The Ensemble Cast

[OneSeventeen]

So a friend and I were discussing campaign settings the other day and I had a wonder. Before I put the question I am compelled by a -5pt Disad to give a ton of context. So:

The way he and I prefer to do a campaign is much different from normal. We conceive of a setting and story arc with beginning, middle and end in mind (of course the middle is vague and the end is more of a sketch of a thought). As opposed to just running continuing serial adventures of the PCs. We then work really hard with the players (traditionally trying to stay in the 3-4 range) to make characters that fit into the campaign setting with hooks that tie them to the world and the events going on, etc. etc.

End context.

Recently, we got into a discussion about what a setting really is (and in that context, what our settings tend to be and what else they might be). Generally, we think of settings as being a place: a city, a planet, a country or region. That is, I'd say, one of the easier kinds of settings for a GM to manage.

However, sometimes the place changes. Maybe it's that there are several important places (which is more of a region, then, really, or whatever). Or else the key place in the setting moves (like a ship; sea or space). In the case of a ship, if the ship's the setting then i'm going to argue that most of the NPCs will live/work on the ship and that the places the ship goes will be less important in and of themselves and that there'll be fewer NPCs there.

But settings can be other than geographical. My friend ran a campaign where the PCs were all the youngest generation of a rather extended family of super-powered demi-gods in, effectively, the Bronze Age. Players didn't get a map, they got a family tree. The setting was basically the family and teleporting hither and thither about the globe meant no one city of plain of battle mattered so much.

That got me thinking about how else you might construct a setting out of people. I've always (this is more context now) loved Firefly/Serenity and I have often despaired of running a game in that universe because... of something I couldn't define. And now I know what: The setting isn't the worlds. It's not even Serenity. The setting is the crew (and the Serenity is almost a character in that sense). However, the crew's small enough that they don't have an NPC mass if you see what I mean (specifically in relation to my above comment about ships).

So, really, the whole crew feels like PCs and the crew is the setting... This means that a lot rests on the players for a setting like that. It means that a) you need a decent number of players; b) They need to be really comfortable exploring their characters "soft" emotions in a non-trivial way (loyalty, love, friendship, joy) and in front of each other. Maybe other requirements.

In my (somewhat limited) experience, B is really hard for folks. Admittedly (and sadly), I've got the typical all-male player base, which might contribute to the sort of... fear of addressing emotions, but I don't think that's all of it. I guess you could argue that there's a maturity issue here.

Anyway, what experience have people had with an ensemble cast of characters where everyone is not tied all to the same person, but where personal interactions between the PCs were the primary setting and the adventure things they did were just a fun backdrop for those interactions? Has anyone switched from adventure being more primary to the other? Has anyone recruited players specifically to fit this style of play? What does the player who's good at this look like? Thanks much!


Ben