any fun at all?

[Malk]

The heroes:
True neutral Fey'ri fighter, holy warrior of Kamin the god of justice
Lawful Good half hound archon fighter (the fey'ri's aunt)
Chaotic neutral fire ganasi psion who was raised by the two above
Chaotic good Drow bard, wants to be a bladesinger


So the story behind the campaign is that one of these guys is going to be picked as the child of prophecy. He or she will be the tool of justice and briging balance back to the land. Meanwhile there is another child of prophecy, a great wyrm black dragon who is the seed of injustice, and at her disposal are her four half-dragon sons. Now the players did not know who the child of prophecy was, and i gave them each a notecard in secrete that i told them not to share with anyone. It said "youve always felt like you were destined for greater things, like somehow you should be more important than you are, and it has always made you feel different and seperated" The reason that they each got the same message is that through the course of fate they were all close to being the child of prophecy, but in the end it was the Fey'ri fighter.

I was going to seperate the campaign into "acts" that centered on each of the charectars, in a way they were each going to bring balance back to their part of the world. The elves in this world had moved into neutrality, and stayed in their forest kingdom in the center of a vast desert, unkown to all but the elves, their king was now a Green Dragon who ruled them, and protected them from the darkness of the world. The half hound archon/elf was going to be the one to liberate the elves and bring them back to light. The Drow was going to be a blade singer and believed that music was a powerfull thing, he learned music of the celestial quoirs from the half celestial in the party, and during the clensing of the elves act would have found ancient elven music that would tie the drow and the elves together, using this music he would start the drow, a small portion of them, on the road to redemption. The fire Ganasi was extremely ineligent in a world that had degraded itself into barbarism, it was she who would bring enlightenment to the world of humans, diposing the blood thirsty warlord who ruled them, and setting up the Cult of Dreamers as the new ruling body. And finaly the Fey'ri would lead them on their final quest to confront the seed of injustice and there would have been a nice dragon fight at the end.
But alas the campaign never got played, i didnt post all the details, but does it look like it would have been fun?

Malk, I got rid of the black text; the post wasn't readable like that! ~ Piratecat, Admin

 

[Piratecat]

I like how you gave each erson a card egging them on.

I'd be worried that this campaign wouldn't live up to your expectations, though. Players have a nasty way of derailing plans - and deciding before play begins which person is going to do what sounds like an idea fraught with danger. One person gets killed during the second game, and it's *poof* campaign.

 

[Malk]

yeah this was going to be something of a cooporative experiment between the players and i, as long as they werent being blatantly stupid their chances of survival at low levels were very good, after all they were all touched by prophecy, however at higher levels when confronting the other side...well part of the world would have been left in darkness should they die.
I felt like this campain would require more attention than i could give it at the time however as i was in the middle of running another two year game

 

[MerakSpielman]

Personally, I never find it fun to play a part in somebody elses Cool Story. It's like the plot has already been written and only the minor things (exactly what order I do things in this combat) are really under my control.

I want my character's choices to sculpt the world around him. I want his free will to determine his destiny, not some pre-rendered prophetic plot.

Take this how you will, but I've always been irked by prophecy.

 

[Piratecat]

Take this how you will, but I've always been irked by prophecy.

I'd argue that there's a differene between prophecy that tells you what will happen if you DON'T act, and prophecy which tells you what will happen to you. I like the former, but detest the latter.

 

[baradtgnome]

I'd argue that there's a differene between prophecy that tells you what will happen if you DON'T act, and prophecy which tells you what will happen to you. I like the former, but detest the latter.

I ran a home grown 'prophecy' adventure series years ago. I think it fit more into the 'if you don't act' category. the party needed to acquire certain items in order, to defeat a demon. The party got 5 of the 6 items (missed on the last one) so they had to figure out how to stop the demon 1 item short. They were actually way underpowered to slay this demon, but these devices used in a certain order gave them a huge boost. But they could do anything they wanted, and come up with clever ideas I had not considered. (and did). They survived, slew the demon and had a wonderful, memorable adventure. And I was willing to have the demon create the carnage and chaos to the world if they failed.

however... it was a huge amount of work on my part to devise this thing, and really required the active participation of all members. missing players would have been a real problem. I have not done another one since.

like all other times when you want to lead them by the nose without it feeling like you are leading them by the nose - it takes careful handling. My favorite tactic is to put the information or item needed for nose-leading out of their reach, in such a way that it urks them to no end so they surprise you and get it. After that, it is their idea.
YMMV good luck

 

[Orryn Emrys]

I tend to build all of my campaigns with seeds of prophecy and "pre-destined" events and accomplishments, but I always build them in such a manner that I can apply them as needed. Frequently, I leave enough room for interpretation in a prophecy, for example, that it could easily turn out to mean something other than what the players conclude when they encounter it. This tactic is made even simpler, in fact, by the ability to flesh out the details of a prophecy, even changing its meaning entirely, by adding elements to the grand scheme that the PCs were unaware of when they first encountered said foretelling.

Furthermore, if I want an epic tale that includes mighty acts of heroism, I will build the story in such a manner as to allow the PCs to give me direction... thus making "heroes of prophecy" out of PCs who elect their own course.... Oftentimes, getting to know a Player Character, his/her habits, desires, long-term goals and motivations, and just what kind of person they are, gives me a great deal of ammunition for laying the groundwork for epic heroism. Sometimes, a hero who has no real interest in being a hero can make a truly momentous champion, given the proper motivation to drive his/her personal ambitions or needs toward heroic ends.

The "principal" character in my last great campaign enjoyed four long years of gameplay, which began as a hunt for her sister's kidnappers, and ended in a mighty battle to save the world and the reluctant acceptance of a throne to help preserve the peace she had fought so hard to earn. Her companions, some of whom were very self-interested individuals, became renowned saviors throughout the realm, having fulfilled numerous ancient prophecies and soundly defeated several mighty foes in an effort to seek personal glory, riches, or recognition and honor for their deities.

 

[Malk]

Right, i sat down with each indidvidual player and discussed what his/her desirers were, where they wanted to take the char. and so it was really a collaboritave (sp) effort, so yes it was going to be a grand story...but our story as opposed to my story. Really we tend to play story driven campaigns, weve tried the random adventure type, but they always seem to die off. Granted, this particular campaign was to be more story-like than any previous, that was part of the challenge, but i found it to be to much work along side of planning my long running game.

 

[Nemry]

We say that instead of choosing one person to be the "chosen" let it be determined at a later date as it is convenient to the story.

There is no reason to paint yourself into a corner. . . or better yet, surprise, surprise! None of them is the prophesied one! Someone else is! Or, the prophecy is a false one!

What now? (and this would be much further down the line) Do they abandon their quests? Do they feel disappointed? Do they find that there is a whole group of people who fit the prophecy and now they have to gather these people together for some greater good?

The more options the better.

 

[Malk]

We say that instead of choosing one person to be the "chosen" let it be determined at a later date as it is convenient to the story.

There is no reason to paint yourself into a corner. . . or better yet, surprise, surprise! None of them is the prophesied one! Someone else is! Or, the prophecy is a false one!

What now? (and this would be much further down the line) Do they abandon their quests? Do they feel disappointed? Do they find that there is a whole group of people who fit the prophecy and now they have to gather these people together for some greater good?

The more options the better.

hehe thats actualy pretty cool, if like this npc that they barely know turns out to be the seed of prophecy, then if they are committed they would have to protect him...it has deffinate fun possibilities, of course it could just piss off the players hehe.