Campaign Archives - Dungeons and Dragons at Work

August 22, 2025August 22, 2025

Succession War: Kill Team Campaign Design

Following the success of my last Kill Team narrative campaign at my local club I’ve decided to run another one. This time I want to incorporate some of the feedback from the participants in an attempt to heighten the narrative and increase engagement. Membership at the club has increased over the last few months so I’m hopeful we can have even more players than previous. But first I need to plan the narrative and scope. So read on for my Kill Team campaign design notes, to get my take on where this next event might take us.

Campaign Scope

While the last campaign was purposefully kept as simple as possible I want to increase the length and scope of this attempt without stretching myself or the players too thin. A couple of goals I’ve set myself includes:

Longer event without losing momentum. 7 week campaign this time round.
Engaging storyline that goes beyond the regular 40 faction divides of Chaos, Imperium and Xenos.
More opportunities for narrative.
Links to previous Promethium Wars event.
Include more than 12 players if possible.
Accessible to all play levels.
Multiplayer events.
Multiplayer grand finale.

Succession War Narrative

In an attempt to open up the alliances to multiple factions I’ve worked in a narrative based around the death of a Planetary Governor on an Imperial World. His offspring are fighting for the governorship supported by multiple factions. The plot will look something like this:

In the dying embers of the Forge World Velkira Prime, the great Steward Magus Regulus Thane lies on the edge of death. His three children—each bearing different visions for the planet’s future—prepare to seize power.

Amid their silent war of diplomacy, bribery, and sabotage, an external threat looms: Rhyskar the Unbound, a newly ascended Daemon Prince, seeks dominion of the system to prove his worth to the Chaos Pantheon. With Pyrothis V already in ruin, Velkira Prime is next.

The Imperium watches. The Xenos listen. And the Forge World burns with secrets.

Players take the role of shadow operatives, kill teams loyal to hidden masters. At the beginning of the campaign, each player secretly chooses a sibling to support. Each sibling also has one player assigned as their Captain—privy to deeper strategy and mission briefings.

Sibling Factions

The player base will be split across the three sibling factions regardless of whichever faction their Kill Team is aligned to. While each sibling is outwardly aligned to a particular faction they actually appeal to all three as described below.

Darian Thane – The Iron Heir

Loyalty: The Imperium
Vision: A brutal but stable militarized technocracy. Increased tithe to the Imperium to win political favor.
Theme: Order, sacrifice, grim determination.
Support: Militarum, Adeptus Mechanicus hardliners, conservative Space Marine chapters.

Chaos Support: Chaos-aligned factions view Darian’s rigid order as fertile ground for insidious infiltration. His obsessive devotion to law and productivity blinds him to the slow rot within.
Imperial Support: Darian is the traditionalist’s choice. He vows loyalty to the Imperium, pledges increased tithes, and promotes military strength and hierarchy.
Xenos Support: Pragmatic T’au or mercenary Kroot may ally with Darian via under-the-table deals with his logisticians, supplying rare resources or weapons in exchange for toleration.

Selene Thane – The Hidden Flame

Loyalty: Xenos sympathizer
Vision: Secret alliances with the T’au and Aeldari to boost production and evade Imperial taxes.
Theme: Innovation, progress, secrecy.
Support: Rogue Traders, T’au diplomats, Harlequin agents, Forge World fringe cults.

Chaos Support: Chaos cults view Selene’s obsession with innovation and progress as an open door to Tzeentchian manipulation. Her radical reforms destabilize the status quo—perfect for seeding anarchy.
Imperial Support: Some elements in the Imperium (Inquisition radicals, free-thinking Magi, or certain Rogue Traders) see her ideas as necessary evils for survival on the frontier.
Xenos Support: Selene has already opened discreet trade lines with T’au diplomats and Aeldari seers. Her faction embraces alien tech, psychic insight, and fringe experimentation.

Kato Thane – The Pale Prophet

Loyalty: Chaos
Vision: A Forge World as a daemon-forge of flesh and steel. Secretly devoted to Nurgle and Tzeentch.
Theme: Corruption, mutation and progress.
Support: Cults, Traitor Astartes, Renegade Mechanicus, Genestealer remnants.

Chaos Support: Kato is a willing servant of Chaos. His hidden cults grow daily, and his daemon-forges swell with unsanctioned warp energies. He dreams of apotheosis.
Imperial Support: Kato presents himself as a quiet, dutiful son. Loyalist factions that prefer a weak or pliable ruler may support him as a puppet candidate.
Xenos Support: Genestealer Cult remnants, radical Necron Crypteks, or even Ork Mekboyz might be amused by Kato’s grotesque tech-heresy. Some see his reign as inevitable—and profitable.

Player Distribution and Captains

In an effort to even up the teams players will be assigned based on rough skill level and experience. A captain will also be assigned with the aim of hyping up their team as well as dishing out specialist campaign equipment. The captains will also be tasked with encouraging the narrative within the campaign, creating rivalries and grudges etc.

Campaign Progression

Campaign progression will look something like the following:

Week	Theme	Crit Ops	Notes
1	Fires of Ambition	Secure – Capture Key industrial sites on Velkias Prime
2	Silent Alliances	Dead Drop – Deliver/collect coded intel across the map	Team Captains will be given a selection of rare equipment to pass out to their team members.
3	Saboteurs Unleashed	Sabotage of key rival infrastructure	2v2 Half teams multiplayer missions
4	Assassination	Assassination crit op targeting rival leaders	The sibling with the weakest control is assassinated and removed from the race. Lost faction players redistributed to the winners.
5	Aftershocks Turf War	Seize and control disputed territory	Captains given further assets to distribute to their teams.
6	Final Strike	Kill Op, wipe out the other teams	2v2 Half teams multiplayer missions Adding double control points.
7	Control	Large multiplayer event set in the Governors Palace	Players bring 1-2 operatives for a final show down. Which faction will control the winning Sibling?

Victory Conditions

A simple map of Velkaria Prime divided into 5 sectors will form the basis of the win condition. Each game (decided or rolled for by the players) will take place in a different sector and a win will create a control point in that location. Control of the planet will therefore take on a visual aspect as control of the different sectors changes hands.

Having a map came up a lot in the player feedback and will form a central unifying aspect of this Kill team campaign design.

A separate element will be the Champion. Each player will nominate a champion (not their leader). Each champion gets a point for every Kill they make. This will form a different leader board giving players another victory condition to work towards.

Final Thoughts on the Kill Team Campaign Design

With regards to this Kill Team campaign design, I’m hoping that the mix of factions and player captains and map will all serve to keep the players engaged. As well as the multiplayer events and shifts in the story arc.

While players will be assigned to factions, it will be important that they develop a narrative around why their team is supporting the given sibling and work changes in the plot.

While a little more complicated than the previous campaign, the administration is actually fairly limited for me as the Arbitrator (organiser). Having the captains help corral players will also be a big help.

Looking forward to getting the map, missions and player pack finalized and kicking it off in a couple of months.

May 23, 2025October 3, 2025

Planning a Kick-Ass D&D Campaign with Minimal Effort

Planning a Dungeons & Dragons campaign can feel overwhelming, especially for Dungeon Masters who want to keep their preparation time manageable. However, by borrowing concepts from Dungeon World Fronts and embracing minimalist planning, you can create a dynamic, player-driven experience that feels rich and engaging without requiring hours of prep work. I use this methodology in many of my own campaigns and I can say from experience that it works a treat.

What Are Dungeon World Fronts?

Dungeon World, a narrative-driven RPG, uses Fronts as a way to organize campaign threats and storylines without rigid scripting. Instead of planning each session in detail, you create major factions, events, and dangers that will evolve naturally based on player actions. These Fronts act as living forces in the world, ensuring the story unfolds dynamically.

Step 1: Define Your Fronts

A Front is a significant force or conflict that drives the game’s narrative. Examples include:

A Rising Cult – A mysterious order gathers followers to summon an ancient deity.
A Warlord’s Ambition – A power-hungry warlord seeks to conquer the region.
A Failing Empire – The once-great kingdom crumbles due to internal corruption.
A Forgotten Curse – An ancient evil begins to stir beneath the land.

Each Front has:

A Core Threat – The central danger or goal of the Front.
Grim Portents – Steps showing how the Front advances if unchecked.
Impending Doom – The final, catastrophic outcome if players fail to intervene.

It is best to have 2-3 Fronts in play. This creates interesting moral dilemmas for the players. Do we find the rising cults source of power, or stop the Warlords ambition in the border lands? Combatting one will leave the other unchecked for a time and closer to reaching it’s impending doom.

Example of Dungeon World fronts used for a Castle Ravenloft campaign

Step 2: Keep Session Prep Minimal

Instead of spending hours scripting intricate encounters, use situation-based preparation:

What’s Happening Right Now? – Consider what the antagonists are currently doing.
What Might Happen Next? – Think about the logical consequences of past events.
What Questions Need Answers? – Let player curiosity drive exploration.

This method of play does require getting comfortable with improvisation. For some tips on upping your improve game you can check out my previous article on the subject.

Step 3: Build NPCs and Factions, Not Plots

Rather than rigid story arcs, create motivated NPCs with clear goals. If you establish what each faction or villain wants, they will naturally push the world forward, reacting to the players’ choices.

This keeps the game very fluid and flexible. It will actually create intricate and compelling stories without the rigidity and time spent on creating these beforehand.

Step 4: Use Player Backstories for Hooks

Weave your players’ backgrounds into the campaign. A character’s lost sibling, old rival, or mysterious prophecy can become central elements of the story, creating organic engagement without extra planning.

Step 5: Let the World React

One of the best ways to keep a campaign like this engaging is to make the world feel alive. To do that use the following:

Actions Have Consequences – If players ignore a threat, it advances.
Factions and NPCs Adapt – Enemies respond to failures and successes.
The Story Evolves – The campaign unfolds based on player choices, not a fixed script.

Final Thoughts

By using Dungeon World Fronts, embracing minimal prep, and letting players drive the story, you can create a rich, immersive D&D campaign without hours of meticulous planning. While this type of campaign can seem too freewheeling, it does in fact take less effort while creating adventures that the players get fully engaged with. By focusing on dynamic factions, evolving conflicts, and player-driven narratives, and you’ll have an unforgettable game that practically runs itself.

May 9, 2025June 13, 2025

Launching the Promethium Wars: Designing a Narrative Kill Team Campaign

Those who have been reading this blog for a while will know that I love the idea of stories emerging from game play. While this is obvious in games like D&D, I’m also interested in trying to create similar emergent experiences with other game systems. I’m a member of a local wargaming club where we play games of Kill Team and 40K on a weekly basis. I think there’s something special about a wargaming campaign that tells a story. Not one written in advance, but one that emerges—slowly, chaotically, gloriously—from the dice rolls, the table banter, and the narrative fragments players build together. With that in mind I volunteered to run a narrative campaign for the group. As a result, Promethium Wars, a narrative Kill Team campaign, was born.

I wanted something simple enough to run with minimal admin, but rich enough to spark real engagement amongst the participants. Something where a quick game on a weeknight could feel like part of a bigger war. Games would no longer be transactional affairs, but rather threads forming a larger narrative. And with twelve players already signed up—divided evenly across the Imperial, Chaos, and Xenos factions—it’s clear the idea has struck a chord.

Design Principles

Narrative and Emergent Storytelling were at the core of the campaign design. I didn’t want to script the campaign’s twists and turns. Instead, each week’s outcomes will steer the story. Players can dive in as much (or as little) as they want—whether that means writing full-blown battle reports, communicating in character or just rolling dice and watching the story evolve.

To keep things light and playable for everyone, I leaned into the principle of Limited Admin. No complicated map-tracking or bookkeeping for the campaign manager (me) or the players. Just clear weekly themes, short prompts, and a shared space for storytelling. Every game counts, but you don’t need to log three hours on a spreadsheet for it to matter. The minimum admin for each participant is to log game results and send them to me. Of course, if the players get really into the game the Discord server should begin to grow with narrative reports and banter, but it is not a requirement.

Each faction has its own win condition, giving players a reason to show up and push their agenda forward. The Chaos and Imperial factions want control of Pyrothis V and must win the most number of games. The Xenos faction, who can fight for either side, wants to grind both enemies down to an ineffective stalemate, wins if the Chaos and Imperial sides are effectively tied (two points difference). Regardless of the game mission being played, there’s always a motive. The stakes are casual but meaningful—exactly the balance I was aiming for.

My Imperial Navy Breacher Team, ready to help rescue Pyrothis V.

Structure and Themes

The last principle was Short Campaign Length. I don’t want the campaign to fizzle out. Keeping it short ensures that the high energy at the start can be maintained. Short, sharp, explosive. I hope that this will keep the players coming back for more campaigns in the future.

Therefore, the campaign unfolds over four weeks, with a new theme each week to guide missions and inspire storytelling. These themes won’t constrain players—they’re meant to be narrative fuel. Players are encouraged to run games when and how they like, as long as it fits the week’s vibe. The four themes are:

Week 1: Infiltration and Sabotage
Week 2: Open Conflict
Week 3: Firestorms and Disaster
Week 4: Final Gambit

Once reports begin trickling in from the front lines, I’ll be putting together a short newsletter each week to highlight key developments, turning points, and of course, the faction scores.

For more detail on the background, win conditions and campaign set up, you can download the players pack below:

Kill Team Narrative Campaign_Promethium Wars_Player Pack Download

A Living, Breathing War

Perhaps the most exciting part of any narrative kill team campaign is the player energy. Already, folks are crafting characters, naming squads, and giving them relevant back stories. And while there’s no pressure to write stories, every player is invited to contribute. These tales—written, spoken, or just shared at the table—are what will give the campaign its true shape.

Ultimately, Promethium Wars is a story we’re writing together. And the pen happens to be shaped like a bolter.

Final Thoughts on Narrative Kill Team Campaign Design

The campaign is started mid April and will run to mid May. I’m aiming to learn from this experience to hone the opportunity for emergent narrative play and see what comes out. Depending on the actions of the players I’m considering running a multiplayer finale to cement the end of the campaign. But the fact that this is an emergent experience I guess I’ll have to wait and see how the whole thing pans out.

Once the campaign has finished, I’ll post the results along with any lessons learned from the experience.

To find out how the campaign went and to read the weekly journals check out my summary post here.