This piece assumes that you have a game troupe that will be gaming with.

1) Start with the tease: You need to know if the players will like what you want to play.  I solve this by creating a number of campaign trailers. For every campaign I want to run, I create a “title” and some “copy”. The title is akin to a book or movie title. The copy is like a book blurb or advertising text for a movie, describing a bit about the campaign background and story it will (try to) tell. As a campaign is starting to wind down (before it ends or it will go on hiatus), I start presenting my troupe with these “trailers”. I can then judge their interest in various types of campaigns and build interest in the possible games. After a while, I tailor the trailers to match their responses (planning appropriate changes in the campaign). By the time the campaign stops, the players are excited about the new campaign, just as if they were excited about a new movie.

2) Poll your players I:  While I am presenting various campaign trailers to my troupe, I start to work on the actual campaign we will run.  I ask each player for one to five “bits” they want to see in the campaign.  Each bit is a campaign element, character types, major NPCs (or type of NPC), types of story lines they want to see, the kind of settings, type of adventures they want to see, types of opposition, important elements (magic, tech, skills), genre and subgenre.  From these elements, I can usually tell which campaign trailer they are most interested in.  Sometimes, I will create new movie trailers based on their answers. 

3) With a ruler and some tape: Armed with the various campaign bits the troupe wants to see, I start a vague outline for the campaign setting. I will work out outlines for each campaign trailer the troupe is genuinely interested in, modified for their responses. 

4) Buy the Tickets.  They have seen the updated trailers, the troupe begins to decide which campaign they want to play.  In theory they should choose just one. It has been my experience they will waffle between two until the very last moment.  Once the campaign has been choosen (or for each campaign they might want), I ask them for the 1-5 campaign bits based on that setting.

5) With a ruler and some tape II: I begin to build the game environment in earnest.  For this I use a top down, bottom up method.  That is, start with some conceptional ideas, and brainstorm every important part- noting the best parts.  After deciding on the pieces to keep, I build the world up from the details selected.

I will also begin to work on the main storylines for the campaign. 

6) World Pack: After creating the world, I create the basic world pack for the campaign setting.  This will include the overview of the world, some details, and any special rules that we will be using for this game.

7) Casting: We have Casting Parties.  In these group sessions, we work out all our characters together.  Players help players with game mechanics and conceptions.  The characters are woven together in terms of their mutual histories, so the group has a real reason to be together.  As the GM I provide direction and information to the group.  This casting party allows the players to create what will become a team with mutually supporting roles in the group, weave their backgrounds and story lines together, and get a good feel for the group.

8) Poll the characters II: In addition to any notes I make during the casting party, I ask each player for 1-5 things they want to see in the game, with an emphasis on their characters.  This time they will give me actual roles they want to see in the game (love interest, evil wizard to be their enemy, etc), storylines they want, types of scenarios they are now intersted in, opponents or types of opponents, and so on. 

9) Polish the work.  The final elements of the world are created to support the characters and their conceptions.  Plot lines are mapped out. Villains are created. All the final polishing of the game is done.

10) Start the game.

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