How to Plot out your next RPG Campaign - For your Consideration - Game Master Tips
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- čas přidán 8. 06. 2024
- We take a look at how to plot out your next campaign, in our 'For your consideration' series, we go in depth into creating, reviewing and taking a look at aspects of role playing that generally may be of a personal preference or style.
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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.
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
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 😂
You sir, are the David Attenborough of roleplaying games! Phenomenal videos overall with great value.
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
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?
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 don't have to be original. (...) It's how you tell it that makes it original."
Can't put into words how much I love you for this, dude, thanks for pointing out the eternal truth
"Plotting a campaign"?! That's what I'm doing right now, plotting! Excellent!!
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.
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.
I've learned more from you in 30min than I have in a year of creative writing classes. thank you.
You always have the best advice at the perfect time. This video has inspired me to move my GMing from pre-generated adventure paths to creating something of my own. Thanks for the confidence boost showing me how Ito do this!
I wish that this video had been made about 18 months ago, I'm deep into a long-term campaign and my Great Old One is about to make his first appearance. The upfront planning that you detail in this video is super helpful! PLEASE KEEP THEM COMING!!!
Excellent video. Thanks!
A few of my friends and I played a campaign based in the video game world of Metro and it was amazing. I miss it.
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!
I find the game system hugely effects how I make campaigns. Example, in DnD I tend to make keypoints that I want to happen (aka Fight a Dragon, Climb a Mountain, Convert a Cultist, etc. . .) I then establish the details of each separately. Then I link them with a common theme (recurring person, ongoing "chase", similar "puzzle" items) and plug in the antagonist's goals.
For Call of Cthlhu, I establish the antagonist's goals first. Next I work out the details of the setting and the timeline as without the investigators. I then work out the antagonist's reactions to disruption at different points in its plan. Last are the background characters and clues.
For Car Wars, I establish the details of the surroundings first as they really help to determine what is present from cycle gangs to police forces to civilian armament. IE, a town with a popular arena will have well armed and skilled civilians while a ruined city has cycle gangs and not much police presence. A town which pumps and refines oil will have a strong police force but somewhat unskilled civilians and "circling" gangs. Once that is set, I use the resulting local forces to produce antagonists and an overarching storyline.
Harlan Kempf people still play car wars? You go, my dude!
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
Guy, thank you for making these videos.
Personally, I like doing a session 0 where we all just hang out and create characters. That way, I get to know each of the characters, the thoughts that went behind them, and we all work together to create a cool backstory to each one. We also think about how they come together or what motivations they would have to work together. This is also how I plan out my first episode. I'm excited to start my campaign tomorrow and see if they actually succeed in accomplishing their intentions we came up with, and how they're going to deal with the curveballs I'm going to throw at them!
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
You've outdone yourself with this one. Where can we see your notes?
Thank u for the great tutorial, i finally stepped back from what i was doing looked back and started from scratch with my campaign plot. Now i have an awesome plot for my first homebrew 👍
I feel the exact same way!
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 CZcams 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 CZcams 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
This is very helpful for me as a new gm. Very important. very informative and useful. One of my favourite videos.
Thanks for this video, just from this video I've added a whole lot of extra PCs for the BBEG my players were fighting. The Ever-Chosen originally had only 4 Lieutenants, all super powerful (compared to the normal human), but it was really just them and some random normal soldiers with zero personality, now he has waaaaaaay more special people. I realized that I didn't have anyone to actually be the "Science" behind one of his big plots. So now we have a large, gun toting man accompanying a mad techpriest biologi (instead of just the gun toting man). After that I realized he didn't have any sort of true army/support system, (How is he jumping around the galaxy? Whose ship is it? etc) so now he has a small army of engineers, specialist soldiers, Navy men, and the Captain of said ship, as well as a Head Engineer.
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!
This has been enormously helpful to me! My friends want an Indiana Jones themed campaign, but listening and writing these plot points alongside you I was able to translate them appropriately with relative ease. Thanks, and I can’t wait for next week!
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 video is seriously so helpful, I realize I've been too focused on the little things and nuances that I can put into place later. This is my first time planning and GM'ing a campaign and I can't thank you enough.
You are a legend dude. Thanks for doing stuff like this. Amazing help
Absolutely fantastic video. Please keep them coming. I just got back into D&D and I’m home brewing everything. These are super helpful. I would really like to see a video on plotting out an adventure.
The basics: what, why, where, who, when! Those dastardly, co-con-spirators! :D Love this method of plotting with boxes.
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!
I’ve spent a few weeks world-building & starting to plot out a campaign, and I’m glad I stumbled on your channel. One critique I have is that this campaign design assumes the PCs will essentially be the defenders of the status quo. There isn’t anything wrong with that, but I’m interested in a campaign where the world is already bad, there’s an evil empire running almost everything, and the PCs want to make things better.
This video still gave me the idea of inverting the structure with a Good Guy or Good Organization that’s gathering resources, building things, testing things, etc. That force for good might be a rebel group that needs to operate in strict secrecy. The PCs won’t be trusted with the master plan to defeat the empire until they’ve substantially helped that plan come to fruition.
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.
20:06 That sound in the video... It's really, really vicious!
I am so endlessly in love with your videos. I have been writing (on and off) and campaign for a few years and finally am getting close to getting the chance to play it with my table. I found your videos super helpful years ago and coming back to them now is even more helpful! Thank you so much for your information, humour, and quality!
This video was great, can't wait for the next one. Looking forward to expanding on the points outlined in this one. Thank you so much for the videos!
For making a campaign I absolutely LOVE your video on 6 GM tools! They help build up a campaign/world SO much!
Thank you so much for making this. I'm in the very early process of designing a campaign for when the new 'Cypher System: Numenera' rulebooks which come out in a few months, and this video has given me the perfect amount of information and inspiration I need to really start designing a campaign after umming and ahhing over basic concepts for a few weeks. Thanks again!
Loved this episode. I watched it whilst writing my next campaign's plot line. Mine runs quite similar, but as you said, one story, many tellings. An excellent frame work!
Thanks! i walked thru this with you. It really did help me significantly. Big fan!
Yes! Thank you for this video. I have been really focused on my campaign setting and knew how I wanted to start the players off in the first session but I've been having trouble thinking of the bigger picture. This helped me plot out my big points in about 20 minutes.
It is insane the moment I need something this man comes out with what I need. Thank you thank you guy. I had this campaign plotted out and then when we were going to start 3 of my 6 players couldn't make it luckily I had just finished watching the one shots episode. they got hooked on the one shoot so I had about two more sessions worth of content that they didn't explore but i wanted a campaign and couldn't find a way to combine it so this whole week i have been struggling with this and then he does this. Found a new way to approach this.
This is extremely helpful for me, and I would love to see you continue this.
that cape! the dice! so good
Another brilliant and insightful video! I keep learning from each one, despite having been both a Player and a GM since 1980-ish.
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!
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!
Incredibly helpful, thank you!
Another masterful video, Guy! Easily one of my new favorites.
Always helpful sir Guy! Even though i have no interest in running a space campaign, the delicious tips of info bestowed are appreciated every time. God bless you!
I went into this video wanting to improve my current story for my Standard 5e world and also looking for ideas for my Sci Fi campaign... I was thinking “well he’ll describe fantasy but generally the ideas should be adaptable” and then he says “science fiction” and I cried
In hindsight I made the big mistake of jumping in sort of a campaign head over heels.
I had nothing more than a vague idea, without any structure.
This leads to all sorts of problems now - logical gaps, pushing the plot to hard, still not really sure what is going on and multiple conflicting ideas how it should evolve...
The funniest thing is, I didn't even realise where this problem stemmed from. Until now.
But... I think not everything is lost. I'll sit down and work out the campaign now.
Or to cite my late great-grandmother: "It's not a shame to know nothing - but to refusing to learn."
So... Thanks for this great advise and keep up your work. You really helped me out here.
there is one thing i hold above anything else when it come to dnd: if the players have freedom, then they will enjoy it. they can do whatever they like, things not even a video game can comprehend. that is why i have come up with "the rule of halves". i will only ever plan the first half of a campaign, and only ever plan the first half of a session.
i will often just describe a location unless there is a combat, in which case i will use an existing map and modify it slightly to fit. although we always have a break half way through the session, i normally do some quick prep then too
This is a great series, please continue more about plotting a campaign.
Thank you for all the videos man. I'm about to move back to my home state and I offered to GM for a couple friends and family members when i get back and your videos have help me a lot in planning everything and ideas to help me give them a better game play
You're a genius and I love it! Going to put this into practice ASAP!
Ah! Excellent timing, I just finished up my campaign and was looking for advice
Awesome video. I'm new to DM'ing, and world generation is my weakness. Your videos make it super simple, and really flesh out the campain. Thank you so much!
Yes please! Go into detail. Thank you for this.
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 was some very helpful advice on how to create a proper plot! Thanks a lot!
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.
I 'm interested in seeing more of this content esp. how this runs into the development of specific villains and adventures
Hey, I have only just stumbled across your channels which I have swiftly fallen in-love with. I love your ability to create such unique and amazing adventures. The way you describe your worlds and characters really reveals your passion and love for the game and role-play elements. I came here hoping to be able to one day gm for my own group of friends though i have little to no knowledge of the game and no one i could call upon as my 'sensie' to teach me the ways of D&D face to face. So your videos have been a godsend.
Not only all this but you yourself seem to be a very learned and interesting individual though i am sure it doesn't just take you to be able to put these videos and role-play videos together I would be very interested to be able to know a bit more about your interests in the written word. From whats behind you though it may be just games and manuals for your numerous games I wonder if you'd ever be able to do a book list? As an avid reader myself i would be very interested if there would be anything you yourself would suggest.
Even if you were unable to do it as a video perhaps maybe adding a few choice titles to your amazon list as it would be great to see what if anything may have inspired your imagination and depth of creativity.
This helped so much to order my ideas, thank you.
A campaign:
A sandbox with some link to the main goal in every episode.
Great video and a great way to plot out campaings. Thanks for the video ... keep 'em coming ::)
Hubby says it sounds like you are building a project plan for the villain :)
Great video, lovely info for the dm. Bit of a long videk but definetly worth the time.
I just went through this process in a couple of brainstorming sessions over the last couple of days, and I eagerly await next week's video. It really helps having a framework to hang ideas on rather than just trying to wrestle the disorganized mess of ideas into a coherent plotline.
One thing I noticed in doing so is that some of the steps needed in the villain's progress don't seem to leave much room for PC involvement. Some leave peripheral options, like BBEG is outfitting an army and thus needs steel, PC's can disrupt the supply of steel somehow, but others I just don't see how I could fit them in without compromising the realism or story far more than I'm willing to accept.
Love your stuff man, keep it up.
Thanks for the vids Guy! I'm currently running a Star Wars game and it helps me making it that much better!
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.
Thank you, this video was very helpful and I feel like I've grown as a DM.
That was awesome. I was thrown at the beginning of a sci-fi theme, but shortly found myself really invested in this story, trying to outguess what the plot elements would be (I had thought that the big bad was going to need his device to be in orbit around on of the players' homeworlds).
I love this video, and the idea of further videos like this.
Brilliant video! This is helping me flush out the middle ground on my new starfinder campaign.
This really has my mind going.
Thanks for the help... this has really been a boon for my deadlands campaign.
This is great work.
Love your videos! Thank you! By the way, Science Fiction (Starfinder) is my primary system. I still play / run High Fantasy (Pathfinder / Starfinder) but I am hoping to transition almost entirely to Starfinder in the next few years.
One way I kept my players interested is one of my 'things'. The first dungeon, a prison meant to keep monsters locked out of the world, holds great treasures, and the town of bradshaw has tasked them with assassinating a particularly nasty Beholder who is attempting to break free.
The players found out that every time they return to the prison, it changes, and it changes for a good purpose; To keep everyone in and lost, since the place is constantly changing, and it turns out all the guards are now enslaved by that nasty beholder, who is trying to figure out the pattern of the random changes, to figure it's way out. This, was just the first dungeon with a very simple and complex task.
Kill the Beholder, however, don't get lost, as the rooms will constantly change position with one exception: The way out is always possible, though it can always be out of your immediate reach if you are not careful!
I'm doing a science-fiction campaign! Sort of. Eldar, Tyranids, Space Marines, and Chaos are all stuck on the same planet, have all staked claim to different territories, and are all trying to survive. RPG with the occasional break for some classic 40K large-scale combat.
I love your videos and your content is tremendously helpful to me (for fantasy, sci-fi, and any/all other genres!)
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
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.
This video is so helpful.
Idea, once way to introduce the big bad is to have the big bad hire the group or an underline of the big bad hire the group. then later have the group find out the plot of what the big bad intends on doing. Nice Video.
Great Channel man.
Great video. This is something that has frustrated me for awhile. I can see how that I'm likely overthinking it.
One of your best videos although most are very good.
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.
Who the fuck are these 50 people that disliked this video?? This is pure gold, people!
I want more of this.
Good and relevant content. Thank you - more like that, please :-)
Thanks for doing Sci-Fi. I am working on a BattleTech campaign, and all the info on creating campaigns use D&D type stuff.