Campagn Design for Dummies

[finarvyn]

For me, a "new campaign" may mean a new world, a variant rules set, or a combination of the above. Over the decades I've run countless small campaign worlds. Back when we logged in heavy game time, I used to run a campaign world for around 9 months before I grew tired of it and moved on to another one. That means I had to constantly create new campaign worlds, which I've enjoyed doing, and I thought I'd share some of my tricks.

My starting point is typically creating a concept. Perhaps I want something with a Middle-earth feel, or a gritty urban setting, or whatever. Perhaps I want to emphasize a particular race or class, which might imply a "thieves campaign" or a "monks campaign" or a "dwarves campaign" setting. Maybe it's a matter of technology, such as one with flying ships or guns or knights-and-jousting or whatever. This helps to make the campaign seem different from others I've run.

My second step is typically to do some google-fu to look for artwork. Many of my campaigns have character sheets which are customized to fit that setting -- the main sheet may not change but I change some graphics or logos. For example, maybe I can find a Ravenloft logo I like, or Iron Kingdoms, or some other artwork I can snag to help create the mood of the campaign I want to run. This means I won't share or publish my old stuff (heck, I don't even keep a lot of it anymore) but my players won't mind if I steal the name of a setting from another source.

From there, I create a map. It doesn't have to be large because my plan isn't to run the thing forever. It has to be big enough to allow players to explore a bit, and it should contain some interesting places to attract their attention. I have a mental list of place names which I reuse. For example, "the Free City of Greyhawk" appears in most of my settings. It's not Gary's Greyhawk, but it makes for a familiar place for folks to call home. I like to pull names from Tolkien's Middle-earth, Conan's Hyboria, and other literary sources. The advantage to this is two-fold: (1) I have a sense as to what happens there and what to expect, and (2) the players might have a notion as well, which is logical to me because the PC's might have heard of places far away in their own world. (For example, I've never been to Paris France, but I could "wing it" in an adventure because I've heard of the place and know a little about the people, their customs, and a few places to visit there.)

At this point, the "campaign" is nearly ready to go. I try to imagine the political situation, decide upon a few interesting dungeons for folks to explore, and think about what types of monsters might appear in this world. Some worlds might emphasize orcs as the primary baddies, another skeletons, still another could be drow. This kind of thing makes each setting feel different. I also have a few 'stock' characters to use as NPCs, or some taken from books. Recycling isn't a bad thing becasue it breeds familarity, plus I can tweak a character to make him different each time he gets encountered. (What if Elric was a Paladin instead of a troubled fighter-sorcerer?)

Anyone else have suggestions? How do you run a campaign?

[The Semi-Retired Gamer]

finarvyn that's great advice; very helpful!  I like to keep a list of important NPCs with notes like "similar to the portrayal of Merlin in Excalibur" so I can be consistent in their portrayal.  I don't do goofy voices or anything but I do aim for the NPC in question to be portrayed with the same attitude, outlook, etc. each time they are encountered.  

[Necromancer]

Great post on a very interesting topic, finarvyn! I must say it reminds me quite a lot of how I like to design settings of my own creation. I usually start with some sort of theme(s), and try to build it from there, combining different ideas. For my current main RPG project I wanted to go for a sword & sorcery setting, and I wanted to differentiate it from many of my previous campaign worlds. Those have usually been semi-high fantasy settings set in a pseudo-medieval, eurocentric world inspired by elements taken from Middle-Earth, Hyboria and Magnamund. (I've done other stuff as well, but this has been something of a default setting for me). But, as I stated above, this time I wanted to do something different. So I changed the historical inspiration from the Middle Ages to more Ancient times, and switched from Europe to the Middle-East, Africa and Asia. Then I decided to leave out the Tolkienesque heritage (I love the works by Tolkien, but this time I wanted something else) as well as other "traditional" races and monsters. Instead, I focused on humans as PC's, and giant animals, prehistorical beasts, some undead and lovecraftian horrors for monsters. "Humanoids" or "demi-humans" became lizardmen, insectoids, apemen etc. After that, things have started to roll, and I've come up with some interesting places, cultures, nations and backdrop stories. At this stage, I've found inspiration for the project have almost become self-referential, but obviously originally taken from external sources in the shape of our own world, its history and geography, as well as fiction.

[bigfeet]

I have to admit I am very inspired by so many influences it can be very hard to pick just one thing over another! I guess my best practice is to make a list of them all and pick and choose ala the menu method! Another problem I have is with the term "high fantasy". It is kind of a bland catchword to me these days. Super gonzo,rip-snorting fantasy is really more of what I'd like to create. Laws of science? Out the window with you! This is magic! The raw primordial stuff gone back to it's roots. Floating islands and flying ships happen because the magic saturates everything! Law and chaos are the building block essence of the magic, and each has their servants, armies and slaves. Neutrality is stasis, or worse ... reason, the antithesis of the magic!

[Admin Pete]

Bitd I used to design my campaigns about 98% bottom-up and 2% top-down, with the majority of things generated on the fly as they happen. Then came those years after college when I moved to a new city and where I had no one to game with. During that time period I did a lot of top-down design. When I resumed playing, I went back to the way I originally did it, but over the last few years I have been moving to gradually more top-down design.

Now there is a lot of advice out there for top-down design, most of which is directed towards writers of novels and not to refs of OD&D. Eventually I will be posting my own guidelines; however, I want to emphasize that there is no hard and fast how to do it. Guidelines not rules!  As robkuntz says

The detail was added on two levels which varied by weight according to: 1) what I found interesting for the players; and 2) what they pursued in game contexts. So the weight shifted according to design and play choices, as I've noted. Describing a fantasy world is an ongoing infinite process, especially when linking content to it that could take the DM and players on paths to the outer realms, dimensions and what-not in the exploration of the unknown. Thus the variability for design and implementation paths are rich and as such cannot be specifically described through linear mindsets (How To processes) just as a real world state cannot be described, as the extant processes are too many and varied. One just goes with the flow, so to speak, though this is more of a general view to what is actually unfolding in complex yet organized ways.

IMO you need someplace to start. The places where an experienced ref and a first time ref start will be different. As an experienced ref think of what interests you as a ref and as a player, then think about what has interested your fellow players over the years and what interests your current players to the best of your knowledge and of course ask questions and observe. Look for where the different view points overlap. Those are good places to start. If you have no experience, then talk with your prospective players and find out what interests them and find the points where their interests and yours intersect, then as you play ask questions and observe. How to lists can be helpful as idea generators, but not as maps to be slavishly followed. Be willing to tweak things if it is not working. There are "facts" and then there are FACTS. Legends, stories, folk tales and histories have limited accuracy and things you "know" may not be so. Other things will not change: the world is round, there are three moons and the sun is orange.

What are your inspirations? Are you really into Tolkien or REH/ERB or post Tolkien or before Tolkien. Do you like all of the realms of fantasy and mix it all in. Do you like a gonzo feel with bits and pieces of modern tech thrown in. Is magic common or rare. There are whole worlds of choices to make. Do your research and decide on the vibe you want and then proceed.


So "go with the flow" and follow your muse! Make something uniquely yours!

[finarvyn]

Now, an interesting thing to note is that my FIRST campaign wasn't designed at all like my original post might suggest. I'm talking here about the way I currently design campaign settings.

My first campaign in '75 grew and evolved naturally. I started off with a dungeon that got deeper and deeper. Somewhere along the line we added "the village" where folks could go to buy supplies and such. A few adventures happened as the group had to trek overland from the village to the dungeon and back. Some encounters were tough enough that the party had to retreat back to the village before they even got to the dungeon, so they could rest and heal and start over.

With time, the village got fleshed out more and more. A few shopkeepers grew names and personalities. The terrain surrounding the village and the dungeon became standardized instead of random. (We played on the Outdoor Survival map at first, since OD&D seemed to imply that was what folks did.) Eventually I made up my own area wilderness map and expanded it to other nearby kingdoms. Like Dave's Blackmoor campaign, my campaign centered around a small barony with "the Empire" somewhere off stage.

Still later, as characters grew in levels, the maps (now not-so-cleverly dubbed "Second-earth") had to expand because my group took up the hobby of exploration. A few baronies and smaller nations became a complex assortment of nations occasionally fighting one another. We brought miniatures combat back into the campaign scale as one of the players took over a barony and inherited an army, then he started conquering other castles and eventually a small nation. This led to him assaulting larger nations and me having to expand the map even farther. Our final result was a massive world war. When the group finally won the war, we decided that they had beaten the campaign and it disbanded.

My Second-earth campaign ran from '75 until '85, and then I had to go off to graduate school and the group scattered. Since then, I haven't had a single campaign last more than around 9 months.

[tetramorph]

I think this would be my campaign design for dummies (I may add to this post as I think of other things):

Start at both ends, top most level and bottom most level. Work towards the middle and fill things out through play.

Bottom up: you need a "home base," a village, town or even city with a dungeon underneath it or on top of it for you first lvl PCs to work up and out from. Then ask the "W" questions: who, what, when, where, why, how, how much? Why is there a dungeon under this village? Who built it? Why are your PCs desperate enough to go down there? Who are these character classes? Why? When is it? What mixes of when (standard medieval fantasy with gaslight steam punk? sure, go for it)? What do the characters want? The village? Where in your world is it? (As you answer that question, you move on to working from top down.) How will your characters get what they want? The village? The kingdom? How have the monsters taken over and become such a problem? How much of a problem is it presently? How much can the average villager do?

Top down: Is this on earth, an alternative earth, an imaginary plane, another planet? What is the immediate region around the home base like? What is the largest scale you want to start at? Continent? Planet? Region? Kingdom? What is it shaped like? Where is the water? The mountains? The forests? The fields? The settlements and strongholds? Are you going to use Out Door Survival or not? If so, are you going to modify it? If so how? When is this? Prehistoric earth? Medieval earth? Medieval Europe? Medieval Japan? Biblical times? Why are there monsters? Are they everywhere? Are they only in the wildernesses and underworlds? Why? How did they get there? How did they get all that treasure? Why? What are they doing (or not) with it? Who is in charge? Where is their rule not recognized? Why not? Who cares? Do your characters? Should they? Could they?

Keep asking these questions and answering them imaginatively as your PCs interact with the world at higher and higher levels. Never assume you are finished.

[Von]

I do enough top-down work to have ideas about cities, nations, religions and - this is the biggie - all playable races and classes, with reasonable variations so that we don't have any boring "the hobgoblin nation worships the god of hobgoblins and principally exports hobgoblin mercenaries who speak hobgoblin." When a player asks "so what's this place like then?" I generally want to have an answer at once. "I 'unno, you make it up" works but only by degrees and contexts. If you're too free with that you end up with the world radically rearranging because some player's had a brainwave and made up two new countries and a major religion that needs crowbarring into the pantheon. That might be terribly exciting in a gonzo game where nobody had preconceived ideas at the start and you're sharing development/refereeing responsibility, but it might also be frustrating in a world which you've engineered for your own pleasure and are inviting others to inhabit on a part-time basis.