Campaign Design: Coming up with the Plot
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- Опубликовано: 23 дек 2024
- This is how I came up with the plot that I referred to in the previous Special Event Video. I may have released the videos in the wrong order... :(
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We have just launched our Discord channel where you can chat and ask us and other awesome role players around the world questions and chat about all things role playing: discord.gg/Znwtkd2
I'm already subbed to 3 of those channels as well, so that sounds like a series I'm going to have to get into.
shark hunter...shanker?
What if the horse belongs to a pompous lord, and the players keep feeling the heart near his hunting band? They assume the lord is the one, but NOPE it’s a horse
Yes, and even after they learn the truth, it's his favorite horse and he doesn't want to give it up to anyone.
Psychological oblivion is such a devastating idea! The Predishar might be bloodthirsty, but their worst talents are warping the minds of their victims/initiates to prepare them for Gashul's new world. Your discussion on madness in a previous video could be applied here, especially how to tread lightly and not get too dark.
I love these "Brainstorm" type videos where you just shoot ideas and such! Cant wait to watch the show
Thank you so much for this video... Im trying to DM for my friends for the first time and this really helps
This is such a master class in designing campaign seeds and structure.
All your content is magnificent, but this little series on plotting a campaign is just superb! Thank you so much for sharing your thought process with us, it's all invaluable advice that I'm taking in wile plan I my own campaign! Can't wait for the next video!
I'll definitely rewatch this video after looking at the creation of individual adventures.
It's great to see the ways you apply your knowledge, it allows to take the best from the best and apply this toolset ourselves.
I like the concept a lot. What if each of the different shards represented a different aspect of the god. For example Wisdom, Courage, and Power like the triforce from the Legend of Zelda Series the horse could have Wisdom (Which lets it speak), the hero could have Courage (because of course they do) and one of the villains could have Power. Alternatively you could go Mind, Body, Soul (Mind for the horse, soul for the hero, and Body for the Villain) I feel like the villains should find one of the shards before the heroes can get to it, or maybe right as the heroes arrive, prompting a battle over the posession of it. Also, there could be special powers that only manifest when the shards are used cooperatively. Or perhaps the shards represent the primal elements Time, Space, and Matter which manifest themselves in odd ways when used by a human or a horse, or maybe they don't have their full power unless they're all together. Anyway, great ideas.
Love these videos so much, they've honestly been so so helpful, thank you!!
Ahhh! Thank you so much for doing this. I'm preparing to run an online game with some friends and I was feeling very overwhelmed with how to run it. I've run many one-shots and one ten session campaign before but I was still feeling a bit intimidated. Your process felt very organic and I cannot wait for the next video!
"how to run" is perhaps not the phrase I'm looking for. More so how I was going to create the plot and make it compelling
Hey man, I know that in previous comments I may seem overly critical, but I want to say, this is some good shit and it is already helping me improve my campaign by showing me an easy way to make a rough draft or basic form of my plot.
What if the Predishar have some kind of regeneration and if not killed by damage type X keep coming back like trolls. That is perseverance on their part.
Are they physical beings or a spirit that posseses available sources?
I've modified lycanthropes to have regeneration instead of damage immunity. Stopped by silver, of course. It makes them feel more authentic IMO and keeps silver weapons relevant when the party has magic weapons. So if I were writing this, I'd make these Predashar be the elite of the dark God's cult who were gifted the lycanthropy-like ability to transform into monsters. But instead of silver, they're harmed by some material that is sacred to the good gods.
3 Heart Shards that embody creation- 1 for Conscious Beings (PC), 1 for Animals (Horse), 1 for Inanimate Matter (whatever the final showdown entails; maybe an actual gem shard), to make up Braxx's Heart
I'm making my first campaign. This is helping me a lot getting over that initial hump for the whole thing.
Honestly this is like finding a good book when you know that you have to wait for the next one to come out... the wait begins....
The objects that contain the heart of Brax should in some way be sentient, possibly containing one over ruling emotion from the god.
These objects can possibly end up in the hands of man who uses them to benefit themselves.
for example 1 shard could reside in a crystal ball and the merchant that owns this ball can see slightly to the future making them a great merchant overnight. The guild he runs allows for him to have protection from many mercenaries creating an interesting encounter for players to try and get past the vision of the ball but also the network the owner has created to protect it.
A campaign idea part, that I am pondering: The characters are put into charge of a military unit right at the start. In the beginning, those are basically a bunch of moderately well motivated farm hands, with a collection of basic arms. The chars have to put thoughts into training and equipping them. If they want a pay raise, the characters have to raise (and collect) taxes from the local farms and business or find other ways of income. But hey, at least they are loyal, unless the chars treat them badly.
Don't mind me I'm just taking this idea
It's a fine idea for an expenditure and a task to keep them busy and thoughtful, but I hope that you know that to not be much of a campaign on its own unless your players all really, really like grinding, farming games like most mobile app games.Reiterated, most players will say, "Great, we start with a militia. Now, what?""Yeah, what do we *do* with it? Just maintain it because we have it and they're people that we're supposed to care about enough to keep employed regardless of need?"
Starting with a militia is a fine idea, but only as long as long as you are comfortable with not only giving them *a purpose*, but giving them plural **purposes** throughout the campaign. Use them as a tool for your campaign, positively, negatively, neutrally, and in a mixed manner; they are not themselves the campaign.
Maybe your evil god is recovering from his great battle.
The shards may not have a physical presence, but be more of a magical entity.
Congrats!
Congrats on Discord too!
THe more you talk about and use your book the more i'm getting antsy for its release! XD
Would you please post a filled in version of the worksheet in the background? That would be helpful. Thanks.
Still waiting huh
Yeah
Shark and Predator based minions, I would suggest using Sahuagin as a main Bad Guy Minion. That's not a spot I usually see them take up.
This comment is a month too late, but I just found your channel. When you were chewing on your ideas for theme, and moved past "Man doesn't need gods", I think you had a cool opportunity to instead go with "The Gods DO need men" as a bit of an inversion; the drama unfolds on the material plane, the minor gods require the aid of the party to act, and Gushul (not sure of spelling) likewise requires his minions. So then the theme might be The Value of Mere Mortals (to continue from LotR), with the Prime Material Plane as the foundation of the effervescent machinations of the gods. My ¢2
So far I've been getting a lot out of your material, it's inspiring me as I write out my next campaign.
It confuses me how you structure the table.
I get the Who. You just fill all the fields naturally, but how I am supposed to fill "what" or "Where"? A place or a thing don't want anything (in general) and they don't have difficulty getting anything either.
Am I missing something? could you give me an example?
I really enjoy your content. Cheers!
You answer as best you can and look around the phrase to answer it. So for example: USING: who? - The Predashar - what? (what is their plan to retrieve the stones) - where (will they start looking?/will the PC's first encounter them) - when? (did they begin looking for it/have they started yet? In our case - no, they only start after the 1st adventure) - and so on. So it's designed to stimulate you into thinking outside the box, outside the lines, and to keep you from getting creators block or just on focusing on the single narrative. It gives you the option to have many options :) I hope that helps?
How to be a Great Game Master Recommend pitting this response in the main comments thread - several people have asked this question.
I agree, I'm having tons of trouble with this chart. I just don't understand how to fill it in. I wish that it was actually completed somewhere to give a better idea of what is being done. Having it on screen but not being able to see what is being written past the first box or two I have no idea what is being talked about.
@@anightgirl i agree, i cant help but feel like i need to see that table filled in for it to fit in my head
@@HowtobeaGreatGM is there an example of this table being filled? i cant wrap my head around how to fill it in from scratch, sorry
15:00. Damn. That gives me ideas
I'm still confused on how to fill in the what, when, why, and how. I can make the sentence in the who. But what do I fill in for the rest
One point of confusion, are the players trying to collect the heart chunks to restore the good god, or are they trying to destroy them to thwart the evil one? I think the latter could work quite well as an ironic controlling idea, requiring them to kill good to thwart evil. That would leave both the mortals and the lesser gods to persevere in a universe without moral absolutes.
Just be prepared for the players to think they're supposed to slaughter the horse.
I like that idea!
Also been playing Dragon Age: Inquisition here! Amazing game with a plot that has more story threads than JoAnn Fabrics. I take ideas for my DnD plots all the time from Dragon Age. Rich history.
This is great. I'm gonna use this method for my next campaign
A divine entity of sorts seeking pieces of a heart? Oh, wait, that's my Super Original Campaign Idea™ too :P
This is not a critique of any of us. I'm just amused by the overlap and use any excuse to talk about my own D&D ideas. In my campaign it's about an exiled demi-god (also very Greek mythology) who must spite those who exiled him by ascending to full godhood. To do so he needs the power of a full god to inspire belief that he is a full god. This is possible if he seal within his own essence a titan (again, very Greek mythology). Theoretically, any titan would do but the stronger the better so he's after the elder titan of this world, the Arretaiath (based on the words terra and gaia -> Terra Gaia -> Arret Aiag -> Arretaiag -> Arretaiath). The arretaith is nonetheless dead, after the gods split its hearts across the planes. The hearts thus needs to it needs to be brought back and defeated once again.
While the demi-god gathers power, he can manipulate events so that an unsuspecting party of adventurers seek out at least some the hearts on his behalf (in the right hands they are powerful magical items, after all). Generally, the concept of the villains have one part of the puzzle, the heroes another and out in the unknown is the last piece can work great. At least I hope so.
Just a thought, but instead of this battle in the heavens set in a major temple dedicated to Abraxus.
The reason for the ceremony is that they've recovered the three artefacts that when combined form the Heart of Abraxus which could be used with one of the statues in the temple allowing that God to descend to the Prime Material Plane.
However ever wary of power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely one of the High Priests substituted one of the artefacts for a copy and gives it to an acolyte whose heading home.
The second the smallest part is fed to a horse which is assigned to messenger sent to deliver an urgent message to the King.
The third remains in place.
The deception is discovered and the priest is killed after revealing he believes they intend to resurrect the Shard the representation of oblivion.
The villain declares two of the artefacts were stolen by emissaries of Shard unknown to anyone the messenger is waylaid, robbed and killed with his horse escaping and ending up bought by a horse trader who recognising its a former Temple Horse secretly gets it moved to his estate as a present for his daughter it's origins obscured.
The acolyte travels home either becoming a PC or related to one.
They are attacked by a Predishard recognising it they pass the holy symbol the priest gave her thinking it's what they want unaware one of the tokens tied to it is one of the shares of the Heart of Abraxus.
They need all three to summon their God due Conan 2 and have no idea of the mess they're going to cause.
The Predishards were released when the one share they have is out in the statue of Shard.
Probably not as good as yours but it's what it inspired me to come up with.
"Horses don't talk... well at least none that I've found anyway."
Never ending story and a horse i can only sense heartache over the horizon
Is there an example of this filled out?
Hello everyone, where am I able to get the table in the background?
Is this Sharpedor a water/dark type shark, predator and also a torpedo by any chance?
'I'm going to go with a very generic setting." 🤣🤣❤❤
Shar'pre'tor (SHAR-pruh-TOR)
Shadow Mastiffs on hind legs? Shadow Guard Drakes? Created not born? Implacable trackers; Lead by a Lieutenant that has class abilities (Chaos Cleric, Paladin, or Multi class Wild Magic Sorcerer?)
Remember no spoilers. The Borg of course love spoilers and will visit you personally to find out more.
What is the name of the book he wrote? Where can I find it?
Is the last shard in a very old beggar woman, close to death?
Personally I always recommend avoiding any kind of story structure that makes one character the Maguffin Bearer, The Chosen One, or something like that because it just makes one person at your table more important than the others.
NeverEvenThere I’ve used this in my prior big campaign. I randomly selected which char in front of the players for X to happen. They didn’t know what X was, & it didn’t show up for some time. Once it did start manifesting, the other chars knew they had to help & protect the “chosen” char. Everyone had roles, everyone had sacrifices, and even the chosen char was not immune - they were being hunted constantly.
Why do I have the impression that this vidéo is prior to the last week one ?
Oh a McGuffin plot!
I don’t know if you made a video on this topic so I’m gonna ask anyway.
How would you go about making a game in the Darklands/Underdark/Subterranean land etc.
A video on this topic would be pretty cool.
I would hardly describe the Nazgûl as inept!
Is it the burden of the player character with the shard to convince the others of the mission? Perhaps they know nothing of the crisis. Is he/she aware of the shard?
"Why are these minions attacking us?"
If the shard has a finite number of uses, what happens when they are used up? Does the shard get destroyed or simply cease to have that property? If it gets destroyed, the PC could simply use all of the charges to destroy it, preventing the god from getting it.
The name Predshar. reminds me of the Dune books. I cant quite figure out why.
Name suggestion for the predishar -> hoshokushar (maybe a bit long?)
@How to be a Great Game Master, was the horse Mr. Ed?
☮
it sounds amazing :)
Or the lord is one of the BBEG's hunting them for the macguffin they have no idea they possess?
I probably have marvel to blame but for the past year ive been SORT OF planning a long series of connected campaigns. Star wars, halo, pathfinder, 40k, and d20 modern all connected to the final Cthulhu game.
Started the star wars game but still need to do all the whowhatwhy with the one manipulating everything from the Cthulhu world. Only got vague ideas
I feel like its worth noting that my friends are currently unaware of what im doing. Ive made tiny references of a bigger universe. I want to do more but I gotta wait, if it feels like the right move I'll try to make it so they merely suspect something by the second game. Then make it clear somethings up by the third.
9:24 What?
I like when my GM tests my character's skills, traits, etc. It's why I chose them for my character.
When do you know the player's characters?
how can you run a god tier tournement like dragon ball z on dnd 5e, is a real question, if i go more espesific i will never finish
Inb5 two of the players decide to play nihilistic chars.
I thought he was saying "sable dice" not "save or die"
Omg season!? Im so psyched to see you dmging again Guy!! 😀
I can't wait for the next videos and see the campaign unfold
Will the book be able to be purchased from outside USA?
Yup. The book will be available as PDF or as hard copy - from various online resellers globally.
Would it be possible to get a link to a version of the grid you have in the background? A PDF maybe, or even just a screenshot?
Sharpador Retriever
I love the idea of the shards being shattered and embedded into things. I might have steal the idea and change it up a bit. I've got the idea that instead of being embedded, whatever this lost gift of the gods is actually became the soul of a child, perhaps some sort of immaculate conception, and as the child grew her godlike powers manifested themselves but because she was untrained she was dangerous. Parents have tasked the party to take the child to a monastery for training.
Sh`tars. Shark predator thingie name suggestion
What if Brax and Gashul are the same being and thus cannot exist on the same plane without destroying it like a yin yang antimatter sort of deal (and everything in it... including the heart - and if the heart is destroys, Gashul dies as well... thus he cannot enter the plane and even when he "nears" it by communicating to one on it, the planes shake violently as if they are about to rip apart... Because they are). Therefore, because the heart is purified by Brax it banishes Gashul from the plane but curses Brax to die. Without the heart, both will but Gashul seeks to live on and rule.
This reminds me of Moana. Ta-Fiti transformed into Ta-Ka after Maui stole her heart. However through the whole movie you are lead to believe that these were two separate beings. It wasn't until Moana went to return the heart and saw Ta-Fiti was missing. But then she saw the sigil of Ta-Fiti's heart glowing on Ta-Ka's chest.
@@angelwick Interesting. I had not thought of that but I can see a similarity (although still very different) Think I might just like the movie a little more now.
I would like to game with you.
ShardWraiths
I'm a little confused on why evil god wants to destroy the universe before Brax dies. I really thought you were going to say that the three shards were pieces of the one weapon that could kill a god and evil god wants to kill Brax before he can escape.
The idea here is the gloating rights. If Geshuul kills Brax and then reforms the universe - Brax isn't there to see his work undone. It's a hollow victory for Geshuul. It's a vain reason but generally the gods are self-centered people.
I hit dislike because I liked this video. :)
That sheet is the most confusing thing I've ever seen. Seriously wtf am I looking at. The first row makes perfect sense. But how the hell do you do the "what" row? How does "What" and "someone" make sense? What do you put there? What about "What" and "wants something."
It would be much easier to understand if you just did a voice over and actually wrote onto the sheet. Holy this is pissing me off. I've been staring at this sheet for 20 minutes and am so lost