[4e] Dark Water Campaign (in The Last Lands) [MY PLAYERS SKIP]

[weem]

Before I begin, let me get something out of the way really quick...

BRAD/SPENCER/AARON/DUSTIN
PLEASE DON'T READ THIS THREAD

...ahem ...okay.

What is this thread?

This thread will be used to share my campaign development process as it happens. I will state goals, share my thoughts and think out loud about where my campaign may head, how and why, for better or worse.

Why?

Primarily for fun - but also to have something to look back at as the campaign progresses. I have a blog/site for the campaign but it all consists of 'for the players' style information. This is the behind the scenes view and something to give myself (and later, the players) an idea of what I was going for, where it went right and where it went wrong and hopefully can help me make future campaigns better.

Dark Water? Last Lands?

Dark Water is simply the name of the campaign I am currently running that takes place in the Last Lands, a setting I am developing from the 'bottom, up' as we progress in the campaign. Of course there was initial work put into the setting, but once it got to a point where we could get started, we jumped on in. At the time of this post, we have only played 2 games of the Dark Water campaign, so we are just getting started!

What else?

If you like something, hate something or have a question, please feel free to post it here!


*UPDATE*

Here are some links that are related to the campaign...

-- Dark Water Campaign Session Summaries

-- Dark Water Campaign NPC's

 

[weem]

The Goal

There are two major goals for this campaign, both equally important to me...

1. Get the Last Lands developed.

This campaign (Dark Water) is coming off the heels of my recently completed (4e) campaign that took place in Mystara, the place I have been running games in since... around '89 or so.

Over the last number of years I have really wanted to develop my own setting for use in games and short stories. The thing is, I never got around to writing much down. I had many ideas during that time, and even wrote here and there but nothing solid and things were always changing.

After 4e's release, I dove back into the discussions regarding setting creation and came to the conclusion that my top-down attempt at development was hold me back - the task was too daunting. So, instead, I was going to lay some basic groundwork, get a game started in this new world and build as needed. It would allow me to be much more creative and work on the fly which I like, and it would also FORCE me to do it as development of the various areas would be required in order to continue to play the game.

This was, by far, the biggest and most important step for me - it was the game changer. Two games into the campaign now I have seen the light and realize now this is how I should have approached the process long ago. It's not for everyone as I have seen, but it is definitely for me.

2. Demonstrate that the characters are special/unique

After the first campaign, I really wanted to run a game where the PC's had some unique abilities - beyond/outside the scope of anything that could be found in the books and something that could be explored outside of combat.

What I told the players was "I want you to not only play the race/class you want, but I want you to think of why, and think about what would be cool to be able to do as that character. Think outside of the rules, think of an aspect or two of your character that would make him specifically special and unique from others of his class - something you would enjoy exploring/using/manifesting regardless if it fits within the rules".

To that end, this second goal was to make the players feel like their characters were special - these were characters that were a step above any other character they had played before - a character that had something about them that of itself would be fun to explore and experience.

This specific goal, and how I approached it is something I will cover in my next post...

 

[weem]

Unique Characters

The Psion

The person playing the Psion explained that he saw his character as someone exploring his powers for the first time. Someone who could manifest his abilities in ways outside of combat. He described a wandering gambler trying to hone his mental powers trying to pick up the thoughts of others, and to try and "push" his thoughts into other's minds.

Of course, he has a power that allows him to basically do this, but he talked of it going a step further - allowing him to persuade people in a way, to get them to think something of his choosing etc. Of course he understood that this kind of thing would be spotty and that for a while it could be as much of a problem for him as it could be a benefit.

He liked the idea, and I was already full of ideas for the role.

Examples in play...

- In the first game, while watching someone in the forest, I let him know he was getting a sense for the thoughts of the person. He asked what he was picking up and learned that the person seemed anxious and was wondering when everyone would arrive.

- In the second game, someone in a tavern was giving him and the PC's some grief and he said out loud something I don't recall specifically, but it was something along the lines of "yea, big help", and in a very sarcastic way. So I asked him, "did you say that out loud?" and he said, "no"... so I replied, "well that was odd... you didn't say it out loud, but he seemed to hear 'something' that irritated him, and he looked around right as you thought that". So, the player understood his emotional reaction, while internal, had 'leaked' into the NPC's mind - he even said "oops, I need to watch that".


The Ranger

The player playing the Ranger had a harder time thinking of something he could latch onto as unique about his character. What we ended up doing was two fold.

The first was to latch on to the obvious "I am a master of all things nature". Elves in the Last Lands are a native race to the world and have been around along time - their connection to the Last Lands is stronger than any other (pretty typical elf stuff). As such, what I did was told him he can get an emotional-like read on the circumstances of an outdoor area. The clearing ahead seems to indicate a calm presence, or the cave entrance ahead is imparting upon you a sense of dread.

The second was that he was provided with a magical map of the area that gives him various bonuses to nature for specific checks, as well as perception.

Examples in play...

I haven't had much of a chance to explore his special features yet, though I have ideas. In the first game he did get a read on an area before entering it which was a fun sequence as I described him reading the winds, and sounds coming from the area.



The Artificer

This player had a TON of ideas for his character.

First of all, he was going to play a younger character (mid teens). We call him the child genius. His ingenuity and understanding of the way things work was something he wanted to explore and so we talked about how he has always been able to figure out even very complex things without much effort.

The next major unique aspect was his desire to be a Deva - a class that does not work in the Last Lands at this point. So what I did was allow him to be a Deva by all mechanical means, but skinned as a Human child. Also, instead of having experienced many lifetimes before, he is beginning to have recollections of a (one) previous life. These glimpses are fueling a desire to explore and invent and will lead to further developments as we go.

Examples in play...

- Wanting to throw the players off, I woke them in the middle of a ship ride - the boat seemed to have struck something and of course they were prepared to fight. As it was, the boat had simply had a rudder/steering issue. The player jumped in attempting to point out to the sailors what they were doing wrong. After a brief skill challenge, he was able to show them a better way to repair the ship than they had intended and it was a fun scene.


The Fighter

This player I thought would be difficult initially to come up with some unique/special aspect for. He was a fighter, so unlike a Psion or Artificer, there were not very obvious things that stuck out that could be explored much outside of combat. At least nothing that jumped out at first.

But, the player had mentioned that his character was really into poetry - reading it, memorizing his favorites, etc. He said his character would be interested in libraries wherever he went - poetry was a big thing to him. So, what I did was tell him that for the last few weeks there have been a number of occurrences of 'coincidence' where lines, or phrases from poetry were cropping up unintentionally in conversations, on signs, and more.

Examples in play...

To play this out, what I did was to write down an initial 3 lines/phrases. I told the player that these lines had really stuck out lately a few had even popped up recently. The lines I gave him were as follows...

1. "The ever watching eyes of those below"

2. "Wide is the river of four shores"

3. "Seven was the way, three was the means and one was left to assume all was well"

So, in the second game, the players were approached by a beggar offering to help guide them in town for a price. They asked about lodging and he mentioned the four best places... They were "The Den", "The Harbor Walk Inn", "The Spit Can Tavern" and, "The Wide River Inn" the latter of which would draw his attention based on the 2nd phrase above. Whether they went there or not may not have mattered, but there was something about that place... was it coincidence, or not? This could allow me to emphasize something as important, or not and throw him off.


In my next post, I will get into my ideas for the meat of the campaign and how these unique character aspects tie together...

 

[weem]

Making them special

As stated above, one of the primary goals for my new Dark Water campaign was to give the players a sense that their characters were truly unique – not just from a “we are playing heroes” standpoint, but from a “wow, this character is different than any of the others I have played” – I wanted them to discover that they were special individuals in this world. To do this, I decided they would each have unique powers/abilities/senses that fell outside what the rules covered that would develop as the game went on.

In a journal I carried around to take campaign notes in, I wrote a quick sentence or two that would sum up the vision I had for each character and the purpose of their abilities to help me quickly recall how they were not only unique from other people in the world, but especially how their abilities were different from each other, but together would work really well.

You could think of these as themes I envisioned for them...

The Psion: Keyword “The Present” – His ability to access thoughts, emotions, and project thoughts make him the expert on what was happening now. His powers would help keep the players in tune with their current social environment.

The Ranger: Keyword “The Past” – His knowledge and empathy for the land and historical aspects of the world make him an expert in what has come before. His powers would draw on that knowledge and could help them understand things that had occurred in the past.

The Fighter: Keyword “The Future” – His mind is grasping onto the repeating patterns of reality. The words of ancient poems, songs a were finding their way into every day situations in a variety of ways helping him key in on things that may be important to him and the group, even if he is not always sure why yet.

*UPDATE NOV 5th*

The player playing the Fighter will no longer be playing, and so the player playing the Psion has switched to a Warden...

The Warden: Keyword “The Future” – His connection to the spirit of the lands has become quite potent and is manifesting various omens (things seen in the real world that he reads meanings to) and visions (some occur at random times, but mostly he sees these visions while in a deep trance). A traveler by nature, he has lately been following the visions - letting them guide his travels.​

The Artificer: Keyword “The Truth” – His ability to comprehend things of a complex nature is beyond that of almost anyone else in the Last Lands and could lead to great discoveries. His connection to a previous life is one of the primary keys to the players eventually discovering how they are all related to each other (not in a ‘by blood’/family sense).




This connection they have is one shared with others as well and gets to the heart of the campaign plot which I will cover in my next post…

 

[weem]

The General Plot

The primary goals of the campaign (as mentioned above) were to 1) [for Me] get the Last Lands fleshed out and 2) [for Players] to feel as though their characters were special – there was something about them that was unique from others and each other.

In the post above this one, you can see how I themed each player and gave them a focus based on ideas of what they thought would be fun. Their special abilities/uniqueness was to be the focus of the campaign, though there would also be smaller arcs as well and various side stories that may or may not be related.

The difficulty of course is trying not to plan so much that the game would not be flexible. So what I did was develop a story about their pasts and what some important people in the world might get involved. Here are the actual plots as well as some themes and things I wanted to focus on that I was certain would make up a few of the major cornerstones of the campaign…


New Life, Forgotten Pasts, Unique Powers

The primary idea of the campaign is that the players (as well as some 90-100 others) were born with special abilities, some more potent than others, that developed over time. In some cases, the powers are so benign that they go almost un-noticed. In other cases, it is more obvious. In the cases of 10 or so of these people, they are actually the reincarnated spirits of long dead beings – though they are completely unaware of that possibility – though, in the case of the Artificer, he does know he had a previous life – but he knows almost nothing about it.

These people (all of them) have gone almost completely unnoticed primarily because there are so few that those who know there is something special about them don’t know anyone else like them and in many cases think nothing of the ability or attribute it to magic, which is not too uncommon.

But now, there are forces stirring – some dark, some not, and some in-between. A list of the names of these 90+ people has been generated somehow (a copy of which has now made it into the hands of the PC’s, who are on it, though they have no idea what the list is or what it means). This list now ties them together – they now know they share some connection to each other, as well as these others.

Forces at work

As mentioned, there are various forces at work and they all have their own agenda with regards to these listed people – some want to protect them, others want to use them, others simply want them dead. The list of 90+ was generated by someone, but it is not yet clear by whom (except to the creators of the list) – but all of these various forces for the most part have a copy, or a partial copy of the list and the race has begun to find these people.

Other story arcs

There will be a number of other story arcs the characters may become involved with, and in fact may attract their undivided attention, but the primary plot is always there, always happening even if in the background - it's always bound to catch up with them at various points if they are not actively involved.


So that's the general plot idea. I do not know how it will all turn out in the end - who knows - but the catalyst is there and I think it works well as a trigger. What happens now depends on many factors, none of which require me to guide them along a certain path by any means. I have not decided where the powers came from, or why these people received them or how - but I don't need to know those right now as the players don't need to know. As I am building the setting (Last Lands) from the ground up, the campaign will evolve naturally around them as well based on their actions.


Next up, I'll go into the themes I want to touch on over the course of the campaign...

 

[weem]

Themes

These are themes I wanted the campaign to connect to. They are important aspects of the game and should influence at least some small factor of each game played.

Shades of Gray

One of the major themes of the campaign is that there really is no simple ‘good’ and ‘bad’. This theme carries beyond alignment-like respects as well. There are beings who some would call gods for example, but they are mortal. They have powers that some would associate to gods, but then are restricted in other ways that gods would not be.

I wanted this to play out in every day situations as well. For example, not in every combat encounter will enemies simply fight to the death. Some plead for their lives – others offer money to be released. Some try to get you to let your guard down, and some outright kill themselves before being taken alive. Most situations have the possibility of being approached from a non-combative angle – though some require the shedding of blood to continue.

Things are not always cut and dry, black and white.

Drawn to the Mystery

I wanted each game to end on such a note that the players are exited to see what happens next. That, for the answers they received in a game, they would be presented with another question, or something compelling that they wanted to learn more about – but to do so without railroading. It needs to be a compelling mystery that is slowly unraveled each game and presents new angles, players and dangers. The events of the game have them realizing as we go that this seemingly small mystery is a part of something really big.


Next up, I'll talk about the things I want to focus on during each game. The major plot encompasses the entire campaign, and the themes should be touched on through many of the games, but the focuses below are things I will be keeping in my mind always, game to game...

 

[weem]

At the table focuses

These are the two things I think about heavily before each game starts…

Immersion in the Last Lands

As a DM, I tend to think my ability to improv and describe actions/areas is pretty good, but for this campaign I was going to really put in my best effort to really give a feel for the world and make the various NPC’s and others they met feel like real, individual people.

Demonstrate the uniqueness

Every game, I want to keep each players special abilities at the front of my mind – make sure that they could see and experience their special abilities every game. These are evolving powers, and getting to know more about them and getting more out of them as the game progresses is all a part of the adventure… where exactly are my powers leading me and why do I have them.


Next time, I will post a quick synopsis of the 3 games we have now played (the 3rd happening last night) which will demonstrate how I have attempted to exercise the information above into the game...

 

[Infiniti2000]

90 is a very small number. How about 4400?

Also, I'd urge to be careful about your primary goal. It doesn't seem to coincide with the players' primary goal, which is to have fun. That should be your tertiary goal, with your primary goal to create a fun game.

One other comment is to decide if you want to single out those special NPCs with these hidden powers. Be careful because most likely you'll have the tendency to describe those NPCs in much more detail than other, normal NPCs. This will have the surely intended consequence of tipping off the players.

One thing you need to decide now, however, regarding those powers, is to what extent they affect races. Do they just affect PC races or also monsters (particularly those not suited to players)? Living only? How about living constructs? Even if you don't think you need the full definition of it yet, you probably want to clarify in a broad sense the boundary conditions. You know, maybe one continent, only certain races, perhaps (e.g.) no naturally poison-resistant creatures, etc.

 

[weem]

90 is a very small number. How about 4400?

Hehe, I get the reference but never saw the show

Also, I'd urge to be careful about your primary goal. It doesn't seem to coincide with the players' primary goal, which is to have fun. That should be your tertiary goal, with your primary goal to create a fun game.

Yea, I always tell my players (and others) that my #1 job as a DM is to make sure the players have fun - so that is a given, and hence not listed here. It's one of the reasons I have done the special/unique thing - I talked with each player a LOT about their character before we even started - got them really into them, imagining what they were all about and what would be really fun for them to do as a character, etc. A lot of effort was put in up front to make sure the players were building something that they were going to really look forward to.

We have had 3 game sessions now, and this is the most excited I have been (and the most fun I have had as a DM) and the players are pumped and really into it so that's good!

One other comment is to decide if you want to single out those special NPCs with these hidden powers. Be careful because most likely you'll have the tendency to describe those NPCs in much more detail than other, normal NPCs. This will have the surely intended consequence of tipping off the players.

Yea, NPC's are big in this game. I am putting up a lot of them - the players are meeting people regularly, etc. I knew this game was going to have a large cast so one of the issues I faced was how to help the PC's remember who is who. So, what I did was create a PSD (photoshop) file that has pictures of the NPC's with their names below each on their own layer so I can quickly turn them on and off (displaying them). The game table faces my desk and I have 2 big monitors, so anyone they talk to has an image and a name up. After they get to know them, I start adding descriptors below their names (adjectives, etc).

The point is, I give a lot of detail to each PC, even some who aren't as important. I don't bore the players with it, but this campaign is less about combat and more about the RP side (I picked these players for this campaign specifically because they like RP-focused games), so there is room for that here. It is a good point you make though, and I will indeed need to keep that in mind.

One thing you need to decide now, however, regarding those powers, is to what extent they affect races. Do they just affect PC races or also monsters (particularly those not suited to players)? Living only? How about living constructs? Even if you don't think you need the full definition of it yet, you probably want to clarify in a broad sense the boundary conditions. You know, maybe one continent, only certain races, perhaps (e.g.) no naturally poison-resistant creatures, etc.

That's a good point. In my mind, I have imagined that any of the playable races were eligible, but I'm already thinking that there would be some good possibilities beyond that.. Perhaps any of the 'common' races (a list I have), both playable and not. I'll think more about that and probably have a good while before I need an answer - but I will know by then.

---

Thanks so much for stopping in and reading through what I have so far, I really appreciate it. It's nice to have it looked at from another point of view.

+XP!

 

[Infiniti2000]

I'd try to determine one of those boundary cases right now. That seems like an important clue for the players to find early, and they'll eat it up, but really it's not important from the overall case until such a time as you determine the meaning of it all. Some ideas: "alien abduction" (e.g. 4400), mutants (e.g. X-Men), terrestial science experiments (counter to 4400), magical phenomena local to an area (e.g. localized Shadowfell rift, etc.), 1 parent (e.g. Zeus), etc.