EASY Changes to Help Players Invest In Your Campaign

Getting players to invest in your world is easier than you might think!
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** ABOUT ME **
Hello! My name is Jay, and I am a long-time veteran of storytelling and a semi-seasoned DM! I began playing Dungeons and Dragons roughly 5 years ago and began my first ever game as the DM. I figured things out by watching online games and fumbling my way through the rules, and never looked back! I've fallen in love with TTRPG's in general and want to share my experience and thoughts with the world and community I love so much. I currently DM two separate games regularly, and continue to learn every day.
** ABOUT THE CHANNEL **
Play Your Role is a project with the intention of helping inspire and coach players and DM’s alike to add story beats and dramatic moments into their games through basic writing concepts, interesting player character inspirations, and discussions on how to effectively roleplay in a way that helps (not hinders) everyone else's roleplay at the table!
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[@blackwell4701]

As someone working on modifying an existing headworld for a homebrew campaign in the future, this advice helps me strive for that unique vibe for my gothic eldtritch monster hunter.

[@PlayYourRole]

Ohhhh that sounds SO fun though!

[@Google_Corporation]

If you're looking for inspiration, I highly recommend checking out Call of Cthulhu. Whole game is centered around dealing with eldritch monsters.

[@acrosvite]

Can I play with you? That sound FRIKING amazing. I BEG YOU jqjjajajajajaj

[@anacoanagoldenflower]

I really like this, thank you for putting it up! I've been playing D&D since 2017 in one continuous campaign with my found family, but I also DM and right now I do therapeutic Dungeons & Dragons, where at my job as a therapist I create a campaign with encounters/puzzles/situations/NPCs that help client PCs learn skills and/or provide catharsis and a better feeling of control over life. It's really fun, and born from watching myself and some other DMs and some other players put aspects of themselves or their struggles or trauma subconsciously into their character and world. And I'm an author, so I absolutely LOVE worldbuilding and cultures! But I have almost 100 other clients, plus exactly what you said: a life. A life with my own mental health struggles, so it's easy to get tunnel vision into crafting something the players will never see in the very finite amount of time I have. So asking myself if it'll be interesting for the players to interact with and also are they going to be interested in interacting with it is really going to help me focus. Thank you!

[@PlayYourRole]

D&D has so many INCREDIBLE ways of being fulfilling for all of us. The more people who find it, the more I'm amazed

[@braskamerhuis5835]

I’m currently studying psychology and just wrote a thesis about the the benefit of RPGs. How long have you been using D&D in therapeutic setting and what has it been like?

[@cubescihist6737]

I considered going into psychology at some point in college, and I must say I WOULD LOVE to play D&D as part of my job to help people! I'm just curious: in what kind of context were you able to craft a D&D adventure for your clients, and what kind of therapist exactly are you? It's just simple curiosity :)

[@theuedonsshow2253]

Yooo, I also started in 2017,high five man!

[@nimric3348]

My biggest tip is don't prep stories prep the enviornment. Have characters and locations and the state of these things when your players will interact with them. The main thing is plan things your characters choices don't effect. For example you might prep a quest about finding and dealing with a snuggling ring. Don't put time into how the players will find it or what happens when they try to stop it because they could easily change that with there decisions. Prep the plot hook, those effected by the smugglers or the clue to where they are, prep the motivations and personalities of the smugglers and quest givers. Your party might rather join the ring then destroy it so it's better to build the world over the plot

[@ameliawilliams4632]

A snuggling ring. Oh no, not some illegal underground snuggling 😱. Hehehe

[@soulofresolve9514]

I’ve been playing a campaign set in Eberron, and my DM hasn’t forced a bunch of Eberron lore Into it. My sum knowledge is the aesthetic, the fact that there was a war a while ago, warforged aren’t made anymore, and there are weird dragonmark things. That’s it. And I enjoy the setting!

[@DaDunge]

Thats the important parts. Oh and the fact that it has wide magic rather than high. There's magic everywhere but high level spellcasters are far between.

[@darienb1127]

This is actually a really good time for this to show up. I recently started up an urban fantasy campaign where the various sections of the city are based around different mythologies. Unfortunately, i'm not the greatest at making my worldbuilding feel coherent. I also hate making maps.

[@PlayYourRole]

If you an sell your players on the idea, and get excited about it, you'll do awesome!

[@spencerpommier806]

That's rad

[@Anna-dd1tb]

This sounds awesome !

[@iacobuseurus509]

I have a lot of players who love Elden ring so when I pitched the idea of a campaign set in a giant tree they jumped straight in despite all the tree based puns

[@PlayYourRole]

Oh my god that really is an awesome idea though

[@DevourerDragons]

Don't go down this branch. You better leaf now! "Yes, these are our main production sites, we photosynthesise all our weaponry here."

[@jossypoo]

All of this is in line with what i do! I'm a Rule of Cool DM, focused on improv as a way of empowering my players. I always want to provide space for them to create. It's a challenge sometimes to get everyone on the same page, but i try my best to provide documentation, inspiration and photos to help them immerse. A big game zero, and sometimes even a game 0.5 to play some past events in theor characters life, to show my style and to give them something to chew on. Being "Yes And" can sometimes be a challenge for players to imagine, but two slow games are all most people need to be on the same page. Lastly, i use a technique i call the Triangle Method, where every concept and character is established using 3 inspirations. For example, my current setting is "waterworld, with cyberpunk technology, in a flooded Japan", and one player character is "Batman's broodiness, Leonidas' leadership and Jack Sparrow's charisma" If anybody is ever in need, concepts from those 3 inspirations will always be accepted, and if you find it becoming too similar to one of the three, it's very easy to find ideas to bring it back into the territory of "original".

[@forthegnomes831]

If Spelljammer is D&D but pirates in space, then my homebrew world would most likely be magical Fallout.

[@cryonidesponge3779]

Yo, I was thinking of doing something similar as well. How far along with it are you?

[@forthegnomes831]

@@cryonidesponge3779 I am first trying to design some class/subclasses and races and beginning to build the world after that. I also have a bit of a history for the world.

[@PlayYourRole]

Ohhh magical fallout is immediately something I can get invested in!

[@RPGLameO]

Might wanna check out Darksun

[@RyanNerdyGamer]

This one really got me thinking about the varied settings I’ve crafted over the past nearly two decades, specifically the ones originally built with D&D in mind, collectively named the Chromaia. The fact there are dozens of settings with unique, yet not entirely dissimilar, themes allows for some flexibility in not just which self-contained world is the most interesting and/or appealing to my current playgroup, but also if and/or when the story branches out to other corners of a vast and varied multiverse. Also, the way each world is positioned in relation to the others allows for a bit of thematic overlap without intruding on a neighbouring universe’s schtick, so if the story branches out, there’s an option of familiarity vs. culture shock. It can sometimes be taxing, especially when procrastination and artist’s block settle in for a spell, but it’s also highly rewarding to know my efforts are being poured into a passion project (or many passion projects, depending on your personal perspective) that’s very much intended to be shared with others. Challenging? Yes. Worth it? Always. ✍🏻

[@PlayYourRole]

"Challenging? Yes. Worth it? Always." EXACTLY! It's a lot of work, but if you and your players get excited, it is absolutely worth it.

[@RyanNerdyGamer]

@@PlayYourRole And it's that level of player excitement that, in turn, motivates the DM, making for a symbiotic experience. 😄

[@LocalMaple]

Your Step 1: I’m planning to make a Zelda-based campaign. The map (that they know of) is based on BotW. But I plan to break their perception of the Zelda formula early on, to make it about their adventures. And as part of that, I will recommend each player come from a different region, each of which will have their own encompassing language, and ask them for help making plot hooks and backstory details of their home town/region. Your Step 2: I guess I already covered it above. Players will help make their regions. Also, the Zelda theme will help them figure out how to integrate their characters. Your Step 3: I’ll have to see how it goes. I’ll start them on one alignment, but they can choose to turn against their initial employer, or make alliances, etc. I even have flaws/foils for political scopes. One guy might distrust Tieflings, but if they players turn he is boosted to racism.

[@PlayYourRole]

I'm actually currently running a Legend of Zelda themed campaign with the the starting zone being inspired by BotW!

[@LocalMaple]

@@PlayYourRole Nice! Did I say on this channel that I’d like to start a campaign in a festival, with each character introduction being how they spend their downtime? Yeah, my Zelda campaign is the one with a big festival: the 900th anniversary since the Darkness stopped its spread from the north, the Investiture of Princess Zelda, and an invite for delegates from the other countries to come in and form a new treaty that properly opens everyone’s borders. The party will unite during an attack on the delegate meeting, with the party waiting outside the sealed doors. It’ll be the Tieflings of Gerudo Desert. If the party struggles, there are Hylian (Human) guards at the door to finish them off. Nevertheless, an explosion destroys Zelda’s tower, killing her and her bodyguards Link and Paya in the process. After this, I open up the world. When I make a branching point, I will close the session and give the party a week to decide, followed by a week of my own session planning. - The big initial hook is to uncover the Tiefling’s plot. This can be done in a couple different ways, including heading for Gerudo desert. - The remains of the explosive device were recovered. Track down the inventor. - There is an Adventurer’s Guild set up across Hyrule to get fame and local quests. If they get enough recognition, people will ask for their aid by name, creating more plot hooks. - - The wild people of Faron have been crossing into Hylian territory. Find out why. - - Ruins of ancient secrets will be discovered every once in a while. These will provide the rare magic items and lore. Some villains are also looking for these ruins… - - I already have an oceanic quest planned out involving Linebeck and his unfortunate run-in with the Deck of Many Things. And plans for if the party manages to draw Void. I also have a few villain ideas sketched out. If any are used or dropped, before or during campaign, is to be decided. - The Hylian King is intended to be neutral-good. But if the party turns on him, he can go evil. And yes, I’ll give the party a satisfying conclusion through this change of heart. - Ganon has been sealed away for a long time. But that doesn’t mean there is no Agahnim, or Ghirahim, or Twinrova… (spoilers). - Zant is planning the expansion of the Darkness. - Master Kohga is going to be a Loxodon villain, and have an underground network of criminal activity. - and more.

[@Cyberwar101]

Yeah, my last companion I introduced it as "magic university" where each character has a unique magic - I was playing with a custom ruleset not D&D. That short description did much better than a page of lore would have

[@jeffreyseamons5514]

I just had my first session of a campaign fail because I didn't do this only a couple of days ago. Thankfully they're still open to continue playing, but this video came at a really good time.

[@PlayYourRole]

I'm so glad, and I really hope it helps! You've got this!

[@stevendonaldson1216]

Worth the time! Please do a video on creating the world with the players as you play. I loved your Improv DM video and I am interested in your take on cooperative world building.

[@PlayYourRole]

I have talked here and there about that, but a full video would actually be awesome!

[@peterwheeler4928]

Great vid, thank you!

[@AbsoLucian]

I started using random tables for everything in a Spell Jammer game and let me tell you what, everything is alot more fun and its easier to just rule of cool because even I don't know exactly what the main world is supposed to look like.

[@FangofFate]

This was a great video, I'm about to start a group with coworkers, many of whom have never played D&D, and this gives me some good thoughts into how to get them excited for it! Do you happen to have an outline, link, or example document on that campaign pitch you showed at 2:42? I'd love to have a concise way to introduce people to campaign settings at Session 0's. Keep up the great work!

[@superjanembaishappy5512]

Here's a simple tip for worldbuilding: only create what you need for the story. If the plot is going to be about politics of a small town then develop it because it's going to be important for your players to understand the story. If it has nothing to do with it, don't waste your time unless it's a really good idea you want to write down but don't expect it to be used.

[@curtisbailey4398]

Agreed. Until the party is going to interact with something, it's a single bullet point on a document. If even that much.

[@vexusxenos4188]

Broooo this is actually super helpful! Thank you so much ❤️

[@Tf_is_revenge]

This is great for me as a new Dm! Thanks

[@keeganmackey250]

This video's release time was perfect timing for me, thank you!

[@PlayYourRole]

So glad it could help!

[@masontrupe9047]

I created a sheet on my world anvil of the allowed subclasses and included a handful of story seeds based on the subclasses. They don’t need deep explanation of the ideas, just a brief idea to spark their imagination.

[@thegreydragonangel2836]

Hello! Do you by chance, happen to have a link to a copy of your campaign pitch document that you made? Or perhaps a template one could follow in order to write a campaign pitch of their own?

[@EilonwyG]

I love mood boards! I have no idea how to make one, lol. It's mostly because I'd get so excited over all the cool art and just throw everything in there and then there'd be hundreds of pictures instead of just a sampling. I'm terrible at paring down, lol. From the beginning, we always played in homebrew worlds, with the exception of the few times I've DMed Eberron and that time my friend adapted the Exalted world for D&D. It always started small. A town, a few towns, or with the case of my friend's world the concept of the gods of arcane and nature magic at war and this separated the people of the world. We're currently developing my friend's world that just started with a ruined town that was said to be guarded by 6 demi-goddess sisters known as the Raven sisters, as well as my world of islands where the aquatic races once enslaved the land races but there is currently an uneasy truce. I love developing new worlds, I love seeing the ones others have created. (Love your desert setting, always wanted to do a desert campaign. And I love how professional the document looks!)

[@PlayYourRole]

Mood boards were a weird, foreign concept to me for a while but I eventually figured out why they're so helpful!

[@grimjudgment6527]

As a veteran DM I do have to point out something and make it very clear. He did sayt that if you like making realistic worlds, feel free. And flr those of you that do, I seriously encourage you to. Unlike many DMs I actually run a political and economic simulation in my games specifically for the sake of making a living breathing, dynamic world and my players actually really like it. However, don't ever expect that's something you have to do. Not everyone has the mental capacity to, while working a full-time job build a world in their head and then basically play a turn based RNG fueled tabletop game by themselves. Like for example, while my party had to deal with the problem of a werewolf ravaging their village, undead infesting the catacombs below their new home and a rising orcish band of marauders admist a ln unstable economy caused by these issues, I had to spend quite a bit of time outside of my sessions effectively spending a few hours every day ironing out the chronological happenings in the world. However, one of my long time players ran a game without all of that and did fine. (That campaign did however end abruptly due to the fact that they had back to hack anxiety attacks over not knowing all the rules and accidentally messing up the story because of it, and nobody actually cared about her messing it up but anxiety can sometimes be much stronger than rationality.) Your job as a DM is to make something fun for you and your group. your job is NOT to be the next Tolkien or Matt Mercer, Seth Skorkowski, Matt Colville or anyone. If your party loves effectively playing Munchkin the TTRPG then fucking do it. Paranoia? Yes! VTM? Hell yeah! FATAL? Actually, we'll leave that one out. GURPS? More power to ya! Just have FUN.

[@JustmiracleLive]

I have taken a really weird way to play dungeons and dragons, I have dropped my players in a town surrounded by wilderness with no other cities, people get randomly teleported into the area from all over the multiverse. They have been employed by the towns leader to protect it and explore the surrounding region. The surrounding region is a wasteland of old dungeons and stuff. They can have whatever effect on the town they want and I’m very interested in where it goes.

[@proxy90909]

I made an over complicated but ultimately similar premise: -eldritch monsters conquer a "standard" d&d world (think faerun) -All the remants of all races and societies join into 1 city -whole city is wished/teleported out of there -they apear in a jungle with dinos and remnants of an ancient civilization That way I could use a bunch of homebrew monsters from some unoficial books so that even some players that had DMed before would experience genuinely unknown monsters and creatures. So their duty was to explore and after finding some lemure-people stablish relationships with the main city, they are gonna get to discover this ancient civilizations misteries aswel in time

[@JustmiracleLive]

@@proxy90909 Sounds very cool man, wanna chat some time talk about our ideas?

[@dynestis2875]

Hey this is similar to an idea I thought was my own invention! Have you gotten into running it, and if so, how are things going??

[@maximmees5005]

What kind of search terms do you use for the mood board images as i seem to struggle to find what im looking for

[@angrytheclown801]

My setting is hollywood cavemen. With the ultimate hook being the current gods can be killed and replaced, and the players can take part in the legends behind the races because it's all happening now.

[@jemm113]

We had a Dragon Hunting campaign recently fall apart after spending way, WAY too much time on a side quest for a wish scroll to help a dying NPC. The problem for me was that it was a magical item shop owner, the archetype of which I have gotten bored with since I prefer to handle magic item obtaining, purchasing, and crafting differently. Had the campaign worked closer to monster hunter or Heliana’s Guide to Monster Hunting I would probably been more on board helping the NPC. So we went back to the drawing board for a new campaign. We were between a new Forgotten Realms/traditional medieval fantasy game or Spelljammer. For a while during the session planning I wasn’t feeling Spelljammer for two reasons. 1) I really wanted to run some characters in a medieval fantasy world where they made the most sense. My now-beloved wizard August, a concept for a bare-knuckle brawler, or various other characters. 2) I was not vibing with doing Spelljammer without Spelljammer rules. The DM did assure us that our early progression would see us landlocked for some time with Spelljammers more as paid transport till we got our own (aka when the new book drops lol). But I was still unconvinced… Until the DM and another player got an idea: D&D meets Cowboy Bebop! AND BAM! I’m sold! I made a psychic sorcerer as I had a psychic character of some sort burning in the back of my head for forever and Spelljammer, I felt, had some of the best vibes to run one, especially as a chaotic neutral that only cares about coin and (cheating at) gambling to get it!

[@PlayYourRole]

Man, a campaign falling apart from too long of a side quest is interesting. I don't know if I've ever seen that before.

[@jemm113]

@@PlayYourRole I can safely say I learned a few lessons in session writing and design from the ordeal 1) try your best to make sure side quests don’t last longer than a couple of sessions. 3 I say is the max, but more is doable if the campaign itself isn’t hyperfocused on one narrative. Note that at this point the campaign had gotten rather story focused and the side quest was rather out of left field from the story. 2) prepare to make sure that elements from the main story can populate and become intrinsic parts of said side quest to tie it back to the main narrative. This is especially true if the quest ends up needing to be longer than a few sessions. That way the DM can tie the characters back into the main plot while allowing them to still finish their sidequest. 3) don’t require the side quest to be for something like a scroll of wish, the party will inevitably devolve into trying to game the quest and use the scroll to rewrite entire sections of the setting and history just so they can try and clean up a million problems at once including the side quest. This will lead to frustrated players that fall victim to decision paralysis and DMs that will get exhausted having to rewrite entire chunks of the campaign. A better way the DM could have done the quest was that we needed to find [magical ingredient] for a medicine that can dispel the magical disease that spells normally can’t. Tie in one or more of the political factions either as hurdles or allies. Tie in an element from an enemy faction that would have reason to go after the same item or hinder the players. And throw in a wildcard or neutral entity related to the item. We could have needed to find a mystical “moon tear” in an enchanted forest. Turns out the tear is an item one of the political factions wants for themselves and are currently the ones who control the bordering territory of the item. This either requires the party to haggle with the faction to get the item and see if they can get a second or go to a rival faction that is either at odds with the first or borders the same territory that in reality is more of a neutral buffer zone no one controls. This turns it into a race. Finally have the item come from a neutral (or perhaps not?) faerie or moonstone dragon. Then the writing shenanigans can go from there. Perhaps the dragon army is there to recruit the fae dragon and it’s unclear if they’d be willing to take the offer or not.

[@Cyberius]

Right now I am starting to make my homebrew world while my players play in it, I decided to make them start in a kingdom that is magical United States basically where each town is grounded by sorta basica fantasy but has it's own theme just so I can see what sort of things my party likes and what they vibe with the most so I can flesh out a world with that stuff in mind. It's been working pretty well, and I think with that and your tips I'm feeling more confident in my worldbuilding lol

[@PlayYourRole]

That's awesome! I hope everything works out!

[@corbanpiner8548]

Just discovered your channel . It’s so so good! You sound like you’ve got a degree in English etc!

[@laeg]

Love the concept and look of your campaign pitch document. Do you have a template document on your patreon or somewhere else?

[@PlayYourRole]

I don't currently, but making one is honestly a really good idea! I might work on that

[@Chris-io4iz]

One that you missed: letting them die. That might sound harsh, but not only does it make the world feel more real, it also shows that there are actual, real consequences to their actions.

[@itzplant3196]

So this video kinda explained what's been happing to my setting. Its basically Asia and Dragons. Ive filled it with all these cool interesting thingd to make it unique but it requires me to research and to reflavor alot of things and while I love doing that. Its taken my a long time like MONTHS. On top of this its my first setting. Should I just scrap it or save it for later?

[@ghjuyt101]

Honestly the best way to make any world stand out is have it react, my players have been in the same campaign for almost 4 years now, and things that they do affect other parts of the world. When they started they decided to pillage the first few towns, one of them decided to change characters (wasnt enjoying their character) and he ended up dying when the new character was introduced (just how it played out) the next encounter with people they had they were partially recognized but the missing human bard and random dwarf fighter meant they got away free. However it was no longer just murder everything and now actions have consequences. They now are invested in what they do because good decisions lead to rewards and bad decisions lead to consequences. They are a part of a world that they can affect, rather than a world that just keeps on keeping on.

[@DocFleg]

Really like the campaign pitch idea. Would you create something similar for a campaign you knew was going to be pretty short? For instance, if you just want to run some short stand-alone modules and not a grand campaign.

[@agiliteaV]

Right now I'm DMing a game where all the races once unified are at war because of distrust after certain catastrophic caused all hell to break loose. The BBG is unknown and it is up to the party to travel the continent reunifying all the races to join the fallen order because they were promised riches and their desires to be fulfilled once peace was brought back to Ondiell.

[@nicolaezenoaga9756]

Thanks.

[@salem_spectre]

someone needs to make this video but for roleplayers I’m in a roleplay and the only way for my rp buddy to get invested I need to 1 have a punching bag character that is soft boi uwu who does no wrong and 2 have a character that is mean for no reason and get no redemption arc ever and then combine the two into mean character being mean to soft boi and my rp buddy going off on a long tangent about every wrong about mean character

[@gearsfan6669]

honestly with the Fallout setting I've been working on (St. Louis specifically) I have had to create a limit to the number of cities I have actually function as full blown cities to make it feel like it's truly the start of proper restoration of that area, having 3 or 4 fleshed out and well established factions vying for control of the region (a chapter of the BoS that, due to being part of Lyons' journey to DC, were left behind in the STL area and have established themselves as actually good people, understanding of circumstances and actually willing to help bringing Maxson's vision to fruition without all the racism and technofacism. A group of people that, for lack of a better term, became tech indians, building their society off of the small amounts of information we have on the tribe that lived on Kahokia Mounds/Monk's Mound but with things like crude laser swords and spears made from laser capacitors and microfusion cells, plasma bows fashioned in a similar style, etc. then there is the main generic city built in between the sides of The Arch and a Vault that I haven't quite worked out a lot of yet) because otherwise I'll overdo it and wind up with an incoherent mess of alliance charts and how the caravans run between things, generally would put too much effort into it

[@Ysmiras]

I’m making a setting currently, that I wish to seek others for assistance. How soon should you seek opinions from others after starting your writing? From the premise? After the creation myth and or general countries a campaign will fit in? Thank you anyone hat has advice

[@yuvalgabay1023]

The best advice is(especially for dnd) is keep stuff felxible,and focus on character. Your player's (and readers ) will see world through other people and how they live their life there

[@PlayYourRole]

Advice is always helpful at any stage, but sometimes you have to trust your gut during the initial inception. If someone suggests something while you're still in the idea faze, and it doesn't excite you, don't do it. You have to trust your initial concept and then get others to help develop it!

[@jayfoxx3097]

Good advice. An alternative to the document, for those whose players won't read it, would be to go over all that in a session zero. I had the issue though of it just not mattering anyway because my players didn't seem to care at all what type of campaign setting we were gonna be playing in even after we talked about it in length. I said ti was going to be a somewhat gritty survival setting, low magic high technology, (as in spell components and the like would be very hard to come by, and food/water just as hard). Starting in a desert, would be brutal, people would likely die. Three of the four players made spellcasters. One fit the gritty side, being a sellsword, one is an overly insocent monk from a monestary who makes wine and has a prosthetic arm, and a horse he never rides or acknowledges. And the other two decided they were washed up former rock stars from an old hair metal band who were trying to hunt down their old agent who owed them money... There's been some fun moments, but it's really hard to mantain the vibe when half the players are essentially cheech and chong with guitars. lol

[@TheEnigmaticKasai]

The thing I've found, is that when most players are pitched a "low magic" setting, they assume that doesn't nessicarily apply to PCs, which I honestly think is really fair. If the world doesn't have a lot of magic, then it would make a lot of sense for the few mages there are to be adventurers, or for that to be one of the qualities that sets their character apart from the rest. Plus, then they get to play into the dynamics of NPCs getting freaked out by their magic, or otherwise dealing with however magic is percieved in that world. As a player, I would think it would be a waste NOT to have a magic user in the party to interact with that stuff, similar to how if you tell me "this setting is unfriendly to non-human races" it would feel like a waste not to play a non-human race.

[@ShadowMikku]

I usually just watch your videos cuz they're fun. But I specifically wanted to watch this one cuz as opposed to making a setting for a campaign, I'm making a setting for whole game I'm making. Was wondering if you had any tips in regards to that, if you think it would have different suggestions or ideas than this video would.

[@PlayYourRole]

Hmmm that might be something I might have to make a full video/stream about, it's a big topic!

[@Marcus-ki1en]

Verisimilitude - the single most important trait in a campaign to help anchor players in your world and get their buy in. Wild, crazy worlds make for great novels, but they are really, really hard as gaming environments.

[@cameronlapp9306]

I think part of this is that traditionally there have been more campaign setting materials than campaign materials: a strong pitch of genre & tone is closer to paizo Adventure Paths or 5e Adventure Modules.

[@Rqptor_omega]

I'm just glad that half my players are new,so it'll be "unique" no matter what xD

[@minefreakout5595]

Does any one have a link/tip to more easily make documents like the campaign pitch example?

[@MogoPrime]

Get graphically fancy in a document editor. Whether it's MS Word or Google Docs, you would be surprised at how much graphical decoration you can work in. Mimic layouts, background textures, font styles, etc. from the official guides if you want to have that aesthetic like what was shown in the video. Arrange a page in two columns for text, then just copy-paste in images for your moodboard page(s). I'm a very visual person so I find that seemingly "useless" document decoration actually does a lot to make me want to read a document over a plain black-and-white braindump in Times New Roman size 11

[@cookiescream8004]

My philosophy as a player for TTRPGs is "always plan, but never commit." While I've never GMed myself, my best gaming experiences have been with GMs who follow this principle. In a way, it's akin to making set pieces: they will naturally lend themselves to being arranged in certain ways, but you can always move them around to create a completely different look. I believe the best GMs start their campaigns with an idea of what the overarching plot lines could look like so that they are better prepared and can more easily have the game world react realistically and holistically to the PCs' actions, but never hesitate to make major changes when warranted. And creating a new set by rearranging the set pieces is so much easier than building a new set from scratch.

[@shinankoku2]

My campaign takes place in fifties Vegas baby!!

[@RWCFORESKIN]

Man I wish the last dm I had watched this video. We spent a full hour having him explain us going down this underwater cavern in a submarine. Which could be cool. But here's a quote" you're descending down and down and down. 20ft. 30ft. 40ft. 50ft. 60ft. 70ft. 80ft. 90ft. 100ft" he was actually going to continue that all the way to the bottom until one of our players spoke up and was like ok we get it

[@vinigmoura]

Im a huge fan of the art of telling stories, in my humble opinion in the end what really matters is good characters pcs and npcs. The gimmicks of the world are nothing without good characters to make sense and interact with it

[@incontinentiabuttocks366]

Could we have your campaign pitch so that we could take an example

[@yaroslavyevsieiev5890]

The world is on a huge tree (literally). A planet, an ocean and one tree where all races, beasts, monsters and civilizations live. Is that enough unique

[@williamk52]

I feel like this video is perfect for the current generation. Shallow overtones while making it all about yourself. While older players invest more in understanding that they are characters in a world not a world revolving around their characters.

[@parttimehero8640]

I created a planet hopping campaign with the 10 guilds of Ravnica in space spanning cold war influenced by sengoku era Japan... My player just want to dungeon delve and didn't even notice that humanity was exterminated millenia ago :)

[@MrLozone999]

Yea, because the real world is both simple and complex at the same time, and when you introduce something new it's easier to make it simple and then add a little bit of complexity later on.

[@MrLozone999]

You are able to find this method in most videogames (pokemon, pvz, mario, etc) and alot of real life sports too.

[@Shaso-xv3tw]

I’m very open about the fact that a lot of my setting is basically Conan but Iron Age instead of Bronze Age

[@PlayYourRole]

That's honestly a sick idea

[@jonnyf6664]

i just use the mm monsters and a opd and im going for a gothic setting cough cough undead stuff im gonna let them pick the domain of dread well the players im going for a bloodborne vibe then

[@l.o.b.2433]

Regarding the first few seconds of the video because I want to brag about my world a bit: "I want a chasm" Was roughly the thought I had at work, uprooting my entire campaign setting two weeks before session 1. So I got to building. Roughly 500 years ago, short enough to remember a time before, but long enough to feel like it's always been that way and enough knowledge has been forgotten (going off by human lifespans anyways) an enormous fuck you chasm, seemingly bottomless, opened in the middle of the continent, going all the way from east to west, ignoring mountains and oceans just the same. But the chasm also revealed something interesting. Tunnels stretching across the continent, too deep underground to be found by regular miners. Precious resources could be found there, strange monsters and people encountered. So people - mostly humans - did what they always do. Invent and exploit. They built enormous bridges across the chasm, large enough to built entire cities on them and the Tunnler's Guild was formed. An organisation of adventurers delving into the tunnels unearthed by the chasm tasked with getting resources out and establishing a foothold. To be fair, this world is basically just "What if the Material Plane and the Feywild weren't different dimensions but only separated by a fuckton of dirt and rock", but I think I did a fairly good job giving it a unique spin and a (less unique) Colonial conflict.

[@l.o.b.2433]

And now regarding the actual video: As you can probably guess, I'm not going all too deep in my worlds. I create a general space, a quirk for it, the central theme revolves around, and some of the factions at play. As players create their characters, the world gets additions because of course I could say "Nah, my world doesn't have an Atlantis rip off", but it is way more fun for everyone involved to say "You know what? This is awesome, of course my world has that". I do have a problem with creating enough depth upfront though. Creating a world according to the PCs poses the difficulties that players tend to work on their backstories still well beyond session 1 so it's not at all rare for me to not come up with a "central tension" (to steal the term from Matt Colville) later in the game.

[@vicboi87]

I thought this video was gonna be about how to make changes to existing games and not how to make a new one

[@MostLikelyMortal]

If you don’t enjoy the realistic movement of my world’s tectonic plates then there’s not a place for you on my table

[@jack0lantern03]

Well, I guess I've got an advantage or two with my setting: Ain't no need to set up intricate political relationships and in-depth city maps: AIN'T NONE OF THOSE IN A STONE AGE FANTASY SETTING! Magic? Sorcerers could be a dime a dozen with some ancestor or other doing the unga bunga with a spirit or a nascent god. Wizards? Symbols and pictures on stones, and the casters experiment to see what arrays work and which ones are busts. +1 or enchanted weapons? Onyx (volcanic glass) was considered to have mystical properties in some cultures, if I remember correctly. And hey, you can also go Monster Hunter and have weapons be made of bones, claws and what else and give them special effects What could the players get excited about? Well, there's a whole, wide, wild and primal world to explore, new races to make contact with, titans to gawp at as they walk the lands and uh... loads of other stuff I haven't thought of yet! I'll definitely work with the ideas of my players if they come up with some though. Because if there's one thing I know, then it's that creativity is a two way street.

[@nrais76]

And you've got my kids: Me: ok, we discussed it and everyone is on board with the premise. We're in an independent city which has grown up around a massive megadungeon complex which is so old not even the elder races know who built it. It claims hundreds of lives every year, but perhaps once a decade, someone emerges fabulously wealthy - though haunted. What characters have you brought? Kid 1: I made a Thief. Me: great! Kid 1: she's a flying bird person! Me: I thought we said standard races only? Kid 1: then I'm not playing. Me: ok, well, it's cosmopolitan, so I guess -- Kid 1: great! I'm also claustrophobic. Kid 2: I made a wood Elf druid. Here's my nine oage backstory. Me: Elves can't be Druids in this system. Mind you, I don't know why not, but - fine, Elves can be Druids. But why is a wood Elf druid in the largest city on the continent and spending the entire campaign in a dungeon complex?

[@Bababooey759]

Man my campaign is falling apart, alot of the players left over personal bs but im fine with that. Problemn is now most of the players left are joke characters who i cant think of reasons for why their characters would keep throwing themselves into fights for shit that dosent concern them

[@mikeg8564]

one thing that you haven't taken into account, I didn't make a complex political structure, agriculture trade agreements and seasonal fluctuations as well as migrational patterns because of the players. I did it for me, a empty /hollow world isn't fun to run (for me). Often I'll ask (or a player will ask, but mainly me) why? why is the dragon *here*, why are there bandits, in a world where there's plant growth why do farms exist... and I feel as a dm I should justify these questions with well thought answers.

[@weaponizedflubber1208]

5:50-6:17

[@mikeyrambo2742]

These tips sound really sandboxy, and a lot of them should be apart of your session zero.

[@christopherorndorff4482]

So your suggestion is to have session zero BEFORE designing the game world? I hope you design fast.

[@thegreatandterrible4508]

Caste is pronounced like the word cast.

[@PlayYourRole]

Not if you pronounce it wrong like I do

[@yuvalgabay1023]

I just says:, look ate forgotten realms..and just dont do that. Forgent realsm is just a mess of a world (like mianly by trying to push in every (i mean every ) fantasy's trop ever..there is around 7 ancient super mega cool seciotys. The gods are also a force of nature's but also powerd by belief? Its litraly counter its self). Just dont do it. Get a world .build the basis(remember build enough for your players and flexible enough small scale thats you will able to handle your player's, and picking thems are all ways nice.

[@PlayYourRole]

Forgotten realms is pretty vanilla tbh. Still tasty, but basic!

[@TheMightyBattleSquid]

I care 😭😭😭

[@rdstory7781]

Caste and cast are homophones.

[@nathanmaynes739]

You make claims with too much certainty. I know that my players are loremasters for lack of a better word. They actively seek out ruins and such to gain more information on lore, it's pretty much all they care about. So it's disingenuous to state that all players will be like this imo.

[@andrewthomas9476]

Rather disappointed, All your points your making are valid but theyre so generic i feel i could’ve gotten this advice anywhere else. The mood board idea was interesting, but the rest of it was so broad speaking i didn’t really get anything from what you said. I would love a video describing more specific changes you might have made to bring more engagement into your work. But you saying “base the story around your players” is obvious and unhelpful. Does anyone else feel the same? Or am i wrong

[@djgreyjoy1495]

Much ado about nothing…