Once your heroes get a few adventures under their belts, what choices can they make to help drive the campaign to the next level? What will help drive player motivation and the feeling of agency in your fantasy TTRPG?

Whatever choices you offer your players, make sure that they understand that their choice will largely determine the direction of the campaign and the type of adventures they’ll have going forward. You can offer them a major choice at 5th or 6th level and again at 9th.

1. A House in the City

The heroes buy or build a house or inn and make it their base. Adventures going forward will be more (but not exclusively) city-based. They could discover the building has secret access to a dungeon under the city or has a resident ghost with unfinished business.

The heroes could become immersed in local politics, trade problems, and court cases–maybe even an invasion. Trouble will start coming to them more often.

2. A Ship in the Harbor

The heroes buy a ship and make it a floating headquarters. Adventures going forward will include more travel, including travel to exotic lands. They could discover the ship or some of its crew has a mysterious past.

The heroes could become immersed in trade, piracy, exploration of new lands, lost ships, and sunken or buried treasure.

3. A Stronghold in the Country

The heroes are rewarded with a stronghold in the country in the form of a manor house or border tower with land. Adventures going forward will include fending off attacks by monsters and raiders, sallying forth to hunt those enemies, and dealing with merchants. They could discover the structure has a ghost or that the cellars connect to an extensive dungeon. Or they could find a rival wants to seize their land.

The heroes could become immersed in local trade, border disputes, and farming and herding.

4. Joining a Faction

The heroes join an organization of some sort, such as an order of knighthood, college of magic, smuggling syndicate, mercenary company, or trade company. Adventures going forward will involve more social interactions with other members and outsiders and furthering the organization’s aims. They may uncover a dark secret about the faction’s leadership or history. Or they may rise in the esteem of their brotherhood by resolving some old rivalry or recovering a lost relic.

The heroes could become immersed in internal and external politics and fulfilling their duty to the organization. If the heroes are expected to give up some autonomy to fit in, they need to gain something significant, such as a coveted magic item.

5. A Personal Quest

The heroes embark on a personal quest to accomplish some goal they set for themselves. Adventures going forward will involve quite a bit of travel while searching, exploring, or investigating, as the case may be. They may decide to hunt down the Brown Beast of Aldar, seek out the lost Lamp of Quar’neril, or get revenge on the Volcano Queen. But to make that decision, that thing needs to exist in the realm first and be the source of trouble or mystery.

For this, you might roll randomly to determine some disaster that befalls the realm that the heroes can then go a-questing on. The players can make suggestions for the list and perhaps can even vote in secret to determine it or weight the die roll.

• Their home city is sacked or destroyed by raiders, humanoids, or a dragon.
• A relative or mentor is kidnapped or killed by a noble, black knight, or vampire.
• The thing they’re protecting or seeking is lost to or destroyed by the villain.
• A place of beauty or pilgrimage is destroyed.

Or you could encourage the players to pursue their character’s heroic duty.

6. A Position at Court

The heroes are invited to join the local noble’s court or even the royal court as advisors and/or champions. Adventures going forward will involve more social interactions with other courtiers and resolving issues troubling the realm as a whole.

The heroes may uncover skullduggery and conspiracy at home. Or they may win fortune and glory by slaying some ancient or rising menace in the hinterlands. They could even become immersed in international rivalries and travel abroad to capture some prize for the noble or engage in some sabotage of a foreign realm.