Honestly one of the biggest pieces of advice not in the video is that your not pigeonholed into doing an episodic or continuous campaign. In fact, mixing the two together can create some epic moments for the group. Even episodic shows have two parters and ongoing plotlines and some continuous shows have times where they slow down. Hell, most of the campaigns I run tend to start episodic and turn into a continuous campaign as they go from everyday villagers to all powerful heroes.
OMG you're so right. You just made me realize that if I don't have enough players I could still run a session. Like a one-shot of some kind instead, when the necessary players aren't there.
@@octo5042 I do that all the time. What I like to do is have the players make new characters to be in the NPC factions in your setting. What is cooler when someone's one shot character is a reocurring npc or villain later down the line
This was very much the feel of my first campaign as a player, and it was awesome! I really want to recapture this feeling in the next campaign I DM-- ahh and that last tip is crucial. Well done!
I've been running this kind of campaign for my last game, and ....it works great for me and my players. So far we have played 8 adventures in 20 sessions. The setting is beasts and barbarians,from savage worlds. I think that episodic campaigns work great for Conan-esque settings;in one comic Conan is in the desert,next one is in the middle of the sea...and no one asks how he got there. Works great for people with busy schedules.
This is definitely my favorite way to run games; not necessarily making every session vastly different, but the idea of chaining together a series of short (1 or 2 session) arcs. I think it gives players a feeling of momentum; they are completing objectives on a regular basis. One thing that can make this style even better is allowing your players to pick which quest to go on next. At the end of each episode, show your players the job board/campaign map/etc. and ask them to figure out which one they want to do before the players leave the table. This does mean you have to come up with several options beforehand, but you don't actually have to prep them all. This worked particularly well with my heist campaign: each heist had one session of casing and prep, then one session of executing the plan and delivering the goods. After each heist, they'd pick from a list of 3-5 contracts that each just had the client's name/location, the reward, and a brief description of the job. Sometimes they'd pick based on the kind of job, sometimes they'd pick ones in a location they wanted to visit, and sometimes they just picked clients they'd worked with before because they loved the NPC. The jobs they didn't take could stay on the list, and I'd just add more as needed, and since I wasn't fully prepping the heists until they were selected I could tailor them to whatever level the party found themselves at.
I love running episodic games! I don't run a one-shot each week tho, i run each "episode" as a 2-4 session story. It alleviates some of the stress of making and running a one-shot every week, but still gives the feeling of short episodic adventures. Great idea with the downtime!! This is something i can definitely start utilizing more!
I think that was probably closer to how it was played in the 80s. The adventure modules are able to be finished in a dozen hours of play, unlike the 100 hours of a modern hardcover
@@ZipperonDisney that makes a lot of sense, i started playing D&D as a teen in the late 80s/early 90s, and it seems like i am still guilty of the same playstyle! :D
I’d been thinking about incorporating the Dan Harmon Story Circle into my games for awhile, and this video really helps round out what I’m wanting to accomplish; thanks for the quality content!
I run my episodes in two or three sessions. This helps solve the issues of pacing and player buy in. It also gives them more "wins" than a long epic campaign.
I like the idea of running a chain of 4-shots. I think that's ling enough to develop a character, but short enough that you don't need to be heavily invested in time
I agree with this concept and had a similar idea several years ago due to scheduling challenges with my friends. As we get older, regular game sessions can be difficult
Or just with long periods of time between meeting up with a regular group. With episodic, you don't have to worry about remembering the plot for a month without play
I’m really tempted to try this. I’m a new DM and my party is only four sessions in. Everyone seems fairly invested, but scheduling is still a major problem. Some players live farther away than others, some have irregular job schedules. I really want to play a grand story campaign with call-backs, backstory incorporation and a building narrative, but I just don’t think it’s feasible. Episodic with maybe a loose plot arc might be the way to go.
I often run them this way, and literally just lift parts of adventures or one shots, and add my own ideas to it. It worked really well at the beginning of Covid. I knew a group of people who were struggling with anxiety etc, so I set up a group and ran games. It was different people every time. Good video!
Along the lines of using the prewritten 5e adventures for one shots, I'd recommend people look into "Classic Modules Today" They have over 80 classic AD&D to 5e module conversions. All you need is the original AD&D module, and the conversion fixes all the abilities, stats, and monsters to 5e rules. Most of the old AD&D modules can be found for free as PDFs. There are lots of cool little one shot adventures - some are even peppered into longer form campaign books. I've been collecting and organizing adventures that'll work as one shots for my West Marches campaign, and "Classic Modulea Today" has been a HUGE help!
Great video, I sort of do both serial and episodic for one campaign. A couple PCs secretly fight crime at night as masked vigilantes so if someone can't make it for the main storyline that week we switch over to an episode of the adventures of Ratman and the Sparrow
I'm actually trying to run an episodic campaign now (in PF2). Many times I'm not sure what the next episode will be and let the players kinda decide. I do have an overarching idea that the players are just beginning to uncover. Basic premise is that they are explorers serving as the "away crew" aboard a ship. This also gives a great way for recurring NPCs and building those relationships.
@@ZipperonDisney yeah. I won't lie. I did say "boldly go where no one has gone before" in my pitch. Lol. They are part of the Canonical Horizon Hunters (Pathfinder Society) with Venture Captain Calisro Bennary.
I've been trying to do this with my current campaign. I use character trees for my players, and an episodic game really let's them swap out characters whenever. We have a Gameday channel on our Discord that all the downtime and between session roleplay takes place.
@@ZipperonDisney is an idea drawn from the original 2e Dark Sun boxed set. Each of my players currently have 2 characters that they can choose from when we sit down to play a session. They can add more characters to their tree whenever they want another. Each is part of the same "adventuring company", but only one is active at a time. At the end of each "episode" when I award XP, the active PC gets those XP, and their "tree" get half of that that they can spend on another one of their characters, to kind of keep them all relatively close in level. I introduced the character tree because I wanted to run a West Marches style game, but only had 4 players.
Well, I guess, kinda... I think a big campaign is really a series of smaller steps, but for those with tight schedules (like my group, max 3 hour sessions) then its probably a good idea to make an effort to have a self contained adventure/ event for a single session. 🤓
Another great video, Zip! I've been tempted to try an episodic campaign, as I tend to struggle with creating cohesive over-arching big plots/situations and all that, so this was extremely useful. Edit: Also, smooth plug at 3:07 lol
@@ZipperonDisney Maybe I should clarify a bit. I struggle with creating something that is cohesive the whole way through/majority of the way through. I tend to have a lot of interesting ideas, but they can be so asynchronous that creating a narrative that actually makes sense is difficult. I'll be honest, not 100% sure what you mean by plot engine. If you're talking about some sort of central conflict that drives the campaign, my first attempt a few years ago was the return of some ancient demon. I struggled with creating situations that made sense for the players to get involved with. It didn't help that this was our first time actually playing DnD. Creating those segues from idea to idea is my biggest struggle I think. An episodic campaign basically handwaves all of that, hence why I'm tempted to try one out. However, after a break from DMing for my friends I'm also tempted to go back into it with a regular campaign idea.
@@thatcanadianguy7699 Ahh, by 'plot engine' I mean the general set up that gives adventures (e.g. bounty hunters, detective agency, etc) or are they just free lance adventurers? As for the other bit, you could just kind of punt it. Have a mysterious villain be the puppet master behind the antagonists in all the other adventures, and the players only ever gets hints of them until the very end. That's how Moriarty got started in Sherlock lore.
One shots are notoriously hard to run; this seems like playing on DM hard mode, haha It’d be tough but it would probably hone your dm skills in a real way though
*I feel that'd be good if you met with many players in your local game shop. With friends however, and years of time, normal Campaigns will always be better imo.*
I do kinda' agree. I prefer long epics, but I'm glad I gave episodic campaign a shot. Like a mega-dungeon, I feel accomplished to have it under my belt
4:23 DM: "Ay-ya-ya getting tired coming up with all the ideas on my own here" 3 players full of ideas: ... DM: "No session folks. I'm burnt out" 3 players full of ideas: What if- DM: "If only there was an easy way to come up with ideas, preferably one that would be only the ideas everyone are interested in" 3 players full of ideas, ideas they are interested in: "Maybe we could come up with adventure together?" DM: "Guess I'm all alone in this. Only me coming up with ideas." Not meaning to be poopy. Meaning to be ironic since a lot of questions I see on reddit from players and DMs are questions that should be contained within that group, cuz they can only be answered by each other.
I think there's a difference in coming up with an idea for a session vs coming up with all the individual components for an adventure. Another point that I didn't make, but that you're touching on, is another benefit of episodic is the DM can switch easily. Whenever someone gets inspired, they can take the reigns
Maybe I’m misunderstanding your point, but I think that if you’re shifting genres every session, your campaign is not just episodic; it’s more of an anthology. An episodic adventure is more about establishing and restoring a status quo with minimal sweeping changes.
Honestly one of the biggest pieces of advice not in the video is that your not pigeonholed into doing an episodic or continuous campaign. In fact, mixing the two together can create some epic moments for the group. Even episodic shows have two parters and ongoing plotlines and some continuous shows have times where they slow down. Hell, most of the campaigns I run tend to start episodic and turn into a continuous campaign as they go from everyday villagers to all powerful heroes.
This definitely is worth a mention. It's along the lines of throwing in a single session side adventure in a long campaign for dramatic relief.
OMG you're so right. You just made me realize that if I don't have enough players I could still run a session. Like a one-shot of some kind instead, when the necessary players aren't there.
@@octo5042 I do that all the time. What I like to do is have the players make new characters to be in the NPC factions in your setting. What is cooler when someone's one shot character is a reocurring npc or villain later down the line
@@toddbailey8474 that takes the worldbuilding to the next level, thats really cool!
This was very much the feel of my first campaign as a player, and it was awesome! I really want to recapture this feeling in the next campaign I DM-- ahh and that last tip is crucial. Well done!
Happy you found it useful! I expect to see more games in this style for actual plays and pay-to-play games
This is the collab I am waiting for
Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo and Space Dandy are all great examples of episodic campaigns.
Good examples of shows that I didn't feature!
I've been running this kind of campaign for my last game, and ....it works great for me and my players. So far we have played 8 adventures in 20 sessions.
The setting is beasts and barbarians,from savage worlds. I think that episodic campaigns work great for Conan-esque settings;in one comic Conan is in the desert,next one is in the middle of the sea...and no one asks how he got there.
Works great for people with busy schedules.
That premise sounds amazing! Another example of how they don't *really need to be one shots to still have that 'independent adventure' feel
I’d love to try and run a campaign like this, scheduling is always such a nightmare!
Or for a podcast or actual play??
This is definitely my favorite way to run games; not necessarily making every session vastly different, but the idea of chaining together a series of short (1 or 2 session) arcs. I think it gives players a feeling of momentum; they are completing objectives on a regular basis.
One thing that can make this style even better is allowing your players to pick which quest to go on next. At the end of each episode, show your players the job board/campaign map/etc. and ask them to figure out which one they want to do before the players leave the table. This does mean you have to come up with several options beforehand, but you don't actually have to prep them all.
This worked particularly well with my heist campaign: each heist had one session of casing and prep, then one session of executing the plan and delivering the goods. After each heist, they'd pick from a list of 3-5 contracts that each just had the client's name/location, the reward, and a brief description of the job. Sometimes they'd pick based on the kind of job, sometimes they'd pick ones in a location they wanted to visit, and sometimes they just picked clients they'd worked with before because they loved the NPC. The jobs they didn't take could stay on the list, and I'd just add more as needed, and since I wasn't fully prepping the heists until they were selected I could tailor them to whatever level the party found themselves at.
That sounds awesome! I really like your point about letting the players choose what contract they want next! Stellar DMing!
This video is loaded with actually usable information for running a D&D or other table top game! Great advice
Happy to hear you think so 😁
I love running episodic games!
I don't run a one-shot each week tho, i run each "episode" as a 2-4 session story. It alleviates some of the stress of making and running a one-shot every week, but still gives the feeling of short episodic adventures.
Great idea with the downtime!! This is something i can definitely start utilizing more!
I think that was probably closer to how it was played in the 80s. The adventure modules are able to be finished in a dozen hours of play, unlike the 100 hours of a modern hardcover
@@ZipperonDisney that makes a lot of sense, i started playing D&D as a teen in the late 80s/early 90s, and it seems like i am still guilty of the same playstyle! :D
I’d been thinking about incorporating the Dan Harmon Story Circle into my games for awhile, and this video really helps round out what I’m wanting to accomplish; thanks for the quality content!
I run my episodes in two or three sessions. This helps solve the issues of pacing and player buy in. It also gives them more "wins" than a long epic campaign.
I like the idea of running a chain of 4-shots. I think that's ling enough to develop a character, but short enough that you don't need to be heavily invested in time
I agree with this concept and had a similar idea several years ago due to scheduling challenges with my friends. As we get older, regular game sessions can be difficult
Or just with long periods of time between meeting up with a regular group. With episodic, you don't have to worry about remembering the plot for a month without play
Some good insights. I prefer this style of video from you.
Good to know!
I’m really tempted to try this. I’m a new DM and my party is only four sessions in. Everyone seems fairly invested, but scheduling is still a major problem. Some players live farther away than others, some have irregular job schedules. I really want to play a grand story campaign with call-backs, backstory incorporation and a building narrative, but I just don’t think it’s feasible. Episodic with maybe a loose plot arc might be the way to go.
I often run them this way, and literally just lift parts of adventures or one shots, and add my own ideas to it.
It worked really well at the beginning of Covid. I knew a group of people who were struggling with anxiety etc, so I set up a group and ran games. It was different people every time.
Good video!
Thanks Mike! Way to step up as a DM for folks in need too :)
We got to get together and play on stream sometime!!
@@ZipperonDisney Absolutely! I'd love that. 🙂
This is the ONLY way I DM now. It works so well and my players feel accomplished while still feeling engage long term.
Good to hear that!
Along the lines of using the prewritten 5e adventures for one shots, I'd recommend people look into "Classic Modules Today"
They have over 80 classic AD&D to 5e module conversions.
All you need is the original AD&D module, and the conversion fixes all the abilities, stats, and monsters to 5e rules.
Most of the old AD&D modules can be found for free as PDFs. There are lots of cool little one shot adventures - some are even peppered into longer form campaign books.
I've been collecting and organizing adventures that'll work as one shots for my West Marches campaign, and "Classic Modulea Today" has been a HUGE help!
I love playing old AD&D adventures! Great reconditions :)
@L G hit me up on Twitter or Discord (link on the channel banner) for your copy of Candlekeep Mysteries
Great video, I sort of do both serial and episodic for one campaign. A couple PCs secretly fight crime at night as masked vigilantes so if someone can't make it for the main storyline that week we switch over to an episode of the adventures of Ratman and the Sparrow
I...Just...That's amazing 😭
I'm actually trying to run an episodic campaign now (in PF2). Many times I'm not sure what the next episode will be and let the players kinda decide. I do have an overarching idea that the players are just beginning to uncover.
Basic premise is that they are explorers serving as the "away crew" aboard a ship. This also gives a great way for recurring NPCs and building those relationships.
Sounds like Star Trek mixed with Pirates of the Caribbean. Something like that?
@@ZipperonDisney yeah. I won't lie. I did say "boldly go where no one has gone before" in my pitch. Lol.
They are part of the Canonical Horizon Hunters (Pathfinder Society) with Venture Captain Calisro Bennary.
I've been trying to do this with my current campaign. I use character trees for my players, and an episodic game really let's them swap out characters whenever. We have a Gameday channel on our Discord that all the downtime and between session roleplay takes place.
What do you mean by character trees? In Killers of the King we had a pool of 6 characters to choose from and 4 players each week.
@@ZipperonDisney is an idea drawn from the original 2e Dark Sun boxed set. Each of my players currently have 2 characters that they can choose from when we sit down to play a session. They can add more characters to their tree whenever they want another. Each is part of the same "adventuring company", but only one is active at a time. At the end of each "episode" when I award XP, the active PC gets those XP, and their "tree" get half of that that they can spend on another one of their characters, to kind of keep them all relatively close in level.
I introduced the character tree because I wanted to run a West Marches style game, but only had 4 players.
@@BuppGuy that's excellent! Never heard of it, love it, thanks for sharing!!
It's really fun because each session is really different based on what characters everyone decides to bring.
Well, I guess, kinda... I think a big campaign is really a series of smaller steps, but for those with tight schedules (like my group, max 3 hour sessions) then its probably a good idea to make an effort to have a self contained adventure/ event for a single session. 🤓
Oh yeah you could totally do a campaign of 3-4 adventure each 3-4 sessions each
Another great video, Zip! I've been tempted to try an episodic campaign, as I tend to struggle with creating cohesive over-arching big plots/situations and all that, so this was extremely useful.
Edit: Also, smooth plug at 3:07 lol
Are you using a plot engine? What's the set up?
@@ZipperonDisney Maybe I should clarify a bit. I struggle with creating something that is cohesive the whole way through/majority of the way through. I tend to have a lot of interesting ideas, but they can be so asynchronous that creating a narrative that actually makes sense is difficult.
I'll be honest, not 100% sure what you mean by plot engine. If you're talking about some sort of central conflict that drives the campaign, my first attempt a few years ago was the return of some ancient demon. I struggled with creating situations that made sense for the players to get involved with. It didn't help that this was our first time actually playing DnD.
Creating those segues from idea to idea is my biggest struggle I think. An episodic campaign basically handwaves all of that, hence why I'm tempted to try one out. However, after a break from DMing for my friends I'm also tempted to go back into it with a regular campaign idea.
@@thatcanadianguy7699 Ahh, by 'plot engine' I mean the general set up that gives adventures (e.g. bounty hunters, detective agency, etc) or are they just free lance adventurers? As for the other bit, you could just kind of punt it. Have a mysterious villain be the puppet master behind the antagonists in all the other adventures, and the players only ever gets hints of them until the very end. That's how Moriarty got started in Sherlock lore.
One shots are notoriously hard to run; this seems like playing on DM hard mode, haha
It’d be tough but it would probably hone your dm skills in a real way though
The best way to improve is to challenge yourself!!
*I feel that'd be good if you met with many players in your local game shop. With friends however, and years of time, normal Campaigns will always be better imo.*
I do kinda' agree. I prefer long epics, but I'm glad I gave episodic campaign a shot. Like a mega-dungeon, I feel accomplished to have it under my belt
4:23
DM: "Ay-ya-ya getting tired coming up with all the ideas on my own here"
3 players full of ideas: ...
DM: "No session folks. I'm burnt out"
3 players full of ideas: What if-
DM: "If only there was an easy way to come up with ideas, preferably one that would be only the ideas everyone are interested in"
3 players full of ideas, ideas they are interested in: "Maybe we could come up with adventure together?"
DM: "Guess I'm all alone in this. Only me coming up with ideas."
Not meaning to be poopy. Meaning to be ironic since a lot of questions I see on reddit from players and DMs are questions that should be contained within that group, cuz they can only be answered by each other.
I think there's a difference in coming up with an idea for a session vs coming up with all the individual components for an adventure. Another point that I didn't make, but that you're touching on, is another benefit of episodic is the DM can switch easily. Whenever someone gets inspired, they can take the reigns
Good idea!
Glad you think so!
Maybe I’m misunderstanding your point, but I think that if you’re shifting genres every session, your campaign is not just episodic; it’s more of an anthology. An episodic adventure is more about establishing and restoring a status quo with minimal sweeping changes.
I think "episodic" vs "anthology" is more a semantic argument (which is fine). But I'd say it's an 'all X are Y, but not all Y are X' situation.
Cool