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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Kzach" data-source="post: 4458885" data-attributes="member: 56189">The first and most important thing I do for a campaign is work with the player to develop a character's back story. This gives me ideas for dozens of side-treks that affect each PC in a direct manner and can sometimes be combined to form an over-arcing story in addition to a main plot.I also fashion a plot that I feel will interest the players at the table and get them wanting to move forward in the game, not just because their characters would do it.However, I do this all very loosely and in a way that doesn't force me to adhere to one element or another to continue the plot. Player decisions, whilst sometimes predictable, are often out of left-field and I like to accommodate that so I'm not left stranded.So although I'll have a general idea of what I want to happen in a session, I don't bind myself to it like glue, and run the entire session mostly on the fly with just a few prepared notes to remind me of what general direction I want to go in, what major players might be involved, potential treasures, etc.This is one of the reasons I'm really loving 4e. Simply knowing the XP value of a challenging and overwhelming encounter lets me quickly build fun encounters on the fly with only minimal page flipping. Now I don't have to spend days and days in preparation, fussing over every minor detail and can just rock up with a PHB, DMG and MM and PLAY.</blockquote>