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Lately I've gotten the itch to play in the fantastic Midnight setting. I find myself dealing with my usual hangups when I want to play something like this. Here are the problems as I see them:
Plus, I've developed the suspicion that games like these, where the players request and recruit a GM rather than the other way around, tend to fall apart quickly as the GM doesn't have a clear direction in mind and said GM's commitment is not guaranteed.
I really, REALLY would like to play in this setting rather than run it, particularly because I have a hard time figuring out how to balance the storytelling in the setting. Midnight is supposed to feel dark and oppressive, players should constantly be looking over their backs for legates or orcs and that they're never going to win, but at the same time they're supposed to be heroes, the brightest lights in this time of utter darkness and that they should at least make a difference. it seems like a tug of war between these two things and I don't trust my experience as a GM to do it justice.
The problem arises because this missing heir is a BIG part of Midnight's metaplot concerning Erenland, and thus I believe would (and most likely should) be the purview of the GM. Plus, if the hints in the Midnight Chronicles movie (originally intended as the pilot for a TV series that never got picked up) strongly suggest that one of said characters in the film was likely the heir, and the opposite character a reincarnation of Beirial the Betrayer or something, and again, I get really OCD about canon. If I wanted to disregard the film and play my own heir, then I'd need express permission to do so, which isn't a guarantee. The only way I'd be sure to do it is to GMPC such a character, which is NEVER good roleplaying or team playing. Even if I did have permission, playing such a character would demand a certain amount of spotlight stealing, another cardinal role-playing sin. D&D is about COLLABORATIVE storytelling, and the only way to make a "special hidden heir" character not become the dominant focus among the PCs is to either have ALL the PCs be heirs, or to have this heir be an NPC that the PCs support. Note that Aragorn is a second-stringer for Frodo, Arthur fades into the background as Lancelot and the other knights adventure, and Alistair deliberately turns down leading the party despite being your senior.
And to be honest, part of me LIKES the center-stage aspect of actually PLAYING the prince, rather than a knight who serves said prince. There's a reason people prefer being the Dovahkiin in Skyrim to being Martin's right-hand man in Oblivion.
What I'd like to play is a paladin, since, as you might guess by my username, it's my favorite class. And ostensibly, that's easy in Midnight: play a Lawful Good Fighter, and take the Guardian Heroic Path. But in order to be a leadery kind of guy, I feel like I'd need more skills and stuff like that, which fighters simply don't have. There's a number of prestige classes that might work, but some I'm not sure of the mechanics on (Lightbearer, for example, grants paladin-like abilities, freeing me up for a different Heroic Path, but the smites are WIS-based rather than CHA-based, and only INT-based hermetic channellers can readily qualify for it, since other classes won't get enough skill ranks until high levels). Plus, class and crossclass skills in 3.5 have always confused me greatly when compared with Pathfinder. Do I still pay the class skill cost for a skill that's not on my new class' list if I put ranks in it via my previous class? Will I always lag behind? Add to that the fact that many more skillpoints need to be spent on languages in Midnight just to be able to talk to people, and I feel pretty skill-starved (but then I tend to feel that way no matter what character I play because of my crippling obsession with covering all the bases so no matter what the other party members' skills or talents are there's no base left uncovered so we don't miss out on XP or loot because no one put ranks in a particular knowledge or spellcrafing or diplomacy check.
I don't know. The more I think about it the more frustrated I get. I really want to enjoy Midnight, but I feel like all it's going to do is collect dust on my shelves because I'm so OCD about the whole thing that no one will WANT to play, even if I ask politely (if there's such a way to do that). HELP! :(
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I played a few sessions of Midnight at a local Con over the course of a few years. So some people apparently play it at least. :)
As for the lost heir issue, well, I see no reason there can't be multiple descendants of the family, which sorta eliminates canonicity issues, I would think. As for GM permission...I think that's necessary for any character of this type regardless of circumstances.
And as for spotlight stealing, that's only an issue if the other players object, so talk with them about it, and how your character fits with theirs...it's probably easier if your character is a support character like a Cleric or Bard, but any character works as long as everyone is okay with it.
Sadly a few sessions don't make me an expert on the system (or even very familiar with it), and so I cannot help with your system issues. :(
Well...
I had a copy of the 3.0 Midnight book in the early aughts. Unfortunately, it it was in a box in my basement with other seldom-used gaming materials when my basement flooded five years ago, and all were lost.
Honestly, I found the setting a little too dark for my tastes. I never played in the setting at all. I haven't even looked at the book in close to a decade, and I think I only read it through once.
Fantasy Flight Games dropped the whole setting in 2009, ceased publication of the line, and even stopped selling PDFs. Paizo doesn't seem to stock it, but you can find the PDF of the 2nd Edition version of the Midnight Campaign Setting on PDF at DriveThruRPG for $10.
My suggestion if you want to dust it off and try running a game would be a play-by-post here on the Paizo boards. I'm sure you'd be able to find players for it.
If you're looking for discussion of the product, you might want to try posting on either the "Conversions" or "Third Party Products" threads. There's also a Midnight Second Edition forum ion the FFG website.
[Edited to add]: Oh, and there's a fairly active Midnight fan community at againsttheshadow.org. I'm sure they'd be able to give you some tips!
Good luck!
I will follow this thread closely as I am like Archpaladin Zousha and would love to play in this setting...though if I can't do that I would run it.
Hey Zousha where are you from?
One of my favorite settings of all time. Can't help you with the finding of a game though :(
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I will follow this thread closely as I am like Archpaladin Zousha and would love to play in this setting...though if I can't do that I would run it.
Hey Zousha where are you from?
Hastings, MN. It's about 20 minutes away from the Twin Cities. Play-by-post is how I do most of my gaming, as I'm perpetually short on vehicles and consistent free time.
Hastings, MN. It's about 20 minutes away from the Twin Cities. Play-by-post is how I do most of my gaming, as I'm perpetually short on vehicles and consistent free time.I will follow this thread closely as I am like Archpaladin Zousha and would love to play in this setting...though if I can't do that I would run it.
Hey Zousha where are you from?
Ah I live in NJ...in other words no place close. If you ever find yourself in NJ though...
I am not a fan of play-by-post.
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No one's a fan of play-by-post, I think. It's more an unfortunate necessity of the hectic scheduling inherent in modern society than anything else.
That being said, I'm tempted to ask if there's GMs here willing to run a Midnight game, but I'm also very afraid of that for two reasons:
1) I've been burned by requesting PbP's before, mostly on Giant in the Playground, where most games that request GMs DO get one, but they either lack experience or they're unable to commit to it, and the game ends up dying. I find that games where a GM is the one who starts it, seeking to recruit players, last a lot longer because the GM knows what they're doing and is in it for the long haul. Because Midnight's so obscure, however, I feel like I'm in a Catch-22 scenario. Either I ask and run the risk of getting a GM who'll wash out, or I don't and never get to play at all.
2) I'm very, VERY nervous when it comes to posting etiquette. Part of this is due to mostly being on Giant in the Playground, where there are strict rules and tough-but-fair enforcement by the moderators. Despite having posted on James Jacob's thread almost constantly for months now, I still feel very much like an outsider here who doesn't know people very well. In fact, I feel I may have alienated people early on here with an obnoxious and delusional thread I started when I was in a pseudo-intellectual libertarian phase. I feel that making a post ASKING someone to run a game for me and expecting to be in by default due to being the guy who asks for it is rude entitlement of the highest order, and would thus ensure that my bad reputation here (at least as I perceive it) would only get worse.
