Bard of Valiant

Writing campaigns isn’t hard – you need a goal, an antagonist and some conflict and almost anything can be slotted into those three positions so a fun time can be had by all. Grab one of the elements from the last adventure, slot it into place for the next one and you have a series. No problem, pretty easy.

But what if you want Epic-ness? A Saga™? That takes a bit more work.

There are three things you’re going to need: a beginning, a middle and an end. Most game masters know the beginning. It’s everything from “You all meet in a bar.” to “The merchant approaches your group…” Some even know the middle, with a nebulous idea in their head about the general direction they might like to see the story go as the games unfold and progress.

Few know the end. And the end of the story is what makes or breaks a Saga.

Game masters vary quite a bit in the amount of planning they put into a game, most falling somewhere in the middle between winging it all the time and writing out every detail in advance. GM’s all have stories in their heads or they wouldn’t be doing the job, but good ones never want to railroad players into one path, one choice.

So how can you go about this without making the players feel like they don’t have any choices?

Step 1 Come up with the idea. And you need a Really Big Idea©. Games about revenge for the death of a character’s father are not epic, although it can easily start there.

Sagas involve the really, Big and Bad Evil. We’re talking world shattering possibilities if the characters fail.

Step 1a Write it down and underneath it on a sheet of paper, write down some other ideas it inspires. If it doesn’t inspire anything, you have the wrong idea, start over. I’d say 5-10 other related ideas is a good start.

Step 2 Look at your setting. The setting needs to be large enough to contain the idea. A village is a great place but it’s not enough to hold this sort of story.

Create a world, or at least a good-sized continent.

Step 2a Map out the world, even if all you do is sketch out a few continents and areas. Know the huge landmarks early.

Write a few notes about those landmarks. These notes are what the people of the world know about it. Even if you come up with something here that ends up being essential later, people knew about this early on in the story.

Step 2b Does your world suggest any new ideas for your story? If so, write them down. If not, redo step 2. Even if all you do is get one new idea while blocking out the large landmarks, you’ve done this part well.

Step 3 Work with your players on this element. Character creation is absolutely essential to a good story. Tell them you have an epic story in mind, hand them your map and it’s notes. Don’t tell them what they cannot make unless they come up with something that completely breaks the continuity.

Step 3a Have them come up with some preliminary background material. A few lines about why they’re bothering to be on adventures is a good start.

Step 3b Do these backgrounds inspire any new ideas for your story? If so, write them down. If not, go back and talk to the player about the material.

Sagas need heroes. I’d say one new idea for every 2 characters in your game is a nice place to be.

Step 4 Create a timeline of sorts. Turn a piece of paper lengthwise and draw a line through the middle. At the beginning, jot down the starting idea. At the end of the line, write a note about how you’d like to see things end.

This part can be pretty simple. Mine started with “She hires the rest of the party to protect her.” and ended with “They kill the bad guy.”

Step 4a Jot down the ideas inspired by the character backgrounds on the timeline FIRST.

Next, add the elements inspired by the world. Weave in the bits you originally thought of back in step 1 last.

Step 5 Write an adventure and play it. When it’s over, make some notes about what directions the characters are going in. Refer to your timeline notes.

Step 5a Now that you’re getting a feel for the characters, go back over steps 1-4. What needs to be modified? Rewrite as needed.

Repeat steps 5 and 5a.

And step 5a is the key to having an epic saga where players don’t feel railroaded into making choices but you as the GM get to tell the story in your head.

You know the arching goals of the adventures but you continually revise things to include the players’ choices.