Proper world building?

There are a lot of awesome and different DnD ideas for campaigns that people have. I have seen that a lot of these ideas, for better or worse, flop. I spend a lot of time wondering why. There's a lot of reasons we can say it didn't work out: enthusiasm, lack of planning, lack of synergy, non-compatibility. All these are big reasons, but just the tip of the iceberg for the number of reasons people will list. What I am going to tackle as the subject of this post is non-compatibility, and the lack of planning. Both of these are DM-orientated issues, and have to deal with the subject title: proper world building. And really, all it boils down to is just the scope of the module, or campaign, and making sure you're taking the proper things into account. There, you can stop reading, and move on. For those who like reading someone's vomitations from their brain, by all means, continue. So, first, non-compatibility I think is bullshit. Okay, so it's not *complete* bullshit. Along with why a lot of campaigns fail, I also spend too much time thinking of how to incorperate other ideas into a workable DnD form. Case in point, the game called Trine. I think I might have mentioned this in a previous post, but for a quick run-down, it is a side-scroller action-puzzle game. You have the basic fighter-type knight, a thief who utilizes a grappling hook and bow-and-arrow, and a wizard. The wizard is the most notable character, because he's a shitty wizard. No, seriously, that's his backstory. He can't cast fireball for the life of him, but what he can do is temporarily create objects, and a bit of telekinesis. So you have a collection of these themed levels with this set of characters that have to overcome a variety of increasing difficult and intricate puzzles - even if the puzzle essentially involves just getting across a gap to move on further in the map. Can you do this is DnD? Damn right you can. But it's not easy, and it will take some understanding, and perhaps some tweaking. DnD isn't a 2D sidescroller, so whatever you create will not be a complete, true translation. With that said, let's talk about lack of planning. While I am also talking about the horrible instance we've all had where the DM (or you, if that be the case) shows up and is like, "Uh. Yeah. Totally forgot to plan for this, so this is all off the cuff," I am also talking about more. What I am talking about is why I dropped world building in the title. DnD is a bitch to plan for, there is so much to know that it can be truly overwhelming. If you're the DM, for all practical purposes, you have to be more knowledgable than at least three other people combined. Or do you? Arguments aside, I am going to share what I think, in my own little opinion, would help DMs out a lot when it comes to trying to run their own game with their own bits of flavor. First off, figure out the scope of this idea. How would it be defined? High fantasy? Gritty and realistic? From there, figure out how the mechanics would work; is it going to be low level PCs, or high level PCs? What are you going to do about magic? Okay, so these are pretty broad questions. They might help. How about the nitty-gritties? Seriously. Grab your Player's Handbook, look at all the classes, and all the races, and brainstorm of how they'd fit in. How would your average person/race react to certain combinations? When you're finished with that, start on the skills. There are some skills that are woefully overlooked. Think of ways for every skill to be usable and applicable. Don't force the the option, but make it available and be ready to roll with it. When you think you have a good idea of all this, then there comes the real bastard behind it all: spells. This is one reason I have "moved on" to The Black Company system. Despite the intricate spell casting system, the spells themselves, and what you can do with them, is fairly intuitive. DnD, with it's old-school Vancian style spells, is a real pain, without much rhyme to reason in some areas. Pathfinder did a good job of cleaning it up, in terms of balance, but there is still some spells that really mess with mechanics early on. Quick examples? Invisibility, Water Breathing, and Fly are all spells that casters can obtain by 5th level that are either exceedingly annoying to deal with, or make certain challenges completely moot. For the players, that's great, because their investment paid off. For the DM, it can represent an amount of creative energy wasted. I've seen a fair number of DMs now who've lost their gusto after having their scenario "thwarted" in merely five minutes. I'm not saying memorize every spell, but if you have a wizard in the party, be acutely aware of their potential. Try not to be surprised when, upon reaching 3rd level, they cast Detect Thoughts. Sound like a lot of work? Maybe. But better to put in an extra 15 minutes before starting a campaign that could last over a year, than to have everyone's creative energy wasted after just a couple sessions. On a more serious note, if it does sound like too much work, maybe you shouldn't be DMing?

Den of Thieves!

I originally had this post typed up, with all my ramblings and thought-processes, on the history of the creation of this module... But when I submitted it, all was lost when the site asked me to log in again.

So, I'll keep to the basics.

Den of Thieves is a concept game designed for players to be immersed into a different type of game. One that requires critical thinking and being crafty, as opposed to your more traditional brute force methods.

The premise is heavy-handed, like the previous campaign module discussed, and perhaps even more so when it comes to character creation: I am forcing the players to be either a Thief, or a Jack-of-all-Trades. (Both classes are from the Black Company Campaign Setting.)

This might seem quite limiting, but with the Black Company Backgrounds, a lot of variety can still be present. With either taking the Dabbler feat, or Mage's Apprentice Background, one can still cast spells, and at least two of the backgrounds allows for Knowledge skills (something always useful). Several help with combat.

The limiting factor is a bit of the point, actually. Let us see the wits of a party and its members when confronted with a variety of problems. A band of Thieves, once they reach a certain level, may be able to handedly whittle down a group of your average brawlers, but a good fighter is still something to be wary of - moreso a Barbarian/Berzerker (something that can not be flanked or sneak-attacked).

It's more than just the combat, though. Let us see how they handle having to steal a relic from a renown collector, or kidnap (or rescue) someone, or just talk themselves out a situation.

Could your more traditional party do this? Sure. DnD is all about seeing how people interact with one-another with their characters, but this is a concentrated effort. Hopefully, it works.

Expedition!

When I ran this concept across several friends, I generally received positive reviews. One even made the comment, "Sounds awesome - like a land-based Star Trek."

After playing a campaign of my brother's, I have been trying to flesh out another way of rolling characters that is a bit more balanced. With the dice-pool system, while it could be fun, some people were doing things that were just stupid. (I blame the players who are bad more than I blame the system.) I've always liked natural ability scores - that is, rolling the ability scores in order, and keeping the respective number. With this campaign, I'm leaving that optional. The core rules for character creation, though, are as follows:

3d6 for each stat.
"Mulligan" is an overall total ability score modifier of +2 or lower, with the highest ability score being at least an 15.

Overall, these changes should have the affect that a PC will at least be good at something. With an average roll of 9, and higher minimum requirements, there will be a high turnover rate to help ensure this, while making for quite the variety in a single player, as well as a party.

Borrowing from my Brother's campaign, PCs will not start with a class level. Instead, they will begin with the following:

A Background from the Black Company Campaign Setting.
4 + (Con Modifier) Hitpoints
+0 BAB
4 + (Int Modifier) skill points. (This is including those provided by a background.
+0 on all Base Saves.
No proficiencies.
1 feat (not including the feat provided by a background.) - this is subject to change.
Starting Funds... still deciding.

Basic information, of course, should be provided, but the most important thing about the production of a character for this campaign is the answer to this question: "Why would your character be going on such an Expedition?"

The premise of the campaign really does mandate that the PCs really think about this question. I was really troubled about having such a heavy-handed premise. I don't think things should be forced upon a character, but with all the ideas and experiences that can play out in such a campaign, I think it is worth it. So if the PC is ready for such a campaign, or doesn't want to play with such a style... well, really, they shouldn't be playing this campaign. Terrible thing to say, but this is a fairly involved module. (I would have no objection, though, if someone came up with a PC who, for instance, came up with a criminal character who really had no interest in the expedition, but was forced as a form of sentencing. Even if his goal is to try to eventually try to escape, that would be interesting, and could be worked into the campaign.)

Moving on from character creation, and onto how the campaign shall operate. The basic idea is that the party, somehow or another, is apart of a expedition sent out to explore a new land that was recently discovered. Important elements include:

1) Charting a variety of terrains (and peoples).

2) Diplomacy.

3) Survival and combat.

How this plays out, I have decided, is that the party will have a baggage train of twenty NPCs. For each NPC, I will roll percentile dice (D%), and, using the table from the Black Company book, decide what background each NPC will have and into what role they shall serve. I've spent a lot of time trying to come up with some general backstories for each background, but that is far too extensive to post here. (Be creative! Come up with your own!) I plan on being able to use this module multiple times, so each play-through can be different in the aspect of the accompanying NPCs alone. If you really want to, you can also roll up the ability scores for each, but that may be a lot of work for some to handle; I see nothing wrong with making things up as you go.

This leaves the last thing to discuss: how to deal with death. In most campaigns, when a PC dies, it's not too hard to come up with an explanation of why or how a new one joined the party. For added difficulty, and so that players play smart, I have decided that PCs who have died only have the option of choosing one of the NPCs to be their next character. Harsh? Could be, depending on the DM. I have seen people pull this off though, and a lot of fun has been had. As long as it doesn't cause frustration, I think things will be good. (It also promotes the PCs taking care of the baggage train!)

I am not sure what else to explain about here. The overarching idea is a campaign module that isn't only about kicking doors and faces in. The "skill-monkey" classes, such as the Jack-of-all-Trades and the Academician will have their proper place and amount of use - the same for the Scout. All the classes, really, will shine a bit brighter, as a good Fighter is always welcome.

I'm not sure what else to explain. The expedition should be about the PCs exploring a new area that no one knows anything about; the decisions they make will be important, and what they find out and know will be as well. Languages, especially. As a DM, you don't have to be an expert, just creative. Give them that sense of wonder.

Postpone!

Well, it has come to pass that I have taken up a second job.

Hours are unsure, but it looks like it make take the place of the usual gaming day.

Until schedules are set, and normalized, my game is put on hold.

I think I might shy away from attempting to do a complete detail-to-detail recap of sessions. Sometimes, given the complexity of a situation, things get very muddled, and it can be difficult to decipher and properly describe at a later time. It is not the burden that bothers me, but rather not doing the proper actions (and the feel of the campaign) proper justice when trying to record them.

So, this session in a nutshell:

The party ultimately discovered that the sandstorm had some long term effects on the area. A lot of crops were wiped out and buried, and the Sems felt a good bit of loss as well. With that, another major group of people were introduced: The Lams (pronounced Lahms). The Lams are a type of hill folk, or highlanders, that live in the foothills and rough territory of this Nome. The party has not figured out much else about them, just that they speak a different language, and can be generally war-like. All this said, the session ended with the party attempting to track down a group of Lams, and coming across an encampment.

It should also be noted that they encountered animated skeletons, seemingly made by some of the Lams.

Further exploration of the barter system was had - some minor tasks had to be run in order to try to obtain some better equipment. Also, for the first time, a character was introduced to the concept of true mobile wealth, and obtained a small ingot of copper.

On the subject of Iso and Sem languages...

It occurred to me that, before starting the campaign, I had babbled on about The Periphery setting meta-game history, but not too much about the current setting itself.

I had mentioned that the current campaign was early bronze age, which, while the truth, was also a bit of a lie. In truth, the general level of technology would probably be called chalcolithic - copper and stone - with only certain areas having the privilege of bronze. Splitting hairs? Maybe. But it is just easier to say early bronze age, than to have to explain out, in full, what everything entails.

What does it entail? As my players are finding out: a world of suck. Subsistence living with incipient institutions at best. Hardly anything is centralized, easy to do, or easy to figure out. They're reaping the benefits of having some hunters in the party though - it provides a duel sense of security and mobility. They can not only feed themselves nearly anywhere, but by obtaining and excess of food, they are obtaining a source of wealth.

One thing I find very interesting, is that since a standardized system of currency and trade has been taken away, the players are beginning to devise their own means of keeping track of their own "wealth." They're also developing their own feel for the relative costs of how bartering works.

Moving on, one thing I had learned from Game 2.0 is that trying to have an all-encompassing and vast game world is hard. I am still up to the challenge, but I noticed that, in the attempt to have all these different cultures meshed together and be different, and have those differences really impact the players... Well, the more varieties their were, the less the impact. With players traveling far and wide, to and fro, things could seem cookie cutter-like with initial impressions. I was never really happy with this, and wanted to give the players a more in-depth experience. (Hopefully, I am not sacrificing game play to do this...)

The final product of all this is that, probably, the majority of this campaign will take place on just this single nome (the in-game name for a planetoid). There are, of course, other opportunities to travel elsewhere, but options are limited with the technology and thought of the time. On this nome, there are two predominate cultures: Iso, and Sem.

In short, Sems are the majority of the semi-nomadic people that wander around the nome to fixed points, trading and otherwise eking out an existence. They are a patriarchal society with a strong warrior tradition. Opposite of the Sems are the Isos, who can be called the city-dwellers, which is a bit of a lie. (Not every Iso lives in a city; Isos, collectively, are just the ones that do live in cities.) The Isos have a more developed (rather, one should say complex) society, with specialization and the beginnings of the concepts of individualism. They depend more on proper laws, than actual tradition. These two societies more or less co-mingle and co-exist on a neutral basis. ("You have things to trade? Excellent!") They get along with each other about as well as they get along with themselves, and with that said, endemic warfare is pretty commonplace amongst everyone.

I was about to talk about languages, but I will post an addendum later.

At least it was not forty years...

This last session had its highs and lows in the extreme. At one point, three hours were spent in an attempt to reunite the party. At another, two party members were almost rendered gone from existence in one horrible faux pas.

The session began with the party continuing to track the errant Kobolds. Things were going well, until a severe sandstorm hit. Just prior to the sandstorm, the party had split - and also because of the sandstorm, the party of further split up. It took a couple days, and several scattered kobold (and wolf) encounters to finally tie them back together. One together again, the decision was made to abandon tracking the Kobolds, and to perhaps find out a bit more about where the Halfling came from.

They took a short cut back to the initial town, where they bartered and resupplied, and then traveled to the Logan's "landing zone." Because of the sandstorm, no evidence could be found. The decision was then made to make an attempt to find any nearby Sem caravan - Brandon had somewhat of an idea where one might be.

While traveling towards the last known location of one such caravan, the party came upon the edge of a forest that was ominous. Brandon (and Kami) made it known that this forest was guarded by an agent of the gods - Humbaba. Nothing more was really known, except that most people stay away from the forest, and certainly no one messes with any of the trees.

Logan, the tribal pygmy, being completely ignorant about such things, inadvertently summoned Humbaba. (After the sandstorm, the party leveled up to second level. Brandon managed to pick up a snippet of Logan's language, and did try to warn Logan about such dangers. However, there is a world of difference between "do not mess with the trees" and "do not ever touch the trees.") The initial impression of Humbaba is mixed; he is a large hairy man with a large axe, but apparently a man in every regard. However, his speed was unnaturally fast, and his strength, fabled to be infinite, appeared to be literally so. Logan tried running, and was quickly overtaken. Prostrating himself before Humbaba, he was seized and dragged off to Humbaba's altar. Here, Logan was subjected to direct contact with divine elements.

The party, with exception of Kami, made the decision to attempt to rescue Logan. They successfully tracked Humbaba through the forest to his lair. There, they saw Logan on the altar, with a thin beam of light from the heavens piercing his head. He was barely responsive. Humbaba would not allow approach, apparently being able to be in several places at once. Ricco, especially persistent, finally attempting tumbling past Humbaba (affectionately called, at this point, Captain Woodstock). The tumble attempt, while close, was ultimately unsuccessful, and Humbaba showed no mercy. With the death of Ricco's character, the party decided to wait. After a time, Logan was released with a greater understanding as to how not to mess with the trees. Humbaba then tossed the party back to their camp, to be rescued from the river by Kami.

From there, the party caught up with the Sem caravan, and did some minor bartering. They did not find out too much news, but did do some bragging about having met Humbaba face to face.

The session ended there, with the party having decided that the next thing to do was to travel to the biggest city.