El SkidThe frozen white northRegistered Userregular
edited July 2012
Yeah, my favorite mainstream games have already been mentioned:
Paranoia: Great one-shot material, though I disagree with the "need the right kind of players" comment earlier- you really need a strong DM to give players incentive to behave properly in my experience.
L5R: Awesome game for campaigns that did a better job of getting me into the culture of the game then any other game. We had 3 players in our party: One honourless archer, one totally-honourable dualist, and one honourable-when-its-not-too-hard guy from the royal family. The setting really shone as I got to see how all the characters viewed the world so differently, and interacted with it differently.
The only other standout game was an Avatar game that a friend of mine made up on his own- it was an alternate reality-type game where higher powers are at work in the world and you get involved in them as you develop powers and interact positively and negatively with the powers in their struggle. He called it "Dark".
At one point we had our Vampire the Masquerade game interrupted by this game as the GM (of both games) had me go into convulsions in real life to signal our entering into the Dark game- nearly gave my now-wife a heart attack :P
It's pretty great. If you want to run a Dark Heresy power level game, though, I would suggest just waiting for Only War to come out and using the character rules from it because the DH rules are very obviously outdated compared to the newer stuff. The games are good, but like mentioned, have some issues with organization and correcting/clarifying rules.
If I'm honest, while I'm all for improving things, it would have been better for them to wait and do a second edition - though I don't want all the books I currently own suddenly rendered redundant. There aren't that many changes that are really necessary, and some are a bit wierd (called shots are a full action in Black Crusade which renders them rather useless until your skill level is high enough). In fact I liked the simplicity of the psyker system in DH.
OK so I pre-ordered 13th Age, I have no willpower. Been looking through the Icons section, and...I'm totally gonna do some Game of Thrones-style shit with this setting.
It's pretty great. If you want to run a Dark Heresy power level game, though, I would suggest just waiting for Only War to come out and using the character rules from it because the DH rules are very obviously outdated compared to the newer stuff. The games are good, but like mentioned, have some issues with organization and correcting/clarifying rules.
If I'm honest, while I'm all for improving things, it would have been better for them to wait and do a second edition - though I don't want all the books I currently own suddenly rendered redundant. There aren't that many changes that are really necessary, and some are a bit wierd (called shots are a full action in Black Crusade which renders them rather useless until your skill level is high enough). In fact I liked the simplicity of the psyker system in DH.
Unfortunately it had to be fixed. Psykers in DH absolutely overshadowed everything else in the game.
It's pretty great. If you want to run a Dark Heresy power level game, though, I would suggest just waiting for Only War to come out and using the character rules from it because the DH rules are very obviously outdated compared to the newer stuff. The games are good, but like mentioned, have some issues with organization and correcting/clarifying rules.
If I'm honest, while I'm all for improving things, it would have been better for them to wait and do a second edition - though I don't want all the books I currently own suddenly rendered redundant. There aren't that many changes that are really necessary, and some are a bit wierd (called shots are a full action in Black Crusade which renders them rather useless until your skill level is high enough). In fact I liked the simplicity of the psyker system in DH.
Unfortunately it had to be fixed. Psykers in DH absolutely overshadowed everything else in the game.
Overshadowed? I thought the problem people had was that people were complaining about being sucked into the warp on a roll of a 9.
Huh? A roll of a nine just makes you roll on the psychic phenomena chart, you don't get into the nasty stuff unles you roll >75% on that chart, and then relatively high on the next chart.
Whereas a psyker with biomancy just shits all over everyone.
@Denada - speaking of Marvel Heroic RPG, when are you going to continue with the next part of your Lets Read? I am eager to find out what else my construct/robot can do!
Soon, I think. Last week was a really crappy week, but I think I'll have time/motivation this week.
Also speaking of Marvel Heroic and your (awesome) Let's Read, I had a Marvel question for you--
Have you ever read through Marvel SAGA/The Marvel Superheroes Adventure Game? It was published in the mid- to late-90s and used a deck-based diceless mechanic. I think it's a great game, and a VERY direct predecessor to MHR (a lot moreso than the 80s TSR game, which is good, but I'm not as much a fan), in that it really pushed the idea of playing fast and loose with powers, stunts, and so on. That said, it's a bit wonkily written, and doesn't wholly commit to the storygame aspect like I'd like it to (partially because of when it was written, before the storygame boom of the last few years), and pretty desperately needed a second edition to tweak it (at which point I'd suspect it would come out even more similar to MHR--to the point where I mostly used MHR as houserules for my someday-maybe SAGA game).
This concludes "Dex rambles about RPGs no one owns".
Got MHR in the post, and it's really cool but I don't understand some parts of it. I don't find the examples very clear.
Has anyone seen any longer examples of play on the net somewhere?
Edit: I read the official one MWP put on the net, but it doesn't explain the stuff I don't get. I get the free-form thing - it's the exact effects of particular numbers, especially the effect die, that I don't really get.
Got MHR in the post, and it's really cool but I don't understand some parts of it. I don't find the examples very clear.
Has anyone seen any longer examples of play on the net somewhere?
Edit: I read the official one MWP put on the net, but it doesn't explain the stuff I don't get. I get the free-form thing - it's the exact effects of particular numbers, especially the effect die, that I don't really get.
The effect die basically just stands for the size or power of whatever you're trying to do. For example, if you're spending some time in a Transition Scene trying to build a laser rifle for the next fight, you roll against the doom pool to see how well you make out. Assuming that you beat the doom pool (have a Total equal to or better than the doom pool's total) then the effect die becomes the die you would you use to represent that rifle in future dice pools. So a d6 effect die would represent the kind of rifle an average SHIELD agent or something could create, while a d12 would represent some kind of crazy weapon that only someone like Tony Stark could produce. The result of your roll is an Asset, something like Laser Rifle (d12), which can then be added to a dice pool just like any other Trait.
And this is something that I had to point out to my players a few times: the actual number you rolled on the die you choose for your effect die doesn't matter. It's just the size that counts.
I don't know if any of that helps. I found that a lot of the mechanics made more sense once we were actually playing.
I'm Tony Stark and in going to override the security on an AIM outpost, creating an assets in the progress. I decide (as a player) I want to hack the turrets dues ex style and make them aid us against aim guys. I roll my dice. Basically, as a player I get to add one dice from each section of my sheet IF I can make it story applicable to what im trying to do.
So, Tony is on his own so he's solo, I get my D10 affiliation dice
AIM computers are probably cutting edge tech so I add a d8 for my distinction
My cybernetic senses let me tap into networks so I get a d6 from my power sets
I'm a tech master so I also get a d10 from my specialties.
I could probably spend a plot point and make a case for a stunt dice If im underfire from a modok or something (but i won't for this example)
So I roll my 2d10 my d8 and my d6 and I get 6 on a d10, 5 on the next d10, 1 on the d8 and 4 on the d6. So the 1 is ignored and the watcher can buy it with PP for his doom pool. I now have a choice. I can take the two d10's for my total and have 11, in which case my last die is my effect die. If the doom pool gets lower the hacked turrets will add a d6 to an ally's pool. If I take the d10 and d6 for my total, it's only a score of 10, but the effect die would be d10 and those turrets would add a d10 to ally's rolls instead.
Huh? A roll of a nine just makes you roll on the psychic phenomena chart, you don't get into the nasty stuff unles you roll >75% on that chart, and then relatively high on the next chart.
Whereas a psyker with biomancy just shits all over everyone.
I haven't read the specifics of the powers in DH for a while. I know that Ascension, which has its own problems, changed the system along the lines of the later games. Does that book change the powers then? It's the one key book for DH i don't own.
MHR sounds like it has good ideas, if it ever gets a print release in the UK, but it also looks like the GM will have a lot of work to do/lot of stuff at the table. Resolving groups of NPC villains and assembling dice pools sounds like a headache.
Once you do it a few times it's pretty easy. In my experience, the GM's job overall is a lot simpler than other systems since you give so much agency to the players.
Also, the rules being pretty much all about one resolution mechanic means that, while that resolution mechanic isn't exactly simple, it isn't difficult.
It looks very much like something everyone will pickup quickly because you will be doing it constantly.
Huh? A roll of a nine just makes you roll on the psychic phenomena chart, you don't get into the nasty stuff unles you roll >75% on that chart, and then relatively high on the next chart.
Whereas a psyker with biomancy just shits all over everyone.
I haven't read the specifics of the powers in DH for a while. I know that Ascension, which has its own problems, changed the system along the lines of the later games. Does that book change the powers then? It's the one key book for DH i don't own.
Don't know, I never bothered to buy Ascension. I wasn't interested in using the stuff that was in it.
OK. New entirely different situation recommendation request! (France decision is in deliberation)
My weekly 4E D&D keeps being called off due to lack of numbers. Sucks but that's what you get with adults in a fairly low population area of Britain. I'm just happy I get a game at all.
But if we did have something we could do with the three more reliable people that would be great. So something that runs nice with 1 DM & 2 players or is DMless with three players. Unfortunately one of them is a D&D or bust nerd, so avoiding straying too far from the high fantasy D&D-esque genre would be good. And something with both combat (or at least challenge and dice rolls) rather than entirely plot based. I can't see them going for an entirely narrative game. They'll want to be 'fighting' something they can 'beat'.
Unfortunately anything involving the words 'board game' will likely go down like a ton of bricks due with said D&D guy. He'll want plot, not just gameplay.
All tall order. Is such a thing out there?
Does DCC with it's mob of characters per player fit here ? One DM, two players with 8 level 0 peasants each?
Yes, DCC still fits. You only have that many characters per player during that first 0-level adventure, what they call The Funnel. It's a great introduction to the atmosphere of the game, and a great way to teach newcomers the basics without handing them a lot of rules. The number of peasants you give out certainly depends on what you run for them. If you go with Sailors on the Starless Sea, I found the sweet spot to be 7 each. Typically, I've had 4-6 make it out alive.
The Funnel does lean a little more towards the game side of things as your characters are going to die. I still have people roleplay, but they generally save the bulk of it for higher levels. Everyone I've played it with has had a blast at this level, and a lot of those people were regulars in my Burning Wheel game, which is about as opposite as you can get.
Low level play usually has players running 1-3 characters depending on how smart they are. I find DCC preferable to other D&D because of how quick the resolution of everything is.
What kind of adventures did you have in mind?
Please tell me more about your Burning Wheel game. I picked up Burning Wheel Gold a few months ago, and It looks a lot more fun than D&D. If I am ever to get a chance to play it I'll probably need to be the one running the game though.
What do you want to know specifically? BW is a pretty big thing to talk about. I did a write up of the first session, which you can read here.
The write up is cool. What I'm particularly interested in is how the game plays at the table though. What sort of behavior does the system promote in the players? How good is it at promoting imaginative ideas? How easy is it to run? How much prep time is involved in a good session? Does the system demand really involved players, or does it try to get them involved via mechanics?
I'm not experienced in running games, but I'm trying to broaden the horizons of my current D&D group. I really like it when a system promotes interesting interactions between PCs and imaginative problem-solving. Some of the players prefer a gritty combat system with nasty critical hit rules.
0
Options
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
OK. New entirely different situation recommendation request! (France decision is in deliberation)
My weekly 4E D&D keeps being called off due to lack of numbers. Sucks but that's what you get with adults in a fairly low population area of Britain. I'm just happy I get a game at all.
But if we did have something we could do with the three more reliable people that would be great. So something that runs nice with 1 DM & 2 players or is DMless with three players. Unfortunately one of them is a D&D or bust nerd, so avoiding straying too far from the high fantasy D&D-esque genre would be good. And something with both combat (or at least challenge and dice rolls) rather than entirely plot based. I can't see them going for an entirely narrative game. They'll want to be 'fighting' something they can 'beat'.
Unfortunately anything involving the words 'board game' will likely go down like a ton of bricks due with said D&D guy. He'll want plot, not just gameplay.
All tall order. Is such a thing out there?
Does DCC with it's mob of characters per player fit here ? One DM, two players with 8 level 0 peasants each?
Yes, DCC still fits. You only have that many characters per player during that first 0-level adventure, what they call The Funnel. It's a great introduction to the atmosphere of the game, and a great way to teach newcomers the basics without handing them a lot of rules. The number of peasants you give out certainly depends on what you run for them. If you go with Sailors on the Starless Sea, I found the sweet spot to be 7 each. Typically, I've had 4-6 make it out alive.
The Funnel does lean a little more towards the game side of things as your characters are going to die. I still have people roleplay, but they generally save the bulk of it for higher levels. Everyone I've played it with has had a blast at this level, and a lot of those people were regulars in my Burning Wheel game, which is about as opposite as you can get.
Low level play usually has players running 1-3 characters depending on how smart they are. I find DCC preferable to other D&D because of how quick the resolution of everything is.
What kind of adventures did you have in mind?
Please tell me more about your Burning Wheel game. I picked up Burning Wheel Gold a few months ago, and It looks a lot more fun than D&D. If I am ever to get a chance to play it I'll probably need to be the one running the game though.
What do you want to know specifically? BW is a pretty big thing to talk about. I did a write up of the first session, which you can read here.
The write up is cool. What I'm particularly interested in is how the game plays at the table though. What sort of behavior does the system promote in the players? How good is it at promoting imaginative ideas? How easy is it to run? How much prep time is involved in a good session? Does the system demand really involved players, or does it try to get them involved via mechanics?
I'm not experienced in running games, but I'm trying to broaden the horizons of my current D&D group. I really like it when a system promotes interesting interactions between PCs and imaginative problem-solving. Some of the players prefer a gritty combat system with nasty critical hit rules.
The core difference between BW and most other fantasy games is how much players invest in their characters. The entire game is built around the characters, their situation, and their beliefs. This is a massive departure from the norm where the GM pitches a game to his players, they make characters largely divorced from the story, and then you spend X sessions figuring it out. In BW, before any characters are made, everyone brainstorms what they want to do. They determine setting and story, then make characters that fit within that framework. I've found this leads to more intense role playing at the game really excels at creating a shared fction. It's cliche to say, but the limits are really what you can imagine.
BW is among the easiest games I've run, except for combat. Everything is handled with pools of D6, and the entire system revolves around players wanting to accomplish a goal, you setting an obstacle, and they roll their dice. No re-rolls, you let the dice stand. In other systems, this might be a headache, but BW rewards failure just as much as success.
Combat is one of those things that really benefits from everyone having read those sections of the book. It's not that it's impossible to do so without, but every group I've played with has struggled to wrap their heads around it at first because it's very different from D&D. To start, there is no initiative. All actions are resolved simultaneously (kind of). Your roll to hit determines how much damage you do.
There is zero prep time. This is a game you can't plan for beyond the next scene. It is entirely based on player agency, and if you're trying to force it, the game will break. In the book, it basically instructs you to say yes to a player request or call for a test. This totally blew my mind the first time I ran it because of how much prep I'm used to doing, but after a session or two, I grew into it.
The system demands equal involvement from everyone. It is the DMs job to challenge the players' beliefs. If you create a situation that does so and the players ignore it or don't respond, something is wrong. The whole game revolves around the beliefs of your players. You challenge them, their beliefs change, you challenge them some more, they change accordingly etc. If at any point your players feel the situation is resolved, the game is over.
I recommend running "The Sword" to start, which is their introductory adventure. It's a little more PvP than usual, but it will give you and your players a sense of how to embody beliefs in play, when to call for tests, how the game works etc. you can find this for free on the BW wiki.
Let me know if you want any further clarification.
Edit: There's a great podcast out there that will give you some insight into how all of this works called "The Inquisition of Blood". You should listen to the first two episodes to get an idea of how world/character building works as well as actual play. Check it out: http://strandgamers.com/podcasts/inquisition/
I've read all of Burning Wheel Gold, so I've got a decent idea of the basics, though I doubt I'll understand positioning in combat or exactly how beliefs work until I see them in practice.
How do players and GM build a campaign together? I didn't see anything about that in the book. How do beliefs work out in play? How firm an idea of your character do you need to start? In D&D I usually sketch out a very broad idea of what my character is about, and fill out his personality through play.
0
Options
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
I've read all of Burning Wheel Gold, so I've got a decent idea of the basics, though I doubt I'll understand positioning in combat or exactly how beliefs work until I see them in practice.
How do players and GM build a campaign together? I didn't see anything about that in the book. How do beliefs work out in play? How firm an idea of your character do you need to start? In D&D I usually sketch out a very broad idea of what my character is about, and fill out his personality through play.
Basically, you start with the question: what kind of game do you want to play? There are no rules for world building. You really just sit around brainstorming the kind of world you're in, as well as the defining conflict on the campaign. The book encourages you to have a few pitches on hand and go with the one that gets the biggest response. Episode 0 of that podcast does exactly that. I think one of the GM sections towards the way back of BWG goes into a few of these details.
Beliefs are there to motivate the player to respond to situations that challenge them. The GMs job is to create those situations. For example, if one of your beliefs is, "The children are our future, I will protect them at any cost" and your town gets invaded, you should be taking precautions to see that they are safe. Playing your beliefs is how you advance, so if the GM never challenges them or your player fails to follow through with them, they will not advance and have a generally bad time.
A loose concept is best, as there are a lot of options in this game. Think in loose archetypes, like classes in other games, then choose the lifepaths that accomplish the goals of your character. You'll still discover your character through play, but you'll have a lot of ideas about who they a based on their past, their beliefs, and what they want to accomplish.
Edit: To give an example of the world building, I pitched the idea of being Trolls guarding a bridge to my group, who had never played before. I left it up to them to decide what they were guarding and who they were guarding it from. They decided they were guarding an evil Wizard's tower from some Elves to the south. Many centuries ago they lived in the forests to the south, but the Elves rooted them out and took over forcing the Trolls into the mountains. There in the peaks, the Trolls clashed with Dwarves, nearly wiping them out. For hundreds of years they sat in the mountains seething with hatred, vowing to get revenge. It wasn't possible until Gologomoth, the Wizard appeared and offered his services. He plunged this area of the world into constant darkness, allowing the Trolls to flourish without fear of turning to stone. Now, as the darkness creeps into the forests of the south, the Elves are mobilizing.
The players then wrote beliefs about their role in guarding the bridge, one character in the party, etc.
Gonna be running a 13th Age campaign, might post some session reports in here once it gets going.
One thing I need help with: I'm wanting to use a Sanity system, here's what I'm currently working with. Character generation will include receiving a "sanity pool" of WIS x 5. Each character will, at some point early in the story, receive an extra background, "Dark Lore +1". This background can be used as normal for skill check situations where it applies. HOWEVER, anytime something suitably horrifying is encountered (maybe you saw an aberration or read from a cultist's journal, who knows), you must make a WIS check, versus a DC depending on the severity of the encounter (so like...maybe you don't want to see an Old God), with the DC being further augmented by your current Dark Lore background. If the check is failed, you must make up the difference by spending Sanity points.
In other words, the more you know, the easier it becomes to scare the shit out of you, so risk/reward.
Anybody have any experience with similar systems? Any suggestions or glaring problems with the idea?
0
Options
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
I've completed my first major homebrew for DCC: Orcs!
Anyone familiar with the system want to take a look and give feedback? You can find it here.
0
Options
VanguardBut now the dream is over. And the insect is awake.Registered User, __BANNED USERSregular
Gonna be running a 13th Age campaign, might post some session reports in here once it gets going.
One thing I need help with: I'm wanting to use a Sanity system, here's what I'm currently working with. Character generation will include receiving a "sanity pool" of WIS x 5. Each character will, at some point early in the story, receive an extra background, "Dark Lore +1". This background can be used as normal for skill check situations where it applies. HOWEVER, anytime something suitably horrifying is encountered (maybe you saw an aberration or read from a cultist's journal, who knows), you must make a WIS check, versus a DC depending on the severity of the encounter (so like...maybe you don't want to see an Old God), with the DC being further augmented by your current Dark Lore background. If the check is failed, you must make up the difference by spending Sanity points.
In other words, the more you know, the easier it becomes to scare the shit out of you, so risk/reward.
Anybody have any experience with similar systems? Any suggestions or glaring problems with the idea?
Call of Cthulhu uses a sanity system where you have your sanity stat (maybe 75 for a relatively stable character) and you have your mythos skill, which starts at 0. It's a percentile system so every skill goes from 0 to 99. You roll your sanity stat in order to resist gaining insanity points or whatnot, so you would need to roll under whatever your current sanity is to resist.
For each percent you gain of mythos skill, you take a sharpie and blot out one number (all 100 numbers are written on the sheet, your current sanity is circled) on your sanity track. At first, this does not matter. Your current sanity will fluctuate, and since you cannot go past your max sanity (of 75 in this case) your 15% skill in the mythos is a non issue. You know stuff, that is all.
Soon if you start learning more, you might actually start to eat into your max sanity. You're starting to know an awful lot. It's okay though, characters in call of cthulhu rarely see their max sanity past character creation.
You've read a few more books, and now all of a sudden your current sanity is going down because you've taken that accursed sharpie and blotted out the number you were currently resting on. The shadows seem to move, and the eldritch knowledge you've burdened yourself with brings the world to life, or possibly to death? You're not sure anymore. You're not sure of a whole lot anymore. You know too much.
I've completed my first major homebrew for DCC: Orcs!
Anyone familiar with the system want to take a look and give feedback? You can find it here.
It looks good! I too have been hacking DCC classes to bits, and Orc was one of the ones I had planned (I think the spreadsheet I was goofing off with ended up with some stupid number like 16 planned classes--4 of each "branch" of Fighter, Mage, Thief, and Cleric).
My gut instinct said it was underpowered, actually (based on my reading of class features as Central/Major/Minor/Flavor, e.g. Attack Die/Deed Die/Critical Hits/Initiative), but I'm thinking Rage might be strong enough to count for two slots, so you might be okay.
I've completed my first major homebrew for DCC: Orcs!
Anyone familiar with the system want to take a look and give feedback? You can find it here.
It looks good! I too have been hacking DCC classes to bits, and Orc was one of the ones I had planned (I think the spreadsheet I was goofing off with ended up with some stupid number like 16 planned classes--4 of each "branch" of Fighter, Mage, Thief, and Cleric).
My gut instinct said it was underpowered, actually (based on my reading of class features as Central/Major/Minor/Flavor, e.g. Attack Die/Deed Die/Critical Hits/Initiative), but I'm thinking Rage might be strong enough to count for two slots, so you might be okay.
I'd rather it be slightly underpowered than overpowered. It did seem like every class had two major class features, but because Rage imparts things like HP, Extra attacks, and Damage Reduction, I figured it was enough on its own.
Anything more would be another minor ability.
Edit: Crawl! has agreed to publish it.
Vanguard on
0
Options
cptruggedI think it has something to do with free will.Registered Userregular
I'm now on my 3rd attempt at GM'ing and it has been interesting indeed. This 3rd attempt will be running the Pathfinder adventure path Jade Regent. Turns out my crew really liked 3rd/3.5 Ed DnD the best. We had no idea (until I was reading the boards here) that Pathfinder was still putting out great 3.5 style content. So we are running with it and I hope it goes well. I'm hoping to go long on this campaign and really get everyone jazzed about playing a long game.
My first GM'ing was with the FATE Dresden system. Which was fun and narrative heavy. Which made for a great story but damn if the prep didn't kill me. Hence why I think I'm a published module kind of guy. But it was fun, and my group made it all the way through the adventure.
I'm surprised how much I enjoy GM'ing and how different it is for me than the experience I have of being a player. As a player, I'm a huge rules monkey. I like everything to be in order and by the book. But as a GM, I get so excited about describing the action that I often forget the rules and what needs to take place. I played for almost 15 years before trying GM'ing and so far I think I like it.
I'm sure I will end up building a detailed map, down to the individual market stalls, of the capitol city in my campaign. Because at some point the players will be like "I wanna go down that street" and I'll be like "THERE IS NO STREET JUST A FIRE. You are seared!" and then I'll feel the need to keep that from happening again.
I've completed my first major homebrew for DCC: Orcs!
Anyone familiar with the system want to take a look and give feedback? You can find it here.
It looks good! I too have been hacking DCC classes to bits, and Orc was one of the ones I had planned (I think the spreadsheet I was goofing off with ended up with some stupid number like 16 planned classes--4 of each "branch" of Fighter, Mage, Thief, and Cleric).
My gut instinct said it was underpowered, actually (based on my reading of class features as Central/Major/Minor/Flavor, e.g. Attack Die/Deed Die/Critical Hits/Initiative), but I'm thinking Rage might be strong enough to count for two slots, so you might be okay.
I'd rather it be slightly underpowered than overpowered. It did seem like every class had two major class features, but because Rage imparts things like HP, Extra attacks, and Damage Reduction, I figured it was enough on its own.
Anything more would be another minor ability.
Edit: Crawl! has agreed to publish it.
That's awesome!
Yeah, like I said, the more I looked at it, the more I felt the abilities granted by Rage made up for the lack of a 4th ability.
#thatawesomemoment when your players are creating characters, and are really getting into backstories for them, and unknowingly just happen to be lining up hella fascinating conflicts for themselves within the context of your story, all without any input from you.
#thatawesomemoment when your players are creating characters, and are really getting into backstories for them, and unknowingly just happen to be lining up hella fascinating conflicts for themselves within the context of your story, all without any input from you.
On the other hand, it's entirely possible and perhaps even probable that I will manage to fuck this up. I have only ever run a one-shot before, and that was using a bullshit 4-stat pre-gen character pool to hide the fact that the game's theme was actually based on the movie Inception, and that I was rolling a die behind a screen and looking at it while I thought about what to say.
On the other other hand (upon noticing which abnormal appendage, I was compelled to make a sanity check) people enjoyed that one, so who knows.
(I don't know if my players are on this forum, so hey guys if you're about to join a 13th Age campaign with a GM named Nathan, don't click any of dis shiz)
I'm gonna divide it into 3 acts, with the first and last being mostly linear, and the second being mostly sand-boxy.
Act 1
Without going into paragraphs of details, the players will become favorites of the emperor due to a chance intersection with a prophecy that has recently been made to him. They will at first be assigned to carry messages and invitations to a few of the other icons for a Landsmeet at the capitol city, Axis, carrying out these tasks as they think best.
The Landsmeet will raise several issues for later in the campaign -- primarily the rise of a new Orc Chieftain in the north, as well as a recent tiff in the ongoing tension between the Elf Queen and the Dwarf King. Basically, setting the stage for later Game of Thrones-style shit hitting the fan.
Towards the end of the Landsmeet, the emperor will become concerned by certain aspects of the prophecy in question, and ask the players to go retrieve a certain man from the city of Glitterhaegen. But before they can leave, two things happen:
1) The Archmage arrives to warn the emperor that the wards surrounding the empire have begun to weaken
2) Shortly thereafter, the emperor drops dead, poisoned by an unknown assassin.
(Party levels up to 2 here.) The next day, the Archmage will encourage them to follow the emperor's last orders, explaining that the man in question is the emperor's bastard son, the only surviving heir to the throne.
When they arrive in Glitterhaegen, they'll find it in full swing with a masquerade festival, and the heir will be missing. Through circumstances that will be determined by how the players choose to act from this point forward, they'll discover that he was seen being grabbed and dragged out of the city, towards the Bitterwood.
After a dungeon crawl, the heir can be found in the depths of some ruins on the edge of the forest, having been tortured quite extensively by cultists of a Lovecraftian nature. So they bring him back to Axis, and here endeth Act 1. (Party levels up to 3 here.)
Act 2
The heir is concerned by something one of his captors said, after carving an intricate symbol into his chest: "Six months." The Archmage does a little hocus-pocus, and discovers that the heir has been cursed with magic of the elder gods, and that six months from the time of the captor's proclamation, his spirit will be ripped from his body and into the maw(s) of whatever is waiting beyond the wards at the edge of the map.
(Why six months? The cultists have an obsession with the number 6, and anything to do with it. Cubes, insects, hexagons, etc. And it wouldn't be a proper sacrifice without the ritual behind it.)
The Archmage explains that the wards around the empire depend upon two things:
1) A member of the imperial bloodline sits upon the throne
2) That ruler's legitimacy is at least grudgingly acknowledged by the lesser rulers of the land -- the Elf Queen, the Dwarf King, the Druid, the Priestess, etc. The original wards were powered by a covenant between the factions, which practically nobody these days remembers.
So in roughly six months' time (less by now, if the party had any campaign losses during Act 1), just before the summer solstice, the wards will fail and whatever's waiting out there will rush in. The only way to fight it is to find a new ruler from a different bloodline, one who the entire land can rally behind. As is tradition, that ruler must be crowned at noon of the summer solstice. Then the Archmage can put in place new wards and use them to drive back whatever has already entered the empire, if anything.
It will be entirely up to them who they support as the new ruler. They can choose one of themselves, or any of the NPCs they've encountered. The Archmage will refuse the offer, and other NPCs may require various levels of convincing.
Here's the problem: The bastard heir is quite obviously sick, and the other power-players in the empire can see the handwriting on the wall. So many of them are preparing to make their move.
Here's where I unfurl a map of the empire for the players, and (as the Archmage) start placing stand-up flags on the map representing different things they could spend their remaining time doing, in order to further their goal of empowering a new ruler, and preparing for the shitstorm surrounding the fall of the wards. Just some of the things that will be on the map:
1. The elf queen and dwarf king need to be brought to heel. They are currently clashing over a drow holy site in the underworld, and preparing to go to war with each other now that the imperial authority is in a weak position to stop them. The players can get involved, choosing to support one side over the other, or attempt to crush the spirit of both sides, or attempt to negotiate a peace between the two sides.
2. Nobody knows whose side the High Druid is on in this struggle. He must be contacted, and persuaded to align with the players -- or, again, simply brought into submission.
3. The Orc Chieftain is preparing to launch an assault southward, scouts report. Deal with it.
4. When the heir dies and the wards fall, so will fall the pacification enchantment over the Midland Sea. The resulting influx of raging storms and monsters from the Iron Sea could prove most problematic. Find a way to put a new enchantment in place before the old one fails.
5. If the pacification enchantment falls, the Lich King and his forces become a concern. Could they possibly be dealt with before the enchantment falls? Or, better, could the Lich King be persuaded to help defend the land from the vanguard of the elder god invasion?
6. The Koru Behemoths could be useful allies in this fight. Rumour has it there's an order of dwarven monks who have mastered the art of actual communication with the creatures, who now live in a monastery atop the back of Old Mother, the largest of the Behemoths. Find these monks and persuade them to lend their arts to the aid of the empire.
7. The Prince of Shadows always knows something more than others do. Go see what he can tell you about the coming invasion, and its cultists.
8. The emperor's murder doesn't seem to fit with the cultists' ritualistic MO, which means we could still have a traitor in our midst. Find out who killed him, and why -- it will surely lend greater understanding to our current obstacles, and the last thing we need is for the heir to be assassinated in the same way before the summer solstice arrives.
9. The prophecy in question mentions a handful of magic items which can be found in some ruins within the Kneedeep. Go find them.
Basically, the idea will be to fill up the map with possibilities, and make it clear that the players will not have time to accomplish them all, and so must pick the missions they feel are most cost-effective in terms of the time spent on them vs. the benefit gained. If you've played Mass Effect 3, imagine having to pick and choose your war assets based on your own self-determined strategy for the last battle.
The players will level up after each mission. In addition, the players are giving me specific things they want for their characters, and the bulk of those wishlists will be fulfilled during this act.
During all these missions, the clock is slowly ticking down. Finally, the summer solstice approaches, and with it, Act 3.
Act 3
Here I'll unfurl a map again, this time of Axis and its surroundings. The setting is the 2 or 3 days prior to the solstice, and the players are responsible for planning the city defenses. Key points include whether the harbor must be held against monsters (did they get the pacification enchantment in place?), how best to defend the raised palace where the coronation must take place, and what sort of resources they have at their disposal to construct these defenses. Also, how do they plan to keep an awareness of what's going on across the city in the heat of battle, to know where reinforcements and intervention might be needed?
At midnight, with the players standing around him, the heir's life slips away. A shudder is felt across the land, the wards fall.
The city must stand for 12 hours, for the coronation to be done properly and the wards restored.
The ensuing battle will make copious use of the mook rules, on both sides. :twisted:
0
Options
tzeentchlingDoctor of RocksOaklandRegistered Userregular
Have you considered the possibility that the players may choose to ignore the requirement for a new heir and focus on healing/removing the curse from the current one? Thus not letting him die and the wards not falling?
I have considered the possibility -- in fact, my first idea was having that as the entire second act instead of the other stuff, but it seemed far too linear to avoid feeling like they're being railroaded -- and am considering various ways to give the curse plot armor. I think the best way is having the archmage explain that "this curse is some deep, eldritch ritual work, tied into the land itself. Booby-trapped, if you will, to avoid being removed. It is theoretically possible, but it might take years to even unravel how such a thing could be done."
I'm trying to hit that sweet spot of railroading them just enough that I don't have to write up an entirely second campaign, but not so much that they feel their agency is removed. Am I going too far in the railroading direction?
0
Options
tzeentchlingDoctor of RocksOaklandRegistered Userregular
edited July 2012
I'd suggest that it could be done, as a plot hook. And perhaps it can; perhaps someone, somewhere in the empire knows how. It could be among the list of options, or something hinted at as they go through the other choices. Maybe High Druid knows how, or has heard of the ritual before, or maybe those mysterious monks can help some way, or perhaps the Lich King (who probably knows a thing or two about souls and rituals) might be willing to help - for a price. If the characters really want to win all the things, you could give them that option - some sort of last-minute thing, a quest to deny the monster his soul or even challenge it directly to take it back (perhaps a game of skill or chance?). Or, you could hint at it and make it a MacGuffin - enough to entice them to try for it, even if it wastes time they could be using to accomplish these other things that need to be done.
You could even make it so that no matter which quests they do, they can find some clue as to how to save the prince - some locations might be more useful than others. This might make for a more uncomfortable political situation - if they've chosen someone to be the new heir to the throne, but keep finding hints at how they might save the current one, what should they do? Potentially waste time following up on the clues in what everyone assures them is a wild goose chase? Withdraw their support for the new heir (whom they most likely chose), which is probably politically deadly if not done with extreme care? Or go through with the new guy, knowing that they might have been able to save the cursed one in the end?
Edit: I'd also consider that the cursed guy probably has some agency too. He's certainly going to be trying to find ways to remove the curse, or transfer it to someone else. If he's the de facto emperor, he probably has a lot of power to do these things. Lastly, you may want to consider what happens if the players - or an NPC - attempts or actually does disrupt this timeline. Would killing the heir early disrupt the ritual? Or bring it to fruition immediately? Do they need to look out for unwitting assassins hired by political rivals going after the current doomed heir?
Edit edit: What if the cursed guy marries quickly and gets someone pregnant? Then there's a new potential member of the royal bloodline. Perhaps not born yet since it's only 6 months, but with some sort of magic perhaps it could be carried to term quicker?
Honestly, the best way to avoid this is probably to have the heir in some sort of mystical coma, on the way or as soon as the characters bring him back, and ideally unknown to the rest of the world at large except perhaps for political allies one can completely trust - if any such exist. Hopefully the characters can keep their mouths shut.
Well as far as killing the guy early, while it might disrupt the ritual (might), it would bring the wards down anyway.
Re: creating a new member of the bloodline, I had considered 3 possibilities, depending on the tone the players have taken the campaign to by that time:
1) The curse prevents it, though the players might not know that for sure. In any case, the heir would encourage them to undertake the tasks of Act 2, just in case no conception occurs.
2) Even if a child could be conceived in time, it is unlikely that the leaders of the realm would accept the legitimacy of an unborn child, given they've already begun to question the legitimacy of the bastard heir.
3) The heir's captors considered this possibility, and took...steps to prevent it.
The mystical coma is a good idea as well, and I may have that be a gradual progression as Act 2 continues, having him gradually become less lucid and responsive until he's full-coma around the halfway point.
Another thing that I just remembered, could use some advice:
When I asked my players what they'd like to see in the campaign re:their respective characters, one guy said he thought it'd be interesting for his character to have a love interest. He's not just being creepy, it is a legitimately interesting hook for his particular character.
That said, I am not sure how to introduce this into play without the risk of creeping out the other players or boring them. How is this usually done?
@Vanguard - Thanks for linking me to that podcast. I've downloaded the game and I'm listing to it. I'm really liking how the first episode it going, and I think my current group could stand to emulate their discussion about the game's themes before the game starts.
Posts
Paranoia: Great one-shot material, though I disagree with the "need the right kind of players" comment earlier- you really need a strong DM to give players incentive to behave properly in my experience.
L5R: Awesome game for campaigns that did a better job of getting me into the culture of the game then any other game. We had 3 players in our party: One honourless archer, one totally-honourable dualist, and one honourable-when-its-not-too-hard guy from the royal family. The setting really shone as I got to see how all the characters viewed the world so differently, and interacted with it differently.
The only other standout game was an Avatar game that a friend of mine made up on his own- it was an alternate reality-type game where higher powers are at work in the world and you get involved in them as you develop powers and interact positively and negatively with the powers in their struggle. He called it "Dark".
At one point we had our Vampire the Masquerade game interrupted by this game as the GM (of both games) had me go into convulsions in real life to signal our entering into the Dark game- nearly gave my now-wife a heart attack :P
Unfortunately it had to be fixed. Psykers in DH absolutely overshadowed everything else in the game.
Overshadowed? I thought the problem people had was that people were complaining about being sucked into the warp on a roll of a 9.
Whereas a psyker with biomancy just shits all over everyone.
Also speaking of Marvel Heroic and your (awesome) Let's Read, I had a Marvel question for you--
Have you ever read through Marvel SAGA/The Marvel Superheroes Adventure Game? It was published in the mid- to late-90s and used a deck-based diceless mechanic. I think it's a great game, and a VERY direct predecessor to MHR (a lot moreso than the 80s TSR game, which is good, but I'm not as much a fan), in that it really pushed the idea of playing fast and loose with powers, stunts, and so on. That said, it's a bit wonkily written, and doesn't wholly commit to the storygame aspect like I'd like it to (partially because of when it was written, before the storygame boom of the last few years), and pretty desperately needed a second edition to tweak it (at which point I'd suspect it would come out even more similar to MHR--to the point where I mostly used MHR as houserules for my someday-maybe SAGA game).
This concludes "Dex rambles about RPGs no one owns".
Has anyone seen any longer examples of play on the net somewhere?
Edit: I read the official one MWP put on the net, but it doesn't explain the stuff I don't get. I get the free-form thing - it's the exact effects of particular numbers, especially the effect die, that I don't really get.
at 13 bucks i can't say no
The effect die basically just stands for the size or power of whatever you're trying to do. For example, if you're spending some time in a Transition Scene trying to build a laser rifle for the next fight, you roll against the doom pool to see how well you make out. Assuming that you beat the doom pool (have a Total equal to or better than the doom pool's total) then the effect die becomes the die you would you use to represent that rifle in future dice pools. So a d6 effect die would represent the kind of rifle an average SHIELD agent or something could create, while a d12 would represent some kind of crazy weapon that only someone like Tony Stark could produce. The result of your roll is an Asset, something like Laser Rifle (d12), which can then be added to a dice pool just like any other Trait.
And this is something that I had to point out to my players a few times: the actual number you rolled on the die you choose for your effect die doesn't matter. It's just the size that counts.
I don't know if any of that helps. I found that a lot of the mechanics made more sense once we were actually playing.
I'm Tony Stark and in going to override the security on an AIM outpost, creating an assets in the progress. I decide (as a player) I want to hack the turrets dues ex style and make them aid us against aim guys. I roll my dice. Basically, as a player I get to add one dice from each section of my sheet IF I can make it story applicable to what im trying to do.
So, Tony is on his own so he's solo, I get my D10 affiliation dice
AIM computers are probably cutting edge tech so I add a d8 for my distinction
My cybernetic senses let me tap into networks so I get a d6 from my power sets
I'm a tech master so I also get a d10 from my specialties.
I could probably spend a plot point and make a case for a stunt dice If im underfire from a modok or something (but i won't for this example)
So I roll my 2d10 my d8 and my d6 and I get 6 on a d10, 5 on the next d10, 1 on the d8 and 4 on the d6. So the 1 is ignored and the watcher can buy it with PP for his doom pool. I now have a choice. I can take the two d10's for my total and have 11, in which case my last die is my effect die. If the doom pool gets lower the hacked turrets will add a d6 to an ally's pool. If I take the d10 and d6 for my total, it's only a score of 10, but the effect die would be d10 and those turrets would add a d10 to ally's rolls instead.
I haven't read the specifics of the powers in DH for a while. I know that Ascension, which has its own problems, changed the system along the lines of the later games. Does that book change the powers then? It's the one key book for DH i don't own.
A list of things, should you be of the gifting persuasion
It looks very much like something everyone will pickup quickly because you will be doing it constantly.
Don't know, I never bothered to buy Ascension. I wasn't interested in using the stuff that was in it.
The write up is cool. What I'm particularly interested in is how the game plays at the table though. What sort of behavior does the system promote in the players? How good is it at promoting imaginative ideas? How easy is it to run? How much prep time is involved in a good session? Does the system demand really involved players, or does it try to get them involved via mechanics?
I'm not experienced in running games, but I'm trying to broaden the horizons of my current D&D group. I really like it when a system promotes interesting interactions between PCs and imaginative problem-solving. Some of the players prefer a gritty combat system with nasty critical hit rules.
@kaorti
The core difference between BW and most other fantasy games is how much players invest in their characters. The entire game is built around the characters, their situation, and their beliefs. This is a massive departure from the norm where the GM pitches a game to his players, they make characters largely divorced from the story, and then you spend X sessions figuring it out. In BW, before any characters are made, everyone brainstorms what they want to do. They determine setting and story, then make characters that fit within that framework. I've found this leads to more intense role playing at the game really excels at creating a shared fction. It's cliche to say, but the limits are really what you can imagine.
BW is among the easiest games I've run, except for combat. Everything is handled with pools of D6, and the entire system revolves around players wanting to accomplish a goal, you setting an obstacle, and they roll their dice. No re-rolls, you let the dice stand. In other systems, this might be a headache, but BW rewards failure just as much as success.
Combat is one of those things that really benefits from everyone having read those sections of the book. It's not that it's impossible to do so without, but every group I've played with has struggled to wrap their heads around it at first because it's very different from D&D. To start, there is no initiative. All actions are resolved simultaneously (kind of). Your roll to hit determines how much damage you do.
There is zero prep time. This is a game you can't plan for beyond the next scene. It is entirely based on player agency, and if you're trying to force it, the game will break. In the book, it basically instructs you to say yes to a player request or call for a test. This totally blew my mind the first time I ran it because of how much prep I'm used to doing, but after a session or two, I grew into it.
The system demands equal involvement from everyone. It is the DMs job to challenge the players' beliefs. If you create a situation that does so and the players ignore it or don't respond, something is wrong. The whole game revolves around the beliefs of your players. You challenge them, their beliefs change, you challenge them some more, they change accordingly etc. If at any point your players feel the situation is resolved, the game is over.
I recommend running "The Sword" to start, which is their introductory adventure. It's a little more PvP than usual, but it will give you and your players a sense of how to embody beliefs in play, when to call for tests, how the game works etc. you can find this for free on the BW wiki.
Let me know if you want any further clarification.
Edit: There's a great podcast out there that will give you some insight into how all of this works called "The Inquisition of Blood". You should listen to the first two episodes to get an idea of how world/character building works as well as actual play. Check it out: http://strandgamers.com/podcasts/inquisition/
How do players and GM build a campaign together? I didn't see anything about that in the book. How do beliefs work out in play? How firm an idea of your character do you need to start? In D&D I usually sketch out a very broad idea of what my character is about, and fill out his personality through play.
Basically, you start with the question: what kind of game do you want to play? There are no rules for world building. You really just sit around brainstorming the kind of world you're in, as well as the defining conflict on the campaign. The book encourages you to have a few pitches on hand and go with the one that gets the biggest response. Episode 0 of that podcast does exactly that. I think one of the GM sections towards the way back of BWG goes into a few of these details.
Beliefs are there to motivate the player to respond to situations that challenge them. The GMs job is to create those situations. For example, if one of your beliefs is, "The children are our future, I will protect them at any cost" and your town gets invaded, you should be taking precautions to see that they are safe. Playing your beliefs is how you advance, so if the GM never challenges them or your player fails to follow through with them, they will not advance and have a generally bad time.
A loose concept is best, as there are a lot of options in this game. Think in loose archetypes, like classes in other games, then choose the lifepaths that accomplish the goals of your character. You'll still discover your character through play, but you'll have a lot of ideas about who they a based on their past, their beliefs, and what they want to accomplish.
Edit: To give an example of the world building, I pitched the idea of being Trolls guarding a bridge to my group, who had never played before. I left it up to them to decide what they were guarding and who they were guarding it from. They decided they were guarding an evil Wizard's tower from some Elves to the south. Many centuries ago they lived in the forests to the south, but the Elves rooted them out and took over forcing the Trolls into the mountains. There in the peaks, the Trolls clashed with Dwarves, nearly wiping them out. For hundreds of years they sat in the mountains seething with hatred, vowing to get revenge. It wasn't possible until Gologomoth, the Wizard appeared and offered his services. He plunged this area of the world into constant darkness, allowing the Trolls to flourish without fear of turning to stone. Now, as the darkness creeps into the forests of the south, the Elves are mobilizing.
The players then wrote beliefs about their role in guarding the bridge, one character in the party, etc.
One thing I need help with: I'm wanting to use a Sanity system, here's what I'm currently working with. Character generation will include receiving a "sanity pool" of WIS x 5. Each character will, at some point early in the story, receive an extra background, "Dark Lore +1". This background can be used as normal for skill check situations where it applies. HOWEVER, anytime something suitably horrifying is encountered (maybe you saw an aberration or read from a cultist's journal, who knows), you must make a WIS check, versus a DC depending on the severity of the encounter (so like...maybe you don't want to see an Old God), with the DC being further augmented by your current Dark Lore background. If the check is failed, you must make up the difference by spending Sanity points.
In other words, the more you know, the easier it becomes to scare the shit out of you, so risk/reward.
Anybody have any experience with similar systems? Any suggestions or glaring problems with the idea?
Anyone familiar with the system want to take a look and give feedback? You can find it here.
Call of Cthulhu uses a sanity system where you have your sanity stat (maybe 75 for a relatively stable character) and you have your mythos skill, which starts at 0. It's a percentile system so every skill goes from 0 to 99. You roll your sanity stat in order to resist gaining insanity points or whatnot, so you would need to roll under whatever your current sanity is to resist.
For each percent you gain of mythos skill, you take a sharpie and blot out one number (all 100 numbers are written on the sheet, your current sanity is circled) on your sanity track. At first, this does not matter. Your current sanity will fluctuate, and since you cannot go past your max sanity (of 75 in this case) your 15% skill in the mythos is a non issue. You know stuff, that is all.
Soon if you start learning more, you might actually start to eat into your max sanity. You're starting to know an awful lot. It's okay though, characters in call of cthulhu rarely see their max sanity past character creation.
You've read a few more books, and now all of a sudden your current sanity is going down because you've taken that accursed sharpie and blotted out the number you were currently resting on. The shadows seem to move, and the eldritch knowledge you've burdened yourself with brings the world to life, or possibly to death? You're not sure anymore. You're not sure of a whole lot anymore. You know too much.
It looks good! I too have been hacking DCC classes to bits, and Orc was one of the ones I had planned (I think the spreadsheet I was goofing off with ended up with some stupid number like 16 planned classes--4 of each "branch" of Fighter, Mage, Thief, and Cleric).
My gut instinct said it was underpowered, actually (based on my reading of class features as Central/Major/Minor/Flavor, e.g. Attack Die/Deed Die/Critical Hits/Initiative), but I'm thinking Rage might be strong enough to count for two slots, so you might be okay.
I'd rather it be slightly underpowered than overpowered. It did seem like every class had two major class features, but because Rage imparts things like HP, Extra attacks, and Damage Reduction, I figured it was enough on its own.
Anything more would be another minor ability.
Edit: Crawl! has agreed to publish it.
My first GM'ing was with the FATE Dresden system. Which was fun and narrative heavy. Which made for a great story but damn if the prep didn't kill me. Hence why I think I'm a published module kind of guy. But it was fun, and my group made it all the way through the adventure.
I'm surprised how much I enjoy GM'ing and how different it is for me than the experience I have of being a player. As a player, I'm a huge rules monkey. I like everything to be in order and by the book. But as a GM, I get so excited about describing the action that I often forget the rules and what needs to take place. I played for almost 15 years before trying GM'ing and so far I think I like it.
That's awesome!
Yeah, like I said, the more I looked at it, the more I felt the abilities granted by Rage made up for the lack of a 4th ability.
Yeah, this campaign is gonna go well.
:^:
On the other other hand (upon noticing which abnormal appendage, I was compelled to make a sanity check) people enjoyed that one, so who knows.
(I don't know if my players are on this forum, so hey guys if you're about to join a 13th Age campaign with a GM named Nathan, don't click any of dis shiz)
I'm gonna divide it into 3 acts, with the first and last being mostly linear, and the second being mostly sand-boxy.
Act 1
The Landsmeet will raise several issues for later in the campaign -- primarily the rise of a new Orc Chieftain in the north, as well as a recent tiff in the ongoing tension between the Elf Queen and the Dwarf King. Basically, setting the stage for later Game of Thrones-style shit hitting the fan.
Towards the end of the Landsmeet, the emperor will become concerned by certain aspects of the prophecy in question, and ask the players to go retrieve a certain man from the city of Glitterhaegen. But before they can leave, two things happen:
1) The Archmage arrives to warn the emperor that the wards surrounding the empire have begun to weaken
2) Shortly thereafter, the emperor drops dead, poisoned by an unknown assassin.
(Party levels up to 2 here.) The next day, the Archmage will encourage them to follow the emperor's last orders, explaining that the man in question is the emperor's bastard son, the only surviving heir to the throne.
When they arrive in Glitterhaegen, they'll find it in full swing with a masquerade festival, and the heir will be missing. Through circumstances that will be determined by how the players choose to act from this point forward, they'll discover that he was seen being grabbed and dragged out of the city, towards the Bitterwood.
After a dungeon crawl, the heir can be found in the depths of some ruins on the edge of the forest, having been tortured quite extensively by cultists of a Lovecraftian nature. So they bring him back to Axis, and here endeth Act 1. (Party levels up to 3 here.)
Act 2
(Why six months? The cultists have an obsession with the number 6, and anything to do with it. Cubes, insects, hexagons, etc. And it wouldn't be a proper sacrifice without the ritual behind it.)
The Archmage explains that the wards around the empire depend upon two things:
1) A member of the imperial bloodline sits upon the throne
2) That ruler's legitimacy is at least grudgingly acknowledged by the lesser rulers of the land -- the Elf Queen, the Dwarf King, the Druid, the Priestess, etc. The original wards were powered by a covenant between the factions, which practically nobody these days remembers.
So in roughly six months' time (less by now, if the party had any campaign losses during Act 1), just before the summer solstice, the wards will fail and whatever's waiting out there will rush in. The only way to fight it is to find a new ruler from a different bloodline, one who the entire land can rally behind. As is tradition, that ruler must be crowned at noon of the summer solstice. Then the Archmage can put in place new wards and use them to drive back whatever has already entered the empire, if anything.
It will be entirely up to them who they support as the new ruler. They can choose one of themselves, or any of the NPCs they've encountered. The Archmage will refuse the offer, and other NPCs may require various levels of convincing.
Here's the problem: The bastard heir is quite obviously sick, and the other power-players in the empire can see the handwriting on the wall. So many of them are preparing to make their move.
Here's where I unfurl a map of the empire for the players, and (as the Archmage) start placing stand-up flags on the map representing different things they could spend their remaining time doing, in order to further their goal of empowering a new ruler, and preparing for the shitstorm surrounding the fall of the wards. Just some of the things that will be on the map:
1. The elf queen and dwarf king need to be brought to heel. They are currently clashing over a drow holy site in the underworld, and preparing to go to war with each other now that the imperial authority is in a weak position to stop them. The players can get involved, choosing to support one side over the other, or attempt to crush the spirit of both sides, or attempt to negotiate a peace between the two sides.
2. Nobody knows whose side the High Druid is on in this struggle. He must be contacted, and persuaded to align with the players -- or, again, simply brought into submission.
3. The Orc Chieftain is preparing to launch an assault southward, scouts report. Deal with it.
4. When the heir dies and the wards fall, so will fall the pacification enchantment over the Midland Sea. The resulting influx of raging storms and monsters from the Iron Sea could prove most problematic. Find a way to put a new enchantment in place before the old one fails.
5. If the pacification enchantment falls, the Lich King and his forces become a concern. Could they possibly be dealt with before the enchantment falls? Or, better, could the Lich King be persuaded to help defend the land from the vanguard of the elder god invasion?
6. The Koru Behemoths could be useful allies in this fight. Rumour has it there's an order of dwarven monks who have mastered the art of actual communication with the creatures, who now live in a monastery atop the back of Old Mother, the largest of the Behemoths. Find these monks and persuade them to lend their arts to the aid of the empire.
7. The Prince of Shadows always knows something more than others do. Go see what he can tell you about the coming invasion, and its cultists.
8. The emperor's murder doesn't seem to fit with the cultists' ritualistic MO, which means we could still have a traitor in our midst. Find out who killed him, and why -- it will surely lend greater understanding to our current obstacles, and the last thing we need is for the heir to be assassinated in the same way before the summer solstice arrives.
9. The prophecy in question mentions a handful of magic items which can be found in some ruins within the Kneedeep. Go find them.
Basically, the idea will be to fill up the map with possibilities, and make it clear that the players will not have time to accomplish them all, and so must pick the missions they feel are most cost-effective in terms of the time spent on them vs. the benefit gained. If you've played Mass Effect 3, imagine having to pick and choose your war assets based on your own self-determined strategy for the last battle.
The players will level up after each mission. In addition, the players are giving me specific things they want for their characters, and the bulk of those wishlists will be fulfilled during this act.
During all these missions, the clock is slowly ticking down. Finally, the summer solstice approaches, and with it, Act 3.
Act 3
At midnight, with the players standing around him, the heir's life slips away. A shudder is felt across the land, the wards fall.
The city must stand for 12 hours, for the coronation to be done properly and the wards restored.
The ensuing battle will make copious use of the mook rules, on both sides. :twisted:
I'm trying to hit that sweet spot of railroading them just enough that I don't have to write up an entirely second campaign, but not so much that they feel their agency is removed. Am I going too far in the railroading direction?
You could even make it so that no matter which quests they do, they can find some clue as to how to save the prince - some locations might be more useful than others. This might make for a more uncomfortable political situation - if they've chosen someone to be the new heir to the throne, but keep finding hints at how they might save the current one, what should they do? Potentially waste time following up on the clues in what everyone assures them is a wild goose chase? Withdraw their support for the new heir (whom they most likely chose), which is probably politically deadly if not done with extreme care? Or go through with the new guy, knowing that they might have been able to save the cursed one in the end?
Edit: I'd also consider that the cursed guy probably has some agency too. He's certainly going to be trying to find ways to remove the curse, or transfer it to someone else. If he's the de facto emperor, he probably has a lot of power to do these things. Lastly, you may want to consider what happens if the players - or an NPC - attempts or actually does disrupt this timeline. Would killing the heir early disrupt the ritual? Or bring it to fruition immediately? Do they need to look out for unwitting assassins hired by political rivals going after the current doomed heir?
Edit edit: What if the cursed guy marries quickly and gets someone pregnant? Then there's a new potential member of the royal bloodline. Perhaps not born yet since it's only 6 months, but with some sort of magic perhaps it could be carried to term quicker?
Honestly, the best way to avoid this is probably to have the heir in some sort of mystical coma, on the way or as soon as the characters bring him back, and ideally unknown to the rest of the world at large except perhaps for political allies one can completely trust - if any such exist. Hopefully the characters can keep their mouths shut.
Re: creating a new member of the bloodline, I had considered 3 possibilities, depending on the tone the players have taken the campaign to by that time:
1) The curse prevents it, though the players might not know that for sure. In any case, the heir would encourage them to undertake the tasks of Act 2, just in case no conception occurs.
2) Even if a child could be conceived in time, it is unlikely that the leaders of the realm would accept the legitimacy of an unborn child, given they've already begun to question the legitimacy of the bastard heir.
3) The heir's captors considered this possibility, and took...steps to prevent it.
The mystical coma is a good idea as well, and I may have that be a gradual progression as Act 2 continues, having him gradually become less lucid and responsive until he's full-coma around the halfway point.
Another thing that I just remembered, could use some advice:
That said, I am not sure how to introduce this into play without the risk of creeping out the other players or boring them. How is this usually done?