This is a tool that could have maybe come earlier for most Dungeon Masters. But it’s something that you see in television that I think works well for Dungeons and Dragons or other RPG’s. And it’s a tool that if you’re the Dungeon Master, I would keep in your back pocket. And it is going to make your life easier as you think about how you create your campaign.

Dungeon Master Tools – Story Arcs

What’s A Story Arc in Television?

Let’s start out with what is a story arc. I think for a lot of us, we know what it is. It’s going to be a series of episodes in television that all go together to tell a particular story. In television sometimes this is a whole season that is one story arc, but most of the time, you end up with smaller and shorter story arcs spread throughout the season. There is a whole through line of the main story, but the story arcs are all supporting that or supporting character development.

Why Use It in an RPG?

So why might you want to use it as a Dungeon Master in your game of Dungeons and Dragons? Well, because it makes your life simpler. Let’s say I have an idea for an epic campaign. I sit down to start jotting out notes.

Example

I come up with some big events that I want to happen, firstly, they need to find a treasure that is going to reveal this big plot. Then they need to fight a boss once they find him who will tell them about the larger scope of it and the world ending big bad. After that, they go and search for a way to defeat the big bad and meet a wizard who tells them about an artifact. Then they find the artifact. Finally, they face off against the big bad.

Too Much Work

That’s a lot in there. And you can see each sentence that I wrote is an arc. Now, the temptation is to start filling out everything. I write up where the treasure is in a dungeon and what’s in that dungeon. Next I create hints for this mid-level boss that I sprinkle in and create what the boss is going to be like. I start dropping in hints about the wizard and this other treasure and create their plot lines and what the party has to do to get the wizard to tell them about the artifact. And I make it so they run into the big bad early on but they don’t know it.

Eventually I script out the whole thing that is going on and I’ve spent tons of time creating my campaign. All of this is done before we even start playing the game and I’m feeling burned out on the story, possibly. Or the players catch who the big bad is right away or try and skip over elements that I put time into already.

The Story Arc Way

So, is there a better way? Yes, the story arc way. One of the main things about tips is that I want to make it easy. I want it easier for the Dungeon Master to get a game going. Because, too much work keeps campaigns on hold forever.

Let’s talk about the better way. Firstly, it’s not bad to know where you want to go with the story. In fact, knowing some arcs, loosely isn’t bad. So what I wrote for example, that is going to be solid, but you want them to be bullet points.

Example Arcs

• Find treasure
• Fight Mid-level boss
• Learn about Big Bad
• Search for way to stop Big Bad
• Get information from wizard
• Find artifact
• Confront big bad

There are what I would call seven arcs. What you do then is look at three things this list. Firstly, what do I need to know for the first arc. You want to plan out that arc only at this point. Keep it simple, give yourself something you can work with. Also ask yourself, are there arcs within this arc. If so, break it out more. You might break it out to sessions (episodes) like this.

Break it Down

• Find Treasure
  • Get party together and get quest
  • Find where the dungeon is and travel there
  • Explore dungeon

Now as you look at that it’s easier to work with. That is what you want to get planned out. In fact, you just want to get the party together and get them the quest. We went through this in the Session 1 article. You want to simply focus on that element of your game and plan out that session. But as I said, keep on eye on a few things. So besides your current arc, also look for your next arc and session. For the next arc, maybe not right away, but drop in a hint. For the next session, as you plan your session, make it lead to the right point to kick off the next session.

The final thing is, does it make sense for the overall plot. This isn’t about the final big bad fight. But thematically, is the story leading where you want it to go. Or is the arc and what you are planning going against it. Now that might be on purpose, or it might not, so think about that.

Let’s Recap

So let’s just do a quick recap for using story arcs as a Dungeon Master.

• Bullet point out your story arcs
• Focus only on the first arc
• Break that first arc into sessions if it makes sense
• Fill out details a session at a time
• Make sure the session leads to the next session
• Hint at next arc, if it makes sense
• Verify that the arc and session serve the overall story

That is a pretty long list. Longer than I want it to be. But to sum it up in a sentence or two, let’s try that.

Worry about only the arc and session you are on as you plan. You know the other arcs will come, but don’t plan them all at once.

There, that’s much simpler. So start using arcs and planning in bullet points. See if it can take the pressure off planning everything. And going back to the campaign article and kicking that off, this planning starts after you have a group together and people excited for a campaign, not before. You plan your arc and session only when you are ready to start playing.

Final Thoughts

This is a technique that I use a little bit. I generally hold a lot of this information in my head. But I want to start using it more as a thirty minute pre-session planning activity, or maybe more than that. Because it is going to help me keep track of everything and what happens. But even for myself who loves playing and running games of Dungeons and Dragons as the Dungeon Master, I don’t want to spend all my time prepping. I want to play the game.

Do you think this is something you can incorporate as a Dungeon Master?

What’s next:

• World Building
• Combat
• Exploration
• NPCs/Social Interactions
• Meta Game and Players at the Table

And let me know if there are other things to cover as well that you want to know more about, or help with. I think that there are a ton of different things that new Dungeon Masters are curious about or that feel intimidating. So I hope that I can help make them clearer and simpler for you.

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