Campaign Feel

[CourtFool]

My current pirate campaign is not going well. I chalk this up mostly to my atrophied GM skills. However, one area that I think would help the campaign that I have never been good at is capturing the feel.

I do not think my players can taste the rum or hear the creaking of the ship as they sail the caribbean. And I am not sure how to make them.

One of the other campaign ideas I wanted to run was Miami Vice Hero. Vice had a very distinct feel to that and as much as I would like to run a game based on it, I doubt I would ever capture its essence. How do you translate the cars, clothes and music of Vice in a campaign?

So I am asking for advice here. Beyond the mechanics, beyond the backgrounds and three dimensional characters, beyond the over-arching plots, how do you capture the feel of a campaign?

[Scifi_Toughguy]

Study. You want the music of Vice, play the music of Vice. You want them to feel the creaking of the ship, study up on your nautical terms and situations and watch a bunch of old swahbuckler films (or new ones if they're any good). Check out some good books (for the pirate game, I doubt theyre any any good books on miami vice in the library) on the time period in question (again mostly used for more historical settings).

[Nevenall]

Don't blame yourself! Blame your players for not being interested enough. :p

I think well developed people and places are a good way go.

I would read historical novels set in the appropriate time period, then you benifit from other's research and flavor development. If it's a good novel anyway.

[teh bunneh]

I think Scifi toughguy is right. Find some films that capture the feel of what you're looking for. There are tons of great pirate movies (old and new) on DVD right now. Find some CDs with sea-shanties or those meditative CDs with the sound of oceans on them and play them softly in the background during the game. Learn all the nautical terms you can. Get a few small props -- pictures, old books, pirate flags, print your maps/handouts on old parchment, get an astrolabe or an old-timey globe and put it on the table as you game, reward extra XP for players who come in costume (even a hat or a swashbucker-style shirt).

Do the same for your Miami Vice campaign. I dunno if MV is available on DVD yet, but if so, watch it! Get some hard-rockin' 80s soundtracks (Miami Vice put out at least 2 soundtracks, and I'm sure they're still available). Watch some other 80s buddy-cop shows (Beverly Hills Cop is a good one). Wear a pastel-colored sportsjacket over a black t-shirt.

And good luck!

Bill.

[Doc Democracy]

Hate to bang on about this but a specifically designed character sheet that emphasises those aspects of the game that directly relate to the feel of the campaign will lead players to focus on those things too.


Doc

[Corven_Ren]

I would reccomend for the Pirate game watch Pirates of the Caribbean, especially the specila features on the second disc that deal with the history of piracy.

[Trencher]

Give small details about what they see every time there is a lull in the game.

[Vondy]

Research and description. The little details are the ones that will build versimiltude.

[Supreme Serpent]

As for all the movie suggestions, don't just watch them yourself - have your players watch them. Other "Age of Sail" but non-pirate specific things can be helpful too, like Master and Commander .

A terminology page can be good too - get them threatening to keelhaul some bilge rat if they don't swap the fo'csle, and you're halfway there. :)

[tancred]

To follow up on what Supreme Serpent said, watch the Hornblower movies that A&E produced. I got the expanded set (6 movies total) at Best Buy for about $50.00.

While not specifically pirate movies, they show what life at sea was like in the late 1700's and early 1800's. Not to mention being rollicking good adventures in themselves.

And of course, the C.S. Forester books that the movies are based on are jolly good reads, too.

Hornblower is the character to whom Captain Kirk is often compared, and with good reason.

[Storn]

Yeah!!! Give them my favorite Hornblower moment!!! Let 'em capture a ship carrying rice and that ship be a bit leaky (Hornblower's first command). They'll discover the sounds of creaking boards all right!!!

[teh bunneh]

Hate to bang on about this but a specifically designed character sheet that emphasises those aspects of the game that directly relate to the feel of the campaign will lead players to focus on those things too.

Say Doc, have you ever posted copies of your "campaign specific" character sheets? I've heard about them, and I'd love to see what you've done. It might help people get ideas...

Bill.

[tancred]

Yeah!!! Give them my favorite Hornblower moment!!! Let 'em capture a ship carrying rice and that ship be a bit leaky (Hornblower's first command). They'll discover the sounds of creaking boards all right!!!
This happens in the first movie, IIRC.

Watched the first 2 movies of the set this weekend, with my wife. Stunningly, she enjoyed them. Thought they'd be too violent for her, but she liked both movies (except for when Bunting had to run the gauntlet, in the second movie; I could tell she didn't like that part, though she didn't say anything).

Ioan Gruffudd is da man! His portrayal of Hornblower is so dead-on it's almost eerie. And the first movie is almost word-for-word, second-by-second straight out of the first book. The second movie, The Fire Ship, I didn't remember some of the chapters of the book as well, so it seemed as if they might have changed things around a bit.

The supporting cast is great, too. Apparently A&E was able to keep the whole cast together, at least for the first 2 movies.
Can't wait to watch the rest of the series.

[Doc Democracy]

Say Doc, have you ever posted copies of your "campaign specific" character sheets? I've heard about them, and I'd love to see what you've done. It might help people get ideas...

Bill.

I've posted a couple of examples of sheets that I've designed - though only one was campaign specific. I'm working on a couple more - when I get time I'll design and post more...

I'll find the last time I posted them and add in an edit.

Doc

EDIT: post with a couple of examples (powerpoint files zipped up) available here (http://www.herogames.com/forums/showpost.php?p=650494&postcount=18)