How to Start a DnD Campaign
Starting a D&D campaign can be a daunting task. There’s a whole world to build, characters to fill it with, and kingdoms, religions and conflicts to make things interesting. It’s a lot of work for someone looking to homebrew their world from scratch, especially if you’ve never done it before.
But, despite all the initial work to build a world to get ready to play, worldbuilding can be one of the most rewarding aspects of running your campaign. Luckily for the novice DM, you don’t have to create your world from scratch. There are plenty of premade worlds to choose from that fit the story you’re hoping to tell with your group.
So, preamble out of the way, let’s dive into how to get things going with as little effort as possible and build a small town complete with conflicts and some NPCs for your players to engage with.
Choose a Starting Landscape
D&D is, first and foremost, a game about exploration. Our players spend so much time wandering the worlds we create so set dressing is crucial. The first thing we need to do is pick the kind of terrain we want our players to explore. I’m a big fan of horror and many of my games lean into the darker aspect of fantasy, so a dark forest or misty swampland are classic go-tos for me.
The Marsh of Chelimber in the Sword Coast, the fifth-edition Dungeon and Dragons’ current main world, is a solid choice. Surrounded by mountains and hills, the lowlands of Chelimber hold the potential for some creepy vibes in the opening acts of the campaign, and the nearby mountains will make the whole region feel isolated from the rest of the world while also adding some explorable locations that change the scenery and tone of the overall campaign.
Our starting point does two main things for us that will help us throughout this process:
The specific area our players can explore is small in scale while still large enough to hold loads of potential story threads.
The landscape shapes the people and the conflicts they might find themselves in.
The isolation might make the people here more independent and resilient, perhaps even untrusting of outsiders until they prove their worth. The marsh may be full of food, but also rife with danger. There might be a conflict brewing between the local villagers and a rival group of humanoids like bullywugs or lizardfolk that your players can get involved in, or maybe somewhere within the swamp is a witch that has been kidnapping villagers and luring them deep into the marsh where they are never seen again.
By focusing on something small and regional we can quickly find plot hooks and narrative threads to pull on and see where the characters want to go. Remember, the stories you’re telling are collaborative. Give your players plenty of agency and let them decide the direction while the dice rolls tell the story.
Build the Village
In this stage, we’re going to quickly build a small village with four common areas the characters might explore. We’ll also design the general vibe of the villagers (shaped by our region) and create a rudimentary economy that sustains the village itself.
I find it easiest to create the economy first and let them help guide what the villagers might be like. The swampy terrain and general isolation have made this village, the only human settlement for many miles, quite self-sufficient. They rarely get traders or travellers coming through and rely on themselves to clothe, feed, and provide for the entire village. Their clothing is all made from local fibres and pelts, but they are intricately decorated with dyes and designs. Their houses sit on stilts above the murky water and boardwalks run between them. This requires a lot of wood and upkeep, so timber is quite important. And, of course, food is crucial to the survival of any society, though the wetlands make agriculture difficult so they rely on hunting, fishing, and foraging for survival.
Our economy is based mostly on self-sufficiency rather than importing and exporting goods they don’t need or want. Every villager performs a duty for the benefit of everyone else and, since outside trade is limited, uses a barter-trade system.
We’ve quickly designed a basic economy and culture for the village, enough that our players can drop in and immediately understand the overall tone and atmosphere. From here you can go into as much depth as you’d like. Are certain professions more important? How else do the villagers decorate their homes and bodies? Who governs them and how do they keep hold of power? Where do locals go to have fun?
By answering these questions we can flesh out our village into a living, breathing place full of NPCs our players can engage with.
The Tavern
Every village needs a tavern, and players love unique taverns they can engage with. Our tavern is in the dead centre of town surrounded by boardwalks coming in and out. It’s small, as all the buildings are, but homely enough and usually full of locals enjoying a drink and some chat by the fire.
You don’t need to design a menu for your tavern, but I usually include something of interest that the barkeep can push on the characters. The more local the better, so perhaps this town makes whiskey from a local tree bark and fermented mushrooms that only grow in the marsh. Pushing this on the characters as they sit down will make them realise there is a life to the village with or without them in it.
The Shop
Characters need a place to purchase or trade for goods, even in a village as isolated as this. Rations, equipment, and the like can all be purchased here, though everything is handmade and created from local ingredients. An alchemist makes health potions from a simple remedy, and weapons, scarce as they might be, are still readily available and made from metal traded from passing merchants. Because of how rare trade is, weapons can be more expensive and something the characters may want to save up for or find on their adventures.
The Meeting House
Player characters are always looking for the person in charge. This is usually where they get paid or find work, so you’ll need some kind of meeting house or lodge where the village leader works. As our village is self-sufficient, leadership might be handled by an assembly of people who vote on decisions, or perhaps a despot lords over the town like a bandit king.
Consider who leads this town and let that add flavour to your setting. If leadership is done by an assembly, people of note in town might be conspiring to rig elections or get rid of a potential political rival. Conversely, if a despot rules the town their gang of thugs might extort people or a layer of fear has settled over the people. While leadership can impact your village, it should also be shaped by the village and the world around it. How has your leader come to power? Has the isolation affected their ability to rule? Or is the isolation the reason for their tyranny?
The Antagonist’s Den
Every village needs some kind of conflict to spur the characters to action. A lot of the time this can be done by having external forces at work, but having a layer of intrigue within the village is a great way to show the characters that there can be evil closer to home and add more roleplaying opportunities.
Every village I design has some kind of area I call the Antagonist’s Den. This can be the hideout of a local gang or cult, the den of a hungry monster, or the home of a corrupt politician. The world is your oyster here.
For this village, the den will be where a local cult worships the undead festering within the swamp. They believe that by worshipping the dead they might spare themselves if the village is ever attacked. The cult is growing slowly and one of the town figureheads, perhaps the tavern keeper or a valuable shopkeeper, now counts themselves among their ranks, hoping to use the cult’s influence to better themselves in some way.
Make Memorable Characters
Villages are populated by people your players will interact with. You don’t need to create a name and background for every villager, but some will need a name or a background. Create a handful of people the players can speak to, side with, or oppose. Five NPCs is usually a solid start, and we already have locations for them to inhabit. It’s worth noting that you do not need to give all of your NPCs Bonds, Ideals, and Flaws and reserve that for the more important ones the characters will interact with the most.
The Tavernkeeper
Every tavern needs a tavernkeeper. This is the character the party will likely engage with the most, so I tend to start by designing an interesting tavernkeeper that the characters will either love or hate. In a village as isolated as this one, the tavernkeep might be incredibly hostile to newcomers, or see them as fresh eyes on his cooking and drink making. He might be super attentive or always busy whenever the characters try to get his attention. Think about how the area affects your NPC behaviours, but also remember that you want your group to have fun. If you don’t think your players are going to enjoy a crotchety barkeeper, create someone they’ll love to engage with.
The Vendor
Shops will need a vendor of sorts and oftentimes vendors can act as quest givers who are looking for some specific thing the party might be able to procure for them. Designing them along the same line as a tavernkeeper would be a great place to start as the characters will probably be interacting with them a lot throughout their adventures.
The Town Leader
The town leader is a great place to flex your creative muscle and create a character that the players will either want to work for or directly oppose. Does the leader view the characters as hostile outsiders and seek to get rid of them, or do they understand that they can do jobs the townsfolk wouldn’t do themselves? Are they corrupt and working against the town in their self-interests, or are they just, honourable, and working to create a better place for the people? The last thing to consider is what goals they might have, and how the players can interact with those goals for better or worse.
The Local Antagonist
Whoever lives or works in our Antagonist’s Den will need a name and background. What are they trying to do and why? How do they intend to complete their goals? Do they think they can trick the party into working for them, or will they need to get rid of some meddling adventurers before they interfere with their plan? Perhaps our local antagonist is actively working against the party’s interests and goals, whatever they might be. Your antagonist needs to be a driving force for evil, but they don’t need to be the reason your players do anything at all. Consider making your main villain reactive rather than proactive. If the party is seeking a powerful amulet, perhaps the villain is also seeking it and gets entwined with the characters’ goals.
Reactive villains are, in my experience, the best ones to run. They have their own goals, of course, but I always try and tie my villain’s goals into my players’ goals as often as possible. Remember, a recurring villain is a more memorable one. Even better if the party doesn’t suspect them until it’s too late.
The Rumour Engine / The Town Gossip
Oftentimes this can double as the tavernkeeper, but sometimes it’s fun to create a unique NPC that can spill all kinds of details for the characters. They practically live in the tavern and are always happy to spill rumours, gossip, and share information about the nearby environs. But not every gossip needs to be working in the party’s best interests. Perhaps this gossip is also a part of the local cult and wants to see the party destroyed, hoping to send them into more dangerous areas of the swamp to get rid of them. It’s important to make the gossip seem cheery and helpful even if they are secretly betraying the party. The best reveals are betrayals, after all.
Quest Threads
DnD is a game built on quests, dungeons, and chaos. To do this, you need to develop what are called quest threads or quest hooks that pull your party into the action. For a starter campaign, it’s best to settle on one, maybe two, threads that lead the party into trouble. Take inspiration from the village we’ve designed and the conflicts you’ve created. Lead them into a dungeon filled with water and undead, or send them off to hunt a monster terrorising local hunters and preventing the town from getting enough food. Whatever you do, make it seem enticing and make sure the reward is worth it.
Design a basic quest that sends the players outside the village, maybe even into a dungeon or lair of sorts. It doesn’t need to be intricate, complex, and layered with lore. It just needs to be fun. That’s the main takeaway here, you want your players to leave the session having had a great time.
End Notes
And that’s it. We’ve very quickly designed a town, some conflicts, and some rough background to explore in a small region. From here all that’s left is to expand outwards as the characters explore, building off the choices they’ve made and the adventures they’ve had. The most important aspect of any campaign is to make your players feel like they are a part of it, whether that involves implementing their backstories or just letting their actions influence the wider world.
Whatever you do, you’re ready to take on a full campaign, or something a little smaller. Remember, have fun, take a deep breath, and go into it knowing that the mistakes you make are all part of the plan. You’re the DM. So long as your players have fun you’ve not made a single mistake.
