The importance of an over all goal/climax to a campaign?...

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart

Also, it seems that over time and end game climax might present itself through game play much the same way I hope to see my player's enjoy the newly gained strengths and weaknesses (adv/dis) through playing.

Let me give you a bit of history. In my campaign Manse, I did something really experimental: I had each player make up an aristocratic lineage with magical gifts and elaborate traditions, including drawing up a family tree, and then make up two characters of lineage, an adult and a kid, plus a soldier and a servant. Then I wove everything together into a unified setting.

Well, some of the players gave me unresolved business for their lineages: One had unaccountably lost some of the details of the magical ritual that helped preserve the integrity of the realm, and so the magical defenses were failing; one had a child whose father was unknown; one had a teenage girl who was in love with her mother's lover, a Hero of his house. And that provided most of the long-term storylines for the first two years of play. After than I brought in other material: A visit from a wandering carnival of magical folk with strange powers, and a series of attacks from an undead sorceror lurking in the caverns under the castle. But both of those partly grew out of the earlier material, in different ways.

If your players are creative with their characters, you can find inspiration for story on their character sheets. In GURPS, look at their Patrons, their Enemies, their Dependents, their Secrets, and so on. Have all of those show up to make demands or compel action.

Bill Stoddard

[DwarvenHeart]

Campaign review

All of you have had great ideas and feedback. I've made this other thread to brainstorm some and get a good feel for my setting & how to run the first few sessions. I never have enough for my players to go on to create good characters. There are so many options that GURPS has, the GM really needs a clear idea of setting.

The other reason for a new thread is because these things end up drifting off topic. This is an attempt to stop that early.

If you have anymore input on either thread, I'd be happy to hear it.

[BrockNicholson]

One of the most fun campaigns I have GM'ed had no true plot. My players created normal everyday characters. These characters met at a bar and while they were having a drink and reliving old times a civil war started around them. At no point did I give them goals or objectives. I simply let them role play confused scared civilians in a war zone.

[Jürgen Hubert]

Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart

This is what I was wondering if I should inspire to: Having some kind of overall villian or mastermind. But after reading your responses and and knowing my players, I'm hopeful that they will be enjoying the Pokemon effect of developing characters and building on to their badass ship that they won't care if there isn't a end game kind of mentality.

Even if you don't have a specific climax in mind, I consider a good villain to be absolutely essential to most campaigns - or rather, ideally you'll want several memorable villains that the PCs can fight against. Give the PCs (and the players) someone they can really love to hate, and they will always be motivated to continue the adventure.

And if you have worked out the villain in sufficient detail - and I don't mean game stats with that, but character, motivation, resources, and long-term goals - you will be able to rapidly improvise new adventures, no matter what the PCs are doing. Just think to yourself: "What would this guy do in this situation to advance his goals", and new adventure possibilities will come to you easily.

[DwarvenHeart]

Originally Posted by Jürgen Hubert

...consider a good villain to be absolutely essential to most campaigns - or rather, ideally you'll want several memorable villains that the PCs can fight against. Give the PCs (and the players) someone they can really love to hate, and they will always be motivated to continue the adventure.

And if you have worked out the villain in sufficient detail - and I don't mean game stats with that, but character, motivation, resources, and long-term goals - you will be able to rapidly improvise new adventures, no matter what the PCs are doing. Just think to yourself: "What would this guy do in this situation to advance his goals", and new adventure possibilities will come to you easily.

I agree and it's great to hear someone else say, "a villian you love to hate." I've always said that about well developed villians of fiction.

[Nymdok]

I too like stories/campaigns to have a begining middle and an end, but these need not be mutually exclusive to ongoing campaigns. I like to bring my worlds to a close so that there is no doubt in anyones mind that the story is over. Gives it closure. However, it means that often times you have to put away worlds that have not yet exhausted their full potential.

Take (as all geeks must) Doctor Who for example. If you consider each of those series to be a campaign in and of itself then there is (evidently) no real limit on the number of campaigns you can run, each composed of several adventures.

So depending on how you view the heirarchy oof the story you could simply view it as
World - > Campaign -> Adventure - > Encounter

Now is it neccesarry for their ot be one villan responsible for 90% of the evil in the WORLD? I dont really think so. In the world currently, sure, that makes the campaign (Consider the Cybermen, Daleks, et al).

Another sacred geek example might be the Star Trek series. Plenty of ongoing villans get vanquished or mollified/befriended (Looking at YOU klingons).

Different times and settings in the Star Trek WORLD (Or universe if its a more comfortable term for you in this context) with great villans (Klingons, Borg, Cardassians/Jem Haddar/Vorta, Species 8472) that go around generating 90% of the problems in their specific setting, but soo many others you can choose from and insert as 'one shots'.

Nymdok

[cosmicfish]

Just to jump in, I think a series of easy sessions with simple direct goals can be a great introduction to the game system, the setting, and the other players. That having been said, some type of long-term story/goal/villain can really help to sustain the excitement. If you have a great idea for one, that's great, just keep it flexible so that you can absorb any mistakes or moments of inspiration that come along the way. If you don't have a great idea, that's fine too - during the first few sessions something may happen that you can build on, and even if not at least you have a few weeks to figure it out.

I ran one campaign years ago that we had to end prematurely (fell behind schedule, and then people graduated). Afterwards, several of the players asked me point blank what the mysterious villain really was, and I revealed to her that all I really had was an outline - they had not yet interacted with them directly, and I had still been deciding on the backstory and total motivation. The game still worked fine!

[Anaraxes]

Consider that even the professionals don't have a definitive answer here. Some TV series have story arcs; some are episodic. Lots of them are some of each: a few episodes push a story arc, with unrelated ones in between. Some people are passionate fans of one style or the other, but all points on that spectrum can work.

[doulos05]

The other good thing about not having it all predefined is you can add it a fun twist at the end that much easier. As in, "Wait, the girl we picked up 3 worlds ago who said she was my high school sweetheart. The one whom I remember dating, is actually a robot using implants in my head to manipulate my memories that was sent by some secretive organization we didn't even know existed to start a war?!"

[Rocket Man]

Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart

I agree and it's great to hear someone else say, "a villian you love to hate."

Ditto. My latest In Nomine group can't wait for the demons from Lust's secret police to show up again, so they can try to get a little revenge. They've had two open clashes so far -- the Lust demons ambushed them the first time and overwhelmed them in a well-orchestrated plan, abducting one PC. The second clash, during the rescue, was a PC victory but one that left two angels in humiliating circumstances and most of the bad guys successfully escaping.

If I ever need to pep things up, I know all I need to do is get those guys to return ...