Use this section to introduce the main premise of your campaign, including the scope, genre, and important lore for your campaign setting.

Use this section to determine the idea for your first few sessions. The first session is typically an opportunity to allow your player characters to meet each other if they do not already know each other. The session should also create concepts that bond your players together and to the campaign setting.

High fantasy settings will often appear very similar to the "real" world you live in. The main differences revolves around the functionality of how things are performed due the presence of magic in society and the creatures and humanoids that inhabit that society. This means fantastical beasts with and without magical capabilities, magic-users of all sorts, and nearly anything else your imagination can come up with to immerse your players in a world unlike anything they know!

A low fantasy setting does not necessarily mean there is no magic in your world. Instead it focuses on the rarity or the limitations of the magic in your world. Due to these restrictions, everyday life in your campaign setting may seem very familiar to a real world society.

Magical Realism is not exactly magic as much as it is the breaking of ordinary expectations of how things work in our reality. The genre does not showcase spells, but rather demonstrates how unique individuals can make extraordinary things happen with the right manipulation of reality.

Sword and Sorcery is a campaign setting that focuses on combat of all types, melee, ranged and magical. The heroes have a slash first, ask questions later mentality in an attempt to kill anything that stands in their way.

Dark fantasy can have any of the elements offered in the other settings, but the this type of setting shines a light on the atrocities that can come with adventuring and simply living in a world full of danger and threats.

Some campaigns can take the players across thresholds unbeknownst to most, leading to worlds beyond their normal existence. Running a campaign that features multiple planes of existence will require you to develop different ways to exist. Depending on the game system you are using, you may have this information available to you.

Running a campaign with a world wide scope means your players have access to every inch of the physical or mental map you present them. This can take them across oceans to new continents or across a single continent to a small village where an important non-player character lives. You will need to have a lot of content available to offer your players or be capable of adjusting on the fly since they could potentially go in any direction.

Running a campaign within an empire means that your campaign offers multiple regions that all fall under the same ruler. There may still be a variety of cultures within this empire, but nearly all will have some similarity in how they respect the authority tht reigns ovfer them.

Running a campaign in a region often begins to shrink the size of your campaign map. It will still offer a lot of options for the players due to the amount of land a region can cover, but locations with a region will begin to have some more similarities such as languages, appearances, networks, stories and other things that change more as you travel further away.

Running a campaign within a city can still offer the players a lot of choices but will focus more on the buildings and locations within that city or potentially the outskirts of that city. Descriptions of buildings and the city as a whole is important to create an immersive world for the players because they are likely to visit the same locations repeatedly.

Running a campaign in a town will be similar to a city, but due to the difference in size and population the options for what will be available to the players begins to shrink. As with cities, well-thought out story lines that can with within the town and descriptions of the town will be important.

Running a campaign within a village begins to limit the player's options on traveling and interactions, but can make for a more manageable endeavor for a newer dungeon master or a shorter campaign, like a "one-shot".

Running a wilderness campaign can be a unique experience that changes things up for your players but will require a well-thought out plan for making traveling interesting and not repetitive or a slog. The limitations on where your players can travel to will likely be tied closely to your campaign idea.

Running a campaign in a single building can be a great way to offer players options and exploration without letting them go in too many directions. Giving your building a theme and developing an engaging story for why the players are in the building or need to go into the building is important.

In this plot hook the party begins in a tavern where they hear a rumor about a garden where souls are bound to black roses. Clipping the rose from its roots ends the soulless immortality that the flower represents for those who are bound to the flower. There is more to the garden than the rumors speak of though.

In this plot hook you should be actively trying to present multiple scenarios during which the party hears noises that create curiosity and suspense. The noises can be ominous or playful, but either way, it should be very difficult to find the source of the noises. The best way for the party to learn anything about the noises is to communicate with a useful non-player character that has some type of knowledge about mysterious things happening in the location you are starting your players.

In this plot hook the party begins the campaign standing at the top of a staircase that leads into a dungeon beneath a temple. One of the party members has a map of the dungeon, but no one in the party can confirm if the map leads to the magical item they are seeking or not. If it does, the party could get their hands on something far greater than anything they have ever had in their possession.

The party has been adventuring together for awhile and their most recent adventure has led them to an abandoned tomb in the forest. The adventure begins with the party trying desperately to escape the collapsing tomb. Will the party get out alive? Did they grab the treasure on the way out?

In this plot hook the party should be living their ordinary lives in any location you would like to set your campaign in. The location you choose has extremely dangerous winters once every five years. It is not just the harsh weather and long nights that makes the fifth winter deadly. It is the creatures that move through the snow without hindrance, that mask themselves in the snow... a creature hellbent on finding what they seek, if they aren't stopped by the heroes.

In this plot hook the party meets a famous figure in the campaign setting. The party should be made fully aware of how big of a deal it is to have met this folk hero. The folk hero needs the party to handle an adventure for him or her while he or she handles something more important but intertwined with the party's smaller quest. This can lead to the party becoming useful to the folk hero in larger quests also.

In this plot hook you will need to do some additional preparation before the first session to help inform one of your players that he or she is a long lost friend of the party who they believed to have been lost in some other type of adventure. If you would prefer not to use a player to do this, you can use a non-player character. The returning character should have some type of information about why he or she needs help to return to where he or she had just come from to defeat someone or something that is there.

In this plot hook the party has been called upon to help investigate some strange behaviors in a town by the ocean. Those who can provide information to the party explain that when the tide is high things go missing; people, items, and a wide range of other things. This plot hook should have many rumors and false leads that direct the party in many directions around the town. The low tides always reveal what has gone missing, laying on the beach with a note nearby.

In this plot hook you are technically cutting corners in regard to trying to intrigue your players. Instead, you have thrown them right into the thick of things and they either engage with surviving or run the risk of dying. The party is scattered throughout a small, thick forest with injuries sustained before the first session began in a confrontation you can explain to them in as much or as little detail as you'd like depending on their mental states. They have one goal now, outrun the impending threat that lurks in the forest. While this may become an entire campaign, it is a good way to get the players interested right away.

In this plot hook the party finds themselves up against an enemy much too strong for them at level one, though this can be scaled to any level necessary. The combat encounter should allow the party to feel as though they are fighting, not just getting killed, but they should not win the fight. When they have all fallen the enemy should leave for dead with a message that drives the party to get revenge. To be safe, you could drop hints to the party that this is an exception to the rule, that they will not always be so outmatched. This type of encounter can be difficult for new players to enjoy, so you may want to use this for experienced players or handle it with care if trying it with new players.

In this plot hook the party starts on a ship crossing a dangerous body of water. The ship inevitable crashes in one way or another and the party ends up on an deserted island. Exploration of the island will eventually reveal that there is a way off the island. Something involved with the crashing of the boat or something that is found on the island should drive the next sessions.

In this plot hook the world is already on its last legs. People are dying of a terrible disease throughout the kingdom. Healers are struggling to find a way to slow the spread of the disease. The party lives in a village that believes they are unreachable, but when a woman falls ill with the disease the party must figure out how the disease has made it their home.

In this plot hook the party is being pursued by figures they do not recognize. They can be dressed in the royal colors or working in espionage, but either way it should indirectly create a sense of suspense or curiosity in the party's perception of them. When the party finally speaks to them they realize that the figures have been sent to summon the party to the king's castle.

In this plot hook one of the party members must have a relationship with a significant other. The relationship has been cursed and while the party member knows about the curse he or she won't tell the party that it is why they are having extremely bad things happen to them on their travels. The party should look for the source of the bad luck and it should lead them to learning about the curse.

In this plot hook the party hasn't met yet, but they should become bound to each other by a common enemy or common goal. There is an annual celebration occurring two days from now in a small town that one of the player characters grew up in. The celebration is well-known throughout the kingdom and has attracted adventurers from all over. Many of the attendants have arrived in the village early and are taking advantage of the town's many taverns. Songs are being sung, pitchers are being filled, and ale is spilling over the edges of mugs as men and women of all races come together to celebrate until a maimed man and his less injured friend stumble into the tavern and explain that there is something coming...

In this plot hook the party wakes up in an unfamiliar dungeon. They have no recollection of how or why they are there, but they are accompanied by non-player characters who are also confused. One of the non-player characters takes a liking to the party and helps lead them out of the dungeon. This can have combat or be set up to be completely stealthy. Somewhere along the way in your campaign, not necessarily the first sessions, the friendly non-player character is working against the party in some way.

There should be an encounter early in the campaign to allow the party to establish what they are up against or have the party encounter the main villain, but not fight the villain because of the discrepancy in levels.

Use this section to establish an idea of the primary objective the party needs to complete whether it is strong or vague.

Use this section to create off-screen events that provide information about the main villain or the mystique surrounding the source of evil or contention in the campaign. There should be an obstacle of some kind that makes pursuing the primary objective a bit more difficult. There can be a side quest that must be completed before the main objective is pursued or allow the party to pursue the main objective right away by providing useful information.

Use this section to establish how you will provide updated information about the villain's progress. Use off-screen developments to further the story. You could possibly introduce a magical item or weapon that could change the dynamic of the story. If far enough along, have the villain or some other non-player character achieve a minor accomplishment. There can be an opportunity to interact with a secondary enemy as well that can be an obstacle.

This section should allow the party to accomplishment something major that gives them the sense that they can contend with the villain. This can be done through a side quest. Allow characters to level up during this time period. This section should also introduce a secondary objective that demands focus and the non-player characters that will drive the secondary focus.

Use this section to establish that the villain has accomplished something major. This can happen while interacting with the party or off-screen. You can also use multiple side quests to stretch the party too thin to accomplish everything so they must make a difficult choice. The world could even be deteriorating around the party due to their failures.

The main villain or other non-player characters should border on success to make the party feel as though the odds are stacked against them. The party could be pushed to their breaking point by losing a combat encounter with the villain or losing a race to accomplish an objective.

The section should significantly change what the party thinks or knows about the situation. This is an option portion of the campaign and should be used carefully to not destroy the original plot line. A plot twist utilizes the information of the previous sessions and the prior accomplishments of the party cleverly. A plot twist does not change the story so much that it is unrecognizable. A plot twist can help or hurt the party.

This section should allow a specific character or the party as a whole to do something heroic that tips the lever back toward the party having a chance to defeat the villain. There may also be some type of good or bad luck for the party or the villain. However, there should always be something good that gives the party the indication that they should move in on the villain.

The party rallies the troops or stands on their last leg to fight the villain. Use this section to create an epic villain that can provide an exciting battle.

Use this section to describe to the party what has happened to the world because of their actions. This may be good or bad depending on the outcome of the final battle.