Campaign idea

[Galethorn]

So, I was rehashing an old idea for a campaign today, and was wondering what suggestions, experiences, and ideas my fellow ENWorlders might have to share...

The basic premise is this: the PCs are the adult members of a noble house, along with some important people (like the family's Master-At-Arms, the lord's advisor, etc.). They have their own little realm (a 'capital' where they live, along with the manors and surrounding lands of a few vassals), and they may or may not have a liege-lord of their own.

That's the starting point, but where to go from there is a bit fuzzy. Now, one idea I've had is for the family to discover that they're the true heirs of some long-gone high-king, and the general goal would be to retake their ancestoral kingdom. Another would be that there is some common enemy and the PCs have to try and unite the petty kingdoms and fight it back. Yet another would be a war of succession breaking out in Flondor* and the PCs having to choose a side (and likely finiding themselves in a position of leadership/importance).

Basically, I want the PCs having adventures like...meetings with dignitaries that go horribly wrong, having to evade assassins, leading their troops into battle, finding themselves ambushed while traveling, and all that good stuff. It would be with Grim Tales, too, if that matters to anyone.

*Flondor is the silly name I use as an example for nations and historical figures in fantasy settings

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Sounds cool.

If you want to go a little higher fantasy, I'd use bloodlies from Unearthed Arcana give them to the PCs for free. Only don't make the trollblooded guys look like trolls and the demonblooded guys look like demons. Just pick a minor bloodline for each of the noble houses and run with it. So the Snoogle nobles of Flondor use the minor feyblooded bonuses because they're so nice and sneaky or whatever.

Happy gaming!

 

[maddman75]

That's the starting point, but where to go from there is a bit fuzzy. Now, one idea I've had is for the family to discover that they're the true heirs of some long-gone high-king, and the general goal would be to retake their ancestoral kingdom. Another would be that there is some common enemy and the PCs have to try and unite the petty kingdoms and fight it back. Yet another would be a war of succession breaking out in Flondor* and the PCs having to choose a side (and likely finiding themselves in a position of leadership/importance).

Why not do all three? Seriously, this would be great for an open style of game. You could dangle all these hooks in front of them and see what they bite on. Perhaps the Evil Empire nearby is the ancentral homeland they'd like to take back. There's lots of minor petty kingdoms and lords that they would need to win to their cause. Plus there's the trouble in Flondor that could either provide a good opportunity and new ally or major hinderance. Add in a scheming theives guild, several competing religions, cults of old gods, rival merchant houses, and see what the group wants to deal with. It could make for a very dynamic, living campaign.

 

[Galethorn]

Why not do all three?

Now that is the kind of good idea I was looking for. Now, the problem is that I'm nowhere near the GM I'll need to be to do this campaign...

Fortunately, I'm only about 1/4 of the way through my current 'big' campaign (i.e. the one I go to all the trouble working on, as opposed to the seat-of-my pants game I run at school and the pre-made-adventure game I run on 'off' weekends), so I think I'll be able to get a year or two of practice in, along with the obvious bonus of extra time to write pages and pages of notes and ideas. Oh, and maybe get the PCs involved too, in writing their family history and all that sort of stuff.

That said, I think some formal rules for campaign-level warfare might be a good thing to have before I do this as well.

 

[maddman75]

Its not that hard. All you have to do is let go of the reigns. Don't try to plan out a series of encounters, that's impossible. Just set up a variety of hooks and see what they bite on. You don't have to plan everything out in advance, and if they don't look into it you never have to think about it again. For instance, if you present all this and they are all about uniting the kingdoms against the Evil Empire but aren't interested in Flondor you don't need to do anything else. Or you could spring it on them sometime later, when you need it.

This kind of game tends to be a lot of work to set up. You have to establish all these different groups, their goals, and their aims. I prefer to avoid setting most of them up as "good guys" or "bad guys". Just different groups that will have one effect or the other. Its a good idea to have some floating encounters set up as well, to drop in when things get slow. Once you get it all set up, the game will almost run itself.

There are some downsides. If the players aren't used to this kind of game, they can get paralyzed. They'll look at all these different plot threads and wonder what they are supposed to be doing. In truth, they aren't "supposed" to do anything. *They* are the proactive ones, and your world reacts to what they do. It can also seem kind of disjointed, with the group going from this to that game to game. I remember my players joking that they could never visit the same town twice, as they'd always manage to rip off, kill, offend, or anger someone of importance within a day or two. The trick to avoiding these pitfalls include talking with your players about the nature of the game - let them know that this is something different. And if you can drop in elements of whatever climaax you have in mind when it gets revealed it can look like you had it planned all along.

As for warfare, I prefer DM fiat. The PCs are the most important characters in the story, so what they do should have a major impact. It they succeed in mission A, then battle B goes in their favor, and so on. Of course with your setup they could end up commanding the armies directly, so some 3rd party rules could be useful.

 

[Turanil]

I like the ideas of minor bloodlines suggested by Biggus Geekus.

I would do this: PCs belong to a noble house of some barony, in a land where several such baronies spend their time fighting each others. However, on the east, behind the great forest, is an evil empire of hobgoblins who will soon turn their eyes toward this region. Right now are hobgoblins squads spying and scouting around. The PCs must then unite all the baronies into a single kingdom to have the strength of fighting the evil empire, or hope is lost.

So campaign begins with political intrigue and in-fighting between the various baronies, and ends with a war between the new kingdom and the evil empire...

 

[maddman75]

I've put together some rules for Realm Management on the House Rules forum. Those might be useful to you as well, though they aren't in their final form yet.

http://www.enworld.org/showthread.php?t=121125