04-19-2023, 02:39 PM | #1 |
☣
Join Date: Sep 2004
Location: Southeast NC
|
Generating a campaign
A thought I had to help integrate the PCs into a campaign setting, somewhat inspired by (read: blatantly stolen and slightly modified from) the Fate Core phase trio.
The GM presents, or the group works together to create, the basics of the setting and the planned campaign (say, a group of investigators trying to protect society and the supernatural underworld from one another). Then, they generate a few interesting elements to include in the campaign (elements could be individuals, organizations, locations, past or ongoing events, or circumstances, any of which might help or complicate the mission). Write those elements down. Each player, in turn, gives their character a name and a central concept (former small time cop that saw one too many weird things to keep brushing it off as coincidence). Now comes the meat: Go around the table three times (maybe shuffling the order, or reversing order after each time around). On each of these turns, the player will do one of the following:
Only then do you start filling out character sheets.
__________________
RyanW - Actually one normal sized guy in three tiny trenchcoats. |
04-20-2023, 07:17 AM | #2 |
Join Date: Jun 2013
|
Re: Generating a campaign
Alright, for some reason my brain kept reading the first sentence as "I thought I had to..." rather than "A thought I had to..."
But now that it's working again and can thus make sense of the post, this seems like a really good idea. I've always felt the GM should be willing to use players' character concepts to expand their world, and this seems like a more formal way to do that.
__________________
GURPS Overhaul |
04-20-2023, 12:52 PM | #3 |
Join Date: Sep 2007
|
Re: Generating a campaign
I usually enjoy it more when the characters have a stake in the world and develop some relationship to each other. Normally we manage that informally, mostly player<->GM.
The big disadvantage to securely anchored characters comes when the player gets bored of them or the character gets killed. When the PCs and their relationships are tightly woven into the story, it becomes hard to replace them. Not an insurmountable obstacle, but another thing to plan for if it's a life-is-cheap game or the highly simulationist sort of game where the dice rule. |
04-21-2023, 12:23 PM | #4 |
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: Kansas, USA
|
Re: Generating a campaign
This sounds like a streamlined version of something I only discovered a couple years ago. There is a game called The Quiet Year that uses a similar process and a deck of cards to build a post-apocalyptic community of survivors over the course of 52 weeks. A podcast I listened to and now a few of my DM friends have adapted it and used it as a joint world building activity prior to an actual campaign. As Anaraxes said, it helps give players more of a stake in the world.
__________________
-- "What monstrosities would walk these streets were some people's faces as unfinished as their minds." Eric Hoffer |
04-21-2023, 01:43 PM | #5 |
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: Ottawa
|
Re: Generating a campaign
I like this idea and could see it getting very interesting building a space/sci-f setting with a group of creative players. If I ever get a group of more than 2 players I will be stealing this. Thanks for sharing.
Yoink. |
|
|