Usually the first few sessions include things that force the party together one way or the other. Then, I introduce a bigger problem that forces them to work together (a kid gets kidnapped and they have to travel together) and then I add snippets of a bugger issue (the kid is important to the cult somehow) so that after they complete the first mission, they take steps to figure out how to take on the bigger issue. After that, I usually pick a character to delve into their character arc, confronting their past, and setting them up for a grander destiny that lies before them, and then I'll do that for each character, throw in some magic items, and then they will be facing the bigger issue.
Or put 1 player in a slow instant kill trap and have the solution in the room with the other party members it could also be a test of leadership if they know they have to put one person in it.
My favourite way to do this is having the entire party in a marketplace. Suddenly the market is attacked by some appropriate challenge, like a wagon of goblins or kobolds. It especially helps putting some commoners about the place that may get hurt or killed if the players don't protect them. Even the edge lord that doesn't want adventure probably doesn't want to be killed either
There is a fine art to just “winging it” as a DM. If you’re concerned with creating complex plot arcs and narrative connections, you can technically also write them backwards. While your players are struggling to figure out information on a character, there may be nothing there in reality, but they don’t know that. You could take pieces of their theories and make an actual connection to a narrative element later on, then start dropping breadcrumbs. This makes it APPEAR as though you planned something all along!
I've been running a Fabula Ultima game for four months. In probably 3/4 of all sessions, I've had a plan and thrown it out when something the players said or did (unbeknownst to them) gave me an idea that was at least 5 times better than what I was about to have happen. So my plan going forward is to have a loose plan but know that some innocuous phrase will probably give me a better idea. It's rather surprising to me how often this happens.
I do this as well I see the conclusion that I want to sort of play out and then I work backwards and completely adapt to my players. I like to wing it and give them all a chance to shine in their moments but eventually they have to coalesce down a funnel towards something. The funnel is something that I rinse and repeat. Focus on the build up towards the finale and work backwards
I like this. Many say dont railroad the party, but to some degree, it can really help a party struggling to roleplay and have their own motivations, it can make for amazing stories, and make it more fun for the players. That doeant mean you fully ignore their choices, but rather having these big trials and acts can be big parts of the story woven together by all the in between choices of the players.
yeah it really is just knowing as a storyteller where you're going. You might plan it for session 5 and end up getting there in session 20, but you always knew you would get there
The most important thing is that your story can be on rails, you just shouldn't take away their agency so they don't have enough choice. You shouldn't wrench control away from them to tell your story. You can give them freedom and choice without sacrificing your story
This came at the right time. I feel like I have mechanics down and can run encounters in my sleep, but narratively I struggle with pacing, foreshadowing and working backwards from an arc. I can't wait to see more from you on this
Very good advice! I'm a big supporter of the idea of: smaller version of big thing later. In one of my campaigns, one of the end game bosses was a creature that could use Anti-Magic fields (Sul Khatesh) to their advantage. So I designed a few encounters with other creatures that could use similar abilities (Aeroian Nullifier or Flail Snail) without being as game breaking. This way they don't feel blindsided by broken abilities, but also it's amping up in terms of power and threats.
Ooooh, I hadn't thought of something like this for my story but it would be a great addition. My story revolves around magic being a bit broken, in the normal sense, not the OP sense. One way to "combat" an area where magic is going haywire is to have someone create anti-magic fields. Great side plot in a world where magic has become mundane and it would make everyone try to figure out how to live without it.
I love employing this as well as: It not only lets you recycle enemies that forces your player to strategize: you can throw in more complex mechanics to that enemy without having to teach the player too much about it.
I rarely comment, but I am a very new player to DnD (voted into becoming DM) and just ran the first part of my own custom one-shot for 6 players last week (group of close friends, also all new). Seems like a majority of them may continue with me into a campaign given how much they like the game. Coming across your video has really helped me out in tying all backstories into Act 1, hopefully rivalling the epicness of Baldur’s Gate. Thank you so very much for such an informative video!!
"Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels" has the concept of making a couple "stick" after their first meeting , that I really like to apply to DnD. It's good to think sbour how do you are gonna make the party stick togther believably after the first job/immediate threat is dealt with. I find the easiest is just giving them something to share (like troll skull manor in WD:DH) or just making the initial unifying something drawn out enough that it makes more sense to stick together.
Thanks for this! I'm running my first long campaign right now and I struggled a fair bit during the transition from "opening adventure" to "full first act". That's when i watched this video. Now it's a couple of months later, act 1 is nearing its conclusion and it's working amazingly, I've never had more fun DMing before than i do now that we really got into the swing of things. Thanks for the good advice :D
Your style matches my DM style exactly and I am super stoked to finally see a D&D video about a movie-type campaign and not a freeform sandbox. Loved it!
This was the easiest, most basic, yet fun and interesting explanation (and video) on how to write up a campaign's Act 1. It was clear and concise. I feel like I can go forward and set-up my own Act a lot more confidently following this as a guide. Thank you so much! :)
@@terristockburger8648 aw thanks for the kind words! Not everyone will use this method but I think as long as you’re evolving the outline you’re using to adapt to what your players are doing and letting them sort of take the reigns and “re writing” after every session, an outline is super helpful for me :)
This is a v good video on plotting! Taking note from story structure in film and TV has super helped me figure out the beats for a campaign, and I like the way you broke the main points of conflict before the point of no return as trials! Is all giving the players a chance to get to know each other and themselves, trials is a brilliant describer of this part of the story! Excited to watch on!! Thanks for making such a useful resource for GMs!
This video came at the right time, as I'm planning a mini campaign for some friends soon. The only thing I think also should be included by the end Act 1 of a (mostly) linear campaign is making the time limit known. The players should understand when the deadline is, so that there's pressure to act sooner rather than later. For example, they learn that the world-ending prophecy lands on a date a month away, or the necromancer is already a quarter of the way building their army, etc.
Oh boy this video is amazing, it just helped me desing my ACT 1for my campaing, thank you SO much! I was really strugglying to start writing it, now I know exactly what I want and have all visualized. Great Video!
I appreciate your pride in craft, friend. This is a really excellent and comprehensive video, well and painstakingly made. Nice job. Typically, I like to draw connections between characters in session zero; the more the better. I like there to be a reason for the characters to be together and to stay together, established before we start, which is usually In Media Rez (sp?). A good, deep backstory with connections to the other characters always makes for a better game.
@@TheFantasyForge It's so hard to pick just one! My players are aces, and really make my job easy. Because it's a sad truth that nobody cares as much about the worldbuilding as the worldbuilder, our table plays worldbuilding games to avoid the dreaded exposition dump part of starting a new game. Once we've fleshed out a bit of history, we decide which part of it we'd like to explore with a story, and write our character backstories to pose questions that are, if not complimentary to the one posed by the main arc, then at least not opposed to it. If I had to pick favourites, of my recent games I'd say I liked the party consisting of the reincarnated souls of ancient heroes of legend who are reborn in new bodies to face an ancient evil, who discover that the stories about their past lives may not necessarily have happened as history says they did. The process we use works pretty well so far. Thanks for taking the time to respond, it's much appreciated. Looking forward to your treatment of Acts 2 and 3, as they're available. Good work.. keep it up!
I find this video so interesting and well thought out, every minute you make a solid point, so that my ADHD just absolutely side tracks the train of thought with that new exciting information, and I have to rewind this video 4 minutes back every 5 minutes.
Your videos are literally a lifesaver, thank you so much. I was about to suggest to my friends that we start a short campaign soon with very few things actually planned out, (I've only DMed once before and it flopped pretty hard) so I'm really glad I found this first. Hoo boy I have a LOT to make sure of in my notes before even THINKING of starting now! ^^'
Great video, love it. I always start off my games by giving the party a very solid reason to work together by building trust. I need to work harder on incorporating backstories.
My current game is an extension of the previous one with mostly the same characters so that made it really easy to plot the major story beats. I had it open with an assassination attempt on one of the players and on investigation they found that it was tied to one of the players backstories
This was an amazing video, your channel is criminaly undiscovered and I really liked all your other content. This video helped me pace my inspiration into an actually decently writen story and I hope you can come around to making an act two and three (PLEASE!)
I really appreciate this. I now have a visual concept of how I want to run my very first campaign Act, and you've been very helpful. I look forward to using your provided resources more in the future as my group and I progress...
This video will blow up in no time! You put a lot into this and it really shows. Just subscribed and looking forward to binging the rest of your videos. Keep up the amazing work!
Very interesting topic! (Sorry for the mistakes, since English is not my first language!) I started my very own first d&d campaign on a world I create last July. Since the players (and myself) were mostly discovering the rules, I didn't get the opportunity to dive deep into theirs stories and find a way to link it to the campaign. Though, regarding your differents points, I think I still managed to plot the rest of the story pretty well. They got to meet the final boss at the end of the first act: it's was humanoid, but not something they've seen before. While they were suffocating in the dense and purple mist, a beam of light came from the top of the cave, and exploded the ancient and enormous throne in the back of the room. The final boss had to leave, because the cave was collapsing on itself, leaving the paralysed adventurers on the ground. This encounter confirmed them the ancient sorcery was back. Despite the legends telling events, explaining some type of spells and much more, it looks like this is something way bigger than they might've expected. Maybe linked to some forgotten deities.
My absolute favorite thing to do is to tell my players that they're in a sandbox. But in reality they are on a roller coaster, and they are the actors and I am slowly feeding them the script. I don't write the lines for them, but I definitely put modes of thought in front of them and then their characters decisions truly affect the way the world is going to work around them
I'm gonna start my first campaign in a few months after i did some one-shots throughout the year and this really helps me with the planning. Thanks for the amazing video
All good points. I adopted a similar style recently. It's more for me to take notes, then my party to follow. Noone but me has played before, and I barely have experience as a qm so my forst session for them is very this is how the mechanics work(and some world building). So Act 1, setting is a tavern, it's a full blue moon(a natural, divine, monsoon/hurricane is happening outside), and so all these people have holed up in this rowdy tavern. Scene 1: A dweller(think giant squid, but not) knocks in the door and starts trying to grab patrons, while the room is flooding. Way out of their skill level, so the caretaker of the tavern sends them through the basement to get help, while they stay to play with the big monster. Scene 2: is a trip through the sewers with rushing water, nareow pathways, and a slime blocking the path. So there was jumping, shoving(the slime), and the slime was swept away by the current. Scene 3, we haven't gotten to yet. But it will include introducing another area, and possible trying to improve my poker face(which is terrible, and one of my players taught me poker, so they are very much aware of my lies). I already know where they're going after this, but I consider that Act 2 which is going to have more of a focus on talking.
Wonderful video! I am currently aiming to start a new campaign with a group of friends I've known for years, and sometimes it helps to look back at the basics of storytelling and organization of campaigns. I am so looking forward to new videos; this one was wonderful and genuinely helped with some structure for the exposition and the future of the campaign
I just discovered your Act 1-3 series last night while looking up dnd map making tips n tricks, and am so glad i did cause this is immensely helpful to me for all the scattered ideas i have for a campaign im running with just my hubby n I (I'm trying to get my little brother into it for some ~chaos~ but its slow going with him atm). I know where i want things to eventually end up, as well as some scenes in between, but had no idea how to put it all together cohesively until i listened to your videos while in the shower (it helped me think since i had no choice BUT to listen, which is honestly awesome and i wish id done it sooner for other helpful dnd videos lol). Thank you for making these quick, informative vids that dont feel like it drags on the same thing and also giving helpful mentally visual ideas via the partys' adventure itself, thank you so much. Merry meet, and Blessed Be )●(
I recently started brainstorming ideas for my first campaign as a DM, and this video ended up recommended to me right after I fleshed out my setting, BBEG, and session 1 mic drop moment. A lot of what you said here really resonated with what I'm going for, so I think I'm on the right track! My idea is a bit of a departure from my group's usual play style, but I hope my players enjoy the new direction I'll be taking them in for this next adventure.
This actually really helps. I’ve been running a campaign for awhile and been struggling to plan out when things should happen, even though I’ve pretty much had the whole story written from the start. Thinking of it in acts has greatly simplified it and given me a great many ideas. Like seriously I think you’ve fixed just about every problem I’ve had with pacing. Edit: just a few more notes, it helps with when I should deliver information, which I was kind of just sprinkling in wherever I could fit it, but now I know when precisely to deliver the information as they slowly uncover the mystery!
Tobias! He's playing the game at abour 4:23. Also, love the video, they're always great! I can't wait to see more! Also super random, but your avatar is so cool, the design and vibe are just right
also, 15:28. they may have seen the mom and thought, "what if i could make a cloak from its pelt with that effect? Sadly, they do not know where the baby is cause the island exploded :(
This was actually really helpful. I'm running a low magic game with the BBEG being a magic user who can control dragons. Magic users are rare and actively hunted. So I ran into the issue of how to allow players to be magic users. The light beam trick did it for me. Some henchmen of the BBEG are messing around with one of the magical devices that allows them to control dragons. They mess up the calibration and the source of magic energy goes boom, this grants the casters nearby the ability to learn and hone their magics.
just wanted to say big ups to you for providing this material, its good and youre a scriptwriter. i always think that storytelling is a big part of dm'ing. you need plot, character, dialogue, morals, motives
I never introduce the BBEG early. In a good story, someone with a lot of minions and machinations wouldn't meet a bunch of low level adventurers right off the bat. I might build up a recurring villain, but they'll be extremely low in the hierarchy. They might not even hear the name of the BBEG until they encounter someone a few rungs up the ladder. Then they'll start hearing whispers of it everywhere.
Love to see snippets of Treasure Planet sprinkled in here, actually a really great resource for DM's looking for plot hooks as well as interesting NPC's who have their own motivations that twist the plot through it's fantastic story!
Brand new DM running my first game in a few days. Thank you for helping me get some structure into my budding campaign so it DOESN'T turn into a wild sandbox event! Also I have no idea who Tobias is but he sounds cute.
Aw yay! Glad it could help! And Tobias is the old mascot for the channel, he pops up in most videos and if you leave a time stamp, I might shout you out in the next video I do, that's all haha. He's very popular
14:35 Holy crap you brought up brennan as soon as i thought about him, he intruced his chatacters so well in fantasy high i didnt even notice thats what he was doing. Thanks for the good vid ❤
omg thank you for being so respectful about that! I think I could have phrased it better but either way, appreciate the love and hope the dice are kind to you haha
I personally love opening monologue and so do my players. I know this is specific to my table but I try to open every of our (usually 4-6 hour) sessions with a 3-5 minute opening monologue, it's usually not 100% related to the current scene but moreso providing a bit of context for someone or something in the following session, I feel it helps my players with getting emersed and Kick-starting the movie if our story in their head
As a new DM who comes from a background of playwriting and storyboarding this was extremely helpful! Still finding my balance between story and game play when I'm usually such a story based mind
Despite not being a DM, This actually helps a lot since I'm writing a fantasy story! FOR YEARS I've been daydreaming about it when its done, and only now do I have the motivation to actually work on the story, since it's gone thru massive revamps throughout the years- Thanks for this!
Really glad I got this recommended. I'm starting my second campaign soon, and for the first one I just used Lost Mine as a starting point. Designing levels 1-5 will be all new to me.
I just got Rick Rolled by a D&D tutorial video. A freaking D&D tutorial video! Okay, fine, have my like and subscribe while I go sit in a corner and evaluate all of my life decisions that lead to this moment. 😅😂
One of the best campaigns I was apart of was that each of our characters was a chosen champion. Our DM gave each of us a unique personal mission and place. Each one added to the heart break and agony we suffered. While there were some powerful ones, like the Paladins sister being afflicted by a disease that eats living tissue with no hope of being cured and healing just added to the suffering. My character being necromancer ended up killing her and willingly taking all blame for it. Though she came back as a spirit and made the Paladins sword an Intelligent Item that he and myself could use. (I am grossly skimming this, for it was like 10 sessions long and a massive mission) Anyway mine was very.....unique. Our DM stated everyone was stunned that there was a beautiful village, where as if the war had not touched it. Children playing, people milling about talking about the latest things, the smell of fresh bread being baked, and carriages going to and fro in the streets. It was here that my character took a shaking step forward and was asked where were we. I had turned around and said, "My home." The DM then stated that only I saw everything he described, everyone else saw a destroyed village, bodies and stained blood everywhere. It was a little later that my character came to senses and had forgotten about what happened, and was the whole reason he became what he is. He felt as if the gods abandoned or punished him for having a natural affinity to necromancy. Turns out it was a Lich that needed more souls to complete a ritual. To stay my normally calm, straight forward, and logical character went completely into a rage was an understatement. The DM liked how my character was so enraged that even spells that were suppose to heal Lich the actually harmed it. We had many more things that happened but yeah that through everyone for a loop. The druid (who I also helped in her personal mission) felt so bad for me that she made it her personal mission to make me feel something again. Which was a nice touch.
4:21, and Gravity Falls, let's go! Okay, now my wheels are spinning, definitely needed this, I've had a case of creator's block all week, I think some story ideas are starting to pop up. Thanks for getting me back on track.
My next campaign's act 1 was already mostly plotted out, but this really helped flesh out the connections between points. Thanks so much. I appreciate the super in-depth example, that's a rare resource. Great editing, too.
Just found a game specifically using the word "scene" to describe what is narrated by the group, and making the game look like a kind of theater. And now I found your video while preparing a campaign for said game ? Perfect ! (btw, the game I am talking about is Fabula Ultima)
I am elbows deep in trying to turn an idea into a fully fleshed out campaign. I am slowly remembering why i never wrote anything longer than a short story when I was growing up. I'm no very good at creating. Throughout my life I nave found that I cam really good at copying other peoples work and even improving on it in some rare occasions but creating something from scratch has always been really tough for me. I wish I could say that this video has been the breakthrough I needed but it has shown me some more ways that I can try to get thru this process. I really want to finish this campaign. I'm not even world building as I am adapting my campaign to an established setting in DnD. I already decided that my campaign was going to be three acts, each having five chapters and the characters will reach lv15 at the beginning of the 15th chapter to decide the fate of the world. I have also decided that I don't want a cliché plot of some prophecy or anything like that. The plot of this story is a catastrophe that is entirely "man made". I haven't fleshed out all of the motivations for the people involved in the catastrophe or even decided if there is even a singular BBEG but I want several twists in the form of the characters thinking one thing only to realize that they were wrong. I want those realizations to be the final chapters in each of the acts. Wish me luck. You will probably get several views from me for each of your videos in this series.
What Im doing in my house game rn is using a town NPC to be a minor quest giver that will get the players working out character stuff and giving some opportunity to learn the characters. Of course (And I will know if one of my players reads this!) these jobs are going to be brushing against the operations of the BBEG's group. That allows me to make sure everyone (including me!) has understanding of the mechanics in use for this game and at least a working knowledge of the characters. Mind you, this is much easier to handle with only 2 players, but the concepts still apply to larger groups, just with a higher difficulty curve.
so i already knew this stuff as a film maker. but this is a great video for those who need that push. using a "call to action" is basically needed if you are gonna write a adventure story. something that truely gets the main events going.
Very good video. I am one of those sandbox style DMs...sort of. I tend to give my players a place, something to do and then begin weaving small threads of an overarching, albeit, small problem and touching on their backstories. Eventually they will bite on a plot thread or theyll make an enemy. Basically, i let the campaign evolve itself into a story. I never go into a campaign with a clear end or idea of where it will go. I tend to have some rough ideas of things i and the players would like to explore and build off of the things they run accross and find interesting.
I am experimenting with setting up several threats in a map, and prepare "random" events that are related to the closest threat. It provides some structure, while leaving room for exploration.
I'm planning a beginning that is somewhere between a whole story and sandbox. I'm gonna drop plot in front of them, and whatever threads they pluck will unravel. I have an idea for the larger campaign, but I'm gonna let them find their way there
I use this format alot let the party have as much freedom but also they know the story still moves in the background plot still moves even if they messed around in town they know the enemy's are still on the move. I try to let them have there fun but in each session the story opens up more and more. I also like to give a cut screen of what the enemys are doing from time to time just a glimpse into the enemy's point of view. Last session they was given the task to warn the capital city where the royal summit is being held of a dragon invasion. They failed the roll so now the guards and the royal officers are at a stand still not trusting the party as the city starts getting attacked now they have multiple outcomes and story paths that can unfold. Its always a good idea to end the session with a stressful events about to unfold. The players will be thinking all week whats going to happen next
I love ending sessions like this! And yeah, definitely how I do it too. Give them freedom, but I still know where things are going. Thanks for the comment!
I love to plan the first session regularly with quick 15min run ins with each character. My last one the party had all been summoned from different spots in town to participate in a protection program for the settlement to test their iron as reliable ppl. My favorite one was everyone was at a job site outside a once spell plagued capital, the magic chaos having vanished leaving it open for treasure seekers, they joined together and jumped right inside! Having their first battle when they met a player who was actually a sword for the whole game 😂
I guess I could split my initial one session opening into a few sessions... Said set up being everyone meets in the bar cause it's free rootbeer float and appetizer night so they all have a decent enough reason to be there regardless of background, frostbitten skeleton busts through the wall halfway through which leads to them getting the quest to go figure out where the hell all of the ice monsters are coming from, there's an ancient temple with trials and riddles they gotta go through, at the end of it is a fucked up elf-dragon creature that seems to be the source of all of this, they don't remember much of how they got to that point if the party decides to let them live but it's from the BBEG's corruption, there's the hook to go to the kingdom nearby to inform the crown of what happened, but not before a festival in the small town for some breathing room.
@@TheFantasyForge It absolutely is, I drew it myself as well, it's an ice dragon so there's sharp teeth so big that they can't close their mouth fully, scales covering their emaciated body in patches, ice crystals coming out of one of its eyes, humanoid hands and feet halfway between, well, humanoid and dragon claws, and its skin pale as snow, all whilst still being humanoid looking shape-wise. It absolutely terrified the last two party's I threw it at so I think it worked as intended akjwdnawjkdn
@TheFantasyForge, how do you deal with the combination of the story/campaign spanning your three acts, and still giving the players a sandbox to side-quest in? Can you prepare for this? Is there a good source for plug-and-play side-quests?
Dealing with it means being open to changing the arcs. You might have an idea for the bad guy, but how they get there can change, and how the bad guy reacts can change. It's just about adapting! There's lots of side quests! I use chatgpt to come up with some on the fly, but you can also just roll on tables. The DM's guide and other source material has lots of random encounter tables. But there's also lots of free ones out there from other players. Pintererst is a great place to look
@@GVlemio Use it sparingly haha. But the best thing is to give it background. "My world is about X and Y. I want to make it feel like A B and C. Give me a bunch of different versions of 1 2 and 3"
Just recently started a new campaign myself, with my DND group. The setup is Frostpunk: a random ice age has overtaken the world. The PC's are hunting someone (friend/family/enemy/lover etc (most pc's picked a revenge type story.)) We just finished session 2, where their hunts have been taken in by a dwarven city as slaves. I was a little lost for where to go next, but thanks to this vid, i have a good idea: BBEG is going to be a summoned entity, imagine Shiva from Final Fantasy, that has corrupted the local environment and made the ice age. I'm looking to make the dwarves hunting for slaves to sacrifice them and 'summon' another entity, as they have an idea what caused the ice age, the PC's find this plot and get drawn in while also finding their hunted targets... So far, it sounds like a good idea in my head, but i'm planning to go from there and see what i come up with
@@Aaa-vp6ug well we're 9 weeks into that campaign now. I'm still learning but I'm much more relaxed now especially with swing it when I don't have the answers prepared. The story will end in about a month I believe
One tip I have is for introducing the bbeg early. The party will almost definitely attack this person so I find using the dream spell or some way they can taunt them throughout the journey is the best. If combat happens early you run the risk of the party killing the bbeg (removing the threatening nature of the bbeg) or the bbeg being untouchable and giving the party a feeling of powerlessness which isn’t super fun for everyone.
@@TheFantasyForge yeah I learned that from my second time being a dm. My first time my players killed the main antagonist of the first half of the campaign in session 3.
I am designing and Anime/Manga related campaign for a system called Break!! RPG. Characters can get lost and go in whatever direction they want. Little do they know, I design the adventure map and while there are slight visual and story differences all roads lead to the same place. Lol
Great video!! I’m running a game starting as a heist, with the twist leading into two that they’ve been working for an even bigger threat to the world. Still trying to figure out how to make it so at the end of the twist they want to go after them into act two tho 🤔 This is why I love dming!
@@TheFantasyForge Yeah, if this was Oceans 11 George Clooney is trying to collect enough powerful artifacts to make the world a hive mind! They just so happen to all be Matt Damon 😅
I turned to Dm:ing due to my aphantasia which means that I don't have an internal movie, but I improvise dialogue and write stories, which does not need that.
Personally what i've taken to doing is getting the players of the soon to be party into pairs, and doing pre-campaign sessions, usually with them meeting each other on an early quest, or otherwise running into each other, Before shifting to them all meeting either on a larger quest, or in a tavern, or at the bequest of someone calling on lower level adventurers in an attempt to keep something discrete. It tends to build a relationship between pairs of them early on, and really builds a bit more kinship and closeness in the early game.
I know it can be dependent on how you want to run your campaign and what naturally happens in a campaign, but how many sessions roughly would this Act One (especially the example) take? Is that like one session? a few? 10??
oh man, you said it, it really depends. My act 1 was like 40-50 sessions haha. This is such a bare bones act structure that is only focused on the "big baddie". You throw in side quests, secondary storylines, backstories, other enemy characters, shopping, roleplaying, battles...it can take a long time. My last campaign was 3 years long and we were meeting every single week.
@@TheFantasyForge Related to this, how did you make the hook on the first session if the first act was over 40 sessions long if I may ask? Thanks a lot for the video!!
@@mariaj1702 Good question! I started them on the road into the city. They ran into a group of knights that were running away from "something" and when they followed the knights out of curiosity, they ran into a hoard of undead. Only one knight survived and handed them a box and told them not to open it. A rider on horseback followed them and asked them to turn it over, which they refused, and it turns out he was leading the undead. What happened next was up to them, but they knew the box was important, some undead were involved, and they were now protectors of this box. They basically knew what the story was about (roughly) in session 1, even though they didn't have the details! So then the next 30-50 sessions was sort of going into smaller quests, spreading out the bigger story, giving them time to get to know their characters and such, but even when they did things like go into the city for a festival...etc, they always knew they had this box in their possession and at all times, someone might steal it. TLDR: They got the magic mcguffin right in session 1, the next 40 sessions was building up the drama and story and then eventually I dropped the big "oh snap" moment that led into act 2 where they were now deeply involved in the story and the happenings. Hope that helped!
As a DM, I get my players to think of how they know each other. For instance, Rick might know Marissa because they killed a Gargoyle terroizing some mountain side town, which then, Marissa introduced Rick to an old companion named John. Together, they helped a caravan deliver spices to a Baron, which now they are currently doinflg a quest for. I find it allows the players to create the inciting incident, which doesnt force a connection or railroad. They feel like part of a group already.
I'd actually like some advice for a homebrew ish campaign I have planned, for context it's myself, my partner, and perhaps some extra friends who would be joining the game, but none of us has played together before I'm to be the DM and and very newbie one at that, and some of the players are new to DND as well, so I had thoughts that I could make a blank slate campaign, with the plot being essentially the players are taken from their homes and transported to a new realm far from their own, so that the players dont have to worry so much about creating a backstory and can just play the game, maybe make stuff up as we go. But I have to ask is that wise? They wouldn't really be able TOO have a backstory, and for some additional context it's a pirate/aquatic theme adventure, their taken away by pirates who invaded the town and enslaved them, then they are transported too an unknown part of the world.
@ntwilson313 I think it's totally doable to not have a backstory! Lots of players don't know how to or don't want to create backstories so they go with the "my character has amnesia" route and leave it up to the DM! It gives you more freedom for the story. I would say make sure to have a session zero and talk about expectations, how much combat vs RP they want, what themes they like, just get a feel for them as players. Maybe help them make their characters and just let them get a feel for you as a DM in the process and let them ask questions. This will set you up for success in the long run
Usually the first few sessions include things that force the party together one way or the other. Then, I introduce a bigger problem that forces them to work together (a kid gets kidnapped and they have to travel together) and then I add snippets of a bugger issue (the kid is important to the cult somehow) so that after they complete the first mission, they take steps to figure out how to take on the bigger issue. After that, I usually pick a character to delve into their character arc, confronting their past, and setting them up for a grander destiny that lies before them, and then I'll do that for each character, throw in some magic items, and then they will be facing the bigger issue.
This is a great way to do it and honestly sounds similar to my method too
Or put 1 player in a slow instant kill trap and have the solution in the room with the other party members it could also be a test of leadership if they know they have to put one person in it.
My favourite way to do this is having the entire party in a marketplace. Suddenly the market is attacked by some appropriate challenge, like a wagon of goblins or kobolds. It especially helps putting some commoners about the place that may get hurt or killed if the players don't protect them. Even the edge lord that doesn't want adventure probably doesn't want to be killed either
Rollercoasters are on railroads and still people have fun on them. (Some famous dm said it I dunno who tho )
lol I love this!
I believe it’s Matt Colville but I could be mistaken
@@goshjosh3337 haha sounds right, I love that.
Part of a good dms job is keeping all the groups shit on the rails instead of in 6 directions lol
@@ghostkill221 Awesome way to put it lol
There is a fine art to just “winging it” as a DM. If you’re concerned with creating complex plot arcs and narrative connections, you can technically also write them backwards. While your players are struggling to figure out information on a character, there may be nothing there in reality, but they don’t know that. You could take pieces of their theories and make an actual connection to a narrative element later on, then start dropping breadcrumbs. This makes it APPEAR as though you planned something all along!
Yep! I do this all the time! It's a great skill to have
I've been running a Fabula Ultima game for four months. In probably 3/4 of all sessions, I've had a plan and thrown it out when something the players said or did (unbeknownst to them) gave me an idea that was at least 5 times better than what I was about to have happen. So my plan going forward is to have a loose plan but know that some innocuous phrase will probably give me a better idea.
It's rather surprising to me how often this happens.
I do this as well I see the conclusion that I want to sort of play out and then I work backwards and completely adapt to my players. I like to wing it and give them all a chance to shine in their moments but eventually they have to coalesce down a funnel towards something. The funnel is something that I rinse and repeat. Focus on the build up towards the finale and work backwards
I like this. Many say dont railroad the party, but to some degree, it can really help a party struggling to roleplay and have their own motivations, it can make for amazing stories, and make it more fun for the players. That doeant mean you fully ignore their choices, but rather having these big trials and acts can be big parts of the story woven together by all the in between choices of the players.
yeah it really is just knowing as a storyteller where you're going. You might plan it for session 5 and end up getting there in session 20, but you always knew you would get there
Players like railroads, they just don't like seeing the rails
@@EmOffline Oh that's good, love that😎
@@EmOffline Lazy people who are there to roll dice and be swoll. sure.
The most important thing is that your story can be on rails, you just shouldn't take away their agency so they don't have enough choice. You shouldn't wrench control away from them to tell your story. You can give them freedom and choice without sacrificing your story
This came at the right time. I feel like I have mechanics down and can run encounters in my sleep, but narratively I struggle with pacing, foreshadowing and working backwards from an arc. I can't wait to see more from you on this
yay! Glad to help!
0:51 gosh dang it
Very good advice!
I'm a big supporter of the idea of: smaller version of big thing later.
In one of my campaigns, one of the end game bosses was a creature that could use Anti-Magic fields (Sul Khatesh) to their advantage. So I designed a few encounters with other creatures that could use similar abilities (Aeroian Nullifier or Flail Snail) without being as game breaking.
This way they don't feel blindsided by broken abilities, but also it's amping up in terms of power and threats.
Great idea! It's also a great way to hint at what's to come later
Ooooh, I hadn't thought of something like this for my story but it would be a great addition. My story revolves around magic being a bit broken, in the normal sense, not the OP sense. One way to "combat" an area where magic is going haywire is to have someone create anti-magic fields. Great side plot in a world where magic has become mundane and it would make everyone try to figure out how to live without it.
a fellow eberron dm i see
excellent taste good sir
@@Silverstar-wt5rj eberron rules.
I love employing this as well as: It not only lets you recycle enemies that forces your player to strategize: you can throw in more complex mechanics to that enemy without having to teach the player too much about it.
Pretty solid info here on plotting fantasy adventures, with plenty of starter ideas to boot. Subscribed.
aw thanks for the sub! Appreciate the love
I rarely comment, but I am a very new player to DnD (voted into becoming DM) and just ran the first part of my own custom one-shot for 6 players last week (group of close friends, also all new). Seems like a majority of them may continue with me into a campaign given how much they like the game. Coming across your video has really helped me out in tying all backstories into Act 1, hopefully rivalling the epicness of Baldur’s Gate. Thank you so very much for such an informative video!!
I'm glad it helped! Hope your games are epic and never have scheduling issues 😁
um can we get an update? /nf that’s awesome
"Romancing the Beat: Story Structure for Romance Novels" has the concept of making a couple "stick" after their first meeting , that I really like to apply to DnD.
It's good to think sbour how do you are gonna make the party stick togther believably after the first job/immediate threat is dealt with.
I find the easiest is just giving them something to share (like troll skull manor in WD:DH) or just making the initial unifying something drawn out enough that it makes more sense to stick together.
Yes! I'm in a game as a player where we're getting to this part. A reason to stick together is super important
could you share with us a handful of tactics provided by the video? I'm very interested in the two you've already shared.
Wait a minute, did i get rickrolled
Yes. We all did lmao
I'm strangely okay with this
Yes
@@ademas2010 Nice profile picture!
No... it, it can’t be !
Thanks for this! I'm running my first long campaign right now and I struggled a fair bit during the transition from "opening adventure" to "full first act". That's when i watched this video. Now it's a couple of months later, act 1 is nearing its conclusion and it's working amazingly, I've never had more fun DMing before than i do now that we really got into the swing of things. Thanks for the good advice :D
aw shucks I appreciate you taking time to leave some love. I would love to hear about the best parts!
Your style matches my DM style exactly and I am super stoked to finally see a D&D video about a movie-type campaign and not a freeform sandbox. Loved it!
appreciate the love! :D
This was the easiest, most basic, yet fun and interesting explanation (and video) on how to write up a campaign's Act 1. It was clear and concise. I feel like I can go forward and set-up my own Act a lot more confidently following this as a guide. Thank you so much! :)
@@terristockburger8648 aw thanks for the kind words! Not everyone will use this method but I think as long as you’re evolving the outline you’re using to adapt to what your players are doing and letting them sort of take the reigns and “re writing” after every session, an outline is super helpful for me :)
This is a v good video on plotting! Taking note from story structure in film and TV has super helped me figure out the beats for a campaign, and I like the way you broke the main points of conflict before the point of no return as trials! Is all giving the players a chance to get to know each other and themselves, trials is a brilliant describer of this part of the story!
Excited to watch on!! Thanks for making such a useful resource for GMs!
Appreciate the kind words! Let me know if there's any videos you'd like to see!
This video came at the right time, as I'm planning a mini campaign for some friends soon. The only thing I think also should be included by the end Act 1 of a (mostly) linear campaign is making the time limit known. The players should understand when the deadline is, so that there's pressure to act sooner rather than later. For example, they learn that the world-ending prophecy lands on a date a month away, or the necromancer is already a quarter of the way building their army, etc.
Glad it helped. I like the timeline tip!
Excellent video, puts some concepts I've heard of but never been able to put together into a step by step, easy to understand method.
Thanks! I have a passion for writing so I’m glad it helps
Oh boy this video is amazing, it just helped me desing my ACT 1for my campaing, thank you SO much! I was really strugglying to start writing it, now I know exactly what I want and have all visualized.
Great Video!
Hey glad I could help even a little! Thanks for the love :D
@@TheFantasyForge Do you have further videos for other actes of the campaing? I1d love to see those!
working on them as we speak!@@leviruzene
I appreciate your pride in craft, friend. This is a really excellent and comprehensive video, well and painstakingly made. Nice job.
Typically, I like to draw connections between characters in session zero; the more the better. I like there to be a reason for the characters to be together and to stay together, established before we start, which is usually In Media Rez (sp?). A good, deep backstory with connections to the other characters always makes for a better game.
I LOVE a good backstory. One that fits my world especially. It's just so refreshing. What's the best back story you've heard at your table?
@@TheFantasyForge It's so hard to pick just one! My players are aces, and really make my job easy. Because it's a sad truth that nobody cares as much about the worldbuilding as the worldbuilder, our table plays worldbuilding games to avoid the dreaded exposition dump part of starting a new game. Once we've fleshed out a bit of history, we decide which part of it we'd like to explore with a story, and write our character backstories to pose questions that are, if not complimentary to the one posed by the main arc, then at least not opposed to it.
If I had to pick favourites, of my recent games I'd say I liked the party consisting of the reincarnated souls of ancient heroes of legend who are reborn in new bodies to face an ancient evil, who discover that the stories about their past lives may not necessarily have happened as history says they did.
The process we use works pretty well so far. Thanks for taking the time to respond, it's much appreciated. Looking forward to your treatment of Acts 2 and 3, as they're available. Good work.. keep it up!
That sounds like an amazing party! I would love to play with a group that cares about the history of the world like that@@MadAdamStudio
@@TheFantasyForge I'll keep that in mind and reach out next time we put a table together.
I find this video so interesting and well thought out, every minute you make a solid point, so that my ADHD just absolutely side tracks the train of thought with that new exciting information, and I have to rewind this video 4 minutes back every 5 minutes.
Your videos are literally a lifesaver, thank you so much. I was about to suggest to my friends that we start a short campaign soon with very few things actually planned out, (I've only DMed once before and it flopped pretty hard) so I'm really glad I found this first. Hoo boy I have a LOT to make sure of in my notes before even THINKING of starting now! ^^'
Thanks for the kind words! I'm curious what you mean by it flopped! Did you just not enjoy it? 😢
Funny thing about this video, I actually needed this!
Glad I could help!!
Great video, love it. I always start off my games by giving the party a very solid reason to work together by building trust. I need to work harder on incorporating backstories.
My current game is an extension of the previous one with mostly the same characters so that made it really easy to plot the major story beats. I had it open with an assassination attempt on one of the players and on investigation they found that it was tied to one of the players backstories
This was an amazing video, your channel is criminaly undiscovered and I really liked all your other content.
This video helped me pace my inspiration into an actually decently writen story and I hope you can come around to making an act two and three (PLEASE!)
Working on Act 2 right now! And thanks for the kind words :D
This is great! I love that you're pulling images from all of the best fantasy content. Subscribed.
thanks for the love!
I’m not even finished with the video yet and I feel so much more confident in beginning my campaign!! Thank you so muchhhh!!💛💛💛
Yay! Happy to help :D Thanks for the love
This is the first video of yours that I'm watching and you explained what I've been struggling with for so long, so well.
aw I'm glad! Thanks for the comment :D
Cool video. I run mostly sandboxes but like to set up several stories. This is fantastic for setting those stories up. Really well done.
I really appreciate this. I now have a visual concept of how I want to run my very first campaign Act, and you've been very helpful.
I look forward to using your provided resources more in the future as my group and I progress...
This video will blow up in no time! You put a lot into this and it really shows. Just subscribed and looking forward to binging the rest of your videos. Keep up the amazing work!
I really appreciate that 🥰 thanks for the love
Very interesting topic!
(Sorry for the mistakes, since English is not my first language!)
I started my very own first d&d campaign on a world I create last July. Since the players (and myself) were mostly discovering the rules, I didn't get the opportunity to dive deep into theirs stories and find a way to link it to the campaign. Though, regarding your differents points, I think I still managed to plot the rest of the story pretty well. They got to meet the final boss at the end of the first act: it's was humanoid, but not something they've seen before. While they were suffocating in the dense and purple mist, a beam of light came from the top of the cave, and exploded the ancient and enormous throne in the back of the room. The final boss had to leave, because the cave was collapsing on itself, leaving the paralysed adventurers on the ground.
This encounter confirmed them the ancient sorcery was back. Despite the legends telling events, explaining some type of spells and much more, it looks like this is something way bigger than they might've expected. Maybe linked to some forgotten deities.
This sounds awesome! And then they had an idea of what was out there and coming to get them later.
@@TheFantasyForge exactly! Even though they didn't catch every meaning in the speech the vilain gave them, I think they start to realize! :D
@@hope_oren best feeling ever
My absolute favorite thing to do is to tell my players that they're in a sandbox. But in reality they are on a roller coaster, and they are the actors and I am slowly feeding them the script. I don't write the lines for them, but I definitely put modes of thought in front of them and then their characters decisions truly affect the way the world is going to work around them
Stellar video! Excited for part 2
aw thank you! Hoping to have that for this next week!
I'm gonna start my first campaign in a few months after i did some one-shots throughout the year and this really helps me with the planning. Thanks for the amazing video
All good points. I adopted a similar style recently. It's more for me to take notes, then my party to follow.
Noone but me has played before, and I barely have experience as a qm so my forst session for them is very this is how the mechanics work(and some world building). So Act 1, setting is a tavern, it's a full blue moon(a natural, divine, monsoon/hurricane is happening outside), and so all these people have holed up in this rowdy tavern.
Scene 1: A dweller(think giant squid, but not) knocks in the door and starts trying to grab patrons, while the room is flooding. Way out of their skill level, so the caretaker of the tavern sends them through the basement to get help, while they stay to play with the big monster.
Scene 2: is a trip through the sewers with rushing water, nareow pathways, and a slime blocking the path. So there was jumping, shoving(the slime), and the slime was swept away by the current.
Scene 3, we haven't gotten to yet. But it will include introducing another area, and possible trying to improve my poker face(which is terrible, and one of my players taught me poker, so they are very much aware of my lies).
I already know where they're going after this, but I consider that Act 2 which is going to have more of a focus on talking.
Wonderful video! I am currently aiming to start a new campaign with a group of friends I've known for years, and sometimes it helps to look back at the basics of storytelling and organization of campaigns. I am so looking forward to new videos; this one was wonderful and genuinely helped with some structure for the exposition and the future of the campaign
thank you for the love! Appreciate that so much. Would love to know if you have any specific questions you want answered!
I just discovered your Act 1-3 series last night while looking up dnd map making tips n tricks, and am so glad i did cause this is immensely helpful to me for all the scattered ideas i have for a campaign im running with just my hubby n I (I'm trying to get my little brother into it for some ~chaos~ but its slow going with him atm). I know where i want things to eventually end up, as well as some scenes in between, but had no idea how to put it all together cohesively until i listened to your videos while in the shower (it helped me think since i had no choice BUT to listen, which is honestly awesome and i wish id done it sooner for other helpful dnd videos lol).
Thank you for making these quick, informative vids that dont feel like it drags on the same thing and also giving helpful mentally visual ideas via the partys' adventure itself, thank you so much.
Merry meet, and Blessed Be )●(
Hey I'm glad they helped! Hope the sessions go well! Thanks for leaving some love
I recently started brainstorming ideas for my first campaign as a DM, and this video ended up recommended to me right after I fleshed out my setting, BBEG, and session 1 mic drop moment. A lot of what you said here really resonated with what I'm going for, so I think I'm on the right track! My idea is a bit of a departure from my group's usual play style, but I hope my players enjoy the new direction I'll be taking them in for this next adventure.
This actually really helps. I’ve been running a campaign for awhile and been struggling to plan out when things should happen, even though I’ve pretty much had the whole story written from the start. Thinking of it in acts has greatly simplified it and given me a great many ideas. Like seriously I think you’ve fixed just about every problem I’ve had with pacing.
Edit: just a few more notes, it helps with when I should deliver information, which I was kind of just sprinkling in wherever I could fit it, but now I know when precisely to deliver the information as they slowly uncover the mystery!
Tobias! He's playing the game at abour 4:23. Also, love the video, they're always great! I can't wait to see more!
Also super random, but your avatar is so cool, the design and vibe are just right
also, 15:28. they may have seen the mom and thought, "what if i could make a cloak from its pelt with that effect? Sadly, they do not know where the baby is cause the island exploded :(
thanks for the love! Working on Act 2 now!
This was actually really helpful. I'm running a low magic game with the BBEG being a magic user who can control dragons. Magic users are rare and actively hunted.
So I ran into the issue of how to allow players to be magic users. The light beam trick did it for me.
Some henchmen of the BBEG are messing around with one of the magical devices that allows them to control dragons. They mess up the calibration and the source of magic energy goes boom, this grants the casters nearby the ability to learn and hone their magics.
Glad it helped! Sometimes you just need that little spark from some random video haha
just wanted to say big ups to you for providing this material, its good and youre a scriptwriter. i always think that storytelling is a big part of dm'ing. you need plot, character, dialogue, morals, motives
I never introduce the BBEG early. In a good story, someone with a lot of minions and machinations wouldn't meet a bunch of low level adventurers right off the bat. I might build up a recurring villain, but they'll be extremely low in the hierarchy. They might not even hear the name of the BBEG until they encounter someone a few rungs up the ladder. Then they'll start hearing whispers of it everywhere.
Love to see snippets of Treasure Planet sprinkled in here, actually a really great resource for DM's looking for plot hooks as well as interesting NPC's who have their own motivations that twist the plot through it's fantastic story!
Brand new DM running my first game in a few days. Thank you for helping me get some structure into my budding campaign so it DOESN'T turn into a wild sandbox event!
Also I have no idea who Tobias is but he sounds cute.
Aw yay! Glad it could help!
And Tobias is the old mascot for the channel, he pops up in most videos and if you leave a time stamp, I might shout you out in the next video I do, that's all haha. He's very popular
Awesome video, helped me expand an opening session to a world I'm working on now. Cheers!
happy to help!
14:35 Holy crap you brought up brennan as soon as i thought about him, he intruced his chatacters so well in fantasy high i didnt even notice thats what he was doing. Thanks for the good vid ❤
Thank you very much for the beginning disclaimer! I am a sandbox DM and therefore have no use for this video. Enjoy your game your way my dude!
omg thank you for being so respectful about that! I think I could have phrased it better but either way, appreciate the love and hope the dice are kind to you haha
I personally love opening monologue and so do my players. I know this is specific to my table but I try to open every of our (usually 4-6 hour) sessions with a 3-5 minute opening monologue, it's usually not 100% related to the current scene but moreso providing a bit of context for someone or something in the following session, I feel it helps my players with getting emersed and Kick-starting the movie if our story in their head
I love monologues too haha! I think it depends on the party but I think you're right, it feels like kick starting a movie. Gets everyone excited
As a new DM who comes from a background of playwriting and storyboarding this was extremely helpful! Still finding my balance between story and game play when I'm usually such a story based mind
Despite not being a DM, This actually helps a lot since I'm writing a fantasy story! FOR YEARS I've been daydreaming about it when its done, and only now do I have the motivation to actually work on the story, since it's gone thru massive revamps throughout the years- Thanks for this!
I'm working on more storytelling stuff, probably a whole new channel at some point, but I made this video because I'm a writer too haha.
Really glad I got this recommended. I'm starting my second campaign soon, and for the first one I just used Lost Mine as a starting point. Designing levels 1-5 will be all new to me.
Thanks for the love :D Glad I could help even a little
I just got Rick Rolled by a D&D tutorial video. A freaking D&D tutorial video!
Okay, fine, have my like and subscribe while I go sit in a corner and evaluate all of my life decisions that lead to this moment. 😅😂
LOL yeah that's for the editor to take all the credit
First one of your videos I've ever seen - awesome content man, easily gained my sub. Looking forward to seeing more 🥰
aw shucks, thanks for the love!
@@TheFantasyForge You're welcome! I've been binge watching your videos all morning 😅❤️
One of the best campaigns I was apart of was that each of our characters was a chosen champion.
Our DM gave each of us a unique personal mission and place. Each one added to the heart break and agony we suffered.
While there were some powerful ones, like the Paladins sister being afflicted by a disease that eats living tissue with no hope of being cured and healing just added to the suffering. My character being necromancer ended up killing her and willingly taking all blame for it. Though she came back as a spirit and made the Paladins sword an Intelligent Item that he and myself could use. (I am grossly skimming this, for it was like 10 sessions long and a massive mission)
Anyway mine was very.....unique. Our DM stated everyone was stunned that there was a beautiful village, where as if the war had not touched it. Children playing, people milling about talking about the latest things, the smell of fresh bread being baked, and carriages going to and fro in the streets. It was here that my character took a shaking step forward and was asked where were we. I had turned around and said, "My home."
The DM then stated that only I saw everything he described, everyone else saw a destroyed village, bodies and stained blood everywhere. It was a little later that my character came to senses and had forgotten about what happened, and was the whole reason he became what he is. He felt as if the gods abandoned or punished him for having a natural affinity to necromancy. Turns out it was a Lich that needed more souls to complete a ritual. To stay my normally calm, straight forward, and logical character went completely into a rage was an understatement. The DM liked how my character was so enraged that even spells that were suppose to heal Lich the actually harmed it.
We had many more things that happened but yeah that through everyone for a loop. The druid (who I also helped in her personal mission) felt so bad for me that she made it her personal mission to make me feel something again. Which was a nice touch.
4:21, and Gravity Falls, let's go!
Okay, now my wheels are spinning, definitely needed this, I've had a case of creator's block all week, I think some story ideas are starting to pop up. Thanks for getting me back on track.
hey I'm glad it helped! Creators block sucks. Been there lol
My next campaign's act 1 was already mostly plotted out, but this really helped flesh out the connections between points. Thanks so much. I appreciate the super in-depth example, that's a rare resource. Great editing, too.
3:00 what is this scene from, it is either a very funny or very crazy film
Game of Thrones, not funny lmao. VERY crazy
ngl this is literally the best help i have ever found, just wish i found it sooner. great video! :D
aw shucks just glad to help
Just found a game specifically using the word "scene" to describe what is narrated by the group, and making the game look like a kind of theater. And now I found your video while preparing a campaign for said game ? Perfect ! (btw, the game I am talking about is Fabula Ultima)
Thank you so much for this first time DMing it is helping me get ready and set this up
I am elbows deep in trying to turn an idea into a fully fleshed out campaign. I am slowly remembering why i never wrote anything longer than a short story when I was growing up. I'm no very good at creating. Throughout my life I nave found that I cam really good at copying other peoples work and even improving on it in some rare occasions but creating something from scratch has always been really tough for me. I wish I could say that this video has been the breakthrough I needed but it has shown me some more ways that I can try to get thru this process. I really want to finish this campaign. I'm not even world building as I am adapting my campaign to an established setting in DnD. I already decided that my campaign was going to be three acts, each having five chapters and the characters will reach lv15 at the beginning of the 15th chapter to decide the fate of the world. I have also decided that I don't want a cliché plot of some prophecy or anything like that. The plot of this story is a catastrophe that is entirely "man made". I haven't fleshed out all of the motivations for the people involved in the catastrophe or even decided if there is even a singular BBEG but I want several twists in the form of the characters thinking one thing only to realize that they were wrong. I want those realizations to be the final chapters in each of the acts.
Wish me luck. You will probably get several views from me for each of your videos in this series.
This is the most useful video I've ever found on UA-cam
Lol dang big compliment! Appreciate the love
What Im doing in my house game rn is using a town NPC to be a minor quest giver that will get the players working out character stuff and giving some opportunity to learn the characters. Of course (And I will know if one of my players reads this!) these jobs are going to be brushing against the operations of the BBEG's group. That allows me to make sure everyone (including me!) has understanding of the mechanics in use for this game and at least a working knowledge of the characters. Mind you, this is much easier to handle with only 2 players, but the concepts still apply to larger groups, just with a higher difficulty curve.
so i already knew this stuff as a film maker. but this is a great video for those who need that push.
using a "call to action" is basically needed if you are gonna write a adventure story. something that truely gets the main events going.
Defintiely! Especially with our attention spans getting smaller and smaller. Thanks for the love!
Very good video. I am one of those sandbox style DMs...sort of. I tend to give my players a place, something to do and then begin weaving small threads of an overarching, albeit, small problem and touching on their backstories. Eventually they will bite on a plot thread or theyll make an enemy. Basically, i let the campaign evolve itself into a story. I never go into a campaign with a clear end or idea of where it will go. I tend to have some rough ideas of things i and the players would like to explore and build off of the things they run accross and find interesting.
Love it! Sounds a lot like my own games
Can't wait for second act
already on it!
I am experimenting with setting up several threats in a map, and prepare "random" events that are related to the closest threat. It provides some structure, while leaving room for exploration.
Great way to give the players threads to pull on and lead them to big thing
Tobias on the Trail of Trials at 4:22. Is he waiting for his turn at Dungeons Dungeons and more Dungeons?
good eye! I wasn't sure if that one was too hard haha
I'm planning a beginning that is somewhere between a whole story and sandbox. I'm gonna drop plot in front of them, and whatever threads they pluck will unravel. I have an idea for the larger campaign, but I'm gonna let them find their way there
100% how I do it too!
Thanks for this, it was all in my brain i just needed somone to lay it out for me step by step :D
Sometimes you just need that checklist lol, glad it helped!
This video was sooooo good and helpful. Thank you! Subbed
Aw thank you! Glad it helped and thanks for the sub!
I use this format alot let the party have as much freedom but also they know the story still moves in the background plot still moves even if they messed around in town they know the enemy's are still on the move. I try to let them have there fun but in each session the story opens up more and more. I also like to give a cut screen of what the enemys are doing from time to time just a glimpse into the enemy's point of view. Last session they was given the task to warn the capital city where the royal summit is being held of a dragon invasion. They failed the roll so now the guards and the royal officers are at a stand still not trusting the party as the city starts getting attacked now they have multiple outcomes and story paths that can unfold. Its always a good idea to end the session with a stressful events about to unfold. The players will be thinking all week whats going to happen next
I love ending sessions like this! And yeah, definitely how I do it too. Give them freedom, but I still know where things are going. Thanks for the comment!
this video is so helpful!!!! ty so much i don't feel so lost now:)
This helped alot thank you! this is so much fun
earned my sub amigo... brilliant guide for new DMs
Aw shucks, happy to have you! Thanks for the love
I love to plan the first session regularly with quick 15min run ins with each character.
My last one the party had all been summoned from different spots in town to participate in a protection program for the settlement to test their iron as reliable ppl.
My favorite one was everyone was at a job site outside a once spell plagued capital, the magic chaos having vanished leaving it open for treasure seekers, they joined together and jumped right inside! Having their first battle when they met a player who was actually a sword for the whole game 😂
a SWORD? Lmao that's just too good.
Rarely do this, but instant subscribe. Fantastic video.
Hey there! Happy to hear that, thanks for showing some love :D
I guess I could split my initial one session opening into a few sessions...
Said set up being everyone meets in the bar cause it's free rootbeer float and appetizer night so they all have a decent enough reason to be there regardless of background, frostbitten skeleton busts through the wall halfway through which leads to them getting the quest to go figure out where the hell all of the ice monsters are coming from, there's an ancient temple with trials and riddles they gotta go through, at the end of it is a fucked up elf-dragon creature that seems to be the source of all of this, they don't remember much of how they got to that point if the party decides to let them live but it's from the BBEG's corruption, there's the hook to go to the kingdom nearby to inform the crown of what happened, but not before a festival in the small town for some breathing room.
Free root beer floats? Count me in!
Also elf-dragon sounds horrifying
@@TheFantasyForge It absolutely is, I drew it myself as well, it's an ice dragon so there's sharp teeth so big that they can't close their mouth fully, scales covering their emaciated body in patches, ice crystals coming out of one of its eyes, humanoid hands and feet halfway between, well, humanoid and dragon claws, and its skin pale as snow, all whilst still being humanoid looking shape-wise. It absolutely terrified the last two party's I threw it at so I think it worked as intended akjwdnawjkdn
Great video! Great content. Keep up the good work.
thanks for the love! :D
100% agreed on the process...
thanks for the love!
@TheFantasyForge, how do you deal with the combination of the story/campaign spanning your three acts, and still giving the players a sandbox to side-quest in? Can you prepare for this? Is there a good source for plug-and-play side-quests?
Dealing with it means being open to changing the arcs. You might have an idea for the bad guy, but how they get there can change, and how the bad guy reacts can change. It's just about adapting!
There's lots of side quests! I use chatgpt to come up with some on the fly, but you can also just roll on tables. The DM's guide and other source material has lots of random encounter tables. But there's also lots of free ones out there from other players. Pintererst is a great place to look
@@TheFantasyForge Pinterest? Really? That's a place I didn't expect to stumble across side quests :-o
@@TheFantasyForge Any tips on chatgpt usage though?
@@GVlemio Use it sparingly haha.
But the best thing is to give it background. "My world is about X and Y. I want to make it feel like A B and C. Give me a bunch of different versions of 1 2 and 3"
Was a little confusing at the beginning, but the example was all i needed to understand. Thank you for the video.
I knew it would need a chart and an example haha
This series is awesome!
Just recently started a new campaign myself, with my DND group. The setup is Frostpunk: a random ice age has overtaken the world. The PC's are hunting someone (friend/family/enemy/lover etc (most pc's picked a revenge type story.)) We just finished session 2, where their hunts have been taken in by a dwarven city as slaves. I was a little lost for where to go next, but thanks to this vid, i have a good idea: BBEG is going to be a summoned entity, imagine Shiva from Final Fantasy, that has corrupted the local environment and made the ice age. I'm looking to make the dwarves hunting for slaves to sacrifice them and 'summon' another entity, as they have an idea what caused the ice age, the PC's find this plot and get drawn in while also finding their hunted targets... So far, it sounds like a good idea in my head, but i'm planning to go from there and see what i come up with
I love this! Also love Frostpunk stuff, and the game is amazing haha
New dm here. starting my first session tonight. Hoping it goes well. Wish me luck.
You were born lucky
How did it go?
@@Aaa-vp6ug well we're 9 weeks into that campaign now. I'm still learning but I'm much more relaxed now especially with swing it when I don't have the answers prepared. The story will end in about a month I believe
As someone who has been dming for like 5+ years, this guy is good
Wow this is exactly what I was looking for.
I'm glad it helped! Hope the Act 2 and Act 3 help too
One tip I have is for introducing the bbeg early. The party will almost definitely attack this person so I find using the dream spell or some way they can taunt them throughout the journey is the best. If combat happens early you run the risk of the party killing the bbeg (removing the threatening nature of the bbeg) or the bbeg being untouchable and giving the party a feeling of powerlessness which isn’t super fun for everyone.
Yeah I had a player turn that and use dream on them and their minions, it was pretty great
@@TheFantasyForge yeah I learned that from my second time being a dm. My first time my players killed the main antagonist of the first half of the campaign in session 3.
@@SirEliteGrunt just makes it more fun in my opinion lol
I am designing and Anime/Manga related campaign for a system called Break!! RPG. Characters can get lost and go in whatever direction they want. Little do they know, I design the adventure map and while there are slight visual and story differences all roads lead to the same place. Lol
Great video!! I’m running a game starting as a heist, with the twist leading into two that they’ve been working for an even bigger threat to the world. Still trying to figure out how to make it so at the end of the twist they want to go after them into act two tho 🤔 This is why I love dming!
Like they are actually accidentally helping the big bad? I love it haha
@@TheFantasyForge Yeah, if this was Oceans 11 George Clooney is trying to collect enough powerful artifacts to make the world a hive mind! They just so happen to all be Matt Damon 😅
@@olafforkbeard4782 LMAO I love the reference 🤣
I turned to Dm:ing due to my aphantasia which means that I don't have an internal movie, but I improvise dialogue and write stories, which does not need that.
You're the second person in the comments to mention that! Handouts and visuals help with this too!
No wonder DMs get burnt out.
only if it's not fun for you. I love this stuff
Solid. This tends to be how I’ve run games in the past.
Thanks for the love!
Personally what i've taken to doing is getting the players of the soon to be party into pairs, and doing pre-campaign sessions, usually with them meeting each other on an early quest, or otherwise running into each other, Before shifting to them all meeting either on a larger quest, or in a tavern, or at the bequest of someone calling on lower level adventurers in an attempt to keep something discrete. It tends to build a relationship between pairs of them early on, and really builds a bit more kinship and closeness in the early game.
I did that in the past too! That's a pro tip right there, definitely helps
I know it can be dependent on how you want to run your campaign and what naturally happens in a campaign, but how many sessions roughly would this Act One (especially the example) take? Is that like one session? a few? 10??
oh man, you said it, it really depends. My act 1 was like 40-50 sessions haha. This is such a bare bones act structure that is only focused on the "big baddie". You throw in side quests, secondary storylines, backstories, other enemy characters, shopping, roleplaying, battles...it can take a long time. My last campaign was 3 years long and we were meeting every single week.
@@TheFantasyForge Related to this, how did you make the hook on the first session if the first act was over 40 sessions long if I may ask?
Thanks a lot for the video!!
@@mariaj1702 Good question! I started them on the road into the city. They ran into a group of knights that were running away from "something" and when they followed the knights out of curiosity, they ran into a hoard of undead. Only one knight survived and handed them a box and told them not to open it. A rider on horseback followed them and asked them to turn it over, which they refused, and it turns out he was leading the undead.
What happened next was up to them, but they knew the box was important, some undead were involved, and they were now protectors of this box.
They basically knew what the story was about (roughly) in session 1, even though they didn't have the details! So then the next 30-50 sessions was sort of going into smaller quests, spreading out the bigger story, giving them time to get to know their characters and such, but even when they did things like go into the city for a festival...etc, they always knew they had this box in their possession and at all times, someone might steal it.
TLDR: They got the magic mcguffin right in session 1, the next 40 sessions was building up the drama and story and then eventually I dropped the big "oh snap" moment that led into act 2 where they were now deeply involved in the story and the happenings.
Hope that helped!
@@TheFantasyForge Oooooh, thats amazing, thank you so much!!
Been DMing a campaign for a year. Just played Baldur’s Gate 3. Now I am realizing that I somehow made my BBEG essentially the Absolute 😀
I put mindflayers in mine too, same thing haha. Luckily my game wrapped before BG3 came out
As a DM, I get my players to think of how they know each other. For instance, Rick might know Marissa because they killed a Gargoyle terroizing some mountain side town, which then, Marissa introduced Rick to an old companion named John. Together, they helped a caravan deliver spices to a Baron, which now they are currently doinflg a quest for.
I find it allows the players to create the inciting incident, which doesnt force a connection or railroad. They feel like part of a group already.
When players connect backstories it's the BEST. Makes it easier for everyone
I'd actually like some advice for a homebrew ish campaign I have planned, for context it's myself, my partner, and perhaps some extra friends who would be joining the game, but none of us has played together before
I'm to be the DM and and very newbie one at that, and some of the players are new to DND as well, so I had thoughts that I could make a blank slate campaign, with the plot being essentially the players are taken from their homes and transported to a new realm far from their own, so that the players dont have to worry so much about creating a backstory and can just play the game, maybe make stuff up as we go. But I have to ask is that wise?
They wouldn't really be able TOO have a backstory, and for some additional context it's a pirate/aquatic theme adventure, their taken away by pirates who invaded the town and enslaved them, then they are transported too an unknown part of the world.
@ntwilson313 I think it's totally doable to not have a backstory! Lots of players don't know how to or don't want to create backstories so they go with the "my character has amnesia" route and leave it up to the DM!
It gives you more freedom for the story. I would say make sure to have a session zero and talk about expectations, how much combat vs RP they want, what themes they like, just get a feel for them as players. Maybe help them make their characters and just let them get a feel for you as a DM in the process and let them ask questions.
This will set you up for success in the long run