Style/Type of Campaign(long)

[projecktzero]

As I assemble my campaign, I'm working on a web site for it. I want to have a page that describes the Style/Type of Campaign I'll be running so potential players can review it and decide if that's the type of game they'd like to play in.

 

Can you look it over and see if it conveys what type of game it will be? Do I need to add/remove/clarify anything?

 

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The bottom line is FUN. The game must be fun for both the players and the GM.

 

It will be an epic medieval fantasy campaign.

 

In an attempt to get the feel and atmosphere of epic fantasy novels that I've read[1], there are a few things that will be different in this campaign compared to the stereotypical fantasy campaign.

 

There won't be magic items for sale at your local shop. Magic items are hard to make and drain the creators. They are rarely for sale.

You won't find a orc in a room with treasure chests stocked full of magic items and thousands of gold coins. Characters in fantasy novels usually don't worry about cool loot. They are too worried about saving the world, stopping evil, ...

This doesn't mean there won't be magic items. It's just the way the characters come across them that will be more like fantasy novels. Think about where most characters in fantasy novels get their magic items.

 

There won't be dungeon crawls for the sake of dungeon crawls. The characters hardly ever will need to kill every last monster, search every room, and pilfer every last item.

 

I'm hoping to give a sense of atmosphere and mood in the game. Help me out once in a while by asking "What does it look like around here?" or "What does it feel like in here?"

 

ROLE PLAY

 

I'll emphasize the role play in RPG. I don't expect funny accents or acting. I'm terrible at both, so I don't expect you to be good at it either. Instead of saying "My character attacks the orc," say "I grimace, raise my shield, and swing my sword at the orc." Saying "I grimace, swing my sword while yelling FOR TROTHGARD!" would be great. Instead of "My character orders an ale," how about, "Barkeep, your best dwarven ale."?

 

Good role playing means doing things IN CHARACTER. Ask yourself, "What makes sense for my character?" When picking skills and abilities, stick with the character concept. If your character is a scrawny elven wizard, don't give him lots of BODY or PD and ED just because it will make him harder to kill. It doesn't make sense for the character. Ask, "What would my character do?" If your character prefers stealth and trickery, he wouldn't go charging into battle screaming like a barbarian. He'd sneak up on the enemy and attack from behind or set up a trap. Sometimes the answer to "What would my character do?" means doing something that isn't best for the adventuring party. On the other hand, there's a happy middle ground on this. Sometimes you'll need to rationalize why in the world your character would be doing this. We need to keep the party together or the game falls apart, so don't take it too far where it becomes nearly impossible to justify your character's actions to stay in the adventure. A character who's a loner and hates working with people isn't going to work out in this game where a group of adventurers is essential.

 

You could throw in some personality traits, habits, or phobias to make the character more interesting. Maybe your dwarven fighter is afraid of water. Maybe he fell in a lake and nearly drowned as a child. Maybe he's never been on the water, so he's just afraid of sailing on it. Maybe your character collects weapons-all kinds as long as they're different. Maybe your character is a drunk and rarely sobers up. He might drink on adventures not just at the local pubs. These can also be great Disadvantages for your character. Check out Uncle Figgy's Guides to learn more. Yeah, the name Uncle Figgy sounds corny and funny, but these guides are pretty good. Uncle Figgy has been playing RPGs for over 17+ years, so there's something to learn from him.

 

FEEDBACK

 

After a gaming session, let me know what you like and don't like about the game. I won't learn how to make my game better unless I get some feedback. If you're not having fun in the game, let me know and tell me why after the game session. Try one more session. If you're still not having fun, maybe our gaming styles don't match.

 

 

[1] J.R.R Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Terry Goodkind, Mary Stewart, Raymond Feist, Ursula K. Le Guin, David Eddings

[tkdguy]

Sounds like a fun game. Good luck with it, and on your website.

[Snarf]

You've laid it all out clearly. Sounds like it's going to be a great game.

 

One thing you could include is a direct statement of what you seem to be opposed to in your introduction. By that I mean something like "This won't be like D+D."

[projecktzero]

Originally posted by Snarf

You've laid it all out clearly. Sounds like it's going to be a great game.

 

One thing you could include is a direct statement of what you seem to be opposed to in your introduction. By that I mean something like "This won't be like D+D."

 

or Diablo II.

 

Thanks for taking the time to read my long post. I'll add a direct statement. Just wanted to know if I was on the right track.

[Guest joen00b]

I find I write for myself to create the game. If it makes me happy, odds are, others are going to enjoy it. I started putting down my thoughts on some free webspace before moving it to my real webspace (HTML coding and all takes as long as some of the background and creative portions of the game).

 

Right now it's a hodgepodge of pictures I've found on the net that adequately portray the feel I was going for (I found some killer pictures of castles from all over Europe), and a mish mash of writings trying to get the general campaign feel down, NPC personalities, names of towns, capitols, points of interest etc, just to have them down. The collection of ideas is the most important, I took a different route than you, I think. I began writing local histories and such as I have in my brain the direction of the campaign and how it will progress, I wrote the extraneous materials and the inane notes to coincide with the campaign I am thinking of.

 

The only thing really left after getting the extras down is writing up the NPCs and monsters they'll encounter. It's odd, but I will be able to remember an entire campaign, but forget the little details that flesh out the place, and my players are just opposite. They'll remember the innkeep had a blue lazy eye that pointed toward his nose, but can't remember the name of the arch nemesis of the campaign.

 

/shrug

[projecktzero]

Intersting way to create a game.

 

I'm alway putting ideas into my Palm like character names, locations, adventure ideas, ...

 

Sometimes it takes me awhile to gather all the elements of an adventure. I'll mull it over while driving to/from work...