The Campaign Builder's Guild

Quote from: Luminous Crayon

Quote from: Phoenix KnightI would say, however, it probably had one of things we've discussed, in passing, which is a good GM. Whose running the campaign is an important aspect of the experience.

This is quite correct, but not very instructive. Saying "To run a successful campaign, be a good GM," is not terribly useful advice. :)

There are certainly exceptions to the generalized guidelines we've all been sketching out, and Snakefing wisely reminds us to avoid making presumptions, to keep our options open.

(His example is interesting because it does seem to be unified, just not in terms of characters or plot. The setting is more-or-less constant, so that one session's actions affect the next's session's (different) characters directly. A community, rather than a handful of individuals, is being explored.)

That comment, about the GM, was entirely in response to snakefig's example. My point was almost exactly what you said LC, that we were naming the elements under our control for how to create a good game, but that it sounded to me like it was another element entirely that made his game good.

I would argue that kind of scenario is more like several short campaigns. Certainly, I have run and played in campaigns that use the same settings, characters, or even PCs, but are still separate campaigns.

I would say another element that can make a game more memorable for the players, is to make it really about them. Now, we would say that almost rote -- of course the PCs are the stars -- but it becomes so much more involving when it really matters one PC from the next, or if the plot couldn't have happened with a different PC (the downside is if someone has to quit the game or doesn't show, it can really throw the game off).

When I'm planning a grand game, one driven by plot rather than just very casual, I ask everyone to write a background for their character weeks before the game. Then I take all those backgrounds and tie the elements of the campaign in as much as I possibly can, using the characters in their backgrounds, twisting, tweaking, and hopefully, finding what really matters to a character, what motivates him or her. I can expand on this, but I expect most people know what I'm talking about.

And really, when running, you have to know your players, know what they want and what they don't. With knowing them, it becomes easier to predict how they may handle a situation, so you're less likely to have make something up on the fly that might not fit with the plot so well; because you can never limit their options or force them down a path.

Quote from: Phoenix KnightThat comment, about the GM, was entirely in response to snakefig's example. My point was almost exactly what you said LC, that we were naming the elements under our control for how to create a good game, but that it sounded to me like it was another element entirely that made his game good.

I would argue that kind of scenario is more like several short campaigns. Certainly, I have run and played in campaigns that use the same settings, characters, or even PCs, but are still separate campaigns.

To some extent, I'm trying to look for techniques in campaign building that could turn a mediocre GM like myself into, well, if not a good GM, at least a better one. First - what makes for a good campaign. Second - what can you do to increase the odds that your campaign is a good one? What to emphasize, what to pay attention to, etc.

This may include all parts of the game, from interacting with your players, to designing adventures and encounters, to the actual techniques used during the game to manage the flow of the game. Out of game stuff may be the easiest to suggest and implement - during the game you usually need to focus on decision-making, mechanics, and role-playing in response to players' actions.

Also, a good GM is important, but so are good players. A good GM inspires the players, good players respond and elaborate in interesting ways, and this inspires the GM to produce even more interesting things.

Admittedly, my example pushes the boundaries of what we'd normally define as a campaign, but at the time it felt more like a highly non-standard campaign. I think it comes down to a word LC used - unified. Like, sometimes you'd be in the middle of an adventure and think, "Oh, So-And-So will be so pissed off about this," where So-And-So was some other character who wasn't even involved in the adventure. It's that kind of unifying linkage that seemed to make a difference.

Quotea good GM is important, but so are good players.

Absolutely. One of the truest things ever said about roleplaying.

No game works if the players aren't ready for a game of that kind. You can't make a horror game work if the players don't want to be scared, you can't make a mystery game work if they want hack & slash, and you can't make a story-first game work if they want to "win" (as I learned to my chagrin in a short-lived campaign).

[blockquote=SNake]Also, a good GM is important, but so are good players. A good GM inspires the players, good players respond and elaborate in interesting ways, and this inspires the GM to produce even more interesting things.[/blockquote]
Good Lord, yes.  One of the best things a DM can do is Set up the game and the system so that good players thrive, and mediocre ones do not.

Ok, Now back to all the original questions.
I can't say my answers will work for everyone.  But I can at least lay claim to having answered everyone of these questions for myself and my game. My campaign is old, so having these things come up is natural.  And in some cases, I made some mistakes, and got lucky not to lose the game because of it.

One of the first things that is important is finding players that match the campaign you want to run.  It may sound basic, but I will explain it and then give a personal example.  Games are like books.  They can be wildly different, and have totally different stories, but a good game would make a good book.  And any of us who have taken fiction writing or plot development writing classes knows that there are a lot of very good guidelines to follow.  But how it affects the player experience is that a bunch of players that like books and stories very different from your setting probably won't like your setting. If all your players love Terry Brooks but hate Glen Cook, they won't be looking for a gritty fantasy game.
I run a low HP world.  The two players I have lost due to lack of interest were interested in a different type of setting, one where there was a more 'heroic' margin for error.  They wanted Simon Green, I gave them George Martin...
My Bad.

The next thing, before you write word one about the setting, and the funny gods and races, is the big picture for character growth.  What ruleset is going to give the world, and therefor the players, the growth and developement you want.

[blockquote=Ivar]Growth - One of the biggest differences between an adventure and a campaign is that you get to progress your character, in terms of wealth, achievements, stories, and levels. This may be one of the single most important aspects of a good campaign.[/blockquote]

Much like when you want to start a book or story, you have to have an Idea about scope before you start writing.  A single story-line game is like a single novel, and you want to have some player developement during it, as the 'projected self-actualization' need is one of the strongest motivators for players.  However, as players and games mature, they often (not always) want a game and setting where their growth does not outstrip the world around them...
If you want your game to last a while, figure the mechanics out so that there is consistent, little growth-steps, but in very small increments.
This is all a matter of scope.  It is a succesful game when you create a great starting town and surroundings, and the players come back to it after being away, and everyone is amazed at how fine their clothes and horses are, and their former teachers tell them how proud they are, and the guildmasters want to offer them positions, and they can build a house...and those things that were threatening the caravans are still there, can the players now maybe take a look?
It is a horrible game when they come back, but they are more powerful than their former guilmasters, no one has anything to teach them, the thing bothering the local caravans is not worth the time....

Investiture is another important concept.  You have to find out what makes them care about a town or an area.  My Mistonian group started out in a small, northern border town where the Giantclan Silverworth had taken over the town five years before, and the players were part of an underground trying to rescue the town while not letting the Gnolls and Ogres infesting the town onto what they were doing.  I knew I had succeeded when the players screwed up a bit, and a PC's craft-brother (in the Turniper's farming commune) was beaten to death when keeping quiet about hiding them...when the PC started swearing revenge and the other players were stopping his character (and physically holding him down) from going into the town center after th Ogres...I knew I had hit the right nerve.
Give the players lots of opportunities for causes.  It makes for a good book, it will make for a great game.

And when the GM takes a hiatus, they risk losing everything.  The game is about the players, but it is your game.  I'm on once once-a-month group and a once-every-three-weeks, for my 2 live groups, and my IM game is once every 2 weeks, and any less thn that you can lose them.
 

I wouldn't say success is just about some general "ggodness" of the DM or players, it's about the match. One way to achieve this, as LordVreeg suggested, is to find suitable players. The other way (if there is no extra supply of players) is to suit the players you have. Of course there may not be a match and the players like different style than the DM, in which case you have to either dump the players and find new ones, or change your style. In longer-running groups I suppose the styles may become compatible over time (I have experience of 18 years with the same group, and there are still big differences so don't hold your breath...)

There seems to be no universal, objective criteria for a successful setting - anything can be a success as long as it matches the group's tastes. That's what makes it so hard to create a universally successful published setting, it needs to fit very different styles of play.

I don't know that I will have much more to add to what everyone else already has said, but I will try.

 [blockquote=LordVreeg]One of the first things that is important is finding players that match the campaign you want to run.[/blockquote]

Agreed. I recently relaunched my Eberron game as the two main players and I sat down after a few sessions and really talked about what they wanted their characters to do. We spent a 2-3 hours talking about goals, plans and what type of action they wanted to see. And it has been a great game since then.


 [blockquote=Phoenix Knight]I would say, however, it probably had one of things we've discussed, in passing, which is a good GM. Whose running the campaign is an important aspect of the experience.[/blockquote]

To me what makes a good GM is one that listens. Players always say or do things that give depth to their characters that they don't even realize they do. As a GM I try to listen for these tidbits and then bring them up in the game at a later point. These mini plot hooks can help really flesh out a plot or tie the character to a major plot. Or they can be used as some filler between major adventures that helps ground the characters and helps them grow at the same time.

There have been a lot of good ideas here. Looking over the responses so far, I'm going to try to make an abstract summary of concepts that come up frequently.

Unity - The various adventures and events should be unified to create a sense of continuity and relevance. The adventures can be unified on theme, character, plot line, and/or setting. Probably more than one of these is needed to create strong unity, but no single one is absolutely necessary.

Engagement - The players need to be engaged in the campaign, not just passive consumers. The single most common way to do this seems to be trying to engage the back story and/or motivations of their characters. Another thing I've seen is to allow players to participate in choosing or designing elements of the campaign.

Make it matter - The characters' actions should have impact on the campaign, whether through plot, impact on the setting, or character growth and development.
 
Depth - The plot line and adventures should reveal a campaign that isn't just superficial. By creating secondary plots, recurring NPC's, background events that aren't directly related to the currently story line, you increase the impression of a whole world of options available to the characters.

These concepts aren't entirely distinct from each other. But they each suggest different techniques for improving a campaign. Any one of these could probably be the topic of a whole thread of discussion, so I'll leave it there for now.

Snakefing, this is really good stuff. You ought to consider refining and expanding this into a Guide article.

Unfortunately, my writing style just isn't very good for something like the Guide.

But as I have time, I might work on expanding this stuff and posting it here. I have lots of ideas on this - what is hard is to prune it back to the really useful stuff.

First of a series to address the elements of a successful campaign. It is written mostly in the form of advice to a GM, but many of the concepts may also be useful to non-GM players to create characters that will be interesting and successful in a given campaign.

(Note: Jeebus, this turned out to be long. Next up: Engagement.)

Unity

A campaign is a series of adventures, but a good campaign is more than just the sum total of those adventures. The adventures work together to create a unified whole, which provides greater context and meaning to the individual adventures. A campaign may be unified by common threads in one or more of its elements. The more elements are tied together, the more unified the campaign will be. Individual scenes or adventures gain extra significance from their relationship to these unifying aspects.

A campaign consists of several elements; broadly speaking, these are theme, setting, character, and plot. Any of these may serve as unifying elements, depending on your style and genre. A really successful campaign usually needs to be unified on two or more of these elements. Other elements may be less unified in order to provide greater variety.

As your campaign goes along, build on your unifying elements by designing adventures that put those aspects front and center. Interesting variety can be achieved by exploring or portraying those aspects from different perspectives, or by interchanging and juxtaposing various different unifying elements. For each adventure and each session, think about how it relates to the various unifying elements. Try to design and plan your sessions so these elements will naturally play a major role; that way you won't have to be self-conscious about them during play.

When starting a new campaign, try to communicate your unifying concepts with the players. First, you'll find out right away if something doesn't sit well with them. Second, they'll be able to create characters that mesh well with each other and the intended direction of your campaign. Lastly, they will probably have good ideas of their own that may affect your plans.

Theme
Theme may be expressed either in a literary sense, or in the more colloquial usage referring to any collection of common elements. For example, a more literary theme might be, "Pride goeth before a fall," while more casual themes might include whimsical humor or chthonic horrors.

If you are using a unifying theme, you'll probably want to look at the player characters to see how they relate to it. You might have to tweak your theme, or suggest some alternative character concepts that fit better. This can seem heavy-handed, so don't overuse it. For this reason, some themes may work better as secondary unifying elements. For example, pride and humility are only relevant to certain character concepts, so this theme might serve a unifying purpose for some characters and not for others.

Themes can be expressed through the situations and dilemmas that are presented to the characters, by example through the actions of NPC's, or by emphasizing people, places and things in the setting that exemplify the theme. The theme may also be heightened by incorporating its opposite at times, for contrast. A pervasive sense of dread and doom may seem all the darker when contrasted with the occasional bit of peace and bliss.

Setting
A unified setting implies that the adventures will take place in and generally pertain to some specific locale of the game world. Depending on the genre and power level, this could be an entire planet, a kingdom, a village, or even a single interdimensional transit hub. A less-unified setting may occur in a campaign where the characters travel widely, or one where the adventures and actions aren't directly related to the setting.

To be useful as a unifying element, the setting needs to be fairly rich and should have a character all its own. Characters may be created with an explicit connection to the setting, such as the sons and daughters of a noble house and its demesnes. Or they may be tied to the setting by holding positions of responsibility. This way, things that occur in and around the setting can have direct impact on the character's honor, responsibilities, prestige, and/or fortunes. The flip side of this is true also - the characters' actions will have a direct impact on the nature and progress of the setting, or at least those parts they have direct responsibility for.

Perhaps the archetype of setting-dominated games would be Ars Magica, where characters are encouraged to play wizards that are part of an enclave or community. In such a game, the players could even switch back and forth between different characters without disrupting the continuity, as long as they all relate to the same enclave.

Character
Character can be a strong unifying element, by focusing on the personality and personal growth of each character. This can be especially true if the characters in question also go along with a theme. For example, you might follow the growth of a group of friends as they go from callow youths to respected adults and finally to wise and benevolent leaders. Follow this up with a theme of Maturity, and you've got a lot of pretty powerful stuff to play with.

One downside here is that this element requires the most cooperation out of the non-GM players to pull off. It is hard to get this going if your players aren't up to it, or if the characters are too diverse.  To successfully use this as a unifying element, you'll have to look at each character and talk to each player to identify an anticipated path of character development. What does the character want, and why? Then design adventures and situations that will provide the opportunity for growth and development. At times, this can lead to some surprising twists and turns. The paladin who has to renounce his vows in order to return home and protect his own family, or the young bravo who takes up the mantle of responsibility, have undergone elements of character growth that are interesting in their own right.

In a character-dominant game, continuity of plot may be disrupted by such unanticipated changes in character, but this doesn't weaken the campaign. On the other hand, in a plot-dominant campaign, you would probably want to discourage such changes unless they are consistent with the unifying plot elements.

Plot
No element is more talked about, and more misunderstood, than plot. As soon as you start thinking about plot, there is a risk that the GM will get in her head an idea of how the sequence of events ought to go, and then engineer the game to get there. (Choo! Choo! All aboard!) At the same time, plot is one of the more powerful unifying elements - it allows us to fashion a narrative around the game events, and this in turn provides direction and meaning. And a plot usually won't create itself - it has to be nurtured.

The best way to think about plot is as an over-arching conflict or goal that engages the character. The story is in how the characters try to resolve the conflict or achieve the goal. Each adventure advances the story in some way. It may advance them a step toward their goal, reveal important information, or even simply set the stage for future adventures. As you design and run an adventure, think about the role it plays in the larger plot, and pitch the level of detail and the emphasis accordingly.

Plot elements are especially good at creating sub-plots. Each character may (should) have their own goals and conflicts besides the over-arching one. You can design the details and story line elements to directly engage these sub-plots, so each character's individual story line advances through the campaign as well.

For example, you might create an adventure to rescue the kidnapped daughter of a wealthy merchant. As far as the overall plot goes, this seems like a small side adventure, but it does introduce some political factions that will probably be important enemies in the future. So you don't want to spend too much time on this (as a side adventure), and you'll want to make sure that the appropriate political factions are given enough attention to make them memorable.

Here's an alternative way of looking at the unity of a campaign. Whereas my previous post looked specifically (and in excessive detail) at the types of unity and how they can be constructed, this approaches the concept more generically, with a focus on what each player can do to improve the campaign. It is also shorter and easier to read.

Unity (Mk II)

How can you promote the unity of a campaign? This isn't just an issue for the GM, it also involves the players making choices that enhance unity, or at least don't undermine it.

First things: Start by identifying what the unifying elements of the campaign are. For most campaigns, there is some degree of unifying theme or plot, but sometimes it isn't well-stated. Also, make sure to communicate this so all players. The first step is always knowing what you are trying to do, and making sure that everyone is on the same page.

For adventures: For each adventure and/or session, ask yourself how it contributes to the unity of the campaign. As GM, you should be able to answer this, and there's nothing wrong with giving at least some of this information to the other players. (Without spoiling any surprises, of course.) If you aren't GM, you may have to trust the GM a bit here; then again, if you don't have some clue, it will be harder for you to contribute positively.

For characters: What aspects of the character's abilities, personality, or background will actively engage the unifying elements? (If there aren't any, you better add some or get a new character - this character isn't fitting in.) What aspects of the character can be used to create sub-plots or secondary themes? These can help provide continuity and motivation that encourage greater unity from that character's POV. Of course, sub-plots have to be consistent with the overall unity of the campaign.

For players: How do you expect to have fun by working with the unifying elements? If it isn't exactly your cup of tea, maybe you need a new campaign, or maybe you need to adjust your expectations or have fun in a different way. All this applies to you if you are GM too - you are also a player in the game, albeit one with a specific and different role.

Second in a series of posts on the elements of a good campaign. This one concerns engagement, that is, getting and keeping all the players engaged in and participating in the campaign.

I'm not sure why, but I'll follow the convention of referring to players as "she" and their characters as "he". YMMV

Engagement

The game is better for everyone when all the players are engaged, A disengaged player creates a drag: things have to be repeated, or the others wait for her to take her turn, or the player (or her character) engages in disruptive behavior in a futile attempt to "liven things up."

To get a player engaged, you have to start by understanding what she wants out of the game, and then creating some scope for her to seek that out through her participation. Since different players may want different things, this can be a delicate balancing act. All players need to help out in this balance. For example, don't hog the action, nor rush past scenes that you don't find interesting but others do. In the same vein, do keep an eye on the other players and try to move along if they show signs of restlessness.

Playing an RPG involves a number of different facets. It is a game, it is role-playing. It is also a social event, at least for F2F games. Some players like the stimulation of challenges and competition. Others like the flights of imagination, or the act of creating and authoring a story. Most of us like all these things, to some extent or another, so a good game should strike a balance in these elements, depending on what your players really like. Leave enough space for fun social interactions, joking around, and chit-chat if your players want that. Design puzzles, competitions, or tactical challenges for the players who like that sort of thing. Add in some politics and diplomacy role-playing for the more hard-core roleplayers. And give the more creative or imaginative types some space to create their own stories.

Another way to engage your players is to engage the backgrounds and hooks they've built into their characters. Presumably they built their characters that way for a reason - there is something they thought would be fun about those characters. Try to find out what that is, and encourage encounters and adventures that showcase those aspects of the characters. And be sure to spend as much of the actual play time as possible on those parts of the game.

Don't forget that you (the GM) are a player too. If you become bored or disengaged, the whole game will become a chore and the other players will surely notice. Try to understand what it is about the campaign that you expect to have fun with, and be sure to include your own interests on an equal footing with all the other players'. And don't be afraid to take a break from time to time - maybe just to spend a session playing some board game, or put the dice away and play a pure role-playing session, or haul out the battle mat for a mindless dungeon crawl.

Above all, pay attention to the interest level. If it starts to drop, talk to all the  players to figure out where things are headed and how to re-invigorate the game.

Rule number one for me would be to mix it up. It's okay to have a single, overarching plotline, but I think it's better if you complicate it a little. Each character and each villain should have  their own goals, for example (who's on who's side will change with the circumstances) and there should be new complications in achieving these goals every so often, not just in the sense of opposition by another group, but in the category of just having stuff happen.

In addition, I think RPGs by default shouldn't have too tightly focused a genre. Same goes for heroic origins or what have you.

This isn't literature... this is something you're going to be doing once a week for (hopefully) a very long time. I think it's best to mix it up whenever possible.

I guess what I'm saying is unity isn't my thing. Granted, there is a point at which there's too much. A campaign can be a steampunk/post-apoc/Dunsanian fantasy mash up, but throwing superheroes in would be a bad idea. Likewise, while recurring villains and evil twins and scheming viziers and virtuous (but stern) kings are all staples of gaming, it's best to have a single goal for a given adventure, and at most three complications that are in any way recurring. (You need to accomplish x, but w and y won't have it, whereas z will help you accomplish it and try to steal the credit... or something). Even so, a one goal/one conflict game session (let alone one conflict/one goal campaign) will tend to get old. That's where we get things like monolithic good and evil, fighting monsters to get loot, and overtly conventional plot structures (at the expense of neat tricks like en media res, cliffhangers, and the "twist" ending... maybe a little over the top, but again... it's gaming, not lit.)

I have two reactions:

First, I agree that mixing things up is important to keep things fresh. The same might be said of mixing genres (within reason) - to keep things from becoming too predictable or stale. This kind of gets into more concrete suggestions, unlike the stuff I've been writing which has been very abstract and high-level. Maybe a more concrete approach would yield some more interesting ideas.

Second, I still think that some form of unity is important. But maybe we are talking about different things. By unity, I mean something that joins the adventures or sessions together to form a greater whole. It could be plot line, character development, common themes, etc.

Still, I think you are getting at something useful in your last graf. Different characters in your group may need different conflicts, sub-plots, or goals. Unity is achieved both on a group basis and an individual basis, I think. Concentrating too much on one aspect or another may make the campaign too monolithic in one extreme, or too fragmented to really gell in the other extreme.