I'm going to use a five session plan here because my games tend to be several hours long so the mini arcs can also be short. If you're a group that plays for eight hours at a time I'd limit it to two, maybe three, mini arcs. Of course those mini arcs can be chopped up into micro arcs so they're still at the five quantity but it's always up to the GM to know their players and how they like their games.
To do this I start with a goal. Let's go with "Goblins are raiding villages in the mountains where there were never goblin raids before" as the main story arc. This means something is happening to send those goblins to that location (or be seen there). It gives me a chance to work through the process.
- What is the location like and where would the goblins come from?
- Why haven't they seen the goblins before?
- What does the location have that the goblins want?
- How does the location deal with the threat?
- What does the location want to do about the goblins?
- What does the party do when they encounter the goblins?
- What does the party do when they find the goblin lair?
This is the meat of the main story arc. Not everything will be its own mini arc but they're lurking in there. This is how a story develops. It brings out the basics - why is it happening, what's the plan to fix it, and what to do when they find the source.
Never mind how it can lead to another story arc. That's for later.
Taking all this information let it simmer.
- Location will determine where the goblins' lair is.
- Knowing that leads into why they location wouldn't have been them before and how the goblin attacks happen.
- It's up to the GM how the location can handle the attacks and if the party is involved they shouldn't be able to handle it on their own or there would be no need for the party to get involved.
- What do the goblins do when they're attacking/raiding the location?
- What do the goblins do when the party defends the village?
- What do the goblins do when the party starts looking for the lair?
- What do the goblins do when the party finds the lair?
With this you can make the main arc - a town is being raided by goblins, their population isn't up to the challenge of running them out, and they need help. Perfect. A basic story arc that the players can get behind.
First they need to get to the village and talk to the NPCs about what's going on. That's role play stuff. There's a goblin encounter that turns into a small running skirmish when the goblins figure out they're not dealing with easy meat now. That's the combat stuff.
Now the party knows more about the goblins and what they're doing. Are they taking food? Are they clearing out the farmers? Are they working to eliminate the town? Each of those goals has a different reason behind it. Decide which one it is from the previous arc and what comes out of the role play. If your players aren't that good at it or prefer not to role play much just pick one. Throw in a stronger encounter.
The next session is guarding the town and having a more serious encounter with the goblins. They know that the town has protection and they're going to see how good it is. Have them also achieve a portion of whatever the goal is, just to keep tensions high in the town. Even with the party there they can't fully protect the town. That's going to make the residents wonder why they're paying the party.
The final town encounter is a large scale goblin raid that does some damage to the town but draws the party out on the path to the lair. Now you're into the end game. The party knows why the goblins are attacking the town but they don't know why they're doing it now when they didn't do it before.
The last encounter of the arc gets the party to the lair. Combat ensues and they can either slaughter the goblins to eliminate the threat without ever finding out the ultimate reason or get some role play in to figure out the reason and maybe talk them into doing something other than attacking the town.
End of story arc. The party has successfully eliminated the goblin threat to the town. They get paid and they get some loot from the goblins. They've done what adventuring parties do - they've adventured.
Now they're at loose ends again. Following this arc, based on what happened at the lair, they can get a new story arc from it. The goblins were driven out of their homeland and the party wants to know why. Another faction of goblins sees easy meat in the town and starts their own raids (derivative and depends on how the players feel about repeating events), the party finds out there's a bounty on goblins so they go hunting for more. Or this story arc is over and a completely new one starts.
This all takes planning. Each mini arc builds on the previous ones and gets more difficult. Then the last, climactic session with the final reward.
Don't stress too much over writing out every single thing that can happen during these mini arcs. Make a framework you can hang events on as they occur. Toss in things that let the spotlight shine on each of the players. React to something they did in game and keep it rolling. Overplanning means you're not as flexible.
I give the same advice for the opponents. In this case I'd have levels of goblins so some are more experienced than others. To do raids there would have to be unit leaders. There'd be someone in the lair who planned the whole thing. And there could be NPC goblins that have to be dealt with in one form or another. Don't forget to throw in situations to challenge the player's morals.
There you go. A very long winded way to explain how I plan my sessions in advance so there's coherency in what they're doing in game and a satisfying story. Of course if they choose not to take this bait it's already prepped for another time. Encounter prep never really goes to waste.
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