Gamemastery: Episodic Arcs

One of the big take-away ideas from Matthew Colville’s excellent YouTube channel, “Running the Game“, has been the fact that he runs Dungeons & Dragons games in definite episodic arcs – an idea he expresses as being like “that’s Book I of the story”, as if it was a fantasy novel series.

This simple idea was a revelation to me as a Dungeon Master who agonises over the quality of what he does. For years, I’ve been beating myself up because few of my games have any real longevity: a game runs for between three and twenty sessions and then fizzles out.

My problem has been that I have had the ideal of the game as an epic long-term campaign. It never really occurred to me that running a definite specific sequence of activity and resolution would constitute a complete game. Once “Book I”  is finished, we can either switch to another game or begin to play through “Book II”. And so on.

Goals Into Story Arcs

My games are very much NOT plotted. In fact, I prefer the sandbox game – in which the players explore a region and tackle challenges of their own choosing, very much at their own pace – to any kind of plotted story-on-rails. That being said, my players are encouraged to determine some goals for their activities. From these goals arises the opportunity to chunk the arising story into arcs.

Simply put, when the players achieve a major goal in their careers then this also marks the end of a “Volume” within their ongoing story. For example, when our current D&D party finally return to Cuttersley with their nemesis, Astrid Blight, in chains and hand her over to the authorities… well, that’s end of Book I. The players have achieved a key goal and we will celebrate their victory by marking it as the end of a major episode.

For the players, this brings clarity and meaning to their exploits. It helps them to see their achievements and reflect on how they got to the point they’re now at. For the GM, it gives you a convenient point at which to take a break, evaluate the game, and decide what you want to do next.

Story Arcs as Game Breaks

Sometimes I am happy to keep the game going even though I really am itching for a change. In the past, because of the way I viewed the game, I would rather “kill” a campaign to get a change of pace. What I’d consider now is concluding the current story arc and then running something different for a while; we can always return to those characters and their next set of goals if we want to… but when everyone (GM included!) is ready to make the journey.

Colville’s idea opens up the opportunity to see the gaming as a series of steps towards better stories over time. Does the group change? Well, that’s ok because new characters turn up in “Book II”. Does the pace or focus shift? That’s ok too because this is “Episode III”, and not the same as “Episode I”.

For the GM, the game becomes more manageable as discreet chunks. The pressure eases off as you begin to break the goals down into separate tales, each with its own flavor and style.

Hopefully that’s something your players can understand. More than that, hopefully it also allows you as Game Master to see the whole campaign as more do-able. No longer is the thing amorphous and never-ending; now it’s made up of distinct parts which each bring their own fun to the table.

Game on!