Write your Campaign in Just One Evening! 

Watching this guy's videos makes me feel like I'm talking to my attorney, and we've gotten wildly side tracked

I was very surprised to see the map at 1:51 - I drew it maybe 10 years ago and have long forgotten about it! I'm glad you liked it

Starting with a "good status quo" upset by evildoers tends to result in more railroady campaigns than starting with a "bad status quo" upset by the heroic rebellion of the PCs, in my experience. In the former, the villains have to hide, and they carry out evil plans that the player characters can only react to. In the latter, it's the player characters who drive the plot forward: they're the ones who have to be proactive and come up with plans for how to topple the evil government or upset the status quo. The inciting incident stops being what brings the villains into the story, but instead it becomes what brings the player characters into it. This type of plot aligns much more with our goals as dungeon masters imo. And it's much more natural to put together: you don't have to be a master wordsmith planning a grand reveal many months in advance, with no guarantee that your players are going to actually enjoy the twist when it is revealed - you can just tell them what the status quo is, and tell them to make characters who are not okay with this status quo. And from there, since all you have to do is make the world react to the players and their schenanigans, you can focus your energy on making sure the journey is fun, rather than stress out about whether or not the destination will be.

One of the reasons I get caught up in the world building part is probably that I love this part a bit too much… 😂

I highly improv every campaign/ adventure. I do minimal bulletpoints and keep if as vague as possible to be able to react to my players in the best way possible. This helps me to not railroad as I have no clue how the adventure will turn out just like my players. (pro tip: If you have an idea and the players have a better one as to how things happened just take theirs. This will make them very happy because they think they knew it all along.)

I am often thankful for having two players who both have the initiative and imagination to almost entirely run their own campaign; sessions generally begin with me asking them what they had planned / what they wanted to do, and maybe some plot will happened at some point. What drove this was, primarily, their PC's organisation; a faction the two had founded and cobbled together over the course of the campaign. Developing the organisations HQ and personnel, developing diplomatic relations and dealing with political issues (might've nicked some blokes' castle / land.) and interacting/bonding with their lieutenants keeps them super busy. So, if you'd rather never do prep again and want to take a more passive roll as a DM, I suggest putting your players in a position of leadership, give them something to build.

Understanding the "why" behind the "who" is a key DM skill. If you can grasp the motivations and methods of a villain, improvising their reactions, plans, or failures is easier. Also, feel free to have local NPCs in a given start area answer with "I don't know". You CAN create questions for which locals may not have an answer. Linking these NPCs to the "but I know someone who might" issue will hopefully spark movement. Remember too that certain villains will see timelines differently. If your villains are long lived like Fey, Dragons, Fiends or Undead, the reasoning WHY an ordinary looking item or location is sought will create confusion sometimes. It's okay to create these weird moments, because your players' speculations and theories might be better than what you planned. This creates a rich resource for newer DMs who are struggling with ideas. Steal those speculations, and maybe insert them as facts for later. This creates three bonuses. One, since your long lived villain might be planning on a future event beyond the scope of the PCs lives, they may need to think long term. Two, when PCs "figure it out", they'll pay themselves on the back for their genius. Lastly, it seeds possible future campaigns where these items or locations truly become key. Example: this one hollow tree, forgotten to time, was once a hanging tree. This aura of death can only be sensed by some, and a black dragon who's only a young adult knows that their future eggs will incubate faster in it. So they'll want that location secure. They'll also want the right mate. Now there's a play for this territory, held by another power, dragon politics, and perhaps the rise of a new dragon in the far future who may be key in an apocalyptic action.

I'm starting a new campaign tomorrow and a video like this was perfectly timed. All your videos have been really helpful. Thank you a ton.

The best advice I have when it comes to DMing is to be fluid. Say no when necessary but always allow your players to voice their reasoning for the actions they take and decide if things happen or not. Never be so rigid players feel that they are confined. Don’t be afraid to just wing it.

I’ve always run into the problem of overthinking my campaigns to my own and the players’ detriment. This helps put things into such a simple and straightforward narrative that it gives me so much more flexibility to tend to the players and my own improv interests!

I really like the point that we should come up with what the villain fears will happen if they fail. What is driving them beyond megalomania or whatever? There has to be something driving them to behave the way they do. Good to remember.

Damn it. You're making me want to start a new campaign now. Another excellent video sir!

Thank you for including the worksheet! It's helpful to have handouts and summaries of your videos.

Even though my current campaign is highly randomized, I still have a planned ending scenario, that dove tails into the next campaign. The current world is scattered with foreshadowing hints at the next campaign.

One of the things I've started doing is thinking of my worldbuilding a bit differently. I recently heard about the Amusement Park method, as well as the idea of making a map more like a video game rather than a geographical map. When you don't have to be specific about distance, you can have players arrive at a destination at the speed of plot by having a trip take longer or shorter than it would appear. Right now I'm gearing up for a single player L5R campaign but I'm setting the region up so that it HAS resources all 8 clans want and each clan has a minor castle in the region that is a bit more of a fort than a castle. Skirmishes happen between the clan because no one wants to risk bringing the imperial army down on their heads, but all progress is gridlocked because one of the samurai is actually a Maho-tsukai peasant who killed a samurai and took his place... and now the more I'm thinking about it, the more it's starting to feel like samurai Among Us... Either way, it's gonna have a few slow-burn game-over timers so that, while there will be plenty of time for the PC to build up strength, they will have to start getting the samurai of the court to start working together if they want to get their Daimyo out of the clutches of an evil sorcerer and fight down an invasion of raiders.

I can't put my exact feelings into words right now so I'll make it simple: Your "tutorial" videos are AMAZING!

Great ideas! Just in time for some session 1 in my homebrew world in 3 hours.

If you re-edited because of the repeated segments I think you can trim those parts in the RU-vid Editor rather than republish.

*Advanced Tips;* Not every story needs an antagonist. Or, at least not in the traditional sense. Sometimes a location or an event is the opposing force. Nor do you always need a MacGuffin. The goal might simply be a set of circumstances, the help of a particular person/creature, information, or even just A Lot of Money. Sometimes, the _PCs_ are the ones looking to upset the status quo. Sometimes, the story _isn't_ world-shaking. D&D got into big "save the world" plots, but not every adventure needs high stakes. Nor do all players respond well to campaigns that put a lot of narrative and/or time pressure to them. That "bumbling around the map while getting up to murder-hobo mischief" may be all players need, and if you make the world _too_ centred around having a Grand Narrative that is always moving forward, players may end up feeling railroaded. Even in a "save the world" campaign, players need room to breathe. They need narrative cul-de-sacs and opportunities to refuse the call. They need options, even if they don't take them. Make your world better by _not_ assuming that your players will do The Big Thing, or even any Big Things at all. Have at least three Big Things going on in the world, and for each, there should be at least one or two other people or groups that can handle it in the world. These people don't have to be actively seeking to solve anything, but should be willing to step in if asked or given a small amount of help. Give the players the option to go to the proper authorities, or otherwise leave a problem in capable hands, so that when they _do_ decide to do a Big Thing, it is an affirmative choice on their part, not something that they do "because it's D&D, and that's the story". Beyond that, beyond even the Small Things that flesh out locations, make room for selfish quests. Things like the research notes of a wizard that could teach a new spell, or a legendary weapon that just happens to be of the same type the Fighter uses, last seen in a dangerous, haunted bog, or the grave of a famous thief, said to have been buried with her cloak of invisibility. Sure, it sounds grand and epic to hunt down the evil-slaying sword that can destroy the Archlich utterly, preventing him from returning to his phylactery, but the players can have just as much fun if the ancient temple simply contains a Manual of Bodily Health, or a mysterious scroll that can transform a non-magical weapon into an enchanted one (effectively, the dungeon contains a +1 to +3 weapon, but it can be any type the party uses, and a player/character with an attachment to a particular weapon can keep using "the same" weapon).

That magic portrait idea is very cool. Other abilities might include being able to psychically dominate the sitter, or be able to use the portrait and a copy to portal between the two.

Im writing my first homebrew and, to the very first point about antagonists and major plot points, as I read through some of the D&D pre-written adventures, I have found that some worlds include multiple of these antagonistic plots. So all of the ones mentioned at the start could work independently of one another in the same world and give a lot of room for exploration

This channel is awesome. Succinct, actionable advice in a tight presentation. You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar.

I didn't know I needed this video but I will probably watch it every week for the rest of my life

I'm starting a small 2 person world build. I'm thinking they're going to be in a tribe together and I'll wing it from there

I've needed something like this for so long. Thank you very much!

I've watched a ton of videos about writing a campaign. This is the most helpful for me personally. Probably because in order to respect my time you boiled it down to very refined points and that's what I needed. Thanks.

Very concise look at practical worldbuilding. Another awesome entry! Looking forward to the next one. Thanks, Baron.

Thank you for this great video, and especially for including examples for each step. Examples are the way I learn best, and for me they elevate your work to absolute top-tier DM tutoring. Thank you!

This video helped me so much to get the planning of my Call of Cthulhu campaign off the ground. I've tweaked the worksheet slightly to fit the mystery format style of Call of Cthulhu, and how its usually set in my central location. But the biggest help for me has been asking myself that simple question of; who's the villain, what are they doing, what happens if they fail? That has proven the tether for keeping my ideas coherent! Awesome work as always.

My favorite vid from you so far 👍👍👍 Very good stuff ! It is so easy to loose sight of what is important and usful. This was a good reminder for an old timer like myself. Thanks.

If I'm honest, I do it for me. It is a creative outlet and I feel good knowing that should they decide to head over to that bar, I've got a menu and the bartender's name ready. If they never go to that bar, I save it for another time.

I'd love to see a video (or video series if you can find the meat on the bone) about long term, medium term, and short term goals, objectives, and player motivations and the differences in each.

Awesome! I love this being concise and to the point...like all your videos.

This channel is so helpful! I'm not in the D&D English community, but i kinda miss this type of content in my language. The hints said in this video helped me a lot, i usually spend so much time thinking and sheming something that will make my players feel the story alive.

I've also used that image of Emiya for one of my assassins because god damn it looks cool.

Thanks for another great video Baron! I always look forward to your context and this video should be a great template for new worlds/campaigns. For new DMs, saying “the sandbox is actually a massive railroad” is a tricky thing to say. Sure you can move items, villages etc to make sure that “players are where the should be.” But there’s also nothing wrong with players making a choice that ends in a dead-end. This happens in the real world constantly. As long as there is an interesting location, NPC, or intriguing clue in the dead-end then the players can still feel a sense of progression without dms having to hand wave specifics that they worked out ahead of time.

Super happy that it was cleaned up! Thank you so much. And don't forget to take a break if you need it! Fantastic vid!

Your off the cuff examples are inspiring. Thank you muchly.

I built a level 1-20 campaign (ready for session prep) in 8 hours and so far the players have loved it!

This video is exactly what I need right now. :D

I rewatch this all the time. It might be the most useful DMing advice video I’ve ever encountered.

The problem with 20 questions style world building is that the players will come across contradictions after enough sessions. In between sessions, you should try to spot contradictions in information and then retcon them. Eg. "The arrogant baron who hates democracy and who never consults anyone but his own pride, decides to allow the town mayor to be elected by the guilds of said town." The reason for this could be because "Who rules the land and what is their personality?" was one question for the wider land, and "What is the town mayor's personality, and how did they become mayor?" was another for the particular town. The players would think "doesn't that go against the character of the baron? Wouldn't he just arbitrarily pick one of his most loyal lackeys to be town mayor instead?" However, if you spot the contradiction first, you can retcon it quickly. Or you can elaborate on why the baron allowed the town mayor to be elected instead of appointed. You can also at least avoid the feeling of rail roading, if you give the players more than one quest hook at a time. That way, players feel they have a choice of which quest to do.

I'm very glad that I found this video - it is the most sensible of those on RU-vid, thank you!

The advice in this video is great. Really gives you stuff to think about if you have not planned a campaign before. If you mix that in with advice elsewhere about giving players agency and not railroading - I think you will be in good shape. I just started a new campaign and I will certainly be using elements of this advice in my planning.

Good stuff as always.

I have been part of a gaming group for many years. The handful of times I created a "campaign" it eventually sputtered out. Primarily because of a lack of overarching plot. Your video was thoughtful and inspiring. I am going to get to work arranging my cool ideas on the scaffolding you have laid out. Many thanks.

Succinct, informative, and very entertaining! You cover so many great points and give cool tips for this process, and I'm sure I'll be poring over this video more than a few times.

Wow this is amazingly helpful!

Great advice on how to have an open world with a set story! Which if your ok with world building as a part of the hobby you could just have a bunch of plot points or smaller camapaigns just waiting for the players to interact with them... or just make the world a powderkeg with factions that have goals and will move apart from the players. But the players should be able to mess with how they like.

I put this in my "watch later" months ago, and I wish I had watched it, because this is literally how to make a campaign.

Five gods and a Hometown/Starting Location - that's all one needs. Throw adventure hooks at the players until they follow one 😁

Ty so much for this video! Im dm'ing for the first time and i have the ideas in my head but was having a hard time connecting them and this video helped a ton!

This is so freaking helpful, thank you!

all of this video was laid out surprisingly well!

Did you make an error with the first upload? I *swear* I saw this video 30 minutes ago!

This is the best dnd video I have watched in a while

My main problem with mcguffin hunting is that either the villian does a peek every time, and the player are too late, which is frustrating, even if they get to dispose of some goons. Or the players will get a mcguffin which means that the villian will need to retrieve it, or that they players might try to dispose of it. This can be quite problematic, even just a bag of holding could be used to "delete" practically any item from existence if the enemy is not a high level caster. Alternatives are feeding it to a kraken/terrasque like force of nature, throwing it into a planar portal of some kind, handing it off to a patron/fiend as payment, or if it is not magically indestructible, simply breaking/burning it.

I feel like I am always overthinking it when I start writing a campaign. Thanks for the video. I really needed more meaningful directions.

Wow this might be the most helpful video on campaign design I’ve come across. Succinct and effective

Awesome ideas. Keep them coming

I'm waiting to put my BBEG (he will be making a surprise entrance session 0) together and painted, and all of your videos are a definite help. I fell more comfortable now creating my own homebrew.

This was a masterclasses of squishing an impressive amount of ideas into 10 minutes, you got me

As always very helpful 🙌

I think we don't talk about how you actually build a campaign often enough, with a clear step-by-step to get going. Of course this is partially because there are unlimited campaign frameworks you can use, but this is the most logical and flexible take on the base structure of a campaign I have seen. I agree with the other commenter(s) that the villain trying to maintain the status quo is an equally, if not more, valid option, but the framework can still be applied pretty much whole-cloth. What will the villain do to maintain the status quo? They must have a goal to further secure their power or defeat their enemies. Additionally, we can have more than one villain or faction interested in the same thing as the BBEG, which will add more complexity to the campaign than the obvious 'defeat the bad guy'. You may have to make deals with distasteful NPCs or factions for the greater good, etc. All in all a very thought-provoking video that makes me excited to get another campaign going.

Bro this is amazing and well put together,

Great video. Really gets the juices going

Another great video, concise and useful.

This video was very helpful! I love a good checklist!

Thanks for the Dungeonmorph Kickstarter shout out!

Fantastic video. I need to come back later and make notes.

I have never played dnd in my life but cant stop watching these

Hey, great job on your videos. I have been very inspired by Ultraviolet Grasslands and the idea of "non-canon" roleplaying. Also loving Dungeon World's "front" system. Instead of planning out a story, these give you the tools to run improvisational campaigns. Just creating some threats, and how they will react to interference by the players, makes prepping games way easier.

Nice work on the video!

Unfortunately for the evil princess, getting a dragon won't keep her safe from *that* assassin pictured lol. He's got class advantage and plenty of firepower to spare!

" ... and build an idea farm...." i like that one.

"The sandbox is really just one giant railroad"? By All the Gods, man, I nearly choked on my breakfast at that heretical utterance! It's a long point to make here, and I'm not making you wrong, but your suggestion is definitely not in line with a West Marches approach, and I must say, running a sandbox Whitehack 3e game atm, I quite like that I don't know whether the pcs are going to engage with specific "plot points", or whether they're are just pushing in another direction entirely. All I need to know is where they want to go next.

This was freaking amazing. Sunscribed, and plan to watch more videos... after I pump out some serious worldbuilding.

Expand this content to a 50-100 page book and you'll be on the top selling charts on drivethroughrpg in no time.

That is something I still have to learn. Right now I try to figure everything out so I can improvise because I know the setting.

Another great video

My favorite setup is more a house of cards that the PC’s will nock over one way or the other and a few attractive leads that will likely get the party to bump into those thin walls. I prefer that to having a “big bad” from day 1. The cult is rising, but the church is pushing back. The rebellion is making inroads, but the government isn’t yet threatened. But depending on if and how the players get involved, they will radically alter the course of those tensions. Also, be careful with MacGuffins. They can be very useful, but often feel artificial if they’re not tied organically into the world.

I point you to Fronts from Dungeon World, free to use with the Dungeon World SRD. Makes building a living world so easy and fun.

I just take notes on important npcs, factions and cities. Then fill in the gaps as the players move through the world, I often find that players will often go off script and so if you go into things too deep can be a waste of time. Sometimes I have ran sessions with only 6 lines of text that gave the group over 6 hours of adventuring. Then there are times I will flesh out whole towns and cities if the players are going to spend a lot of time in them. This takes times but I enjoy doing it as the world comes alive and to see the players discover this feels great.

I highly recommend Perilous wilds as a great campaign starter that you can do collaboratively with your players- Help them to live in the world! Thank you Baron!! Perilous wilds is made for dungeon world but the world building easily ports to DND

Good God, man, I did NOT anticipate seeing Assassin show up when you said "assassinated". This is a big surprise - but a welcome one.

Those dice are clever

Amazing

Thanks for sharing this encouraging and helpful outline of how to design a campaign quickly! After establishing the setting and major locations, then what would you advise about preparing to adapt each encounter for the levels and numbers of the PCs? At least for me, I keep some of the encounters intentionally at high level, as a way to bring the PCs on a journey toward reaching this larger goal. Nonetheless, some of the intermediary plot points often would need to be adjusted for whatever will be the PC level and number at any given time.

You need to write a book on world building!

Always throwing out really good tips. Got me frothing to kill off my players just to start something new lol

My favorite type of antagonist is the force of nature. As it puts more emphasis on what they are and/or what they are doing and less on motivation. This isn't to say they can't have motives, reasoning or even a tragic backstory! But rather these things are not integral to setting things in motion. Kefka has a compelling and tragic origin story, but his reason to wanna destroy all existence boils down to sheer madness. The Nightmare King in Unicorn World has a tragic backstory. But they are ultimately a victim of their own doing and are beyond saving. Some force of nature villains have the promise of something deeper behind their madness or need for power. Like Bill Cipher from Gravity Falls. But it ultimately is left a mystery or bares little importance in comparison to what evils they are actively doing. Need I even explain the darkness in Never Ending Story? It's a literal force of nature, which in and of itself can be compelling. Perhaps nature itself is the villain? Perhaps the answer is for mortal races to bare humble apology and true adherence to their encroachment upon and against the natural world? A force of nature is a solid choice. As it leaves less busy work for the DM, while still being dynamic enough to be tragic, Cunning, plot integral or whatever the DM ultimately needs them to be. Maybe the Villain is a giant Coven of Hag Witches with a global network? Maybe it is an ancient being akin to the Boogeyman? Perhaps it is a mad man who seeks absolute chaos, embracing their role as the mortal avatar to a maddened god? Perhaps the villain is an ancient fey spirit of the forest, reproaching against mortals who pay little care to the natural world and how they effect it negatively! What I love most about the Force of Nature is the dynamic freedom it goves me as a DM. To describe them in insane, abhorrent and alien ways. Maybe that Fey Spirit comes in the form of a giant monstrous Elk, it's eyes piercing yellow it's flesh singed off it's head to reveal it's skull. The creature cries eternally, it's tears are soot and it's essence abound it's frame is aflame with fairy fire to reflect it's rage and stand as an allegory like nod to the endless trees burned for mortal expansion?

Keep it concise but don’t be afraid to add complexity as you go with the flow, “a good plan never survives first contact” you may have change add and alter.

To railroad my players into my home ported updated N1. Against the Cult of the Reptile God. I had to run them through, The Sunless Citadel first. Oh no! How mildly inconvenient of them.

Oh man, why haven't i subscribed to your channel earlier :D !!!

1. I don't think we should limit adventures to maintaining the status quo. It can also be very interesting to have the players be the change makers instead, and have the bbeg be the reactionary measures to prevent their success. Of course, even in this case you must also be reacting to something, such as a percieved injustice or want for power. 2. For villain motivations, I like to refer to the dsm 5 for pyromania. Because in order to be a pyromaniac, they gotta make sure that you set the fire to set the fire, and no other reason, so they had to think of basically every possible reason to start a fire. "The fire setting is not done for monetary gain, as an expression of sociopolitical ideology, to conceal criminal activity, to express anger or vengeance, to improve one’s living circumstances, in response to a delusion or hallucination, or as a result of impaired judgment (e.g., major neurocognitive disorder, intellectual disability, substance intoxication)." Some of these options are probably better off ignored though.

I have a suggestion the black cards with the text should possibly have narration for the portion of your audience that is listening without watching. thanks for the video, it has a lot of good points. also I hope you have a good day.

This video deserves graphics to show what you're doing

Damn I thought I was the first person to come up with the idea of saving a dragon from a princess.

A demonic princess is trying to open the dragon's material portal

Sometimes the status quo is the villain. Just one more quotidian atrocity by the evil Duke sets the humble adventurerer off on a journey to tear down the Duke's power and free the country of their iron fisted rule. It doesn't have to be 'idyll is disturbed' it can be 'save the people from abusive authorities' too, for some excellent storytelling.