Campaign Plan

There are so many ways to plan a campaign, it is hard to keep track.  However, I take a basic plot point approach.  There are three types of adventures in my campaigns.  There are adventures where the adversary is planning something, and the player characters are drawn in to try to stop (or help) that plan succeed or fail.  There are adventures where the Player Characters are trying to gain advantage over the adversary.  Finally, there are adventures that are a bit of a side quest or have only a minor connection to the main actions of the adversary.  

In the image below, I have skulls. The skulls represent adventures that move the plans of the mastermind forward toward its end goal.  The treasure chests are adventures that will give the players an advantage - items, knowledge, skills, allies, etc - over the minion or the mastermind. The evil clown is the side quest or diversion.  These adventures don’t necessarily give an advantage or move the mastermind’s plans forward, but they can be dangerous and have great rewards. 

In addition. There are usually three types of adversaries.  One adversary might be minor, even likable by the PCs.  This type of adversary is not attempting anything vile or evil, but their actions may be selfish and harmful to others (maybe the PCs) in a way that forces the PCs to get involved.  The second type of adversary is the minion.  This adversary is working on a specific part of the plan, has it in for the PCs, and can be elusive and dangerous. Finally, there is the mastermind or driven adversary.  This is the force that is behind all the major conflicts.  The player characters are obstacles to this adversary, but they aren’t its final goal.  I say “it” because this adversary might be a force of nature, a powerful beast, or truly a devious and powerful entity maneuvering the game pieces like a grandmaster.  

Once you create an adventure (and adventures can take one session or several sessions to complete), you can pin it to the image.  You don’t have to use them all, this is just one of many ways to get your adventures into an organized structure to move your players through an exciting story campaign.