The Campaign Builder's Guild

How's Your Game??

So I try to stick my head in most threads, especially setting threads and system threads.

[note=system] (and can I just say that there have been some fantastic system threads lately?  There has been 3-4 really good magic threads lately from Nomadic, Snakefing, SH, SA, and more...just great stuff that matches crunch to fluff in one of the 4 cornerstones of setting development, and then a bunch of great system threads as well--and wait to you guys see Troll's new system...) [/note]

So this is more of a real meta thread, Trying to wrap my head around where people's games are at in terms of the game itself:

Are you GMing your setting at all?  Was it played in the last 3 months?  How often do you meet? How long are the sessions?
Are you playing at all?

What is the major storyline right now?  What are the players doing well?  What are they doing poorly?  Have they surprised you with anything?  Is anytrhing making you nuts about them?  Any conflicts with players or characters?  Is there anything you want to zip by the CBG that you want feedback on for a current session?  
(Ask Ish or me, this works...He got help with a big encounter a few months ago, and Tybalt and I used to swap logs of what was happenning in our sessions, and sharpenned each other's games nicely)

[note=Online] And if you are not GMing anything but really want to, LC the Meta-wizard started a thread about online gaming a while back, and I don't know why more folks let that field stay fallow.  I decided to add another online session based on that thread, and now I get to feed a wolf pack on Nomadic's Scarlet pilum... [/note]

So where is your game?  I really want to know.
(and I will answer this myself when I am not in the office)

I don't have any gaming groups right now, and it's been a while since I used any of my settings in gaming.

Which reminds me, how many of our CBGers live in the same area? I just moved to Florida and I'm wondering if there are any other guilders in Pinellas County or even Tampa.

I'm sure others looking for a new group to join/form could use this thread to post their locations as well as the information LV mentions.

I live in Bend, Oregon. Unfortunately there is pretty near nobody here interested in role playing anymore. I have been doing pretty much only PbP and IM games. Wish I could find people to do live sessions with.

UR isn't ready yet for using in a game, but it is getting closer. Can't wait for that to happen.

Quote from: PhoenixI don't have any gaming groups right now, and it's been a while since I used any of my settings in gaming.

Ditto. I might be introducing Riddle of Steel to a local group that a friend of mine is in, but I just haven't had the time.

Quote from: PhoenixWhich reminds me, how many of our CBGers live in the same area? I just moved to Florida and I'm wondering if there are any other guilders in Pinellas County or even Tampa.

I'm sure others looking for a new group to join/form could use this thread to post their locations as well as the information LV mentions.

:offtopic:

The CBG should have a map widget or something where we can put in our locations. I've seen map-and-pin stuff on other pages, but I forget where.

EDIT: Bend! Wow, I used to live there a few years ago. I live in Eugene Oregon, now.
Do you know if Gambit Games is still around?

No, Gambit Games (and Pegasus Books) shut down. People stopped playing card games/role play games/etc so they didn't have enough business to stay open with. The only place you can get a dice set in bend now is online ordering and if you want any books you might be lucky if you find the core set and one or two others at barnes and noble.

I haven't DMed for my setting for some time, but I just started back up last Tuesday. I'm running what I hope to be an episodic character driven game; each character has their goals, and everyone's goals bring them together, but the players are going to have to find out how to achieve those goals on their own. I want to run it like a Saturday morning cartoon, where each "episode" can deal with something different, even something away from the main plot. I hope there will be lots of travel so I can detail more of my world.

One of the players in particular is really helping me. He's playing a Cleric and is helping to shape the world through his association within his church.

[blockquote=THE cAP'N]One of the players in particular is really helping me. He's playing a Cleric and is helping to shape the world through his association within his church. [/blockquote]

Oh, that is priceless.  PLayers who get expand the world through their characters are worth their weight in gold.

Our group is uses a sort of meta-setting dealing with all of the ideas that eventually end up in my other settings (principally Dystopia).  It's kind of a conceptual testing ground for the wacky crap I post on this site.

I am on the verge of starting a smaller campaign in my setting, and I have a much longer one planned for when that is done.
I tried a PbP in my setting earlier, but it died out rather quickly.
The group I'm in plays roughly once a week, if the stars are right.

I´m not currently GMing anything (on vacation after all) but when I get back, I plan on returning to a heavily modified 3.5 game in my Lillymire setting. Its an old setting for me, or rather parts of it are. I´ve spent a good deal of time combining alot of one shots and single story adventures together, from way back when I first started DMing.

Its turning out fairly well, there are a lot of Easter eggs for my players, such as old character playing prominent roles in the world as well as old plot themes and enemies.

Probably, the over arching meta plot to my next campaign will be to stop the forces of Nel´Vec (A ´Drow´ Ranger who gave my players hell for a long time... even though they killed him (well sort of... a vampire´s Swarm of Spiders technically got the death blow). At any rate, he´s back, recently having been resurrected as a Lich). Nel´Vec will threaten the Kingdom of Dasana from the north, along with a horde of Trolls from the Kogan Empire (an Empire of Trolls, lol). I invasion it being a series of political intrigue missions, first to the great Koogaa (Emperor of the Trolls) pleading with him to capture Nel´Vec´s Trolls. If that fails (most likely, the Koogaa hates Humans and my players *always* have at least 2 Humans per party), then it will lead into several dungeon crawl-y adventures into the Raiaspa Mountains (that separate Dasana from Koga).

This will force the first campaign interaction with the ´Drow´(My Drow-equivalent are Light-skinned albinos (normal Elves look like East Indians with the height of East Asians and WoW style ears) of my setting. Following that, the PCs will learn of a plot by Nel´Vec to forge an alliance with Baraza (a Black Dragon, King of Baraza, a nation of Hobgoblins and constructs to the far south). If the alliance is successful, Lillymire is in for a lot of trouble because Baraza has been creating thousands of Constructs for his next invasion (the epic level PCs barely stopped the last one in a different campaign (25 in-game years ago)...

 I´m not exactly sure how things will pan out (I´m more of a reactionary ´go-with-the-players DM than a ´stick-to-the-story-line-damnit-!´DM.  My last Eberron game was a great example of that, I had envisioned the campaign being a ´kill demons and save Thrane´ but turned into a ´Kill the Mockery´s Avatar on a whirl wind tour of the world.´It all changed because I sent a really weak Shadow Elemental mixed with some Ghost traits at the PCs at level 2 and they fell in love with him. So I came up with a back story and ran with it. They loved it. So, yeah, this entire plot will probably go down the drain in the first two or three sessions after they find something new to entertain themselves (probably assaulting Nel´Vec´s Castle... *ugh* :P )

I'm currently DM'ing a game in my Broken Verge Setting, usually once per month thought it changes a lot, and we have a vacation right now so it'll be hard to gather people. Then again, a lot of my friends are also starting up campaigns so there is usually something we can play.
My setting is far from complete, so i took the liberty of placing the PC's on Pantaean, my unexplored continent, thus ensuring that i didn't have to change facts about the countries or geography in the middle of the game because i changed my mind. This wasn't really enough though, so I've decided they are actually playing in the past compared to my setting's current timeline, so they'll effectively be the catalyst for some of the changes that will happen in the world and will discover some of the new technologies that will lead to the world of the "future" (Still fantasy). They have just gone on an expedition into the jungle to found a new outpost, after helping spring a colleague of a PC's wife from prison, and will help build the colony before venturing farther into the continent. The campaign will end when they activate some kind of world-wide catastrophe, thus bringing about a new age.  

Elf, it sounds like your players like your style, and they sound (at least from your description) excited, so keep flying by the seat of those pants, it seems to be working.

Quote from: LordVreegElf, it sounds like your players like your style, and they sound (at least from your description) excited, so keep flying by the seat of those pants, it seems to be working.

My players love my style because I constantly react to them... I go where they want because D&D isn´t about, IMO, a DM´s sweeping magnificent story arc full of intricate subplots and deep characters. If a DM wants that, then he should go write a book. D&D is all about giving players a template on which to create their own stories that entertain and connect with them.

 Plus, most of my players are excited to see the finished (or working model, at least) of Lillymire... I just need to get home and push myself to write all the stuff down, lol.

Quote from: RaelifinThe CBG should have a map widget or something where we can put in our locations. I've seen map-and-pin stuff on other pages, but I forget where.

That would be awesome!


I'm thinking the next chance I have to run a game it will be pretty core D&D 4e rather than one of my fiction settings. I've run D&D, but I've never embraced its ethos or feel before, and I'm inclined to try by-the-book now (because for the first in any edition I like the books).

I was also giving thought to something more episodic, too. I've never done that, either, not really, so that could be interesting.

I'm currently not running nor have I in a very long time.  I'm looking to work on a setting and play a bit right now.