A Campaign Without a Metaplot?

[Exquisite Dead Guy]

I'm currently involved in 3 different campaigns all of which are running an "adventure path" of adventures linked by a metaplot. As a DM without a lot of free time I love running an AP and as a player it's nice to feel like you're a part of something big.

That said, I got to thinking about how motivated some PCs would really be to stick with an AP from start to finish. For example: last adventure my character wanted to do something that would have precluded his being involved in the campaign due to the time constraints of the rest of the AP. Not wanting to be disruptive to the group (in RL) I decided to forget about it and continue on. However, I'm not so sure my character would have made the same decision.

I also remember when I first started playing back in the 80's we just kind of went around from town to town looking for adventure. The nice thing about this approach is if the PCs just up and decide they want to go to the other side of the continent or the moon or another plane they just up and go with no regrets (and no PO'd DM) and have fun doing that.

When we start 4E I'll probably be the first to DM and I'm going to re-vamp some of the 1st edition classics and run them without any real ties. Sort of a "knight errant" campaign where they roam the countryside righting wrongs and helping the downtrodden.

Thoughts on or experiences with similar campaigns?

 

[GlassJaw]

I've been reading up on these types of campaigns lately actually. This might be of some help to you:

http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/

 

[Piratecat]

I'm doing this right now, running a nine run 4e campaign that boosts the characters 2-3 levels every time we play. It's designed to take us from 1-30, putting the new game through its paces, before we start our regular campaign.

There's a huge freedom in unconnected adventures! It's a lot of fun. I wouldn't want this all the time, but I'm enjoying it for now.

 

[Family]

While I am liking KotS, I say this is the best way to fly. Lots of legroom and you're not railroaded.

 

[JDJblatherings]

...Thoughts on or experiences with similar campaigns?

I genrally run just such campaigns. I broke the trend the past year but am tryign to break out of the plot and back to open sandbox style play.

Build some adventures that are site oriented for low level, mid and high level play. They don't have to be huge but they are there and fixed pieces of the campaign.

Build some dungeons and castles that can go wherever you need them. Don't put them on the map, they aren't there yet. Use them when you need them.

Build some NPCs, wimps, knaves, friends, foes. Not too many but enough that you have fleshed out charcetrs when you need them. Don't worry about where they are, simply worry about what roles they can fill when you need them.

Random encounter tables are your friend. If players can go anywhere you want to have somehting there when they get there.

Maps. Get some city maps and dungeon maps. Don't bother keying them at all. Have them ready when players get somewhere you haven'tdetailed and then either create on the spur of the moment, during a break or maybe the night before. Fill in the details with random encounter charts.

Non random deatils. Make a a list of features you want to deal with in specific areas wether it be a dungeon, a castle, a city, a forest, a country or another plane. Use these details to flesh out otherwise random adventures.

 

[ExploderWizard]

I'm doing this right now, running a nine run 4e campaign that boosts the characters 2-3 levels every time we play. It's designed to take us from 1-30, putting the new game through its paces, before we start our regular campaign.

There's a huge freedom in unconnected adventures! It's a lot of fun. I wouldn't want this all the time, but I'm enjoying it for now.

100% win. This is great idea for playtesting any system. The players can concentrate on short adventures and rules mechanics at various levels. When you run the heavier plot campaign the players will know the rules and be able to devote more brainpower to the story.

 

[Exquisite Dead Guy]

I've been reading up on these types of campaigns lately actually. This might be of some help to you:

http://arsludi.lamemage.com/index.php/78/grand-experiments-west-marches/

Wow, that is full of win! That would make a great FLGS campaign - who ever shows up gets to adventure.

 

[Pbartender]

When we start 4E I'll probably be the first to DM and I'm going to re-vamp some of the 1st edition classics and run them without any real ties. Sort of a "knight errant" campaign where they roam the countryside righting wrongs and helping the downtrodden.

Thoughts on or experiences with similar campaigns?

Yep... I'm planning on running an "Age of Exploration" campaign. The adventures, many of which will be converted from old classic modules, will be very episodic. For the most part, the only thing connecting them will be the participation of the PCs as a group, and perhaps a few recurring NPCs. Weeks, months or even years will pass between one adventure and the next, and different adventures may take place in vastly different and widely separated parts of the world.

Just make sure that even if there isn't an over-arching metaplot that you A) have a clear plot-goal for each adventure, even if it's nothing more than "Find the Ancient Treasure and Get Rich", and B) your players have decent and continuing motivations for their characters to continue adventuring, even if it's nothing more than "Gain Money, Power and Glory."

 

[Mallus]

My current 3.5 campaign, More Tales of CITY, is just finding it's metaplot... at 13th level. Prior to that the best I had was a recurring villain and some plot strands that I could potentially weave together.

I'm not adverse to metaplots, but my experience is that they're hard to do well from the start.

The new homebrew we're working working on for 4e --see my .sig, please-- is being built metaplot-free. It's supposed to be a place where almost any kind of adventure could happen --the setting is a port city on the Astral Sea after the Apocalypse-- but nothing nothing particular need happen. Kind of a mythic sandbox (it's been described as both Clive Barker-esque or 'D&D meets the Maxx').

 

[malkav666]

I tend to develop a good geogrphical region for my campaigns. I let the players do as they please for the most part and kind of hook themselves into adventures based on their character motives.

I then play off of them. If through roleplay the exspress a strong interest in a topic I will drum up adventure hooks and themes that I think they would identify with as character. They can choose to take the hook and go for a ride, or get off halfway, or even just go explore the woods if thats thier fancy (I can drum up something interesting in there on the fly if they are serious, and repaint my encounters for a later adventure and get a freebie on my work for that week).

I do however use metaplots, I just don't force the characters to participate in them. If there is an evil cult int he woods killing people and the PCs would rather search out the sewers, then the cult may grow in power and threaten the town making it a less fun place to be, and perhaps a rival adventuring party comes in and knocks out the cult, giving the group someone to compete with for popularity.

The trick to running a sanbox game as a campaign is for me, is to make all of the characters actions still have signifigance, even if they are roaming and doing as they please. In this fashion you can really set the players in the drivers seat, and if you play your cards right the players will be interested in a lot of the stories you want to tell. If not let them go off as they please and take notes and use thier adventures to further detail your world.

love,

malkav