el-remmen
Moderator Emeritus
The perfect campaign is one that mirrors the pacing, story arcs and heroic elements of a classic super hero comic book.
Think about it: A group of heroes fights evil often and repeatedly while taking part in a seemingly never-ending plot that leads the characters to revelations about themselves and others, and getting enroiled in the finer points of group dynamics.
A gamemaster, by mimicing the story-arcing of a comic with 2 to 3 adventure arcs, perfectly interposed with one-shot stories.
Comics are a better way than any movie or novel (save perhaps a long series of novels) to learn how to introduce a villian or rival, and weave him in and out of the plot to draw the story along.
And of course, the dark heroic allusions of most modern comics also has a part to play. . . D&D Adventurers are in many ways the "superheroes" of the worlds full of super heroes and super villians.
I was recently re-reading some old comics because I was looking thru them to sell some on eBay - and I was particularly struck by how Fantastic Four plot elements had influenced my DMing over the years - and how my ideas of PC/NPC interactiosn and what they should be like came from ensemble comics like Spider-man, with all the side characters of the Daily Bugle or High School or his apartment building and even Aunt May.
Of course, some more non-traditional "broody" comics like Gaiman's Sandman have lots of inspirational juice and Grant Morrison's "Invisibles" is a great view on the conflict between law and chaos.
Hey, Sagiro's Story Hour is a perfect example of this (whether he knows it or not). I was trying to figure out what about this story hour was so great t ome and then I realized - the heroes in his group remind me of the Avengers! They have a headquarters, a butler, a patron, they fly around the world saving people - they have characters that remind me Scartlett Witch and the Beast. It is great stuff!
Anyway, just a reminder to those looking for a place to help brush up their DMing skills: Look at comic books. . .
Think about it: A group of heroes fights evil often and repeatedly while taking part in a seemingly never-ending plot that leads the characters to revelations about themselves and others, and getting enroiled in the finer points of group dynamics.
A gamemaster, by mimicing the story-arcing of a comic with 2 to 3 adventure arcs, perfectly interposed with one-shot stories.
Comics are a better way than any movie or novel (save perhaps a long series of novels) to learn how to introduce a villian or rival, and weave him in and out of the plot to draw the story along.
And of course, the dark heroic allusions of most modern comics also has a part to play. . . D&D Adventurers are in many ways the "superheroes" of the worlds full of super heroes and super villians.
I was recently re-reading some old comics because I was looking thru them to sell some on eBay - and I was particularly struck by how Fantastic Four plot elements had influenced my DMing over the years - and how my ideas of PC/NPC interactiosn and what they should be like came from ensemble comics like Spider-man, with all the side characters of the Daily Bugle or High School or his apartment building and even Aunt May.
Of course, some more non-traditional "broody" comics like Gaiman's Sandman have lots of inspirational juice and Grant Morrison's "Invisibles" is a great view on the conflict between law and chaos.
Hey, Sagiro's Story Hour is a perfect example of this (whether he knows it or not). I was trying to figure out what about this story hour was so great t ome and then I realized - the heroes in his group remind me of the Avengers! They have a headquarters, a butler, a patron, they fly around the world saving people - they have characters that remind me Scartlett Witch and the Beast. It is great stuff!
Anyway, just a reminder to those looking for a place to help brush up their DMing skills: Look at comic books. . .