|
Hi all,
This blog has been created to discuss how we are going to go about our 4th edition co-DMing campaign. Some things to consider are:
+ The core conceits of the campaign
+ How mapping and exploration is dealt with
+ How adventure hooks are generated and distributed
+ How DM resources are shared (NPCs etc.).
If we can get some things nutted out now, the transition to our new game can be smoother.
Cheers, Dan
|
|
Ideas For a ‘DM-Relay’ Campaign For 4th Edition D&D:
Here are some possible outlines for how we might go about setting up a game in which four of the players (Dan, Pete, Local Dave & Sydney Dave) alternate DMing with the new system:
Firstly, we design the setting. It needs to be talked over broadly before-hand; do we want a finished map at the start, or to expand outwards from one detailed location? Do we want detail of political/historical parameters, or a much looser setting? For my 2-cents-worth, I think some kind of frontier setting, where the political situation is evolving presently would suit our purposes admirably. That way we make our setting as we play.
On the other hand, I think a finished map at the outset might be better- at least then we have a notion of a world around us rather than just a few square miles and then fog. One way in which we might still evolve the setting organically, though, would be to discuss and agree upon:
a) climate.
b) basic terrain within a few hundred square miles (a big island might work well).
c) major resources- why is this place a developing frontier; why did people come?. c) the degree of settlement (none/frontier stockades/20 year old towns etc...)
That being decided, we have the lay of the land and can draw a map, either together or leave it up to one enthusiastic DM, who consults with the others as the map is made.
Next, we give each DM one core-race to write up: how do they fit in here? Are they isolationists, or do they get on well with other races? Do they have their own settlement/s, or do they just stay anywhere available? If they mainly stay in one area, where, and why? I’m talking about a few hundred words- we probably don’t want too much detail, just bare bones we can flesh out later.
After we’ve done one core race each, the last four can come together more easily- one each again, but by now we already know a lot about our setting. If we save the trickier races till last, we should be thinking about where they’ll fit in by this stage anyway.
We’re almost ready to play now. We should have our main towns and the environs surrounding them, and know where populations of PC races are focused. Hopefully by this point we might have been discussing how monsters etc fit in. So now each DM has to come up with:
a) three special locations (ruins, spooky wood, dangerous mountain-pass etc..) that the adventurers have heard of and might want to check out. Bare bones here again. The idea is that the location should be suitable for an adventure at 1st or 10th level- so no specifics should be mentioned.
b) Three plot hooks. These are probably similar to the above, but perhaps not linked to any specific location.
c) Then discuss, and add to the map.
So by this stage we’re looking pretty good to start. If we have kept things a bit
open ended everyone should have some adventure ideas, and we can roll up characters. Then all we need is one DM (the one champing at the bit the most) to volunteer for first up, and we’re away.
As we’ve discussed, DM no.1’s PC is run as an NPC for now. Apart from the adventure, each DM should present 1 more hook during his game. Once the adventure is over, the group (now all as PC’s for five minutes) discuss what they want to do next. Once agreed, one of us volunteers to develop and run that adventure, and so on. Ideally, once everyone has had a go, it should rotate back to DM no.1 again, and henceforth we take it in turns.
There are a bunch of things I like about this kind of game:
a) All DMs get a go. This not only relieves pressure on a DM, but on the players too- they don’t have to worry about whether or not to join a DM’s game due to time constraints- it is one campaign.
b) I genuinely admire you guys as players and DMs, and we get a chance to colaborate creatively, and see and learn from each others styles of DMing.
c) By its nature such a campaign is organic- we’ll be discovering a world through play, improvising, and surprising ourselves and each other as we go along.
d) Seems like a great way to learn the new rules together.
e) For once, a working democracy! It might be a farce in the real world, but here, everyone gets an opinion (including players who just play) about what they want their world and game to be.
I don’t know about everyone else, but I for one am sick of my own ego interfering with my gaming. I have no interest anymore in dragging players, my friends, into whatever happens to be my bright idea for this week. The great thing, actually, about gaming, is that it’s a social activity, something we all do together. My friends are the best thing about gaming, and it is easy to forget this when swamped with ideas for the next big game. So, enough of what I want! A good DM, as we all know, gives his players what they want, and his reward is his players fun and excitement, and the fact that they want to play in his game. With this kind of game, all four of us get that benefit.
|
|
Here is a list of things (some obvious) which are core conceits of the new campaign: add and discuss as necessary.
+ Traditional Sword and Sorcery setting (i.e. Western European).
+ 4th edition core only (races, classes monsters etc.); This is a chance to test the new rules.
+ "Points of Light in in a world of darkness" core rules concept (Civilisation is in small pockets, the rest of the world is unexplored wilderness).
+ Temperate climate (no Arctic/jungle/water world campaigns).
+ The characters are the "Good Guys" although not necessarily good).
|
|
Now are we expecting additional players to rock up for this one?
Last I heard Donna was interested in playing (but not necessarily DMing) but what about Tristan, Cal or other miscellaneous hangers-on?
Anyway, I'll start with the Map:
I think the best way to start is with an overall map that covers the entire world, but is basically just an outline of the continents. A simple suggestion is to take the map of the world (Earth) and switch the elevations of the sea and the land. e.g. the Mariana Trench becomes the new world's highest mountain range, and the Himalayas become the deepest ocean. The ocean shore stays relatively the same but which side is the land becomes inverted. If we follow some natural topography rules from there we have a map everyone can roughly draw.
(White is the land mass; black is the oceans / lakes)
http://69.90.174.248/photos/display_pic_with_logo/63263/63263,1156320277,1. jpg
Now we pick a region that will have a climate like the one we wish to play in (probably temperate). Right were the camera is in the picture seems about right. About where Panama is there should be a major trade city (like Nova Roma / Byzantium / Constantanope / Istambul), and the area at the top of the camera would have a climate much like medieval europe (if the world rotates in the same direction and the water cycle isn't controlled by capricious Djinn).
If we zoom in (to an area about the size of the circle in the picture - which is roughly the size of Europe, and boy did those guys get to have some adventures!) and then add some detail by consensus (nations / cities / villages etc.) from there. I personally think we should come up with the races we would like to play and then determine cuture / location of nations from there.
OK - more later. (We should really move this blog to one I can access at work, so I can get some serious time-wasting done there!)
Dave
|
|
Donna is most likely out for this one, unless the hype is too much to resist. Cal is no good for weekends because he needs his smoochy time. Tristan is a definite possibility if he has the time.
Instead of starting macro and later focusing on the micro, I suggest we start small and work our way out. Imagine these characters with only the geographical knowledge that they have seen, been told about or read from a (likely outdated) book. They would know their home town and the few miles around it well, see the forest or mountain range in the distance, know that there is a major trading town down river etc. Anything else they can learn from adventure hooks (i.e. there is a crazy old wizard in a swamp a over the mountains to the south).
This way we require very little in the way of a map to begin with... pretty much a blank canvas which each DM can fill in with areas as they need them for adventures. Local Dave and I talked about the characters drawing their own map, which we'd be happy to draw as we learn new of terrain. The DM could have a separate, more accurate map.
Since this is an age of rediscovery after some kind of cataclysm, the only maps that the characters can find of the world/continent would be pre disaster and may be potentially wrong.
Working out what races we want to play and making the local area fit with their existence is a good idea (i.e. a dwarf character could have a bunch of tin miners working in a nearby hill). I think that 4th edition will assume that the world is a bit more multicultural, and major towns will have a mix of all PHB races living together. A race based nation could be nothing more than a name to begin with - are the players refugees from the nation before the cataclysm? Does the nation still exist? Mostly up to the player I guess.
Campaign Questions:
Just a general questionnaire about some of the preferences for the new campaign (thought starters)
Creatures:
(1) Human Only [Earth / Alternate Earth]
(10) Every Race / Monster in Core Monster Manual [Faerun]
10 – Lets give 4th edition the full works
Homogeneity:
(1) All races stick to their own kind
(10) All races are accepted in all towns / cities
3 – Some small interchange between races, but most villages are mostly homogenous
Human Centricity:
(1) Humans are the main players in the world, elves can only be seen in deserted forests when the moon is full
(10) Humans are but one of the many sentient races, and can be expected to make up no more than 5% of the world’s total population
6 – Most NPCs are human more often than not, but a significant amount are non-human
Monsters!
(1) Monster attacks are rare and nobody believes they exist
(10) Monsters are expected and feared. Humanity exists in the cracks of the food chain.
9 – Monsters are everywhere! Some villages are holding back the darkness.
Cosmology
(1) No other planes exist
(5) 4th Ed Cosmology (Shadowlands, Feywild, Elemental Vortex)
(10) The great wheel
5 – 4th ed standard
World shape
(1) Gravity says “You’re a sphere”
(10) We live in a planar tree on the back of a unicorn made of pudding.
1 – Let’s not go nuts here.
Civilisation
(1) Massive cities, developed nations
(10) Wilderness, small self-sufficient hamlets
A range of 5 – 10 depending on region. Mostly towards the upper range.
Climate
Temperate to start with, but some opportunities to do cold / desert / ocean adventures.
Flora and Fauna
???
Names
(1) Modeled after a historical society
(10) Every name has an apostrophe in it.
3 – Towns with names like “Stonebridge” or “Stormleigh” should be common in human lands (varies with race)
Culture (Local)
Feudal lords and Robber Barons with no overlaying authority. Knightly orders?
History (Local)
Do we want post-cataclysm / continuous struggle for survival / civilisation on the rise?
Economics
(1) Turnip Farmers (Dark Ages)
(10) Trade-based free enterprise (Renaissance)
2 – The major currency is food. Coins are rare, as is personal wealth.
Magic
(1) Magic is common and used throughout the land. Everyone has a magic shovel.
(10) You are strange and different. Meet “Mr. Pyre”.
7 – Perhaps 1 in 1000 people should be a spellcaster
Religion
(1) What’s that?
(10) Everyone worships
8 – Very religious, but with some dissenters
Celestial Interaction
(1) None
(10) I had a cup of tea with Torm and his angel posse this morning
3 – No voice of god, but visions sometimes. Cults bring demons and devils to the world.
Okay, first of all, my 2c from a while ago, before I found the new blog, and in reply to Sydney Dave's bizarro-earth map:
I like your ideas, Dave, particularly pertaining to the large scale map parameters- I think an arbitrary map like that might work well, although with the massively increased land mass we might want to make the dark area which was north and south America, plus the area beyond it to the west which was part of the Pacific, into a big Atlantic style ocean...
Or we could increase the ocean sizes by saying that, for instance, the -200m depth mark is the shoreline now. (Include pink in the oceans)
http://www.ngdc.noaa.gov/mgg/image/global_topo_large.gif
|
|
Damn, posted response to S Daves list but it got eaten.
Basically agree with all assumptions.
Racial communities would exist but be more isolated and rare... most sentinent (PHB) races will work together for mutual protection from the monsters.
Economics: The bigger the town, the more coinage. Coins are most likely pre cacaclysm and new mints are very rare.
I know I'll seem dim, but I have a jpeg map (based on our discussions, Dan) which I'd like to post for you all to look at. How the hell do I do that? Is my only option to email it to you?
EmbarressedLocalDave
I've sent out an email with a rough version of the proposed map on it. And no, I don't think we can post pictures here.
Dave
I forgot one thing on my list:
# of gods:
(1) Monotheistic
(10) There is a god of yellow highlighters.
My feeling is that we should limit this to perhaps 10 major gods + various demon/devil lords.
That map was awesome. Any ideas for the name of the town?
What about something like "Wealdbrook"?
Another question to answer:
Power Level:
(1) Everyone you meet is a 1st level commoner (or equivalent)
(10) Eliminster is coming 17th in his raquetball comp.
I am leaning towards a 2-3 on this one. The Baron should be (tops) 5th level. Why doesn't he save his own daughter from the Ogres? - because he's a chuuuuuummmmmppp.