In my Greyhawk campaigns, I have a tavern the characters use as a base. (It’s the Green Leaf Tavern in my new game). And these taverns have notice boards that list a few potential quests for adventurers. And I add to that a few rumours the characters hear.

I should emphasise that this is for a more sandbox-based campaign, where I rely on player input to direct play.

From where do I get the rumours and quests? Well, I have a few options.

One source is published adventures. I have a stock of short scenarios of all levels, and can I seed a few hooks to them. If the players are interested, they’ll bite, and I get to use the adventure.

Another is random quest generators. You can find some online if you look. I occasionally use one from Midkemia Press’s Cities book.

However, regularly changing the quests as the campaign continues (perhaps every session) gives the impression of a living world. And it can go further than that.

The Reactive World

Any quest taken offers an opportunity for the characters to affect the world. However, any mission not taken allows the characters to see how the world moves without them.

You need to determine what happens: Does another group take and fulfil the quest? Do they fail it? Is it not taken, and the antagonists become stronger?

Here is an example from my World of Greyhawk campaign: The players learnt of bandits causing trouble on a nearby road. They also heard of an upcoming visit by a High Priestess from a neighbouring country. However, they chose to take up another quest instead. And the characters were surprised to learn that the bandits slew the High Priestess.

And this led to her homeland declaring war on the characters’. And the main plotline of the rest of the campaign.

I had not planned this. I had just put some pieces on the table and let the players’ actions and inactions then affect how things progressed from there. It is a big world. You can’t imagine everything that might happen. However, you can create more than just the basics of what the characters see.

Factions, Antagonists, and Patrons

Who is giving out these quests? Who is opposing the characters?

You can provide more cohesion to your campaign by having repeating elements with which the players become familiar. When it is NPCs and organisations the characters constantly interact with, it heightens the effect.

Now, you do not want every campaign to have every quest be “The Chief sends you to stop Doctor Claw”, though occasionally single note campaigns like that can be fun. But suppose the Cult of the Dragon turns up as antagonists in several quests and the Zhentarim in several more. In that case, you have the chance to show a world with consistent threats, especially if they react to the characters as they gain a reputation.

Likewise, friendly factions can provide numerous quests. Not always the same group, but you choose between several and get the players engaged with their representatives and learn their goals and desires.

More subtle use of world-building comes from using NPCs of the same social background. There is an enhanced authenticity to the world if you are consistent with your depiction of the nobles of your world, and likewise traders, rogues, and workers.

If you generate the quests with random tools, change the details to fit your world. Which patron and antagonist make sense in your campaign?

The Simple Elements of Quests

What must the characters achieve? Who are they working for? What forces oppose them? Where does the quest take place?

And perhaps most important of all: How long will it take to play?

That last is significant due to pacing issues. If a quest takes ten sessions to complete, that’s a significant part of the campaign given over to it. If a mission takes just one session, then it gives room for characters to do other things.

A “short” quest, in my lexicon, takes a single session or possibly two. Thus, it is not particularly complicated.

I have been amusing myself with generating quests from this site: https://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/random/

Here are a sample few:

• A noblewoman named Lile seeks a company of adventurers to slay the Beast of the Mistmoor Fen and retrieve a vial of its blood. However, the party soon finds itself facing a moral quandry.
• A cryptic elf named Daerodre seeks a company of adventurers to escort The Hellish Manuscripts of Gernia safely to the village of Camor. However, the quest is a trap.
• A shady noblewoman named Bliane seeks a company of adventurers to protect her from the assassins of Tila the Cruel.

They are excellent, evocative concepts that I will bend, spindle, and mutilate to fit into the campaign. I change names and personalities to fit the setting. “Tila the Cruel” becomes “Sophie the High Priestess of Hextor”, for instance. But not always; some names might be so good that I adopt them and create new campaign elements to represent them.

I very much enjoy the complications – “the quest is a trap”. It allows things not always to go as the players expect them to.

(I note that Sly Flourish has a random quest generator available to his patreons).

Are the Quests Appropriate for the Characters?

You can emphasise the living element of the world by presenting quests that are out of the characters’ leagues. In one of my early D&D campaigns, my DM presented me with a quest opportunity: to go and seek what the great ball of fire above the Barrier Peaks was. That was a lead into Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, an adventure for high-level characters. No, I did not go on that quest! But due to the way the DM presented it, I understood that I was not ready for it yet.

However, it made a great impression on me. It’s over thirty years since that experience, and I still refer back to it as an excellent example of world-building.

I do not want to trap the characters into taking on quests that are too difficult. In a lot of cases, I can have the patron turn them down. But just because they exist, it helps flesh out the world.

And nothing is saying that some time down the track, the characters can’t be sent to find out the fate of the first expedition!

I have more to say about this type of campaign; I hope to get to it shortly!