I decided to run a game. It's been a week and I have nothing for my setting except for a few names. I only have the vaguest idea of a campaign that's just one sentence, not that it could be summed up in a sentence.
What do I do? It's like I have no imagination (anymore).
You're obviously not in the shape to write a campaign of your own right now, so how about you take a premade one instead.
Get the first session planned. Setting can fuck right off, as long as you can fill 3 hours with something vaguely entertaining the players won't give two shits about the fabled milkshake trees of a far-off land.
THEN you can make the setting, expanding it as the players move to explore it, filling in details as the players draw near.
you can't plan a session without a setting
You can plan a session with the vaguest fucking idea though. "Mountain Village" great, that'll do. "Cyberpunk city district" is all you need for a session really
>Where the players start (usually the most mundane place in the setting)
>Their first quest/task (usually something simple that takes up time)
>Who they meet
Whenever I DM without a good idea at the moment, I start with this, and then by the next session flesh it out.
Step 1: Accept that no matter what plan you've got, your players will probably murder it right off the bat. Don't put all of your eggs in one basket, and don't put all of your plan on one path. Players can be jerks like that.
Step 2: Figure out why these characters even associate with eachother. What reason do they have for being around and trusting one another? Don't be afraid to tell them during character creation to ensure that "And you are here for reason X" is valid for their character - enforce it, and don't just leave it up to them to figure out.
Step 3: Once you know why they're together, decide why they're here. Doesn't have to be for the plot. Are they old friends having a reunion? Perhaps they're the miracle octuplets, and go everywhere together as a travelling circus act? Whatever it is, they need a reason to be here. Maybe it's just because everyone always goes to Ye Olde Taverne (it's fancy 'cos it's got extra 'e's) on Thursday nights for the porkchop special. Or perhaps they're all travelling between towns? (Ye Olde Taverne burnt down, now they need to find a new place that makes good porkchops.)
Step 4: Plot Hooks - think of some, and provide them to the party. Expect a few of them to be missed completely, with the PCs fixating themselves strongly upon some unrelated item ("No! Ignore that cryptic letter from your recently deceased estranged Uncle Abernathy, We must find the One True Porkchop recipe!")
Step 5: Once they've well and truely wandered off the rails of your plot idea, taken a taxi away from the train yard, chartered a yacht out into open water, and then jumped ship onto a deserted island of "WTF are you even doing here?", make stuff up from there that sounds likely as a result of their actions.
(continued)
Step 6: Keep doing that for 4 years, and hope none of them realise all of your game notes are just random generated NPCs in case you need them, and details of stuff you remember them doing so it can come back to haunt them later.
Step 7: Collect congradulations on such a well plotted and detailed campaign.
(This is from experience. Including the porkchops thing.)
Read a bunch of books
Have you considered weed?
This basically never helps.
Option 1: and watch a bunch of movies. rip off the plots in broad strokes so players don't notice. (Always fess up when they do notice, though. A session can be uncreative, and still be good.)
Option 2: Give a vague but straight forward objective, and let the players basically run the session from there with their shenanigans.
Here, have this.
This was made for RPGs but it works great as a campaign idea seed too. Roll three times, reroll one if the roll falls on something weird.
From there on, ad-lib. Look at player characters, figure what's important/interesting for them, make them encounter it. Make them meet what you rolled on the chart too. Sprinkle some seriously weird shit in, like, i dunno, reverse waterfall (challenge could be swimming up it avoiding sticking out rocks) or floating islands (bitches love floating islands).
If you have absolutely no idea, don't let players know it. Act confident, bedazzle them with brilliance and bewilder them with bullshit.
Rolled 451, 53, 74 = 578 (3d500)
Let's see.
Are you sure you had any imagination in the first place?
I wouldn't even say he should take a premade campaign. Even those require SOME competent level of imagination, and it seems like OP has none.
Just think of some cool shit for them to do. Nobody cares about the setting unless they really want to (which is never the case by default).
The first session doesn't have to be planned that well, just do the most generic shit possible for whatever system you're using e.g. If D&D the mayor of the local town wants you to clear out a cave of goblins (which you copy for somewhere or just flat out randomly generate) which have been harassing the town, it they tell the mayor to go fuck himself there's a city a fair ways (more than one session) travel away that you roll random encounters for.
In the first session players are usually more exited about trying out their characters for the first time so this bland shit will be fine.
Rolled 7 (1d12)
I'll roll you up and adventure right.
BBEG's class in alphabetical scoring:
Rolled 9 (1d11)
>Rolled 7 (1d12)
Your BBEG is a Paladin.
Your BBEG's race in alphabetical scoring:
Rolled 17 (1d20)
>Rolled 7 (1d12)
>Rolled 9 (1d11)
Your BBEG is a Tiefling Paladin, at level:
>Rolled 7 (1d12)
>Rolled 9 (1d11)
>Rolled 17 (1d20)
Your BBEG is a Tiefling Paladin at level 17. Ok, go for an Oath of Treachery from UA and make them Lawful Evil, i.e. a Black Guard. Probably have devil horns and a forked tongue for appearance (being a demonic Tiefling). At level 17 they can cast Dominate Person so let's say they did so on the local King and made the kingdom a pretty bad place to live.
...
I rolled up a name from the evil name generator and we may finalize:
>Layre Thornheart, Level 17 Oath of Treachery Blackguard Paladin.
>He cast Dominate Person on the King and made the Kingdom a hellhole to live.
>His motivations come straight from the UA: indulge in wanton violence and accumulate great treasure.
No let's roll up a henchman for the party to encounter earlier in the game.
Rolled 5 + 1 (1d12 + 1)
Ok i got a 9,9 because fuck the 4ch roller so
Henchman: Rogue Tiefling
Ah this is good, so they got the same race. Let's suppose its his sister, and I rolled up a new evil name. Well there you go:
BBEG:
>Layre Thornheart, Level 17 Oath of Treachery Blackguard Paladin.
>He cast Dominate Person on the King and made the Kingdom a hellhole to live.
>His motivations come straight from the UA: indulge in wanton violence and accumulate great treasure.
BBEG Henchman:
>Cassara Delacroix Thornheart,
>Rogue Tiefling Level 6.
Have the party get involved with her in a pub/bar for grabbing some treasure or whatever, and have her betray them and throw them in her Brother's dungeons. Perhaps an elabroate scheme to get rid of adventurers before they grow too strong and can challenge her brother.
This is the oldest trick in the book: start out with violence, and when the PCs win, let their speculation drive your DMing.