Not every campaign needs to have an overarching plotline and character development. Some folks are content with a series of missions to challenge their tactics and ability. However, some players like myself are very story-minded and enjoy treating the campaign like an ongoing TV show or series of adventure books. We like to introduce plot twists and allow the players to influence significant events as they develop throughout the campaign. If this is the kind of game you want to run, then you should above all else be ready to adapt to ever-changing situations. The best campaigns are born from planning, quick thinking and flexibility.
The Nature of Tabletop Storytelling
As I have mentioned in previous entries, tabletop RPG is a form of storytelling that is cooperative in nature. It is a group of people shouting out ideas around a table. It is not a singular vision, but a chaotic hodgepodge of collective creativity. That's the simplest explanation for why most tabletop settings are filled with such cheesy and far-out content, from the cyborg cowboys of Rifts to the mutants of Call of Cthulhu and so on. There isn't a lot of concern with being down to earth with the story-telling when its a story told by committee (even with the DM acting as chairman.) The broad assumption is that the players should have plenty of wild and crazy material to play around with and have fun.
This doesn't mean that you can't craft a compelling story for your game night, it just means you don't need to expect an epic yarn worthy of publication. The entertainment of the players is the foremost goal. Let the players themselves set the mood and build the scene, and work with them to carry it out. Don't try to force a dramatic storyline or patch up plot holes that the players don't seem worried about. Have fun with the natural direction of your narrative.
The Elevator Pitch
The first step for a good campaign is the elevator pitch. As explained here, this is a short synopsis of your story, boiled down to its basic elements.
The pitch for my first D & D campaign was: A secret society fights back against a league of vampires and their werewolf servants who seek to conquer the world.
As the campaign progressed, I added details such as the vampires' dealings with demonic forces, a feud between the gods which caused imbalance in the world, and a set of magical reality-warping crystals. But it all started with a simple concept.
Once you have a basic idea for your storyline, there is an important question to ask. If the player characters did not exist, or chose to do nothing, what would happen? If the answer is that events would be just the same or better than they would be without their involvement, it is time to go back to the drawing board. The characters are the protagonists, and are not incidental to the storyline. Their choices should be the fulcrum on which the story hinges. This means you can't always plan ahead to the very end of a campaign in exact detail. Even in pre-published adventures you might need to make some changes to the text in order to accommodate choices made by your players.
Building Toward a Goal
The good news is that once you have a pitch, you also have an end goal of your campaign. It's not even necessary to know how your players might achieve this goal, but at least you know that it is possible and logical for them to follow through.With this goal in mind, you can then produce short term obstacles to overcome on the way to completing it. As you allow the players opportunities to take actions that can affect the direction of the campaign, you can then tailor subsequent sessions to take their choices into account. There is no need to 'railroad' players by limiting their ability to control the story, instead bring the story to them. Find ways that their actions can pull them deeper into the adventure, and don't worry about sticking to your initial script. Be confident about rewrites that advance the adventure for your players. And above all, keep it exciting and filled with adventure!
Happy ventures!
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