Pain of Campaigning: Actually Planning
After a long hiatus of actively DMing, I was roused from my gaming slumber. The results are a bit unusual and probably not going to be to everyone’s liking, but after droves and droves of articles detailing how to run games, I figure I’d do an article of my current work in progress: XIX.
The strange confluence of events inspired my current D&D project
- My impending departure from Miami and return to Maryland would put me in an area ripe with players in friends interested in RPGs.
- The release of the PHB 2 (and some of the grousing about “too many options”) made me consider a way to let people get a flavor of it all.
- My own article, and Original Sultan’s comments supporting my “War is Hell” flavored D&D campaign caused me to consider a fun way to have high fatality games.
- The strange convergence that unwittingly occurred between a long gestating fiction project and my first ideas for this game.
I decided I wanted to have a game where characters died (and over the course of the game a lot would die,) not through my own mean-spirited intent to kill, but through insane difficulty and the need to sacrifice lives for military objectives. So, I decided I would make a game where there were a preset number of characters, far outstripping the number of players, but I had trouble initially settling on a number and method of deciding the composition of a party of characters, but not necessarily full-time PLAYER characters. Then, in struck me, why not just have one of each class? Hence, I came up with the idea for eighteen characters (PHB 1 & 2 + Artificer + Swordmage) , but quickly remembered (thanks to The Game) the impending release of the Monk. Hence, 19 characters… or the much cooler campaign slogan: XIX.
Sensing that XIX could be a ready-made theme I decided to just have be important to well… everything. I had already decided on a military-based theme and figured “why not have the party have the unfortunate task of dealing with a large force of varied power, numbering precisely 1900 monsters?” (Imagine a Battlestar Galactica-like opening scene at the start of each adventure with the total enemies remaining). And why not have them defending 19 hapless towns? At this point, having overcome a few initial intellectual hurdles, I had a few logistical problems crop up.
Problems
- I needed a “timer” to force the characters to actually do something against the horde of monsters (or “Profanes” as I later flavored them). It couldn’t be so arbitrary that the players felt like they’d lose on a whim, but there had to have some flexibility so I could move the game along.
- I needed a reason why some CR 25 baddy wouldn’t just waltz in and slaughter the characters at first level.
- I needed a way to succinctly hand out information on the setting and foreshadow some of the events to come.
- A reason to avoid the Video Game RPG pitfall of neglecting fully half of playable characters in favor of leveling up favored characters.
- Satisfying the people that LIKED having their own character without undermining the whole point of the “massive team.” Also, making sure I didn’t have to level up 19 freaking characters.
Solutions
I wrapped up Problems #1 and #2 with a neat little bow: a magical barrier of blood powered by the poor frail Elders from the 19 towns. Those very same barriers will only survive 19 months (shocking, huh?) and would degrade, only recognizing more and more serious threats as time passed. The PCs would also have to consider those poor old folks, as keeping the barrier up would eventually cost those noble oldsters their lives. I envisioned instances where the Players would take on a mission, leave some other characters at home base, only to have a bunch of “leftovers” from earlier missions storm into their once-safe territory.
For problem #3, I quickly settled on creating a prophecy. With my own fetishistic obsessions with the number 19 in this game, a prophecy revolving around the number seemed like an easy fix, provided I could write one that didn’t make me gag (I’m not fond of my poetry skills).
Problem #4′s solution came to me from its source: video games. Games like Chrono Trigger and X Men: Legends incentivized using certain characters together. Continuing my number 19 obsession, I whipped up 19 different combinations of character types that would unlock specific advantages (later dubbed The 19 Harmonies) for the party usable in every encounter. Moreover, successful “unlocking” a Harmony would result in EVERY character getting XP and the award of yet-to-be-defined prophetic bonuses/resources (something along the lines of plot magic). I decided to tie this in with the aforementioned prophecy, making the Prophecy/Ritual of the Elders become a force unto itself, willing the PCs to win against their seemingly insurmountable odds.
Problem #5 resulted in a compromise. I decided that each player could designate a “Primary” character that was reserved for them to use when they showed up and acted as their default persona for role playing between missions. I intended to farm out the character leveling process to interested players anyway. This “Primary” rule guaranteed that I wasn’t stuck acting as custodian for the whole stable of characters. So, at least one character per player would be their responsibility, with the option of players taking on a whole “team”, with the understanding only one could be their primary character.
Conclusions
There you have it, my background planning for my D&D game. If interest on the subject is high I’ll actually post the XIX Prophecy and the XIX Harmonies I’ve created.
War in Low Level Campaigns
Most gamers tend to think of fantasy warfare as a clash that centers on heroes of outlandish skill, immense power, and blistering charisma. Wading through common soldiers to find other champions is equally pervasive in literature and cinema (Lord of the Rings, Troy, etc.). To that extent, DMs reserve massive warfare for characters of mid to high level. This article intends to look at a few ways of showcasing low level PCs in large scale warfare and the inherent advantages to taking your game in a warfare based direction.
Hired Scouts: Imagine that the drums of war are beating: armies are mustering, conscription is beginning, and the great game of thrones is reaching its zenith. However, military units take time to move and march. So, an enterprising Kingdom/ General/ Officer decides to do something unusual: hire adventurers. When you think about it, the versatility of a group of 1st -3rd level PCs make them an ideal group to throw into the wilderness and nose around. You can easily take things on an exploratory angle, or it can evolve in to one of the adventure ideas that follow.
Got There First: Military history is filled with examples of soldiers changing the course of a battle through intelligent decisions rather than military might. One of the easiest decisions to portray is holding a key piece of terrain. A PC’s skill role can very easily inform the party that a hilltop (or whatever) provides a critical vantage point (or supply point, etc.) and that losing it would doom the kingdom’s forward forces. This leaves the PCs to hold the hill against more traditional forwards scouts, whether they be kobolds, goblins, or a more traditional military unit. Success means that they gain a degree of renown, not for their godly combat prowess, but for tactical acumen.
Guerrilla With A Cause: Another thing that PCs can manage to do is nip at the heels of a major military force. The enemy makes efforts to guard its men and material, but a well run team of adventurers are an ideal group to destroy wagons, steal valuable equipment, and kill hapless sleeping soldiers. In a way, this is the more active alternative from the “Got There First” idea. There, they react to a situation and defend. Here, they are told to plan on their own means of being general nuisances. This kind of task can easily evolve into a full scale guerrilla warfare series of adventures where the PCs spend their time causing trouble for an occupying force. When word of their success spreads, the PCs could find themselves as beacons of hope for subjugated peoples or propaganda pieces to spur on the main military force.
War with Low Level Benefits: Having the PCs operate as a group of military troubleshooters gives the campaign a definitive direction and bond. You can run the game brutally and kill off characters if you want to emphasize the “War is Hell” aspect. Moreover, at low levels you can have them graze against the REAL powerful entities that populate their world. Sure, they might be being dealt with by others, but if you play long enough it will inevitably be the PCs that has to figure out how to deal with the high level Wizard. Moreover, once the PCs do reach those mid to high levels they’ll get the chance to turn the tide of battles single-handedly, but they’ll be doing it having had endured the terror of being a scrub during the early days of the war. And that will make the epic battle all the more satisfying.
PHB2 Roundtable: Races and Other Topics
As with yesterday, I’ve (virtually) assembled a roundtable of bloggers who have delved into the Player’s Handbook 2 (released today). This time, we’ve taken a look at the Races of the PHB2 (like we did with the PHB), along with two of the other topics therein. Joining me today I have:
- ChattyDM
- Graham of Critical Ankle Bites
- Jonathan of Core Mechanic
- Dante and Stupid Ranger of StupidRanger
PHB2 Roundtable: Classes
When the 4e PHB launched, we held a roundtable discussion of the different classes in the book. Well, now that PHB2 is about to be released tomorrow, we wanted to take a look at those classes in a similar format. To accomplish this, I contacted several of my fellow bloggers who had received early preview copies (and have had plenty of chance to pour over it) in order to see how they felt about the classes.
Joining myself at this virtual roundtable, we have:
- ChattyDM
- Graham of Critical Ankle Bites
- Dante of StupidRanger
- Jonathan of CoreMechanic
Inq. of the Week: Who Watched the Watchmen?
We wanted to know the order of operations when a book becomes a movie. The answer was pretty clear with 65% of you saying: read the book, then see the movie. This is a philosophy I certainly support, but it doesn’t always happen, even in cases where I’m told just how much better the book is than the movie.
However, in the case of the Watchmen, I read the book, oh, at least 20 times before seeing the movie. It helps that they came out over 20 years apart (though as Chatty pointed out after reading my review, I was 3 when the original came out, so my experience is even different than the diehards who had read it when it first came out).
My sense when it was being advertised, and especially after seeing it, is that the movie is something of a tough sell. It’s long, it’s R rated, and it’s fairly high concept as far as movies with this kind of advertising budget go. Early box office receipts are panning that out, and I’m not confident in its word of mouth to those who aren’t fans of the original.
Regardless of how the movie does overall, I’m interested how our audience feels about the movie, and also I want to know:
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How Not to Review 'Watchmen'
I just wanted to highlight something I read today in the lunch room at work, our local newspaper the Washington Post had a review of the movie Watchmen on the front page of the Style section today with the title “Blight Watchmen: Graphic Novel’s Edge is Dulled in Adaptation”. Written by Philip Kennicot, it’s an interestingly presented review NOT because it is saying the movie is bad. It’s interesting to me because it feels like the closest thing to comment bait that could exist in periodical print media. The first paragraph of the review reads:
“Watchmen” is a bore. Sad to say, after a wait of more than two decades, the much-anticipated adaptation of the world’s most celebrated graphic novel is long, dull and subject to what might be called the “Lord of the Rings” problem: It sinks under the weight of its reverence for the original.
I don’t believe I’ve ever heard or read anyone else using The Lord of the Rings movies as examples of bad adaptations. [Read the rest of this article]
Remembering Gygax Through Friendship
One year ago, shortly after posting about GM’s Day, I saw the news that shocked and saddened me: Gary Gygax had left us. Being the geeks that we are, we made all kinds of metaphors. (Gone to travel the outer planes is probably my favorite). Tributes began to roll in, not just from us RPG bloggers, but from all sectors who had their lives touched by D&D. Most were respectful, some were not. Some took it as their chance to grind their axe against D&D while people were grieving. Some took it as a chance to make cheap pot-shots about virginity (despite a fair amount of evidence that gamers aren’t as bad as all that). Fortunately, most of us came together, regardless of our feelings on game system or edition of choice. When you’ve got NPR and Stephen Colbert sending their best wishes, you know it is a Big Deal.
But instead of dwelling on that occasion for too long, I hope you’ll indulge me for a moment. I’d like to take this opportunity to talk about my friends. [Read the rest of this article]
What the New GSL Means for 4e Players
As rumored and then announced yesterday, the long-promised revision of the Game System License for 4e D&D was released. While it’s certainly important news, I think the actual effects on the average gamer are minimal.
- Since publishers no longer have to choose between the OGL and GSL, more third-party publishers can adopt the license to produce 4e-compatible products. As reported earlier, Clark Peterson of Necromancer Games was used to judge the revisions, and he is planning on releasing 4e products now. Other publishers may follow suit, but it’s probably too soon to tell. (Of course, the interesting test will be if Paizo decides to release 4e products).
- Player’s Handbook 2, Monster Manual 2, and Adventurer’s Vault content is fair game for third party publishers now, which means products such as The Quintessential Avenger Sorcerer are now a possibility. (As others have pointed out, only some things were added from PHB2 and MM2, mostly sticking to classes, races, and monsters that were formerly in D&D).
- Along those lines, since the new System Reference Document includes those books, you can get an early peek at the power names of all the classes, and a list of many of the new monsters.
- However, the clause preventing unaltered material is still there, so third-party publishers still cannot print statblocks in their adventures (at least without making up new monsters or altering existing ones).
- The fan site policy is still absent, but that was never going to be in the GSL.
- Generally, while there’s a little begrudging acceptance that the changes are for the better, few minds seem to have been changed by this new version.
10 Monsters I Use in Every D&D Campaign (And 5 I Don't)
I actually had come up with this post BEFORE everyone else on the RPG Bloggers Network started doing their own lists… honest! So here’s my list not necessarily of my favorite monsters in D&D, but of those that I always try to work into every campaign I run. Then, a list of 5 monsters we joke about including, but it never seems to happen except under rare circumstances.
10 MONSTERS I USE IN EVERY D&D CAMPAIGN…
1. Umber Hulk
Giant bugs with some ill-defined confusion attack. Do they have those swirly hypnotist eyes? Do they just rhythmically chant “Ummmmbbbbbeeerrr Huuullllkkkk” until you go crazy? Who knows… I just know these giant burrowing critters are an expected part of every one of my D&D games. [Read the rest of this article]
Everyone Remembers Their First [DM]
Although it’s not a secret, it’s not oftentimes explicit: many of the primary writers and commentators on Critical Hits have known each other for quite a long time. In fact, most of us can trace back our D&D gaming lineage to a single Dungeon Master. That’s not to say we hadn’t played before or more often with others, but our friend Abe made an indelible mark on all of our gaming consciousnesses. This article examines our early gaming experiences with Abe and considers how they affected my current notions on role-playing and D&D. [Read the rest of this article]
