Campaign Concept: Does This Count as "Breaking the Fourth Wall?"

What Are We Making?

Have you ever wanted to play D&D... in D&D? Have you ever wanted to play some type of "meta-game" that's meta within the game itself?

Let me explain. This idea struck me late at night, after I got home from work. Normally, I take more time to really think and flesh out the campaign concepts for this blog, but I desperately want to get this one out there. It's so fascinating to me.

The idea is to essentially run a game that is actually two games. As such, each player needs to make 2 characters. One character will be in the "Base Game" setting and one will be in the "Tabletop Game" setting - I'll explain what those mean in a second. For the Base Game setting, the DM will also need to create a character that is the DM of some kind of tabletop RPG. If it were me, I'd just have both games as D&D 5e since that's the system I know best, but that doesn't mean that you have to. Use Pathfinder, Starfinder, Call of Cthulhu, or even a TTRPG that you, yourself, are working on. That TTRPG is the Tabletop Game setting. The characters in the Tabletop Game are the second set of characters made by the players, and they are played by the Base Game characters.

The Setting

This game has two settings: the Base Game and the Tabletop Game.

The Base Game is set in a world that's not so different from ours, or that's how I would personally do it. There would be a few exceptions though.

- I would make the Base Game world more of an "urban fantasy" setting. I would let there be strange creatures and magic mixing with modern technology and social norms.

- In terms of characters, for this world, I'd limit the player's choices a little. I'd allow any race. The classes would have to be "re-flavored" a bit, and some subclasses would have to be excluded entirely. In a "modern fantasy setting" there may not be a place for certain subclasses. DMs hoping to run this game really need to work with their players for creation of these characters. Let the creativity flow. Find ways that certain subclasses can fit in the niches of modern society; I encourage it. Backgrounds will be hard. I'd homebrew them according to characters' backstory and according to where the Base Game primarily takes place. That brings us to...

- The main setting in the Base Game, whatever it may be, has to have the Base Game characters and Base Game DM in a position where they already know each other, have been friends for some time (several months to several years), and the characters would have to know how to play whatever TTRPG the Base Game DM wants to play with them. They could all be coworkers; they work in the same building. They could all be friends from university, or maybe they're in university together right now. That's how you might want to structure their backgrounds; give them skills related to their specific job or field of study.

Urban / modern fantasy settings are really fun to worldbuild in my opinion, and I can see this world being so incredibly fun and interesting to play in.

Then there's the Tabletop Game setting. This is a typical setting for whatever TTRPG you're looking to run. Any race, class, background, etc. from that system is fair game, in my opinion. That's also really nice because if a player couldn't find a way to "reflavor" their favorite class in the Base Game setting, then they can just play it here! The players will be spending as much time in the Tabletop Game as the Base Game. I'd structure the game in such a way that every other, two, or three sessions alternate between the Base Game and the Tabletop Game.

The Plot

So what's the point? Why in the world would this be a fun game for my players? Normally when I do these types of posts, I give a list of different plot ideas and potential arcs. Well, like I said earlier, I didn't exactly spend as much time with this concept as I usually do. I just got really excited about it! So, instead, let me walk you through how I would do it by creating a fake group of players. Maybe that will get your own gears turning.

So, let's say that the Base Game setting is Aspiring Dragons University (ADU.) All the Base Game characters are university students. This is my table, and these are my players and their characters:

DM: Emily

Base Game DM: Jesse (Human, College of Eloquence Bard) - Jesse is a double major in Political Science and Literature.

Player: Carly

Base Game PC: Othokent (Lizardfolk, Arcane Archer Fighter) - Othokent studies at ADU and is also captain / president of the archery team / club.

Tabletop Game PC: Quirek (Aaracockra, Circle of Dreams Druid) - Outlander Background.

Player: Josh

Base Game PC: Graal (Hobgoblin, Forge Domain Cleric) - Graal actually attends ADU part time, and went to a trade school to become a welder before that. He still does metal-work. 

Tabletop Game PC: Elaim Dralam (Dwarf, Path of the Battlerager Barbarian) - Soldier Background.

Player: Ryan

Base Game PC: Halimath (Firbolg, Circle of the Shepherd Druid) - Halimath is a Zoology major at ADU. He grew up on a local farm.

Tabletop Game PC: Sin (Tiefling, School of Evocation Wizard) - Charlatan Background.

Player: Jenny

Base Game PC: Corelia Ironfoot (Gnome, Life Domain Cleric) - Corellia is a nursing major at ADU. She's also involved with a religious group on campus.

Tabletop Game PC: Dyla Ahlorsath (Triton, Mastermind Rogue) - Criminal Background.

I'd have session zero with the whole table, but only talk about the Base Game PCs. Then, we'd do the first Base Game session where Jesse would sit down with Othokent, Graal, Halimath, and Corelia and pitch their idea for a D&D campaign. It'd be your typical fantasy fare: go on a grand adventure to stop some great evil and save the world. Then go through another session zero as the characters in the Base Game, who are talking to Jesse about the Tabletop Game characters: Quirek, Elaim, Sin, and Dyla. Then, Jesse would start the first session of the Tabletop Game.

Alternate for two or three more sessions each. Let the players get used to the whole "two worlds, two characters" thing. I think it's going to be an adjustment for everyone, and it'll be a lot for the DM (me, in this case) to keep straight. There are a couple of things I would make known to the real-life players:

- We can, in the middle of a Tabletop Game session, transition to Base Game. Remember that your Tabletop characters are the characters of your Base characters. So, if the Base Game characters have something to say about the way that Jesse runs the game, then they have a right to say it.

- Additionally, if something happens in the Tabletop Game and you want to see how Base Game characters react, simply ask, "How does Jesse look right now?" or "What does Corelia think of this?"

- You cannot simply transition from Base Game to Tabletop Game because the Tabletop Game is only run when Jesse says that it is. If you're in class in the Base Game, you cannot suddenly be playing D&D.

- Emily is running the Base Game. Jesse is running the Tabletop Game. Any narration I do for the Tabletop Game is actually Jesse talking to the Base Game characters.

- You will know when we transition from one setting to the other via verbal cues from me, and / or from any music changes.

After those preliminary sessions, things start to get a little strange. I actually do have a short list of ideas for this, and you can use any combination at your table or, of course, make your own.

- Events on campus or in the world of the Base Game weirdly start mirroring events in the Tabletop Game.

- Tabletop characters receive weird dreams about places they've never been to or heard about. They're intentionally vague though, and could easily be something else. However, maybe Jesse is actually describing a location on campus or in the city / town the university is in.

- Base characters receive weird dreams that are actually future premonitions about what's to come in Jesse's game.

- Jesse starts pouring themself more and more into worldbuilding the Tabletop Game, and their grades start slipping. They only want to hang out for D&D.

- The encounters in the Tabletop Game are getting harder and harder real fast... Is Jesse trying to kill us or something?

All of it leads up to one general idea... that I haven't really gotten to yet. Like I said, it's open to interpretation and I didn't flesh this one out as much as I usually do. I thought that maybe Jesse could be trying to become some type of freak-ish monster / god being. Maybe it's a strange coincidence and Jesse has no idea what's going on! They see strange patterns, but it's not them doing it! They're some kind of messenger or prophet and their D&D game is... some kind of prophecy. Maybe Jesse's trying to trap the Base Game characters in their Tabletop Game's world and then bring the other characters to the Base Game world for some reason. There's also potential for you to "peel back the second curtain" so to speak, and suddenly bring the plot into the real world. But, in all honesty, I'm not sure how you'd do that one.

Ultimately, I don't know two things about the plot: who the BBEG is or what their motivation would be, and those are kind of important to a plot. Perhaps that's for you to fill in, if you decide to play this kind of game! That's part of the fun of D&D. 

One thing I'd recommend though: I wouldn't play this game with players who are new to D&D or to any other TTRPG that you would use. Two characters and two settings can be overwhelming for veteran players. Learning and keeping track of several systems can be overwhelming for veteran players.

Just make sure that if you're going to play this type of game, you know your table and you warn them about what they're getting into ahead of time. And, most importantly, have fun with it!