Campaign Concept Help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Campaign Concept Help [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Altaine
11-05-07, 06:29 PM This one is a bit long winded please bear with me.

Our group (6 core guys [4 rotating DMs and 2 only-players]) were told to run D&D Game's Day for our store. We were more than happy to comply as we love freebies, which the store was more than inclined to give us if we ran it. We had a good turn out with another group from about 45 min away coming down to participate and they brought some prospects for thier group to learn the game. We all had a great time. We also got 3 others that were friends of our party members. Our store encourages us to invite all comers to game with us every weekend, and normally we are very inclined to do so. New players means new ideas means new fun.

We are currently running a Star Wars game right now. It's a Republic Commando style game with a small squad of elite stormtroopers, and we'll all having fun with it.

Our little problem is that the extra 3 all decided that they would love to come back. Not really a problem, but we're afraid we may not be able to incorporate them into our Star Wars game.

Now onto the real question. Sorry, I felt the background was needed.

After we did the premade campaign the other group wanted to stay and play longer. We had no problem with this, except we had nothing written up for a group that large on hand. 2 of us (myself and one other) had this crazy idea about crusades running through our head for a while. I meant the real life crusades and he took it as the Hextor/Herionius crusades from Greyhawk (which I knew nothing of being a Forgetten Realms guy).

We got everyone building charecters (4th lv) and we started make this epic battle scene, where the legions of Hextor (some quickly made fighters/archers and 2 generals I threw together) were swarming a town. It was one huge battle scene that ran off of a single initive roll and we just ran with it. The front line fighters I came up with were a little over powered and we struggled through the volley rules. It was huge and ugly but in the end loads of fun for everyone.

Afterwards, I was thinking about taking this idea and expanding on it. Having 2 seperate parties, one of Hextor (evil) and one of Herionius (Good) and have them do seperate missions, but come together once a month or some other interval for one of these mass combats or a battle in a war. The missions depending on their success would help the party that did the best on completing their mission or something to that effect.

I plan on balancing the parties with experinced players and newbies as best as possible, and letting the 2 guys that tend to lean towards the good/evil sides "run" the parties.

I guess I'm just looking for feedback on what some other DMs think about this idea. All input is welcome and will be considered. Thanks in advance.
DM_Dan
11-06-07, 03:00 AM The crusades concept sounds like an interesting idea, and one that could work very well if handled properly and played out well. I would be cautious with introducing newbies to the game to playing evil characters too soon, however, and bear in mind that battles in which the two player parties are on opposite sides will almost inevitably lead to PvP at some point.

I would be inclined to put two seperate parties (if numbers are good for seperate groups) on the same side (i.e. the good side). That way, you can mix up the experienced players and the newcomers and everyone plays the good guys. It also means that, come mass battle time, everyone is on the same side and the DMs can have fun coming up with more evil and enormous baddies to horrify the PCs more and more in each battle. I would always endeavour to have all the PCs on the same side, especially if a number of them are new to the game.

Having the missions between battles affect the sides, with success or failure making things accordingly easier or more difficult respectively is a good idea, and I can see that being a lot of fun for everyone, as it gives the PCs a chance to see the fruits of their labour and (even better) to show them off to their 'parallel' party.

I would not be surprised to see a decent amount of competition between your two parties even if they are on the same side - there will probably be an element of this involved, but putting the parties on opposite sides will likely lead to real friction sooner or later.

Hope this helps,

DMD.
Altaine
11-06-07, 09:25 AM Thanks for the advice, it definatly helps. This whole endevour if it comes to fruition would be run by 2 DMs (one for each group and collaberativley for the mass combat). I like the idea of both of them on the good side, as it will probably create less friction. Maybe make one of them LG and the other leaning into CG or even CN territory by giving them less boundries and encouraging some heinious actions to get the "job" done.

Thanks for the ideas man.
BW0222
11-06-07, 10:58 AM Altaine

Our group (6 core guys [4 rotating DMs and 2 only-players]) were told to run D&D Game's Day for our store.

We've run it three years in a row here and WotC deserves a lot of credit for some well made up adventures (with complete mini sets, pre-gens, dice, etc.) for the game.

We were more than happy to comply as we love freebies, which the store was more than inclined to give us if we ran it. We had a good turn out with another group from about 45 min away coming down to participate and they brought some prospects for thier group to learn the game. We all had a great time. We also got 3 others that were friends of our party members. Our store encourages us to invite all comers to game with us every weekend, and normally we are very inclined to do so. New players means new ideas means new fun.

If the games are open to the public... I'll recommend using RPGA or Living Arcanis modules. They have a number of advantages, which folks often forget about.

1. They have well laid out guidelines for ethical play. In a public game day, you need rules on what type of behavior is allowed. i.e. no evil characters, no attacking other players, etc. to prevent folks from doing so. They also have standard pre-gen characters, adventure records, character creation guidelines, etc.

2. They have a large following. Advertise a game and you can get folks out specifically to play it.

3. The modules are well written, play tested, etc. They are well suited to a half-day slot.

4. They are PG13, so you don't have to worry about mothers screaming at the store manager or folks in the store overhearing things.

5. They are suited to rotating DMs. They provide a semi-consistant campaign without worrying about folks missing games. i.e. they occur in the same setting, you maintain your character, but it isn't that bad.

6. They provide rewards. Certs or adventure records which many new players feel is cool.

7. If is often fairly easy to run two or more tables if you get a lot of people out.

If you are running something of your own, I'd recommend looking at some of the RPGA set-up and stealing some of their ideas -- the ethical play guidelines, character generation rules, etc. are nice to have behind you.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Altaine 11-05-07, 06:29 PM	This one is a bit long winded please bear with me. Our group (6 core guys [4 rotating DMs and 2 only-players]) were told to run D&D Game's Day for our store. We were more than happy to comply as we love freebies, which the store was more than inclined to give us if we ran it. We had a good turn out with another group from about 45 min away coming down to participate and they brought some prospects for thier group to learn the game. We all had a great time. We also got 3 others that were friends of our party members. Our store encourages us to invite all comers to game with us every weekend, and normally we are very inclined to do so. New players means new ideas means new fun. We are currently running a Star Wars game right now. It's a Republic Commando style game with a small squad of elite stormtroopers, and we'll all having fun with it. Our little problem is that the extra 3 all decided that they would love to come back. Not really a problem, but we're afraid we may not be able to incorporate them into our Star Wars game. Now onto the real question. Sorry, I felt the background was needed. After we did the premade campaign the other group wanted to stay and play longer. We had no problem with this, except we had nothing written up for a group that large on hand. 2 of us (myself and one other) had this crazy idea about crusades running through our head for a while. I meant the real life crusades and he took it as the Hextor/Herionius crusades from Greyhawk (which I knew nothing of being a Forgetten Realms guy). We got everyone building charecters (4th lv) and we started make this epic battle scene, where the legions of Hextor (some quickly made fighters/archers and 2 generals I threw together) were swarming a town. It was one huge battle scene that ran off of a single initive roll and we just ran with it. The front line fighters I came up with were a little over powered and we struggled through the volley rules. It was huge and ugly but in the end loads of fun for everyone. Afterwards, I was thinking about taking this idea and expanding on it. Having 2 seperate parties, one of Hextor (evil) and one of Herionius (Good) and have them do seperate missions, but come together once a month or some other interval for one of these mass combats or a battle in a war. The missions depending on their success would help the party that did the best on completing their mission or something to that effect. I plan on balancing the parties with experinced players and newbies as best as possible, and letting the 2 guys that tend to lean towards the good/evil sides "run" the parties. I guess I'm just looking for feedback on what some other DMs think about this idea. All input is welcome and will be considered. Thanks in advance.
DM_Dan 11-06-07, 03:00 AM	The crusades concept sounds like an interesting idea, and one that could work very well if handled properly and played out well. I would be cautious with introducing newbies to the game to playing evil characters too soon, however, and bear in mind that battles in which the two player parties are on opposite sides will almost inevitably lead to PvP at some point. I would be inclined to put two seperate parties (if numbers are good for seperate groups) on the same side (i.e. the good side). That way, you can mix up the experienced players and the newcomers and everyone plays the good guys. It also means that, come mass battle time, everyone is on the same side and the DMs can have fun coming up with more evil and enormous baddies to horrify the PCs more and more in each battle. I would always endeavour to have all the PCs on the same side, especially if a number of them are new to the game. Having the missions between battles affect the sides, with success or failure making things accordingly easier or more difficult respectively is a good idea, and I can see that being a lot of fun for everyone, as it gives the PCs a chance to see the fruits of their labour and (even better) to show them off to their 'parallel' party. I would not be surprised to see a decent amount of competition between your two parties even if they are on the same side - there will probably be an element of this involved, but putting the parties on opposite sides will likely lead to real friction sooner or later. Hope this helps, DMD.
Altaine 11-06-07, 09:25 AM	Thanks for the advice, it definatly helps. This whole endevour if it comes to fruition would be run by 2 DMs (one for each group and collaberativley for the mass combat). I like the idea of both of them on the good side, as it will probably create less friction. Maybe make one of them LG and the other leaning into CG or even CN territory by giving them less boundries and encouraging some heinious actions to get the "job" done. Thanks for the ideas man.
BW0222 11-06-07, 10:58 AM	Altaine Our group (6 core guys [4 rotating DMs and 2 only-players]) were told to run D&D Game's Day for our store. We've run it three years in a row here and WotC deserves a lot of credit for some well made up adventures (with complete mini sets, pre-gens, dice, etc.) for the game. We were more than happy to comply as we love freebies, which the store was more than inclined to give us if we ran it. We had a good turn out with another group from about 45 min away coming down to participate and they brought some prospects for thier group to learn the game. We all had a great time. We also got 3 others that were friends of our party members. Our store encourages us to invite all comers to game with us every weekend, and normally we are very inclined to do so. New players means new ideas means new fun. If the games are open to the public... I'll recommend using RPGA or Living Arcanis modules. They have a number of advantages, which folks often forget about. 1. They have well laid out guidelines for ethical play. In a public game day, you need rules on what type of behavior is allowed. i.e. no evil characters, no attacking other players, etc. to prevent folks from doing so. They also have standard pre-gen characters, adventure records, character creation guidelines, etc. 2. They have a large following. Advertise a game and you can get folks out specifically to play it. 3. The modules are well written, play tested, etc. They are well suited to a half-day slot. 4. They are PG13, so you don't have to worry about mothers screaming at the store manager or folks in the store overhearing things. 5. They are suited to rotating DMs. They provide a semi-consistant campaign without worrying about folks missing games. i.e. they occur in the same setting, you maintain your character, but it isn't that bad. 6. They provide rewards. Certs or adventure records which many new players feel is cool. 7. If is often fairly easy to run two or more tables if you get a lot of people out. If you are running something of your own, I'd recommend looking at some of the RPGA set-up and stealing some of their ideas -- the ethical play guidelines, character generation rules, etc. are nice to have behind you.