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Interest Check: Story-Driven Eberron Campaign
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<blockquote data-quote="airwalkrr" data-source="post: 5963704" data-attributes="member: 12460"><p>I have been building up the idea for an Eberron campaign for over two years now and the idea will not leave me alone. But given the nature of the campaign I would like to run, I think it would be best to run it as a play-by-post game as opposed to a tabletop game. So I will outline what I am thinking about below and I would like to know if anyone would be interested in this type of game.</p><p></p><p>I want to run a story-driven campaign which focuses on the political intrigue between the many factions within Eberron. This would not be a very classic type of D&D game in the sense that it would not involve a lot of dungeon-crashing. (This is not to say there would be no dungeons, merely that killing monsters and looting dungeons would not be the focus of the game.) Rather, it would highlight the strife that exists in Eberron in the wake of the end of the Last War. Many factions are vying for power and a place in the new world order after a hundred years of war, and the PCs would be caught up in the middle of it, forced to choose sides between the lesser of two evils or putting together the pieces of broken organizations in exchange for material and favor-based rewards. For example, the Church of the Silver Flame could ask the PCs to assist them in cleansing an ancient mausoleum of the taint of evil that was left to fester while the Last War took place. In exchange, they might offer the PCs their choice of a weapon or implement made of flametouched iron or spellcasting services.</p><p></p><p>The setting would be the City of Sharn, where many adventurers are made. The rules would be based on 3.5 (as Eberron was built specifically as a 3.5 setting), but simplified somewhat. Owing to the exceptional roleplaying that is possible in play-by-post, combat would be streamlined somewhat so that tactical maps were not necessary and combat could move along more quickly. I would probably do a simultaneous initiative system where players all declare their intended actions, then I roll initiative (behind the screen) to see in what order those actions get resolved. This would allow for players to post their actions for a combat round in their own time rather than waiting for their turn, which should speed things up, but might make combat more unpredictable.</p><p></p><p>I would also use simplified character creation options. I want to use a simpler skill system such as <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/alternativeSkillSystems.htm#maximumRanksLimitedChoices" target="_blank">Maximum Ranks, Limited Choices</a> or <a href="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/alternativeSkillSystems.htm#levelBasedSkills" target="_blank">Level-Based Skills</a>. I may also limit feats to those available in the three core rule books plus the Eberron Campaign Setting. I may choose to limit feats in a different way, but this is a good benchmark for now. I may also choose to use a standard ability score array rather than have players roll ability scores or use a point buy. The intent here is to reduce the amount of time dedicated to character building because the emphasis is on story. Furthermore, I believe this would make it easier to bring new players into the game as character creation would not take a great deal of time.</p><p></p><p>Character advancement may also be slowed. Eberron is a world with few characters above 10th-level in experience. And with the emphasis on story and fewer opportunities for character advancement by simple monster slaying, the experience points earned would be less than seen in a typical D&D campaign.</p><p></p><p>Experience with or knowledge of the Eberron setting would not be necessary. I plan to introduce elements of the setting slowly to the characters, as all characters will begin young and fairly naive in the first place. They would learn about the setting as they go. All you would really need to know are the <a href="http://wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20090518" target="_blank">Ten Important Facts</a>.</p><p></p><p>Finally, the adventures themselves would generally be short, and each would be part of a sub-plot within the game. For example, I may run three short adventures involving a patron of House Cannith who wants the PCs to recover important items that were lost during the Last War. Each of these adventures would be self-contained and teach the PCs a little bit about House Cannith. They may be run in a single contiguous story-arc or spread out between different story arcs. The shortness of the adventures would generally accelerate the feeling of accomplishment that is often delayed in PBP to help keep players interested. Many of these adventures would feature only one key encounter.</p><p></p><p>And before anyone mentions it, I know about Living Eberron and am not interested in it for my own reasons.</p><p></p><p>So these are some of the ideas I am thinking about. Would there be any interest in a game like this?</p><p></p><p>Edit: For those reading this for the first time, I have added some <a href="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5973300-post14.html" target="_blank">proposed house rules for skills</a>.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="airwalkrr, post: 5963704, member: 12460"] I have been building up the idea for an Eberron campaign for over two years now and the idea will not leave me alone. But given the nature of the campaign I would like to run, I think it would be best to run it as a play-by-post game as opposed to a tabletop game. So I will outline what I am thinking about below and I would like to know if anyone would be interested in this type of game. I want to run a story-driven campaign which focuses on the political intrigue between the many factions within Eberron. This would not be a very classic type of D&D game in the sense that it would not involve a lot of dungeon-crashing. (This is not to say there would be no dungeons, merely that killing monsters and looting dungeons would not be the focus of the game.) Rather, it would highlight the strife that exists in Eberron in the wake of the end of the Last War. Many factions are vying for power and a place in the new world order after a hundred years of war, and the PCs would be caught up in the middle of it, forced to choose sides between the lesser of two evils or putting together the pieces of broken organizations in exchange for material and favor-based rewards. For example, the Church of the Silver Flame could ask the PCs to assist them in cleansing an ancient mausoleum of the taint of evil that was left to fester while the Last War took place. In exchange, they might offer the PCs their choice of a weapon or implement made of flametouched iron or spellcasting services. The setting would be the City of Sharn, where many adventurers are made. The rules would be based on 3.5 (as Eberron was built specifically as a 3.5 setting), but simplified somewhat. Owing to the exceptional roleplaying that is possible in play-by-post, combat would be streamlined somewhat so that tactical maps were not necessary and combat could move along more quickly. I would probably do a simultaneous initiative system where players all declare their intended actions, then I roll initiative (behind the screen) to see in what order those actions get resolved. This would allow for players to post their actions for a combat round in their own time rather than waiting for their turn, which should speed things up, but might make combat more unpredictable. I would also use simplified character creation options. I want to use a simpler skill system such as [URL="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/alternativeSkillSystems.htm#maximumRanksLimitedChoices"]Maximum Ranks, Limited Choices[/URL] or [URL="http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/alternativeSkillSystems.htm#levelBasedSkills"]Level-Based Skills[/URL]. I may also limit feats to those available in the three core rule books plus the Eberron Campaign Setting. I may choose to limit feats in a different way, but this is a good benchmark for now. I may also choose to use a standard ability score array rather than have players roll ability scores or use a point buy. The intent here is to reduce the amount of time dedicated to character building because the emphasis is on story. Furthermore, I believe this would make it easier to bring new players into the game as character creation would not take a great deal of time. Character advancement may also be slowed. Eberron is a world with few characters above 10th-level in experience. And with the emphasis on story and fewer opportunities for character advancement by simple monster slaying, the experience points earned would be less than seen in a typical D&D campaign. Experience with or knowledge of the Eberron setting would not be necessary. I plan to introduce elements of the setting slowly to the characters, as all characters will begin young and fairly naive in the first place. They would learn about the setting as they go. All you would really need to know are the [URL="http://wizards.com/DnD/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ex/20090518"]Ten Important Facts[/URL]. Finally, the adventures themselves would generally be short, and each would be part of a sub-plot within the game. For example, I may run three short adventures involving a patron of House Cannith who wants the PCs to recover important items that were lost during the Last War. Each of these adventures would be self-contained and teach the PCs a little bit about House Cannith. They may be run in a single contiguous story-arc or spread out between different story arcs. The shortness of the adventures would generally accelerate the feeling of accomplishment that is often delayed in PBP to help keep players interested. Many of these adventures would feature only one key encounter. And before anyone mentions it, I know about Living Eberron and am not interested in it for my own reasons. So these are some of the ideas I am thinking about. Would there be any interest in a game like this? Edit: For those reading this for the first time, I have added some [URL="http://www.enworld.org/forum/5973300-post14.html"]proposed house rules for skills[/URL]. [/QUOTE]
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