How to Plan a Campaign?

[Gale]

Several months ago I made plans to run a campaign with some friends but it fell apart before it even started because I simply never finished the preparations despite a couple of them pestering me about it. I'm not sure why but the concept of making a campaign has always been somewhat intimidating. I never know exactly where to start and how to go about it; thus I typically end up procrastinating on it and nothing gets done.
I'm currently making another attempt at this but it's not really going any better. Can anyone give me some advice on this? I've looked for guides on dungeon/game mastering before but I never found anything that was really straightforward or helped all that much.

[Airk]

Plan an adventure. Leave some loose ends. Repeat. :)

Don't make this bigger than it has to be.

[Yora]

It depends a lot on what kind of campaign you want to run.

[Earthwalker]

Start with a small area and make a few notes on that place. So a small town where the campaign can start. work out a few plot hooks and adventures and see what your players latch onto. Build on what the players choose and move on from there.

I don't do this anymore but it is a simple and easy way to start.
If all you have to do is worry about one small town then it doesnt seem as daunting as creating a huge world.

Also you can get your players to help, if one is playing an elf. Ask them what thier homelands are like, then add that to the world.

Of course another simpler choice is to choose an adventure path or prebuilt campaign and run that :)

[Averis Vol]

I like to start with a theme. Something as simple as saying, "You're part of the explorers league," Or "You're mercenaries for hire, for all jobs mundane to magnificent," or something along those lines. Create an adventure or two to get them attached to their characters, then simply ask "What are you guys thinking of doing next session?" This is a simple statement that lets them expand on their current situation, I always like to end a session with a cliff hanger, and they will generally tell you what THEY want to do. Also, every time they go to town, think of a small handful of general plot hooks like, "a local inventor is being harassed by a gang about his most recent invention," or "theres a small scale war waging between different schools of swordsmanship."

The big thing is to remember to make a skeleton of encounters, instead of trying to completely flesh things out. Make a few maps, stat a few monsters to use, and (I use an online generator) roll up some loot to sprinkle around/equip the enemies with. As long as the start of the adventure can be easily improvised, you can wait on making the hard stats and calls until you're actually playing. The reason I say this is because PC's rarely do things as expected, so if you write out this big long adventure that hinges on them talking to one person and taking his side on something, they could either not want to do it or side with the other guys, invalidating all your work (speaking from experience). So remember to just take things slow, a DM's best friend is improvisation.

Also, don't feel like you have to throw them right into plot; They don't have to start the game chasing down the BBEG, hell, they don't even have to know he exists. When you feel that you have a pretty well established setting and NPC's to fall back on, go ahead and throw in a plot item. Now is about when you should decide who/what the main antagonist should be. He could be a savage warlord who feels slighted when the PC's continually thrash his men, he could be a demon who is trying to bring his brethren onto the material so they can take control of the local lordship and eventually throw the entire country into chaos, and the PC's looted a crucial component to his summoning ritual. It really depends on how large scale you want the campaign to be; is it a level 1-10 game meant to make the PC's into local legends as heroes/villains? or is it a 5-20 that takes local heroes and makes them interplanar champions? obviously there's hundreds of other level scripts, but still, this is important to determine, it helps you gauge roughly how long the game will be, and how quickly you have to lay plot tracks down for your players.

But more importantly than anything, just don't stress it yo. You're here to have fun as well. If you aren't good with planning, don't do it! ****, I wing 90% of my encounters, and I've been running it for three and a half years. Hope this helps!

[DM Nate]

Plan an adventure. Leave some loose ends. Repeat. :)

Don't make this bigger than it has to be.

That's generally how I plan mine.

I start with a "one-shot" that introduces the environment and some of the overarching themes and concepts, and plan for it to wrap up in a session or two. (I also usually have everyone play a first-level humanoid who can attempt all skills untrained, just so they find their "place in the party.) If the players like it, we re-approach it with a somewhat longer story arc in mind, with the aforementioned loose ends to build on.

If you're interested, I have write-ups of just such a campaign that started small here.

[Kaun]

Yeah i'm in the "don't" category.

Get maybe one or two vague concepts for setting events planed in your head.

Then come up with an idea for an intro session to get your players into the world. Pick a couple key setting elements you want to get across to the PC's and work them into the first session.

Start playing and see what happens. Then add to the game next session.

The only thing you can guarantee about plans is they will never go as expected.

Over planing is wasted effort for my mind. Spend your time understanding the setting and the rules. Reread the notes for previous sessions and the character histories and work up stories from them.

If you have a set theme for the game, like "Undead are going to take over the world!" every session come up with an idea about pushing that story a little further forward.

[Milodiah]

Build the world, not the campaign. Plot hooks crop up by themselves as you incorporate problems and situations into the world, and usually players can tend to grab ones that you didn't even expect.

My players (members of the City Watch, mind you) walked into a tavern and the first thing they overheard from the table beside them was a discussion over the migration patterns of a nearby dragon. Wasn't supposed to be a big ol' "ADVENTURE!" sign, just exposition for the world.

Our half-dragon warmage turns to the group and says, "Guys, let's go [kidnap] its young!"

And I thought to myself didn't exactly expect that, but at least I have it developed.

EDIT:

Not to sound like I'm saying "don't have a plot". Do have a plot. Have multiple plots. Let the players decide what plot they want to get on board, and let the others happen in the background as the natural outcome of events and influences. The rebellions, the slavers, the colonizations, the wars, the expeditions, the gangs, all that happens, but let the players decide which one they want to declare their main objective.

[Palegreenpants]

In my adventure planning, it's pretty seat-of-the-Palegreenpants. (See what I did there?)

Pun aside, I form a general story. I make a location, set up plot hooks, formulate horror/thrills, create major NPCs, decide upon plot-twists, set a goal, and run from there. This set of adventure-bits will form a story. Just throw them in, modified or not, and make sure that they are based on the characters actions.

For example, to advance my story, the players must encounter a certain NPC. I wait for a suitably dramatic moment (it doesn't matter where or when, I just keep it within the realm of reason) and introduce the NPC. The circumstance for meeting said NPC were made by the players, but the story progressed, because I added the storyline to their actions. My players love this style of campaign development.

Edit: Also, throw it lots of extra stuff. Even if the stuff is just a half of a storyline, it will work as a plot-hook or a tie-in later on. This jazz seriously helps with immersion, too.

[Milodiah]

^

If the NPC meets up with the PCs in a way completely opposite of what you planned, your players will never need to know.

[Palegreenpants]

^

If the NPC meets up with the PCs in a way completely opposite of what you planned, your players will never need to know.

Oh my, Schrödinger's Gun. I finally have a word for my plot mechanics. Thank you very much.

Edit: On another thought, one does need to watch out for the railroading potential of Schrödinger's Gun.

[Milodiah]

Absolutely. If the players ask to see the world map, it'd sure as hell not be a squiggly line eventually but inevitably terminating at the X labelled "plot!"

Basically, if you build the world beforehand, and keep in mind what plot hooks you want to dangle at what time in their development, you can be ready for any amount of pants-on-headedness. Trust me on this one, my group qualify for at least head-sweatpants, if not full on head-jeans.