Note: I think these are terrible mission statements:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Apollonian
D&D (and derivatives, including Dungeon Fantasy): Kill monsters, take their stuff.
Call of Cthulhu: Discover the horrible things underlying reality and go mad in the process. (Possibly holding back the darkness one more day.)
GURPS Monster Hunters: Hunt monsters in the modern day, and kill them.
Feng Shui: Be kung fu action heroes in a cross-time struggle of fists and guns!
|
They don't help me create a character, nor do they give me any sort of specificity. I have played in a number of D&D games that had as their mission statements "Kill monsters, take their stuff" that just didn't work because the characters didn't work together. And none of the CoC campaigns I've been in presented "Discover the horrible things underlying reality and go mad in the process. (Possibly holding back the darkness one more day.)" as the mission statement. It was always something much more specific.
Anyhow, I need to procrastinate irresponsibly. So here are some of the Mission Statements that have worked well:
D&D Eberron: A great cataclysm destroyed Cyre. Each PC will be a member of the same minor Cyran noble house who were out of Cyre on a campaign at the time of the cataclysm. Now homeless and stateless, the PCs will try to gain treasure, money, and influence as they try to deal with their new position.
Over the Edge: There is a man named Barry Nuss. He is the wealthy Chief Accounting Officer of a multinational mining corporation. He lives in a penthouse in New York City and can afford anything. Make someone important to this man. You could be his wife or his husband. You could be a personal assistant, a child, someone from his past. (This game started with Barry Nuss going missing and delivering some packages to each person kicking off a mystery. It was a short term campaign that worked really well).
City of Flowers: Florence is the bright light of the Renaissance, but wherever there is bright light you will find shadows. And in those shadows is the Order of the Blue Rose. The Order of the Blue Rose are normal people who live a double life. They may be soldiers or students, merchants or musicians, nuns or noble--but they also work as covert agents for Cosimo di Medici. The agents fight against hostile forces both natural and supernatural, internal and external, brute and subtle. The Order needs new members. You have answered that call.
Dancing on the Edge: The Freetrader Dancing Madhavi is taking a long trip out of Terran space deep Vilani space for a lucrative contract, but needs crew members willing to be away from Terran space for a significant amount of time. Could that be you? The campaign will be a space merchant campaign where the player travel deep into the space of a hostile Human empire in the midst of a cold war quickly becoming hot. Can you make a fortune? Can you even get access to the black markets were Terran trade has been relegated? Freetraders are often rumored to be Terran agents? Are you one? Avoid pirates! Effect politics! Make a fortune!--or maybe barely break even. See a part of the galaxy that few Terrans have seen.