How to Plan an RPG Campaign

Planning an RPG campaign is a daunting task. The first step is determining the scope and scale of your campaign. This includes both the length of the campaign in terms of sessions and hours of play, as well as the potential impact your campaign can have on the world in-game. Setting those intentions early can help keep the planning process manageable.

   

Campaign, Adventure or One-Shot?

  First, let's get a few important definitions out of the way. Whether you are playing Dungeons & Dragons or another role-playing game, it is important to know the difference between a campaign, an adventure, and a one-shot. A campaign is an extended storyline with many adventures within it. An adventure can be standalone or part of a larger story arc within the campaign. A one-shot is usually shorter and can be completed in one session.

How Long Is Your Campaign?

According some statistics, the "average" RPG campaign lasts 6 sessions. But you don't have to be playing for long to know that there's really no such thing as an "average" RPG campaign. So how long will it take to complete one? It all depends on several elements.   Which levels do you plan to cover over the course of the campaign? Bear in mind that lower levels progress faster than higher ones, so a campaign that takes players from level 1 to level 5 could take fewer sessions than one that takes them from level 6 to 7.   Think about the complexity of the story. How many major plot points and discoveries do you want to include? Make a list of the encounters you expect to run, and factor in the number of monsters, minions and boss fights you will need. Consider how many locations will be involved, and whether you will be including travel (and random encounters during those travels).   Finally, consider your specific players - more players or players with a cautious play style can make a big difference in how much ground is covered in each session. All of these factors can help you determine your campaign duration in both sessions and hours.  

Did you know: You can set campaign start and end dates in World Anvil? This can help players understand the commitment they're making when they sign up.

Setting Campaign Stakes

Are you looking to create an epic and exciting RPG campaign? Setting the stakes for your RPG campaign is an important part of the process. It’s what will make your players feel invested in the game and give them a sense of purpose. An adventure with a grander scale means your players will have truly world-impacting influence. This can mean a lot more planning and content to convey a truly epic scope. However, world-shattering events aren't the only way to raise the stakes. Making the conflict personal by tying in the characters' backstories can make even a relatively low-stakes campaign by world standards feel deeply important to your players.  

Genre, System, Setting & Play Style

Once you know how big a commitment you're making with your RPG campaign, it's time to start deciding what kind of fun you want to have. That means choosing a genre, system, and setting. It also means establishing expectations when it comes to play style. This way, you can provide the experience your players are hoping to have.   While fantasy is definitely the biggest genre, including both Dungeons & Dragons as well as Pathfinder, science fiction, horror and various -punk genres also have a strong following in tabletop RPGs. Options for system outside the big two fantasy RPGs include Starfinder, Vampire the Masquerade, Cyberpunk Red, Call of Chthulu, Kids on Bikes / Kids on Brooms, and various one-page RPGs like Lasers & Feelings.   Once you've nailed down the genre and system, it's time to consider setting. While you can definitely craft a unique homebrew campaign for any of the published settings, you may want to create your own setting. This is obviously an area where World Anvil really shines as a DM/GM tool! However, it will mean more work, and you'll need to plan for it.   Finally, you'll need to consider the play style for your specific table and players. Some groups prefer more combat-heavy play style, while others prefer to emphasize roleplay, exploration, or a balanced mix of these pillars of play.   You'll also need to think about the format of play. Will you be meeting mostly in person, online, or a mix of both? Will your game be private or public? Online and especially streaming brings with it some additional demands in terms of assets, technology and expectations. If you'll be using a Virtual Table Top (VTT), you should know that World Anvil has integrations for most of the major ones.  

RPG Campaign Brainstorming

Once you have a firm grasp of the size and style of your campaign, it's time to start working on your story. This can be where a lot of DMs or GMs get stuck in writers block. The pressure to come up with a totally original plot for your campaign can be intense! But there's no need to try to make something completely unique. You - and your players - will put your own spin on it as you play.   The World Anvil community has a wealth of prompts and generators that can help you get started if you're stuck. Additionally, here are a few common ways to come up with an engaging premise.

• The elevator pitch, aka "X meets Y." Take two different ideas and combine them, i.e. "Godzilla meets Sherlock Holmes."
• What if? Not just a Marvel series, it's also an idea-generating prompt suggested by Stephen King in On Writing. i.e. What if ... a natural law stopped working? ... an island appeared every 10 years? ... the gods went to war with each other?
• Single striking image. The most well-known example of this is C.S. Lewis' The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe, which was inspired by a picture of a faun with an umbrella.
• One Sentence Summary. Fill in the blanks for this sentence: [PERSON] wants [GOAL] by [TICKING CLOCK], but can't because [OBSTACLE].
• Randomancy. Tarot/Oracle cards, Story Engine, and web-based random plot generators can all add an element of random chance to spark inspiration.

 

Plotting Your RPG Campaign

  You've got your big picture premise ready to go? Great! Now it's time to start outlining your plot in more detail. This means going beyond locations, encounters and clues. This is wear narrative design truly begins! To create an engaging campaign, you'll want to incorporate some or all of the following:

• Movie trailer moments - plan for crowning moments of awesome, dark nights of the soul, surprising twists, sudden but inevitable betrayals, etc.
• Touching character beats - decide how you'll work PC backstories into the narrative.
• Clues and cues - plan for how to get your PCs unlost and back on track
• Dependencies and consequences - where does your narrative branch? Can you create the illusion of choice to avoid dead-ends upon failure?
• Treasure - What are the Macguffins, Loot, and Objects of Great Import players will discover?

The Plot Template is where you'll start working out all of these elements in World Anvil. If you're more of a visual thinker, you can also do mind-mapping using the Whiteboards feature! It's also a good time to consider Timelines, so you can place your campaign in the context of your world's history.  

Campaign Villains, Henchfolk & NPCs

Now it's time to populate your campaign with Non-Player Characters (NPCs)! This includes everyone from helpful townsfolk to the evil mastermind behind it all. They'll need names, general descriptions, location and in some cases a statblock. Fortunately, World Anvil has you covered. From the Character Template to the community Statblock library, you can find the resources you need to be ready to play an entire cast.   Who is your villain? And are they really a villain, or are they more of an antagonist or even anti-hero? What's their motivation - and can they be won over without a fight? Why are they making their big move now? What's the one thing that can stand in their way?   How are the minions and henchfolk who are serving the villain's purposes? What level of competency are they, and how many of them will your party be facing? Are there "mini-bosses" among them who will present more of a challenge? These NPCs largely constitute combat planning (aka "How to avoid a TPK"), but it's also important to know if negotiation is an option. Minions have motivation, too!   Beyond that, you'll need to write up a cast of secondary characters who will serve as the voice of the GM. These are the quest givers, the shop keepers, the informants and the Red Herrings of your campaign. Figure out who has what information, and how you can roleplay them so it doesn't feel like an infodump. Also, bear in mind some parties will adopt nearly anything into their found family. Keep an eye out for any NPCs who might serve as potential sidekicks, pets, familiars, and other characters who are effectively party members controlled by you.  

Planning Maps & Locations

You've got the what and who nailed down. Now it's time to ask WHERE? You're ready to consider the locations your sprawling epic campaign will cover. Yes, friends, this is where we get to think about everyones's favorite thing: maps!   When planning locations for your RPG campaign, you can start big and drill down, but it's often easier to start small and scale up. Depending on the genre, system and setting choices you made earlier, you may be starting your party off in a tavern - or a space port. From there, you'll need to zoom out to a town, city, region, and kingdom. Or for a sci-fi setting, a sector, planet or space station level.   If you're not an artist, remember that mind-mapping is also mapping. You can use World Anvil's Whiteboard feature to sketch out a rough visual plan of locations the party might visit. Also, not every location requires a map. If you're doing mostly theater of the mind play style, you may be able to get away with a description for some locations.   For the locations that do require a map, there are many tools available to help you come up with something stunning - even if you can't draw. We like Dungeon Fog, but Inkarnate is also very popular. Once you have your map, you can upload it to World Anvil, and add notations, pins, and layers to make it interactive. This will keep all your information easily accessible while you're running an RPG session in your campaign.  

RPG Campaign Elevator Pitch

Now that all the heavy lifting of planning your campaign is complete, it can be a good time to go back to the beginning. Revisit your "why" - the reason you thought this campaign was a cool idea in the first place. This will help you create an elevator pitch for your campaign. An elevator pitch is a quick, 30 second summary meant to sell the big idea. If you're trying to recruit players, this can be an invaluable tool. The elevator pitch should sell the hook of the story, without spoilers. This may mean leaning more on the mood and style of your campaign than specific plot points - but fortunately you've already got those covered!   Are you ready to get started? If you haven't already, sign up for a forever free account with World Anvil so you can Light Up the Forge and Start Worldbuilding!