6 Keys to Maximize Your RPG Campaign

Playing in an ongoing RPG campaign takes tabletop RPG experiences to the next level. If - that is - you can keep the game going, and find ways to make the most of the experience for all players at the table.

Few gaming experiences can compare to the sense of epic destiny that envelops ongoing TTRPG (tabletop RPG) adventures. There’s a sort of threshold that’s reached once a gaming group has played multiple sessions together. Once the threshold is crossed, it pushes the story from something merely fun, to something that’s truly compelling. Once a game has gone from something your players are showing up to try out, to something they can’t wait to experience each week, you know you’re in the “flow” of a great RPG campaign.

RPG Campaign Party

How to Make An Entire RPG Campaign Successful

Creating the right environment for an RPG campaign to develop is key for its success. Here are my top recommendations to help you finish an entire campaign with your gaming group (more details on each bullet point provided, below):


  1. Focus on Fun
  2. Make Sure Everyone Gets to Participate
  3. Create a Cohesive Story
  4. Keep Games Consistent
  5. Ask Yourself: Do You Really Want A Full Campaign?
  6. Utilize an RPG Planner


Now that you know the benefits of playing a full campaign, and also that most gaming groups don’t get that full experience, you might be interested in some tools to increase your odds.

Eternity TTRPG Article Shop

1. Focus on Fun

The best way for you to have a campaign succeed is to remember that the purpose of gaming is to have fun. Prioritize fun over having a successful campaign, and your campaign is more likely to endure.


2. Make Sure Everyone Gets to Participate

One of the main ways to keep games fun for everyone is to ensure each person at the table gets to participate in the game in the way they want. Some people will inevitably contribute more to the game than others, and that’s ok. Just so long as no one feels excluded, or unheard.


3. Create a Cohesive Story

If you are running the game’s story, or contributing to it in any way, do your best to make the story logical. It doesn’t have to be a masterpiece, at the start. Simply create objectives for the group, conflicts to oppose those objectives, and interesting pacing. Ultimately, there are many skills that can be mastered in telling a story. The important thing to remember is that you don’t need to become an expert. Your gaming group will benefit, however, from intentionality on your part, between games, in creating story cohesion and flow.


4. Keep Games Consistent

Try to game at the same time of day, at the same location, with a similar gaming environment, as much as you can. This isn’t a hard-and-fast rule. However, people do respond well to consistency, since they learn what to expect. This also helps with scheduling, as people can block off the same time and day each week (for example) for gaming.


5. Do You Really Want A Full Campaign?

Before telling a group of people that you want to play an entire RPG campaign, make sure it’s what you really want. As great as TTRPG campaigns are, there is a real time investment to them. If you, as the person who gets people excited about a new RPG campaign, decides part way through that you’re not interested in continuing, chances are high that the group will fall apart. If you’re unsure from the beginning, it’s often better to simply play a one-shot adventure, or perhaps a few adventures, rather than committing to an entire campaign.


6. Get an RPG Campaign Planner

Our final tip for keeping a campaign going successfully is to utilize an RPG campaign planner. Once a story develops enough, it takes on a life of its own. And it can become difficult, over time, to keep track of all the characters, locations, unique items, and side stories that emerge. Thankfully, experienced gamers have created all kinds of templates, and if you prefer to invest, products, that can be used to organize everything. RPG campaign planners make it easier to track notes of all kinds, develop storylines, and create consistency and cohesion in ongoing adventures.


Basically, you have four options when it comes to RPG campaign planners. All options are just varied combinations of either physical or digital, and free or paid:


  1. Physical – Unpaid
  2. Digital – Unpaid
  3. Physical – Paid
  4. Digital – Paid
RPG Campaign Character Sheet

Physical and Unpaid RPG Campaign Planner

A physical and unpaid RPG campaign planner would be something like an rpg campaign template you can find, online. It doesn’t need to be fancy, at all. To be honest, even a notebook will suffice. In fact, when it comes down to it, really anything that you can write on and take notes with, will do. Whether you search for online templates, or create your own, make sure it has space to track the following key elements:


  • Major Player Characters (PCs)
  • Major Non-Playable Characters (NPC)
  • Villains
  • Goals, Oppositions, and Inner Conflicts of All Important Characters
  • Unique Items
  • important Locations
  • Important Backstory/ Background Notes for Any of the Above
  • Side Quest Ideas from Any of the Above
  • Major Plot Points, both Past and Future
  • Opportunities for Plot Twists
  • Clues Given to Players that May Foreshadow Plot Points or Twists
  • Maps and Other Campaign Handouts


Digital and Unpaid RPG Campaign Planner

There are many digital and unpaid RPG campaign planners available online, today. Many of them take care of all the points listed, above, and even offer more tools than those. Many of these websites also offer options for paid subscriptions, but can be great resources even without. If you don’t mind having a computer or tablet at your gaming table, and don’t mind if the rest of your gaming group does as well, tech can be a great way to go. Some gaming groups find it cumbersome to have computers take up space at the gaming table, or find the technology distracting. However, this is really just a matter of preference.


Physical and Paid RPG Campaign Planner

A physical and paid RPG campaign planner would be something like a put-together book for rpg campaigns. It usually comes with artwork, interesting ideas, a high-quality cover and inside pages, and can certainly be worth the money. If one thing is true about TTRPGs, it’s that you get out what you put in. Sometimes it’s worth investing a few dollars to purchase something that helps the game session feel more “magical” to you. If you find things like artwork, nice covers, and quality notebooks to be helpful for your creativity, you may consider buying a nice RPG campaign planner. Or, even simply buying a nice leather-bound notebook.


Digital and Paid RPG Campaign Planner

Digital and paid RPG campaign planner websites, as mentioned above, often have a free version. Before paying for anything, you might first try out a site’s unpaid option. Usually, all the advanced features that come from a paid subscription aren’t especially useful until a campaign reaches a certain stage of complexity, anyways. However, once a campaign becomes pretty big, with numerous interweaving plots and characters, having an online RPG campaign planner can be very useful. Technology certainly has its place at the gaming table, as it can convey large amounts of visuals and text very simply. If you’re interested in utilizing software at your gaming table, you might check out one of the following online RPG campaign planners for yourself:


  • World Anvil
  • Obsidian Portal
  • Kanka
  • Scabard
  • DnD Campaign Planner


RPG Campaign Planner Example

Benefits of a Long-Term RPG Campaign

There are serious benefits to playing in a long-term game. For most people (in my experience), nearly all the best moments you’ll ever have while playing tabletop RPGs will come from playing in lengthy campaigns. If you know anyone who’s played some long-term RPG campaigns, ask them – they’re likely to confirm.


This means that if you’ve never played in a long-term game, you’re probably missing out on the types of experiences you’ve always guessed TTRPGs are capable of providing (more details on each bullet point provided, below):


  • Connection to your Character
  • Connection to Locations
  • Connection to Villains
  • Connection to the Story
  • Epic Moments
  • Mastery of the Game
  • Comfortability Roleplaying
  • Increased Creativity
  • A Story You Look Forward To


Connection to Your Character

It takes a number of game sessions for your character’s backstory to come forward in the game, and become applicable for the current story. Once it does, though, you’ll see parts of your character come to life in ways you probably couldn’t imagine, beforehand.


Connection to Locations

Troea, the city your gaming group started in, probably doesn’t mean much the first few gaming sessions. Only after you realize the “guardian” of the city – for whom you’ve been completing important tasks – is a lich, does the city really mean something to you.


Connection to Villains

The first time you meet a villain in a story, you really don’t know if they’re going to be all that important to your character’s story. After all, they could just be a minor villain, or be overthrown by one of their own henchmen, in coming weeks or months. It’s only after you’ve faced a villain, won or lost, then had to face them again, that you see something build. Repetition of gaming sessions with the same villain creates the kind of connection where you love to hate them. Or, hate that you love them.

Eternity TTRPG RPG Campaign

Connection to the Story

The results of connecting more to your character, locations in the game, villains, and everything related, is that you connect to the story. The game goes from being something merely fun and social, to something meaningful. When you connect to your game’s story, you can’t wait to see what happens next. That’s when things start getting intense.



Epic Moments

Buildup of the gaming group’s connection to the ongoing story inevitably results in emotional investment. No matter the moment – a ring falling into a volcano, the death of a demi-god, or the coronation of a king – an event is only made “epic” because of catharsis. Only players who have gamed long hours together unlock within themselves the capacity to experience epic tabletop RPG moments.


Mastery of the Game

Many things in life become more fun when we develop more skill in the activity. It might be weird to think that you can become “better” at a TTRPG, but it’s true. You can. And when you do get better at roleplaying, and better at your combat tactics, the game does feel more rewarding.


Comfortability Roleplaying

On the topic of roleplaying, if you’re someone who likes the idea of getting into character but has some difficulty finding your rhythm, long campaigns definitely help. Regular play with the same group of people tends to lower inhibition a bit. Also, the more you get invested in the campaign’s story, the easier it becomes to connect your character to the gaming world. And from there, it’s almost only natural to fall into roleplaying.


Increased Creativity

Similarly, spending more time – and becoming more invested – in a gaming world allows for creative ideas to flow more freely. Great campaigns and stories in a TTRPG group don’t just come from the game master. Instead, the best campaigns come from every member of the group creatively contributing to what happens, or what should happen, next.


A Story You Look Forward To

The biggest benefit of an ongoing RPG campaign is that the game becomes something you look forward to each time you play. There’s nothing wrong with casual games, of course. There is a difference between casual games, and deeply meaningful ongoing campaigns, however. Consider the difference between a watching a YouTube video and watching the season finale to your favorite show. No comparison, right? There’s just not the same emotional build up and intensity, until you’ve invested the time required to cross the threshold of greatness.

RPG Campaign Gaming Table Setup

Is It Difficult to Keep an RPG Campaign Going?

Unfortunately, even with the many great benefits of an ongoing tabletop gaming campaign, it can be difficult to get one off the ground. Many gaming groups start out with the idea of playing an entire RPG campaign. There’s usually one person, or a couple, who becomes the driving force for getting the group together, and consistently playing.


In many cases (maybe even in most cases), however, an “RPG campaign” turns into a single one-shot adventure. Or, perhaps a few gaming sessions strung together, loosely. Then, interest in the game burns out, people get busy, or any number of life-related events take place to derail the budding storyline.


For a little context, I’ve been playing TTRPGs for about 20 years. In all my tabletop RPG experiences, I’ve played in five full-length campaigns. Besides those, I’ve played in maybe eight more partial-length “campaigns,” and began another dozen or so “campaign attempts.” The campaign I’m playing in now, if it makes the distance, will only be my sixth. It’s not easy to get a group of people together, consistently, for any length of time. It was certainly easier when I was in college. Now, as an adult, with real responsibilities, it takes a bit more effort to keep things rolling.


Try Out a New Kind of TTRPG

Sometimes, the best way to make a TTRPG campaign succeed is to try out a new game. If you’ve never played a group GM RPG before, check out Eternity TTRPG.


Campaigns in Eternity TTRPG have immense longevity to them since everyone at the table contributes to the creativity of the gaming world, NPCs, villains, storylines, and more. It’s also set up so that there’s a lot of cohesion amongst the group in the development of stories.


Have Fun With Your Next RPG Campaign

Hopefully, this article has given you some reason to try out an RPG campaign, tips to make it endure, and ideas for planning it out. The last piece of advice for you is to have fun with it. Nothing matters more, in tabletop roleplaying.

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Jacob Tegtman Eternity TTRPG Creator

Author - Jacob Tegtman

Dear reader, I hope you enjoyed this article. Tabletop gaming has been a passion of mine since I was 6 years old. I've played just about every game from Dungeons and Dragons to video games like Final Fantasy. These games have inspired me, made me laugh, made me cry, and brought me endless hours of enjoyment.


I started Eternity TTRPG - and the indie tabletop game that goes along with it (Eternity Shop) - to share my love of gaming with others. I believe that in our technology-driven age, tabletop games help bring a sense of magic and community back into our world.


If you love the site, please share it with others! I have lots of gaming-related material for you to peruse and use in your own gaming sessions. If you have any questions about the site or want to contribute, just send me a message using the "Contact" page, which you can find in the site's footer.

A frog-like character in armor next to the book
By Jacob Tegtman August 13, 2025
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrFz0Vj0nWs&ab_channel=EternityTTRPG Transcription Heroes, villains, and… frogs. Today we’re cracking open Daggerheart to look at every single class you can play. We’ll see which ones feel familiar, which ones bring something fresh to the table, and which ones made me go—‘Wait, I can do THAT in combat?’ If you know your D&D, Pathfinder, or other fantasy RPGs, you’ll recognize some archetypes—but Daggerheart’s twist is how it mashes them together with its Domain system. So, grab your character sheet and let’s roll in.  Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG, your go-to tavern table for all things TTRPG. Today, we’re diving into Daggerheart’s classes (and sub classes) to give you the highlights, flavor, and ‘cool factor’ of each. Oh, and keep an eye out—some of these mechanics are begging for epic roleplay moments. I want to note really quick that there are quite a few “new” terms to tabletop RPGs in Daggerheart, such as using Hope to power interesting spell effects, or “shaking off stress.” This video won’t have time to cover all of these things though, so be sure to check back in with us on future videos that’ll go into all of these mechanics. In Daggerheart, classes aren’t just lists of abilities—they’re built from Domains. Think of a Domain as a themed deck of cards: Arcana for spellcraft, Blade for martial prowess, Midnight for shadowy trickery, and so on. Every class is a combo of two Domains. The Druid mixes Arcana with Sage. The Warrior? Blade and Bone. Each domain adds abilities, spells, and flavorful moves, so your class is both your archetype and your toolkit. During play, you’ll gain and upgrade Domain Cards—some give you special moves, others are passive perks, and some are big one-shot powers. It’s like mixing your favorite flavors of ice cream, except your sundae can also turn into a bear and punch a dragon. The Bard is here to do what bards do best—steal the show and keep everyone else alive long enough to applaud. Class feature? Rally. Once per session, you can literally hand everyone a ‘Rally Die’ they can spend to boost rolls, do more damage, or shake off stress. Go Troubadour if you want to play music magic—your songs can heal, make enemies vulnerable, or give the whole party a dose of Hope. Go Wordsmith if you want the power of speeches, poems, and persuasion—think inspiring monologues and rallying your friends like a fantasy hype man. Druids in Daggerheart bring two big things to the table: Beastform and Wildtouch. Beastform lets you turn into animals for combat, scouting, or just to see how fast you can freak out the city guards. As a Warden of the Elements, you channel fire, earth, water, or air for combat buffs—like setting attackers on fire just for hitting you. As a Warden of Renewal, you’re the ultimate party healer, mixing nature magic with restorative transformations. The Guardian is your frontline tank with a vengeance—literally. Their Unstoppable feature lets you shrug off status effects and ramp up damage the longer you fight. Stalwarts are immovable walls, stacking massive damage threshold bonuses and body-blocking hits for allies. Vengeance Guardians fight like avenging angels—take a hit, and you get to smack the attacker back. Rangers get Ranger’s Focus—marking a target so you always know where they are and forcing them to take extra stress when you hit them. Beastbound gives you a full-on animal companion with its own level-up tree. Wayfinder turns you into a relentless hunter, complete with pathfinding magic and Apex Predator attacks that scare enemies into submission. Rogues trade in Cloak instead of just ‘Hidden’—meaning if you’re standing still in shadow, you’re basically untouchable until you move or attack. Sneak Attack damage also ramps up fast. Nightwalker gives you literal shadow teleportation. Syndicate makes you the ultimate connected operator, with shady contacts ready to drop in loot, intel, or a well-timed crossbow bolt. The Seraph is all divine fury and celestial flair, fueled by Prayer Dice that can heal, protect, or power up attacks. Seraph is basically the Daggerheart Paladin, but named differently for some reason. Divine Wielder summons a spirit weapon that flies around like a holy boomerang, smashing multiple enemies. Winged Sentinel just… grows radiant wings and takes the fight to the skies. Sorcerers feel raw and unpredictable—your Channel Raw Power can turn spells into Hope or crank damage up to ridiculous levels. Elemental Origin lets you specialize in one element and eventually become its walking embodiment. Primal Origin tweaks magic in wild ways—extending its range, doubling damage dice, or hitting multiple targets. The Warrior is pure martial might—ignoring weapon burdens, hitting harder every level, and punishing enemies for moving away. Call of the Brave thrives under pressure, turning near-defeat into bursts of Hope. Call of the Slayer stockpiles bonus dice for devastating finishing moves. Wizards have Prestidigitation for endless magical flavor, plus Strange Patterns—roll a chosen lucky number, and you get Hope or shake off stress. School of Knowledge is the academic—hoarding extra domain cards and leveraging perfect recall. School of War is your battle-mage—mixing heavy magic damage with defensive wards. That’s every Daggerheart class—each familiar enough to pick up fast, but with domain combos that let you mix magic, martial, and flavor in ways other TTRPGs just don’t. Which class would you play first? Drop your pick in the comments, and tell me what you’re into. And hey—this is just the start of our time with Daggerheart. Next time, we’ll look at some more deep-dives and trust me… you’re not ready for the Ribbet ancestry.
A box set of stranger things books and cards
By Jacob Tegtman August 3, 2025
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://youtu.be/hDap5k8fn7Q Transcription What do you get when you mix Hawkins, Indiana with hit points and spell slots? Stranger Things, of course, just in time for the final season coming out! And D&D just dropped a new collab—and this time, you’re joining the Hellfire Club for real. Four new adventures, a demodragon, and more 80s vibes than a Metallica tour bus. Let’s crack this thing open. Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG—your weekly (or sometimes multi-weekly) save point for all things Dungeons & Dragons. If you're new here, hit that subscribe button like it's a crit. Let's dive into the biggest D&D/ Netflix crossover since Vecna crashed game night. Here's the scoop. Stranger Things: Welcome to the Hellfire Club is a brand-new D&D board game releasing on October 7 . Developed by Wizards of the Coast and Netflix , it brings Eddie Munson’s final campaign to your tabletop—with a twist. It’s not a hardcore module—it’s a board game/ D&D hybrid using a streamlined 5E ruleset that’s super beginner-friendly. Think Heroes of the Borderlands meets The Upside Down. With this set, you get four mini-adventures , all inspired by moments from Stranger Things Seasons 1 through 4: The Vanishing Gnome Scream of the Crop Devil, Metal, Die! And the epic Ballad of the Rat King Each adventure is designed for 3–5 players , level 1–3 characters, and takes place in a version of Hawkins merged with classic Greyhawk—called “Greyhawkins.” And yeah—they went hard on the monster mash. You’ll face off against Stranger Things favorites like demodogs , demobats , and a brand-new boss: the demodragon . Because why stop at one terrifying monster when you can homebrew your own? Real quick to interrupt, we now have free downloadable D&D cards at the Eternity TTRPG website that you can use at your table. Everything from combat actions to status effects – no more flipping through your book to see exactly what being “Petrified” does to your character. You can just take our graphics, print them out at home, and slap them on your table for fun and easy reference. Grab yours today using the link, below! Now, back to the video. This set leans all the way into nostalgia: You get a double-sided Hellfire Club poster. “In-world” handouts, like maps and letters. Retro-styled spell cards and tokens. And yes, that chunky, satisfying dice set you need for a good game night. The physical box will run you $50 and includes: cards, tokens, poster maps, stat sheets, dice, a DM screen, Four adventure books, and a combat-tracker notepad. The digital version is $20 through D&D Beyond, perfect if you're running online. Or go full demodragon mode, and grab the Ultimate Bundle for $60 , combining both formats. But what do you think—Is this a clever crossover, or just nostalgia bait? Wrapping up, let me know in the comments: Would you join the Hellfire Club in real life? I think I... might.. Don’t forget to like, sub, and share this with Stranger Things fans in your party. And if you aren’t hyped for it yet, I hope you enjoy the final season coming up. Here at Eternity TTRPG, we’ve got more spell-slinging stories dropping every week, so stay tuned. And hey—next time you roll a Nat 1, just blame the Upside Down. 
A poster for crooked moon the crimson monastery
By Jacob Tegtman July 29, 2025
Transcribed content from our recent YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QklD9CbOoV0&ab_channel=EternityTTRPG Transcription “In the flames, there is purity and salvation. From the flames, she speaks…”  Those aren’t the words of a prophet. They’re the twisted scripture of a zealot. Deep in the mountains of Druskenvald, a crimson light spills from stained glass windows. It’s not salvation. It’s a warning. Today, we’re venturing into one of the darkest D&D adventures I’ve ever read—The Crimson Monastery, from my new personal favorite, Crooked Moon. Welcome back to Eternity TTRPG, your faithful companion through the wildest realms of Dungeons & Dragons. If you love your fantasy served with horror, vampires, and morally gray decisions, buckle in—we’re about to descend into a bloodstained cathedral of corruption. Let me tell you a story. Once, there was a noble knight named Marius Renathyr. A beacon of honor, clad in gold armor, championing justice in a cursed land. He loved a priestess of the Nightmother, and though they burned with passion, he kept his vows. But as his crusade wore on, so did his soul. Wrath replaced compassion. And that’s when she found him. Viraxys, a devil who fed on twisted souls, disguised her voice as that of a goddess—the Crimson Rose. On the verge of death, Marius accepted her offer of life eternal. But what she gave him was a curse. Now immortal, now a vampire, now a puppet to her whims, Marius returned to the world not as a hero… but as Father Renathyr, the Crimson Abbot. Real quick to interrupt, we now have free downloadable D&D cards at the Eternity TTRPG website that you can use at your table. Everything from combat actions to status effects – no more flipping through your book to see exactly what being “Petrified” does to your character. You can just take our graphics, print them out at home, and slap them on your table for fun and easy reference. Grab yours today using the link, below! Now, back to the video. Father Renathyr took over a mountain monastery, corrupted its clergy, and built a religion around his devil’s false divinity. In the village below—Dawn’s Gate—the people tremble under his sermons. Refuse his faith, and you’ll be burned alive. Embrace it, and you may become something far worse. This isn’t just a dungeon crawl. It’s a full-blown crusade to take down a vampire cult… from the inside. The Crimon Monastery is awesome – there’s just so much to it. But let’s start out by saying that Father Renathyr’s not alone. His cult is sustained by three terrifying Priors, each with their own tragic backstory and twisted gifts: There’s Houndmaster Jaeger , Friar Olaf , and perhaps the most terrifying , Inquisitor Cromwell . Each of them appears human at first. But when defeated, their monstrous Night Creature forms are revealed for a brutal second phase. They’re more than lieutenants—they’re potential successors. If you don’t take out all three, the cult might survive… without Renathyr. And then there’s the monastery itself. It’s not just a setting. It’s a trap. The whole thing. The monastery’s walls are made of bloodstone—a cursed material that prevents blood from drying. If you’re wounded, you leave a visible trail, and stealth becomes nearly impossible. All around are red stained-glass windows arranged in rose-petal patterns. They bathe everything in an eerie light. Inside, the rituals are disturbing: bodies bled at the altar, corpses hanging in the Dead Larder, prayers whispered under a false god. Oh—and there’s no sunlight. A blessing from the Crimson Rose means that even magical sunlight won’t harm vampires within these walls. This is their stronghold. You’re not just breaking in to your usual dungeon crawl. With the Crimon Monastery, you’re invading a fortress of the damned. Finally, this story doesn’t end with one death. Kill Father Renathyr without wiping out his Priors? You start a civil war. The survivors fight for control, leading to bloodshed across the region. But what if you expose the truth—that the Crimson Rose is a devil—and show proof to the faithful? You could cause the entire cult to collapse in one dramatic showdown. The townsfolk revolt. The Bloodless turn on each other. The Crimson Monastery falls into ruin. You get to choose the ending. But be warned: leave even one thread intact, and the nightmare may rise again. So, adventurer... if you haven’t picked up the Crooked Moon yet, it might just be time. If you’ve liked what you’ve heard, the Crimson Monastery is only one of many adventures within this beautiful new book. So, let me know what path you’d take in the comments below. Like this video if you love dark, story-rich adventures. Subscribe for more deep dives into the shadowy corners of D&D, and let us know you want us to cover next. Until next time—stay safe, roll high, and never trust a rose without thorns.
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