Creating a Mini-Campaign For Any TTRPG 

*Thanks for watching!* Let us know in the comments below any mini-campaign ideas. Or let us know how it has gone if you have run your own mini-campaign. Find each step easily by using the timestamps in the description.

I'm already designing a mini campaign! I advanced the homework :D

Oh my! I'm so grateful I found this channel, really. I used to get completely lost when trying to find any resource on how to make the plot, the master plot, I didn't even think to include a theme but it makes total sense (all things I learned in your book). And to top it off, your sense of humor and way of expressing yourself are very entertaining, never managed to find a boring video of yours. Absolutely my favorite channel on RU-vid!!!!

As a first-time DM, I'll be launching a Sci-Fi mini-campaign in a few months with the intention of having 9 sessions at most. I'm in an interesting group where our main DM created a large enough canvass to not only tell his story, but to allow us to tell our own. Most of us in the same group of friends are either currently running or have plans on running a campaign all within the same world. There are so many homebrew settings, systems, integral characters, and detailed lore that all ties together, which makes running even a mini-campaign daunting to me. Thank you for this video as it help to go back to square one with a better understanding on how to go about setting up my campaign.

I'm thinking of doing a Disney campaign with my girls. Stat them as d&d pcs and really don't want to have to deal with leveling up their characters so a mini campaign might be be great for this.

Mini-campaigns like this are the bread and butter of our group. Someone will plan a game and then email a call for characters (e.g., "a modern character who has a reason to be on an airline flight from Boston to Las Vegas" or "a character who can be part of a Firefly crew"). Sometimes the mini-campaigns have sequels, but not always. It has been a great way for different members to try GMing, and for all of us to explore roleplaying in different genres.

I'm slowly assimilating notions here and there and I usually end up binge-listening entire channels while I study. Wonderful as this channel is, it's gonna be a lot of fun. Thanks for what you do 🤟🏻

Guy, I've had a bunch of ideas rumbling around the rock polisher that is my brain , used xmind software, tons of reference images, lots of writing and I was still hitting a wall for it not being a cohesive campaign that was playable. I've watched your videos before but I came across the 10 part creating a campaign series and I decided to use that time to start from scratch while still having my main ideas in play and it's been so much better. Thanks Guy!

I was already running a mini campaign as a segment of a much larger (RuneQuest Glorantha) campaign and so far the players have only had Learn of Plot. Watching this and the thinking about the 5 step structure has really helped me to clarify where the rest of the game is likely to go. The layout I have put together goes as follows: Learn of Plot The ‘Terraformers’ cult want an item with immense healing power in order to complete a ritual to nourish their arid land. The item that the players chose to look for is an amulet held by priests of the sun god in the East. How the players get it is up to them. Journey to Plot Potential encounters include secretive dwarven metallurgists, arguing warlords and something nasty in a swamp. Foreshadowing of not plot is that someone else has been hired to steal the same artefact. Discover Not Plot If they were not intercepted previously the hired thieves will steal the item; if they were then the troll lord that hired them will do so personally or hire someone else. (the party have a wagon so it makes sense that baddies can get there faster). The amulet is now heading North as the party/priests’ diviner or party perception skills can learn. I might have the priests lie and say that they do have it, not sure yet. Journey to New Plot Party chase troll lord North. They will be too slow unless they find some way to store the wagon or travel faster with it since the troll lord is riding a giant praying mantis for speed and battle purposes.The troll lord could have help slowing the party down if required. Kill Plot and Win The troll lord wants to sacrifice the amulet to their god. They are in no hurry and may relinquish it if the party barters for it or the party could just fight for it. The trolls will have treasures. If they return with the amulet to the ‘Terraformers’ cult they will also be rewarded with land (after the ritual), minor titles and some booty each. It is not exactly as straight forward but I have contingencies for if it goes wrong. So far the players look like they will follow well enough. Thank you very much for making these videos. It makes my game planning much easier and more enjoyable.

I think this is exactly what I needed to start planning my first non-one shot story arch. I’ve always been intimidated by the scope of stories outside of one shots, but this condenses things into a very manageable size. Looking forward to planning and running my first campaign!

Last time I was this early, I emded up on a galleon flying through the flagellum

Guy your channel is choc full of great info! I’ve Marshall’d my first Deadlands mini campaign using titbits from your videos and it’s a blast. Players really seem to be enjoying themselves and your vids really helped me gain the courage to move from player to GM. Thanks!

I was preparing the first session of my campaign and this video was perfect to clarify a lot of things in my head. Guess it's gonna be a mini campaign now. Thank you !

I've never DMed more than a few short sessions, but I have a few mini campaign ideas: 1: "Rites of Spring"- A minor harvest god is upset that the villages around her domain have been turning to science rather than giving her the sacrifices that sustain her, so she's sending dryads, fae, and faithful followers to wreck the farms and apiaries that have abandoned her (I like the idea of a school of "honeymages" leading the science) 2: "Ballad of the Heartsong"- A group of shipborne adventurers discover a plot by a Marid lord to release an evil sea goddess, and rule the coast. (borrows heavily from Ghosts of Saltmarsh) 3: "Dead of Winter" - Adventurers travel to a northern outpost to discover the city has been locked in an unnaturally cold, long winter, and that many people have been stolen away by mysterious frozen monsters. The people blame the winter queen, but in truth, she created the harsh ice storms to lock down a tide of undead flowing from a magical cauldron that will create undead legions for whomever controls it.

I usually run 2 or 3 minicampaigns between each of my large campaigns. It allows us to clear the air and get characters tried out.

I've been procrastinating a Hogwarts in the 1800's mini campaign. This video got me motivated!

This video came just at the right time!! Thank you!!

I've been writing a custom mini-campaign for a one-on-one with a friend in the Eberron setting, which is brand new for me. I've got a basic premise for the setting but have been sort of lost. This video has helped immensely with tying down what exactly I want to do and where I want to go with it.

Thank you for this video! I needed this

this is perfect timing for me. I've been creating a sci fi roll playing system and I've been planning a short campaign to test it.

this is exactly how I am doing my startup for the Bounty Hunter ttrpg

I finally finished my first mini campaign and my players wanted it to last longer, so I'm starting a second one as part two. 2 of my players are GMs and all of them have been playing D&D (and other ttrpgs) much longer than me. Thank you Guy, you helped me become a great GM!

Now I feel inspired to create my own Dark Sun 5E mini-campaign. Thanks, Guy!

I'm gonna take a turn at DMing for my regular DnD group with a short Mutant Future campaign 🎉

I’m running a scion game in 5th century Ireland ☺️. This video helped me a lot in just putting together some arcs 👏

One crucial thing is missing here: consider the characters. Get preliminary character concepts, or at least a group concept from your players, and try to play off those concepts. I think that's more useful and much more important that the starting location.

I run mini campaigns between our main game’s major arcs. It’s fun to change DM styles (I’m a player in the main game) and have a bit of a break from the main story. I rely pretty heavily on ye olde three act structure combined with the pillars of play. It’s short, it’s sweet, and it’s a whole lot of fun!

Mini-Campaign is my tipical way of handling GMing. If the players like it and want more, we go for Season 2 that is an other Mini-Campaign, but with continuity from the first one. This way as a group we have less pressure to play a long lastin campaign and if somethin goes wrong, we can cut it with a satisfactory ending.

"Starcrash" is a space opera that takes place in a galaxy with no single intergalactic empire or federation. The galaxy is a free-for-all patchwork of independent worlds and star systems. Free Space is a lawless no-man's-land crisscrossed by only the most daring, foolhardy, or ruthless crews, answering to no authority but their own. Uses the FATE system. The idea is a space opera which very much evokes the old science fiction films of the 1980s. My goal is to make the players feel like they are the heroes in a Stephen Spielberg film. I also want to use this mini campaign as an opportunity to put quite a few of your suggestions into practice and see how they play out.

I'm starting my own mini campaign this Wednesday ^_^

We're starting one of my mini-campaigns tonight, so does that mean my homework is complete, lol?

Been following you for a while and you always have great advices. However you seem very focussed on D&D/high fantasy. I would ABOSLUTELY love to have your take on something grimmer like Warhammer Fantasy. Adventure design can be very different, and challenging, when you start with a group of rat catcher, lawyer and merchant facing the evil of chaos!

Torg Eternity is the perfect setting and system….. and also the perfect setting to run a micro campaign. Each cosm can be their own mini campaign and could easily built into a full length campaign.

I'm currently starting the last adventure of a minicampaign in a pirates setting using a simplified version of blades in the dark system. Adventure 1 seem the characters being captured by different foes and introduced to main npcs and magical items. Adventure 2 was to find the location of Chinese pirates who supposedly kidnaped the children of the npc that helped them to escape in first adv. Adventure 3 was in the island of Chinese pirates to realize they were not the kidnapers (and hopefully realize that takin by assault a stronghold in an island I not that easy). Adv 4 was a sidequest to get a magical item from a French pirate (introduced in adv 1). Last adv will be to discover that the kidnaper is the English governor and defeat him (I hope). That magical item may be used directly to defeat his fleet or to exchange with the Chinese to get their help for the attack.

My first campaign was a... medium campaign? It only ran to 7th level, though it still stretched out for a couple of years... I went from a few one shots to a short campaign, and am now doing Curse of Strahd. GM'ing is pretty awesome 😄

I spent corona designing a world - and I want to do a mini campaign within it. Survival is a big thing - so I'm planing a 'simple' delivery mission get goods from a to b... Though razor-sharp grass plains, zombie infested forests, across floating rock islands ect. I want to test my biomes - my magic system and the RP interaction between the races :-)

I just finished a mini campaign playtest for the system I wrote. They went from prisoners to faction leaders, wizards and martyrs to save the world in just seven sessions.

Thanks, I am hoping to run a mini adventure in a science fiction homebrew using Cypher System. Planning to start at a space station.

Hey, what a Godsend. I was actually going to be making a mini campaign for our group inspired by The Color Out of Space by HP Lovecraft. Called The Deicide Engine, it'll be a secluded island where the Party has to confront secrets left behind by the Eldritch cult they've been working with for some time. After all, they're friendly... Mostly.

I am currently running a mini campaign that deals with the players going to a carnival in a modern day setting where the carnival attempts to take your souls like the old goosebumps book the carnival of horrors, it’s a responsive environment setting called “Circulus Animarum”.

Maximum Apocalypse would be great for mini campaigns.

I just thought this was normal dnd. That’s how I’ve always played

I didn't run ALIEN, but I ran two mini-campaigns in the rather similar Coriolis system. I ADORE Coriolis. It's got a fantastic balance between crunch and ease-of-use, a strong space combat system, and the single most flavorful setting in any RPG book I've read. Makes Shadowrun and the World of Darkness look bland. I really liked the Darkness Points system in Coriolis, which is notably absent in ALIEN and with no analogous mechanic, so I suspect I wouldn't like ALIEN *quite* as much. (They're similar to Fate Points in FATE, but more asymmetric between players/GM and with more interesting effects.)

I'm a new GM; Never done it before in my life. I almost started with the epic campaign stuff and was very lost, very fast. Someone in your discord helped me instead try to make a one-shot/short campaign. Much shorter, less history and helped me make a rule for myself. The rule of One's. One place, one guy, one thing. Can you give more advice tailored to very new gms?

2:06 perfection

I have my own setting and my own rules. I just run mini campaigns as part of life of that parties life in my world.

I don't seem to need help expanding campaigns. I designed a campaign that was meant for a month, and expanded it as the players kept wanting more. I just ended it after a year of play.

Shart.

Thanks! Now I wanna watch Star Trek! lol

i just started a Mini campaign with my freinds which is a sea fairing adventure in a ocean full of monsters to find a lost civilisation of tritons

Anyone have advice for running Champions??

I do a mini-campaign... is the classic "In-and-out extraction operations", :-) yeah "those" you say "easy" and then the dice's have something to say about it. hahaha

First time DM, and I'm foolishly running a mini-campaign in DnD 5e, where my players are tasked with assaulting and taking over the capital city (yeah, they're working for the BBEG). Two sessions in already, with ideas on what the players can do within the assault laid out, but just concerned the players feels slightly overwhelmed (cause they're starting high level although they've played DnD longer than I did) and the game too slow. Other than that, wow, there's just a lot of ideas. A Battle Brothers / AI-inspired mini-campaign (rebuilding a merc company / adventuring guild), a "Stuck in Dreamland" mini akin to Alice in Wonderland or Wizard of Oz, a Consortium or meta-mini-campaign where the players are aware they're stuck within some game system.

Well don't hate me, but from quite a while i have idea of running a minicampaign which would be literally a copy of video game it may sound not very creative, but for a "test run" a small start of adventure that was already prepared, by someone else in video game can be (hopefully) good idea, as long as i am person who is pasionate of one particular video game, while my players never heard of it - allowing me to fully adjust video games aspects to my players needs and noone will even know what did i changed from original video game.

Umm...u have a bounty hunter system? Can someone drop a link to it?

Which Sci-fi TTRPGs would you recommend to someone with predominantly 5E experience?

Having your ship stolen and having to track it down is the prolog of the Smuggler story from 'Star Wars: The Old Republic".

I’m designing a big epic campaign, however it will be played as a series of 1-6 mini-campaigns (chapters)… but I think that’s how most epic campaigns go… right?

Guy, you are looking like you've started slimming down a bit :) anyway, great video

I think all of my campaigns are mini campaigns now 😂

Guy, you’re lookin a lot healthier… hair cut? Vertical stripes? Excommunication of milk?

LOL 5 years!?! Campaigns die before the 2 year mark.