great work 👍😘
Lionel could also got the duchess pregnant
And that’s why she want Lionel back alive
I am not a big fan of backstory-based design. As a player, it makes me feel trapped by a prewritten narrative and a past I can't get away from, like I'm in a fishbowl. I don't love tagging along on someone else's backstory business either. As a DM I tend to make broadly interesting scenarios with appeal for any adventurer and draw the characters into it whoever they are, rather than make worlds revolve around the PCs personally.
Plus, if you do prep a game around a particular player's personal narrative, guess who will miss the next two sessions?
Yup. I build my world independent of any player or character. Much more immersive.
So while I get your point, in most heroic fiction the characters have a personal, backstory reason to be doing what they are doing. It's rarely just "it's my job" or "I'm good, the bad guys are bad, so of course I'll risk my life for this".
Star Wars works because Luke's surrogate parents are murdered by the Empire and Vader is his father. Raiders of the Lost Ark has Marion and Belloq. Even a film like Beverley Hills Cop needs Axle Foley's childhood friend to get murdered for his call to action.
Not every table will want an adventure based around characters backstories given literally every published adventure does this already, so clearly the market wants this, but for certain players, a campaign designed like this would be a slam dunk.
@@andrewshandle having a backstory reason for becoming a heroic adventurer who says YES to dungeons is a great thing, but it is not the same thing as having the ongoing events of the campaign revolve around that backstory.
Consider how goofy of a story The Hobbit would be if Bilbo Baggins, supposedly the one hobbit bold enough to travel on the adventure, kept bumping into other hobbits he knew from the Shire everywhere he went. That's what it's like for me when a DM pulls NPCs from my character's backstory into the action. It doesnt add any immersion because it's such bare contrivance.
@@drsnugglesfan if "keeps bumping into people you know" is the extent you take things, then sure. But Bilbo was from a kids story, if you use LotR backstories mattter much more. Frodo meets people his uncle had impacted, Aragorn's backstory has a massive impact on the story, as does Gandolfs.
To counter your point, is Star Wars' original trilogy nearly as good without Luke's and Hans' backstories mattering and impacting the plot? Vader being Luke's dad (spoiler alert) is one of the most memorable moments in all of cinema.
But a better case is Han. He takes the original job on Tattooine because he needs the money because Jabba is sending people after him (backstory), this continues in the 2nd movie and is causing a problem for the "party" (backstory again), when they need a place to get repairs/lie low, they go to Bespin because Lando, a character from Hans' backstory is there. The entire start of the third film is resolving Han's story arc by rescuing him from Jabba (from his backstory) and he's promoted to General and now he's all in on the rebellion because of his friends, letting him take the backseat as the DM deals with Luke's backstory.
None of Han's character arch is possible without a backstory that the DM inserts into the campaign.
As I said, there are hundreds of published adventures that don't tie in background at all, so clearly this isn't required at all, but for some tables, especially those where players find it hard to stay engageed, or if they find themselves asking "why are our characters doing this again?", it might help to have things tied more directly to their character. When the warlord they are battling is also the same warlord who burned down their village, the stakes are raised.
@@andrewshandle my initial point is how backstory-based design traps players in a pre-written narrative. Pointing to all these pre-written characters from pre-written narratives just proves my point, really. I want a story that emerges from the scenarios provided by the DM, decisions of the players, and the random chance of the dice, not some precooked storybook. The more you talk about star wars and character arcs, the more sure I am that i don't want any of that. I don't even think star wars is good storytelling.
I will reiterate: it's good to have a backstory that explains how the character got to where they are now. Where they got their skills, their motives for adventuring, how they got involved with the other PCs, all that kind of stuff. The only part I don't really care for is when the DM does all this backstory-based design. It's obvious lots of people enjoy it, and some even demand it, but I am not a fan.