How to Make a D&D Campaign (the easy way)

Here's how to create a D&D campaign or adventure, the simple way! ▶️ More below! ⏬
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#dnd #dungeonsanddragons

[@BobWorldBuilder]

💥 James RPG Art: www.patreon.com/jamesrpgart *typo at 4:27, should say "does NOT" 😅

[@NerfThisBoardGames]

Psst Coville usually doesn't do it, he just has an amazing editor who makes it super smooth

[@BobWorldBuilder]

no no, Colville is magical

[@NerfThisBoardGames]

@@BobWorldBuilder I mean, yes he is, but he's openly said in various Q&As that he has an editor and very very few of his videos are ever a 1 take only. I'll try to find a timestamp, I think I'd remember the video name if I browsed it

[@NerfThisBoardGames]

@@BobWorldBuilder alas I have sadly failed, so I'll throw a hail mary in his discord and see if someone else can recall. Either way your content is solid, nice job. Cool aside, I recognized you briefly just past the metal detectors at Unplugged but you seemed busy and my wife and I were deeply determined to get to the merch booth before the hoodies we wanted sold out lol. Hope to see ya there again!

[@zeebzeebo]

why do people suck up to coville so much? he's creepy. Bob is so much better.

[@futurelink1359]

@@zeebzeebo Bob clearly likes and respects Colville. You do not have to like or respect him but you really don't need to go out of your way to be rude either. It's a bad look.

[@herosam93]

You definitely did a better job then if I were to do anything in one take lol

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Thank you haha

[@sagehanson190]

4:22 I agree that a complex villain can be hard to pull off but when it comes to the philosphical debate part I really think it depends on your players. There are plenty of groups out there who love to have their morals challenged, while there are plenty others who just want to fight. The lesson here should be to know your players.

[@MKisFeelinSpicy]

I'm sure he'd agree. He's just mythbusting what new GMs expect a villain has to be and saying it would also speed up your prep time if you write a morally simple villain.

[@drillerdev4624]

Usually a villain sees himself as a hero. You just need to find his justification, or, at the very least, his excuse. Like, why are the aliens forced to dwell in dark caves when they could alter the landscape for their confort, just as the people in the coastal town did? Those hypocrites are no better than us! They displaced lower lifeforms in the process, and so will we! It's natural law!

[@theuncalledfor]

I dunno, his villain kinda has a pretty good point. He just wants his people to have better lives.

[@Taffoman]

I have this cool premise where a city guy sends the players for a fetch quest to the mountain infested with goblins, with their evil goblin leader hoarding the Mcguffing. But the real twist is that the mountain is actually a source of Elyrium, and the cityguy tries to get the players murder the goblin leader because he wants the mining rights to Elyrium and he doesn't want to buy the Elyrium from the goblins. The goblin leader is not evil, and would be willing to start the trade and he is only protecting his people, and the players have to try to overcome their initial instinct of "Goblins = evil" if they want to finish the campaign without shedding the blood of the innocent.

[@drillerdev4624]

@@Taffoman just don't let your players read Goblin Slayer

[@LassBisharp]

Wait a minute, the boss is an alien that needs food to obtain perfection? This is literally just Cell. 😆

[@UnwalledGarden]

“Layers of detail that your players will never know exist.” Very accurate. Still fun for the GM tho. For a lot of us, a big part of “playing” DnD is the creation of players and places - even if they never get used in a game.

[@Novagats]

Yup. I like having rich lore and background that only I will ever know, it makes me feel accomplished.

[@GameMastersAcademy.]

I came here to make this comment

[@Trekiros]

I can't even put together 2 sentences without making at least 5 takes. Great job Bob

[@maromania7]

SAAAAAME! 18 minute video? ok, time to start editing down 3-4 hours of takes XD

[@4Nooby4]

This is so Wholesome I'm gonna try it for my next adventure. Thanks BOB!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Best kind of comment. Thank you! :)

[@stammesbruder]

Regarding the idea of having a "philosophical debate" about the BBEG's points, in my campaign, I turned the script around a little. Instead of making the BBEG deep, I made the adventure the cause of a lot of trouble. A catastrophic evil that WILL turn the tide in the blood war claws itself towards the surface, at which point, all will be lost. The party has to go on a McGuffin quest, collecting magical stones to do the magical thing and 'nope' the catastrophic evil out of existence. As they do it, they learn that almost every time they get towards a major progression point, their actions have severe consequences against their intentions - to save the material plane, if not the entire cosmos. They will save everyone, for sure. But they will have caused so much trouble, that future generations may wonder if it was ever worth it at all. The campaign is about to end in a couple of sessions, and it started to dawn on them, that everything good they ever did was tainted with bad, and we all love it. (The general theme of this campaign is that nothing good is without bad, and nothing bad is without good, so as long as they keep their good intentions, they are reassured to walk the path which creates harm as little as possible).

[@samsampier7147]

That sounds amazing. I was so intrigued by the Nadpod premise, “The campaign after the campaign.” The previous heroes saved the world but mucked up everything up in the process. I was curious if I could steal it for a Eberron campaign. The previous heroes were a group of adventuring misfits who saved everything, but really created a power vacuum. And many groups are vying to fill it.

[@eduardocabrita2862]

Love these tables! Amazing campaign generator, the only thing that I wouldn't do is randomizing PCs, but that's just personally me. Thank you for the video!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Thank you! And random PCs is fun for one shots or very short "campaigns" :) Haven't tried it for a longer one.

[@eduardocabrita2862]

@BobWorldBuilder for one-shots that could work really well! Might try it next time. I did one once where every player was an half-orc barbarian with a different subclass and they where trying to rescue their sister from a wizard... very fun adventure!

[@VeronicaSipe]

I really love the idea of rolling random PCs for one shots. I’ve never had the chance to do it, though I convinced one of my players to do it once, and he ended up with a fairy sorcerer who was very chaotic and he loved him. I roll random characters all the time to get ideas.

[@shounenda4291]

THAT WAS AN AWESOME ONE TAKE I AM SO PROUD

[@darkmoon137]

As someone whos only done homebrew, this is a great outline for structuring a campaign. Thanks bob ❤

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Glad you think so!

[@darkmoon137]

@BobWorldBuilder love your vids bob, have a great day 🥰

[@Slit518]

Run it, Bob, run it! Finally, a reason to use the optional equipment rules in the DMG!

[@hellforgedx]

Fantastic ideas as always! Side note - the random campaign you generated for this is bringing back fond 2e memories of the StarCraft campaign a friend ran way back in highschool 😁

[@lpanebr]

4:33 best advice ever. Plus: great simple tables! On my first attempt to GM, after a 30 years pause, I tried to add intrigue, trauma, politics, etc. Result: A total and utterly failure that resulted in an ongoing 5-year pause. 😞

[@morrigankasa570]

Last year I was potentially going to be a GM for D&D at my local library. But no one signed up to play:( I planned a campaign that would start with Dragons of Icespire Peak with some added twists & sidequests & NPCs I created. Then it would move on to Dragons of Stormwreck Isle with yet more added "Homebrew" things. After that it would move on to an Ancient Tomb Questline with my own twists and things. Additionally, with all this I had my own "Homebrew/House Rules" that would be incorporated with everything. 1 of those things is: Every Plane of Existence is connected to each other, so any & all Races & Backgrounds are allowed as long as they are officially created and/or are from Unearthed Arcana. As well as my own improved Vampire Race & improved Lycanthrope Race.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Well I can say that for public groups, it may be best to plan a few one-shot sessions. That way if one doesn't work out, hopefully another will. And then if multiple sessions work and there are some regular players, then you can think about planning a longer-term game. Good luck!

[@Matt_in_TEXAS]

Great video!!! Keep up the awesome work!!! I mainly play the FFG now EDGE Studio Star Wars RPG Edge of the Empire (Outer Rim Scum types) & Age of Rebellion (Rebels Fighting the Empire types). Your info helps out planning a new campaign that I am working on for the new year. I love the narrative play of this systems dice - the EDGE Studio Genesys RPG uses the same narrative dice.

[@RoyalCrustle]

This actually REALLY helped me figure out the BBEG for my upcoming campaign. Gonna be running DnD for the first time and in a world of my own making at that. Thanks for the great tips. 😊

[@pranakhan]

Man, I've been in this hobby for over 30 years, and this is one of the best pieces I've seen on generating content for TTPRG's! Bravo man, you've got a good thing going here

[@troyschnierer2940]

I really like being specific about a neutral party who may help or hinder outside of the big bad and minions. Great video Bob, the bloopers make it better!

[@MrCoolvonrad]

That was still really impressive, n I like that you just kept it in, keeps it honest and down to earth. Thanks again for the ideas!

[@Archangel144]

Makes it sound a lot easier. Good presentation, and good one-take!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Glad you liked it!

[@_The_Dumbass_]

I appreciate how the captions are based on script rather than auto-generated or including every single slip-up But 8:26 or so, I can't tell what you're saying :(

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Hmm I'll have to check that part. Thanks for the heads up!

[@brianeibert1647]

Great video! I love how you utilized random tables to give you an entry point! Thank you for sharing!

[@nathanschmaltz672]

I really like the asking questions method of campaign building. I'm trying to create a campaign right now and I find it difficult because I don't know how to create a direction. Sometimes you don't know what questions to ask. I appreciate this video.

[@willkeir155]

Raw Bob! I applaud the idea. Random generators to get creativity flowing. For me, this video didn’t come close to pulling off what you have done is so many other videos. Making playing RPGs simple and accessible.

[@Avenrod]

I swear to God. You, Tasting History and the Why Files are the only three channels that make me wait for videos.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

I need a hecklefish sidekick

[@Avenrod]

@@BobWorldBuilder imagine the possibilities

[@CaptainWizard3000]

This is a really great video that I plan to come back to at least once to plan things!! Thanks for all the amazing things you do, Bob!!

[@winterrocket5669]

Perfect timing man, I'm running my first session soon and trying to make sure I have everything I need to do it. This video gave me a lot more confidence and a few more good ideas! Really appreciate it, definitely checking out your other videos. ✨

[@camo770]

I won’t lie, this is helping me considerably with my campaign. I have the idea but writing it down and actually making sessions has been the most difficult thing for me. And with my players anxiously waiting for me to give the go ahead, this will help me summarise what I need to so we can finally kick some undead ass! Thank you bob!

[@DavidPeterson.]

Your channel is God-tier, Bob. Keep up the great work!!

[@cjsher90]

Great work. I wish I thought to all this. Been playing for like 20 years now and I'm watching you discover and discuss things i already know, in real time, but from your perspective. Love the channel, keep building.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Thank you! And just to clarify, I'm about 8 years in and have know this for a while haha

[@cjsher90]

@BobWorldBuilder A thought I had after posting was that ^^^ is most likely the case. So not necessarily in real time, but time is relative, or something like that. Regardless, I always find your insight very useful.

[@ambars_lair]

Eyyy this makes me feel good bout myself cuz I started running my own original campaign a week ago, and I did most of this list's items by instinct :0 Love your stuff! Deffo gonna use this from now on c: (also thx for the twitter like on Pointy Hat's retweeted music for the pleasantres campaign, I was overjoyed when I saw you liked my work

[@rosemarywhitney7156]

Thanks Bob! Entertaining and informative as always!!

[@GMJoeGrey]

Nice tool. Might have to use this for my one shots if players cant show to our normal sessions. Side note: Just got done watching your part with Jorphdan at the summit, great insights.

[@Redcruiser813]

I literally just did this and boy I feel like really got something great here.

[@achimsinn6189]

If you don't like the random rolls you can also just pick one of the options that suits the campaign you want to build. Or you can reroll options that turn out to be too chaotic or seem out of place. Also I would totally have made the villain being a vampyric star fleet officer who feeds on mermaids or something similarly stupid.

[@MemphiStig]

Excellent! This is a great consolidation of the thought process, and the tables are very good, too. Well done.

[@Ice-bh1fd]

This was a great video. I have been gm for like 5 year and sometimes you need to revisit the basics so I do not over complicate things like I tend to do.

[@meshajity]

Making my first campaign and this is a big help, thanks.

[@england101510]

Much appreciated Bob! I’ve been running Dragon of Icespire Peak and you’re giving me the courage to try making my own campaign.

[@peoplecallmepeechez]

Hoping to start running my own home brew campaigns for the first time with my two groups. Going to be in the same setting but set centuries apart. This is definitely going to help me answer some important questions

[@michaelcrumlett187]

Buddy, I AM a random character generator. And my bad guys typically have Doofenschmirtz backstories, but I rarely share them.

[@ProStashio]

I've been looking forward to this

[@notreallyalec]

Thinking of running a home brew 3.5 campaign! This was a lot of help!

[@samuelteare8160]

Awesome guide! Thanks for making it available to the rest of us.

[@alecbosse6425]

That was awesome. Great job, and I say close enough for one take. ☺️

[@eriksalholm]

Great video! Succinct explanation. I’m prepping a campaign. I think you may have just saved me many hours! 😂 Thanks Bob!

[@angelalewis3645]

Such a good, useful video, Bob! Thank you! ❤

[@plixeon]

One take Bob is the best Bob.

[@romanthegm]

Great video as usual Bob. Informative and endearing.

[@TheDurektor]

Totally counts

[@gamemasters]

re one take : always awesome to see, regardless of "goofs" haha. I think for me, it stems from great cinematic experiences and is something I try to do in the majority of my videos as well.

[@DMTalesTTRPG]

Adding endless layers of detail is my happy place. Yes, most of it will never be known-but it’s fun so…

[@terraristit3752]

Thank you. It's the same for me, and the only way I feel comfortable designing campaings.

[@DMTalesTTRPG]

@@terraristit3752 hobbies are supposed to be fun! So endless layers of things no one at the table will ever see BUT CAN LIVE A GLORIOUS LIFE IN MY HEAD…is perfect. And, I’m weird and am ok with that.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Same lol

[@DMTalesTTRPG]

@@BobWorldBuilderit’s a wonderful thing!

[@maromania7]

YEEEES! It's fun! and it's still useful, you're learning and practicing. Like an artist filling a notebook with hands to practice, others may not see the work but they will see the effect!

[@patgauvingeek]

You're an "oath of the one take" paladin! 😂 I love this format: it feels like you're actually there teaching me things. 😊

[@Federe76]

That's one take in my book. I see nothing wrong here. Great video for sparking ideas, nice job.

[@TgPepper]

You’re right my villains don’t need to be morally grey… Because the first thing my party did was attack a band of paraplegics, you see I had planned Atlantis, a city sunken in the sea to be at odds with my player party but now they’re at odds with the “Paraplegion”

[@DazskiG]

I’ve been waiting for a video like this! I have no idea what I’m doing out here and my friends want to play again.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Nice! If you're playing 5e, I recommend picking up the free 5e one shot adventure on my Patreon or DTRPG "Stolen by the Sea". Make it your own!

[@dataraxia3520]

4:27 Your BBEG DOES need a morally grey backstory?? I KNEW it!!

[@lorenzobiraghi2545]

AND at least three of his loved ones were taken away in a tragic, heartbreaking way? I'll get to my notes ASAP

[@BobWorldBuilder]

omg worst typo haha xD

[@dmsaxman]

Keith Parkinson's The North Watch, awesome painting

[@scruffyscruff]

Random rolling on tables is awesome, so many weird and creative ideas emerge you never thought could exist ❤

[@davidmorgan6896]

Yes, I believe JRR Tolkien never went anywhere without a bag of dice.

[@darthaelris2059]

This is cool. I use Mythic but am definitely gonna check this out

[@bol.1615]

Man you were so close to finish line when you got tripped up 😅. Love your content, thanks Bob!

[@davidbrown6325]

Not going to lie. I straight up just copied all those tables and will be using them. New DM here. So this will be gold for when I create my first campaign. THANKS!!!

[@WillShattuck]

Thank you for the great ideas. And Thank you for the great laugh at the end!

[@justafan9206]

Thanks man.

[@trynda1701]

Loves you showing some Spongebob images because of the aquatic city rolled location! 😂😂😂😂 Plus, thanks for leaving in the slight dialogue flubs at the end! 👍👍👍👍😂😂😉😉

[@minimoose7890]

Thanks, Bob!

[@ryansilver4212]

So Close to a perfect take XD Good Vid!

[@tjandoooor4117]

You are awesome my good sir! 😁

[@fullofsmell]

Bob, there truly is nobody like you

[@skulio]

Wonderful, you mentioned it and you delivered. I’m satisfied and I also watched it in one take. 😂

[@choiie]

Amazing! And impressive one take!

[@dustincoopermusic]

This reminds me of that awesome indie rpg Quest (which you can download the rules for free, btw). They have a worksheet to help you not only build your character, but for the GM to start up the campaign too. It really made things very simple to start up (and that game had a great resolution system too).

[@booksr4nerds100]

It's 1.29am and I was going to sleep but hey now I'm making a campaig instead. Great video Bob. Also "The bad man punted Baxter!!" 😂😂

[@BobWorldBuilder]

IM IN A GLASS BOX OF EMOTION

[@timothygutierrez]

Awesome work. ❤

[@berlin_rams_85]

Awesome contest!

[@shasta_creates]

Nailed it!

[@BobWorldBuilder]

😎

[@codyhoney9101]

Dude! I really want to play that campaign.

[@fake_nok]

you did pretty great making it about 9 minutes in without a mistake. i’d screw up in the first minute.

[@BobWorldBuilder]

I didn't say it was my *first take lol

[@VideoSpielplatz1]

awesome supplement, thanks a lot bob

[@Zedrinbot]

Living up to your channel name! The neutral party idea in particular is a pretty good tip. You did forget one thing, however. The LONGEST part of campaign creation as we all know is coming up with a cool name or title for it.

[@UrbanGrillz]

Great video Bob! I'm a huge fan. I'll also use the Monster of the Week, Monster and Minion motivations to create villians and their minions.

[@TheWordN3rd]

Campaign is already started, but we're headed into a mew region here soon and im absolutely using this as my framework.

[@Treebohr]

Colville doesn't get it in one take. Except that one time.

[@petergammell5599]

great stuff, Bob! You're like one punch man, except One Take Man

[@WritofPassage]

We over here struggling to write emails in one draft and bob drops this.

[@bezaocbf]

Awesome video and great and useful tables. I just think storywise, what they want and they need are inverted. Usually, characters don't know what they need, and they think that what they want is what they need , when in reality is something else. 😅

[@chadliampolley6991]

Perfectly Imperfect. :)

[@LordJazzly]

This is actually fantastic; usually, my approach has been to ask and answer 'What's going on?' and then leave it up to the players to decide 'And why do you care?' - but throwing all these elements together gets you about 90% of the way to the opening scene of a fantasy adventure novel. Which is just about the ideal habitat for an adventuring party. Brilliant!

[@LordJazzly]

(My homebrew campaigns are also terrible, so take note of that if you're going to try that; the above method is much more conducive to one-shots where you _want_ players to input a whole lot of incongruous weirdness from the get-go, so that there's more _stuff_ to throw in as the adventure develops, and then you can just leave the mess it's building into on the floor when the adventure is finished, and start a new one)

[@CSquare324]

I count it as one take still, great content! Thanks!

[@TheMacastronomer]

“…add layers your players are never going to know exist.” 😂 So true. It’s a labor of love, because I love thinking about my world and what the backgrounds players are doing, how they react, how they interact… and the outcome is a real feeling world. But, it’s more work. Random is easy and quick… but when I roll I stick to the dice… that’s what makes randomness real. You just need to know what is in the realm of random. Rolling a swamp next to a desert and then having other unlikely encounters of incohesive dice creations. Real world building is a labor of love and only for the long-haul DMs.

[@perkinsdearborn4693]

Gathering what the player enjoys and their character's motivations helps with the adventure hook and central conflict. If they player or character are less inclined, or do not have a stake in the adventure outcome/fallout, that can make the game play a bit poorly. At least that has been my experience. When everything aligns well, then the conflict matters. The stakes are high. And the adventure has consequence.

[@demetrinight5924]

Random tables are some of my favorite ways to come up with adventure ideas. And yes because you didn't stop recording, this counts as 1 take.

[@RuiSaltao]

hey, one take!!! so professional

[@jeffreybarker357]

I love you, Bob.

[@RIVERSRPGChannel]

Good tips

[@BobWorldBuilder]

Thanks Rivers!

[@gendissaray]

I've always wanted to do a fully random generated session.

[@lorinpino6844]

Random tables can certainly help get ideas going. Another book (and game) that people might find useful for that sort of thing is Worlds Without Number. Anything from random npc information to regions, terrain features, and governments. I've never tried to run that system, but I bought it specifically because of people mentioning the tables as a tool to give your imagination a starting point for certain things. Check it out if you haven't already.

[@user-cj8yc6ys5p]

I would absolutely love to see you discuss Call of Cthulhu