rpg

I don't do campaigns but scenarios. Session 0: Ask what characters they feel like playing and what vibe are we looking for... Then ignore everything they say and run a mystery cos it's fun.

Nah jk, I then make a setting and usually play local, grounded games based on their interests. But describe a prologue of the setting to inspire them.

What I mean by scenarios is I set up some main characters of a conflict and drama that will go on whether the players are there or not. What makes it fun is that I prep once by setting up the actors (NPCs) and then the players are cast right in the middle of it in a way that they cannot avoid it cos it directly affects them. It might involve their family, their duties, themselves, etc.

The cool thing is that I have a lot of fun seeing how they drive the situation in unexpected ways and how the world reacts to their actions. They might attract attention (positive or negative), intervene with ignorance, draw a group of followers, get blamed for something, etc etc.

This way, after session 1, I only have to do a little bit more to think how the scenario changed or how the world responds. No need to plan scenes, big bosses, special events, and other things.

If you want to spice things up for your own fun, put a thing that will happen at a certain time somewhere and see if they are at the wrong or right place at the wrong or right time.

My secret sauce that seems to work always is to remember that "People are alive". People talk, people make decisions, people ask for help or try to get obstacles out of their way, people engage with other people, and so on.

Finally, I avoid DnD like the plague. There's plenty of people doing christian western medieval-inspired fantasy to be adding more to it. And I personally prefer easier systems where creating a character takes 5min or less so death is not the end for players.