One of the worst parts about RPGs is how ephemeral they can be. Oh, sure there's a ton of classic published modules and the like, but that is such a small fragment of the experience. I know for a FACT that you can run EXACTLY the same module with two different groups and have things go ENTIRELY differently.
But I'm getting ahead of myself here. That's one of the good stories. Today, we'll go over the basics, chalk it up as a learning experience.
My first proper D&D Campaign started as an ode to the original Final Fantasy. This is EXACTLY when I started to learn how NOT to make a campaign setting, as well as how not to go about structuring a campaign. For those who don't know, the original Final Fantasy is basically a series of fetch quests with corresponding thematic dungeons, kinda like a Zelda game more than the later instalments of the series. I had expected to take a party from level 1-20, culminating in a final boss fight against probably the Tarrasque. It is EVERY first time DMs mistakes at once.
It was the first time for my players too, and they had a decent time of it, but it lasted all of maybe five sessions. Suffice it to say, nobody levelled up more than once. So, let's dissect everything I did wrong in detail! There will be a quiz.
Now, part of this is down to the environment in which I encountered D&D. My previous experience of the game was the original Baldur's Gate and the Hasbro Dungeons and Dragons Board game. The 3.5e Dungeon Master Guide was like most 3rd edition products in that it was focussed more on quantifying game concepts with a concrete ruling than giving practical advice on world building or actually, y'know, PLAYING the game. As such, I created my campaign world by roughly drawing the Final Fantasy world map from memory, with the intention of adding extra towns and dungeons if needed. This probably wouldn't be too bad an idea now that I have more experience, but back then I viewed the game world in completely the wrong way; it was not a backdrop against which adventure could happen, but a world to be explored, possibly via airship. Progress in the campaign would be tied to progress in the game, as you level up, you buy a ship, then you can survive in a volcano, or underwater, then you can fly and so on. Magic Items were viewed as plot coupons with benefits.
My point is, the actual adventures that made up the campaign were and would have been incredibly shallow. If the players hadn't got bored, I would have. I had no real appreciation for the lore of D&D or the Greyhawk setting. I came from a very video gamey point of view; Clerics were healers, Wizards dealt damage and fighters hit things with swords. A Ranger was just another word for archer, and a Paladin a fighter with some healing spells. Ironically enough, this was exactly the type of thing that repulsed me about 4th edition about six months later, that it was so similar to everything else going, whereas I had discovered an experience I couldn't find elsewhere in the intervening time in D&D.
Eventually, I learned not to plan too far ahead. Recurring villains work well in video games because there is only one inevitable course of action available to players, that they reach a final encounter of some kind and then the credits roll. With RPGs, it's better to let this occur organically. Your players have no reason to chase after the man in the black cape, but if you tie him into one of their backstories, or have him kill one of them before escaping, you give them the impetus to keep chasing. Remember, the reason this works in video games is because the same person gets to write what both the player and villain say and feel about the situation.
So, DM top tips
1. Don't Plan out the entire world at once
2. Don't expect to get twenty, or even 10 levels out of one group.
3. Don't make it personal. Get THEM to make it personal!
4. Be careful you don't end up monologuing between your villain and pet npc while the players sit back and do nothing.
Hope this is at least entertaining, if not useful.
