At the center of the world - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

At the center of the world

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
shinobicow
Mar 12, 2009 9:21:06 Ok, so i'm new to posting here, but a 6 year veteran DM of the game. I've been running several different campaigns, but i haven't really gotten to advance one from beginning to end; when i say end, i mean to the point where those characters are beyond the reach of the level system of Dungeons and Dragons (level 30 now under 4th).

What i'm working on now is a campaign centered around a eladrin with the vampire bloodline who is a member of the party. I found the character intriguing and i want to center the whole campaign around him. Is this too dangerous? If i put a player at the center of the world will things go vastly out of hand? I haven't really used this type of technique in a game before and i want to know if i should or not.

KK Thanks for you input
#2
colonelpanic
Mar 12, 2009 10:33:06
Is this too dangerous? If i put a player at the center of the world will things go vastly out of hand?

The first thing that comes to my mind, what if he get himself killed by doing something stupid, like pulling that lever where someone has written "Don't pull that lever!"
#3
eras
Mar 12, 2009 11:06:49 Wont it make the other players feel like "sideshow Bobs" ?
#4
shinobicow
Mar 12, 2009 13:21:03 Yea i thought about both those concepts. The game we are running this right now and where i am testing it out is with a group of 3: me (the DM) and two of my friends. One of these friends is a veteran of the game and has played in many campaigns and has DM'd many games as well. The other player didn't know that other dice existed other than the ones you used when playing Monoply. He has never played a roleplaying game in neither pen and paper nor video game form. We stuck him with the "center of the world" character. It really seemed to work well for a few reasons:

Now this seems to be a very situational approach to this particular campaign scenerio so i would imagine that a different thing would happen in a group of younger players or in a large group where only one person is given true importance. With that in mind, the campaign i'm working out is turning to be a pretty big endeavor and i don't really want to see it all go to waste, i would love to see other people run it as well and see how they think it turns out; so would it just be better to run the character who is "at the center of the world" as an NPC who is affected by the choices the characters make? Or, does this simply make the NPC too important, overshadowing the players?

Thanks for the input guys.:D
#5
atanakar
Mar 12, 2009 13:39:39
What i'm working on now is a campaign centered around a eladrin with the vampire bloodline who is a member of the party. I found the character intriguing and i want to center the whole campaign around him. Is this too dangerous? If i put a player at the center of the world will things go vastly out of hand? I haven't really used this type of technique in a game before and i want to know if i should or not.
KK Thanks for you input

Tried it once and it backfired on me. A player I thought mature enough became uncontrolable and started doing really long solo initiatives EVERY session. Even after considerable negociations he kept it going. We came to a road block. He left our gaming group...

So be very carefull...
#6
regwon
Mar 12, 2009 18:13:43 One of the best campaigns I've played in was one that became centered around a single character, named Thalgor Darkblood (3.5 Warlock/Fighter). It didnt start out like that, it just developed.

The game wasnt ONLY about this character however. It is a credit to the ability of our DM that he was able to keep us all interested. Each character had their own sub-plots and other things going on, in addition to the over-arching story line.

I think you have to strike a balance. Having one character that is the most important in the group is fine, just as long as the other players arent being left out. Give them their own interesting things to do so they dont get bored of being just some side event.
#7
shinobicow
Mar 12, 2009 22:35:49 If you were to treat this character as an NPC would you give him more or less importance than you did if he was a member of the party? I know that if i were to make him into an NPC, for future revisions of this campaign, that i would have to skill him down a bit, because as it stands now, he's a pretty busted little power character. But, when using him as an NPC, over a LOOOONG story arc, would you just put him in the party with the NPC's and have him essentially join up? or would you have the PC's run into him all the time and treat him more as a recurring character?
#8
leowulf
Mar 13, 2009 1:46:32 In both of your ideas - one of the PC's as centerpiece or a DMPC as a centerpiece - I'm reminded of Firefly. Of course the most memorable and central character of the series is the ship Serenity, but in the movie of that name, River Tam became the central character. But her importance to the story didn't crowd out the other characters. In fact the other characters got more lines and time on-screen than River. If you craft it right, it's very possible to have a character on whom the entire campaign turns without making the campaign "all about him or her."
#9
Tovec
Mar 13, 2009 20:54:32 From experience, when the elf turned vampire started to take over the spotlight, at the expense of the party, we tried to kill him. We failed because he was a vampire and we didn't have the power to defeat him. Eventually he retired the character, undefeated, and things returned to normal. Just my two cents.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 shinobicow Mar 12, 2009 9:21:06	Ok, so i'm new to posting here, but a 6 year veteran DM of the game. I've been running several different campaigns, but i haven't really gotten to advance one from beginning to end; when i say end, i mean to the point where those characters are beyond the reach of the level system of Dungeons and Dragons (level 30 now under 4th). What i'm working on now is a campaign centered around a eladrin with the vampire bloodline who is a member of the party. I found the character intriguing and i want to center the whole campaign around him. Is this too dangerous? If i put a player at the center of the world will things go vastly out of hand? I haven't really used this type of technique in a game before and i want to know if i should or not. KK Thanks for you input
#2 colonelpanic Mar 12, 2009 10:33:06	Is this too dangerous? If i put a player at the center of the world will things go vastly out of hand? The first thing that comes to my mind, what if he get himself killed by doing something stupid, like pulling that lever where someone has written "Don't pull that lever!"
#3 eras Mar 12, 2009 11:06:49	Wont it make the other players feel like "sideshow Bobs" ?
#4 shinobicow Mar 12, 2009 13:21:03	Yea i thought about both those concepts. The game we are running this right now and where i am testing it out is with a group of 3: me (the DM) and two of my friends. One of these friends is a veteran of the game and has played in many campaigns and has DM'd many games as well. The other player didn't know that other dice existed other than the ones you used when playing Monoply. He has never played a roleplaying game in neither pen and paper nor video game form. We stuck him with the "center of the world" character. It really seemed to work well for a few reasons: Now this seems to be a very situational approach to this particular campaign scenerio so i would imagine that a different thing would happen in a group of younger players or in a large group where only one person is given true importance. With that in mind, the campaign i'm working out is turning to be a pretty big endeavor and i don't really want to see it all go to waste, i would love to see other people run it as well and see how they think it turns out; so would it just be better to run the character who is "at the center of the world" as an NPC who is affected by the choices the characters make? Or, does this simply make the NPC too important, overshadowing the players? Thanks for the input guys.:D
#5 atanakar Mar 12, 2009 13:39:39	What i'm working on now is a campaign centered around a eladrin with the vampire bloodline who is a member of the party. I found the character intriguing and i want to center the whole campaign around him. Is this too dangerous? If i put a player at the center of the world will things go vastly out of hand? I haven't really used this type of technique in a game before and i want to know if i should or not. KK Thanks for you input Tried it once and it backfired on me. A player I thought mature enough became uncontrolable and started doing really long solo initiatives EVERY session. Even after considerable negociations he kept it going. We came to a road block. He left our gaming group... So be very carefull...
#6 regwon Mar 12, 2009 18:13:43	One of the best campaigns I've played in was one that became centered around a single character, named Thalgor Darkblood (3.5 Warlock/Fighter). It didnt start out like that, it just developed. The game wasnt ONLY about this character however. It is a credit to the ability of our DM that he was able to keep us all interested. Each character had their own sub-plots and other things going on, in addition to the over-arching story line. I think you have to strike a balance. Having one character that is the most important in the group is fine, just as long as the other players arent being left out. Give them their own interesting things to do so they dont get bored of being just some side event.
#7 shinobicow Mar 12, 2009 22:35:49	If you were to treat this character as an NPC would you give him more or less importance than you did if he was a member of the party? I know that if i were to make him into an NPC, for future revisions of this campaign, that i would have to skill him down a bit, because as it stands now, he's a pretty busted little power character. But, when using him as an NPC, over a LOOOONG story arc, would you just put him in the party with the NPC's and have him essentially join up? or would you have the PC's run into him all the time and treat him more as a recurring character?
#8 leowulf Mar 13, 2009 1:46:32	In both of your ideas - one of the PC's as centerpiece or a DMPC as a centerpiece - I'm reminded of Firefly. Of course the most memorable and central character of the series is the ship Serenity, but in the movie of that name, River Tam became the central character. But her importance to the story didn't crowd out the other characters. In fact the other characters got more lines and time on-screen than River. If you craft it right, it's very possible to have a character on whom the entire campaign turns without making the campaign "all about him or her."
#9 Tovec Mar 13, 2009 20:54:32	From experience, when the elf turned vampire started to take over the spotlight, at the expense of the party, we tried to kill him. We failed because he was a vampire and we didn't have the power to defeat him. Eventually he retired the character, undefeated, and things returned to normal. Just my two cents.