Campaign framework

[dhyr]

Hey there folks,

I just jump right to my problem: I have absolutely no problems to come up with fun to play adventures, but what I lack is the ability to somehow tie them all together in a big campaign or at least some campaign that is a bit more interesting then "Yeah theres an evil wizard that wants to rule the world and to stop him you need to collect this 4 shard of a fallen star that are spread over the whole world - have fun".

I don't really like pre-defined campaigns like for example Rise of the Runelords. My problem with them is that I feel that they limit your creative potential as a DM and leave me with the duty to read 80 pages and to memories them all so I don't have to look up everything during the game.

What I'd like to have is something like a campaign framework. Something that provides me with a rough overall story maybe with a few plot hooks and recurring characters giving me the freedom to design my own adventures and then weave them into the plot.

So is there something like that out there? Does anyone have an idea for such a framework that he wants to share?

[Izkrael]

You could always read the reviews, or brief synopsis of each adventure from an AP (such as rise of the runelords) and them make your own adventures based off of that overview.

RotRL Spoiler:

Small coastal town having festival which is invaded by goblins who are under control of bad guys with vendetta against town. This makes them local heroes, and builds connection to town.

Which is shortly set upon by a series of ritualistic murders. The search for this killer, and his masters leads them around the region, and into a haunted mansion.

Word of their fame has spread, and the local lord asks them to see about a border fort that has not returned communication lately. Ogres under the control of stronger giants are behind this.

This leads to a retaliatory attack on the region by an army of giants.
Party tracks them to their fortress, and must face the leader of the giants. Uncover evidence of a ancient wizard who is behind the giants.

Delve into dungeons in order to uncover ancient magics to help defeat the archmage.

Treck through the mountains in order to find the hidden city of the ancient archmage, and defeat him and his giant servitors.

Brief outline. Gives you plenty to build off of, but still provides guidance. And you could probably gather most of that just from the product descriptions.

If you need a more detailed outline, grab the adventure synopsis from the beginning of each book, and the maps, and flesh it out yourself.

I usually make my own campaign arcs, but steal anything and everything from their books, including characters, maps, scenes, even whole chapters or adventures, and place them into my campaign.