Wik
First Post
Usually when I start a campaign, I tell the players what the campaign's main thrust is, and then put together a huge document detailing every race and class, the deities, the setting history, new class options, a primer on all the locations, new backgrounds, and whatever else I can think of. These things wind up being around 40-70 pages, and maybe one player will actually skim the thing.
A recent Matt Colville video mentioned handouts, and how they should be 1 or 2 pages and only touch on basics. With my new campaign starting in around 3 weeks or so, I decided to take that into consideration. I wrote around 2 pages of material, and thought it looked a bit wall of text-y, so I added a bunch of art and, when it was done, it was 4 pages long. And, lo and behold, every player read it - and it changed how some of them approached their characters!
The last page of the document details the 10 major noble houses in the setting. This made one player change her mind on her PC, and she is now playing a noble. Two other players are already nobles (it's what prompted me to make the list in the first place) and are already looking over the list and scheming - which is nice, and fits the tone of the setting. My fourth player read the fluff text on the "hidden fortress of Quasqeton" and has got it in his head that he needs to find the place, even if it derails my campaign - and has no idea that the module we'll be running, "in Search of the Unknown" has any connection. (Good times!)
Anyways. Let's use this thread to share ideas on what should be in a campaign handout, what doesn't need to be there, and what our own campaign handouts look like. As for mine - I'll gladly post it, but the art I used for my handout amongst friends has no permissions and I'm not sure if it's kosher to post here. I'll dig up the artists names first before posting, at the very least.
A recent Matt Colville video mentioned handouts, and how they should be 1 or 2 pages and only touch on basics. With my new campaign starting in around 3 weeks or so, I decided to take that into consideration. I wrote around 2 pages of material, and thought it looked a bit wall of text-y, so I added a bunch of art and, when it was done, it was 4 pages long. And, lo and behold, every player read it - and it changed how some of them approached their characters!
The last page of the document details the 10 major noble houses in the setting. This made one player change her mind on her PC, and she is now playing a noble. Two other players are already nobles (it's what prompted me to make the list in the first place) and are already looking over the list and scheming - which is nice, and fits the tone of the setting. My fourth player read the fluff text on the "hidden fortress of Quasqeton" and has got it in his head that he needs to find the place, even if it derails my campaign - and has no idea that the module we'll be running, "in Search of the Unknown" has any connection. (Good times!)
Anyways. Let's use this thread to share ideas on what should be in a campaign handout, what doesn't need to be there, and what our own campaign handouts look like. As for mine - I'll gladly post it, but the art I used for my handout amongst friends has no permissions and I'm not sure if it's kosher to post here. I'll dig up the artists names first before posting, at the very least.