OOC Chat

Aug 30, 2019 12:43 am

Hey all! As I'm sure you've probably experienced at least with some others, I'm a very flexible DM. This campaign will be on the longer side, definitely not one-shot material. As such, we'll be forging the story together as we go. No module feeling, no huge dungeon crawls. Meaningful experiences, roleplay, and excitement.

With the pitch aside, I want to take all of your temperature on a nagging point with a lot of campaigns: How they start.

Do you all want to meet in a bar? Do you all want to be together for some predisclosed reason? I have a few ideas, but feel free to add on, see if we can work it into something believable for everybody.

Cep100 Inactive forever!

Aug 30, 2019 1:14 am

Re: Talks on a Campaign beginning

I'm a fellow GM myself and a starting point I've used since '97 is 'local festival'. It works for almost any genre, can be used to set the tone from "best festival in years" to "we're taking our minds off how terrible everything is". Throw in a few games and let the players compete against each other or see each other in action. Archery contests, one of the PCs is a street performer, uh-oh the Rogue met the Fighter by picking their pockets and now has to explain themselves! If you're in a bar you're there to get drunk and a lot of people drink alone. It takes slightly more effort since you need to figure out what's being celebrated and what games there are but i highly recommend trying it out.

Cyngi Inactive forever!

Aug 30, 2019 1:16 am

Re: Talks on a Campaign beginning

Cep100 says:

I'm a fellow GM myself and a starting point I've used since '97 is 'local festival'. It works for almost any genre, can be used to set the tone from "best festival in years" to "we're taking our minds off how terrible everything is". Throw in a few games and let the players compete against each other or see each other in action. Archery contests, one of the PCs is a street performer, uh-oh the Rogue met the Fighter by picking their pockets and now has to explain themselves! If you're in a bar you're there to get drunk and a lot of people drink alone. It takes slightly more effort since you need to figure out what's being celebrated and what games there are but i highly recommend trying it out.

That is a great idea and I might just want to steal it. I'd like a couple of other ideas in the pot to ruminate, but that's certainly a fantastic base.

Cep100 Inactive forever!

Aug 30, 2019 1:28 am

Re: Talks on a Campaign beginning

Feel free! They're great for explaining why everyone is in town. The cleric/paladin for blessings during the festival, the ranger to sell game or furs. Dwarven fighters to sell wares. Tons of variations. Never gone back to 'you meet in a bar' even though this is essentially 'you meet in a bar' with extra steps.

It can backfire though as i once started a campaign at a festival of a local god of debauchery and the first scene was "you all wake up in the same room as each other, naked. There is a body on the floor with all of your weapons sticking out of it and burn marks from your spells. Go."

They just all killed each other so the next session started with "you're investigating a possible mass-murder."

CancerMan

Aug 30, 2019 4:48 am

Re: Talks on a Campaign beginning

I figure if we're gathered to investigate or stop the plague in the north, we would have answered a call and possibly register our interest with some authority in Drathis. Perhaps a city hall or consulate?

runekyndig

Aug 30, 2019 5:59 am

Re: Talks on a Campaign beginning

CancerMan says:

I figure if we're gathered to investigate or stop the plague in the north, we would have answered a call and possibly register our interest with some authority in Drathis. Perhaps a city hall or consulate?

I like that. We gathered at the city hall/consulate and we were briefed together. From there we did our preparations and began our journey together. We have a common goal/mission and that answers the control-question, why am I traveling with these guys.

I think that "strangers meeting at a bar" is sloppy storytelling and does not strengthen the party cohesion. If the players know each other beforehand, not necessarily everybody knows everyone, but in a party of 6, each character knows 2 others, then you can bind the party together and forge new friendships.
The strangers meeting at a festival has a lot of story potential and opportunities to bind characters together through 1-3 minor encounters.

Cyngi Inactive forever!

Aug 30, 2019 6:33 am

Re: Talks on a Campaign beginning

runekyndig says:

CancerMan says:

I figure if we're gathered to investigate or stop the plague in the north, we would have answered a call and possibly register our interest with some authority in Drathis. Perhaps a city hall or consulate?

I like that. We gathered at the city hall/consulate and we were briefed together. From there we did our preparations and began our journey together. We have a common goal/mission and that answers the control-question, why am I traveling with these guys.

I think that "strangers meeting at a bar" is sloppy storytelling and does not strengthen the party cohesion. If the players know each other beforehand, not necessarily everybody knows everyone, but in a party of 6, each character knows 2 others, then you can bind the party together and forge new friendships.
The strangers meeting at a festival has a lot of story potential and opportunities to bind characters together through 1-3 minor encounters.

I like both tremendously. I think I have some ideas on how we'll get this started... We may want to start in lieu of the people still making characters, and I can introduce as they're completed.

runekyndig

Aug 30, 2019 8:07 am

Re: Talks on a Campaign beginning

do you have a world map? it helps me to get a visual representation of the world my character calls home