The Campaign Builder's Guild

I had a thought while reading through my other thread, but instead of diverting that one too much, I thought I'd start another thread.

What I was wondering was, what inspires you the most when working on a campaign world? Is their any one source that you draw from more than others? Such as music, movies, books? Has anything influenced you when you didn't expect it? Like a random verse in a song, a line in a movie?

For me, everything I watch, read or listen to usually influences me in one way or another, even if I don't realize it at first. Anime seems to influence me more often than most things, take a snippet from this show, a bit from that and see if they mesh into some unholy abomination :) Sometimes though, my campaign influences me into watching/listening to something. The planar organizations led me to watching Bleach, and working on steampunk influence got me listening to Abney Park.

Although recently the video game Alice: The Madness Returns has had me working on a plane for the campaign.

I think the strangest influence I had was from the Godsmack song "I Stand Alone". There was 4 words that set me off into the campaign I'm working on now "before the Final Falling".

For some reason those 4 words brought about an entire backstory for a campaign world and pages of material for me to go through.

So how about all of you? Any favorite resources for certain genre's?

Quote from: Nomadic
but now we are getting a bit off topic (not that this bothers me the cbg has always been more stream of consciousnesses than anything else).

I have a tendency of getting off topic all the time, so a little diversion doesn't bother me for the thread :D

Quote from: Nomadic
Anyhow the point is that I value encouraging active teamwork and relationships in a game and personally see that as something that has to be tackled from two directions (the rules and the DM).

This is the view I take on teamwork. While either rules or the GM alone can accomplish good teamwork options, it's still nice to have the rules handy, especially with newer players/new GM's.

First of all, thanks for all the replies and the welcomes :D

Quote from: Luminous Crayon
I like systems that give players enough rope to hang themselves with.
I love it when a game reaches a decision point that hinges not upon "can I do [X]?" but rather "should I do [X]?" I like giving characters power to make big changes to their world, and making their decisions on the use of that power have weighty consequences. I think moral dilemmas are more interesting to confront in a game than monsters.

This is one of the ways I always try to GM my games. Make the group think outside the box, never letting them get into a rut :)

Quote from: SabrWolf
Quite frankly though, I'm in a very similar boat as Luminous. I really love systems that are character driven and story oriented with lots of stuff that involves character choices and morality. To that end, I'll go one step further and say that, out of the half dozen core systems (d20 in another 6 or 7 forms, WoD d10, Dogs in the Vineyard, Primetime Adventures, etc) I've played with or run games in, I like the FATE system best. It's versatile, character driven, story oriented, and has just the right amount of resource management to make me a happy camper.

I've read a lot of good things about FATE, still have yet to play it but I've been trying to read up on it when I can. It's definitely one of the systems on my "To-try list"

Quote from: Xeviat
I don't have too much to say that LC didn't already just say. To accentuate my desires for a system, I like a system that lets you do everything the world should let you do. I also like a system that my players are familiar with.

I have tried to go away from D&D on several occasions, but something keeps drawing me back. I just like the game; it's easy for me to fiddle with, it's easy for my players to play, and it's part of our gaming vernacular. While I prefer 4E D&D over 3E, mostly because I primarily DM and 4E is easier for me to run, I do recognize how it changed the terms.

Even with a perfect system, I'd probably still fiddle with it, so I like systems with fiddly bits.

This pretty much sums it up for me, I like a system I can twist and bend into whatever I want. Since I'm so used to d20 that's been my main source for "fiddly bit" systems :D I always like my system to be somewhat of a frame for the modifications I'll usually end up doing anyways!

Quote from: Nomadic

Quote from: Luminous Crayon
I like systems that give players enough rope to hang themselves with.

This made me chuckle and I also agree with the point behind this statement. I want my players to be able to think outside the box. The issue I always had with DnD was that it encouraged players to just stand there and hit the bad guy with a sword until he died. It's an interesting and fun box but it's one that is very hard to break out of within the system. I don't want the players to limit themselves to the standard turn to turn fare (I attack him... ok roll to hit... hit!... ok roll damage... *rolls*... ok now it's his turn...). I want players maneuvering and using the terrain and each other to their advantage. It's awesome when a player cuts a rope and brings a chandelier crashing down on his enemies head and it's nail bitingly scary when they misjudge the terrain and the chandelier crashes through the floor which starts collapsing under them (oops). I also want more teamwork. In DnD players tend to focus on themselves. The DnD aid another option is weak at best and there's little in the way of things that demand working together. That's a whole other can of worms though and something that requires careful refinement.

Teamwork was something I always had difficulty in DnD. I think that's why I like looking through as many systems as I can. By the time I'm done I end up with something akin to Frankenstein's monster, a bit of this, a bit of that, add a jolt and you're good to go.

Quote from: Luminous Crayon
It's funny that you should quote that point to make that specific point of your own about D&D, Nomadic.

My original draft of that hella-long post (yes, I do multiple drafts of stuff before posting, stop laughing at me) included a bit about D&D in that paragraph which I originally cut because it seemed like an unnecessary digression.

But the point was that, even though your level goes up in D&D, the difficulty of your challenges goes up at an equal rate, so that relatively speaking, you're not actually getting more "powerful". Your numbers get bigger and your options get more numerous, but you're still facing the same sorts of challenges because they've gotten more formidable the same way you have done. At the end of the day, the question is always "can I beat the bad guy(s) in battle or not?"

Couldn't agree more, I'm not a fan of the whole "I leveled up...all my numbers". While a GM can get around issues like that...sometimes you don't have the option of a GM that CAN get around those issues. One of the systems I loved was a sub-system for d20 from Legends of Sorcery (or True Sorcery, can't remember). Skill based magic. As you gain power you gain more powerful spells but it's not spell slots, so a 9th level spell isn't automatically as easy to cast at level 17 as it is at 20. Not a perfect solution but it got my brain working so I could tweak my own system a little more!

Quote from: Zoetrope
When not abusing players with that megalomaniacal ruleset I adhere obsessively to the principle that System Does Matter. Rules for the things that need them, and the right rules, and no more or less than those.

I think that is a reason why a lot of people start making their own system. You know it contains the rules you need when you need them. In the end you don't have to worry about this rule clashing with this setting theme. It may take some time but in the end I always find it worth the effort.

Thanks for the welcome!

First of all, I'd highly recommend checking out Savage Worlds. It's not an overly complicated rule set like I usually find appealing, but it has really grown on me. It fits a lot of different styles and it's really simple. I've found Savage Worlds to be my baseline when working on changing d20 for my group.

Secondly I'm in the same boat as you, if you count the variations on d20 (3.x/Pathfinder/True20) as one overall system I've only really played/GM-ed in 3 systems. But I've been reading up on a lot lately. It's really gotten me interested. So hopefully peoples experiences will help me broaden my horizon :)

Peace,
Pyre

So, first of all, since this is my first post around here I thought I'd saa HI!

Now onto the actual post :)

I was introduced to Table-top RPG's through D&D 3e and since then I've gone through 3e, 3.5, Pathfinder, 4e and I've slowly been reading up on other systems. It's a bit difficult since the d20 system was my first system and honestly, still my favorite.

But what I really wanted to know is this, what systems do you prefer to use, even if it's a separate system for different types of games, and why do you like them. For a while now I've been "testing the waters" with other systems to see what I liked, and I figured I'd see what others experiences have been like.

For me, I still prefer 3.x/Pathfinder to anything, playing (and GMing) a version of d20 for 10 straight years it's just become natural for me. After this long I can usually augment the system to any setting I want to play (and I have fun doing it). It just has a "feeling" when I'm playing that nothing else has matched, but that's just personal preference, no single reason sets it apart for me.

When 4e came out I was really exciting, that died away quickly (a good system, just not for me). So I eventually started using it when my group needed a quick on-the-fly game. That was until I discovered Savage Worlds which has quickly grown on me.  In fact, it was Savage Worlds that got me into the "classless" style my group has been using.

One thing I've become picky about in my games now is the class system. I like to have classes as templates. So yeah I CAN pick a Bard or Psion for my character, OR I can pick and choose options (like Savage Worlds) and "become my own class".

So how about all of you? What is your favorite system? What is your "old faithful" system? The one you can always return to? Are there specific mechanics that really draw you in, or are you like me, it has to "feel" right over all else?

Well then, glad to be here  :)

Peace,
Pyre