Developing Starfall: a story-first approach

Dominic Matte

When I work on a D&D game, I start with a core idea for a world or story (for example, what if dragons were secretly playing a game for the fate of the world and no one knew). Then I build the world in excessive detail, including history, politics, organizations, and characters. When I write in an event (or when the players do) I want to know how it'll affect the world, and for that I need to have the world ready in working detail. Once I'm satisfied with the expansive planning, I star play, adding more to the story and world on a session-by-session basis as the players explore and learn about what's going on.

At least, that's how I usually work on a D&D game. I've been slowly kicking out ideas for a campaign that I'm tentatively calling Starfall (after three or four rejected titles over the years), and I've been taking a different approach than I normally do. I may have mentioned it here before, earlier in the process. I've been building a framework of story in distinct arcs with specific themes around the core concept, adding and subtracting and re-organizing as I make progress.

The Medium Version of The Long Game

Hello! We here, at D4sign, have been playing many games and sometimes it is easy to lose track of things. True to its name, we have been playing The Long Game for a long time, and I thought it would be a good idea to provide a summary. If you're new to the game, this should help you catch up, and if you're very familiar with it, this should refresh your memory. I will be updating this as we play and further details can be found in earlier Long Game posts!

I also found that while this was much shorter, it was still longer than the average reader may wish to peruse. Therefore, I have written an even shorter summary here.

Dallas Kasaboski

The Short Version of The Long Game

Hello! In an effort to bring everyone, including the players, up to speed on the events of The Long Game, I strove to make a synopsis. Realizing that it was great, but maybe still a little too long, I decided to make this summary, here. Lacking most of the story and content, it may not make as much sense, but for anyone already familiar with the journals, which can be found in previous posts, this summary will help to refresh your memory of our adventures. I hope you like it and find it useful!

Dallas Kasaboski