Yeah, I'd already thought of a few variations of that idea, including having him ask them to pose as the group of mercenaries they'd destroyed to deliver the crystals - but then I realize that, once again, I'm telling the players what to do.
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#1
Campaign Elements and Design (Archived) / Re: New campaign. What goes between chapters 1 and 5?
February 14, 2013, 11:12:59 PM #2
Campaign Elements and Design (Archived) / Re: New campaign. What goes between chapters 1 and 5?
February 14, 2013, 11:11:44 PM
Thanks!
I'm thinking that, maybe, the solution might be to find something modern that is pre-written. Use something already designed for modern sensibilities and learn from that.
I'm thinking that, maybe, the solution might be to find something modern that is pre-written. Use something already designed for modern sensibilities and learn from that.
#3
Campaign Elements and Design (Archived) / Re: New campaign. What goes between chapters 1 and 5?
February 14, 2013, 10:53:31 PM
Thanks for all of the input.
I've come to a realization. I started playing RPGs back in the boxed D&D days. Back then you had a dungeon. That was it. If you were lucky, there was an inn nearby to buy supplies at, but that was all. You walked through the front door of the dungeon, or you put away the dice and played Atari. RPGs were tactical wargames with a hint of 'role' in them. Eventually people discovered plots, but the plots were invariably excuses to get the PCs to take actions. They were a series of encounters that would be hit in a set order. Hell, I remember published adventure series where there was - literally - an enemy army in every direction except where you were supposed to go. That was toned down considerably later on, of course, but there were still 'do it or else' mechanics. That was the era in which I ran multiple campaigns and wrote hundreds of hours of material.
That was also about the time I left college and stopped playing RPGs.
In the intervening decades, RPGs evolved. My knowledge an experience did not. The basic and fundamental skills that every GM (including myself) learned back then are now considered 'bad GMing.' As a point of fact, I now realize that I have never played an RPG, run an RPG or read and RPG that weren't railroads. That was simply how things were done. Unfortunately, every time I try and write, I end up with a different set of rails. I find that I have absolutely no clue how to fill an eight hour window with interesting activity without falling back on those skills.
On the bright side, I'm aware that my techniques are no longer considered valid, and that I'm in over my head. On the downside, I'm aware that I have no idea how to go about undoing that.
(Oh, and thanks for the link. Reading and bookmarking.)
I've come to a realization. I started playing RPGs back in the boxed D&D days. Back then you had a dungeon. That was it. If you were lucky, there was an inn nearby to buy supplies at, but that was all. You walked through the front door of the dungeon, or you put away the dice and played Atari. RPGs were tactical wargames with a hint of 'role' in them. Eventually people discovered plots, but the plots were invariably excuses to get the PCs to take actions. They were a series of encounters that would be hit in a set order. Hell, I remember published adventure series where there was - literally - an enemy army in every direction except where you were supposed to go. That was toned down considerably later on, of course, but there were still 'do it or else' mechanics. That was the era in which I ran multiple campaigns and wrote hundreds of hours of material.
That was also about the time I left college and stopped playing RPGs.
In the intervening decades, RPGs evolved. My knowledge an experience did not. The basic and fundamental skills that every GM (including myself) learned back then are now considered 'bad GMing.' As a point of fact, I now realize that I have never played an RPG, run an RPG or read and RPG that weren't railroads. That was simply how things were done. Unfortunately, every time I try and write, I end up with a different set of rails. I find that I have absolutely no clue how to fill an eight hour window with interesting activity without falling back on those skills.
On the bright side, I'm aware that my techniques are no longer considered valid, and that I'm in over my head. On the downside, I'm aware that I have no idea how to go about undoing that.
(Oh, and thanks for the link. Reading and bookmarking.)
#4
Campaign Elements and Design (Archived) / Re: New campaign. What goes between chapters 1 and 5?
February 14, 2013, 09:17:49 PM
Yeah, and that's what I'm trying to get away from. Nearly everything out there when I used to run campaigns was based on railroading, back when it was 'normal' instead of 'bad GMing.' I can absolutely railroad them through my story, no problem. I just kidnap the love interest, then have the BBDG steal her soul. Problem solved in 15 seconds. I'm trying to find a way to not do so, though, but have no idea how to and still tell the story.
#5
Campaign Elements and Design (Archived) / New campaign. What goes between chapters 1 and 5?
February 14, 2013, 08:03:29 PM
(Note, before reading: After the discussion below, I'm dumping most of what's here.)
Hello, all! I'm new around here. I played RPGs all through high school and college, but was away from them for a long, long time. I've had my dice out again for a year or so, but have been a player most of that time, save for a couple of one-off adventures. Now I'm getting ready to start my own campaign, the first one I have run in about twenty years, and I keep hitting a brick wall. Some background on what I'm playing:
The system: Savage Worlds - the whole group has significant others and/or kids, so a fast system works perfectly for us, as scheduling is a nightmare and efficient use of time is a must.
The setting: An original build of an existing setting. Reaper Miniatures has a setting for their products. It has some interesting elements, and I also play their wargame, so I have a lot of the setting-specific miniatures. Using their setting is ideal, as only a couple of small areas in the world have been 'officially' detailed, meaning that I can make it what I need it to be. Think of it as a standard fantasy world with some interesting quirks (such as many parts of the world being in near-constant armed conflict.)
The characters: I have three players. SW is a skill-based system, so there are no classes, but I'll try and draw comparisons. I'll link directly to the miniatures they're using. Two characters are distinctly non-human in a very human region.
One is a Koborlas who fled his home after being yanked out of chosen clan and forced into another after being 'chosen' to be a shaman. He was quickly kidnapped, mistreated, and didn't escape until he was far, far from his homeland. He's primitive, angry, and confused. He has some basic shamanic powers (nothing fancy), plus some typical rogue/tracker type skills.
The second is a Mongkohn. He's a wanderer and a priest, perhaps a bit of a monk/cleric. He's a mild pacifist (self-defense only) and is focusing mainly on divine magic, mainly defensive and healing. His goal in life is to teach the other races about his people and their ways in order to bring the rising hostilities to an end.
The third is a Dwarf. He left his home after showing cowardice in battle, leading to the deaths of his brothers. Despite him blaming himself, those brothers now visit him as spirits, supporting him and providing guidance. He's a runeforger, a dwarf with the ability to channel dwarven rune magic through his armor and weapons. Essentially, he's a warrior with the ability to briefly enchant his items.
The story(ies): Now here's where I keep hitting the wall. I've got a great intro, and a couple of long-term plot options, but I can't find a decent way to tie the intro into the plots and to bring the characters into the main sequence of events. (Note: Chapter numbers are abstract placeholders.)
Chapter 1 A few days before the game, the Mongkohn and the Koborlas met. Both being outsiders, they found themselves kindred spirits, and the monk's peaceful wisdom brought some peace to the troubled Koborlas. A few hours before the game the Koborlas will have been scouting a group of (enemy) moving through their area. He made a mistake and was captured. The peaceful Mongkohn, fearing for his new friend, has run to get help. This is where the actual game starts. A few miles away he'll come upon a small village with an inn. At the inn is a small smithy where the dwarf character has been unofficially apprenticing. The dwarf will most likely follow the monk back and help him free his friend (whom I will allow to break/pick his cage/bonds just as they begin their assault.) This starts things off with an action sequence, introduces the characters, and gives them a common bond.
The (enemies) were mercenaries. Found in their wagon is a chest of polished, glowing crystals, along with a badly injured human soldier. Too tempting to pass up, the characters will likely take them back to the inn. Later, an NPC will show up demanding the return of the crystals in the kind of aggressive manner guaranteed to make the players refuse. If he's refused, he'll leave and return with a small horde, likely including some undead, leading to a defensive fight in a burning inn in which...
Ends chapter one.
Chapter 3: The wounded soldier was a Templar (goodly knightly sortly) who had hidden himself with the mercenaries, along with several others of his order. They intended to take the crystals from the mercenaries and take them to a border town in a neighboring nation. The crystals are trapped souls (bindsouls), which are required by undead spellcasters in order to use magic, as they have no souls of their own to tap into. Some Big Bad Dead Guy has some sort of a plan to do Big Bad Dead Guy Evil Stuff and requires the souls. The Templars are working with emissaries from the neighboring nation to sabotage his plan. The neighboring nation (who are powerful magic folks, knowledgeable about souls, and enemies of the undead nation) have had several of their own mages sacrifice their own lives to have their souls bound as a 'trap' - when the Big Bad Dead Guy (BBDG) uses one, (bad things) will happen, possibly involving the destruction of his entire hoard of bindsouls. Not only that, two hostile factions (the Templar's order and the southern nation) will be on their way to a truce.
Chapter 5: Brick wall. Somehow, I need the PCs to confront the BBDG, and nearly beat him before he uses his Ace in the Hole and escapes (if possible.) Remember how the dwarf PC had the spirits of his slain brothers appearing to him? The BBDG, at the end of chapter 5, somehow steals the souls of the brothers and escapes with them far to the north, to the same region that the dwarf was originally from.
Chapter 10: The BBDG has allied with the same enemies (orcs/giants) that the dwarf was facing off against when he fled the battle (leading to him having an opportunity for revenge/redemption.) The forest the Koborlas is from is on the way from where they are to where they're headed, giving that player a chance to gain redemption, plus possibly recruit a group of allies. At some point, I see the players having an adventure into the orc lands to recover the dwarf's honor (along with an item his unit lost - a banner, maybe?) from the orcs, followed by a massive battle between the dwarves and the orcs, with a possible surprise arrival by a pack of the Korborlas' character's people to help out. As this battle rages,the PCs finally face off against the BBDG, the dwarf recovers his brothers, the Koborlas PC is recognized by his pack again, and the monk... Er, says something deep.
The problems: So, here is where I keep hitting walls. How the heck to I motivate the PCs to get from chapter 1 to chapter 3? They rescue the Templar. They recover the bindsouls. The fight off the attack to recover them. Now they go south with the templar because...? Why would they? Because he asks nicely? These aren't really characters motivated by greed, and I hate to resort to the cheese of having the BBDG kidnap the dwarf's sweetheart.
The same problem crops up between 3 and 5. Ok, they took the souls to the southern nation and heard about the plan to sabotage the BBDG. Why are they going to stay involved? What could motivate them to push on into the undead lands themselves?
Assuming I get all of those motivations in place, why did the BBDG choose that one place to escape to? Why there? What did he have to gain? Is it pushing coincidence too far to have him go to the dwarf's old enemies?
These don't seem like they should be huge hurdles, but I've been banging my head against them for weeks now.
Note: My plan is to outline the whole story, but only write up one or two sessions in advance in order to allow myself to adapt to whatever oddball things the PCs decide to do. I'm trying not to be railroady, which is difficult, as that was standard practice for campaigns that last time I played regularly!
Anyway, any help or additional brainstorming isn't just welcome, it is begged for.
Hello, all! I'm new around here. I played RPGs all through high school and college, but was away from them for a long, long time. I've had my dice out again for a year or so, but have been a player most of that time, save for a couple of one-off adventures. Now I'm getting ready to start my own campaign, the first one I have run in about twenty years, and I keep hitting a brick wall. Some background on what I'm playing:
The system: Savage Worlds - the whole group has significant others and/or kids, so a fast system works perfectly for us, as scheduling is a nightmare and efficient use of time is a must.
The setting: An original build of an existing setting. Reaper Miniatures has a setting for their products. It has some interesting elements, and I also play their wargame, so I have a lot of the setting-specific miniatures. Using their setting is ideal, as only a couple of small areas in the world have been 'officially' detailed, meaning that I can make it what I need it to be. Think of it as a standard fantasy world with some interesting quirks (such as many parts of the world being in near-constant armed conflict.)
The characters: I have three players. SW is a skill-based system, so there are no classes, but I'll try and draw comparisons. I'll link directly to the miniatures they're using. Two characters are distinctly non-human in a very human region.
One is a Koborlas who fled his home after being yanked out of chosen clan and forced into another after being 'chosen' to be a shaman. He was quickly kidnapped, mistreated, and didn't escape until he was far, far from his homeland. He's primitive, angry, and confused. He has some basic shamanic powers (nothing fancy), plus some typical rogue/tracker type skills.
The second is a Mongkohn. He's a wanderer and a priest, perhaps a bit of a monk/cleric. He's a mild pacifist (self-defense only) and is focusing mainly on divine magic, mainly defensive and healing. His goal in life is to teach the other races about his people and their ways in order to bring the rising hostilities to an end.
The third is a Dwarf. He left his home after showing cowardice in battle, leading to the deaths of his brothers. Despite him blaming himself, those brothers now visit him as spirits, supporting him and providing guidance. He's a runeforger, a dwarf with the ability to channel dwarven rune magic through his armor and weapons. Essentially, he's a warrior with the ability to briefly enchant his items.
The story(ies): Now here's where I keep hitting the wall. I've got a great intro, and a couple of long-term plot options, but I can't find a decent way to tie the intro into the plots and to bring the characters into the main sequence of events. (Note: Chapter numbers are abstract placeholders.)
Chapter 1 A few days before the game, the Mongkohn and the Koborlas met. Both being outsiders, they found themselves kindred spirits, and the monk's peaceful wisdom brought some peace to the troubled Koborlas. A few hours before the game the Koborlas will have been scouting a group of (enemy) moving through their area. He made a mistake and was captured. The peaceful Mongkohn, fearing for his new friend, has run to get help. This is where the actual game starts. A few miles away he'll come upon a small village with an inn. At the inn is a small smithy where the dwarf character has been unofficially apprenticing. The dwarf will most likely follow the monk back and help him free his friend (whom I will allow to break/pick his cage/bonds just as they begin their assault.) This starts things off with an action sequence, introduces the characters, and gives them a common bond.
The (enemies) were mercenaries. Found in their wagon is a chest of polished, glowing crystals, along with a badly injured human soldier. Too tempting to pass up, the characters will likely take them back to the inn. Later, an NPC will show up demanding the return of the crystals in the kind of aggressive manner guaranteed to make the players refuse. If he's refused, he'll leave and return with a small horde, likely including some undead, leading to a defensive fight in a burning inn in which...
Ends chapter one.
Chapter 3: The wounded soldier was a Templar (goodly knightly sortly) who had hidden himself with the mercenaries, along with several others of his order. They intended to take the crystals from the mercenaries and take them to a border town in a neighboring nation. The crystals are trapped souls (bindsouls), which are required by undead spellcasters in order to use magic, as they have no souls of their own to tap into. Some Big Bad Dead Guy has some sort of a plan to do Big Bad Dead Guy Evil Stuff and requires the souls. The Templars are working with emissaries from the neighboring nation to sabotage his plan. The neighboring nation (who are powerful magic folks, knowledgeable about souls, and enemies of the undead nation) have had several of their own mages sacrifice their own lives to have their souls bound as a 'trap' - when the Big Bad Dead Guy (BBDG) uses one, (bad things) will happen, possibly involving the destruction of his entire hoard of bindsouls. Not only that, two hostile factions (the Templar's order and the southern nation) will be on their way to a truce.
Chapter 5: Brick wall. Somehow, I need the PCs to confront the BBDG, and nearly beat him before he uses his Ace in the Hole and escapes (if possible.) Remember how the dwarf PC had the spirits of his slain brothers appearing to him? The BBDG, at the end of chapter 5, somehow steals the souls of the brothers and escapes with them far to the north, to the same region that the dwarf was originally from.
Chapter 10: The BBDG has allied with the same enemies (orcs/giants) that the dwarf was facing off against when he fled the battle (leading to him having an opportunity for revenge/redemption.) The forest the Koborlas is from is on the way from where they are to where they're headed, giving that player a chance to gain redemption, plus possibly recruit a group of allies. At some point, I see the players having an adventure into the orc lands to recover the dwarf's honor (along with an item his unit lost - a banner, maybe?) from the orcs, followed by a massive battle between the dwarves and the orcs, with a possible surprise arrival by a pack of the Korborlas' character's people to help out. As this battle rages,the PCs finally face off against the BBDG, the dwarf recovers his brothers, the Koborlas PC is recognized by his pack again, and the monk... Er, says something deep.
The problems: So, here is where I keep hitting walls. How the heck to I motivate the PCs to get from chapter 1 to chapter 3? They rescue the Templar. They recover the bindsouls. The fight off the attack to recover them. Now they go south with the templar because...? Why would they? Because he asks nicely? These aren't really characters motivated by greed, and I hate to resort to the cheese of having the BBDG kidnap the dwarf's sweetheart.
The same problem crops up between 3 and 5. Ok, they took the souls to the southern nation and heard about the plan to sabotage the BBDG. Why are they going to stay involved? What could motivate them to push on into the undead lands themselves?
Assuming I get all of those motivations in place, why did the BBDG choose that one place to escape to? Why there? What did he have to gain? Is it pushing coincidence too far to have him go to the dwarf's old enemies?
These don't seem like they should be huge hurdles, but I've been banging my head against them for weeks now.
Note: My plan is to outline the whole story, but only write up one or two sessions in advance in order to allow myself to adapt to whatever oddball things the PCs decide to do. I'm trying not to be railroady, which is difficult, as that was standard practice for campaigns that last time I played regularly!
Anyway, any help or additional brainstorming isn't just welcome, it is begged for.
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