CHAPTER 16: BUILDING A LAZY CAMPAIGN
āI made a lot of mistakes. I overprepared. I made huge campaign worlds, not realizing that the players wouldnāt see one one-hundredth of them.ā ā Chris Perkins
āAn adventure is about the here and now.ā ā Dungeons & Dragons fifth edition Dungeon Masterās Guide
Roughly 55 percent of DMs run games in their own campaign settings. A Lazy Dungeon Master starts with a focus on the characters and their immediate surroundings, letting the world spiral out from there.
SPIRAL CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT
Using the campaign spiral, you build your campaign from the charactersā starting location, filling in only the details of immediate interest. You focus on the locations closest to them and whatever local concerns connect to their direct interest. As the characters explore, your focus on the world spirals outward.
THREE CAMPAIGN BUILDING TECHNIQUES
- Build the Campaign Hook: A single sentence that defines the campaign. It makes it easy for players to know what to do and helps you focus your preparation. Example: āStop Thuronās rise.ā.
- State the Six Truths: Six facts that separate this campaign from all other possible campaigns. They are easy to digest and keep the world from getting too complicated.
- Define Fronts: Fronts represent the big movers of the campaignāusually villains or cataclysmic events.
- The Front: Who or what is it?
- The Goal: What is it trying to accomplish?
- Three Grim Portents: Three visible steps that show the progress of this front.
CHECKLIST FOR LAZY CAMPAIGN PREPARATION
- Prepare the overall campaign in the same manner that you prepare your next session.
- Develop a spiral campaign that focuses on what matters to the characters right now.
- Build a campaign hook that focuses the campaign on a single major goal.
- State the six truths of your campaign to help players build characters that fit the theme.
- Define three fronts, including their goals and three grim portents.
CHAPTER 17: RUNNING SESSION ZERO
Run an initial session to talk about the campaign, the world, and the place of the characters before anything is fully realized.
SESSION ZERO ACTIVITIES
- Describe the World: Start with the campaign hook, the āsix truths,ā and general themes.
- Manage Expectations: Discuss themes and ask players if there are any they should avoid (e.g., descriptions of torture).
- Tie Characters Together: Use a list of bonds (Sibling of, Saved by, Indebted to) to find interesting connections .
- Tie Characters to a Single Faction: Connect the whole party to a guild, church, or organization to provide common motivation and quest-givers.
- Guide Characters toward Cooperative Adventure: Ask players to give their characters a clear reason to adventure with the rest of the group.
- Run a Quick Adventure: Finish with a quick, heavily improvised set of encounters covering NPC interaction, exploration, and combat.
20 POSSIBLE BONDS FOR CHARACTERS
- Sibling ofā¦
- Saved byā¦
- Served withā¦
- Protected byā¦
- Adventured withā¦
- Friendly rival ofā¦
- Childhood friend ofā¦
- Magically bound toā¦
- Survived withā¦
- Escaped withā¦
- Apprentice ofā¦
- Acolyte ofā¦
- Idolizesā¦
- Drinking buddies withā¦
- Business associate ofā¦
- Lost a bet toā¦
- Indebted toā¦
- Trained byā¦
- Dueling partner ofā¦
- On the run withā¦
PART 2: RUNNING YOUR GAME
CHAPTER 18: TOP TRAITS OF GOOD GMS
Surveys of players revealed three top traits: flexibility, creativity, and improvisation. These stood out above knowing the rules or being fully prepared.
- Relax: You canāt be flexible if youāre tense. Trust your tools and remember everyone is there to have a good time.
- Listen: Practice āYes, andā¦ā by building off player ideas. Use active listeningāmake eye contact and take notes on what they say.
- Trust Your Tools: Your prep material is designed to support improvisation. Dropping in a prepared location when characters go off track shows the world is real but adaptive.
CHAPTER 19: SUMMARIZING THE PREVIOUS SESSION
āHearing them recap is like a huge stethoscope on the campaign.ā ā Matt Colville
Start sessions by asking the players to summarize the previous game.
- Observe: It shows you what they remembered and what details resonated or were forgotten.
- Immersion: It tells everyone the game has started and gets them engaged.
- Donāt Interrupt: Let them tell the story and only fill in crucial missing information or correct vital misunderstandings afterwards.
CHAPTER 20: THREE TRICKS FOR GROUP STORYTELLING
Shift players away from mechanics and into creative imagery with specific questions.
- āDescribe Your Killing Blowā: When a monster dies, let the player describe the action. This helps them think of characters as more than just statistics.
- āWhatās an Interesting Physical Characteristic of This Monster?ā: Ask this the first time a monster is attacked. It helps identify distinct creatures in theater-of-the-mind combat and makes the world feel real.
- āWhatās an Interesting Characteristic of This Tavern?ā: Ask players to describe one feature of a location to involve them in creating the world.
- Travel Montages: Ask players to describe an interesting event or challenge the group faces during a journey. Another player can describe how they overcame it.
CHECKLIST FOR GROUP STORYTELLING
- Help open up the playersā creative ideas with guided questions.
- Ask players to describe their killing blows.
- Ask players for interesting physical characteristics of monsters.
- Ask players to describe interesting details of locations and travel scenes.