A Diary of Campaign Creation
Hi folks,
My current plans for a campaign have stalled a bit, and I figured I'd try some alternative approach in which I write up small diary-like posts with what kind of hoops and hurdles I'm going through in the process of creating a campaign that I'd feel happy with running. At the same time I'd offer some general philosophizing about campaign creation as well as getting my own thoughts straight in a practically approachable way. And hey, maybe there's even some discussion to be had, who knows? Also, I may expect a series of Youtube links to music I find have inspired me with things, or just generally cool/wacky/random stuff.
I don't know how often I'll update this, but hopefully I'll have the motivation to write stuff up. And given that I absolutely love talking RPGs, any discussions had here will very likely inspire me to get my creativity going. So, without further ado, onto the topic.
Phase I - What do I want?
This is, of course, the very first question I need to ask myself before even beginning to make any plans. What do I really want to do with this game? It's a very broad question, and I'll likely be asking myself the same thing in merely different ways a lot along the road here. Fortunately for everyone, I already know what I want to do. Otherwise we wouldn't have much of a thread starter, would we?
While I greatly enjoy campaigns with higher concepts and important themes, I'd like to take a break from that for a while. That's not to say I don't want to explore anything deeper - I still do - but that I want to run something a bit more traditional for a change. Some sort of classic and idealistic "adventure story", with characters who wander around the setting and do... Adventurey things. Maybe fighting a tyrannical higher power. Yeah, I like the sound of that.
Another thing I'd like to get rid of is the overabundance and reliance on grey morality. I want to see something that's quite clearly black and white, with good and evil defined in very unambiguous terms. While shades of grey can certainly be present, the overall conflict is fairly divided between a clear good and evil. However, I do not want some sort of capital-E Evil antagonist. No super Evil demon lord or external threat. No, I want the evil to be from humans, as they make more compelling villains than some faceless evil. But neither do I want some sort of "misunderstood villain" as the main antagonist.
A third thing what I'm looking for is to finally have a proper game of Fate Core. The system choice will affect what comes of the game, as a focus on characters is a big deal in Fate. And like any system, I'll need to create the campaign on its base from the ground up.
To sum up, so far we have three things that I want, each significant in its own right to the planning of the campaign:
So that takes care of Phase I.
Phase II - Themes and general details
Now that I have a solid foundation as a basis for the campaign, I can start thinking things in more detail. We'll let the mechanical details linger on for a bit, though I might mention them a few times. In the brainstorm which often comes with planning a campaign there isn't really a linear progress of ideas. Things come and go, some stashed away for later development and others retroactively change things that have already been decided. But that's okay, if an idea works it works.
I happen to enjoy many ideas from so called "higher literature". I'm an English major in university, so it kinda comes with the territory. Indeed, I kinda write a fair bit about it. In addition to just liking things like themes and big questions in my fiction, I also try to adapt these things to RPGs, with some practical success so far. I find it enhances the game's narrative quite a bit when it's suitably focused and deals with interesting issues and questions.
That said, I'd like to find a theme or two that fits the game I'm trying to run. But first we need to find a general idea of what the game is about in broad strokes. Given that I previously mentioned a tyrannical villain who would be fought in the campaign and a human villain in the context of an idealistic adventure setup, it doesn't take a huge leap to come to the idea of a once (more or less) peaceful kingdom that has been usurped by a powerful tyrant who now oppresses the common folk, and the general idea would be to fight against this tyrant. It's a classic setup, and one I find has a lot of potential for character development on both the players and the tyrant's side.
This leads us to having a setup where the tyrant oppresses the common folk, and the players will be assumed to take the side of the peasants in an uprising against the tyrant. While I could develop the game's themes around the tyrant, and could likely spin him into a fascinating character, Fate is highly player-focused and I'd like to keep it that way. Thus, the themes of the game will revolve around the PCs. Given that they'll take the centerstage, it's easy to assume that they'll eventually be key figures, if not outright leading, the (eventual) rebellion against the tyrant. They'll be shoved into the spotlight, in both a meta sense of story focus, but their characters will be important and looked upon in the game itself. That's a thing I'd like to look at: what kind of effect does being named a hero bring? What kind of responsibilities do they have? How will they react to the spotlight? Will they even want the position? These are all questions I'd like to ask.
To sum up, a big theme in the game is Heroism, and the Big Question is "What does it mean to be a hero?" I think that's a good start in term of themes and a general idea for a game. Of course there are more things to discuss and refine here, but it's a start.
Next time, we'll talk a bit about setting and perhaps how these things already discussed will affect the mechanics. In the mean time, anyone want to share some of your experiences with planning campaigns? How do you go about creating a game? Do you put a lot of effort into the smaller details as I do, or do you just pick up and play, making the rest up as you go in a more fluid method of narrative? How about the ideas I've discussed so far, does the overall idea sound workable? So far I've got the game to the point of having a general setting and creating the foundation for setting-specific mechanics, but not much further than that. The game is still under construction, and if someone wants to chime in, I'll definitely be hearing any ideas.
To kickstart discussion with an actual question that has been pressing me a lot: is there an already published setting you would use for the ideas so far, or would you create your own setting (and why)?
My current plans for a campaign have stalled a bit, and I figured I'd try some alternative approach in which I write up small diary-like posts with what kind of hoops and hurdles I'm going through in the process of creating a campaign that I'd feel happy with running. At the same time I'd offer some general philosophizing about campaign creation as well as getting my own thoughts straight in a practically approachable way. And hey, maybe there's even some discussion to be had, who knows? Also, I may expect a series of Youtube links to music I find have inspired me with things, or just generally cool/wacky/random stuff.
I don't know how often I'll update this, but hopefully I'll have the motivation to write stuff up. And given that I absolutely love talking RPGs, any discussions had here will very likely inspire me to get my creativity going. So, without further ado, onto the topic.
Phase I - What do I want?
This is, of course, the very first question I need to ask myself before even beginning to make any plans. What do I really want to do with this game? It's a very broad question, and I'll likely be asking myself the same thing in merely different ways a lot along the road here. Fortunately for everyone, I already know what I want to do. Otherwise we wouldn't have much of a thread starter, would we?
While I greatly enjoy campaigns with higher concepts and important themes, I'd like to take a break from that for a while. That's not to say I don't want to explore anything deeper - I still do - but that I want to run something a bit more traditional for a change. Some sort of classic and idealistic "adventure story", with characters who wander around the setting and do... Adventurey things. Maybe fighting a tyrannical higher power. Yeah, I like the sound of that.
Another thing I'd like to get rid of is the overabundance and reliance on grey morality. I want to see something that's quite clearly black and white, with good and evil defined in very unambiguous terms. While shades of grey can certainly be present, the overall conflict is fairly divided between a clear good and evil. However, I do not want some sort of capital-E Evil antagonist. No super Evil demon lord or external threat. No, I want the evil to be from humans, as they make more compelling villains than some faceless evil. But neither do I want some sort of "misunderstood villain" as the main antagonist.
A third thing what I'm looking for is to finally have a proper game of Fate Core. The system choice will affect what comes of the game, as a focus on characters is a big deal in Fate. And like any system, I'll need to create the campaign on its base from the ground up.
To sum up, so far we have three things that I want, each significant in its own right to the planning of the campaign:
- an idealistic "classic adventure" setup
- a clear distinction between good and evil
- the Fate Core system
So that takes care of Phase I.
Phase II - Themes and general details
Now that I have a solid foundation as a basis for the campaign, I can start thinking things in more detail. We'll let the mechanical details linger on for a bit, though I might mention them a few times. In the brainstorm which often comes with planning a campaign there isn't really a linear progress of ideas. Things come and go, some stashed away for later development and others retroactively change things that have already been decided. But that's okay, if an idea works it works.
I happen to enjoy many ideas from so called "higher literature". I'm an English major in university, so it kinda comes with the territory. Indeed, I kinda write a fair bit about it. In addition to just liking things like themes and big questions in my fiction, I also try to adapt these things to RPGs, with some practical success so far. I find it enhances the game's narrative quite a bit when it's suitably focused and deals with interesting issues and questions.
That said, I'd like to find a theme or two that fits the game I'm trying to run. But first we need to find a general idea of what the game is about in broad strokes. Given that I previously mentioned a tyrannical villain who would be fought in the campaign and a human villain in the context of an idealistic adventure setup, it doesn't take a huge leap to come to the idea of a once (more or less) peaceful kingdom that has been usurped by a powerful tyrant who now oppresses the common folk, and the general idea would be to fight against this tyrant. It's a classic setup, and one I find has a lot of potential for character development on both the players and the tyrant's side.
This leads us to having a setup where the tyrant oppresses the common folk, and the players will be assumed to take the side of the peasants in an uprising against the tyrant. While I could develop the game's themes around the tyrant, and could likely spin him into a fascinating character, Fate is highly player-focused and I'd like to keep it that way. Thus, the themes of the game will revolve around the PCs. Given that they'll take the centerstage, it's easy to assume that they'll eventually be key figures, if not outright leading, the (eventual) rebellion against the tyrant. They'll be shoved into the spotlight, in both a meta sense of story focus, but their characters will be important and looked upon in the game itself. That's a thing I'd like to look at: what kind of effect does being named a hero bring? What kind of responsibilities do they have? How will they react to the spotlight? Will they even want the position? These are all questions I'd like to ask.
To sum up, a big theme in the game is Heroism, and the Big Question is "What does it mean to be a hero?" I think that's a good start in term of themes and a general idea for a game. Of course there are more things to discuss and refine here, but it's a start.
Next time, we'll talk a bit about setting and perhaps how these things already discussed will affect the mechanics. In the mean time, anyone want to share some of your experiences with planning campaigns? How do you go about creating a game? Do you put a lot of effort into the smaller details as I do, or do you just pick up and play, making the rest up as you go in a more fluid method of narrative? How about the ideas I've discussed so far, does the overall idea sound workable? So far I've got the game to the point of having a general setting and creating the foundation for setting-specific mechanics, but not much further than that. The game is still under construction, and if someone wants to chime in, I'll definitely be hearing any ideas.
To kickstart discussion with an actual question that has been pressing me a lot: is there an already published setting you would use for the ideas so far, or would you create your own setting (and why)?