Running a Campaign¶

You've got your players, you've made your characters, and maybe you've even played a session to get a feel for the game. What's next?

Most tables will start a campaign: a series of connected sessions often played weekly or monthly that let everyone explore their character's story over an extended period of time. When you decide to start a campaign together, you can kickstart your adventure using the guidance in this section, along with the inspiration presented in chapter 5.

In Daggerheart, campaigns are intended to be personal, focused, and responsive. The amount you plan before character creation depends on you and your players' preferences, but the details players provide about their characters should be the primary scaffolding upon which you'll craft the majority of the campaign. Aside from overarching plot beats, you'll often be prepping just the material you need week after week, letting the story evolve naturally through play.

Chapter 5—"Campaign Frames"—provides six scaffoldings for different campaigns. If you're an experienced GM, you may have your own method of campaign prep—as always, feel free to utilise the pieces from this book that help and ignore the pieces that don't.

Choosing a Campaign Frame¶

Before your session zero, you might choose to implement a campaign frame to ground the players in the type of fantasy story you're interested in as a GM. The fantasy genre is so wide—providing a campaign frame can give players a strong jumping-off place to start brainstorming their characters.

Daggerheart provides several campaign frames to start you off, but these shouldn't limit the stories you tell with this system. If you have a strong idea about the kind of campaign you want to run for your table, use the structure of the frames to build your own before your session zero.

You can find the following campaign frames in chapter 5:

The Witherwild¶

When an invading nation attacks an ancient forest deity, a virulent overgrowth spreads throughout the land.

Five Banners Burning¶

Long-brewing tensions between rival nations boil over, threatening all-out war.

Beast Feast¶

When a small village's monster defense system fails, the local heroes must venture into the endless caverns below to fix it—and cook up trouble for the creatures that stand in their way.

The Age of Umbra¶

In a dying world immersed in relentless shadow and nightmarish monsters, small communities hold fast to the light, hoping those who wander can find a way to save this broken realm before all is lost to darkness.

Motherboard¶

In a world where magic takes the form of the technology left behind by a long-fallen civilisation, a new threat rises as a malicious virus spreads through the machines that wander the Wastes.

Colossus of the Drylands¶

A prosperous region of gunslingers and outlaws has fallen into terror as colossal creatures awaken from beneath the earth.

Building a Map¶

At the start of a campaign, one of the most important questions to answer is "Where are we?" To do this, you'll choose one of the blank maps in the appendix or create your own, then print a copy of it out for your table. If you're utilising a campaign frame, the name of the region is provided for you.

If you know at character creation that you'll be running a campaign, you can bring a blank map to your session zero to fill out together. Otherwise, you can always introduce it at the top of your next session to integrate into your game forward.

To start, place the map on the table and explain to the players that you'll be using it to build the region together. Choose the name of the region if one wasn't provided (or make up your own) and write that name on the sheet. If you're using a campaign frame, the name of the region is provided for you.

Next, remind the players about any locations they have already created for the setting. Pass the map around and have them label the locations they created anywhere they'd like.

Then, choose one of the locations from the list on the sheet and add it to the map. Describe the place for the rest of the table—what is it? Why is it called this? What makes it so significant? Then pass the map to another player to do the same. Encourage them to tie in their character's backstory or history with the new location if they wish. As players describe the locations they've chosen, record any important information about them in your notes.

The map should continue around the table like this until it is populated with enough exciting locations and plot hooks for you to work with. With four players, twice around the table is usually enough. Remember, you can always do this again at the start of another session to fill out the map further, or even introduce a new region that connects to the current one.

After the table feels happy with the details they've added, take the map back and begin the adventure. Maybe it's somewhere the players have already added, or maybe it's a new place—either way, this will help you orient yourself for the campaign moving forward.

Filling Space, Leaving Blanks¶

As part of the prep for your next session, you'll want to review the map your table built together. Think about how the locations your players created might affect the region, and add anything you think might be important or relevant to the sheet. For example, if someone labeled a spot with "The Healing Fields," you might consider adding a town nearby that specialises in creating Health Potions or curing ailments, or a mage's tower that overlooks the fields to protect them. Pay attention to where the PCs currently are in their journey—where might they consider going next?

It's also important to leave blanks. Don't feel the need to fill everything in, and don't worry about planning out what every labeled landmark or town is like. Leaving some things vague gives you the freedom to adapt on the fly and reduces the amount of worldbuilding work you have to do for places your players might never visit.

Incorporating Player Backstories¶

One of the most important tools in a GM's arsenal is to ask your players questions and incorporate their answers—their responses will tell you what they find exciting. The most important details to utilise while building a campaign are the answers to a character's Background Questions.

The Background Questions are designed to generate story hooks the players care about, which you can leverage for narrative fodder during the campaign. Take good notes during character creation and ask follow-up questions. Don't be afraid to dig deeper into anything the players offer up during this process. If they make up a person, ask them for their name. If they invent a place, ask them what it's called and what it's like. Ensure you record at least one or two things about the world that are important to each player and their character. The more you incorporate these things into the campaign, the more invested that player tends to become.

Backstory Notes¶

After character creation, create a simple list of important narrative elements the players have given you, sorted by character. For example, you might make the following notes about the PCs:

Marigold Seek (She/They)—Seaborne Elf Ranger Played by Kate (she/her)

Born in the floating city of Bloomfare. Had to leave her mother behind to go on the run.

She is being chased down by the leaders of the Four Elementals for stealing their stone of power during the last ceremony.

Barnabas Britesprite (He/Him)—Loreborne Simiah Wizard Played by Asa (he/him)

Obsessed with finding relics, treasures, and bones of legendary creatures. He thinks these should be collected and utilised for various practical purposes, not stashed away into museums. Wants to gather as much knowledge as he can in his lifetime. Uses bone runes to cast magic.

Served as the advisor to King Guthri, but failed to protect the King's daughter Nira from being killed by wild beasts during her first hunt with him. Left the kingdom in shame.

Is chasing down the fang of the great dragon Krugthak, because it's said to contain knowledge of every creature the dragon has ever consumed.

Is rivals with Maverick, a snobby human treasure hunter who is trying to collect all the bones of legendary creatures to put them in a museum.

Jasper Flores (They/Them)—Highborne Halfling Bard Played by Emerson (they/them)

Grew up in the Sunbearer's Crescent with the royal Galamere family of halflings. Was in a secret relationship with the princess, Astrid Galamere. They had a secret place they would meet.

Astrid and Jasper were supposed to run away together, but she never showed up. Jasper still wonders what happened. There are rumors that she was forced to marry someone else.

Was trained by Mage Yaro within Illai's Tower. Yaro is the one who convinced them to travel the world and learn all they can.

They look up to a fellow bard named Quill who plays at the Golden Minstrel in the Sunbearer's Crescent. Jasper met Quill through Yaro.

Sprout Hillowelle (She/Her)—Wanderborne Fungril Druid Played by Chen (she/her)

Was chased out of the city of Bramshire because she accidentally spent too much time there and decimated the environment around her. She's learned she has to keep moving; she can't stay in one place for too long or bad things happen.

She uses her Death Communion ability to absorb and memorialise the core memories of all people she's slain. She sometimes forgets those histories aren't her own.

Tying Backstories Together¶

Once you've identified key points in each PC's story, identify which of these pieces of information could be related—how these stories could potentially cross paths—and draw some connections between them.

Maybe Maverick, the snobby human treasure collector that Barnabas is rivals with, could be the same person that Astrid Galamere, the halfling princess, was forced to marry? And if that's the case, what if Maverick was now forcing Mage Yaro to use his magic to invade the Fungril network and seize more great treasures around the world without having to leave the kingdom? This would create a crossover between Jasper, Sprout, and Barnabas, so it seems like a good place to start our campaign. But let's keep thinking.

This type of conflict would likely eventually lead them to return to the Galamere kingdom to stop Maverick. The journey could be hindered by the fungril forces Mage Yaro is controlling, giving Sprout an opportunity to interact with the corrupted network and get hints of what is to come in a way nobody else would be able to. And when they all finally arrive in the Galamere kingdom, there could be a twist! Maybe Astrid convinced Quill, her and Jasper's bard friend, to use shapeshifting magic to take her place right under Maverick's nose as she could leave the kingdom and search for Jasper? This could be a fun opportunity to flip the "princess in peril" trope on its head and provide an unexpected reveal once they reach the kingdom. If this is the case, we'll also want to brainstorm a club Astrid could have behind Maverick's back at the secret place where she and Jasper used to meet so the party can go after her. But that's down the road; no need to flesh that out immediately.

A few extra threads to tie up—Sprout should probably have to deal with what she did in Bramshire. Either she faces signs of the same thing happening wherever she travels, or something pushes her to return home. Barnabas should probably discover something unexpected about Nira's death—could she still be alive? If so, maybe she finds him to reveal that her father King Guthri secretly set up an ambush to have her killed. It wasn't Barnabas's fault. And Nira wants revenge.

That's more than enough for now! As the campaign plays out, there will be plenty more to work with and some of these plans may change drastically—but this is a great foundation to work from.

Planning a Story Arc¶

Now that we have some ideas of what could potentially happen in our campaign, it's time to talk about story arcs.

Arcs are a connected series of sessions within a campaign that focus on a specific theme, character, or idea, easily identified in many of today's media and TV shows. As always, feel free to experiment with your own style of storytelling and only use the things from this book that help at your table!

The Three-Act Structure is pretty straightforward—Act One is the introduction, Act Two is the trials and tribulations, and Act Three is the finale.

But let's take the example from the previous "Tying Backstories Together" section to form our first Arc. Given how much the party is interacting (or will be interacting) with the fungril, he's going to be our focus here, since NPC Maverick is intertwined in multiple PCs' backstories.

And on her trail. To find her, the party will have to travel north to the Galamere kingdom to find out what's happening with Mage Yaro, but what if they decide to do something else along the way? Or what if they don't want to travel right away to the Galamere kingdom? The emerit? Does an agent of the snargith give the players a strong jumping-off place? Does this excite those near Bramshire? This would create a crossover between Jasper, Sprout, and Barnabas—so it seems like a good place to start our campaign. But let's keep thinking.

Act One: Collision¶

Let's make an event collide with our party that they can't ignore. It's often best to go to the most obvious answers first, then complicate things from there. In this case, let's set Mr Maverick's going after an artifact the party has been asked to protect. Then, using that as a guide, let's plan out the remaining beats:

Beat One: As the party arrives in Hellarey, they find clues recognizing the work of the fungril.

Beat Two: As the party arrives in Hellarey, they spot large plant-like creatures have overwhelmed everything. They also meet kind townsfolk who tell them about the attacks on the city.

Beat Three: At the university, the students all know Barnabas. Olivia Rose, is a proponent of his work. She shows the party what the plant creatures are after: the Stone Soul, belongings to a graffin from the hidden island of Rogs. Then Olivia's parents disappeared searching for Rogs. Torn into what she was a kid, and she has spent her life looking for it. If you want them, if they extract the memory of its location from one of the plant creatures, then maybe they can find the island.

Beat Four: Olivia captured a plant creature that attacked her! Work with Sprout to develop another passive feature of his own. Maybe a certain species of animal is following the party and can be befriended for more information, or a pack of dangerous creatures will find them if they rest for too long before reaching the grove.

Though the party's decisions might require you to adapt or make changes, this framework will help you use Act One to set up the rest of the arc. It creates questions for the PCs to figure—why is Yaro doing this? Why did he sound the scared? Who was giving him orders? Could it be Maverick, looking for relics? And also—Where is Rogs Time? Why is it hidden? Dynamic questions like these drive the PCs forward into Act Two.

Act Two: Complications¶

In Act Two, the PCs are thrust into a journey to answer their big questions. Before the end of Act One, you should confirm which direction they're going to go before you dive into—they'll almost certainly want to figure out what's happening with Mage Yaro, but what if they decide to do something else? Or, for example, the party decides to head north to the Galamere kingdom to find out what happened to Nira? Identify which answer the players are given and draw some connections.

Once the party is off on this quest, Act Two is all about the complications that get in the way. As you prep for these next sessions, the complications should matter—they should be personal and speak to the themes and tone of the campaign.

If, for example, the party decides to head north to the Galamere kingdom to find out what's happening with Mage Yaro, we know they'll be on the road for a few days to get up there. It might be tempting to throw in a few random encounters with wild animals, some people asking for help with unrelated issues, or some rolls to see how well they're travel through the tunnels. Stills calls for an Agility Roll against the thief's Difficulty of 15, and Aliyah calls Tabby's Second-Story Traveler Experience to get a bonus. Quinn asks if her dru, Shepherd, can describe how they Shepherd channel their affinity with air to boost Tabby up. With the help of Shepherd's d8 advantage die, Tabby rolls and succeeds with Hope at 46.

We know from Barnabas's backstory that the legendary dragon Krugthak is something he's always been searching for. Maybe we see the devastating effects of Maverick and Yaro had on the environment. Perhaps the party encounters twisted arcane creatures riddled with fungus and struggles to traverse a sickly land. These events serve as a reminder to Sprout of the place she decimated and the destruction she left behind. She could have the chance at a lot of redemption here, or at least knowledge of this kind of blight that helps keep her friends safe.

Act Three: Climax¶

Act Three will usually see our PCs resolve some of the big questions they've been preparing for throughout Act One and Act Two. Identify which answers the players are given their attention to: maybe she needs some love—maybe we could put the floating city of Bloomfare in the great dragon Krugthak's path of destruction? This would push Marigold to return home and face the consequences of her actions to save her mother's life, while giving Barnabas an opportunity to chase down the dragon. But given they'll have to face a dragon, she should probably be later in the campaign, so perhaps in the interim, to keep Marigold's backstory involved, we could put some elemental minions on the party's trail intermittently as they travel. This will keep the thread of her home and the reminder of what she did relevant until she must return to confront them. Maybe we even make that our first encounter of the campaign to set up that long-running danger and tie Marigold in at the start.

A few extra threads to tie up—Sprout should probably have to deal with what she did in Bramshire. Either she faces signs of the same thing happening wherever she travels, or something pushes her to return home. Barnabas should probably discover something unexpected about Nira's death—could she still be alive? If so, maybe she finds him to reveal that her father King Guthri secretly set up an ambush to have her killed. It wasn't Barnabas's fault. And Nira wants revenge.

That's more than enough for now! As the campaign plays out, there will be plenty more to work with and some of these plans may change drastically—but this is a great foundation to work from.

Long-Form Play¶

Just as an arc is a collection of scenes and sessions, a campaign can be thought of as a collection of arcs. The shape of your campaign will depend on your campaign frame (whether you're using a preset frame or not)—a campaign focused on the PCs trying to prominence as gladiators in an iron city-state will have a different shape than a grand campaign where PCs travel the world collecting the artifacts needed to defeat a world-ending threat. Some campaigns may be more episodic, with individual and seemingly disconnected adventures that eventually culminate into a larger story, and others might be a more serial narrative of unfolding arcs.

Depending on your campaign, each story arc might end in the party leveling up, or a story arc might span across an entire tier of play (levels 1 through 3, 4 through 7, etc.). There's no wrong way to plan as long as it serves your needs as a GM and the players are enjoying the game. A longer campaign (three to ten sessions per story arc) may have several story arcs per tier, while a shorter campaign will have one.

In a few sessions with a campaign, once everyone has a solid sense of their characters and their motivations, you can explore options for longer-term planning and how to help the group session on the table's creative and social goals. Do you have a specific creative agenda? Or do you mostly want to spend a few hours with friends every week making things up together and blowing off steam?

We build story arcs by breaking them into three or so sessions that each cover a major plot beat. These beats are created when we interleave several ongoing storylines, which we'll call A-, B-, and C-plots. As you chart out arcs, you'll determine which storylines to prioritise and when they deserve focus. By threading storylines into beats, then those beats into arcs, you can weave the arcs together into one rolling, cohesive campaign.

You can always inject a D/E/F-plot into the story if it calls for it. But even if you have more than three major plot threads in your story, focusing on three in any given session will help keep everything manageable.

In the table below, you'll see four example narratives: "Marigold's Four Elementals," "Sprout's Power," "Krugthak's Destruction," and "Yaro's Return," and how they might weave together into a three-arc campaign.

Example Long-Term Arcs¶

A Larger Plot¶

When you run a campaign, you might prefer to have PCs explore a number of smaller arcs using the structure above. You can also nest this structure within one overarching plot. In heroic adventures, this often manifests as a quest to stop the villain, protect the kingdom, or save the world—a challenge the PCs must overcome that affects the wider world and the people in it. If you want to include a larger plot, it will appear more or less in each session, remaining throughout your story until the characters finally arrive at the climax of the campaign.