Write your Campaign in Just One Evening!

[@thekingofcardboard]

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

[@yojishinkawa378]

Yeah, I feel like at the end he's going to say, "All that aside, uh, you did kill that guy, so you're probably gonna get a life sentence. But hey, at least you'll have something enjoyable you can do while you're waiting to die."

[@Meteor2022]

@@yojishinkawa378 I bet if there's anywhere you will **actually** get bullied for playing dnd these days, it's prison.

[@yojishinkawa378]

@@Meteor2022 I actually did 8 years, and, yeah. But if you're big and scary enough you could pull it off. Especially if you incorporate sex into the story. It's just a different culture, more chaotic and neutral evil.

[@remyxedfern5008]

He does enunciate like one

[@sloganwade4994]

@@Meteor2022 I know a guy who learned to play in prison. Anything to pass the time and escape your current situation for a while.

[@10urion]

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.)

[@nsideddice]

I can confess to having stolen player ideas before.

[@cashtonholbert4515]

When I had logical inconsistencies in family ties of my government it changed my campaign into political intrigue to unmask the vampire deep state one of my players predicted from session 1

[@grahamcrosbie2255]

@@nsideddice "Man wouldn't it be nuts if "X" happened?" Hmm...

[@tyarkschettler853]

@@grahamcrosbie2255 *frantically starts taking notes"

[@gorillaguerillaDK]

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

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Hey, if you love it keep doing it!

[@bryan__m]

Not long ago I had the realization that I enjoy reading campaign books an adventure modules every bit as much (if not more) than I do reading novels. I like crafting worlds as much as I do my physical crafting hobbies. This is what I remind myself of when yet another year has ticked off the calendar and I *still* haven't started running my next campaign 😂

[@marcinmon7551]

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

[@sialoquentnincampoop]

What a great map. Congratulations!

[@Mario1234mario3s]

Awesome map

[@Teneban]

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.

[@elsanto2401]

hear hear!

[@johntodd6413]

As much as I agree, it depends on the players. Open world works for some, others are just there for a ride on a well made track. With that in mind you can do both, with a group of NPCs with plans and motives that would fail without the players, but railroad any characters that get lost at any point. My favorite example of this is if anyone has attempted a bank hiest story arc, two issues always happen: the players get lost in the details or the DM has a well made plan made by other NPCs that the players follow, but making a bad plan that without a doubt will fail leaves the players with information, a basic plan structure and NPCs that can roleplay with instead of talking with each other exclusively.

[@harrison3207]

Thank you! this has honestly been super helpful.

[@CossackGene]

To be fair, I think either option works fine, depending on players' interests. But I did want to make a similar comment myself - it's not a requirement that the BBEG want to upset the status quo! It could be that the status quo itself is the villain.

[@KeljuIvan]

Wow! This is so simple, yet brilliant!

[@TheOriginalSentack]

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.

[@Frederic_S]

I‘m starting on thursday 😁

[@manofhonor1685]

I have a DND trip happening on october that will be 5 days of DND and ill be the first DM. For 2-3 days. Tryin to plan it all out

[@KnarbMakes]

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

[@nightcitycrafts]

Seriously agree.

[@nsideddice]

I know. I literally started a campaign yesterday and now I want to start another one.

[@Yora21]

Every day is a good day to start working on a new campaign.

[@shadowtheory7500]

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

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

I flubbed it

[@shadowtheory7500]

@@DungeonMasterpiece All good! Just glad that it's back up :D

[@therealdoomsage]

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.

[@ruolbu]

So, how do you present them with the content they chose during the beginning of the session? Is it primarily reusing previously used locations and NPCs? If they seek out new locations you need to have something prepared, right?

[@cashtonholbert4515]

While this is great advice I think it depends on the players. I wish I was not only this knowledgeable/interested with the structures of government in the Middle Ages but also enjoyed D&D for this aspect. Personally, I like narrative structure in my games, not only as a DM but also as a player. Sometimes I wish I could enjoy myself as much as my friends murder hobo-ing about and gaining power for the sake of gaining power but that's not my style. The most fun I've ever had in a game is through a "planned" hex crawl.

[@therealdoomsage]

@@ruolbu Improv and what I like to call 'loading screens', which are 10-15 minute breaks where I power out the bare basics, usually taken just after the beginning of the session once I know what I need to prep. :)

[@therealdoomsage]

@@cashtonholbert4515 Yeah I do want to break back into some more structured narrative stuff, I've let them 'sandbox' for quite a while as to give a sense of time between the first and second arc of their plot, bit of an interim recess for them to amass power ahead of the battle with the big bad, who would have straight up deleted them had they not had time to gains some levels, followers, items, etc. And funnily enough not a lot of murdobo'ing takes place, most of their shenanigans I'd label as corporate espionage / statecraft, despite both players having CN characters. Oh yeah should have probably mentioned that, they're both CN and they both act it, might help explain why I've done away with any and all semblance of structure xD

[@lamorte42]

My group did a similar thing in Shadowrun. We had three PCs managing sometimes rival corps aiming to take over the world. We still did Shadowrun missions on the side as a group because of a shared history of comraderies and mostly planned our sessions with the GM seldom needing to write in plot direction.

[@mikegould6590]

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.

[@dCash117]

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

[@RyuuKageDesu]

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.

[@kevindaniel1337]

That's really cool.

[@RyuuKageDesu]

Thank you, @@kevindaniel1337.

[@mattattack5354]

Mines either set up for another campaign, or for a continuation after level 20, still haven’t decided

[@Amrylin1337]

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

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

I tried to, but the interface to do it is super super clunky and wouldn't let me do it in any meaningful way, unfortunately

[@bloodyredshade]

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.

[@nsideddice]

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

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Glad you find it helpful!

[@dunderhill]

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.

[@arcanecontent]

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

[@cregg1926]

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!

[@mistersolace265]

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

[@TehCapsE]

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

[@salty-nick]

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

[@arisseferiadis2225]

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

[@PurpleFreezerPage]

I think your title is misleading. This is getting very complicated.

[@digitaljungle7154]

Not just changing the status quo. They can also be supporting a corrupt or immoral status quo and your party is out to change it for the better, even just a little bit

[@Van-Leo]

doing it in one evening is very appealing to my ADHD mind

[@KefkeWren]

*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).

[@perrywilliamson6256]

Great advice, I usually have a group of adventures there to try to save the day if my PCs don't. That said ask your players if they even want to save the world or be the "Our fates are in your hands" kind of game.

[@SeyhawksNow]

Real reason: cause I'm a huge procrastinator.

[@zenith110]

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

[@fenrirlives2226]

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!

[@scottsquires831]

A dragon is a pretty good deterrent though.

[@GilgameshGoldenGod]

Especially with him being a decent arts single target.

[@ruolbu]

Saw your earlier upload. ;) 6 seconds of minor editing errors cut out and a good decision it was. But nice to see that even high production value still comes with occasional mistakes :p

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

I appreciate you reaching nonetheless.

[@tommycurtis6566]

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

[@O4C209]

Good stuff as always.

[@lioco6124]

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

[@nightcitycrafts]

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

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Put them on a ship and ship Wreck them on your new campaign setting 😁

[@nightcitycrafts]

@@DungeonMasterpiece :D I was thinking more on the lines of having them torn apart by the Cyberpunk equivalent of an Owlbear or maybe beaten to death with their own cyberware! lmao

[@Crusoe40]

"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.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

West marches is the shrödingers cat of sandbox/railroad. You don't know if it was a sandbox or a railroad after all, until you reach the end, whenever that is.

[@JValerianS]

I think his exaggerated point was just that with a light amount of preparation you can be sure that wherever the players are headed, you have some potential link to the bigger picture in mind. Not that you have precisely planned out how things are going to go, because you obviously haven't. The railroad in question is just a huge frame for the players to paint their picture in.

[@JValerianS]

And I really think that even a primarily sandboxy world can be made more alive with meaningful connections, just don't make them feel contrived and you're golden.

[@Crusoe40]

@@JValerianS I couldn't agree more. Meaningful connections are crucial, that, after all, being the hallmark of a naturalistic setting that offers consistency and deepening engagement. We could stretch the railroad metaphor a little and say that, well, railroads are networks and are characterised by the ability to choose multiple routes at different times and speeds, but that is not what is usually meant by the term railroad in this context, hence my jokey comment. Real Railroaded adventures/settings might need another name.... maybe we could call them "adventure paths". 😁

[@JValerianS]

@@Crusoe40 It's hard to challenge the somewhat false sandbox-railroad dichotomy without causing some misunderstanding or seemingly throwing useful broadly understood terminology out with the bathwater. But someone's gotta do it. :D

[@nathanhinote5291]

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

[@Slappy_Box]

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.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Huh.... I usually leave the players to motivate themselves, and stick something from their background on the map as a side quest. Part of the main quest if it's serindipitous

[@johnharrison2086]

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

[@GuilhermeSalieri]

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.

[@GreenBlueWalkthrough]

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.

[@sertaki]

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

[@sergiocamcar8]

You need to write a book on world building!

[@Giantspaz]

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

[@timbuktu8069]

That must be nice. My players have two questions: What can we kill and where is it?

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Play hero quest?

[@CyanMentality]

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

[@dereklong801]

I don't understand how people got to "campaign" meaning merely a "story arc of adventures tied together by a common plot". "Campaign" has always meant "game setting of a DM for a specific group of players over time". I suspect because recent gamers only participate in 1-5 adventures before calling it quits, so they think a string of narratively related adventures is a "campaign".

[@zephyrstrife4668]

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.

[@Micsma]

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.

[@TimJensen]

Also, see clocks from Blades In The Dark.

[@nsideddice]

I thought about Fronts when I watching this. I would be curious to see his opinion on them.

It's not the first time DM touches subjects that apply to DW fronts, I already pointed that in a previous video. It would interesting to see what are DM thoughts on DW fronts.

[@mitchthetruelitch1724]

Getting deja-vu...

[@benjaminshrader2112]

Ooooooo i like u

[@liquidweird6055]

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.

[@euansmith3699]

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.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

The portrait idea I stole from a friend dm lol

[@dreadogastusf3548]

@@DungeonMasterpiece The ghost of Roger Zelazny is smiling. In his most well known book series, a deck of Tarot cards has this power. A card with an important person will let you talk with or travel to that person. A card of a place will transport the user there.

[@ringsaround6961]

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.

[@gaminggambeson6553]

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!

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Oh no, it was literally a total mistake. I'd completely missed it in my edit. I usually watch the video before I post it and didn't this time. I didn't have a mistake like that and like my last eight videos so I just assumed I was all good.... 🤣🤣🤣

[@balthizarlucienclan]

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

[@Girlhead]

How? HOW?? HOWWWWW???? LOL. I'm kind of joking, but kind of not. I don't actually expect any type of response or answer form you, but I'm sort of amazed.

[@daggered3665]

Using this video?

[@balthizarlucienclan]

@@daggered3665 yes, using the concepts contained here

[@mikecarson7769]

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.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

So I used to sweat about this, and it's worth doing for levels 1-3, but honestly, just throw the kitchen sink at the players. Lol. They can either handle it, or handle running away.

[@gmassistantai]

Late to the party but solid video, very dense. I really want to streamline my prep so that I can get everything prepped super simply, start to finish, then just use additional time (if I have it) to go above and beyond.

[@Jason-sj7xi]

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

[@tc0930]

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.

[@Shon-wn6wi]

🤭 just like to give a big shout out to the Baron-thanks buddy for your gifts , of well ,YOU KNOW:) lol ! Ah,yea thanks for letting me in on It-its so easy to miss this type of play,for years..and so simply put... But if it had been a snake -it would have bit me! Right before my eyes

[@danielstohr6391]

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

[@BlackJar72]

I prefer to world build over the entire lifespan of the campaign -- making up material as needed as I go.

[@benrichardson5662]

I've kinda given up on campaign planning in one of my games. It's in a game I've never played before and every time I make a plan, something the players do gives me a better idea and i throw my plan out the window and do that instead 😁. It's happened like 6 times in 8 sessions.

[@Usammityduzntafraidofanythin]

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.

[@CaseyWilkesmusic]

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.

[@NinjaZombieGenocide]

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.

[@mrnixon2287]

gr8 world building tips. the trick is to prep whats directly in front of the party and drop story hooks about an interesting location you want them to explore next. every location is the right location is superb advice. with practice your players wont know what u have prepped and what u have improved.

[@StarKnight619]

I'm dropping my players, in a Starfinder campaign im VERY slowly making, near a Rebellion stronghold that may or may not be a slight ripoff of Halo Reach beginning

[@ModernMyth]

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

[@johnathanrhoades7751]

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.

[@davidhorrocks5170]

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.

[@mathewstoker2131]

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.

[@TheDrivefaster]

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

[@tiagodagostini]

I never liked to write details of the campaign. I always preferred to build up key actors and have their motivations clearly well defined for me and simply improvise an d react to whatever the players do. it is not hard as long as you READ A LOT, so you have your brain conditioned to bring up similar events from other sources that you can improvise upon. IF you have the actors motivatiosn well established you will be able to figure some logical actions by their part and improvise. By read a lot I do not mean öhh I have read LotR".. I mean you have read ALL the books of ALl the major authors of the last 20 years.

[@jaceg810]

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.

[@hand-drawnanimations8763]

Another amazing video! I know you did a video on better combat tactics; are you considering making a video on how to make scenarios that allow for Combat as War (as opposed to Combat as Sport)? I constantly want to put my players in a Combat as War -type game, but I always have trouble with it! Maybe it really is just as simple as poisonous giant bees in a forest...

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Hmmm....make the goblins run if it doesn't look like they will win on initiative count two. Then, 6 hours later, they show up with four times as many goblins lol.

[@MopedOfJustice]

Love to make villainy synonymous with "disrupting the status quo". The status quo is what goodness is after all, just look at alignment charts! wait . . .

[@aschaff3995]

I was about to nay say the foreshadowing of main antagonist at the start. This is done very poorly in the Dnd 5e game for tomb of annihilation. Its a proper wizards game. but yet the mission feels on a strict timer and as a low level character you want to finish it quickly in order to save lives. However start level 1 and the game with hex crawl and stupid slow rate of events happening takes literally months. So when you question the main quest giver, they should be dead long before you've come close to finishing making you need to find a new quest giver.. which isn't even queried as something that is needed by the writers.. Its just a very quick heres main bad person and you have waaay less time then feasable to get to it. TLDR: If you have a long game with many levels, Let the main antagonist be a slow burn, they have many things to get and maybe you just aren't in the right circles to have that on your radar.. let the close and main issues be the driving force and a sure fire way to connect them. Your tid bit of info to puzzle over that may not even be connected is a great way to sell the greater importance, that the world is alive and other things can and will happen if the players decide to take part or laze around uncaring the antagonist has a goal and will work toward it. Which sells the overall story then an insta main bad guy importance to do an unachievable goal from start and an opponent who sits around and waits to be twarted. With no alternate goal or carefactor in their own plan

[@daniel154]

Am I the only the one amused by John Wick talking about Baba Yaga?

[@mikealjohnsson]

Love your videos. But it's not Holland, it's the Netherlands.

[@Hugo_SA2]

Hey this video is great, and I was excited to check out the worksheet, but the link appears to be dead. Do you have another location where this sheet can be downloaded? Thanks!

[@jiml9856]

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.

[@alexb141]

watch out for AI ownership kids, i guess it got into our D+D, video games, etc

[@syrvitor696]

I had to do a double take with his first example x'D

[@justatallguy]

There is absolutely no way one can do all of that work in one evening lol

[@leonmayne797]

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

[@lyraburke2104]

This video deserves graphics to show what you're doing

[@kosm866]

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

[@holyperceval6310]

Nice tie ! Take this thumbs up you deserve it !

[@CuriosityCore101]

Wow this is amazingly helpful!

[@TabletopThoughts]

Another great video

[@samchafin4623]

My dream is to run a game with good foreshadowing.

[@NemoOhd20]

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

[@AuntieHauntieGames]

You can take my unfinished-but-already-44-pages-long world bible out of my cold dead hands, you sunuva---

[@vovan4467]

I wrote the campain in one song. The song is "One"

[@michaelhenry7510]

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

[@sleepinggiant4062]

Railroad - the most misused term in all D&D youtube videos.

[@DungeonMasterpiece]

Lol amen

[@jacobinman2921]

my brain is far too small for this.

[@captainnolan5062]

Google defines MacGuffin as: "In fiction, a MacGuffin (sometimes McGuffin) is an object, device, or event that is necessary to the plot and the motivation of the characters, but insignificant, unimportant, or irrelevant in itself." The things you are describing in your video, however, are not irrelevant "in themselves," they are integral pieces to the Princess being able to forge her crown and seize power. The quintessential movie McGuffin is the Maltese Falcon (which you picture in your video). It is an object that all of the characters are trying to get, but which is insignificant in and of itself. It does not help Sam Spade (or anyone else) do anything (like forge a magical crown); it could just as easily be replaced with a bronze statue of a Philippine Dragon, or a rare postage stamp, or a first edition Superman comic book...i.e. the specific object doesn't matter; the characters just need 'something' to be hunting for and desiring to obtain. You, however, are talking about objects of a quest that, when assembled, combine to create an item of power and control (power and control being the motivation of the Princess). What you are describing are not McGuffins. Great video, though, as always. kzbin.info/www/bejne/q3-wgoZmpqpoha8

[@GnarledStaff]

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