@PhukGoog
One of my fav DMs ever did this. His own "world" liberally sprinkled with standalone adventures. I loved it.
@carllunden800
Another really cool use of these types of adventures is to explore what is happening in areas that the main PCs have left behind. Sometimes players leave a mess in a town, or make decisions that have consequences far beyond what the PCs are directly involved in. In those cases, a one shot or mini campaign with new charcaters in that area can tell the story of what happend after the main PCs have left.
@kbrimtube
So excellent to see a photo of the Ptolus campaign setting. Far and away my favorite place to play. Our current campaign there has had monthly sessions for going on four years.
@gamewrit0058
In my sister's homebrew setting, we had a handful of long adventures with the same characters, then jumped ahead a generation, so the original adventurers could have cameos as allies, but the home base, primary PCs, geopolitics, and story arc were mostly new. It's been a few months since we played - we aim to play twice monthly, but we had other games, etc. - but we're probably only two sessions away from solving the current Big Danger, and retiring these PCs to NPC status. My other favorite 5e homebrew campaign was a four-act campaign where my friends each kept the same character, but I created three PCs: one for Act I, one for Act II, and one for the final two acts. My politically connected wine merchant dwarf champion was a good party member for the first act, but his motivations would not have continued to match the rest of the party after our first Big Problem was solved. The human, dual-blade arcane trickster rogue assassin I played in the second act took the team's joint mission to heart, but also had a hidden agenda of her own, which was revealed to players in a surprise "cut scene" that the GM and I orchestrated - but the in-world characters never learned of it. And in the final two acts, an ally of my first two characters, this time an ELVEN dual-blade arcane trickster rogue assassin, joined the campaign because he's a freedom fighter and a former slave who escaped the country we knew would host the final showdown and epic battle. That battle included allies we'd recruited, and each faction leader rolled once per round, instead of each of the dozens of soldiers taking independent turns.
@TepigIsHot
I've been making a grand campaign that involves dimension hopping. This gave me the idea to have a bunch of one shots that are in various dimensions. That way the players can have that "wait a minute" moment when they realize they have actually played in the dimension they just got thrown into.
@GabeTetrault
Great advice! Breaking up long campaigns with smaller standalone adventures is a good way to keep things interesting. I especially like the concept of those standalone adventures being part of the main campaign's world - letting the players have a huge part in filling out the people and places - so your players will be completely hooked and motivated to participate.
@NeverbitFG
Each and every video from this channel is a hit for me. Which is, honestly, rare. Thanks for uploading and I hope your inspiration stays steady :)
@michalcross9013
This is my preferred style of play. I try to condense a year's worth of story into 5-10 sessions. Kinda like what Brandon Sanderson did with the Mistborn books (ie. condense a series like The Wheel of Time into 3 volumes). Plus... Well, I got too many games to play!
@Hellvector
So glad to have you both in the space! Keep up the wonderful work!
@federicorobelo8544
These videos have been a treat for me, since all the things you talk about resonate with my way of dming. I'm planning a one shot that closes off a huge chapter in my world, the conclusion of 3 year long campaigns of D&D, five rings and mascarade, and it's so full of references it puts endgame to shame. I even made a cameo system, where players roll a d20, over 10 means a hero from the past adventures comes and helps, less makes a villain possibly take them out. Idk why I'm sharing this, guess I'm just excited for it to happen (still a few months before I can run it)
@magvad6472
Campaigns main issues are scheduling. Having backup stories in that same world going on to the side that only crop up when 1-2 people can't make it is a great way to get your fix and also a great way to further add fidelity to the world. You can even swap up DMs for these small arcs to spice things up for everyone. I also think breaking up campaigns into "seasons" (something I learned from Blades in the Dark) really helps give you break points to play other things or to shift gears. If you still want to go back to that older story...well...start a new season. Boom. The season arcs help make sure you have some kind of finishable arc that can put a pin in the adventure for now....sure the BBEG may still be out there, but for now the players are ok, a new status quo has been set up, and they can pick back up on hunting the BBEG whenever. You can also build out the world with one-shots (I don't prefer this as one-shots are just imo...always worse than a 2-3 session story in every way) or mini-arcs that run 2-4 episodes....these are ideally set in the same universe, adding texture and more variables at play so the world feels alive. They can also be used to further produce gravitas on the main campaign: one side arc everyone got killed by the BBEG....uh oh. Maybe he's stronger than you thought. Feel like your BBEG doesn't have enough gravitas? Why not do a short campaign as a series of his minions or generals. Building out the evils that you will have to face down the line. There is so much you can do to "build the ongoing story" without always following this set of 4+ protags everywhere they go. Hell, throw in some time skips to add further "plot" to be unpacked. Is your characters story more or less resolved after season 1 and facing their abusive father in their home town? Well a year has passed and that's enough time for a new existential crisis to take hold of them or a new status quo to be developed for them that adds more flavor. Maybe they got married to the guy they were flirting with at the end of the campaign. Boom, conflict. Maybe they have a baby now?! Crazy. Maybe an old friend (you just invented) comes back into the picture with a problem that throws the characters drama into a spin. Maybe their companion is growing up a bit and is hitting adolescence (think Guardian's of the Galaxy Groot) I also think a cardinal sin of DND 1-20 campaigns is shoving a set of heroes that aren't that heroic and not that interesting nor attached to some world ending plot...into some shoehorned fast acting world ending plot. Instead, you can reroll part way through in season 2, and those characters were just introductions to this world and smaller players...maybe some of them left that group and are ongoing into something larger stakes that the other group just isn't interested in. As an example I'm in a pirate campaign planned to go from 1-20...which has been fantastic, but at some point these characters are going to have to make a decision about what their goals are. So far, they are perfectly happy being a bunch of drugged up pirates who just want to get a bigger ship so they feel cooler. They have no world goals, no problems with the status quo...they just wanna pirate and be on the sea. Well...what happens when the BBEG shows up and they just...well...don't care? Do they character assassinate to suddenly become heroes when so far they've been pretty neutral/bad pirates who take no victims. Do they spend an entire season just to justify why they'd do it by rotating their character 180 degrees? Or...just...make other characters, leave them to rest in the world living the life they want...and the ones that would help can carry over with a time skip.
@Pumpkinhead9092
Id love to see you talk about "railroading" in d&d, its been a hot topic on forums forever and im sure you have an interesting take on it.
@cragland94
love this idea. kinda wish i had seen this video sooner lol. still having lots of fun keying my hex map and writing room descriptions of the underworld
@brennanalleyne8895
Yes this method is so good! One of our group’s DMs used this because they couldn’t figure out why our big bad was doing what he was doing. Just wanted to give us an unrepentantly cartoonishly evil villain to start with and figure out the details later. We did a standalone adventure 200 years in the past and so we all got to play these ridiculous high level heroes of the realm that had long retired (so of course half the party played them as deeply flawed and senile) and our DM got to watch us give them reason after reason for our big bad as a child to feel like those in power were corrupt and hypocritical. We had a blast doing it and then returned to our main campaign with a bbeg that was fully fleshed out with minimal effort for our DM and we all felt like we contributed to building the world together!
@wolfpaw888
I wanted to comment on your setup video, but I got distracted (With D&D; go figure) and forgot. I love your content, and I can't believe how many parallels you and I have. I am also just this week wrapping up my own 6 year, lvl 1-20 campaign. My setup is extraordinarily similar to yours (We have some preference differences, but otherwise it's uncanny. LOVE your map wall, and am stealing that idea for sure.) While I agree it is definitely overkill, it's what we love. This video is great, and I can't recommend this style enough to DM's. Another tip, if you really don't have the time or desire to run standalones, then let your players end up in lots of different places and let them play in your world. Drop tons of little sidequests and mini-stories everywhere during the campaign. They don't have to mean anything for the overall campaign, but it makes your world feel whole and fleshed out when every little pocket seems to breathe adventure. One more tip, let your players RUN sessions in YOUR world. If they have an itch to DM or have a great idea, encourage them to run with that. Give them a framework and little peek behind the screen to see the magic. They get SO inspired. One of my favorite tactics for immersion. This can also give you a break if you need some more prep time till your next session. Keep up the great work! Cheers!
@AuthoritativeNewsNetwork
Braunstein's are fun. 💪
@reddjack340
naw this is goood
@zero_witch
COLUMBO MENTIONED!!!
@MarvinFaktes
Does he have any videos on character quests/helping with backstories?
@BaldingEagle55