Creating a campaign 101: Episode 1

I have just started a campaign, and I have found that designing the adventure was really fun. I think that for some, it is really daunting as you don't always know where to start, or how to set things up. Well, here is the guide that will help create an adventure in style.

The first thing you need to do with any adventure is to decide what world the campaign will be set in. If you don't want to create a homebrew world, there are loads of published worlds out there e.g Forgotten realms, Eberron etc. However, you can also use worlds that aren't DnD worlds. The campaign that I have started is set in the world of Runettera, the world where League of Legends is set. Or, if you feel creative you can create your own world from scratch. That way you can be more creative in how the world works, and what you can make the world look like.

Now that we are in our world, we need to decide what region of the world we will be playing in. This will decide what kind of threats the adventurers will face. Will they do battle with undead and necromancers in the Shadow Isles? Or will they be defending the innocent from Frost giants and Yetis in Freljord? This is entirely up to you to decide, though some regions are easier to play in than others. For example, I was conflicted at first about where to set my adventure. After reading lots of lore on League of Legends, I decided on Bilgewater as I had a really cool plot idea and there were lots of monsters I could use. Whatever region of the world you set the adventure in, you need to make sure that you have enough detail on it. If there isn't much already, create some stuff. I decided to populate the surrounding isles with Lizardfolk and Goblins, as that fits into part of my plot.

The final thing we need to do is to decide where exactly we start within our region. This could be a small farming village or a large, bustling city. Knowing lots about the region helps a lot, as it means it is easier to decide where the adventurers will start their quests. Also, deciding on the exact place now means less details to sort out later. In my case, I have decided that the adventurers will start in a tavern called 'The Serpent and Harpoon', near to a landmark known as the 'Butchers Bridge' (the bridge in the photo above).

Next time we will be looking at how to create a good plot and how to get the adventurers excited. I hope you enjoyed reading this, and if you need any more help on creating a campaign check out the post 'Starting a campaign'.

- WildemountWanderer