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DnD Campaign Prompt: Pitch to Arc, Factions, and Session One
Turn a DnD campaign pitch into a playable plan: a three-act arc sized to your sessions, factions with goals and clocks, player hooks, and a timed session one.
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Prompt
Act as a veteran Dungeon Master and campaign designer who turns a one-paragraph pitch into a campaign a busy DM can actually run: an arc sized to the real number of sessions, factions that act when the players do nothing, and a first session timed to the minute. Inputs: - The campaign pitch in a few sentences: [CampaignPitch] - Party size, starting level, and the level you hope to end at: [PartyAndLevels] - Number of sessions planned and hours per session: [SessionBudget] - Setting notes you already have (places, history, names): [SettingNotes] - Tone, content to avoid (lines), and content to keep off screen (veils): [ToneLinesVeils] - Each player's character concept in one line: [PlayerCharacters] - Rules edition and books or SRD the table uses: [RulesAndBooks] Generate: 1. Campaign premise in three sentences: the problem, why the party is involved, and what changes if they fail. 2. Three-act arc mapped to SessionBudget: sessions per act, the act's goal, its turning point, and the expected level at the end of each act. 3. Three factions: goal, method, leader in one line, what the faction wants from the party, and a four-step clock that advances when the party ignores it. 4. Hooks: one personal hook per character in PlayerCharacters, tied to a faction or place. 5. Session one plan timed to the session length: opening scene, the first choice, one social scene, one exploration scene, one short fight or chase, and a cliffhanger, with minutes for each. 6. Prep list for session one: NPCs with one line each, two locations with three sensory details each, and the monster or threat types to look up in RulesAndBooks (names only, no stat blocks). 7. Session zero notes: ToneLinesVeils stated plainly, plus questions to ask the players. Rules: - Use names and places from SettingNotes; invent new ones only where there is a gap, and list every new name. - No stat blocks, page numbers, or rules quotes; point to RulesAndBooks. - Every act must be playable in its sessions; cut scenes before adding them.
Instructions
Fill in the brackets with your own pitch, party, and table needs, then run it in ChatGPT (or Claude or Gemini). It builds story structure, factions, and session plans; it does not write stat blocks or quote rulebooks, so use the books or SRD your table plays with for monsters and rules. Talk through the lines and veils with your players in session zero, and change anything that does not fit your table.
Generated Output
This image was generated using the prompt above.
Examples
Example Input
CampaignPitch: A river town built on stilts is sinking a little more each month. The old drowned temple under the delta is waking up, and the three families who run the town each want to use it. PartyAndLevels: 4 players, start at level 3, hope to end around level 8. SessionBudget: 12 sessions, 3 hours each. SettingNotes: the town is Saltmere; the river is the Gray Wend; the drowned temple belonged to a forgotten moon goddess; the families are the Vosks (fishing fleet), the Arrendales (moneylenders), and the Quills (record keepers). ToneLinesVeils: hopeful mystery with some danger; lines: no harm to children, no spiders; veils: drowning described off screen. PlayerCharacters: Brin, a halfling ferry pilot who owes the Arrendales money; Ysolde, a human cleric who dreams of the moon; Kett, a tiefling thief who once worked for the Vosks; Oren, a dwarf engineer hired to measure the sinking. RulesAndBooks: D&D 5e (2024 rules), core books only.
Example Output
1. PREMISE Saltmere sinks a little more each month because the drowned moon temple beneath the Gray Wend is waking. The party is pulled in by debt, dreams, old loyalties, and a job measuring the sinking. If they fail, one family takes the temple's power and the town drowns or becomes theirs. 2. ARC (12 sessions x 3 hours) - Act 1, sessions 1 to 4, levels 3 to 4: find out why the town sinks. Turning point: Oren's measurements show the sinking follows the moon's phases. - Act 2, sessions 5 to 9, levels 5 to 7: reach the temple's upper halls while the families race them. Turning point: Ysolde's dreams reveal the goddess is not evil, only bound. - Act 3, sessions 10 to 12, level 8: choose to free, rebind, or hand over the goddess before the last full moon. 3. FACTIONS - Vosks (fishing fleet): want the temple's tides to control the river. Leader: Marta Vosk, blunt and proud. Want from party: Kett's help again. Clock: hire divers, block the ferry route, flood a rival dock, seize the temple gate. - Arrendales (moneylenders): want to buy every sinking house cheap. Leader: Silas Arrendale, polite and patient. Want: Brin's debt as leverage. Clock: call in debts, buy the stilt houses, bribe the council, own the town. - Quills (record keepers): want to hide that their ancestors sank the temple. Leader: Archivist Nell Quill, nervous. Want: Ysolde silenced. Clock: burn records, frame the Vosks, hire thieves, seal the temple. 4. HOOKS - Brin: the Arrendales offer to forgive the debt if Brin ferries their men at night. - Ysolde: her dream shows a door with the moon symbol under the town hall. - Kett: Marta Vosk wants one last job, a stolen map of the delta. - Oren: the Quills pay to change his measurements before he reports. 5. SESSION ONE (180 minutes) - 0 to 15: a stilt house collapses into the Gray Wend during market day. - 15 to 35: first choice: rescue the trapped family or chase the figure seen cutting the stilts. - 35 to 75: social: the three family heads each blame another at the town meeting. - 75 to 120: exploration: under the docks at low tide, the party finds carved moon marks on the stilts. - 120 to 160: short fight with the stilt cutters, hired thugs who flee when two are down. - 160 to 180: cliffhanger: the water drops and a stone door with a moon symbol rises from the mud. 6. PREP LIST - NPCs: Marta Vosk, Silas Arrendale, Nell Quill, Pell (new name: stilt cutter who talks if spared). - Places: the market (fish smell, wet rope, gulls), the under-dock (dripping, green light, cold mud). - Look up in the 2024 core books: bandits or toughs (the 2024 Monster Manual name for thugs), a giant crab or similar river threat. - New names invented: Marta, Silas, Nell, Pell. 7. SESSION ZERO Tone: hopeful mystery with some danger. Lines: no harm to children, no spiders. Veil: drowning happens off screen. Ask: what does each character want from Saltmere, and which family do they trust least?