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genderlich
2016-08-19, 04:37 PM
I've written and run three campaigns, and each time, my prep goes basically like this once I have a concept for a plot: think of and write down some major story or environmental beats I want to hit (a certain scene, dungeon, etc.), and then basically go in chronological order writing down the broad swaths of what I plan/expect to happen. The plus of this is that it gives me a lot of room to adapt to PC action; the downside is that not a lot actually gets prepped, leaving me to do a lot of improvising and leaving the plot in very vague notions most of the time. I often stop making notes entirely about halfway through the campaign and just start improvising everything based on what I know is going on. I'm good at improvising, but it always feels like it leaves my games lacking, so I want to do something different next time. What is your process for preparing your campaigns at step 1 (assuming you have a basic idea of the plot and know the campaign world already)? Be specific - what exactly you write down, in what format, with what other information, how much, etc. Not applicable to "sandbox" games obviously.

MrStabby
2016-08-19, 05:18 PM
I kind of tend to start from both ends. And the middle. Then try and tie it all together.

So the three starting points:

1) Factions/groups/major world characters that I think are fun and interesting

2) An agenda for at least one of them that will generate conflict

3) A whole bunch of encounters that I think would be really cool if they could be worked in somehow.


Next I begin to tie it together. The characters that are cool are slightly bent so they fit a faction or are antagonistic to a faction - so they have a more specific role in the world now or in its past. The agenda/plan/plot is located in the world to maximise the chance of the PCs coming into contact with the factions/characters I find coolest. Then I change the cool encounters so the settings match places in the world and the antagonists match factions, characters and motivations.

At this point I have a rough plot, the factions that will relate to it and their motivations, the characters within the factions and a bunch of cool locations. The plot is rough, because the PCs change it with their actions so no point in it being too detailed.

Next I sort out the starting location and a handful of plot hooks and we are ready to go.




Edits:

I wanted to brainstorm an example to illustrate
So for example I start off with
factions:
So Medusae are cool - so lets go big on them. So we have a city where beauty is power and vanity corrupts leaders into medusae. When this happens they get banished to the wilderness, to the pits below the city etc.. So this maybe gives us two factions - the city itself and the banished medusae.

I may decide i want some diversity in the setting so we want some travel. So ships and pirates might be fun for a change of pace. So I have a pirate faction - not very fun so far. Not very memorable. We could add something to it - ghost pirates might be a bit of a cliche. Maybe harpies - give them a base city on the back of a huge dragon turtle that they fly out from to raid ships. This can make them even more bloodthirsty if they need to kill the crew to take control of the ship to get the loot back.

And we need something a bit more sympathetic. Maybe some druids or fey or wilderness type people. Lets take an enchanted fairy wood, put in conflict with a more corrupted evil type wood - ettercaps, shadows, green dragons etc.. What makes the sympathetic inhabitants of the wood memorable or different? I wouldn't worry so much about combat style - whilst PCs can fight them, they will mainly be good so less of an issue. So as a feature I might make them great enchanters and creators of magic arrows and crossbow bolts. If you want an arrow to put an enemy to sleep then these are your go-to guys, if you want hexes and curses on crossbow bolts these guys can pull it off for a price. Crafting seems gnomish to me and a sylvan fairy gnome style context could be fun. Would unicorn cavalry be over the top? Probably.

Usually I would add a couple more factions to the world, 5 is a good starting number.

Then think of some cool characters. There is a sea element to the setting so lets have an aquatic NPC. You get dracoliches but how about a mummified dragon - dead but preserved beneath the sea by the salt water - picked in brine. A dragon but with some mummy abilites might be cool. Rotting gaze instead of dragon breath and so on. Mummy curses protecting an underwater temple of Umberlee?

A character with the city of the vain? Maybe a leader of the guard - put a bit of conflict in. Lawful good guard serving a lawful evil regime, maybe there is a rebellion and he is torn between the lawful and the good aspects of his character. As a twist make him a secret policeman, still for law, still feels the duty to protect but he is hated and feared as despite inclining towards the just, he is upholding unjust laws. Maybe add in an ambitious sister so there is some family strife there, a sister who is happy to kill to advance political ambition.

With the gnomes? Maybe an exiled hero - a barbarian exiled for breaking too much in a rage, possibly including other gnomes. Still wanting to protect his people he acts as a ranger in the forest hunting its darker denizens. He has his own nemesis, an evil treaent who slowly wants to tear everything else in the wood down and is slowly spreading the deepwood shadow.

Again add more characters. About 9 is enough to give a broad selection. Between friendly and hostile you should be able to cover a lot.

Item 2 is an agenda or plot. So from factions/characters I have a brewing rebellion in the medusa city, pirate activity and some a corrupted wood. So I try and find a broad plot that will link them together. So a rough stab would be that the early stages show signs of trouble. Some powerful event is happening. The dead are crawling from the sea where they drowned, the shadow in the wood is spreading and the rate at which the vain are transformed into medusae is increasing.

The reason is that the evil treant has access to a new source of power and is spreading a curse as a kind of epic spell. This source of power he traded for with the pirates who stole it from a tomb guarded by the dragon mummy. The gnomes are squeezed between the wood on one side and an increased number of exiled medusae on the other. The main city is unstable with the rebellion but also due to aristocratic politics. The pirates received a handsome payment from the treeant but are aware they woke something unpleasent with their tomb raid; the rebels will ally with them to help counter the threat if they will help smuggle weapons into the city for them. Lets put the gnomes on the other side - trading their arrows with the queen's guard for a bit more tension and conflict.

Rough plot is then to cut down the biggest, baddest tree in the forest. First of all the PCs have to identify what is happening and do this by exploring the world and tying together information from the different factions. Different people will have different knowledge of what is happening.

Finally there should be some cool battles. What might be fun. Maybe something on a sinking ship? A fight against time and an attempt to balance resources repairing to keep afloat vs fighting the threat - so a boat trip in hostile waters might be good. We have a forest so maybe a treetop battle at different levels among spiders webs and dangerous shadows? This means not just having a reason for the PCs to go into the forest but also up into the canopy. At this stage I also think to throw in a few side quests I think the players might like - a quest for an ancient secret or rescue of someone; just to change the pace a bit and to allow the main plot to progress at its natural rate.

There is a rough plot in terms of a bunch of NPCs who want different things bringing them into conflict, there is a timescale for change in the world and there are some opportunities for some different types of conflict.

Finally I design a few starting encounters - beyond this the PCs are likely to veer away from any expected structure so I go with the flow planning out only a little ahead. Because I would have sketched out some PCs and want to showcase what makes each faction unique I don't have to worry too much about consistency. I can stat up city guards, gnome foragers, blight shamans and harpy storm sorcerers in advance - the expected encounter might not happen but they will have a role to play somewhere in the world (as either friend or foe). I try and think of an idea for an encounter for each little used ability of the characters - a situation where it would be important. This might be something like a language or a skill at the generic end or a situation where a class specific spell is very powerful at the other end.

In this case I would probably have the party start with the gnomes and their first ploy hooks would lead them towards the main city. Say escorting a delivery. Advantage of this is introduce them early on the reputation of the big bad, fights with wilderness beasts can be low level, it draws them to another location where they can flesh out what is happening and can introduce them to some more well travelled NPCs who can get them up to speed on the campaign setting more quickly. The city is also good for low medium and high level encounters so there is a lot of flexibility there. If they just want to explore more naturally that is fine, as well.

So early designed encounters might be some wolves if escorting, spiders if exploring the dangerous forest, possibly a cave if they seek out rumours of treasure (with some predatory creature in).

With this I am good to go and I should be able to get a break between sessions before I run out of material.

valadil
2016-08-19, 08:04 PM
I try not to plan too far in advance. I want to be able to react to what the PCs do instead of bludgeoning them along towards a history I've already committed too.

This doesn't mean I don't do planning. It means my NPCs do planning. I make a bunch of ambitious NPCs with big goals. Each game session they take steps towards those goals. Sometimes the PCs alter where those steps are. How big my game is is pretty much determined by how many NPCs like this have agency.

I don't like to world build. I'd rather take an off the shelf world and hand it to my PCs. There's more rich content in those than I'll ever have time to write. I also like that players can find content that surprises me. If they've invested time in learning a setting, I want to reward that. I don't want to take it away from them by making them play generic characters in a generic world I wrote.

quzar
2016-08-22, 01:39 AM
I've only ever written one campaign, which is ongoing and getting close to its second anniversary. I've found that a key principle is to plan deep but spottily. I have a strongly coherent story arc with very specific fixed pieces that will happen, but it operates just outside character interaction. Everything else gets prepped in a more short term fashion reacting to the characters. This scales down to individual dungeons or encounters. In a recent dungeon I ran the players through, I only prepped 6 of 20 rooms with great detail. The rest just had a short description. As the characters progressed, they would make choices, split paths, etc but generally regardless of the choices, the characters would go through the same encounters. Of course events often have to be modified given the specifics of character choices, but I've never had a complaint about railroading.

This strategy was a response to rooms in dungeons going unused, and (the straw that broke the camel's back) an entire city being skipped over. End of one session I ask all players where they're going next. They all say city X and give their various reasons for wanting to do so. When I show up next session, they throw it all away to go back to the capitol city. Needless to say, the next new city they got to was basically a thinly modified city X.

Misereor
2016-08-22, 05:10 AM
I've written and run three campaigns, and each time, my prep goes basically like this once I have a concept for a plot: think of and write down some major story or environmental beats I want to hit (a certain scene, dungeon, etc.), and then basically go in chronological order writing down the broad swaths of what I plan/expect to happen. The plus of this is that it gives me a lot of room to adapt to PC action; the downside is that not a lot actually gets prepped, leaving me to do a lot of improvising and leaving the plot in very vague notions most of the time. I often stop making notes entirely about halfway through the campaign and just start improvising everything based on what I know is going on. I'm good at improvising, but it always feels like it leaves my games lacking, so I want to do something different next time. What is your process for preparing your campaigns at step 1 (assuming you have a basic idea of the plot and know the campaign world already)? Be specific - what exactly you write down, in what format, with what other information, how much, etc. Not applicable to "sandbox" games obviously.

Sounds like you're off to a good start.

For balancing prep vs improvisation, I would suggest "starting in the middle of the map" and working your way outwards.
There are limits to how much info a GM can keep in their lovely brains, so concentrate on the stuff you know you are going to need in scenes, and keep a relaxed attitude to stuff that happens off-screen.
For towns, locations, and NPCs, just detail the ones you know the players are gonna interact with. For the rest, have a general idea and detail them when it becomes necessary, depending on what direction the campaign takes. For adventures, you might keep detailed knowledge 1-3 sessions ahead, and keep a couple of sidetrek adventures ready as well, for when the players go off reservation. Have decent knowledge of the creatures you use as wandering encounters at this point in the adventurers careers, and update your knowledge as they gain levels.
Basically, just detail the stuff they are likely to bump into as the players move around the world, and keep a broad outline of the rest in the back of your mind.

Spend your prep time productively and always prioritize the stuff you actually present the players with.
Doesn't matter how cool that secret cabal of evil druids are or how much background you created for them, if your players never bump into them.

redwizard007
2016-08-22, 06:54 AM
I'm getting ready to run a campaign based on the old "Githyanki Incursion" from Dragon magazine. Usually, we run pretty sandbox style campaigns, so I do have some concerns about things feeling to railroaded, but I think that by keeping things pretty loose I will be able to cater to PC initiative and seem more natural.

I have a general timeline for when I want githyanki scouts to start getting noticed, what level the invasion activities ramp up, and about 30 other plot specific adventure/encounter ideas that may or may not see use. I'm also statting up githyanki of different classes at various levels on note cards and doing the same with around a dozen red dragons. This is going to form the back bone of my campaign. That's about all I script out in the early stages.

The rest... wide open. PCs are evil? OK. The githyanki piss them off by interfering with their schemes. PCs want to train an army of stirges to fight orcs? I can work with that too. PCs want to save the world? Fine. Even if my players decide to become githyanki sympathisers I will be using these same plot points and stat blocks, just from a different angle.

Specific encounters will be put together mostly on the fly, but I will write up some locations and important events ahead of time and pull them out as needed. There will be plenty of adventures with little bearing on the overall plot of the campaign, especially early on, that I can sprinkle some lore and foreshadowing into. I could even link some green-skin slaying to the plot arc by saying the goblins (or whatever) we're forced out of their homes as the githyanki set up secret staging areas before the big reveal. Chances of players ever figuring the connection there is minimal, but we can always make it more obvious when we are further into the story.

If I delay writing things up, I can tailor them to my PCs. If I sketch them out ahead of time they will have more detail and probably be more thought out, but may not highlight the PCs as well. My campaign will have some of both.

So to answer OP, I stat out only what I will use, and retain the freedom to use it in creative ways. Monsters and NPCs on note cards are my best aid and will always get used eventually. An outline, or flow chart, may be more valuable than a detailed time line. Maps of towns should be generic enough to drop in anywhere. City maps should be usable for an extended period, otherwise you don't need the map. Those are some of my biggest tips to any DM.

Altair_the_Vexed
2016-08-22, 07:57 AM
DON'T!

Try to write a plot - the player party should and will be interfering with (or at least interacting with) the plans and schemes of your world's NPCs, so any plot you try to plan will have to be revised.
Predict who the party will side with - enemies and allies are for the players to choose, not for you to dictate. Sure, you think they'll be opposed to the nasty Baron Wizard von Vile and team up with Captain Virtuous, but they might find the Captain annoying, and be tempted by the Baron's bribes.
Bother with details for every little thing - there's no point working out the names and distinguishing marks of everyone in a village that the player party doesn't visit.

DO!

Write your NPCs' schemes - it's almost like writing a plot, but it leaves room for change in response to the PCs. The NPCs' plans are important, as well as an idea of why they have those plans. This lets you judge how those plans will change in the face of the player party's actions.
Create stock detail to copy-paste as required - you'll want to be ready with memorable NPCs, even when the PCs arrive somewhere you didn't expect. Make up a few randomly selectable stock characters and locations to drop in.
ASK YOUR PLAYERS WHAT KIND OF GAMING FUN THEY WANT TO HAVE - and work with that. What you think would make an awesome game might be exactly what your players hate. And remember, you're a player too, so you have to like it as well.

Beleriphon
2016-08-22, 10:38 AM
I've been plugging away at Obsidian Portal for a while now for my campaign/setting that I have stuck in my brain.

http://pegbarrow.obsidianportal.com/

I'm basically building a few prominent NPCs (some of which have a name and a vague relationship to another NPC). Describing the main city that exists in the area I'm working on, I have this vague idea about where other things kind of exist in the setting outside of the immediate vicinity of the area I'm detailing.

Basically I got this idea for a name: Pegbarrow. I decided that it would be a city of some fifteen thousand people. Basically the last bastion of civilization on a major trading river as people venture into the wilderness beyond for fame and fortune. I then decided that its more a free city with a self styled Duke as rule, but I wanted the Duke to be likable so I figured he was picked by the city council to replace the last one after he was eaten by wyverns. From that I knew I needed a city council, which got me thinking about who would be on such a council. I went with guild masters, local wealth folks, and a few commoners. But I didn't want to have like Farmer Joe from a hamlet thirty miles away being on council, so only people that actually live within the city walls can be on the council.

That setup a few immediate conflicts for guilds, ones like the Tallow Chandlers and the Wax Chandlers making the same product and both competing and needing to work with each other. Since this is a fantasy game what makes better candles, griffin tallow or bees wax? What happens when somebody wants basilisk tallow?