First Homebrew Campaign Help Cause I don't know how

[Qworp]

I need help since I don't know how :P. I'm currently writing my first homebrew 5e adventure since this December me and my friends are having a one year first role playing game, game. If you didn't understand that I mean that it's been one year since I've started playing Tabletops starting off with Dungeons and Dragons 5e (trying to learn i3.5e) and were having our first serious (paragraph backstory, very planned out) campaign. As you guessed I'm running it. I need help though as I've run many modules and written campaigns in the past but there are a few things that I need help with.

The first is being a main plot, this one I struggle the most with as I don't have any ideas that I can stick to.

The second is being a main opponent, I struggle with this one too as since I don't know whats a good idea or not.

The third is I don't know how to start the campaign off.

Lastly, the World which I have no idea what I want it to be.

Any Ideas, I can answer more questions but I need inspiration as well as help on doing these things and coming up with the systems to do so.

[Mr_Fixler]

There was someone in a very similar situation about a week ago on this thread:

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?574727-Campaign-Writers-Please-Help&p=23532822

Even though they had a bit more idea of wanting an winter focused campaign, much of the feedback and suggestions on how to get started running your first non-published adventures was good.

There as also a ton of articles on the subject across various websites. The best advice I would give is don't worry about perfection and organization. As long as everyone is having fun, you are good. Don't put unnecessary pressure on yourself to run Lord of the rings right out of the gate.

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I need help since I don't know how :P. I'm currently writing my first homebrew 5e adventure since this December me and my friends are having a one year first role playing game, game. If you didn't understand that I mean that it's been one year since I've started playing Tabletops starting off with Dungeons and Dragons 5e (trying to learn i3.5e) and were having our first serious (paragraph backstory, very planned out) campaign. As you guessed I'm running it. I need help though as I've run many modules and written campaigns in the past but there are a few things that I need help with.

The first is being a main plot, this one I struggle the most with as I don't have any ideas that I can stick to.

The second is being a main opponent, I struggle with this one too as since I don't know whats a good idea or not.

The third is I don't know how to start the campaign off.

Lastly, the World which I have no idea what I want it to be.

Any Ideas, I can answer more questions but I need inspiration as well as help on doing these things and coming up with the systems to do so.

First time can be rough.

Go grab a pre-made adventure. Tales of the Yawning Portal is a favorite of mine. The first one is several sessions long but pretty fun. Between it and a tablet hooked to the webs you'll have everything you need. See what the players do and start filling in your world from there.

[ChildofLuthic]

So this is how I did things. First, figure out a theme to the story you want to tell. For my game, the two major themes are "punishment vs. mercy" and "tradition vs. progress."

Second, build up your setting using these themes. Make history that connects to your themes. I made arcane magic a new field of study, which connects magic to progress. Make places that explore different aspects of these themes. (For example, I made a city that was built around an old temple - tradition - and inserted a cleric who was working to renovate it by capitalizing more on pilgrims - progress.) Make religions and gods that connect to these themes. (My humans worship a god of mercy, but some worship an Asmodeus-like entity that believes in punishment.) Remember to focus on the places your PCs will go, since that's where you need the most flavor.

Third, figure out a bad guy that embodies all of these themes. I like dragons, so I made my bad guy a dragon. I connected him to tradition by making him ancient, and saying that long ago he enslaved the dwarves. I connected him to progress by having him introduce magic to the world, as part of a plot to destabilize things. I connected him to punishment by having him be mad at the dwarves for no longer revering him. And I attached him to mercy, by having him working to free orcish prisoners so they would work for him. Note that even though the themes are contradictory, I let the dragon represent both sides. That helps to make it feel more complex and fleshed out.

Finally, tell your players, when they're making their characters, to think about these themes. I did this by attaching this to alignment. DnD alignment is all over the place anyway, so saying "Here's how I define alignment. Law vs. Chaos is about if they prefer traditions or if they prefer to find new ways of doing things. Good vs. Evil is about if they are merciful or if they want to punish those who hurt them." Now your characters are in on it.

Another piece of advice is to steal a lot. Seriously. I took from all over history, I watched a bunch of Forgotten Realms and Ebberon lore videos, I read mythology, and I just kept stealing things to use in my game.

[Millface]

I enjoy perusing the Monster Manual for something interesting that's CR 9-11 that I've never paid too much attention to and start with that. Preferably something intelligent enough to be the first big bad. That way, the motivations and personality of your villain are largely in place (alignment, awesome descriptions of creatures in the MM).

From there, you start with your villains motivation, then you really put yourself in their shoes. How would they go about accomplishing this? Figure out who their henchmen are (usually lesser monsters) and start the campaign with the party encountering the minions trying to accomplish something your villain needs to complete his goal.

It really all snowballs from there. Start with Villain, think like villain, play the villain, try to put the PCs in the villains way. Beyond that, it's up to the PCs. If the party ignores it, the villain continues to act, world changes appropriately, etc.

[Ninja_Prawn]

a few things that I need help with.

The first is being a main plot
The second is being a main opponent

Start with Villain

Millface is right. For D&D (and a lot of other fiction, tbh) the villain usually is the plot. Come up with an engaging villain with enough power to be a threat and a goal that the PCs want to prevent from being achieved. That'll unlock everything else.

When I'm really stuck, I like to just roll stuff on random generators until something catches my attention. Seventh Sanctum (https://www.seventhsanctum.com/) is good, or just the tables in the DMG. Donjon (https://donjon.bin.sh/) can be useful too, but I tend to go there for fine detail rather than carving writer's block.