Have campaign idea. Feedback?

[DwarvenHeart]

This is based off of a starting thread:Importance of Climax in a campaign. I don't like to see these things drift focus so I'm starting a new one with links to each other. Being new to these things, let me know if this is a poor idea.

The campaign setting is low-medium fantasy. Themes include: blue collar/working class PC's, badass crew, and movable (improvable) HQ (a ship). The first adventure will be set up so that by the end of it (1-3 sessions later) they may gain a ship (either completely or for use under a patron).

I was worried that no setting would work with the movable HQ. Then a player mentioned an anime where the land werent really islands but extensive riverways made ships and river boats the most common mode of transportation.

I'll be starting them all off with some level of Crewman & Fishing. Aside from that I'm working out the level of fantastic races I'll allow in my game.

I'm pretty sure none of my players comes to this forum so anything goes.

[doulos05]

I've run the roaming HQ before, it works just fine. It's kind of like a Travelogue adventure (See GURPS:Fantasy for details on that campaign type). If you want, they could be traders, engaging in cargo trading. Check out GURPS:Traveller for info on that, though you'll have to do a lot of conversion to make the tables and stuff for Low Tech.

[whswhs]

In one of the two campaigns in my last cycle, the PCs were the officers of a privateer sailing ship in the service of Atlantis; they comprised avatars of three gods (Aeolus, Miacha, and Errol Flynn), a rakshasa, and two humans, one of whom was the shipowner. It worked quite well.

One thing that I did was to define the regular crew of the ship as an Ally Group, and the marines as another Ally Group, and require the PCs to spend points on buying them as such, split among the different PCs. They weren't very expensive, being built on a lot fewer points, but it seemed the neatest way to account for their presence.

Bill Stoddard

[DwarvenHeart]

Originally Posted by doulos05

Travelogue adventure (See GURPS:Fantasy for details on that campaign type). If you want, they could be traders, engaging in cargo trading. Check out GURPS:Traveller for info on that, though you'll have to do a lot of conversion to make the tables and stuff for Low Tech.

Thank you. I have the Fantasy so I will be looking at that. I have feared having a large number of sailors on the ship but realize that to be realistic, there has to be a fair number of sailors on the vessal.

Originally Posted by whswhs

One thing that I did was to define the regular crew of the ship as an Ally Group, and the marines as another Ally Group, and require the PCs to spend points on buying them as such, split among the different PCs. They weren't very expensive, being built on a lot fewer points, but it seemed the neatest way to account for their presence.

Bill Stoddard

Coming from d20 thinking (D&D and Pathfinder) I've always wondered how well having a average-large number of NPC's could work. It wouldn't be any big thing till combat began. I have the mass combat rules for GURPS, though I haven't read them.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart

Coming from d20 thinking (D&D and Pathfinder) I've always wondered how well having a average-large number of NPC's could work. It wouldn't be any big thing till combat began. I have the mass combat rules for GURPS, though I haven't read them.

Since I was running a fairly cinematic campaign, I ignored the Mass Combat rules. Instead, I assumed that how the PCs did against the leaders on the other side was what was critical, in the style of, say, Homeric single combat.

If you wanted to have more detail on the background combat, you could play out a small number of NPC vs. NPC fights, and reduce the two forces in proportion to the outcomes.

Bill Stoddard

[Pmandrekar]

Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart

This is based off of a starting thread:Importance of Climax in a campaign. I don't like to see these things drift focus so I'm starting a new one with links to each other. Being new to these things, let me know if this is a poor idea.

The campaign setting is low-medium fantasy. Themes include: blue collar/working class PC's, badass crew, and movable (improvable) HQ (a ship). The first adventure will be set up so that by the end of it (1-3 sessions later) they may gain a ship (either completely or for use under a patron).

I was worried that no setting would work with the movable HQ. Then a player mentioned an anime where the land werent really islands but extensive riverways made ships and river boats the most common mode of transportation.

I'll be starting them all off with some level of Crewman & Fishing. Aside from that I'm working out the level of fantastic races I'll allow in my game.

I'm pretty sure none of my players comes to this forum so anything goes.

I'm currently running a 4th Edition GURPS Fantasy Meets Pirates campaign. Think "Pirates of the Caribbean" Meets "Lord of the Rings" Low magic (for the most part. I do have one voodoo practitioner/gnome) and a lot of fantasy characters walking around with TL4 equipment slightly upgraded due to some fantasy assumptions. Firearms are slightly faster to clean, and are faster to load and fire, and they are slightly more accurate, due to the very slight tilt towards a pseudo Minie ball type bullet. Still, there are extremely inaccurate large bore weapons in play (as typified by the Orc reavers who wander about).

The campaign is set aboard a pirate vessel which operates out of Freeport (Green Ronin's Freeport setting) and in the fantasy equivalent of the Caribbean. This allows for a mobile HQ where the PC's are pirates in the division of a grumpy NPC/Pirate officer named Martin Delaney, who is teaching them tricks of the trade. As they improve in abilities, they have the option to break off or climb the ranks within the ship towards officer slots. The captain is one of those 55-year old tough guys and I've started filling out the list of NPC's that are both frequent members of the party (The cabin boy, Toby), or occasional ranking officers aboard.

Missions are combination of Urban missions in Freeport, coupled with the type of military objectives (disable this fort, move this noble inland to his father's estate, secure noble's estate, Capture and ransack Spanish-inspired city). The enemy employ priests who also lob spells at PC's and of course we've already encountered a few waves of enemy troops in buff coats with heavy muskets and morion-style helmets.

There are a lot of options if you have 'PC's aboard ship' + Urban adventures.

-P

[DwarvenHeart]

Originally Posted by Pmandrekar

I'm currently running a 4th Edition GURPS Fantasy Meets Pirates campaign. Think "Pirates of the Caribbean" Meets "Lord of the Rings" Low magic (for the most part. ...

...As they improve in abilities, they have the option to break off or climb the ranks within the ship towards officer slots. The captain is one of those 55-year old tough guys and I've started filling out the list of NPC's that are both frequent members of the party (The cabin boy, Toby), or occasional ranking officers aboard.

Missions are combination of Urban missions in Freeport, coupled with the type of military objectives (disable this fort, move this noble inland to his father's estate, secure noble's estate, Capture and ransack Spanish-inspired city). The enemy employ priests who also lob spells at PC's and of course we've already encountered a few waves of enemy troops in buff coats with heavy muskets and morion-style helmets.

There are a lot of options if you have 'PC's aboard ship' + Urban adventures.

-P

Very interesting. You've reminded me that a story can be as narrow or broad in focus as it must be. So what if the PC's are a few skilled hands on a ship full of more skilled people. There are tasks and goals for them to accomplish. D&D has tempered my thinking of the PC's who are the small rag-tag team of powerful champions and the only resorce to the current threat. Man I hate gaming in a box.

Originally Posted by whswhs

Since I was running a fairly cinematic campaign, I ignored the Mass Combat rules. Instead, I assumed that how the PCs did against the leaders on the other side was what was critical, in the style of, say, Homeric single combat.

If you wanted to have more detail on the background combat, you could play out a small number of NPC vs. NPC fights, and reduce the two forces in proportion to the outcomes.

Bill Stoddard

Has anyone came up with a simple mechanic to where a couple of die rolls and the combat of 5 rounds of NPC's can be determined? Perhaps make a mock NPC to represent the 2 armies. HP=# of men, Dmg=average dmg of army, etc. I really have to read the mass combat rules. I bought them after all.

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart

Has anyone came up with a simple mechanic to where a couple of die rolls and the combat of 5 rounds of NPC's can be determined? Perhaps make a mock NPC to represent the 2 armies. HP=# of men, Dmg=average dmg of army, etc. I really have to read the mass combat rules. I bought them after all.

You should probably take a look at the Spaceships combat system, though it would require a bit of work to make it suitable for low tech ships.

[Dunadin777]

Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart

Has anyone came up with a simple mechanic to where a couple of die rolls and the combat of 5 rounds of NPC's can be determined? Perhaps make a mock NPC to represent the 2 armies. HP=# of men, Dmg=average dmg of army, etc. I really have to read the mass combat rules. I bought them after all.

I didn't get a huge amount of feedback for them, so I'm not too confident of their utility, but I made two sets of house-rules to help bridge the gap between tactical combat and Mass Combat. You can see if it looks useful here.

Note that there's no way it's combat normalized to the tactical scale--I didn't intend it to be--but if I did it right it should help nudge you towards summing large, unwieldy fights quickly.

[Pmandrekar]

Originally Posted by DwarvenHeart

Very interesting. You've reminded me that a story can be as narrow or broad in focus as it must be. So what if the PC's are a few skilled hands on a ship full of more skilled people. There are tasks and goals for them to accomplish. D&D has tempered my thinking of the PC's who are the small rag-tag team of powerful champions and the only resorce to the current threat. Man I hate gaming in a box.

My PC's aren't necessarily the skilled people aboard ship. They are, however, perfect for 'boarding party' or 'landing party' duty. It actually helps that they are not critical to the operation of the ship. The ship goes about its operations entirely in their absence. Right now, the PC's have landed on an island and are escorting this thoroughly debauched noble and his small entourage up past French patrols in order to recapture his father's estate. His father is expected to be back in France, and the debauched noble has offered the pirates one share of the ransacked mansion, and intends to use the rest to settle his debts. He has been 'cut off' by his father.

The PC's, hiking through the jungle, have already encountered (and been fired upon) by Goblin snipers in service to the militia. They have also just avoided a militia patrol.

For a maritime campaign, consider a small ship with merchant/pirate types aboard. Fantasy, watch the Sinbad movies as inspiration.

-P.