Building the perfect campaign - CHAPTERS

Writing a coherent campaign is tricky.

As we've discussed before, RPGs are not "stories". On the other hand, they can occasionally produce a satisfying "emerging narrative" - a series of events in which you participate and, looking back, can outline a beginning, a middle and an end.

Many RPG players/GMs fall into strict "must have story" and "must not have story" camps. 

I believe that there is a middle ground to be found - the merging narrative/metaplot that Gygax describes in AD&D:

Furthermore, there must be some purpose to it all. There must be some backdrop against which adventures are carried out, and no matter how tenuous the strands, some web which connects the evil and good, the opposing powers, the rival states and various peoples. This need not be evident at first, but as play continues, hints should be given to players, and their characters should become involved in the interaction and struggle between these vaster entities. Thus, characters begin as less than pawns, but as they progress in expertise, each eventually realizes that he or she is a meaningful, if lowly, piece in the cosmic game being conducted. When this occurs, players then have a dual purpose to their play, for not only will their player characters and henchmen gain levels of experience, but their actions have meaning above and beyond that of personal aggrandizement.

A "purposeful" campaign has an ultimate goal. For example, defeating Strahd, Acererack or Vecna, saving the realm from a powerful red dragon, saving the world from a Lovecraftian horror, etc.

Notice that the paragraph above mentions how CHARACHTERS - not only players! - will eventually realize their place in the grand scheme of things.

How to deal with character death, then?

Again, there are usually two big camps: "fudge to save PCs from unjust death" and "just create new PCs". I will notice that the DMG has contradictory advice on the matter.

IMO, it is difficult to imagine a coherent story if the main characters keep changing, but it is ALSO difficult to have a good adventure story if there is no risk involved. 

One good example of this is A Song of Ice and Fire, that manages to keep a few important characters while making you believe anyone can die at any moment.

Anyway, there are a few solutions to this problem:

- "Fudge" the dice to save PCs (which I dislike).

- Create a new PC.

- Turn hirelings or NPCs into PCs.

- Use some form of resurrection, raise dead, etc.

- Make 0 HP mean unconsciousness/maiming as suggested in the 1e DMG.

- Have immortal PCs (examples: Toon RPG, Dark Souls).

Today I was thinking of a different solution; a campaign that is divided in distinct chapters, each in a separate place and time, but all connect trough a bigger struggle.

In the event of a TPK, you just skip to the next chapter.

This is not dissimilar to 5e campaigns (Strahd, Tomb), or old school "series" of interconnected modules. 

I'm just thinking that maybe with a few requirements I could create a coherent campaign that could still support the death of a PC - or a TPK - without total ruination.

For example:

- Each chapter has two beginnings, one assuming the PCs "won" and other assuming the PCs failed or died.

- There should be consequences either way (this is tricky, you NEED to avoid the temptation of starting anew each chapter, because if you do nothing the PCs have done will matter).

- Each beginning has its own "hooks" (why would PCs be interested), and they must be renewed at every chapter.

- There should be a "clean break" between chapters - different place, different time; I think allowing time to pass make things more organic and believable than "a new party immediately arrives".

- If a different level is required, new PCs start on the appropriate level.

- PCs should still be free to ignore the "mission" and roam around to different chapters/places, although they may arrive "too early" ("before the goblin invasion", for example).

Maybe you know some campaigns that work like that - let me know in the comments. 

I'll use an a hypothetical example (with some AI help):

* Chapter 1 (Levels 1-3) - The adventurers arrive in a small village besiege by goblins. If they fail, the city is overrun. If they succeed, they become heroes and may follow to join a local force of goblin-killers going into a goblin infest forest.

* Chapter 2 (Levels 3-5) - The party delves into the depths of the forest to confront the source of the goblin raids. If they succeed, they may be invited to the king's army, but if they fail the forest might be lost to goblins.

* Chapter 3 (Levels 5-7) - One year later. Goblins have been defeated or consolidated their domain. Now the kingdom faces a bigger threat: a dragon has awakened in the nearby isles. The PCs are veterans of the king's army...

And so on. The main difference to something like "Curse of Strahd" or "Tomb of Annihilation" is that you have multiple entry points, which IIRC is unlikely in these campaigns. 

For example, ToA has a time limit of a couple of months to look for a lost city; it would feel strange (but doable) to say, after a TPK, that the PCs are a group of explorers that have just arrived in front of the lost Tomb.

CoS has an "automatic resurrection" clause that prevents a TPK from ruining the sequence of events. Which is also a fine solution, but not what I'm looking for.

(Maybe one method is starting chapters like some Conan stories - the PCs suddenly find themselves in a far city, without money...).

One advantage I see is that the players (not the PCs) will get progressively more familiar with different parts of the setting.

I don't know if I`m making sense here. This is just a brainstorming post for now.

I`d love to hear different opinions, examples, etc.