CREATING CAMPAIGNS
Campaigns tie many adventures together, increasing the scale and scope of the Adventurers' danger and impact on the game world over time.
Core Campaign Design
☐ CAMPAIGN NAME
What catchy title does the campaign have?
☐ CAMPAIGN DESCRIPTION
What critical or key challenges face the Adventurers?
☐ CAMPAIGN THEME
Swashbuckling? Grim? Gritty? Perilous Intrigue? Fantastic? Operatic? Comedic? Horrific?
Additional Optional Campaign Design
☐ CAMPAIGN MANAGEMENT
What tools help run and maintain the Campaign? Campaign Logger?
☐ CAMPAIGN HOMEBASE
Where do the Adventurers begin?
☐ CAMPAIGN SANDBOX
Where can the Adventurers engage with the world story and various adventures within it?
☐ CAMPAIGN HEXCRAWL
Can the Adventurers leave the sandbox region?
☐ CAMPAIGN DANGERS
What spikes of danger exist to shake up or humble the Adventurers if encountered too soon?
☐ CAMPAIGN OUTLINE
Outline the ideas seeds and possible progression of the campaign plots from homebase to sandbox to hexcrawl (if used).
☐ CAMPAIGN COMMUNICATIONS
Surveys? Player Campaign Book? E-mails? Newsletters? Journals? Bluebooks? Progress Updates?
☐ CAMPAIGN EVENTS
What background events or disasters may change the world and campaign over time?
☐ CAMPAIGN TIME
How does time flow for the Adventures moving through the Campaign? Seasons? Episodes? Fast or Slow Pace?
☐ CAMPAIGN ARC, STORY LINE, MILESTONES
What possible Campaign story arcs, story lines, turning points, setbacks, or milestones may occur?
☐ CAMPAIGN CLIMAX
What do the Adventurers face at the planned highest point of action, drama, and story?
☐ CAMPAIGN LADDER
Can the Adventures climb a social ladder into different tiers of gaming within the Campaign?
☐ CAMPAIGN DEADLINESS
How deadly might the campaign become?
☐ CAMPAIGN REWARDS
What kind of rewards can the Adventurers expect progressing through this Campaign?
☐ CAMPAIGN ENDINGS
What possible ways could the Adventures “ride off into the sunset” to end the campaign?
Additional Resources
Campaign Logger
Campaign Tracker Workbook
Roleplaying Tips #0007 - Save Time & Get More Planning Done Through Campaign Newsletters
Roleplaying Tips #0008 - Imaginary Languages Excite The Brain And Add Depth To Your Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0012 - Top 6 Ways To Use Encounters To Build A Compelling Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0015 - Campaign Structure - Part I
Roleplaying Tips #0016 - Campaign Structure - Part II
Roleplaying Tips #0017 - Great Campaign Journals - 6 Tips
Roleplaying Tips #0038 - How To Use E-mail AS A Super Campaign Management GM Tool
Roleplaying Tips #0072 - 6 Ways You Can Use Names To Enhance Your Campaign - Part I
Roleplaying Tips #0073 - 6 Ways You Can Use Names To Enhance Your Campaign - Part II
Roleplaying Tips #0097 - 6 Tips For Starting & Planning A Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0103 - 8 Ways To Make Your Campaign World Come Alive
Roleplaying Tips #0108 - Ten Ways To Enrich Your Campaign With Lists Of Rulers - Part I
Roleplaying Tips #0109 - Ten Ways To Enrich Your Campaign With Lists of Rulers - Part II
Roleplaying Tips #0116 - 9 Tips For Enhancing Treasure To Improve Your Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #0121 - 8 Ways To Spice Up A Campaign With Religion
Roleplaying Tips #0129 - Old Campaign, New PCs: Creating New Characters For Existing Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #0153 - The 10 Essentials Of A Swashbuckling Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0167 - The Principles of Gaming Etiquette: A Real Document That Helped A Real Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0178 - 5 Post-Session Player And Campaign Development Tips
Roleplaying Tips #0181 - 5 Tips For Sci-Fi Campaign Preparation
Roleplaying Tips #0182 - Help, Help, I'm Being Oppressed! Rights And Privileges In A Campaign Setting
Roleplaying Tips #0184 - Cool Planning Tool: The Campaign Survey
Roleplaying Tips #0186 - 8 Campaign Starter Tips
Roleplaying Tips #0191 - 20 Tips On Managing Campaign Time
Roleplaying Tips #0194 - Running Single Player Campaigns - Part I
Roleplaying Tips #0195 - Running Single Player Campaigns - Part II
Roleplaying Tips #0201 - Political Campaign Tip: Create A Social Ladder
Roleplaying Tips #0203 - Political Campaign Tips - Part II
Roleplaying Tips #0237 - 4 Tips For GMing A "Local" Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0238 - 5 More Tips For GMing A "Local" Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0250 - 12 Steps To An Epic Campaign - Part 1
Roleplaying Tips #0251 - 12 Steps To An Epic Campaign - Part 2
Roleplaying Tips #0272 - A Simple Method For Campaign Creation: Managing Complex Systems Over Time In A Campaign World
Roleplaying Tips #0283 - Rebooting Your Campaign - 7 Tips
Roleplaying Tips #0289 - Rhyme Clues For Your Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0308 - Baby Steps In Campaign Setting Design
Roleplaying Tips #0341 - Idea Seeds: A Campaign Design Method
Roleplaying Tips #0345 - Scenario and Campaign Arc Building Tips - Part 1
Roleplaying Tips #0346 - Scenario And Campaign Arc Building Tips - Part 2
Roleplaying Tips #0381 - PC Death And Your Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0396 - Start Campaigns With Unrelated One-Shot Adventures
Roleplaying Tips #0405 - Campaign Settings: Fantasy Greek and Roman
Roleplaying Tips #0408 - Near Future Campaign Settings
Roleplaying Tips #0436 - Introducing New Characters Into An Existing Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0438 - 7 Tips To Keep The Fear Of Death Alive In Any Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0451 - Police In A Modern Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0464 - 12 Disasters In Fantasy Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #0470 - How To Add Pizzazz With A Great Campaign Name
Roleplaying Tips #0493 - How To Design A Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0499 - Turning Coal Into Diamonds - How To Mine Backstories To Create Killer Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #0502 - 6 Ways To Assemble The Party And Kick-Off Your Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0505 - 56 Campaign Concepts & Starts
Roleplaying Tips #0507 - 5 Tips For Running Long-Term Epic Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #0508 - How To Run Killer Zombie Campaigns?
Roleplaying Tips #0517 - For Awesome Campaigns Build A Player Campaign Book
Roleplaying Tips #0520 - Killer Campaign Management
Roleplaying Tips #0521 - High Death Campaign And How To Bring New PCs In Fast
Roleplaying Tips #0522 - Designing A Successful Modern Horror Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0530 - How To Keep Your Story And Campaign Consistent
Roleplaying Tips #0534 - My Digital Campaign Toolbox
Roleplaying Tips #0553 - The Secrets To Successful Long-Term Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #0563 - 5 Ways To Breathe New Life Into Your Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0568 - Getting Organized For A New Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0591 - NPCs As Campaign Rewards
Roleplaying Tips #0598 - Tips For Running Single Class Campaigns (PCs of the same character type)
Roleplaying Tips #0604 - 10 Tips For Running A Riddleport Style Campaign of Intrigue and Peril
Roleplaying Tips #0607 - Episodic Campaigns Part 1: 3 Ways To Run Them
Roleplaying Tips #0608 - Episodic Campaigns Part 2: Tips And Session-Ender Narration Tool
Roleplaying Tips #0610 - My 4 Step Recipe For Creating Great RPG Campaign Seeds
Roleplaying Tips #0611 - 12 Campaign Seeds For Your Next Great Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0616 - 10 Wildly Creatrive Adventure & Campaign Seeds
Roleplaying Tips #0633 - Pre-Campaign Checklist + d100 Jungle Encounters
Roleplaying Tips #0666 - Connecting Everyday Life Encounters To Your Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0672 - Prevent Player Disagreements With This Quick RPG Campaign Survey
Roleplaying Tips #0680 - Tips For New GMs Creating Campaign Outlines For The First Time
Roleplaying Tips #0686 - Wrangling Unrule Campaign Outlines: How To Keep Track of Plot Threads
Roleplaying Tips #0702 - How To Spend Even Less Time Prepping Dynamic Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #0744 - Good Campaign Design Should Not Hurt Your Players
Roleplaying Tips #0745 - Rebooting My Murder Hobos Campaign (And Yours) In Three Easy Steps
Roleplaying Tips #0747 - D13 Magic Item Concepts From My Demonplague Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0754 - Campaign Reboot Example: Murder Hobos
Roleplaying Tips #0788 - Running Parallel Groups In The Same Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0802 - A Secret Society of Character-Hunters For Your Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #0820 - How To Wrangle Your Million Campaign Details
Roleplaying Tips #0826 - 5 Room Campaign Planning
Roleplaying Tips #0843 - Here's A New Source Of Treasure For Your Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #0851 - Cut Away The Dross For Better Campaign Craft
Roleplaying Tips #0868 - 6 Examples of Published Sandbox Campaigns You Might Run
Roleplaying Tips #0876 - How To Stop Campaigns From Fizzling Out
Roleplaying Tips #0888 - How To Make Campaigns Interesting While Avoiding GM Burnout
Roleplaying Tips #0891 - Creating A Sandbox Campaign - 7 Steps
Roleplaying Tips #0921 - Measure Campaign Progress So Players Can See It And Feel It
Roleplaying Tips #0942 - An Example Sandbox Campaign With Tips To Avoid GM Burnout
Roleplaying Tips #0958 - When Do I Peel Back The Cosmic Curtain In My Campaign?
Roleplaying Tips #1000 - How To Conjure Incredible Sandbox Campaign Climaxes
Roleplaying Tips #1007 - What Would Be Your Best Campaign Ever? Part I
Roleplaying Tips #1008 - Your Campaign Agender => Best Campaign Ever Part II
Roleplaying Tips #1034 - Campaign's Pillars: How To Pacing Your Game's Exciting Moments
Roleplaying Tips #1041 - The Keep: Introducing My New Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #1078 - The Secret Ingredient for Great Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #1084 - Add Spikes of Danger To Get Deeper Campaigns
Roleplaying Tips #1091 - How To Move Your RPG Campaign Online; Tools
Roleplaying Tips #1092 - Easier Campaigns With A Storyline Mad Lib
Roleplaying Tips #1125 - Players "Checked Out" When Campaign Switched To Virtual Online
Roleplaying Tips #1146 - 3 Things To Do When You Get Bored With Your Campaign
Roleplaying Tips #1147 - Starting A West Marches Campaign - Step By Step
Roleplaying Tips #1156 - Do You Get Bored Of Your Campaigns?
Roleplaying Tips #1190 - New Players - New Group - New Campaign