How to Create/DM an Emotionally Impactful D&D Campaign? /u/ItsNuked DnD: Roll for Initiative!

Greetings, yall ^^

I’m looking to craft a truly memorable D&D campaign that goes beyond the typical dungeon crawl. I want to create a world that feels alive, where player choices have real consequences, and where the characters can form deep emotional bonds amongst eachother, the world and it’s inhabitants etc., to make those betrayals, conflicts, deaths and more all the more heart-wrenching. You feel me?

This’ll sound bad but hear me out; I’ve watched Arcane recently, and I really loved how many back and fourths the show had, how it was actually pretty realistic with each person having their own goals and views on things that intertwine into a fucking awesome story all around.
This had led me to watch some break down videos that explain the various story writing strategies and tricks the Arcane team used to tell the awesome story. And this inspired me A LOT, to make the worldbuilding of my world better, too.

But, DND is not a show. It is not a foretold story. And I absolutetly don’t mean to turn it into that. But I do genuinely want to make room for awesome, heart-pounding moments of mass emotion and more, and so I come here seeking some advice of how I can make room for awesome things like this, while not taking the focus of the campaign away and turning it into a book.

If anybody is willing to share, do you have any tips/experience on running a campaign with a rich, living, breathing world that’s full of things to discover and people to meet, without turning the campaign into a book and focus, of course, on the players and their stories?

For example… I want the world to, as stated, be alive. The players are the main charatchers of the campaign, the story is about them, i’m not writing a book, but they are not neccesearrily the center of the entire world, and so things go on without them, events happen in the world while they’re not there, etc. Is this a good thing to do? I think it makes for that awesome feeling you would get watching a show of, “Wow, what a fucking cool fantasy world all around.” – except you’re in it, and you get to explore it and interact with it yourself. That’s good if done right, yes?

Furthermore, the players meet various people. They like some. They hate some. I get that you shouldn’t make half a session be about some NPC (or you’re writing a book again), or overuse plot devices like Deux ex machina, nor make every NPC some Gary Stu. But are these always, always terrible to use?

If, for example, the players are new to a hostile area, get jumped by a gang but somebody that knows the place comes around, helps them out and guides them throughout the place since they’re familiar with it, Is this cool? Or is it “terrible railroady gary stu saves the day and takes the heroism away from the players”? Because I think it can make for an awesome moment, if it’s not overdone, of course.

Is it cool to have encounters where the players are just fucking stomped by a strong enemy? Or saved by a strong ally in an unwinnable scenario to build the story, not “just cuz”. Again, i assume it’s all good if done meaningfully and not all the time, but am I wrong?

Largely the above examples boil down to a single question, I suppose. And this is something to ask the table for sure, but I wanted your opinions, too. Is it alright to bend rules, encounters, the world, pull meaningfull plot devices and occasional railroads, make solidly detailed areas, histories, npcs with their own stories and lives the players can interact with as much as they wish to, events that go on in the world when the players arent there etc., all to enjoy and focus largely on the group story-crafting made by everybody at the table, the players being the main charatchers and the focus being on them and their stories, but also getting to interact in a big unknown to the mworld with its own histories and all to find, if they so wish? Or are some of these things always outrigth bad?

a broad question for sure, but I thought that better than to list questions as there would be so many.
Thank you for taking the time to read through ^^ Have a great rest of your day/night, yo 😀

Greetings, yall ^^

I’m looking to craft a truly memorable D&D campaign that goes beyond the typical dungeon crawl. I want to create a world that feels alive, where player choices have real consequences, and where the characters can form deep emotional bonds amongst eachother, the world and it’s inhabitants etc., to make those betrayals, conflicts, deaths and more all the more heart-wrenching. You feel me?

This’ll sound bad but hear me out; I’ve watched Arcane recently, and I really loved how many back and fourths the show had, how it was actually pretty realistic with each person having their own goals and views on things that intertwine into a fucking awesome story all around.
This had led me to watch some break down videos that explain the various story writing strategies and tricks the Arcane team used to tell the awesome story. And this inspired me A LOT, to make the worldbuilding of my world better, too.

But, DND is not a show. It is not a foretold story. And I absolutetly don’t mean to turn it into that. But I do genuinely want to make room for awesome, heart-pounding moments of mass emotion and more, and so I come here seeking some advice of how I can make room for awesome things like this, while not taking the focus of the campaign away and turning it into a book.

If anybody is willing to share, do you have any tips/experience on running a campaign with a rich, living, breathing world that’s full of things to discover and people to meet, without turning the campaign into a book and focus, of course, on the players and their stories?

For example… I want the world to, as stated, be alive. The players are the main charatchers of the campaign, the story is about them, i’m not writing a book, but they are not neccesearrily the center of the entire world, and so things go on without them, events happen in the world while they’re not there, etc. Is this a good thing to do? I think it makes for that awesome feeling you would get watching a show of, “Wow, what a fucking cool fantasy world all around.” – except you’re in it, and you get to explore it and interact with it yourself. That’s good if done right, yes?

Furthermore, the players meet various people. They like some. They hate some. I get that you shouldn’t make half a session be about some NPC (or you’re writing a book again), or overuse plot devices like Deux ex machina, nor make every NPC some Gary Stu. But are these always, always terrible to use?

If, for example, the players are new to a hostile area, get jumped by a gang but somebody that knows the place comes around, helps them out and guides them throughout the place since they’re familiar with it, Is this cool? Or is it “terrible railroady gary stu saves the day and takes the heroism away from the players”? Because I think it can make for an awesome moment, if it’s not overdone, of course.

Is it cool to have encounters where the players are just fucking stomped by a strong enemy? Or saved by a strong ally in an unwinnable scenario to build the story, not “just cuz”. Again, i assume it’s all good if done meaningfully and not all the time, but am I wrong?

Largely the above examples boil down to a single question, I suppose. And this is something to ask the table for sure, but I wanted your opinions, too. Is it alright to bend rules, encounters, the world, pull meaningfull plot devices and occasional railroads, make solidly detailed areas, histories, npcs with their own stories and lives the players can interact with as much as they wish to, events that go on in the world when the players arent there etc., all to enjoy and focus largely on the group story-crafting made by everybody at the table, the players being the main charatchers and the focus being on them and their stories, but also getting to interact in a big unknown to the mworld with its own histories and all to find, if they so wish? Or are some of these things always outrigth bad?

a broad question for sure, but I thought that better than to list questions as there would be so many.
Thank you for taking the time to read through ^^ Have a great rest of your day/night, yo 😀