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Sculpting a Campaign, How do you do it?
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<blockquote data-quote="Nathan P. Mahney" data-source="post: 3344910" data-attributes="member: 29748"><p>I usually start with a 'Big Idea', and extrapolate stuff from that.</p><p></p><p>My current campaign's Big Idea was a simple one - the bad guys won, and the sun was destroyed hundreds of years ago, and the world is pretty much post-apocalypse D&D in an eternal night. From there I went through the core rulebooks and jotted down some quick notes on how the major elements of the game would fit into that setup. The next step, as it has been for my last couple of campaigns, is to go through Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles. I don't know if they're on the web anywhere, but they are the most useful articles from Dragon Magazine ever. Seriously good stuff, and I'd love Paizo to release them in a single volume.</p><p></p><p>As for long-term storylines, I usually work in broad outlines. Start with a couple of broad plots that the PCs could follow. For me, restoring the sun was an obvious one. I've placed Civilization to the north, with passage to be bought at a price, so the PCs could make getting there a goal. I also decided that an army of orcs would show up eventually to attack the PCs settlement. Why? Dunno - these things have a tendency to link up eventually. Checking PC backgrounds is also a good idea for adventures.</p><p></p><p>From there I just let the consequences of the game dictate the direction. One particularly obnoxious NPC became the target of some PC hate, so now he's being groomed as a major villain. One cleric had to atone, so I designed a dungeon which I liked so much I'm expanding it into a megadungeon. The leader of the settlement died while adventuring with the PCs, so there's trouble brewing there as well. One PC wanted an oriental-type character, so I started up a plot with some interdimensional rifts opening up that could become the focal point of a big planar adventure.</p><p></p><p>So basically, have some broad ideas of where you want it to go, but if something the players does excites you then run with it. The less rail-roading you do the better.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Nathan P. Mahney, post: 3344910, member: 29748"] I usually start with a 'Big Idea', and extrapolate stuff from that. My current campaign's Big Idea was a simple one - the bad guys won, and the sun was destroyed hundreds of years ago, and the world is pretty much post-apocalypse D&D in an eternal night. From there I went through the core rulebooks and jotted down some quick notes on how the major elements of the game would fit into that setup. The next step, as it has been for my last couple of campaigns, is to go through Ray Winninger's Dungeoncraft articles. I don't know if they're on the web anywhere, but they are the most useful articles from Dragon Magazine ever. Seriously good stuff, and I'd love Paizo to release them in a single volume. As for long-term storylines, I usually work in broad outlines. Start with a couple of broad plots that the PCs could follow. For me, restoring the sun was an obvious one. I've placed Civilization to the north, with passage to be bought at a price, so the PCs could make getting there a goal. I also decided that an army of orcs would show up eventually to attack the PCs settlement. Why? Dunno - these things have a tendency to link up eventually. Checking PC backgrounds is also a good idea for adventures. From there I just let the consequences of the game dictate the direction. One particularly obnoxious NPC became the target of some PC hate, so now he's being groomed as a major villain. One cleric had to atone, so I designed a dungeon which I liked so much I'm expanding it into a megadungeon. The leader of the settlement died while adventuring with the PCs, so there's trouble brewing there as well. One PC wanted an oriental-type character, so I started up a plot with some interdimensional rifts opening up that could become the focal point of a big planar adventure. So basically, have some broad ideas of where you want it to go, but if something the players does excites you then run with it. The less rail-roading you do the better. [/QUOTE]
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