Top 5 Ideas for Better 5E D&D Campaigns Inspired by Netflix’s Arcane

If you haven’t yet seen Arcane on Netflix then what are you even doing with your life? I’m bingeing Arcane again for the fourth time now and the show has some amazing inspiration for your tabletop roleplaying game settings and stories. Netflix’s Arcane is honestly a master class in storytelling all on its own and I want to break down five avenues for better RPG experiences using ideas from the show.

RPG inspiration is everywhere

Don’t worry — I’m not going to betray you with spoilers for Arcane and I won’t reference specific character arcs so you won’t risk accidentally piecing the spoilers together. Instead I’ll focus on broad strokes and tips of how Arcane’s storytelling can elevate your RPG experiences.

5. Employ a vibrant setting with a defined identity

One of the first things likely to stick out to viewers of Arcane is the world. This show builds its world subtly and overtly without major lore dumps or blocks of text. This is something I’m working to improve in my own Game Master methods at the moment — the age old adage, “Show, don’t tell.”

Part of how Arcane masterfully shows its worldbuilding without telling is through the world itself having a distinct identity. The setting of Arcane is a once war torn fantasy world evolved into an arcanapunk dystopia where those born into squalor are forced to literally breathe toxic air while the rich elites thrive in a gilded utopia made of brass and marble.

While both worlds possess good and evil among them the themes of law for Piltover and chaos for Zaun are exemplified in everything from their cultures to the characters born of them. The themes of duality and conflict define the setting’s core identity, whether talking about rich vs. poor, technology vs. magic or good vs. evil.

All of these interworking themes fit together like cogs in a clockwork machine. This allows a degree of shorthand when describing situations, locations or other themes within. Everything revolves around duality and conflict.

4. Portray nuanced protagonists whose paths collide

Almost every RPG centers on the concept of a core party of characters. What Arcane accomplishes is truly something special though. This show features characters whose paths intersect and separate regularly.

This works as a framework for something my face-to-face D&D group has only recently begun to discuss exploring — the notion of playing games in self-contained arcs and letting characters enter and exit the story freely. In the real world scheduling can be a difficult process and for some groups it’s virtually impossible to get a consistent group together. The characters in Arcane are all nuanced and well defined with their own arcs and growing points. I could easily fill out an RPG character sheet with personality traits and characteristics for each character with plenty of material to fill in that backstory section as well.

While watching Arcane I found one of the coolest things the show did was have a new group of these well developed characters interacting at every turn. In my mind this could manifest in our meta world as players being able to show up for a session and getting to play together. Not everyone needs to be together from the outset but instead treat it more like splitting the party.

Jump back and forth between groups knowing that during the session these groups of characters will combine or otherwise interact. This allows for a buildup and satisfying climax. Then have characters redistribute and adjust the party dynamics in the next session when players convene again.

Having each of these interactions and intersections impacting how characters grow and evolve further cements the impact of them. This could admittedly get messy with an inexperienced GM and note taking would be essential here but I would wager being able to pull something like this off could be a really interesting way to approach a campaign.

3. Make time jumps matter

One thing my group does is time skips. Whenever the GM needs more time to prepare the next arc or wants to take a break for another campaign we employ a time skip. This always involves a level increase and it also allows players an opportunity to flesh out their characters with whatever they want them to spend the time doing. This makes for leaps of character development and it also offers an opportunity for some redefinition.

Arcane pulls something similar during the break between the first and second arcs. All of the staple protagonists evolve after a climactic conflict and it’s beautifully executed. We see some characters who become even more like themselves, embracing their strengths and coming into their own. We also see other characters descend into despair or even madness.

I don’t know if others have this problem often but in my group we’ve been running the same campaign with the same characters for years. This makes us care deeply for the characters but it also means sometimes our characters grow stale. Sometimes someone just wants to mix things up with a new character. Time skips offer this to a degree.

For example we had a Circle of Wildfire druid whose player had expanded his comfort zone by playing a druid. As he played his character more and more he decided he didn’t care for the druid class so during one of our time skips he described a pilgrimage to a fiery temple of a nature god wherein his character’s wildfire druidism evolved into Light Domain cleric powers — mechanically a class change — thanks to the blessing of this fire fox goddess. This is but one example of the incredible storylines my group has pursued with a time skip and if you’re looking for how you might pull one off then looking to Arcane is a great springboard.

2. Keep the villains interesting

Arcane treats its villains beautifully. None are giggling psychopaths bent on destruction — not even those who might appear as such at a glance. Each has their own defined needs, desires and ideals along with enough flaws and meaningful relationships to tug at the heartstrings and keep people debating about if they’re even truly villains.

One of the things I’ve noticed often happens in villain narratives is this idea that every villain is an island, a person so selfish and wrapped up in their own schemes they can’t see past their own noses.

Don’t get me wrong. There’s a time and place for those sorts of villains to be sure (looking at you, one shots). However, imagine how much richer and more interesting a story can be crafted when the villains have relationships they care about, especially if some of those relationships are genuine or even arguably healthy!

Not only does this add complexity to the villains but it also may offer new avenues for interaction with your villains the players would never have conceived before learning of these things.

1. A McGuffin with consequences is no McGuffin at all

McGuffin is a literary term to refer to an item of plot relevance. Usually these only have plot relevance insomuch as they exist and are pursued by someone. However, Arcane introduces us to a McGuffin early on that holds significance outside its existence. The McGuffin in Arcane is not only the key to character growth and technology advancement but it also contributes to the very real skill development of one of the main characters.

The McGuffin facilitates the conflicts arising between societies, individuals and factions. It also acts as a raw force of chaos in an otherwise stable environment. Whenever I saw the McGuffin involved I scooted to the edge of my seat because I knew it mattered outside of its existence in and of itself.

Even the McGuffin’s handling and the conflict surrounding it proved to assist worldbuilding. When you realize the one society has multiples of this McGuffin, which the other society possesses in much smaller quantities, then you have to ask why the one society cares so much that this meager number of McGuffins is found.

That’s when you realize the truth. The McGuffin represents power and the potential for an underprivileged group to compete. This competition threatens the status quo and thus we get that central conflict of law vs. chaos once again. Law doesn’t actually care about the McGuffin. It cares about not being able to control chaos. It fears competition with chaos. This quintessential conflict of morality, alignment and ethics is facilitated by a McGuffin that is so much more than merely this.

Final Thoughts

Honestly I could gush about Arcane until Piltover and Zaun resolve their differences but I want to know what you think. Have you seen Arcane and what do you think of it? Have you gleaned anything from this amazing show that you could apply to your RPG experiences? Whatever you’ve got drop a comment! If you enjoyed this post, leave a like and maybe share it, and if you’re so inclined tweet @Nerdarchy, or connect with us on Facebook.

*Featured image — Amid the stark discord of twin cities Piltover and Zaun, two sisters fight on rival sides of a war between magic technologies and clashing convictions in Arcane on Netflix.