His history of villainy is so well and widely known that he literally can’t find anybody willing to take thing a from him, because everyone assumes it’s part of some dastardly plot. Hordes of undead keep carrying artifacts of immense power out to various heroic strongholds, but are being driven back each time, still in possession of the artifact. Really, he’s just had a distant relation’s toddler delivered after said relation’s untimely demise, and he’s desperately trying to child-proof the lair!
Human brains have a really cool quirk we can use to help tie stories together. We do it all the time online with fan theories and conspiracy theories. It really comes down to pattern recognition. If you make a few unrelated stories and they have anything at all in common, grab on to that and extrapolate "what could that mean?". You attacked an orc camp, you saved a maiden from a tower in a graveyard, and you plundered a kobold-infested castle ruin. ... but at each one, you noticed at least one shrine to an unknown deity. Or maybe each one showed signs that another party had recently passed through. Or maybe you saw a goblin flee from each scene just as you arrive. Boom, you've got dozens of possible plots. Why and how are these things connected? What could it mean? It makes no difference that they're all separate and potentially unrelated, as soon as we know there's a pattern, or even suspect there's a pattern, we'll start filling in the blanks on our own and ignoring the bits that don't add up to make it a better pattern that makes more sense to us. Since most theories of this nature work off the assumption that similar things must be related, and often coordinated by some figure or figures in the background, who pull all the strings, you've just developed a big bad, automatically. Or at least, you've convinced your party that there must be some kind of big bad. You can misdirect or pull from their theories as you like, at this point.
Absolutely true. In running a Call of Cthulhu campaign on more than one occasion the player's theories were far more interesting than what I had originally envisioned -- so I switched. Just as long as it stays internally consistent, its a win for all. Oh the horror!
Kind of a fun one I did, I made a campaign with a twist villain. The big bad was being framed for all of hit dastardly deeds by the King who sent the heroes on the quest to thwart his plans in the first place. In the very first session, I had them in a dungeon with writing on the wall in a different language. Curious group as they are, they cast comprehend languages to find that it said "Don't be on the wrong side." Well, they spent several minutes trying to figure out what that meant, and as the campaign went on, they forgot about it. Throughout the campaign though, I kept putting references to that phrase very subtly. Theycame across a gladiator arena and there was an NPC trying to make bets, announcing odds, and saying "don't bet on the wrong side!" Etc. Etc. When they were fighting the framed big baddie, he plead with them to see that he was wronged, and the players weren't having it until he said, "please, don't be on the wrong side!" I'm not gonna say it was genius-level or anything, but it made them start to really question what they were doing. Motif can add quite a bit
Notes for planning: Once you have your big campaign plot, break it down into subplots that affect smaller and smaller areas. At the start of a campaign, characters aren't going to worry about the fate of the world. But they might chase down a horde of kobolds that are attacking a town. Later on, they might be interested in why all these cave-dwelling creatures are attacking surface towns. Is something chasing them out of the underdark? Midgame concerns might have a threat that concerns the entire underdark, or have towns becoming abandoned near mines and caves where the players failed to help. Late game could have players facing against the incursion of the material plane by the far realm, through a rift in the depths of the underdark. If this rift isn't closed, the entire world will be consumed by chaos. Also, it can be worth developing multiple campaign plots. Perhaps the players aren't picking up on the threat in the underdark, despite the hints and hooks you drop. Thankfully you were also dropping hints that a group of dragons was attempting to ascend to godhood, or a cursed druid was trying to return the world to "its natural state". Having multiple plots running simultaneously avoids that immersion-breaking feeling of the DM forcing the plot into the players faces.
I just finished running through this process on one of the campaign threads I've got planned, and I found that as long as your villain is starting from a sufficiently modest base, the "getting stuff" and "building stuff" aspects tend to be suited to lower level parties just by their nature. Acquiring a magical relic to be used in a ritual, for instance, may just happen to be the magical relic fabled to be in this dungeon the party has decided to investigate. Since it's in a relatively low risk area, the villain may send his minor minions to collect it (and possibly be stopped by the party in a level-appropriate battle). Or the villain could have less resources available to him at this stage, which is why he needs a relatively minor relic. (I feel the use of the word artifact would be more appropriate, if not for the fact that DnD has specific meaning for that word that really exaggerates what the word actually means. IRL, a chipped rock is an artifact, if it's found in a stone-age settlement. It's relics that are supposedly imbued with supernatural power. Maybe they wanted to avoid the Catholic associations with that word? I have no idea how the Roman Catholic Church feels about relics now, or how they've felt about them for the last 600 years or so.)
So far as I know, the term in Dungeons and Dragons for 'Magical Item that isn't specifically a weapon' would be 'Wondrous Items', while Artifacts are sentient Magical Items, and I believe that Relics refer to items with a link to a God(and often requires worship of the associated God to make full use of it's special qualities). Of course, this information is based on DnD 3.5, and 'Relics' in that form may not exist in 5th, and I don't believe 4th edition even existed (or it shouldn't have). All in all, I think the best way to describe what you're talking about is a MacGuffin - an object which compels the plot to move forward. And the best part about a MacGuffin is that it doesn't even need to be a magical or important item. It can just be an incredibly valuable necklace, or a vague box that can't be opened - thus compelling people to imagine what's inside and want to know how to open it.
@TheAdarkerglow You're absolutely right that the MacGuffin is the dramatic term I was looking for - I'm still learning the jargon of storytelling, and hadn't learned it at the time. I still feel that using the word artifact as "a super powerful item of exceptional power and mystery" does a disservice to people not familiar with what the word actually means. I remember being the kid who was totally weirded out when I heard an archaeologist matter-of-factly talking about artifacts, having only seen the term previously in the Heroes of Might and Magic games (an old strategy series that uses the term "artifact" for what DnD would call a "magic item" - anything that provides a buff or debuff to the user's performance.)
@rashkavar yeah, it just goes to show how transferable and interchangeable the terms can be. In a group setting, it's mostly just important that everyone has the same operational definition when they discuss item classification, in a group or a conversation really. I've usually just called most things 'Magic Items', and given adjectives to imply the strength or quality of the items in question. I might call something an 'Ancient Artifact' or 'Forgotten Relic', but getting bogged down in what a game thinks those words should imply isn't the matter of importance, it's that people understand the message I'm intent to convey. ('It's not what I said, it's what I meant').
Omg thank you. I'm halfway through a homebrew, and the idea of having one of the PC's having a memory from the past, of something that the big bag needs, is just what I needed.
Just starting my own sci fi campaign. Have only recently found your channel. And with 15 years experience. Ive never been so wrong with GMing. Youre proving so helpful. Thank you guy!
the first two minutes of this video are all storytelling in a nutshell. One of my favorite quotes from when I was still in the film business was Who's involved, what are they chasing, and who else gives a s**t. Perfect opening.
I love all the content you put out, but these “ For your consideration “ videos are my favorite. I really really enjoy your videos where you go into the different philosophies of classes and such. I think they are phenomenal. But your videos where you go through and build campaigns and plots from scratch are the most helpful things I have found so far on TH-cam about RPG gaming. PLEASE CONTINUE THIS! I am about to start running a game as a dungeon master for the first time and there are so many useful videos on TH-cam that help me prepare. I might just be unaware, but I haven’t came across anyone else doing these from scratch breakdowns about how to build campaigns and stories. I particularly loved the one about the kids in the nunnery and the zombies that you made. I hope you see my comment because it would be so great if you keep making videos like this. Nothing helps me more than these from scratch breakdowns. Thanks for all of these awesome videos! You are definitely giving the rpg community life! - someone aspiring to be a great game master
Personally plotting the story for the campaign is my personal favourite part of making one. I love designing locations, characters, villains, monsters, and a theme. The current campaign I'm running with my friends is all about a few different groups of people after the same powerful artefact to gain control over a city, my players only being in a group of themselves and four others, easily the smallest. I made them the smallest group for the simple reason that they'd feel more confident with every larger group they overcome and defeat. There is one main villain, obviously, but he fills the role more of a final obstacle to test everything my players have come across and learnt through the campaign. If they succeed and get the artefact, it is shattered into three pieces in the final conflict, but each piece has just enough power left to still grant amazing abilities, but not enough to outright take over a large location like the one I've made for the campaign. Currently I've planned two main plot beats seeing as this is my first campaign, the first has three main dungeons with items the players need to obtain the artefact, one of which is already in the possession of another group against the players'. The second will have the artefact in play, raising the stakes much higher with the players now trying to get it while it's being used. Obviously there's also side-quests if my players want a break from groups and artefacts, a few of which coming from the other NPC members in their group, I'm hoping that will make my players more attached to them for later purposes in the story. Currently on our fourth session of the campaign and they're up to their second dungeon of the first major plot beat. Hoping all goes well and as planned.
I know im very damn late to this video but i just have to say how helpful this was. Im a new Dm and had no idea wtf i was supposed to do with my story or anything. Thank you very much
A friend and I are in the process of co-writing the plot for a campaign in which we are alternating as GMs. This video was so rich of good tips that we can use. Great video as always!
Yay!! This was very helpful!! I need the next one on how to turn these acts into adventures/ episodes or whatever they are called. I'm a new GM so I have my bad guy wanting something badly, now I've got some shape and pacing with these 4 acts. Now I need details! Your awesome, keep it up!
Those are the best videos really. The one about prepping the adventure of 40K was super interesting as well. I continuously struggle to come up with good ideas and cool stuff for the players to do, so this is great.
This is an excellent video. I am actually preparing to run a Starfinder campaign, so this is perfect assistance for me to be able to get things laid out. My Big Bad is trying to forcibly terraform a planet so his people will be able to colonize it. Now working on my 4 acts, and this plot should allow some good options for action, scientific research stories, and political intrigue as the Big Bad is going to try to skew galactic opinion to allow him to do this. Your videos habe always been a great help to me, as a newer GM. Please keep it up!
Very useful! :D Something I want to highlight, which took me some time to realize becaue I'm the "trying to be too nice" GM who shoots himself in the foot by not having players EARN the cool things that happen through interesting challenges and own effort: FAILING the campaign's challenge isn't the same as ending the game. This isn't a video game, where you get a Game Over scene and then you reload and try to do it again. I think you provided a great example with this plot where players can spot and try to stop a bigger plan and if they don't it allows the villain to move on to the next step. Even if they mess up completely, that is likely not the end of the characters - they'll likely try to escape (maybe even take a few people with them, though that's not the usual player behavior) while the aliens attack. But the point is, the adventure can continue without a hitch. Maybe it's now a setting where the players are wanted and the world adapts and becomes a more militaristic place as they fight back against the aliens. The point is. Even though the players failed the challenge, it is still an interesting experience, and it is neccessary to encourage them to try. And failing a challenge spectacularly, as RPers know, can become an anecdote just as worthy, almost bragging rights- EVERYONE will remember that time we messed up so badly, the entire galaxy was doomed.
This video and all of yours are fantastic! I've just got into Star Wars Edge of the Empire, and Am writing my own campaign, your tips are invaluable, especially when you set it in a sci fi setting! Keep up the good work pal, and thank you very much for all the effort you put into these!
Thx for this great video! I can't believe I hadn't found your book earlier. Just downloaded it and am really looking forward to reading it. The first pages are a blast already. Btw. I'd say your humor also has some Blackadder in it. :-) So great, thx!
Im a noob DM in a warhamer 40k table, is very nice to play this kind of history, but there is a lot of massive battle and i was having a lot o trouble but i saw your video about and help me a LOT thank you
One thing I like to do before getting into (or even really designing) a campaign, is to run a shorter 2-4 session mini-campaign. I've noticed that it takes about that long for players to really settle into their characters and figure out what they want to do with them (I generally allow players to shift their abilities about for a level or two as well). Since they are exploring their characters, I don't want them distracted by the campaign or distracted from it. This also gives me time to learn the characters and their goals better so I can tailor the campaign to them more directly.
Excellent advise...ive always tried to create a plot around the pcs asking the players what they plan to do, what are they looking for, job? Treasure? And go from there without thinking much about the villian. Now ill start with villian and motive.
I have hosted episodic adventures for nearly 4 years, now our group has switched to campaigns. I take inspiration from a lot of games I have played, movies I have seen and so on. For example I like how TES III: Morrowind starts at in Seyda Neen so the players will usually start in a small town with a few things to do and basic services. I like Fallout New Vegas and how there is many different ways you can play and paths to take, factions to join etc. We use the real world as our setting so yes we do have physics, ballistics, medical stuff and realism with our own exceptions for narrative reasons some times you get it. The players can choose whatever faction they want or none at all and make their own. Factions can want land and the destruction of the other ideology or can be non combatant and go around just helping out like FNVs Followers of the Apocalypse, so there is always a wide variety. Players make their own story in the apocalypse or some country in a civil war or whatever the setting may be (apocalypse campaign is being hosted by our groups other GM who is not me and the civil war one has already been planned by me). Our episodic adventures have ranged from being abducted by allies (inspired from FO3 Mothership Zeta), Black Hawk Down, Capturing Stalingrad from the Soviets, Westerns, in December we stop Santa from launching his attack on the world, we have stopped nukes in submarine bases from blowing up the core of the Earth, casino heists, trying to get African blood diamonds and much, much more.
Thank you for this video. I have a tier 4 D&D 5e story I need to plot out. This shows that there are several things I should consider before getting it started.
My Semi-Sci-Fi campaign right now is based around a futuristic alien faction from the future coming back in time to conquer Earth in it's fantasy world infancy. I plan on having the characters salvaging gear from the future at working with futuristic commandos to combat the enemy to keep the timeline damage to a minimum
Great ideas in the video, currently putting together a campaign for a new 40k system called Wrath and Glory. I'm planning it so the first session can be a one shot, but if everyone enjoys it can expand into a full campaign. For the oneshot the PC's will be guardsmen sent to investigate why an astropathic relay has gone quiet, with the planet in the grip of rebellion.
Funny concept, I'm currently in a campaign with my girlfriend DMing, and I'm also DMing another group. We had an interesting idea where both parties exist in the same world, and if they happen to cross paths we will combine the groups for a special quest or event. They'll be perhaps leading towards the same BB but they'll achieve that in different ways. Perhaps one group will be attempting to reach BB via information and espionage, whereas one may then decide to try and push back or inhibit the BB's efforts by destroying/hiding artifacts, killing 'sidekicks' or anyone aiding them, etc. By this point they'll be confiding with each other and sending information but in the beginning they're merely two bands of wandering adventurers who will be seeing recurring NPC's, landmarks, and rumors. Especially rumors about the other band of adventurers that stick to NPCs they interact with as they pass through.
I love your videos Constant inspiration and I aspire to be a game master as skilled as you. I tend towards being a sandbox style GM, DM, or story teller. I often build the environment and major players then let the player characters loose and see what they find out and what they do. The environment and major players react accordingly and or continue on with their agendas. They shape the story and drive it forward. I have the great pleasure of running motivated players who enjoy having their own goals and working to achieve them. Lately I have been running an interesting game. I have run many Vampire the Masquerade games and have at least ten notebooks with hand made cities. My players wanted an evil game so they are all playing Baali and have been running rampant kicking over all the sandcastles I’ve built. It’s been very fun having them run into NPCs and old characters alike and seeing the ingenuity with which they avoid detection and corrupt cities. Very fun game. I want to be a more organized and structured game master while still letting the players have a great deal of freedom and your videos are helping me find that balance. Thank you
I do a mix through. I create a simple meta arch then I I write a few adventures and see what the players get into and how they deal to begin to weave the tapestry.
Yeah I know. I don't know why but it seems easier to me to say irregardless rather than regardless. I also firmly believe that some words should change. Like Coolth should be a word.
We have Warmth so why not Coolth. The Coolth of the evening breeze kept us from sweating that night. There was a coolth to the object, it seemed to radiate cold. I know we have coolness, but we have warmness. So why not coolth? It's not tepid. It's not coldness. It's just below room temperature, enough to perhaps warrant long pants and long sleeves, but nothing more.
The Unsung Saga I had a sci fi campaign that focused around a space ship. The player's had started on a metropolis type space station, and they had heard of a space ship that was found by a collective out in the middle of space and put on auction to planetary leaders. The player's stole the ship. They stumbled across this unique A.I. that came from another dimension and warned them of the future, and the A.I. told them they had been here before. In short the entire campaign was based around a doomsday event that an enemy was coming from another dimension called the "Dark Fall" and their ship was the special ship that could go through the energy fields of the "Dark Fall" and fight back the enemies and change history from stopping the event from the enemies ever coming to begin with. The final battle was also themselves. It was an odd campaign but definitely fun.
Running a Dark Heresy game for some chucklefucks who have never Warhammered before. It's been... interesting. Most of my planning went totally out the window once the big giant spacecop literally mugged some poor sap for beer money in the name of the Inquisition as his very first action in the campaign.
VD913 My first Dark Heresy campaign had the party trying to mug a noble for his clothes instead of... you know... requisitioning clothing from the inquisitor to serve as disguises. The kicker was that he got beat up by the noble and slipped in a puddle of emperor-doesn’t-wanna-know-what, then proceeded to shout at the populace not to laugh at him while screaming that he’s in the inquisition.
I'm working on a campaign based on an album by Unleash the Archers called Apex. A female sorcerer called the Matriarch arrives in a town and with her unmatched magic abilities she takes over the kingdom and now rules it with an iron fist. The story starts sometime later when she is awakening an Immortal being to help her find her four sons and bring them home so that she can sacrifice them and use their blood to make a potion of immortality so that she can rule forever. None of the sons know outright that they are children but when confronted by the Immortal and told they are to go home they somehow know what that means and will fight tooth and nail to not be taken to her. It'll be up to the party (one of which is a son of the Matriarch) to find the other sons and keep them safe from her so that she cannot achieve her goals. The reason she doesn't go to get her children is this potion requires a ritual that must be prepared and focused on for weeks beforehand so she woke the Immortal. If the players kill a son so that she can't get ahold of him she will know and will teleport to their location to fight them knowing that her ritual is useless now.
Please keep up these consideration videos. an odd thought, i'd like to see you break down the Star wars Saga into plots, sessions, and campaign. you make so many references already, it would interesting to see your full break down together. :) This was actually something I was looking into and I am glad we are on the similar threads. I am noticing a lot of connections to developing plots, sessions, and campaign ideas to developing much of fictional stories. The difference of course being the involvement of others to flesh out the in-between. Curious: what are your thoughts on vignettes?
In early 20th century Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp came up with the theory that every fairy tale (and most of other tales is general) boil down to 7 different abstract characters that are involved in 31 different 'functions' (actions, pieces of story) throughout each tale. For every one putting any story together it could be inspirational to check out Wiki for the details of this theory. Here is a quick quote: 'All the characters in tales could be resolved into 7 abstract character functions 1. The villain - an evil character that creates struggles for the hero. 2. The dispatcher - any character who illustrates the need for the hero's quest and sends the hero off. This often overlaps with the princess's father. 3. The helper - a typically magical entity that comes to help the hero in their quest. 4. The princess or prize, and often her father - the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her as a consequence of some evil or injustice, perhaps the work of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, which constitutes the villain's defeat. 5. The donor - a character that prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object, sometimes after testing them. 6. The hero - the character who reacts to the dispatcher and donor characters, thwarts the villain, resolves any lacking or wronghoods and weds the princess. 7. The false hero - a Miles Gloriosus figure who takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess. These roles could sometimes be distributed among various characters, as the hero kills the villain dragon, and the dragon's sisters take on the villainous role of chasing him. Conversely, one character could engage in acts as more than one role, as a father could send his son on the quest and give him a sword, acting as both dispatcher and donor.' en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp
My best friend got me into dnd when I was a first year in high school, and I had the idea of actually making a "space dnd" campaign with the same basic character design mechanics as Dungeons and Dragons but, you know, in space. I planned out very little of the world or plot ahead of each session, only going in with very general ideas, and let the specific plot elements of the story flow with what the players wanted to do or expected. We had six sessions until in our last sessions I made a terrible choice in that I gave the players cosmic importance very quickly for no good reason because I had no other ideas, so we finished it there. A handful of times since I've tried to start a new space campaign with those same friends, each attempt lasting one pretty bad session. Those times, I instead focused too heavily on the macro worldbuilding, and left out the far more important elements of worldbuilding and plot that directly involved the players. I'm trying to make a new space dnd now, and I actually stumbled across your videos while trying to find ways to integrate the big picture ideas I have for the world with the players themselves. Thanks for all your help, you've been a very valuable resource!
I'm confused at the acts part. Are they the 4 actions that the villain needs to do to accomplish? Therefore the number would change if the steps the villain would need to take to achieve their goal. For example the test fire works, but needs to replace some parts for the portal, adds in another act between 3 & 4. Or is it more similar to the 3 act structure in literature, with an added 'you lose' act if the players fail?
It could go any way and is up to the DM. The party could call for help and alert the planetary governor and PDF forces and the call for aid could go further and further out but time is still of the essence and the party will need to delay the BBEG from opening his portal before the fleet could arrive en mass. Yet again, that could be the BBEG's goal is to wait for the main fleet to arrive then annihilate them in one fell stroke! Or the party could be delaying the BBEG and at the same time help restore either some ancient warship or one that had fallen decades earlier in a prior big war and this is the motive behind the BBEG; revenge for his fallen comrades, his destroyed empire or to release them from the pocket dimension that they were forced into.
My very first campaign that I'm planning right now is actually a mix of sci-fi and fantasy because TiMe TrAvEl, it's also like an alternate history campaign where the dark ages are actually more similar to a fantasy world
My new (and first) campaign is about a god named Mors who is trying to bring about the end of days (or in my world, Fine Dierrum) and is having trouble doing so because of universal laws. My plan is for him to violate these laws and corrupt an archmage, who will act as a puppet/undercover agent and have the PC's deliver the artifacts Mors needs to open a portal for him to flood the world with his undead horde straight to his feet and throw in a death knight as a pawn who dies in a mass combat to the PC's, who are then informed that the king is under assault by said archmage (who is now a lich) and he escapes on an airship and tries to summon Mors.
Just found your channel. Starting a campaign soon (lots of Demand and not enough GMs) wish I had time to go through the whole year long campaign creation series but I do not. We will be starting with dawn of words and creating the world basics gms and players together and then a and campaign. Outside of this playlist are there any videos I should watch that would be helpful dawn of worlds will take about 3 sessions over about 3 weeks, so I do have time to hopefully learn. Would love suggestions.
I do actually run my current game in episodic fashion out of necessity because it´s very hard to get everyone's schedule to align this way we can have a game almost every week even if not all the characters can be involved in the session
Im homebrewing my own P&P RPG based on Fallout. Ive been building it from the ground up for the past year, and would like you input on how well im doing making it , and what i can do to improve it.
Got a homebrew system SciFi cyberpunk game going. Players are aboard the SOSS Cerberus and are working for a corporation as bounty hunters. They just succeeded in their mission against the yakuza and have begun to uncover some of the slave trade in wild space. This will end up leading down many many rabbit holes to the main plot of a rogue deity making a pact with a demon to gather souls to become one strong demogod.
Once again a great video! And great timing, since I'm planning a campaign right now. It raised a question however: Do you have any experience with the other way round? I'm talking about the players wanting something badly and having difficulty getting it. Do I need a big bad who want's xyz, or is it enough for this xyz to be 'maintaining the status quo'?
Right now I'm plotting my first Campaign for my friends, Its going to be Star Wars, themed thousand years after Darth Krayt, the force is a fringe fringe thing. Crime lords hold more sway than political parties of systems broken into their own alliances. "Core worlds" is a phrase smarmy rich corporate bastards use to describe their proverbial castles in the sky. The PCs will be a group of outlaws first hired to get a thing from a corporation whose doing a thing that's a twist and ooohhh noooo you all just helped a dick get richer. Ok? He just paid you all loads! This first campaign will be a one shot, designed to set us up for a lager narrative, and even see if the others enjoy it. Maybe our original DM comes back for the traditional plan...Maybe we keep both going. Maybe it's all rubbish. I'm excited either way! Your videos, along with those from Dungeon Dudes are helping me keep sense of my ambitions 😂 thanks lol
... Legitimately, that's fairly close to my current campaign that I'm running: An evil guy is trying to open a rift to allow the entrance of a dark chaos god...
My sci-fi campaign which is also kind of fantasy but still kind of sci-fi has been a blast so far it took place after Wizards discovered a way to create a magical engine that will Peter Pan ships into space Once In Space the players discovered "aliens" who were flying actual science fiction ships like you would expect to see in a Sci-Fi game
hi there i love your channel and its been a massive help. I wonder is there any platform i can pose a campaign idea to you and you could give me your thoughts and feedback? i'd happily become a patron for such support from you and your team. keep up the amazing work.
On a very large asteroid, there is a cannon that, over the course of a dozen years, made over 400 ships crash. Since the asteroid is so uninhabitable, people have made an economy off of whatever comes down in the next crashed ship (food, engines, interior furnishings, people etc) and from that factions have formed. The desperate desires of said factions range from engineers trying to make the best of living there, to the Explorers who are desperately finding a way to shut down the cannon and "Get off this rock!" (there's 9 factions total with cool/interesting ideas such as wanting to control the economy and create a fuel-based monetary system, and subsequently have lots of power, to the very small "Observers" who, like Asimov's "Foundation" group could forsee corruption, act as information brokers for the good of the inhabitants. I can message you if you want more about it (I went into a hefty amount of detail, it being my first campaign and all).
I'm running a sci fi space western campaign with my players where the big bad is a crime family that is trying to take over the water production in the city. One of the things I'm struggling to figure out is what effects will the clandestine operations of the crime boss have on the world, and how can I put the players into a situation where they are able to stop him. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Could you give examples on how you would adjust this planning if instead of there being a big bad that is trying to do something it's instead a big good / big challenge the players have to complete.
The overall concept never changes. The question at its core is this: "X wants Y badly, and is having trouble getting it." X can be anyone Y can be anything Example 1: A good temple wants to remove a bad temple from the lands, and is having difficulty because they don't have a strong enough force to do so. Example 2: A good king wants to marry off his son / daughter and is having difficulty finding a suitable spouse. Example 3: A good sect of Druids wants to teach the nearby hamlet about preserving the lands better, but is having difficulty getting them to understand.
"There's only one story we've ever told. It's how you tell it that makes it original." Said @5:45. Does anyone know if this is a quote from something? I know its referring to the monomyth, but is this a direct quote from someone or possibly an altered quote?
I have a curious question, i got introduced to d&d roughly 2 months ago and in my second game now and have had so much inspiration to be a gm. How long do you think i should be a player before being a gm? I attend a club with a 3 month rotation and will be up soon.
If the villain succeeds in launching the invasion, the heroes could then try to stop the invasion. Then the invading aliens could betray the original villain. The original villain then forms a truce with the heroes, to get revange. The heroes and original villain, then launch a counter-invasion on the aliens. Once the aliens have been defeated, the original villain double-crosses the heroes on the way home. The heroes either capture, kill, or throw overboard the original villain. The heroes then return home, to see the enemy retreating, allies starting reconstruction, and possibly earn metals at a ceremony 1-12 months later: once enough has been rebuilt.
my very first try to make any campain. my very first try on anything. DMS and masters of the knowledge need your help. (i've seen part 1 and part 2) since my friends don't really know how to play i will make a game for them to learn to think by themselves and choose their actions, ask questions and try to solve them by themselves. this is what i came up so far: the story is going to be Fantasy and the size continental i thought about the Theme: "restoring the gods power" and this is the reason: the player Goal is to Restore god's power on the continent to stop the miasma that is killing all life on land HOWEVER the GM Goal is to fool my players to summon a devil that will instead destroy the continent the procedure is where i have doubts. i'm thinking of giving them a "Npc companion" (controlled by me... and this is the part that i don't really like) that is going to help them navigate the world and give them clues. however part of those clues are going to be lies. the first part of the story is making them find some ancient tablets that contain the "will of the " my point is to make them find 2 diferent kinds of tablets one will contain the will of God and the other will contain the will of the void. if they follow me blindlessly they will only find the will of evil, however i'm not that bad of a person, i'll explain them they have total freedom to explore and i'll persuade them to do so telling them that they can make side quests to get better items (and they will not get that good items) the tablets will be codified and they will be easy to find.. the problem is to find the orbs containing the "knowledge of god" that will give them the code to descypher them if they choose to listen me the story is going to be way shorter, they do a few sidequests, save a few cities, destroy "accidentally" one or two cities however if they decide to translate BOTH tablets that will end up in a mini boss battle that will kill the npc and let them continue the god path. if they decide to not listen to me and try to descypher only God's tablet (totally unlikely, but a possibility) i'll just blatanly ask them for destroying thee tables that those tables would summon the evil. if they want to do so will syphoon the story to a miniboss and then complete the god's path what do you think about this?
My villain is a guy who has everything he wants and is having trouble getting rid of it. Take that, status quo!!
So he wants [his stuff gone] and is having trouble getting [that to happen],
nope still fits the format
His history of villainy is so well and widely known that he literally can’t find anybody willing to take thing a from him, because everyone assumes it’s part of some dastardly plot. Hordes of undead keep carrying artifacts of immense power out to various heroic strongholds, but are being driven back each time, still in possession of the artifact.
Really, he’s just had a distant relation’s toddler delivered after said relation’s untimely demise, and he’s desperately trying to child-proof the lair!
@@Vessekx I love this Idea!
Reminds me of a Rick and Morty episode lol
Take my wife, PLEASE!
Actually, that sounds like the plot to Brewster's Millions. :D I love that movie.
You sir, are the David Attenborough of roleplaying games! Phenomenal videos overall with great value.
00:24 "I can't think about thinking" as a DM, every time I am running out of content.
It's also what a player imagines their PC is like when the intelligence is 8 and 9
@@raidedsalt7110 Travis playing Grog in Crit Role 😂
10 minutes in and I’m already furiously typing extra notes into my campaign overview. Thank you, really helpful!
You're like the Uncle Iroh of ttrpgs
Vellan Elessar the question is: is he buff under the false belly?
Human brains have a really cool quirk we can use to help tie stories together. We do it all the time online with fan theories and conspiracy theories. It really comes down to pattern recognition. If you make a few unrelated stories and they have anything at all in common, grab on to that and extrapolate "what could that mean?".
You attacked an orc camp, you saved a maiden from a tower in a graveyard, and you plundered a kobold-infested castle ruin. ... but at each one, you noticed at least one shrine to an unknown deity. Or maybe each one showed signs that another party had recently passed through. Or maybe you saw a goblin flee from each scene just as you arrive. Boom, you've got dozens of possible plots. Why and how are these things connected? What could it mean?
It makes no difference that they're all separate and potentially unrelated, as soon as we know there's a pattern, or even suspect there's a pattern, we'll start filling in the blanks on our own and ignoring the bits that don't add up to make it a better pattern that makes more sense to us. Since most theories of this nature work off the assumption that similar things must be related, and often coordinated by some figure or figures in the background, who pull all the strings, you've just developed a big bad, automatically. Or at least, you've convinced your party that there must be some kind of big bad. You can misdirect or pull from their theories as you like, at this point.
Roflmoo Moo - Downright diabolical. I've written my campaign into a corner, and I think you just found me a way out.
Awesome! If you can fill me in on what happens, I'd love to know!
Absolutely true. In running a Call of Cthulhu campaign on more than one occasion the player's theories were far more interesting than what I had originally envisioned -- so I switched. Just as long as it stays internally consistent, its a win for all. Oh the horror!
Kind of a fun one I did, I made a campaign with a twist villain. The big bad was being framed for all of hit dastardly deeds by the King who sent the heroes on the quest to thwart his plans in the first place. In the very first session, I had them in a dungeon with writing on the wall in a different language. Curious group as they are, they cast comprehend languages to find that it said "Don't be on the wrong side." Well, they spent several minutes trying to figure out what that meant, and as the campaign went on, they forgot about it. Throughout the campaign though, I kept putting references to that phrase very subtly. Theycame across a gladiator arena and there was an NPC trying to make bets, announcing odds, and saying "don't bet on the wrong side!" Etc. Etc.
When they were fighting the framed big baddie, he plead with them to see that he was wronged, and the players weren't having it until he said, "please, don't be on the wrong side!"
I'm not gonna say it was genius-level or anything, but it made them start to really question what they were doing. Motif can add quite a bit
I'm sitting here thinking, I can use literally this exact same outline for cultists trying to summon an eldritch god
As GRRM would say, the only difference between fantasy and sci fi is furniture
BBEG is a museum owner using the guise of gathering artifacts for display to obtain the pieces needed to summon their patron/god
"Plotting a campaign"?! That's what I'm doing right now, plotting! Excellent!!
Notes for planning:
Once you have your big campaign plot, break it down into subplots that affect smaller and smaller areas.
At the start of a campaign, characters aren't going to worry about the fate of the world. But they might chase down a horde of kobolds that are attacking a town.
Later on, they might be interested in why all these cave-dwelling creatures are attacking surface towns. Is something chasing them out of the underdark?
Midgame concerns might have a threat that concerns the entire underdark, or have towns becoming abandoned near mines and caves where the players failed to help.
Late game could have players facing against the incursion of the material plane by the far realm, through a rift in the depths of the underdark. If this rift isn't closed, the entire world will be consumed by chaos.
Also, it can be worth developing multiple campaign plots. Perhaps the players aren't picking up on the threat in the underdark, despite the hints and hooks you drop. Thankfully you were also dropping hints that a group of dragons was attempting to ascend to godhood, or a cursed druid was trying to return the world to "its natural state".
Having multiple plots running simultaneously avoids that immersion-breaking feeling of the DM forcing the plot into the players faces.
I just finished running through this process on one of the campaign threads I've got planned, and I found that as long as your villain is starting from a sufficiently modest base, the "getting stuff" and "building stuff" aspects tend to be suited to lower level parties just by their nature.
Acquiring a magical relic to be used in a ritual, for instance, may just happen to be the magical relic fabled to be in this dungeon the party has decided to investigate. Since it's in a relatively low risk area, the villain may send his minor minions to collect it (and possibly be stopped by the party in a level-appropriate battle). Or the villain could have less resources available to him at this stage, which is why he needs a relatively minor relic.
(I feel the use of the word artifact would be more appropriate, if not for the fact that DnD has specific meaning for that word that really exaggerates what the word actually means. IRL, a chipped rock is an artifact, if it's found in a stone-age settlement. It's relics that are supposedly imbued with supernatural power. Maybe they wanted to avoid the Catholic associations with that word? I have no idea how the Roman Catholic Church feels about relics now, or how they've felt about them for the last 600 years or so.)
when I plan a campaign, I always start from the BBEG. from there it's easier to devise subplots, at least for me
So far as I know, the term in Dungeons and Dragons for 'Magical Item that isn't specifically a weapon' would be 'Wondrous Items', while Artifacts are sentient Magical Items, and I believe that Relics refer to items with a link to a God(and often requires worship of the associated God to make full use of it's special qualities). Of course, this information is based on DnD 3.5, and 'Relics' in that form may not exist in 5th, and I don't believe 4th edition even existed (or it shouldn't have). All in all, I think the best way to describe what you're talking about is a MacGuffin - an object which compels the plot to move forward. And the best part about a MacGuffin is that it doesn't even need to be a magical or important item. It can just be an incredibly valuable necklace, or a vague box that can't be opened - thus compelling people to imagine what's inside and want to know how to open it.
@TheAdarkerglow You're absolutely right that the MacGuffin is the dramatic term I was looking for - I'm still learning the jargon of storytelling, and hadn't learned it at the time.
I still feel that using the word artifact as "a super powerful item of exceptional power and mystery" does a disservice to people not familiar with what the word actually means. I remember being the kid who was totally weirded out when I heard an archaeologist matter-of-factly talking about artifacts, having only seen the term previously in the Heroes of Might and Magic games (an old strategy series that uses the term "artifact" for what DnD would call a "magic item" - anything that provides a buff or debuff to the user's performance.)
@rashkavar yeah, it just goes to show how transferable and interchangeable the terms can be. In a group setting, it's mostly just important that everyone has the same operational definition when they discuss item classification, in a group or a conversation really. I've usually just called most things 'Magic Items', and given adjectives to imply the strength or quality of the items in question. I might call something an 'Ancient Artifact' or 'Forgotten Relic', but getting bogged down in what a game thinks those words should imply isn't the matter of importance, it's that people understand the message I'm intent to convey. ('It's not what I said, it's what I meant').
You've outdone yourself with this one. Where can we see your notes?
I've learned more from you in 30min than I have in a year of creative writing classes. thank you.
Omg thank you. I'm halfway through a homebrew, and the idea of having one of the PC's having a memory from the past, of something that the big bag needs, is just what I needed.
Just starting my own sci fi campaign. Have only recently found your channel. And with 15 years experience. Ive never been so wrong with GMing. Youre proving so helpful. Thank you guy!
the first two minutes of this video are all storytelling in a nutshell. One of my favorite quotes from when I was still in the film business was Who's involved, what are they chasing, and who else gives a s**t. Perfect opening.
I love all the content you put out, but these “ For your consideration “ videos are my favorite. I really really enjoy your videos where you go into the different philosophies of classes and such. I think they are phenomenal. But your videos where you go through and build campaigns and plots from scratch are the most helpful things I have found so far on TH-cam about RPG gaming. PLEASE CONTINUE THIS! I am about to start running a game as a dungeon master for the first time and there are so many useful videos on TH-cam that help me prepare. I might just be unaware, but I haven’t came across anyone else doing these from scratch breakdowns about how to build campaigns and stories. I particularly loved the one about the kids in the nunnery and the zombies that you made. I hope you see my comment because it would be so great if you keep making videos like this. Nothing helps me more than these from scratch breakdowns. Thanks for all of these awesome videos! You are definitely giving the rpg community life! - someone aspiring to be a great game master
Personally plotting the story for the campaign is my personal favourite part of making one. I love designing locations, characters, villains, monsters, and a theme.
The current campaign I'm running with my friends is all about a few different groups of people after the same powerful artefact to gain control over a city, my players only being in a group of themselves and four others, easily the smallest. I made them the smallest group for the simple reason that they'd feel more confident with every larger group they overcome and defeat.
There is one main villain, obviously, but he fills the role more of a final obstacle to test everything my players have come across and learnt through the campaign.
If they succeed and get the artefact, it is shattered into three pieces in the final conflict, but each piece has just enough power left to still grant amazing abilities, but not enough to outright take over a large location like the one I've made for the campaign.
Currently I've planned two main plot beats seeing as this is my first campaign, the first has three main dungeons with items the players need to obtain the artefact, one of which is already in the possession of another group against the players'. The second will have the artefact in play, raising the stakes much higher with the players now trying to get it while it's being used.
Obviously there's also side-quests if my players want a break from groups and artefacts, a few of which coming from the other NPC members in their group, I'm hoping that will make my players more attached to them for later purposes in the story.
Currently on our fourth session of the campaign and they're up to their second dungeon of the first major plot beat. Hoping all goes well and as planned.
So its like lord of the rings but the ring survives
Excellent video. Thanks!
I know im very damn late to this video but i just have to say how helpful this was. Im a new Dm and had no idea wtf i was supposed to do with my story or anything. Thank you very much
A friend and I are in the process of co-writing the plot for a campaign in which we are alternating as GMs. This video was so rich of good tips that we can use. Great video as always!
Guy, thank you for making these videos.
Yay!! This was very helpful!! I need the next one on how to turn these acts into adventures/ episodes or whatever they are called. I'm a new GM so I have my bad guy wanting something badly, now I've got some shape and pacing with these 4 acts. Now I need details! Your awesome, keep it up!
For making a campaign I absolutely LOVE your video on 6 GM tools! They help build up a campaign/world SO much!
Those are the best videos really. The one about prepping the adventure of 40K was super interesting as well. I continuously struggle to come up with good ideas and cool stuff for the players to do, so this is great.
This is an excellent video. I am actually preparing to run a Starfinder campaign, so this is perfect assistance for me to be able to get things laid out.
My Big Bad is trying to forcibly terraform a planet so his people will be able to colonize it. Now working on my 4 acts, and this plot should allow some good options for action, scientific research stories, and political intrigue as the Big Bad is going to try to skew galactic opinion to allow him to do this.
Your videos habe always been a great help to me, as a newer GM. Please keep it up!
The basics: what, why, where, who, when! Those dastardly, co-con-spirators! :D Love this method of plotting with boxes.
Very useful! :D
Something I want to highlight, which took me some time to realize becaue I'm the "trying to be too nice" GM who shoots himself in the foot by not having players EARN the cool things that happen through interesting challenges and own effort:
FAILING the campaign's challenge isn't the same as ending the game. This isn't a video game, where you get a Game Over scene and then you reload and try to do it again. I think you provided a great example with this plot where players can spot and try to stop a bigger plan and if they don't it allows the villain to move on to the next step. Even if they mess up completely, that is likely not the end of the characters - they'll likely try to escape (maybe even take a few people with them, though that's not the usual player behavior) while the aliens attack. But the point is, the adventure can continue without a hitch. Maybe it's now a setting where the players are wanted and the world adapts and becomes a more militaristic place as they fight back against the aliens.
The point is. Even though the players failed the challenge, it is still an interesting experience, and it is neccessary to encourage them to try. And failing a challenge spectacularly, as RPers know, can become an anecdote just as worthy, almost bragging rights- EVERYONE will remember that time we messed up so badly, the entire galaxy was doomed.
This video and all of yours are fantastic! I've just got into Star Wars Edge of the Empire, and Am writing my own campaign, your tips are invaluable, especially when you set it in a sci fi setting! Keep up the good work pal, and thank you very much for all the effort you put into these!
Thx for this great video! I can't believe I hadn't found your book earlier. Just downloaded it and am really looking forward to reading it. The first pages are a blast already. Btw. I'd say your humor also has some Blackadder in it. :-) So great, thx!
This is extremely helpful for me, and I would love to see you continue this.
Im a noob DM in a warhamer 40k table, is very nice to play this kind of history, but there is a lot of massive battle and i was having a lot o trouble but i saw your video about and help me a LOT thank you
One thing I like to do before getting into (or even really designing) a campaign, is to run a shorter 2-4 session mini-campaign. I've noticed that it takes about that long for players to really settle into their characters and figure out what they want to do with them (I generally allow players to shift their abilities about for a level or two as well). Since they are exploring their characters, I don't want them distracted by the campaign or distracted from it. This also gives me time to learn the characters and their goals better so I can tailor the campaign to them more directly.
Excellent advise...ive always tried to create a plot around the pcs asking the players what they plan to do, what are they looking for, job? Treasure? And go from there without thinking much about the villian.
Now ill start with villian and motive.
Another masterful video, Guy! Easily one of my new favorites.
I have hosted episodic adventures for nearly 4 years, now our group has switched to campaigns. I take inspiration from a lot of games I have played, movies I have seen and so on. For example I like how TES III: Morrowind starts at in Seyda Neen so the players will usually start in a small town with a few things to do and basic services. I like Fallout New Vegas and how there is many different ways you can play and paths to take, factions to join etc. We use the real world as our setting so yes we do have physics, ballistics, medical stuff and realism with our own exceptions for narrative reasons some times you get it. The players can choose whatever faction they want or none at all and make their own. Factions can want land and the destruction of the other ideology or can be non combatant and go around just helping out like FNVs Followers of the Apocalypse, so there is always a wide variety. Players make their own story in the apocalypse or some country in a civil war or whatever the setting may be (apocalypse campaign is being hosted by our groups other GM who is not me and the civil war one has already been planned by me).
Our episodic adventures have ranged from being abducted by allies (inspired from FO3 Mothership Zeta), Black Hawk Down, Capturing Stalingrad from the Soviets, Westerns, in December we stop Santa from launching his attack on the world, we have stopped nukes in submarine bases from blowing up the core of the Earth, casino heists, trying to get African blood diamonds and much, much more.
This was some very helpful advice on how to create a proper plot! Thanks a lot!
Hubby says it sounds like you are building a project plan for the villain :)
Ah! Excellent timing, I just finished up my campaign and was looking for advice
You're a genius and I love it! Going to put this into practice ASAP!
Thank you for this video. I have a tier 4 D&D 5e story I need to plot out. This shows that there are several things I should consider before getting it started.
My Semi-Sci-Fi campaign right now is based around a futuristic alien faction from the future coming back in time to conquer Earth in it's fantasy world infancy. I plan on having the characters salvaging gear from the future at working with futuristic commandos to combat the enemy to keep the timeline damage to a minimum
A campaign:
A sandbox with some link to the main goal in every episode.
Great ideas in the video, currently putting together a campaign for a new 40k system called Wrath and Glory. I'm planning it so the first session can be a one shot, but if everyone enjoys it can expand into a full campaign.
For the oneshot the PC's will be guardsmen sent to investigate why an astropathic relay has gone quiet, with the planet in the grip of rebellion.
Funny concept, I'm currently in a campaign with my girlfriend DMing, and I'm also DMing another group. We had an interesting idea where both parties exist in the same world, and if they happen to cross paths we will combine the groups for a special quest or event. They'll be perhaps leading towards the same BB but they'll achieve that in different ways.
Perhaps one group will be attempting to reach BB via information and espionage, whereas one may then decide to try and push back or inhibit the BB's efforts by destroying/hiding artifacts, killing 'sidekicks' or anyone aiding them, etc.
By this point they'll be confiding with each other and sending information but in the beginning they're merely two bands of wandering adventurers who will be seeing recurring NPC's, landmarks, and rumors. Especially rumors about the other band of adventurers that stick to NPCs they interact with as they pass through.
I love your videos
Constant inspiration and I aspire to be a game master as skilled as you.
I tend towards being a sandbox style GM, DM, or story teller. I often build the environment and major players then let the player characters loose and see what they find out and what they do. The environment and major players react accordingly and or continue on with their agendas. They shape the story and drive it forward. I have the great pleasure of running motivated players who enjoy having their own goals and working to achieve them. Lately I have been running an interesting game. I have run many Vampire the Masquerade games and have at least ten notebooks with hand made cities. My players wanted an evil game so they are all playing Baali and have been running rampant kicking over all the sandcastles I’ve built. It’s been very fun having them run into NPCs and old characters alike and seeing the ingenuity with which they avoid detection and corrupt cities. Very fun game.
I want to be a more organized and structured game master while still letting the players have a great deal of freedom and your videos are helping me find that balance.
Thank you
I do a mix through. I create a simple meta arch then I I write a few adventures and see what the players get into and how they deal to begin to weave the tapestry.
This really has my mind going.
Irregardless is not a word
Great stuff
Have an upvote
Yeah I know. I don't know why but it seems easier to me to say irregardless rather than regardless. I also firmly believe that some words should change. Like Coolth should be a word.
Ooh what does coolth mean?
We have Warmth so why not Coolth. The Coolth of the evening breeze kept us from sweating that night. There was a coolth to the object, it seemed to radiate cold. I know we have coolness, but we have warmness. So why not coolth? It's not tepid. It's not coldness. It's just below room temperature, enough to perhaps warrant long pants and long sleeves, but nothing more.
The Unsung Saga
I had a sci fi campaign that focused around a space ship. The player's had started on a metropolis type space station, and they had heard of a space ship that was found by a collective out in the middle of space and put on auction to planetary leaders.
The player's stole the ship. They stumbled across this unique A.I. that came from another dimension and warned them of the future, and the A.I. told them they had been here before. In short the entire campaign was based around a doomsday event that an enemy was coming from another dimension called the "Dark Fall" and their ship was the special ship that could go through the energy fields of the "Dark Fall" and fight back the enemies and change history from stopping the event from the enemies ever coming to begin with.
The final battle was also themselves. It was an odd campaign but definitely fun.
Running a Dark Heresy game for some chucklefucks who have never Warhammered before. It's been... interesting. Most of my planning went totally out the window once the big giant spacecop literally mugged some poor sap for beer money in the name of the Inquisition as his very first action in the campaign.
VD913 My first Dark Heresy campaign had the party trying to mug a noble for his clothes instead of... you know... requisitioning clothing from the inquisitor to serve as disguises. The kicker was that he got beat up by the noble and slipped in a puddle of emperor-doesn’t-wanna-know-what, then proceeded to shout at the populace not to laugh at him while screaming that he’s in the inquisition.
Did you have the sap's family contact the inquisition? :D
I'm working on a campaign based on an album by Unleash the Archers called Apex. A female sorcerer called the Matriarch arrives in a town and with her unmatched magic abilities she takes over the kingdom and now rules it with an iron fist. The story starts sometime later when she is awakening an Immortal being to help her find her four sons and bring them home so that she can sacrifice them and use their blood to make a potion of immortality so that she can rule forever. None of the sons know outright that they are children but when confronted by the Immortal and told they are to go home they somehow know what that means and will fight tooth and nail to not be taken to her. It'll be up to the party (one of which is a son of the Matriarch) to find the other sons and keep them safe from her so that she cannot achieve her goals. The reason she doesn't go to get her children is this potion requires a ritual that must be prepared and focused on for weeks beforehand so she woke the Immortal. If the players kill a son so that she can't get ahold of him she will know and will teleport to their location to fight them knowing that her ritual is useless now.
Thanks for the vids Guy! I'm currently running a Star Wars game and it helps me making it that much better!
Thanks for the help... this has really been a boon for my deadlands campaign.
Please keep up these consideration videos.
an odd thought, i'd like to see you break down the Star wars Saga into plots, sessions, and campaign. you make so many references already, it would interesting to see your full break down together. :)
This was actually something I was looking into and I am glad we are on the similar threads. I am noticing a lot of connections to developing plots, sessions, and campaign ideas to developing much of fictional stories. The difference of course being the involvement of others to flesh out the in-between.
Curious: what are your thoughts on vignettes?
Great video. This is something that has frustrated me for awhile. I can see how that I'm likely overthinking it.
In early 20th century Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp came up with the theory that every fairy tale (and most of other tales is general) boil down to 7 different abstract characters that are involved in 31 different 'functions' (actions, pieces of story) throughout each tale.
For every one putting any story together it could be inspirational to check out Wiki for the details of this theory.
Here is a quick quote:
'All the characters in tales could be resolved into 7 abstract character functions
1. The villain - an evil character that creates struggles for the hero.
2. The dispatcher - any character who illustrates the need for the hero's quest and sends the hero off. This often overlaps with the princess's father.
3. The helper - a typically magical entity that comes to help the hero in their quest.
4. The princess or prize, and often her father - the hero deserves her throughout the story but is unable to marry her as a consequence of some evil or injustice, perhaps the work of the villain. The hero's journey is often ended when he marries the princess, which constitutes the villain's defeat.
5. The donor - a character that prepares the hero or gives the hero some magical object, sometimes after testing them.
6. The hero - the character who reacts to the dispatcher and donor characters, thwarts the villain, resolves any lacking or wronghoods and weds the princess.
7. The false hero - a Miles Gloriosus figure who takes credit for the hero's actions or tries to marry the princess.
These roles could sometimes be distributed among various characters, as the hero kills the villain dragon, and the dragon's sisters take on the villainous role of chasing him. Conversely, one character could engage in acts as more than one role, as a father could send his son on the quest and give him a sword, acting as both dispatcher and donor.'
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vladimir_Propp
Thank you, this video was very helpful and I feel like I've grown as a DM.
My best friend got me into dnd when I was a first year in high school, and I had the idea of actually making a "space dnd" campaign with the same basic character design mechanics as Dungeons and Dragons but, you know, in space. I planned out very little of the world or plot ahead of each session, only going in with very general ideas, and let the specific plot elements of the story flow with what the players wanted to do or expected. We had six sessions until in our last sessions I made a terrible choice in that I gave the players cosmic importance very quickly for no good reason because I had no other ideas, so we finished it there.
A handful of times since I've tried to start a new space campaign with those same friends, each attempt lasting one pretty bad session. Those times, I instead focused too heavily on the macro worldbuilding, and left out the far more important elements of worldbuilding and plot that directly involved the players.
I'm trying to make a new space dnd now, and I actually stumbled across your videos while trying to find ways to integrate the big picture ideas I have for the world with the players themselves. Thanks for all your help, you've been a very valuable resource!
Love your stuff man, keep it up.
One of your best videos although most are very good.
I'm confused at the acts part.
Are they the 4 actions that the villain needs to do to accomplish? Therefore the number would change if the steps the villain would need to take to achieve their goal. For example the test fire works, but needs to replace some parts for the portal, adds in another act between 3 & 4.
Or is it more similar to the 3 act structure in literature, with an added 'you lose' act if the players fail?
It could go any way and is up to the DM. The party could call for help and alert the planetary governor and PDF forces and the call for aid could go further and further out but time is still of the essence and the party will need to delay the BBEG from opening his portal before the fleet could arrive en mass. Yet again, that could be the BBEG's goal is to wait for the main fleet to arrive then annihilate them in one fell stroke! Or the party could be delaying the BBEG and at the same time help restore either some ancient warship or one that had fallen decades earlier in a prior big war and this is the motive behind the BBEG; revenge for his fallen comrades, his destroyed empire or to release them from the pocket dimension that they were forced into.
Great Channel man.
I can't find the random story generator in RPG Table Finder. Has it moved somewhere else?
My very first campaign that I'm planning right now is actually a mix of sci-fi and fantasy because TiMe TrAvEl, it's also like an alternate history campaign where the dark ages are actually more similar to a fantasy world
I want more of this.
My new (and first) campaign is about a god named Mors who is trying to bring about the end of days (or in my world, Fine Dierrum) and is having trouble doing so because of universal laws. My plan is for him to violate these laws and corrupt an archmage, who will act as a puppet/undercover agent and have the PC's deliver the artifacts Mors needs to open a portal for him to flood the world with his undead horde straight to his feet and throw in a death knight as a pawn who dies in a mass combat to the PC's, who are then informed that the king is under assault by said archmage (who is now a lich) and he escapes on an airship and tries to summon Mors.
This video is so helpful.
I always start by making several small story lines. Depending on what they choose and how much my players like the story, i’ll Develop a bigger story.
Just found your channel. Starting a campaign soon (lots of Demand and not enough GMs) wish I had time to go through the whole year long campaign creation series but I do not. We will be starting with dawn of words and creating the world basics gms and players together and then a and campaign. Outside of this playlist are there any videos I should watch that would be helpful dawn of worlds will take about 3 sessions over about 3 weeks, so I do have time to hopefully learn. Would love suggestions.
I do actually run my current game in episodic fashion out of necessity because it´s very hard to get everyone's schedule to align
this way we can have a game almost every week even if not all the characters can be involved in the session
Im homebrewing my own P&P RPG based on Fallout.
Ive been building it from the ground up for the past year, and would like you input on how well im doing making it , and what i can do to improve it.
Got a homebrew system SciFi cyberpunk game going. Players are aboard the SOSS Cerberus and are working for a corporation as bounty hunters. They just succeeded in their mission against the yakuza and have begun to uncover some of the slave trade in wild space. This will end up leading down many many rabbit holes to the main plot of a rogue deity making a pact with a demon to gather souls to become one strong demogod.
Once again a great video! And great timing, since I'm planning a campaign right now. It raised a question however: Do you have any experience with the other way round? I'm talking about the players wanting something badly and having difficulty getting it. Do I need a big bad who want's xyz, or is it enough for this xyz to be 'maintaining the status quo'?
Right now I'm plotting my first Campaign for my friends, Its going to be Star Wars, themed thousand years after Darth Krayt, the force is a fringe fringe thing. Crime lords hold more sway than political parties of systems broken into their own alliances. "Core worlds" is a phrase smarmy rich corporate bastards use to describe their proverbial castles in the sky.
The PCs will be a group of outlaws first hired to get a thing from a corporation whose doing a thing that's a twist and ooohhh noooo you all just helped a dick get richer. Ok? He just paid you all loads!
This first campaign will be a one shot, designed to set us up for a lager narrative, and even see if the others enjoy it. Maybe our original DM comes back for the traditional plan...Maybe we keep both going. Maybe it's all rubbish. I'm excited either way!
Your videos, along with those from Dungeon Dudes are helping me keep sense of my ambitions 😂 thanks lol
... Legitimately, that's fairly close to my current campaign that I'm running: An evil guy is trying to open a rift to allow the entrance of a dark chaos god...
Good and relevant content. Thank you - more like that, please :-)
is it possible that the random story generator tool to whom you are referring is no longer available? i'm not able to find it
Great introverted Intuition.
“Keep it smallish…so same planetary system.” Bruh, I’m struggling to write a campaign for a peninsula. Lol
My sci-fi campaign which is also kind of fantasy but still kind of sci-fi has been a blast so far it took place after Wizards discovered a way to create a magical engine that will Peter Pan ships into space Once In Space the players discovered "aliens" who were flying actual science fiction ships like you would expect to see in a Sci-Fi game
hi there i love your channel and its been a massive help. I wonder is there any platform i can pose a campaign idea to you and you could give me your thoughts and feedback? i'd happily become a patron for such support from you and your team.
keep up the amazing work.
I would me most interested to see how it is you obtained that cloak.
On a very large asteroid, there is a cannon that, over the course of a dozen years, made over 400 ships crash. Since the asteroid is so uninhabitable, people have made an economy off of whatever comes down in the next crashed ship (food, engines, interior furnishings, people etc) and from that factions have formed. The desperate desires of said factions range from engineers trying to make the best of living there, to the Explorers who are desperately finding a way to shut down the cannon and "Get off this rock!" (there's 9 factions total with cool/interesting ideas such as wanting to control the economy and create a fuel-based monetary system, and subsequently have lots of power, to the very small "Observers" who, like Asimov's "Foundation" group could forsee corruption, act as information brokers for the good of the inhabitants. I can message you if you want more about it (I went into a hefty amount of detail, it being my first campaign and all).
I'm running a sci fi space western campaign with my players where the big bad is a crime family that is trying to take over the water production in the city. One of the things I'm struggling to figure out is what effects will the clandestine operations of the crime boss have on the world, and how can I put the players into a situation where they are able to stop him. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
could you put those notes as text on the video as a presentation instead of writing it down on paper where we cannot even see it?
I'm sorry but the glare made it difficult to see, are you sure the pages are blank?
Is the page blank? Feels like the start of a magic trick
cool necklace
With the initial description, I thought of the Buckaroo Banzai movie.
Could you give examples on how you would adjust this planning if instead of there being a big bad that is trying to do something it's instead a big good / big challenge the players have to complete.
The overall concept never changes. The question at its core is this: "X wants Y badly, and is having trouble getting it."
X can be anyone
Y can be anything
Example 1: A good temple wants to remove a bad temple from the lands, and is having difficulty because they don't have a strong enough force to do so.
Example 2: A good king wants to marry off his son / daughter and is having difficulty finding a suitable spouse.
Example 3: A good sect of Druids wants to teach the nearby hamlet about preserving the lands better, but is having difficulty getting them to understand.
"There's only one story we've ever told. It's how you tell it that makes it original." Said @5:45. Does anyone know if this is a quote from something? I know its referring to the monomyth, but is this a direct quote from someone or possibly an altered quote?
Google wasn't too helpful.
This guy is the Alan Watts of D&D
I have a curious question, i got introduced to d&d roughly 2 months ago and in my second game now and have had so much inspiration to be a gm. How long do you think i should be a player before being a gm? I attend a club with a 3 month rotation and will be up soon.
Perhaps you should use a tablet with airdrop sonething, the camera doesn’t pick up your notes very well on paper
I can't find the campaign sentence generator on rpgtablefinder.com. Am I crazy or is it still there?
I am registered at rpgtablefinder. However, I can not find the marvelous plot generator. Woe is me! I must plot for myself.
Thank you.
just wanted to say this
If the villain succeeds in launching the invasion, the heroes could then try to stop the invasion.
Then the invading aliens could betray the original villain.
The original villain then forms a truce with the heroes, to get revange.
The heroes and original villain, then launch a counter-invasion on the aliens.
Once the aliens have been defeated, the original villain double-crosses the heroes on the way home.
The heroes either capture, kill, or throw overboard the original villain.
The heroes then return home, to see the enemy retreating, allies starting reconstruction, and possibly earn metals at a ceremony 1-12 months later: once enough has been rebuilt.
Love the cloak!!!
my very first try to make any campain. my very first try on anything. DMS and masters of the knowledge need your help. (i've seen part 1 and part 2)
since my friends don't really know how to play i will make a game for them to learn to think by themselves and choose their actions, ask questions and try to solve them by themselves.
this is what i came up so far:
the story is going to be Fantasy and the size continental
i thought about the Theme: "restoring the gods power" and this is the reason: the player Goal is to Restore god's power on the continent to stop the miasma that is killing all life on land HOWEVER the GM Goal is to fool my players to summon a devil that will instead destroy the continent
the procedure is where i have doubts. i'm thinking of giving them a "Npc companion" (controlled by me... and this is the part that i don't really like) that is going to help them navigate the world and give them clues. however part of those clues are going to be lies.
the first part of the story is making them find some ancient tablets that contain the "will of the " my point is to make them find 2 diferent kinds of tablets one will contain the will of God and the other will contain the will of the void. if they follow me blindlessly they will only find the will of evil, however i'm not that bad of a person, i'll explain them they have total freedom to explore and i'll persuade them to do so telling them that they can make side quests to get better items (and they will not get that good items)
the tablets will be codified and they will be easy to find.. the problem is to find the orbs containing the "knowledge of god" that will give them the code to descypher them
if they choose to listen me the story is going to be way shorter, they do a few sidequests, save a few cities, destroy "accidentally" one or two cities
however if they decide to translate BOTH tablets that will end up in a mini boss battle that will kill the npc and let them continue the god path.
if they decide to not listen to me and try to descypher only God's tablet (totally unlikely, but a possibility) i'll just blatanly ask them for destroying thee tables that those tables would summon the evil. if they want to do so will syphoon the story to a miniboss and then complete the god's path
what do you think about this?
Thumbs up just because of your drip.✨
Is the next video out? Is there a link to it? I need to know!!!! #mellodramallama
You’re recreating the plot of Enterprise.