How do you make a campaign similar to Baldur's Gate in style and execution?

[dreaded_beast]

When I say similar to Baldur's Gate (the PC game), here is what I mean:

A campaign that has an overall storyline, but also a multitude of other adventures that either do or do not relate to the overall storyline.

Using Baldur's Gate as an example, as the player, you have the choice of following the set storyline or just wandering around the map looking for adventure. There are literally dozens, if not more, little side-quests and encounters to participate in. The storyline is always going to be there, but you can come back to it at anytime.

Now, has anyone ever run or created a campaign like this? One where the PCs were free to wander around and "do whatever they wanted", but there was always a story/plot going on if the PCs wanted to pursue it.

In the future, I believe this is the type of campaign I would like to run (and hopefully play in with another DM). A campaign that has a big plot/story, but also lots of other small/side adventures that occur that have nothing to do with the big plot/story.

Any tips or ideas on how to start on making a campaign like this, or just any thoughts in general?

 

[der_kluge]

The trick is to have it all prepared before you sit down for game #1. And, you have to be a master DM. That is, you have to be able to keep track of all those side-quests, and still manage any timelines that might affect the real story. If you have a time-critical major plot, and the PCs go off to retrieve the stolen harp from the rakshasa in the druid's forest, you have to be able to anticipate how that might affect the villains, and their plans.

But, the major thing is to have all that stuff mapped out beforehand, because if you give your PCs 18 options every game, they're liable to pick any one of them, and you have to be prepared to handle that if they choose to go that direction. I recommend a very large binder divided into neat little subsections for ease.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

I've tried this in the past and it didn't work out very well. For one thing, the players at times would be clueless and have no idea what they wanted to do next. Kinda hard to plan ahead for that. Wandering around gets real boring real fast.

If you have players that are really into their characters and will carry the story along, then it might work. But I've found players usually need structure to get them moving along.

 

[Zappo]

I've tried this in the past and it didn't work out very well. For one thing, the players at times would be clueless and have no idea what they wanted to do next. Kinda hard to plan ahead for that. Wandering around gets real boring real fast.

Especially since in a CRPG, the idea of systematically visiting every single location in the world to look for clues is a viable choice. In a pen'n'paper RPG, if you don't know what to do, you're really in trouble.

 

[Ron]

The best way to do it is to create some plot hooks in advance and to improvise a few new ones (or adjust some previous planned) as the players take unforeseen directions. It requires a good creative mind, which most D&D DM have anyway, and some organization skills as you should note down every single plot line opened by the players.

This is the way I like to run campaigns. It works very well with me, but I know that some DMs dislike it because it would decrease the control level they can have on the game.

 

[The_Gneech]

Treat each area the characters travel to as a "hub," and around each hub, you sprinkle a handful of small adventures, some of which connect to The Big Story, and some of which don't. THEY MUST BE SMALL, or you will go nuts.

Instead of one big scenario for each game, you're basically making five or six small ones.

-The Gneech

 

[Tonguez]

I did it

The backstory was that the god of evil who had been locked in the underworld required five sacred objects in order to escape. He had agents seeking these objects.
One of his agents had established himself as god to a cult of cannibal zealots who were spreading out across the world burning and pillaging and sacrificing all who opposed them to their god (and incidentally seeking the sacred objects)

The PCs had heard rumors of these Zealots ranging n the north however they were yet to encounter them. The PCs lived on an island to the south and this island was the initial play area.

I divided the 'map' into 20 zones (including coastal ocean) and spread six mini-adventures (including some published adventures) across these zones making them overlap. Only one of these mini-adventures (modified Sharkbait from WotC) had anything to do with the backstory (a treasure item recovered from the Sahuagin lair was a beacon leading to one of the sacred objects), the others were either unrelated or only tangential (ie required the PCs to travel to another island and come into conflict with the Zealots).
Another hook was that this island was sinking (feilds in one zone were being washed out by seawater) so there was a 'discover new island and resettle' plothook available for an entirely different campaign

The PCs did eventually visit different islands and these too were divided into zones with overlapping scenarios spread across them, some of which gave clues about the backstory.

The campaign wasn't time dependent - the movement of the zealots and other bad guys across the islands could be controlled so if I wanted an island visited by the PCs friendly I could do that and if I then wanted the same island previously visited suddenly overrun by zealots I could do that too. Only if the PCs recovered a Sacred Object would they become direct targets of the BBEG and be pursued. Of course the PCs could also if they chose seek to recover the sacred objects themselves before the zealots and the BBEG or his agents did

 

[tetsujin28]

I have never, ever, bothered with 'plot'. Plot is meaningless. It's nothing but the GM congratulating himself on how clever he is. Story matters. Plot doesn't.

 

[Zappo]

I have never, ever, bothered with 'plot'. Plot is meaningless. It's nothing but the GM congratulating himself on how clever he is. Story matters. Plot doesn't.

That's interesting. Would you elaborate? What is Plot and what is Story, in this framework?

 

[DWARF]

I think in this instance he means that plot refers to the railroading aspect; the A leads to B leads to C of a campaign. Then, story refers to the overall happenings in the game.

I think I see it in a similar light, when a DM designs a world, or an encounter, etc. he should see it as opposing forces and set-up a situation. But he shouldn't be so worried about 'how' it will be resolved, that's the fun of the game. I have seen to many DM ideas thrown out because they thought of a way to force a given resolution.

For example, the DM had the dungeon flood after we defeated this monster. We don't get even a quarter of the treasure out as we run.... until we're all out and the 2 druids remark "No problem, we'll just turn into giant squid and haul everything out." Now, the DM was stuck giving us WAY more treasure than he intended, because he thought there was a way the plot would work.