I'm getting into GMing in my RP group. We have 5 players, me included, and we take turns GMing the games. Though so far only 3 have done so.
I called quits to my first campaign since I don't think I did a very good job and the players seemed to agree with me. the campaign was a bit too linear, too grand a scope and some occurrences which I didn't account for. No one had hard feelings and we just chucked it up to me being inexperienced.
Once our next long campaign starts (we've been running shorter campaigns recently) I plan to use the time to build an open-ended campaign.
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I'd like some opinions for this:
The game takes place on an island nation of Duranheim. (it's the world of Golarion since it's a world we're all familiar with, but the nation is made up.)
Players start at level 7 and won't advance in level during the campaign, except maybe once, though they will keep gaining magic items throughout the campaign. This way I can keep the whole world open and not tell them "you can't go there yet, you'll be eaten alive." But I also wanted to somewhat control them so I set it on the island nation from which there is only one port out and that one is also guarded heavily.
I won't restrict player actions in any way, whether they want to be good or not. They will suffer consequences from their actions, but if they want to ally themselves with the evil monarch, I got some plans for that too.
Duranheim was taken over three years ago by Gailio Khan. He is a powerful ruler, the strongest fighter on the island and holds the city in an iron grip. Law is strict and naysayers are quickly silenced. However, he's not some barbarian who drinks the blood of his enemies from their skulls, but wants to subjugate others to his will without killing tons of people, saying "Any barbarian can slaughter hundreds and claim to be the king, with no one left to rule over. I will make them realize they need me to rule over them". While law is strict and taxes are high, he makes sure everyone contributes to the country and keeps everyone at job, feeding those who are unable to (not if it's self inflicted to screw the system). Only two crimes carry the death sentence: any dealings with or worship of demons or devils and being part of the revolutionaries on the island. His most trusted assistant are his adviser, a cleric, and his high wizard and the general of his army, all high-level NPCs.
The resistance is lead by Tetrick Regias, the former crown prince. He is an extremist, willing to go to any lengths to free Duranheim from Gailio and return the power to people. He is ready to sacrifice the citizen or make deals with some people even worse than Gailio if he believes that achieves the greater good. In the end, if players ally with Gailio, he will actually sell his soul to a devil to gain the power necessary to overthrow Gailio, becoming the final fight of the campaign.
There is also a Thieves Guild in the town. They all reside in a single section of the town. They tell nothing guards asking around and if they get too nosy, they disappear with no trace. They can elude even Gailio since their golden rule is to never tell anyone about who you're working with/for and to commit suicide if someone tries to magically get the info out of them, knowing betrayal is met with a fate worse than death. There is currently also an inner conflict going on about the next leader of the guild, candidates being a sorcerer, and two rogues, each with their own idea of how the guild should be run.
On the north side of the island there lives a tribe of forest elves, lead by the tribe elder Ra'ziel. Since Gailio took over, they've kept to themselves and held off any intruders. Their tribe forbids all use of magic, save for the village elders and his/her proteges (usually son/daughter) druidic magic and using only natural materials in everything they build. They no longer know why, but the reason is buried within the temples around the island. Basically they used to rule over a country in highly magical cities, but they started warring with each others, eventually ruining their civilization and causing Duranheim to be separated from the main continent (it wasn't an island thousands of years ago). Gailio wants to conquer them too, but again not by marching in, burning the forest and enslaving them. He could do that, but sees no victory in it.
Finally the temples around the island hold a lot of treasure and history of the island. The archeologist guild, under the orders of Gailio, has been researching and clearing these temples. Before Gailios rule, the law forbid entering the temples as the elven tribe wished them to stay sealed and the king wanted to keep good relations with them. Once Gailio was done with getting the city in a good enough order, he ordered the examination of the temples, partly out of curiosity of the history inside and partly for the treasure and magic items. Archeologists will often hire adventurers since all of their members are only researchers, not combatants.
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Who the players wish to ally themselves is up to them, though obviously some alliances will anger other factions if they're not careful about covering their tracks.
I plan to write all character sheets and personalities in advance and I'm good enough at improvising what the character would say in the situation. I will make a crude island map (since I suck at drawing) and write all the shops, what NPCs work there and make the temples ready, along with many points of interest.
Can someone suggest changes or give me advice for this? Biggest challenge will be making character sheets for all the major NPCs who could enter combat for one reason or another (not making sheets for the local blacksmith).
The setting for the campaign looks good. I personally love a campaign where there is no clear "right choice". However, I do have a couple of questions:
1. How long do you plan this campaign to run? For anything more than a handful of sessions, I think its likely that it would get boring staying at the same level -- even considering that the party will be getting magic items throughout. Magic items can only do so much after all. Level 7 is at least a decent level to shoot for in terms of balance though. Of course, if your players are cool with it, then no big deal.
The idea of placing them on an island with only the one port is actually a good way to contain the party without making it seem forced. However, I personally would still not be worried about saying "Well, you can't go that way. The creatures there are too powerful for you." Instead, just say "Give me a Knowledge (local) check. {player rolls} Okay, you know that there are tales of murderous tribes of stone giants to the north. Many have traveled that way in the past, but of those who do, few return. Those who do return have always been horribly scarred by the experience, though some did return with vast amounts of treasure." The choice is now the party's.
Or better yet, just use random encounter tables should they decide to go off the beaten path. Exploring is, after all, a dangerous proposition. For more insight on this, take a look at the Kingmaker Adventure Path. Its pretty common for party's to get in over their heads due to the nature of the campaign. The key is to communicate the potential for danger (albeit a lack of certainty). The Stolen Lands (to use the Kingmaker example) are a notoriously dangerous place.
As I said before though, if the players are content, then so be it. The bottom line is as long as everyone is having fun, then you are doing it right.
2. What is the fate worse than death for the thieves guild? That's a pretty stark stance to take, particularly where thieves are concerned since they are usually first and foremost concerned about survival. This isn't to say that there are not fates worse than death, just that you need to be ready for an answer. Also, be careful with (will commit suicide if someone tries to read them magically). Make sure you do not simply veto PC abilities. I can think of a number of spells wherein I would be highly suspicious if the GM said "Well yeah, your spell goes through, he fails his save, but before that he kills himself." Now it could be that there's a Contingency Spell placed on him for just those sorts of circumstances, but then the PCs should have an opportunity to recognize that as well.
3. I wouldn't worry about statting out and naming all the potential NPCs ahead of time per se. Rather, jot down a list of potential names (organized by gender and race) as well as a list of inns, shops, warehouses, etc. Then, when the party runs across random city guard #1, you can just look at your list, pick the next name off of it, and scratch it off. Then make sure to make a note as to who has that name (i.e. Thorgrim Stoutheart is the Captain of the Night Watch).
The reason I recommend doing it this way is that if you have everything pre-generated before hand, there's going to be a tendency to steer the party in certain directions. After all, you spent all that time detailing the Laughing Dragon Inn and all its staff and patrons, why of course its the best inn in town! By having a list of names ready to go, you can instead simply ask "What does the party wish to do?" If they decide they don't like the first inn for some reason, then you have the next one on the list ready to go. In any event, it will seem far less forced this way.
Thanks for advice.
1. Ran it through payers, they seemed cool with the idea of no leveling up. It'll go on until players decide they're done and have the position they want.
Also I'm hoping to pre-build as much as possible, which is easier with set levels.
2. They take your eyes, they take your tongue, they take your ears. But they don't let you die, they will heal the wounds and stop the bleeding, but won't regenerate what you lost. You will forever have to live without those, trapped in your own body. They will even keep you locked up and under supervision to make sure you can't kill yourself. Your own body will be your prison. "I have no mouth and I must scream". Well, they might be able to scream, but hell if they know that. I don't **** around when it comes to gruesome fates for players or NPCs.
Of course, this isn't made clear to players unless they are in good terms with the guild or break the golden rule.
The guild members are instructed to bite off their tongue if it comes down to that. Though smart players will wise up to that and gag them so they can't do it. And I expect them to gain the info at some point, since it's one of major adventure hooks. I'm just not going to make it easy for them.
3. Might do that. Easy enough since most of the town population is humans. Though I intend to write some personality for the characters too ahead of time, so might stick to my own plan. With the slightly mad alchemist shop keeper who constantly experiments to remove the smell from his garlics or halfling magic shop keeper who is always using a stepladder and throws you out if you call him short. I plan to have enough pre-generated shops, inns etc. so players can go to different places.
1. Cool, as I said, so long as everyone is having fun, then you're doing it right!
2. Definitely a good answer to the question. It should make for some interesting encounters after it happens once or twice as the players will realize they need to be creative in order to try to extract info from the npcs.
3. Definitely a good idea to have some NPCs planned out, especially ones that you anticipate may be important to the campaign. A lot has to do with personal style, but I can say the one reason I like to have the list handy is because nothing says "this NPC is completely unimportant" than when you have I to say "His name is . . . let me see . . . uh . . yeah, his name . . . iiiiiiiiis . . . Hector . . . Uh Thornewoode." The players then know, or suspect, that I just made the name up, which implies that they might not ever see this dude again. I've definitely learned that lesson the hard way.
A lot has to do with personal style, but I can say the one reason I like to have the list handy is because nothing says "this NPC is completely unimportant" than when you have I to say "His name is . . . let me see . . . uh . . yeah, his name . . . iiiiiiiiis . . . Hector . . . Uh Thornewoode." The players then know, or suspect, that I just made the name up, which implies that they might not ever see this dude again. I've definitely learned that lesson the hard way.
My players stopped assuming that, after I started pretending to make up the name on the spot whenever I introduced an NPC who is a villain in disguise or otherwise secretly important. ;)
One of my most cherished NPCs was Captain Blah. The PCs went looking for the captain of the guard, found him, and engaged him. As part of the rp the party asked him his name (they found him somewhat charming). I typically made up names of unimportant npc's on the spot, but found myself struggling this time and the best I could do was "oh, he says his name is captain blah blah blah." The party took a liking to him and he wound up becoming a henchman to one of the PCs.
The art of DMing involves planning what needs to be planned and going with the flow when things eventually go off the rails. I have always enjoyed planning things out and then laughing when my PCs do the unexpected and I have to wing it. Happens all too often, but it's fun.