Campaign Design Help

[dmbotter]

Hello, I'm relatively new to DMing, and I'm trying to create my own campaign for D&D 5e. The campaign itself is more of an open world concept, with my goal being that the PCs will largely drive their own stories in relation to various factions and events within the setting. Players will be able to choose which missions they wish to undertake, join various factions, and react to a timelined story that is taking place within the central hub city.

To make things a bit simpler for myself, my campaign is taking place within a setting of my own creating, outside of any pre-existing universes. This includes the creation of my own pantheon of deities, writing up the guilds and NPCs with general behaviors and attitudes, and creating a timeline of events that'll play out independently of the PCs unless they intervene. However, I have some individuals who I bounce ideas off of that are a bit wary of some of my design choices and feel that I'm limiting options so it'll be easier for me to control everything and make my own story, regardless of what the players want.

For example, one cited the decision on creating my own pantheon and excluding other choices of deities. My Pathfinder playgroup, dm'ed by another member, is used to being able to choose whichever deity they feel matches their character (or build) best, regardless of which setting's pantheon they come from. I want the setting to be a little bit more cohesive than that, because religion influences quite a bit of the factions, and I'm not familiar with all the gods of every setting, and not sure of how I'd fit them together without just tacking it in.

So, I guess the biggest question is, what sort of design choices should I avoid and/or embrace when making an open world setting, and how do I avoid being too controlling in favor of "my story?"

 

[Rune]

Setting design parameters (such as creating a custom pantheon) is in no way a matter of exerting control over the players (in twenty years of D&D I haven't even played in or DMed a game with stock deities). In 5e it isn't even a mechanical issue, since clerics choose whatever domain they want. Pathfinder I don't know about, but in 3.X, you could just pick domains, as well.

That said, it's a good idea to hand this type of world design to your players. Not only is it less work for you, it also helps get the players to invest in the campaign.

In the case of the cleric, I'd have him/her flesh out their own deity, tell me how it fits in with the pantheon as a whole, and also flesh out the religion and order that the cleric belongs to.

As for story--don't even fool with that. Create NPCs with goals and resources and let the PCs determine the story. That's the beauty of an open-world campaign!

Now, to address your broader situation, this need not be as ambitious an undertaking as it may seem. Plenty of seasoned DMs are always ready and willing to share the fruits of their experience around here.

I think you might find the tips in this thread especially useful for what you want to do. It's specifically aimed at building and running what I call a "streamlined sandbox" with minimal prep. This often translates to a focus on getting the game to a point where it runs smoothly and then letting its momentum carry that forward.

Also, welcome to ENworld!

 

[strumbleduck]

That said, it's a good idea to hand this type of world design to your players. Not only is it less work for you, it also helps get the players to invest in the campaign.

In the case of the cleric, I'd have him/her flesh out their own deity, tell me how it fits in with the pantheon as a whole, and also flesh out the religion and order that the cleric belongs to.

I second the idea that any cleric PC's should be involved in the design of their own deity. This is one of the best ways to get a player to really care about a deity and his/her goals.

By the way, one mistake to avoid when making a custom pantheon: make sure that there are at least some deities that aren't worshiped by any PC's or villains and aren't involved in the ongoing plot. When making a custom campaign world, one important goal is to make the world feel expansive, in the sense that it doesn't all revolve around the PC's, and the best way to do this is to create little nooks and crannies that the PC's are aware of but that they don't interact with substantially.

 

[Gilladian]

Campaign setting creation is in the DM's hands; if you WANT to solicit info from the PCs, that's great, but it is NEVER necessary.

I have a campaign world that I created over 30 years ago. The original pantheon was pulled from sourcebooks I was using at the time; I don't even recall now what they were. But I've renamed, recategorized, and added to the pantheon constantly, both as a reflection of things I want in the world, and so as to reflect choices by the PCs. For example, I had one PC who came from a distant continent. She wanted to worship a storm god, but not quite the sun/weather god who is the chief of my pantheon, nor the ocean/storm goddess that is also present. So we created a new pair of deities, a brother and sister whose moods and tantrums are reflective of the weather, by her beliefs. In the area of the world she is from, they are major deities who lead the pantheon. In the area of the world where the campaign was actually SET, they are minor deities whom most people don't even bother to placate except when there is truly bad/freaky weather going on. My player's character suffered considerable culture shock!

So build your own pantheon. Limit the gods you have available to your own taste, to your needs, and to your campaign setting. If you want only 2 deities, go for it. If you WANT a kitchen-sink approach with dozens of greater gods and hundreds of lesser gods, and fallen gods and dead gods and new gods rising to power, that's a VERY different setting. It is your right as DM to shape that. AFTER you shape it, your PCs have the right to decide how they live in the world, and what they do with their beliefs.

In the same way, you create the map of your world. You decide the geography, climate, weather and geology of your world. If there are NO caves, no under dark, and no dwarves, that's your privilege as DM to decide. In my world, there's a hollow earth, and 3 layers of deep earth between the surface and the center. My choice. My players get to choose how they feel about the setup. I would no more let them tell me that DROW MUST exist in the world than I'd let them insist that ORCs are good-aligned. Those are elements you have the right to decide. If you CHOOSE to allow your players to help you decide, that's fine, but don't let them tell you you MUST accept their dictates.

 

[dmbotter]

While the setting I created had a pantheon of originally twelve main gods, I can definitely consider the creation of lesser gods that fit both with the pantheon and the player's ideas, or even adjust a main god to better fit their own preferences. I haven't really developed any of the practices or organization of worship for any particular deity, so yeah, I can definitely use their involvement as long as it isn't anything completely outlandish. I want it to be a setting that they can enjoy, which is why I've been bouncing ideas for the general setting off a couple of them, and how I sort of got to the point I was at.

As for that list of tips, Rune, a lot of them were very helpful. Lesson six is sort of what I had in mind with the secondary story. It takes place independently of them, but rumors and events are available to them, that let the players decide if they want to attempt to tackle issues that appear within that story, or if they want to just ignore that and continue on with a different plot. And 22 gave me ideas to change up the first antagonist I had written up quite a bit, which I hope will be quite exciting.

 

[Hand of Evil]

Start small and work your way outward - this means look at where you will starting your player off, be it a city and kingdom. Now, move outward, what is to the north, the east, the south and the west. You do not have to go too much details for the far places until your players start thinking about going there, they just need to know basic stuff, like the Kingdom of Frost is to the north and it is filled with barbarians and giants.

On gods, create tiers; the highest reflect the greatest population and your culture, the lowest what people fear.

See the link in my sig, there are a number of links in the DM Advice

 

[Rune]

As for that list of tips, Rune, a lot of them were very helpful. Lesson six is sort of what I had in mind with the secondary story. It takes place independently of them, but rumors and events are available to them, that let the players decide if they want to attempt to tackle issues that appear within that story, or if they want to just ignore that and continue on with a different plot. And 22 gave me ideas to change up the first antagonist I had written up quite a bit, which I hope will be quite exciting.

Cool. Let us know how it turns out!