Because I can’t seem to sleep tonight, and because I have been terrible with my publishing record, here’s a fresh DM Tip for you all to enjoy! I would like to preface that this will probably be short and likely be expounded upon in further detail down the road.

Start Small

Whether you’re running your first campaign or your 100th, you want to start small; even, and especially, when you’ve got some grandiose story cooking in your mind. Think about it: Star Wars Episode 4 may open up with some world building in the title crawl (which could be your Session 0), but it truly starts with a hopeless fight between a small cruiser and a behemoth vessel. It may hint at some much larger pieces going on, but in the first moments of action scene and consequence, it’s a simple situation between two ships. That’s starting small.

Let’s say you’re planning an epic-level adventure which takes your players from Level 1 to 20 and spans across multiple planes of existence. Perhaps you want to create a unique setting, a whole new pantheon, and maybe even a custom race or three. Go for it! Glory to the Snizzerbrogs of Gerfalgahon.

Just remember that’s your goal, not your starting point. Your start should be addressing two questions:

1. What kind of story do I want to tell with my players?
2. What fun things will I incorporate to keep my players coming back to the game?

From here, you can start to think about the land of Gerfalgahon, and how it is the Snizzerbrogs came to rule it (tyranically or democratically) at the start of your campaign.

If you ignore these rules and rush headlong into your cosmos-spanning head canon, you’re not so much playing a game as you are outlining a novel.

Start Slow

Shocking no one, this tip goes hand-in-hand with “Start Small.” Just because you’re starting to figure the island-nation of Gerfalgahon has been systematically oppressed by the Snizzerbrog for hundreds of years due to their magical aptitude, you can’t just blast this info into your players’ face in session one like some vocal money shot…it’s just rude.

While patience may be a virtue, it is also a bitchin’ literary tool. Going back to Star Wars, how long does it take for us to learn Darth Vader is Luke’s father? Nearly two whole films; and you know that was planned from the start. You can start the campaign in a small town of Higledy Run, which is overseen by a Snizzerbrog Baron. Perhaps the party is hired by the Baron to collect taxes he knows the townsfolk cannot pay, or they’re hired by young, naive peasants to unseat the Baron by force. Without that sticky, unwanted exposition, you’re planting the seeds of a greater story (perhaps the fall of the Snizzerbrog is the entirety of Act 1, or the whole campaign).

Starting slowly and letting the game unfold naturally is a great way to also ensure you have enough content ready for when things go inevitably off the beaten path. When the players go right when you hoped they’d go left, you should have enough info in your reference materials to know what lies in the opposite direction. For example, instead of fighting for or against the Snizzerbrog, perhaps the adventurers go into town and investigate some royal acquaintances of the Baron. What started as a Robin Hood-esque game transformed into Game of Gerfalgahon. But, by that point (theoretically taking place over a couple sessions), you should have plenty of time to plot out some basic info on the Six Houses of Snizzerbrog before the PCs’ first major political scheme.

Summary

No matter how complex your campaign is, start slow. Rome was not “built in a day”, and neither is your players’ investment in your story.

Also, start small. For another good (and perhaps too literal) example of a story effectively ramping from small to gargantuan, look into Gurren Lagann.

Hopefully these tips and more will help bring your roleplaying game to the next level!

So mote it be,

Matthew Wulf

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