What makes a good campaign plot?

[gunter uxbridge]

My last couple of games were based off of HIGHLY modified movie plots. "The Usual Suspects" provides a great basis for a reoccurring villain, some bait-and-switch scenarios with the PCs, and enough twists to keep them totally unaware of what is going on. I had enough material to keep them going from 1-8th level before we switched campaigns.

The campaign I am writing currently borrows a page from Star Wars I and II, where the BBEG is right under the good PCs nose and he is using them for his own ends.

I like a lot of misdirection in my games and I like to keep the PCs guessing. These are just two of the examples that I have based my games on.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Thanks for all the advice so far, it's great.

I think the end of the story at the moment is defeating the enemy in personal combat while a greater war rages outside, as it were. Or possibly winning the war on the battlefield themselves.

Now, I have another question for you all. Have you ever used characters to play out the history of your campaign world? I'm considering asking some gamers I know to play out bits of history in order to create genuine legends of the world. Good idea?

 

[BiggusGeekus@Work]

Have you ever used characters to play out the history of your campaign world? I'm considering asking some gamers I know to play out bits of history in order to create genuine legends of the world. Good idea?

We're sort of doing that. Our group is finishing up levels 1-8 and from there we'll be moving on to 13-15 and finding out how our actions impacted the world.

 

[Grundle]

Good long campaigns are like onions. They have layers.

No donkey, OGRES are like onions. Campaigns are like parfaits!

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

Self bump. Sorry.

 

[Crothian]

Okay, here are a few simple ideas that shouls help. First, I likw to include characters backgrounds into the story being told to bring them into the conflicts easier. I use many, many NPCs that the party gets to know and see how the events effect them. Some of them are friends, others are not but everyone changhes with time. I like a meta plot that can be party oriented or world changing. REoccuring villians are good as well.

 

[s/LaSH]

One thing you might want to do is tone down the PCs roles in everything. Not all things, just... not everything they do is world-shaking. There are probably other heroes out there, and although their eventual destinies aren't as mighty as that of the core heroes (or are they?) they'll still be doing their thing. The PCs can save towns, countries, even continents... but they're not everywhere at once.

Not every corner of the world has to be touched by the core theme of the campaign. What if the orcs only sent one legion to the good guy place... land... kingdom? Where are the rest of the legions? Perhaps there's another continent somewhere that the orcs are invading simultaneously. (Stupid military tactics, it's what lost Hitler Europe, but if you amp up the orc's numbers on everyone else then it makes sense.) The PCs don't even know about it until say 13th-15th level, and the war there has been going on even longer... it just adds flavour, makes things feel a little more realistic.

I always like to include a little bit of misdirection in my campaign. Nearly everything that happens isn't what you think it is... but you don't find out for some time. Adapting that to generic terms... everyone has their own agenda, even lawful-good paladin lords.

Oh, and a good sub-theme dealing with massive war is people who firmly believe that nobody will ever attack them because they've got diplomats. I mean, nobody could really want to hurt them, right? What have they ever done to annoy someone else? Thus, no army is needed beyond normal law enforcement. (Two good sources for this include the Honor Harrington series by David Weber, military scifi, and 1930s-era East Europe.)

Hope that helps.

 

[Hand of Evil]

The only information you need to know about my campaign world is that there are relatively few weird monsters, eg lots of orcs, giants, etc but not much in the way of ythrak, outsiders, dragons, ankhegs and so on. It also features at some point a very large war

So then, the basics of creating good long term plots! Thanks!

A very large war. In a campaign start to id the events that lead up to the war. What this country is doing and what that one is doing and use is as news in your games, letting your players know what is going on.

Maps. The players don't need to see everything but you as a DM will, think about locations and what will be happening around them as the war gets closer.
Example: the party is hired to check out a ruin, that is not all that far from the border of the conflict. They find a small cult that plots to poision the water of the local town. They clean out the ruins. What really happens is they find out they really were hired by the government (important NPC) and that the cult is the other side. They later hear the ruins are converted into a fort and of a battle at that location.