Your D&D Plots Suck Because...

Your D&D plots suck because you aren't folding your plot threads together. In a D&D campaign, the story can become blotted and completely fractured. But by weaving different plot threads together, like a web, you can make a D&D campaign that feels cohesive.
Disclaimer: This video is made from my own opinions and experiences. It is filled with my own bias. You might have a different opinion. Great! Leave it in the comments. However, be respectful and don't shutdown discourse. Thank you - Colin
OnlyCrits affiliate link:
www.onlycrits....
Remember to enter the coupon code DUNGEON to get a discount on your order.
For business inquiries email: [e-mail]
forms.gle/JiCZ...
Here is a google form to request videos, give feedback, etc.
#dungeonsanddragons5e #ttrpg #dungeonsanddragons #dnd5e #DnDAdvice #rpg #dndcharacter #DnDTierlist #howtobeagreatdm #dmtips #enterthedungeon

[@gopro_audio]

There is something even the best creators forget... Character Arc is story. Adventures and Situations are not stories. Even professional writers make this mistake. Characters arc from best to worst, or from worst to best. This is the story in your adventures.

[@nathanpetrich7309]

This is true. While the web conceit is great for making the world feel integrated, if the player characters lack internal conflict in their stories then the narrative will ultimately amount to nothing more than a bunch of heroes team up to fight evil. I guess that's up to the players, though.

[@buggit]

This is true, however I think it'd be best to broaden this idea; it isn't just the characters arcs that are the story, it is the changes. A story is only engaging if something changes. The world, a character, or any small detail about those things are all interesting and easy to imagine. A dragon has attacked a city? How has the city changed (or responded in other words) to this attack, how has the local shopkeeper changed due to this event? Perhaps he's begun moving the majority of his stock to a safer location, perhaps he's hunkered down and bought some magical protection for his shop, or perhaps he's taking people in his shop as shelter. What changes are happening due to a change, THIS is what makes a story a story. Once you know this, all you need to do is answer the basic questions, who what where why when how, then the changes will not only provide a story, but will provide an INTERESTING story.

[@enterthedungeon]

Edit: Something I wanted to put here was that you can absolutely change your central node mid campaign if it isn't working or the campaign goes in a different direction. The plot web is a tool for visualizing and structuring campaigns. Structure is helpful but making it a rigid maze that players HAVE to run through is usually not fun. If you liked this video, considering commenting below. The KZbin algorithm loves comments.

[@chazzitz-wh4ly]

Some good advice I got from another DM was that the players don’t know what the DM preps. We can add or remove whatever, we can change things on the fly. All the players want is something to invest in that pique their interest and that usually involves the players’ characters themselves.

[@kevincruz7857]

Been using this low key, but seeing it in visual mode in nodes really helps visual the campaign as a whole. Thanks for the vid

[@loganswalk8621]

I typically do arc based storytelling arc 1 is a plot hook I already planned out but then I use a players backstory to plan out the next arc and connect them back to the main plot and repeat as need.

[@mrnixon2287]

Great video. Really thought provoking. I copied your web layout and plotted in my campaign hooks. I used a city as the central location which is where 50+ rpg sessions have taken place. Naturally, i needed to make some additional connections here and there but manged to use your layout 90-95% as is. 10+ years playing the same campaign helped! I covered up the 'yet to take place' events/locations/imp. NPCs and took a picture and sent it to my players. This process of mapping my campaign really affirmed how connected the story hooks are already but in a visual map and showed where certain story pathways might lead. Brilliant! Your video also reminded me to keep the PCs backstories front and centre and give each PC in the campaign their moment in the limelight in the campaign. Summary of my campaign: Port city becomes location for evil cult, party discover in larger plot when an magician ally is captured. Upon rescue of magician party entangled in larger plot to stop cult from freeing cable of vampire demi-gods from exile and embark on vital quest to secure legendary relics from secret armoury once used in ancient war now needed to help defense of city of magic vs vampire worshipping cult and evil horde. Dark god gathering followers. BBG pawn of Dark god has sent assassins to stop party.

[@logophilelyss4390]

Meanwhile I'm over here connecting nearly everything to the point of ridiculousness lol

[@FrostSpike]

All good stuff though sometimes it's a fine line between "connected" and "contrived". In my current campaign, the PCs are "Fate Touched" and these sorts of "coincidences" are explained away by them being connected by the threads of fate. However, even so, some random encounters, or even whole side-quests, are not connected to the main plot or any backstories - they just are just standalone pieces played for fun. Also, some players don't want a main story, they just want their characters to go and wander around the world having arbitrary, episodic adventures without a clear plot ending in sight. The plot, if any, is just emergent from the choices that they make in game. It's different when you're making a show for an audience compared to just running a game for the players.

[@chazzitz-wh4ly]

My first dip into DMing was a disaster. I tried the sandbox thing and it just burned out after one session because there was no guidance. They didn’t know what to do or where to go and I had nothing really prepared because I had no idea what they would do. I had three hooks planted and none of them really took, again, they decided what they wanted to do and they all ended up doing something different. I took that and I moved into episodic one shots. I prepped a few things and became flexible with what they decided to do. I sprinkled in small things that pointed to something bigger and that got them interested because now they have something to invest in. I introduced recurring characters and clues and that really got them interested. The burning mark on the random wright? Tied to a warlock looking to escape his debt to his patron. A talking skull in a random wizard tower? The skull of a rival warlock who bound his soul to an item in the world. Trevor the Merchant? Why is he always everywhere the players are? Why does he always seem so oblivious to the dangers around him? I found that just giving my players a small taste of a bigger event in the world was enough to bring them back week after week even after the first session we ever did was a disaster. Then you add in a bit from player backstory and they’re locked in. Dragonborn bounty hunters looking for a fugitive gladiator champion who reneged on a deal? Now the other players want to know what the dragonborn was before they partied up.

[@AlexLawngtv]

I found your channel a little while ago. I've really liked your takes. Your style aligns with mine and having someone who thinks along the same lines is really helpful to get extra insight on my own DMing.

[@its_nuked]

Tyvm. Hope the people disagreeing dont feel too harsh, dif tables dif ppl, but i think that for tables that care for narrative, this is absolute gold. Thank you. 🙏✨️

[@abelsampaio389]

It might vary from group to group, but I find it really odd when everything, from the 1st kobold burrow that the players find to the archduke of the area, all happens to end up connected to the BBEG. Your players won't know this from the start, of course but eventually when they do, they can trace it back. It feels like those old cartoons where a conflict arises, the protagonists look it up and it always leads to another trick of the same moustache twirling bad guy. The story becomes predictable. In this way, players can predict that every single conflict that arises is somehow work of the campaign villain. That's why I like working in arcs. You develop a conflict, and then sort of work through that web, where everything eventually leads to the BBEG, and then they beat it. But towards the end of that arc, you plant seeds for the next one. So, the players look for those seeds, and they get into another arc. Also, I think there is value in just having quests that happen in the game not being related to really any major scheme. They ease the fatigue of high stake encounters all the time. Sometimes, you just fight some gnolls or loot a dragon's treasure, and it doesn't have to do with the BBEG, and that's ok.

[@ValoriYT]

This is honestly brilliant! Thank you for the insight, I will definitely implement this in my campaigns :)

[@pdaddy989]

Love this! This is going to change my game! Maybe this is a dumb question but would you be willing to go into further detail for the web and nodes? Perhaps tips on natural progression getting further to the center node? Tips for multiple points leading to a single point.. whatever insight you can give there. Thanks!

[@Yarradras]

He has an hour long video on here going into detail

[@Axiom_Link]

Great videos, my man! Thanks for this help

[@samuelmitchell6328]

I really like this. Do you have any other examples of connecting nodes. Also how would we apply this in a spiral campaign method? I think being able to work from the end of the web to the middle when the middle doesn't exist yet would make this probably the best thing I've seen narratively, any advise?

[@samuelmitchell6328]

For anyone thinking the same thing @thexasti gave great advice in one of the earlier comments on how to solve this. Though I do think the advice in the video is great too.

[@enterthedungeon]

Sure! A simple example would be linking 2 PC backstories through the same NPC. Say an unnamed soldier trains the fighter and a named NPC eventually becomes the mentor for a paladin. You can connect those two ideas by the soldier being the paladin's mentor. Now there is a link that spiral off into other topics. As for working towards the end, that is also easy. Honestly this is the best response to @thexasti's comment. As you progress and gain plot nodes, you connect them together into larger and larger concepts. Ideally you use PC backstories as the tent poles for this method, always trying to plug things in when you can at the start. Then the further you go on, you continue to weave things together organically until they conclude at something. However by not having a central node in mind, you run the risk of bloating your campaign and not being able to bring it together at a satisfying conclusion (an example of this would be Critical Role's campaign 2 where they needed an entire mini campaign to wrap up SOME of the story because it had grown too large). The great thing about this method is you can easily add in new plot nodes to the structure and shift around the entire campaign. You might find that the central node at the start of your campaign changes along the way. I still recommend having something you can call the center at the start just so that you have a bit of focus. But all DMs should do what makes them most comfortable and allows them to run the best campaign they can!

[@samuelmitchell6328]

@enterthedungeon If i were to do this in a modular fashion, it would be linking a players backstory, lineage/species, class, background or goal to a location, npc, item or event and then have an overlap with one of those factors for another player?

[@enterthedungeon]

You've pretty much got it. Pick that first node, link it to another location, npc, etc. and have it overlap. The overlap is the most important part at least for me and my players.

[@intrepidfool]

Thanks for your thoughts on this topic. I thought the video was well put together.

[@Privatestock10]

I would love to see an example of one of these with the nodes labeled.

[@redbeastvfx]

What do you use for your Story Webs?

[@thegneech]

I was hoping to find an answer for this myself. I know there are various mind-mapping tools out there, but I have no idea which (if any) are any good.

[@Darkwintre]

In my defence if you're going to come up with a very stupid back story that makes no sense I am going to slightly alter it so it does make sense especially if you're running a Fallen Aasimar Folk Hero and think having you and your parents ambushed by starving peasants during a walk in the countryside when you have mentioned your family is dirt poor and wouldn't be caught like that. So travel to the city to meet friends who are helping keeping them afloat and they're ambushed because the PC's father has an identical twin brother whose a member of the Royal Guard. Throw in that the PC's mother is a former Sun God Cleric who transferred into the Redeemer faith to escape a Sun God Priest stalking her only to move out into the village where she met and married his father. Mistaken identity led to the attack that killed his parents and the boy manages to kill one of the attackers but escapes certain death when those friends they were going to meet arrive to rescue him. He's now the squire to the Knight his father befriended and the game opens with said mentor's death and the squire dealing with the ramifications of possibly succeeding his mentor as a leader of the Free Knights he was basically responsible for creating. Another PC is an acolyte and a survivor of the Sun God faith when an extremist faction takes it over and ends up with the group after an attempt to send the city into the Shadowfell is narrowly thwarted at the cost of an NPC Cleric who assigns the PC Cleric the charge of protecting the relic she was carrying. The other two a pair of half elves (yes it was set in Exandria though I think none of them thought this through properly. Me on the other hand was trying to shift the game world off of Exandria as they were doing pretty much anything to avoid asking questions on the setting or even the roleplaying opportunities where there was several). Their village was attacked by Orcs and was hinted that was because one of them stole an enchanted cape that was an Orc relic they wanted to recover. Sadly the Sorceror half of that pair ran a game of his own that was originally inspired by Dragonlance, but instead of continuing that much better game decided to shift his game to Exandria despite him previously stating several times that it wasn't set on Exandria! Shame really he only had to ask and let me have the opportunity to shift my game off of Exandria and he wouldn't have had any problems except my character in his game wouldn't be coming along. He screwed up his introductory game by crapping on her back story instead of not involving her story in his supposedly not important introduction. Killing off that character's only reason to be involved is a dumb thing to do, but he genuinely didn't give a damn about either game only succumbing to his critical role obsession because he completely forgot what he was supposed to be running. Sorry its been over 2-3 years and that still annoys the heck out of me. I would have described myself as barely an average dm at best, but at least I'm actually trying and he just faceplanted both games out of pure stupidity!

[@Darkwintre]

Apologies I feel this needed a better explanation the character was originally a Ranger he asked converted into a cleric using his previous domains I created a version of Sehanine Moonbow named after Deanna Troi's late sister (Kestra) because his then setting used Star Trek characters as Deities. Once the game started he shifted it to the Dawn War Pantheon which wasn't necessary since it wasn't set on Exandria, but after the first session where my character's only motivation was answering a call for aid from her son he proceeded to kill off said son off screen and refused to let her confirm his death or simply leave it as unconfirmed. The hamlet he set that opening game ended up at was a damn good place to start a low level game but he then shifted it back to the port city as he literally cannot run the game properly! I ran my game next so answered his stupidity by revealing my character was banished from an entirely different world of Exandria and was recovering from temporary amnesia after her son was killed in the opening events of the game I ran. Literally fulfilled that part in about 15-20 minutes then gave them the chance to go wherever they wanted and instead of actually exploring the setting they latched on to the missing prince and refused to be budged until they met determined resistance than hid and sneaked around avoiding open conflict where they could even when it involved talking to NPCs who knew something they should have been wanting to find out as in the case of the Fallen Aasimar Folk Hero and his late father's twin brother who left the royal guards along with others in protest at the cover up of his nephew's parents murder. He literally left him behind and ran rather than talk to him! The Sorceror player often had to run his wife's rogue character as she wasn't that interested in the game so he asked for her character to lose her four Bard sidekicks who comprised her own thieves guild. The Sorceror is wearing a vestige that caused the death of everyone in his village and he wants to strip his wife's character of her starting magical item because he found them boring! Then he pulled his stunt in his game and demonstrated he can't even keep that straight! Sorry the way I looked at that his stunt moved my game setting off of Exandria and destroyed his own with his port city replacing the shattered capital where my setting had been located but my character didn't come along as she was still banished. If he ever reads this let him know his character is presumed killed when a certain Falazure the Night Dragon from Izmer was released by his "mistake" only driven off by the returned Vall as Rothenel is now where Bottlequay had been before it was dumped where Gileam was. All of that happened before the opening of the last session I played in since it was only after that he decided to jump settings! Please note ALL of Rothenel was moved so none of the characters they played are still present so if they do jump settings to his game they aren't the same characters but I see no reason to deny them that option as its the only way they can continue running those characters in a setting set ONE HUNDRED YEARS before Vox Machina first appeared! I suspect they've overlooked that part! Given I cannot continue this game because of that act of stupidity the other characters are now NPCs in Wrenn where I will treat them decently since they had nothing to do with that idiocy! Many thanks if you do manage to let them know about this just tell Vince to change his sword into a Battle Axe +1 with the ability to turn into 2 Moon Touched Hand Axes and Paul's holy symbol is now +1 as he's lost the reliquary he was carrying. Vince always preferred axes as his characters weapon and Paul wasn't interested in the reliquary anyway.

[@Zamun]

Thanks for the content.

[@TheXasti]

This is bad advice for DMs. It is implying that the best campaigns are fully written before the first session and the bbeg is someone you are constantly building towards. You, I, and the others watching are not professional writers. Getting a fully fleshed out campaign before the first session is impossible for anyone, I don't care if you are Matt Mercer or BLM. What you should do is start your campaign and wrap threads together. Pick something from last session and make it matter this session. The goblin you killed had been hired to steal a priceless relic and now your party is being strong armed into doing the deed. Take elements of what happened previously and make them central to new threads. Looking back, it seems it was always connected but in the moment, you aren't trying to create a grand narrative, you let it happen as the players direct.

[@samuelmitchell6328]

I think having an idea of who or what the main threat of your campaign is and connecting it in the same way is common. It's even advice given in the DMG when making a campaign. Though i really do like the advice you gave in the bottom paragraph and it iust answered the question I left in a different comment. Thank you for the advice, but remember we all build and play differently and though the advice may not apply for you it may be helpful for somebody else. Personally the video was helpful for me because I've recently tried building with the main threat of an arc in mind, but I usually don't and have still had the problem of making the story feel cohesive which again your advice has definitely helped give me a plan of action to rectify. Thanks, hope all your sessions are great.

[@enterthedungeon]

I want to try and answer this comment bit by bit because I think there are some misunderstandings. "It is implying that the best campaigns are fully written before the first session and the bbeg is someone you are constantly building towards." Like I said in the video, it's important to add to the plot web. New things are going to pop up and be added. As for something you're building towards, while BBEG is an example it doesn't have to be. Largely my campaigns are centered around a concept. However, every prewritten D&D campaign ever written was built around a villain, a final dungeon, an item, or a core concept. Every D&D campaign I've ever been a player in has done the same no matter what style it was. "What you should do is start your campaign and wrap threads together." My assumption is that this sandbox style of a campaign is the type you enjoy most. These are fun campaigns. But other players and DMs might sit down at the table wanting a story. They want a grand narrative or a game that doesn't meander from session to session. In that case, they would be unhappy with this type of campaign. However, even with a sandbox campaign, there still is a central concept (sometimes a BBEG). It can be as simple as "exploring the world" or "helping the kingdom" or "becoming great adventurers." The campaign will naturally balance around something (whether the DM intends it too or not). "you let it happen as the players direct." In any TTRPG campaign, players are directing the action. However since the Game Master creates the world, that underlying structure is our responsibility. How, what, and to some extent when things interact flow through the GM in this medium. Just because you construct these background connections doesn't mean that players are not directing the game. They act as a structure which makes the game feel more fluid and real. With all that being said, this might be terrible advice for DMs! I don't know. However, dozens of other DMs and me have used this method for years with great success. But just because a piece of advice works for some people doesn't mean it'll work for all.

[@TheXasti]

@@enterthedungeon Thank you for the reply. My point about wrapping threads together is to tell a grand narrative when you don't have any clue where it's going. Critical Role, Campaign 2 had a massive plot arc about the Drow. But the first dozen sessions had no direct threads to it. They resolved two minor arcs that did not touch the central narrative. The bbeg, the main one in my campaign is TBD. There are several contenders but how they interact with and survive the players determines if they are going to be the final and ultimate bbeg or not. I'm not going to warp a story to insist a singular entity is the bbeg because the campaign I've plotted out demands it. That is both unsatisfying to a player and to me as the DM. I don't know where the story is going, and I'm happy with that. The players determine the trajectory and I build along it as they go. Was the npc in session 3 the final bbeg? Or the King of the kingdom? The players' actions determine that and that will tell a much more player driven story. I have an artifact the players need to recover. If they fail, the entity it imprisons will be their bbeg. But I'm not going to force that outcome. If they players succeed, that threat is gone. It won't be easy for them to do so but it will be up to them and their actions to decide how it plays out. My concern is that new DM's will watch this and think they must have a singular bbeg and tie everything together ahead of time instead of after the fact. And when the players effectively kill or cripple or prevent the bbeg from being able to be the bbeg, they panic and railroad the campaign to get "back on track". You are correct, a lot of campaigns have a central narrative and thread. Concept, person, place. But they don't always have to and the most compelling story is one that bears the mark of your passing.

[@freeshavaacadooo1095]

He isn't pre-writing the campaign. He's creating connection that already exist in the world that can be levied as the campaign goes on, creating an overaching connective structure that guides and shapes the sessions in a meaningful non-bullshit-random way.

[@mjolasgard2533]

LOL Stupid Internet Man? My new catchphrase...

[@gmanbo]

I am going to have to disagree for some tables and types of campaign. Because if everything links back to something the players don't want to deal with. It's a rail road by points. Everything links back to the center. The concept in essence is not bad. The key is finding what the players latch onto/ care about for the end game boss section and then build this out from there. A few disconnected pieces in the beginning might be needed but link them to other villians and then tie the whole thing up after you settle. It's entirely possible that your players will skip out on a web like this unless they have agreed to the end game here in the beginning and they get that it's essentially a massive puzzle. However putting several interacting webs down on the map that compete and pull away at each other should work.

[@gmanbo]

What I'm attempting to point out is. Players are not stupid. Eventually they will see the links and read into the connections into the central node. If they don't like that node they may specifically resist traveling towards it. So create a new one and repurpose the old central node. Possibly several minor ones depending on what the characters changes what is the event in that final node. Keep in mind the other pieces of the web your players haven't accessed yet and pull that into the central area as well or. Repurpose that into a new branching story pulling partly on its origin in the old one. Anyway ideas and extensions on the displayed concept.

[@enterthedungeon]

While I disagree with this being railroading, but 100% agree that if your players aren't bought into the central concept of a campaign, then they won't enjoy it. Luckily, as you pointed out, if your original central node isn't working you can switch it to the thing your players are more interested in. I've done this in many of my campaigns. Thanks for commenting!

[@adampender2482]

Of course if you run sandbox like Gary Gygax intended, none of this matters. There you go again with backstories. Backstories weren't intended to be tied into campaign. Three sentences cover a characters story. It's not what cones before first level that matters, it's what happens after at session 1.

[@sooiton]

If you connect the story to the backstory of your player's character the player feel like the story was written with them in mind. For example let's say one of the characters is a folk hero, maybe someone recognises him when they stay near a village, the npc might even view that player's character as a hero and wishes to become his square