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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jgsugden" data-source="post: 8153240" data-attributes="member: 2629">My typical campaign is:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Levels 1 to 4: Railroad. You've got limited options on where to go and what to do as a result of a ticking clock. The pressure the PCs are under is part of what turns them into heroes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Levels 5 to 12: Sandbox on the Prime, Feywild, and Shadowplane with limited excursions to other planes.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Levels 13 to 18: Sandbox amongst the planes. The Heroes spend more time on other planes than they do on the mortal plane.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Level 19 and 20: Railroad.  The big storyline that has been hinted at all through the campaign comes to a head and a triggering event changes everything and puts them back on a clock to save the world.</li> </ul>Usually, the heroes end up someplace new when they get to level 5, and if they choose to go back to the place where they were at levels 1 to 4, it is a changed place. They'll be flooded with story hooks around this time which will include will include: a.) Storylines growing out of their backstory and origin. b.) Storylines I've set up that grow out of the machinations of NPCs they have met (or will meet), c.) Three major storylines - One that will culminate around level 20, One that will culminate around level 16, and one that will culminate around level 10 (if things go as planned which they rarely do). The a.) Storylines are me building out the adventure that they set up in their backstory. I try to figure out what will be best for the player and give that my own spin to keep it interesting for them. However, it is me developing their outline.The b.) Storylines are always cooperative builds. NPCs have goals at this point, and are trying to figure out how to make those goals happen. If the PCs get involved, they influence those stories. If not, I play them out on my own and let the PCs discover the result of not being involved somewhere down the line. The c.) Storylines are usually somewhat inevitable. They are destined to take place. They start with an action out of the control of the PCs. It is important that the PCs can succeed or fail for the level 10 and 16 storylines without it being the end of the campaign, but there are high stakes. The level 10 storyline is often political (nations at war), while the level 16 storyline is often universe altering (who will be the new God of Widgets?), while the level 20 storyline will determine whether the next era of the campaign world will be one of darkness, or light (will the next campaign start in a world overrun by demons, or one rebuilding after a demonic invasion was turned back?)Every battle has a chance of a win or loss, but few are deadly if the heroes pay heed to the warnings.  There are threats they are warned may be too tough, and they can run into a CR 20 monster at 5th level if they are not careful, but that takes very bad decisions.  Generally, the tension in my games comes not through the risk of death, but the risk of failing to meet goals that matter to the PCs outside of protecting their lives.</blockquote>

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