The second campaign I am am running is labeled as "Game 2.0A" on my harddrive; a continuation of some horrible personal little joke I am playing with myself. THE GAME, is the name of my first truly big undertaking as a DM. Being a history major, and most of the way through obtaining my Bachelor's degree at the time, I stuck with what was familiar, and had tried to make an actual historical campaign. To make things easier on everyone else, the PCs produced their characters as if it were a standard 3.5 Greyhawk campaign, and then were unwittingly thrust, via a portal in Sigil, to the actual gaming setting. When transcribing the notes and happenings of the campaign, I did not know what to call or name it, so, simply THE GAME. It has remained ever since.
Game 2.0 was created shortly afterwards. It had its beginnings as a concept game not meant to last beyond a few sessions. Trying to get the campaign started, though, proved very difficult and it never took off. The idea remained, albeit on the backburner, and, over time, grew to be perhaps my largest project as a DM over time. Game 3.0 (otherwise known as the Undying campaign) was run and refined several times over the course of that history. I think was after the third time of running Game 3.0 that Game 2.0 finally came into fruition. As for the actual beginning concepts, I have always been fascinated by the idea of planescaping - using portals to travel from one dimensional plane to another, and experiencing odd or strange things. The other prime concept, unashamedly, comes from an older game I liked to play called Enclave. In short, it is a third-person hack-and-slash game that follows the story line of one of the two sides playable (good and evil) through a story line. The basic story line that I will share is that, long ago, when evil had risen and was on the verge of taking over the world, a great and powerful wizard used his great and powerful magics to make a wide chasm around the last remaining bastion of good (the "enclave") in the center the the lands conquered by the evil.
In Game 2.0, now unofficially called The Periphery, took final form as a world ravaged by a cataclysm caused by magic - presumably from meddling with powerful magics. The actual history is uncertain, as no one knows what truly happened. It was "many generations" ago. This cataclysm caused a portion of the world to be shattered off - and that, over time, broke down into many pieces which now orbit the world. The world itself, called simply The Mainland, was reformed, with no one knowing if there were any inhabitants left. The orbiting pieces, or planetoids, somehow managed to retain (and sustain) life. These planetoids are referred to as The Periphery which has evolved as a collection of differing cultures. Game 2.0 ended in a fashion that only T.S. Elliot could predict: not with a bang, but a whimper. Most of the party ended up dying during a daring assault on a forward watch post held by some Goblinoids. After barely managing to complete their quest (on the second try), the campaign was ended. Too little time was left to attempt anything substantial, and the adventuring group had taken such a toll that it was doomed to eek out an existence attempting jobs for whomever would provide them. They had high aspirations, though, as there was the popular rumor going around that dragons were invading.
Game 2.0A starts an indeterminate amount of time later, after a true dark age. The basic concept revolves around the PC party gaming in time of near primitivism - the early bronze age. Stone and copper are still popular materials to use for items. Coinage is tossed in favor of actual bartering.
More to add later; I have to take a day-trip someplace.
3 comments:
I mentioned earlier that The Periphery was perhaps my biggest undertaking as a DM up to this point in time. Even if not completely original, the basic fabric of the setting is far beyond an attempt at an emulation of a period of history. Not only because multiple areas of history were included, but there were questions that constantly needed to be answered with every inclusion - the "hows" and "whys." Why would some culture with these unique traits be out here? How would they be here? (Some bigger questions: How would communication and travel work between planetoids of all these various cultures?)
There were more times than I care to count where these questions were beyond my own abilities to answer, and I had to delve many hours trying to find appropriate answers. Other answers were arguably far more maddening, as there was no proper answer, just the answer I had to come up with to explain it along with the workings of magic. (A sensible, logical answer with magic?)
Enough about the world for now.
I noticed a pattern during character creation; my players were creating vagrants. In the 1920s campaign, the majority were thief types. In this campaign, some sort of hunter-trapper type seems to be the common theme. I do not have any actual problem with any of this - it makes perfect sense for one who is read for proper adventuring.
Now, for the roster of players, as is, in the respective order of name, race, background, and class:
Brandon - Human Tribesmen Noble
Logan - Halfling Tribesmen Scout
Kami - Human Hunter Fighter
Jesse - Human Hunter Ranger
Ricco - Elf Hermit Ranger
Tyler - Gnome Mage's Apprentice Wizard
I did not mess with any of the racial bonuses from the races, but I did mess with how they fit into the setting. In Game 2.0, things were essentially more stratified, unless you were some part human. In Game 2.0A, things are much less so, unless you happen to be small. Gnomes, in both games, receive the short end of the stick thanks to being so closely associated with the use of magic - something that, while not necessarily feared, is never trusted and even has laws against.
I forgot to mention the inclusion of yet another thing - star signs. While I will not give away my secrets and explain the mechanics here, I will say that they are something essentially like what is from the Elder Scroll series. In Game 2.0A, though, I have simplified the system am initially granting just small bonuses (usually to stats).
Right, so perhaps I can get this third and final post of the day out of the way to recap the events that have come to pass.
Figuring out how to properly and appropriately start a campaign can be a real pain. Once I've talked and discussed with all the players about their characters, and how they would fit into the setting, I take a bit of time to myself to find a fitting scenario for their individual character to start things off. Each players gets a bit of one-on-one time before meeting the group and adventuring from there.
Rather than deciding who would be the most appropriate (or easy) to start off with, I just simply roll a corresponding die. If any odd number, I figure something out.
First player rolled ended up being Logan. His character concept was particularly amusing: your stereotypical jungle pygmy with a blowgun and a grass dress. Even though, in Game 2.0A, I had tried to keep the campaign setting localized to a certain areas of a number of planetoids, I laughed so hard at this and thought it was such an interesting idea that I had to allow it. As a small creature, and not the best stats, Logan would be running around with 5 str, with a blowgun that has a 10-foot range increment and normally deals a meager 1 point of damage. He will have to play to his Scout advantages to the best of his abilities, and know when to pick a fight. He'll be near useless in a stand-up fight, unless he uses poisons, which are expensive and fairly rare.
Anyway, he was hunting out in the jungle, when he sees the glimpse of something bright and shiny. Upon inspection, it looks to be a hut made of some metallic substance. Inside were knobs, levels, and buttons far beyond his character's comprehension. He poked a blinking red button, which suddenly turned green, and was knocked out by a huge force. When he next awoken, he found himself in a completely foreign landscape; near savanna-like in appearance. His little introduction ended with him beginning the process of searching around.
Next up was Brandon, followed by Jesse. Brandon, as mentioned before, was a Human Tribesman Noble. His backstory was fairly simple - of the two main cultures in the area, he remains on the outside, choosing his own way of life. Despite this, his core language lies with the "Sems," who are semi-nomadic. Other than the Sems are the "Isos," who live in the only towns and cities. Everything in between the two are related to either one or the other, and bilingualism is fairly common. Brandon was with a small group of individuals traveling with the simple intent of trading. Jesse was an Iso, who, as a hunter, lived in a small village and worked his trade. Brandon's party arrived at Jesse's village, and some bartering occurred. (Logan encountered Brandon's party, and tracked, unseen, to the small village.)
Next up was Ricco, a Hermit away from society, living in one of the great forests. While hermitting about, he heard a great commotion - a horde of marauding Kobolds! Before he could properly hide, several caught sight of him. He dashed to safety, and hid. The Kobolds (five of them) managed to track him, but could not locate him. He jumped out in an attempt to ambush them. The upper hand was lost quickly, and he was subdued.
This group of Kobolds traveled to, and with the coming of nightfall, began to pillage the small village with the previous two PCs. Through cunning and great daring, the PCs managed to barely escape. With the coming of the next day, Logan tracked the Kobold group, managed to infiltrate their defenses, and freed the prisoners/food. (Ricco was among them.)
From there, the party regrouped, slightly recovered, and then decided to travel together toward the nearest safe place, for the time being. An small Iso city was found, where Logan has a small morale failure from seeing the first city of his whole entire life. While the other PCs were attempting to calm and rationalize with him. (Being from a completely different culture, and place, Logan did not speak any of the local varieties of languages. In fact, his language is a complex variety of clucks and whistles.) It was at this point that Kami is introduced. Kami serves as one of the city guard, and is otherwise a hunter by trade. She decided to take them under her care, although Logan (and Ricco) preferred to remain outside.
Finally, it was Tyler's turn. A Gnome who's family and village was "cleansed," he was rescued by an kind elderly Gnome who taught him many things - including magic. More importantly, proper morals. The character now has the personal mission of proving to the world that Gnomes are not inherently evil, despite whatever ties or affinity towards magic. There was a great irony when, in his introduction, he was summoned by his adopted father and they attended a meeting of the elders. This meeting turned out to be a summoning of a demon in the hopes of bargaining for power. The results were disappointing (seemingly, a mere imp was summoned) and the elders were highly paranoid of the consequences of their actions. After a slight bit of interaction, they left to rest, both in hopes of not to get caught and to be able to regain the strength to reverse the spell. Tyler decided to remain by to make sure nothing unfortunate happened to free the demon. Early in the next morning, he was kicked (in the face) awake by some guards who were suspicious about what was up. (The circle of salt was clearly visible, but the demon-imp was gone from sight.) Tyler managed to bluff the guards into being convinced nothing had happened - the circle was just some silly attempt at sand-painting. In frustration, the guards kicked him some more, as well as the salt circle, breaking it. As they stormed away, Tyler was quick to fix the circle, but it was too late. The Demon-Imp poked his head out from hiding (a pocket of space-time) to ask if the coast was clear. Tyler tried to grapple the Demon-Imp into the salt circle again, and after several rounds failed. Instead, the Demon-Imp dragged Tyler into the pocket dimension, where he was tossed through space and time. Not only did Tyler lose consciousness, but he was thrown out twenty feet from the ground - nearby Logan, of all places. (Whether this happened from extreme luck, or bad DMing, no one will ever be quite sure.)
Thus, the party was united and introduced. After some heavy resting, they decided that they would track down these Kobolds, and perhaps even bring them to justice. (Or... something.)
The last bit of the session was the logistics behind the party's travels and attempts at tracking the Kobolds. The Kobolds had about a four-to-five day head start by the time the party had finished resting. The party made good progress though, especially with their hunters being so proficient at tracking (and hunting).
The session ended when they came across the body of several dead kobolds outside the walls of a larger city and the Kobolds divergent trail.
Post a Comment