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Strap on your +1 helmets of adventuring, ladies and gentlebeasts of the Paizo Forums! I have a proposal for you.
I’ve always been a huge fan of stories that dig deep into the conventions and structures that shape them on emotional, intellectual, and narratological levels. Considering that I spent most of the last five years studying various narratives and the conversations surrounding them, I recently had the idea of putting that hard-earned English degree to use… through tabletop gaming.
My proposal is this: I would like to run a PbP campaign in which two sets of characters exist simultaneously. One would be more or less true-to-life humans who come together from different walks of life to play a tabletop game, while the other would consist of standard Pathfinder PCs built according to what sort of personality and playstyle the human characters would have. This campaign would lay the foundation for a future campaign I’ll be running IRL, titled The Vanselir Tales, that I’ve been working on for several months and will be GMing to compare results and stories from the two groups.
The common thread that brings this group of players and their characters together in one setting-within-a-setting is the GM, played IRL and in-game by myself. Whether the players are veteran gamers answering an ad posted locally, returning players who’ve been involved in one or several of the GM’s past campaigns, or interested individuals who got talked into trying tabletop for the first time, each one is brought into The Vanselir Tales because the GM hand-picked them to take part in the campaign.
As time goes on and the human PCs learn more about each other, the story would open itself up to all manner of conflict and catharsis. Real-world struggles breaching the realm of the tabletop game, shared experiences bringing the PCs together on more levels than one, and friendships being forged or tested are all possible scenarios within the scope of this game; more than that, they’re goals I’ll be working toward as both stories progress.
”But Infamous Wes,” you ask, ”why bother with all this ‘two worlds’ crap when you can just play a regular campaign to similar effect? Wouldn’t that be simpler for everyone involved? Who do you think you are proposing this stuff, anyway? Also, what makes you so infamous?”
Putting the last question aside, I know this is an ambitious undertaking that requires balancing a LOT of moving parts to pull off without seeming cheesy, heavy-handed, or just plain stupid. With that in mind, I’m ready for the challenge, and I’m looking for players who are willing to put in just as much effort as I am to make this work. I don’t want to settle for just another fantasy campaign when I have the chance to tell a story about the tragedies and triumphs of the human experience, one that may very well help everyone who hears it to better endure or enjoy their own life beyond the game.
This campaign would require communication, hard work, and a significant amount of vulnerability on the part of its players. It would be a study in and celebration of storytelling itself and how it brings people together by confronting them with ideological, philosophical, and psychological challenges. With that being said, I’d be in the same boat as you, and I really think we could make something amazing out of this idea. If you don’t think so, I totally respect that, and I want to hear your thoughts - whether in favor or not - so I can polish this concept and be a better GM moving forward.
The fact that you’ve made it this far in what I originally imagined as a brief paragraph outlining a weird, niche concept for a campaign is much appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read through this proposal, and I hope you’ll be willing to dive into this different breed of story with me in the near future.
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My proposal is this: I would like to run a PbP campaign in which two sets of characters exist simultaneously. One would be more or less true-to-life humans who come together from different walks of life to play a tabletop game, while the other would consist of standard Pathfinder PCs built according to what sort of personality and playstyle the human characters would have. This campaign would lay the foundation for a future campaign I’ll be running IRL, titled The Vanselir Tales, that I’ve been working on for several months and will be GMing to compare results and stories from the two groups.
So, if I understand correctly, the PbP campaign is just one of the two sets of characters and the IRL is the other (as opposed to two sets of characters on PbP alone).
I don’t want to settle for just another fantasy campaign when I have the chance to tell a story about the tragedies and triumphs of the human experience, one that may very well help everyone who hears it to better endure or enjoy their own life beyond the game.
The humanoid experience :D
Its interesting, though it does seem like it might be problematic for PBP. To play Devil's Advocate how do you plan on marrying a PBP and a RL campaign, given that PBP advances at a comparative crawl, or will they be almost entirely separate?
How would you structure things? One thread, or two threads with one dictating the actions that occur in the other? Or perhaps you could sort of cut between the two with breaks for the "real group" to react, chug Mountain Dew, etc.
I trust you have read The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss, if not it sounds very much up your alley, being a story about stories :) Possibly my favourite novel to.
Okay, my curiosity has gotten the better of me.
Now it sounds like to me that you're talking about running a pbp with RL type pc's AND a pbp with your typical Pathfinder pc's?
Is this correct?
Just wanna make sure I understand this correctly myself.
And is it something to the effect of "The Sword and the Chain" by Joel Rosenberg?
Sounds interesting. So it would be someone roleplaying a real-life-ish person who is participating in a normal PF game, eh?
(edited for wording)
Thanks for the solid questions. Seeing as how the initial post is an info dump that requires some clarification, let's unpack some things so we're all on the same page.
So, if I understand correctly, the PbP campaign is just one of the two sets of characters and the IRL is the other (as opposed to two sets of characters on PbP alone).
Yes. The IRL campaign - let's call it Campaign 2 to avoid confusing it with this PbP, Campaign 1 - is going to be a traditional game (e.g. the players only portraying their Pathfinder characters) and will start several months after the PbP begins, so they're not going to play off each other until significant progress has been made in the PbP. It's an experiment to compare results, not necessarily to avoid having to prep the same campaign twice; I'm still going to put in the same amount of work for the second campaign later.
Its interesting, though it does seem like it might be problematic for PBP. To play Devil's Advocate how do you plan on marrying a PBP and a RL campaign, given that PBP advances at a comparative crawl, or will they be almost entirely separate?
How would you structure things? One thread, or two threads with one dictating the actions that occur in the other? Or perhaps you could sort of cut between the two with breaks for the "real group" to react, chug Mountain Dew, etc.
My intended structure is to have one PbP thread and not "marry" Campaign 1 with Campaign 2 at all. The PbP will be more narratively intense, but will rely on a very basic structure of "write from fictional person's point of view to describe the game they're playing", with the two settings separated by either italics or line breaks (something simple). The IRL campaign would focus more on real-time interaction and dealing with the pressure and urgency of playing in the moment.
Okay, my curiosity has gotten the better of me.
Now it sounds like to me that you're talking about running a pbp with RL type pc's AND a pbp with your typical Pathfinder pc's?
Is this correct?
Just wanna make sure I understand this correctly myself.
Not quite. As stated above, it will be one PbP campaign covering the story of human characters and their fictional tabletop counterparts, all explored from the fictional players' perspectives. I probably could have explained that a lot better.
Sounds interesting. So it would be someone roleplaying a real-life-ish person who is participating in a normal PF game, eh?
Exactly! I have a lot of work to do so as to clean up the info and make it less headache-inducing to read, but I'm 99% set on that concept.
Hm. Were you looking to have the same people for both the PbP and IRL groups?
Hm. Were you looking to have the same people for both the PbP and IRL groups?
Not at all! The PbP will be open to anyone on the forums. The IRL game will be completely composed of people from my local gamer group. There’s no need for those two to overlap - as long as a player’s submission is entertaining and interesting, I’m open to anyone joining.
*leans in with interest*
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Any other criteria for the PbP characters? Can you tell us more about your ideas for The Vanselir Tales?
PbP character creation guidelines will come once I’ve had a bit more time to think about how to make human characters that would be mechanically engaging, not just flavorful.
As for the Vanselir Tales...
The setting will be a persistent one, and I plan on basing several campaigns within it. Some of the details about its history and geography are still under construction, but overall, it’s heavily grounded in medieval romances and incorporates the Fey a lot more than I see in most settings (those guys need more love, in my opinion). That being said, there are still dark powers at play; the Fey can be just as dangerous and twisted as any other creatures, and the characters will encounter things beyond what they initially expect to see that will test their mettle... and their sanity.
The Vanselir Tales is very much a labor of love for me, and I can’t wait to see how it develops once there are actual players running around in it. More details will be available once the campaign nears the recruitment stage.
Interesting so in essence, we are playing a real-life persona (which is awesome) and they get to play their character in an RPG?
That’s the plan! In other news, I’ve been expanding and updating the setting since I posted this, so recruitment time may not be very far away.
Recruitment thread is up! You can check it out here. To those of you who decide to apply, I wish you the best of luck!
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I came here from the recruitment thread. This idea is so tantalizing. I've long had a fascination with story, myself. When I start to consider making the human player character (ha!) I'm not quite sure where to start. I could make an approximation of myself easily enough but I'm not sure if that's the best option. Playing a different kind of real life person, I think, would be a little more challenging for me then it usually is to play a fantasy character in a game.
Hmm...
I don't want to clog up the actual recruitment thread even more, so here's another question:
Will we be expected to arrive with a character already made, or will we have a character creation/introduction-type session?
Playing a different kind of real life person, I think, would be a little more challenging for me then it usually is to play a fantasy character in a game.
That challenge, and the reward of seeing it all come together, is why I'm doing this, so I feel you there. Personally, I'm not just projecting myself through the character of Grant the GM, but I encourage you - as I would say to anyone interested in playing - to find a balance between comfort and fulfillment. Don't roll a Human Player character you'd be bored to play after a few scenarios. Give them room to grow, and the stories will take care of themselves!
Will we be expected to arrive with a character already made, or will we have a character creation/introduction-type session?
In the spirit of in medias res, the campaign will pick up post-character creation and start with the night of the campaign's first session. Bring your questions about character creation to me via PMs, and I'll help you get it done so you can jump right in and enjoy the game!
Just a reminder that recruitment closes tonight, so if you haven’t already, please check it out here and join the adventure!