TTRPG Campaign Design

A one-shot campaign is designed to be started and finished within a single play session. This typically means around 3-6 hours of gameplay. Designing a campaign this short actually comes with a lot more complications than it may at first appear. While it may seem that shorter campaign equals less content you have to make, and that may be true, that content you do make must function a lot smoother than is typically necessary, as every bump in the road slows things down, making it more and more likely that it won't be completed in a single session. In some cases, that's not a big deal, if it spills into a second session it might not be a problem, but if you're designing it with that in mind, you're not really building a one-shot anymore.

It may also not be the case that you need to prepare less content. At least on a session-by-session basis. In a longer format, you can leave something for next session, and figure it out in the mean-time. However in a one-shot, if you have to figure something out, or design something new, then you either have to stop right there and put it together, or just take it out. Now, some people may be fine with this on-the-spot improv, but if that's not you, then doing a little extra prep to ensure you're covering your bases is a must.

Preparing optional content can also be quite helpful. Sections of the campaign that can be included or omitted, time permitting. This could come in the form of skipping the mini-boss and going straight into the fight with the BBEG, if the players took their time to get there, or having a major henchman in the wings to delay them just in case they solve things too quickly.

A single adventure campaign is one in-which the "main quest" is consistent throughout. The party typically discovers this main quest fairly early on in the campaign (often within the first one to three sessions) and then it continues to be the party's main focus throughout the entire campaign. Side quests in this type of campaign are generally completed within a single session, or eventually serve the main quest. For example, a side quest that gets them a magic item, which makes it easier for them to complete the main quest, or the side quest may be unrelated, and just serve to get them some gold, but it's a quick encounter they can complete and move on from.

An important consideration for this type of campaign is that many parties will stick to a goal (in this case the main quest) until it's complete. Meaning if there are things you want them to interact with that are not directly on that path (for example shops where they can spend their gold, side quests, etc) then you may need to put them in their path. As an example, have them need to question a shop keeper about something they witnessed, then have the shop keeper try to sell them on something while they're there. Or have an imporant clue to a mystery they're solving be found on a jobs board with a bunch of small tasks that have a cash reward.

Most pre-written campaigns or modules are of this variety. This is because they can be run both on their own, as a standalone campaign, or they can often be fit into a larget campaign as just one of the arcs that makes up the greater story.

An epic campaign is essentially a collection of single adventures. After the party defeats the evil lich, they stay together and keep adventuring, finding new enemies to battle and quests to complete. This leaves ample opportunities to explore the slower parts of many TTRPGs including lengthier side quests, downtime activities, building a homestead and diplomacy. Of course, not all epic campaigns must interface with these parts of a game, but their scale and scope allow for it, while single adventures and one-shots don't as often.

It is worth noting here that it is not uncommon for a campaign to start out as a single adventure, then evolve into an epic campaign. As alluded to in the previous section, many tables start out running a pre-written module, then once they complete it either find a new module that starts at their current level, or begin homebrewing something new to come next.

When building a campaign for players new to a system, or new to TTRPGs in general, it's important to keep their inexperience in mind. It can be extremely easy, as someone with more experience too see a conclusion as easy to jump to, while those new to the game may not even see it as an option. This might come in the form of using a spell in a creative way, remembering that NPCs can, and will, lie or knowing to check for traps. (note: make sure that the first traps encounted by newer players don't have too harsh consequences, so they have the opportunity to learn)

Additionally, when building out a puzzle or encounter for more experienced players, as will be discussed below, it can be a good and fun strategy to not build in a specific solution, but instead just create an internally consistent scenario, and just allow the players to get creative. When doing this with a less experienced group, however, they will often look for a specific solution. In most other circumstances in life, when trying to solve a puzzle someone has made, there is one. While you should definitely allow, and even encourage your players to come to these more creative solutions, ensuring there is a simple and direct solution to a situation can really help.

When designing a campaign for veteran TTRPG players, you are provided with a great opportunity to lean hard into more open or involved types of campaigns, such as true sandboxes or heavily narrative driven campaigns. If you're designing this campaign for a specific group of players, definitely get them involved early on, as players with a lot of experience tend to know what kind of game they enjoy, and can really help inform the campaign you're going to produce.

In contrast to campaigns built for newer players, a good strategy when writing a campaign for veterans is to focus less on how the players will get from point A to point B, and instead just focus on building out a situation which opperates in a logically consistent manner, and allowing the players to direct the approach to solving their problems. This doesn't mean that the ability for players to complete challenges should be totally diregarded, but rather that instead of designing a problem around a specific solution to getting past the guards. Instead come up with a shift schedule, patrols and defences of the building, then let the players figure out whether they want to kill the guards, sneak past them or simply fly right over the walls.

Most players sit somewhere in between the extremes of brand new and seasoned vets. Above this I've layed out possible approaches in the extreme cases, but for most audiences you're likely going to have to opperate somewhere in between. For example, creating a puzzle that does have a solution which you can lead them towards if they're stuggling, but is most likely that they're find a more clever way around it. Provide a straigt forward solution, but give them some hints that taking an alternate route may provide them with greater benefit.

If you're not building the campaign for a specific group of players, using the intended character's levels (if the system you're building for has them) as a proxy for experience can be a good strategy. For example, if you're building a campaign for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, an adventure for players levels one to five is likely best directed towards a more beginner audience, while a levels 14 to 20 campaign can probably assume more experience audience.

A sandbox campaign is the least structured of the options I am going to be discussing. It generally involves placing the party into a world and just letting them explore. You can provide them with plot hooks as they go, and they can choose to engage with and pursue the ones which they like. A campaign like this is great for focusing on the party's reputation are heroic adventurers, as it doesn't necessitate a core plotline and instead the party can take the quests which raise their status, serve their causes or simply profit them the most. The quests they take can range from clearing a local farm of pests to taking down a warlord who has been terrorizing the area.

This kind of campaign can be difficult to run for newer players, as it can easily lead to choice paralysis, with infinitely many options available to them. If you want to run this style of campaign for newer players, it can be extremely helpful to make the plot hooks you are serving up quite obvious. Whether it be listing them on a jobs board, having someone run up to them asking for help, or even just telling them. For more experienced players, however, it can be fun to instead sprinkle hints of interesting ongoings into the conversations they have with NPCs, and let them decide what they want to ask questions about and follow up on.

A railroad campaign is not one that's generally looked upon in a good light by most players. It is, in essence, and campaign where the game master forces the party to stay on the railes of a pre-defined narrative. Now, while this isn't the type of game that most players generally like to play, that doesn't mean there isn't an audience for it. Sometimes it can be nice to just turn off your brain, smash some goblin skulls and not have to worry about what comes next. If you do decide you want to run this type of campaign, I strongly urge you to discuss it beforehand with your players. (if you're not writing for a specific group, I'd highly recommend avoiding this type of campaign altogether) Having a bit more freedom than you expected can be a pleasant surprise, but trying to do something interesting or creative and getting shutdown unexpectedly is never a fun experience.

To make a railroad campaign into a good experience, it may require some contrivances. For example, having the party wake up in a dungeon, kidnapped by a mad wizard who wants to test them in a series of trials, or a contained murder mystery where they are trapped with the killer. Making a campaign that, aesthetically, has many different options, but then barring all but one of those can be extremely demotivating.

This style of campaign is probably the most common. It share some similarities to railroad campaigns, in that there is generally a main plot decided upon ahead of times–at least to some degree–but there are far more allowances made for the player's creativity. Instead of simply disallowing a certain option, the campaign will instead adapt such that they can still find their way to the next plotpoint. For example, if you planned for the party to take the right at a fork in the crossroads, a railroad campaign might either have them searching endlessly down the left path, until they eventually return to the crossroads and go right, or it might just never even give the party a choice. Instead, in a bumbers campaign, the rumour they were supposed to hear from a merchant down the right path, they instead hear from the barkeep down the left. For maybe the merchance is visiting the other town they end up in to trade for some supplies, and they run into them there instead.

To be clear, though, this doesn't mean that you should just make the player's decisions meaningless. Going down the left vs. right path should still matter. If you have them reach the same village regardless which path they take, you're still eliminating player agency, and essnetially just railroading in disguise. So, even if they meet the same merchant in either down, give each town different shops with different goods for sale. Maybe along one path, before they even get to town they have an opportunity to pick up a magic item, and down the other they would have run into a pack of wolves which they'd have to fight.

The classic dungeon crawl is definitely the oldest of these campaign types. The earliest editions of Dungeons & Dragons, originally known as Chainmail, was an evolution of wargaming. It started with a fairly simple premise for its adventures. There was typically a small town, where characters could rest, buy supplies and recruit help. When the party was ready, they could venture off into the dungeon outside of town. A dungeon would generally consist of a series of rooms, often split across multiple levels. As the party progresses through the rooms, defeating monsters and solving puzzles, loot in a variety of forms, including gold, or some other currency. When the party feels that they are running out of resources, they can leave the dungeon and return to the village on the surface. There they can rest, purchase supplies and recruit help. The party are then once again free to return to the dungeon, and repeat this process until they have cleared the dungeon.

Now, dungeons crawls can come in more forms, but the general concept remains the same. Instead of returning to a village, safe places to rest might be found throughout the dungeon. Instead of collecting gold to buy suppies, the party might just find new weapons, armor and magic items directly. There is also often additional context or narative associated with these dungeons than there used to be.

The final type of campaign I am going to discuss as be especially popularised in recent years by actual play shows such as Critical Role and Dimension 20. These campaigns might waive some of the formalities of a TTRPG system in favour of serving the plot. The "Rule of Cool" becomes far more relevant and intrigue outweighs resource management. That's not to say that running a narrative campaign means that you should just ignore all the rules and nobody needs to actually manage thier character, however. Especially if you're not running a narrative campaign for an audience, it's important to remember that the shows which have popularized this style of play are not home games. While I'm sure those playing are having fun, they're also working to ensure you have a good time watching, and sometimes that means ignoring some parts of the game which aren't fun to watch, or even editing them out.

If you're are looking to run a narrative driven game, or write a narrative driven module, it's important to keep the characters in mind. This can be tricky for a pre-written module, so if you're going that route, I'd strongly suggest providing character background options or suggestions of traits, connections to NPCs, etc, to really engrain the characters in the story. If you're building this campaign for a known audience, make sure you're working with the players to build their characters, so you can ensure that they are an integral part of the narrative. Connect them to key NPCs and give them stakes to ensure they have a reason to follow the plot, without having to railroad them.