Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Struggling with DMing
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="Mercurius" data-source="post: 5152107" data-attributes="member: 59082"><p>Lots of great ideas, thanks everyone. The funny thing is that while I was reading through it, I kept on thinking "I knew that, but why did I forget?" So this thread has helped me get back on track, as well as offered a few newer tools.</p><p></p><p>One of the things that was re-affirmed through reading this thread is that there really are at least three inter-relating, but relatively distinct, layers of campaign design, what could be called:</p><p></p><p>1) Ontology - This is the big picture stuff, the setting itself, its history and religions, nations and peoples. That which is relatively unchanging.</p><p>2) Campaign Elements - These are the parts <em>within </em>the setting - the power groups, politics, conflicts, meta-plots, NPCs, etc. </p><p>3) Encounters - These are the scenes, if you will, of the "play" that is the game itself.</p><p></p><p>One analogy that kind of works is that of a hub (1), spokes (2), and wheel (3), because it describes the time element. The hub moves (and thus changes) relatively slowly; the spokes are a bit quicker, and the wheel or tire is turning quite quickly and always covering new ground. </p><p></p><p>The area that was neglecting was the middle ground, or the "spokes"--which not only connect the hub (the setting) and the wheel (the encounters), but bring meaning and vitality to the whole thing.</p><p></p><p>The other element that hasn't be talked about is how to bring it all alive. Maybe another thread?</p><p></p><p>And Explorer Wizard, I'm going to flesh out your lists later on when I have a boring meeting to attend <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink ;)" data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /></p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Mercurius, post: 5152107, member: 59082"] Lots of great ideas, thanks everyone. The funny thing is that while I was reading through it, I kept on thinking "I knew that, but why did I forget?" So this thread has helped me get back on track, as well as offered a few newer tools. One of the things that was re-affirmed through reading this thread is that there really are at least three inter-relating, but relatively distinct, layers of campaign design, what could be called: 1) Ontology - This is the big picture stuff, the setting itself, its history and religions, nations and peoples. That which is relatively unchanging. 2) Campaign Elements - These are the parts [I]within [/I]the setting - the power groups, politics, conflicts, meta-plots, NPCs, etc. 3) Encounters - These are the scenes, if you will, of the "play" that is the game itself. One analogy that kind of works is that of a hub (1), spokes (2), and wheel (3), because it describes the time element. The hub moves (and thus changes) relatively slowly; the spokes are a bit quicker, and the wheel or tire is turning quite quickly and always covering new ground. The area that was neglecting was the middle ground, or the "spokes"--which not only connect the hub (the setting) and the wheel (the encounters), but bring meaning and vitality to the whole thing. The other element that hasn't be talked about is how to bring it all alive. Maybe another thread? And Explorer Wizard, I'm going to flesh out your lists later on when I have a boring meeting to attend ;) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*TTRPGs General
Struggling with DMing
Top