Where do i start?

When I am thinking about a new campaign, the first thing I think about is a theme. I’ve done one that was just an open world, high fantasy, rule breaking characters. I’ve built a whole campaign around the idea that the characters started in jail and they had to find out who had put bounties on their heads. I did a high seas adventure that ended up on land more often than not. Now…the driving question for the current one: How would gods come back from near extinction?

Let’s go back one though, to the high seas. I started that campaign after getting a book about nautical mechanics for d20. I found the book quite interesting and addressed some areas that I found lacking in the Dungeon Master’s Guide (D&D 5e). Then came the idea to be pirates…well, privateers anyway. I had no end goal when we started, just a few ideas from backstories given to me. It wasn’t until about half way through the campaign that I came up with the overall plot that was taking place in the background.

For this current campaign, I had picked up the book Arcana of the Ancients (Monte Cook Games) and found the magic meets science idea fascinating. I put a couple of monsters from that book into the current campaign I was running and found them fun (since the players did not know these monsters). I then decided to pick up Beneath the Monolith (Monte Cook Games) and began reading. This book helped me to lay out the world that I would have my players run around in. I know I am not keeping to the full idea of the book as I am mixing it with the traditional fantasy mechanics of 5e. I have also altered some of the world as we have been exploring it.

After getting a basic idea of what I may want to explore in the world, or at least what kind of world I’d like to explore, I let the players know. I give them some set up instructions (like rolling ability scores and any off-limit traits) and wait. Once they start sharing their character ideas and backstories, the rest of the story starts to piece itself together in my mind. Sometimes I find myself having conversations with nobody just to get an idea about a character for my players to encounter.

From that point, it is simply a matter of flushing things out as the players begin to explore. Time goes by as I start weaving the overall theme/plot into the story. I drop information, hints, and  directions throughout the experiences they have, to drive my plot, while the players feel more like they are world shakers. GM secret: We listen to the players and use that against them…often, but we also use the ideas they come up with and twist them into the story. (wink)

The roughest part for me is ending the story. Like all good books, I just want it to keep going. Finding a suitable and satisfying place to jump off and let everything afterwards to just live in the imagination is needed to complete the whole adventure. Closing the book is necessary though, then we can start a new one.

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