Campaign Design Lessons from The Court of Cock a Knee – Roleplaying Tips

On Saturday’s Q&A call, Wizard of Adventure Andy shared his latest Campaign Prospectus — a kind of elevator pitch for your campaign. I thought it was great, and he gave permission to share it out.

Here is a PDF of his Campaign Prospectus.

A couple quick thoughts about it:

Clear Themes

Andy’s set up instructions for himself via Themes to establish and maintain a consistent tone and feel.

This helps when building and roleplaying, and having a theme for your adventures is a key GM technique.

GM Move: What themes are emerging or existent in your campaign? Write down three, then see if you can lean into them next session.

Unlock Gems

Andy’s got a cool idea with using tokens or unlock gems to give players more agency.

“We will use unlock gems allowing players to vote on various game aspects of interest to them for increased inclusion. Gems are allocated based on participation and swapped at the table based improving enjoyment.”

This is also a great mini-game that incentivizes player engagement. If a character has an excellent moment, or a player makes the game more fun, they get a chance to influence what happens in the future.

I prefer to keep meta-game mechanics out of sessions where possible. If you’re like me and also like Andy’s unlock gems, consider letting players use them between sessions.

This keeps the fourth wall intact, and could increase player attention and engagement between sessions, which helps improve campaign momentum and player preparedness.

GM Move: Do you have a reward system at your table to incentivize great play beyond XP? If not, playtest Pocket Points, unlock gems, or a small mechanic that gives players a bit of narrative influence or a temporary character sheet improvement.

Baked-In Conflict

I love how Andy has set up a clever game-within-the-game.

• The kingdom is a brutal totalitarian state.
• King Ivan has decreed specific rules to keep political enemies in check.
• Each player character, as part of their background has broken one rule — a Deadly Secret.
• The kingdom’s secrets will unravel — and the campaign ends when each character reconciles their own.

Fantastic setup that crackles with conflict, intrigue, and roleplaying opportunities.

And kudos for the campaign ending. A clear goal that’s character-focused and player-driven. Ne plus ultra!

GM Move: How could you tie your campaign plotline or grand finale to each character’s backstory, goal, or arc?

Thanks for sharing, Andy! Much appreciated.

Roleplaying Tips GM, choose one of the GM Moves above and try it in your campaign this week. Hit reply and tell me how it plays out — I’d love to hear your tale.

Cheers,
Johnn
roleplayingtips.com
https://discord.gg/6MxTRAqQ76
Have more fun at every game!

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