Tips on campaign building

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jeffnichols112
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Tips on campaign building

Post by jeffnichols112 »

Hello, just recently started playing RPG's again, and really miss DCC and its chaotic goodness. I live in a remote area and raise a small child by myself; so I have some free time after he goes to sleep, and would like something stimulating. A few years ago, while living in a bigger city, i started creating a world that has a marsh climate. the layout was an area surrounded by tall mountains, with dangerous monsters that roam them, while having greedy, angry dwarves inside them that do not like outsiders. Another natural barrier is a bay that has a lot of corral reef, that only a very experienced, gifted sailor can navigate.

In other words. its basically a prison subcontinent that is overseen by a tyrannical government that keeps people in and out. without ranting too much....

What are some tips you can give for organization?
It's very daunting to come up with all this stuff and keep it organized.
I have little to no artist ability, any free map designing software thats free and easy to use?

Due to being away from a populated area, I plan to one day run this on Roll20. Id rather have it in person, bt how life is right nows, its impossible. Thanks for reading.
Checkyboy
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Re: Tips on campaign building

Post by Checkyboy »

I've built an elaborate campaign world for my 3.5/Pathfinder/5E game, with a 120 page gazetteer and carefully drawn maps.

This isn't what DCC needs.

My DCC game has a scrawled regional map that's about 500 square miles. My campaign 'gazeteer' is five paragraphs on a handout. And my world slowly develops from play, organically, or from tidbits from assimilated adve nature modules.

It's better this way ... trust me!
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Ravenheart87
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Re: Tips on campaign building

Post by Ravenheart87 »

Don't overdo it, and then it won't be that daunting. Leave out details that likely won't come up during play or can be improvised. As for art and maps, unless you are planning to publish it, don't sweat it. Make your map in Hexographer or Dungeon Painter Studio, and you are good to go. Heck, most of my maps are still scribbles in a notebook...
Vorpal Mace: a humble rpg blog with some DCC-related stuff.
Obrackenbury
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Re: Tips on campaign building

Post by Obrackenbury »

Hard agree with this. I ran the best campaign of my life like a slowly opening camera iris, focusing on the small village the players all came from and expanding the world over time in ways that either riffed on past adventure's events, plugged in modules I was keen to run, or ideally did both. I'd write up stuff all in one big notebook, dating pages and using six colours of highlighter to help me skim for Adventure Prep, NPCs, Artifacts, Worldbuilding etc and off I went. Wayyyy better than trying to write your own personal The Silmarillion in advance.

Barely drew one map. I used Hex Kit software for regional maps, and with dungeons for non-module adventures I mostly used Dyson's Delves maps (https://dysonlogos.blog), which are all free and very high quality.
Checkyboy wrote: Thu Dec 27, 2018 7:54 pm I've built an elaborate campaign world for my 3.5/Pathfinder/5E game, with a 120 page gazetteer and carefully drawn maps.

This isn't what DCC needs.

My DCC game has a scrawled regional map that's about 500 square miles. My campaign 'gazeteer' is five paragraphs on a handout. And my world slowly develops from play, organically, or from tidbits from assimilated adve nature modules.

It's better this way ... trust me!
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FSH Professional Ltd
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Re: Tips on campaign building

Post by FSH Professional Ltd »

Agree with Obrackenbury. My first DCC adventure module started in a tiny rural village with a "creature problem" in the North woods and then expanded to a city. Added a new village later on. My "world build" consists of two villages and one city.

Start small, work outward. Begin to add politics, intrigue, and regional conflicts into the story by the time the party has reached 3d level. Most of them may be dead by then. Remember, according to the DCC RPG (c), a party higher than fifth-level is a one in a million event. Another (paraphrased) quote from the wise one: The party should be able to find enough adventure within 5 miles of their home.
~ Stu
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