Use this Simple Structure for a GREAT D&D Campaign

Comments · 228

• BO

  @BobWorldBuilder · 4 years ago · pinned

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• JO

  @joetwodogs · 4 years ago (edited)

  A good tip for subtle railroading that I always do is give the players a location (city/town/landmark) to get to during session 0. They can come up with their own individual reasons why, but that gives them a pretty narrow route of travelling to follow without them even knowing + a reason why they all need to travel together in the first place. By the time they reach there (level 3 or 4) they&apos;ve bonded and would have found a new quest to follow together

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• MU

  @MultiKiram · 4 years ago

  One thing I&apos;ve liked experimenting with is sort of alternating between more &quot;sandbox-y&quot; sections, and more &quot;railroady&quot; sections to break up the game. Because while the characters having choices is awesome, sometimes life happens at them. It also lets you build smaller sandboxes and use the railroads to connect them, or even re-visit older sandboxes, with the railroad serving as a major &quot;update&quot; event. I&apos;ve found that breaking the sandboxes up can really help give some variety, and releive some of the decision-making pressure that can build up over longer sandbox experiences.

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• OT

  @otakukaku · 4 years ago

  I call these DM styles as Closed Fist, Open Palm, and Cupped Hand.<br>Closed Fist is your classic railroad.<br>Open Palm is a sandbox campaign.<br>Cupped Hand provides a campaign setting with a lot plot points around to give players a feeling of freedom while still staying within an advancing narrative.

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• BE

  @benmacdonald2849 · 4 years ago

  I’ve always enjoyed Bob’s videos, but WOW they are steadily increasing in quality and content and I am really appreciative!! Go Bob, go!!

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• TO

  @toboterxp8155 · 4 years ago

  My strategy tends to be sort of a graph approach, where I plot out different plot points/hints that the players should experience, but with a chart of which plot points need to happen after which, and which plot points require which information to uncover. Then I can just throw out hints towards the different currently available plot points, see which one the players choose and then let them experience that, in the process unlocking new plot points I can throw out hints for, as well as the remaining old ones. It&apos;s a great system, because the players always have a real choice, but at the same time they don&apos;t leave the confines of my plans.

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• TH

  @TheClericCorner · 4 years ago (edited)

  Good: Tie adventures into the BBEG<br>Better: Tie adventures into your players backstory<br>Best: Tie adventures into BOTH the BBEG and players backstory<br><br>Thanks for the video Bob!

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• BO

  @bobbobinton5106 · 4 years ago

  The advice in this video is so quality I don’t know how else to put it

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• CH

  @CheckMate-Ent · 4 years ago

  I think at the end of the day, it comes down to;<br><br>Find what your players are engaging with, and cater to that. There is no one right way. Just a bunch of right ways for your personal group.

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• EN

  @Enn- · 4 years ago

  /kiss of perfection! Thanks Bob!

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• WA

  @WayneRossi · 4 years ago

  I&apos;m mostly a sandbox DM, and want to contrast a bit with this video&apos;s advice.<br><br>Personally I don&apos;t always prep a single &quot;big bad&quot; for a campaign. I like to seed multiple plots through the world, and let the PCs follow the one(s) that they think are most compelling. Only then do I actually make up the big villains and their lairs and so forth. This means that, ideally, the campaign is following the plot that the players want to go toward.<br><br>I do think it&apos;s good advice for DMs prepping the game to prepare only a few quests with hooks going forward. I usually have one or two prepared adventures, and then I use random tables if the players go off in a direction I didn&apos;t expect. Usually something like a monster lair or a few random encounters is enough to base a session on, and then I can come up with another adventure afterward.<br><br>What I did find interesting is the critique of Rime of the Frostmaiden as offering too many adventures. At $50 cover price per book, I think it&apos;s good when a published book provides more than just the core materials for one adventure. I&apos;m probably not going to run Rime of the Frostmaiden but because I have it, I always have a book loaded with arctic adventures. A DM actually running it should, of course, find the things that are most relevant and appeal to the players.<br><br>Finally - I think part of the reason railroading has a bad rap is because, in an RPG, not everything needs to be an Any % speedrun to the BBEG. A side-quest that you find irrelevant might really appeal to someone else, and not being forced into following the main quest line could be good breathing room for most RPGs.<br><br>Sorry if that&apos;s long, I just thought another perspective was worth sharing.

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• KM

  @kmoustakas · 4 years ago

  Great video I agree with nearly everything. Especially the &apos;too many choices=actually pointless choices&quot;

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