Campaign Styles

[BendBars/LiftGates]

Pages 136 and 137 of the 4th Ed. DMG talk about "Fantasy Subgenres" such as Horror, Sword & Sorcery, Intrigue, etc. How specifically do you set out to make your campaign fit a certain subgenre and what do you do to highlight this subgenre?

So far, I haven't really tried to focus the campaign on any real style, but I suppose my last campaign was mostly Horror and this one in heavy on Intrigue. One of my players said he was interested in the Swashbuckling subgenre described on page 137. Advice?

 

[Piratecat]

To run a swashbuckling campaign, the first step is to add lots of things to swing on. LOTS of things to swing on.

I think the secret to encouraging any genre is to include its major tropes, and to AVOID discouraging the sort of gameplay you want to see. For example, a swashbuckling campaign might have an evil priest manipulating the royalty, lots and lots of wine, and beautiful wenches (et al) willing to fall in love with the heroes. You never want to be too rules finicky about swinging, charging and any sort of acrobatic fight; the first time you give the PCs penalties of their swing from a rope, you've lost them.

 

[Loonook]

Pages 136 and 137 of the 4th Ed. DMG talk about "Fantasy Subgenres" such as Horror, Sword & Sorcery, Intrigue, etc. How specifically do you set out to make your campaign fit a certain subgenre and what do you do to highlight this subgenre?

So far, I haven't really tried to focus the campaign on any real style, but I suppose my last campaign was mostly Horror and this one in heavy on Intrigue. One of my players said he was interested in the Swashbuckling subgenre described on page 137. Advice?

Swashbuckling is fun because the tropes which come with it make for good times. The players should be free-wheeling types, and as Piratecat suggests the swashbuckler is best when offered a lot of interesting ways to do things. If you're not swinging off chandelier only to wield the giant brass candleholder of the Archduke to fend off his nemesis while in your nightshirt (you just woke up from a romp with the local scenery...) the feeling isn't going to be there. Look to Zorro, Robin Hood, any number of pirate movies, and even the Mad Max series for ways that your average man wants to buckle that swash.

Slainte,

-Loonook.

 

[Quickleaf]

I see it as more of a spectrum, so you can have a campaign heavy on intrigue and swashbuckling, but introduce other themes now and then. I find both of these genres work best in a middle magic setting with humans as the principal enemies/masterminds.

MECHANICALLY, swashbuckling discourages heavy armor so you mayl want to compensate PCs with heavy armor proficiency with an AC bonus (+1/every 5 levels or so). Stunts are an important part of swashbuckling, so you might assemble a list of what PCs can accomplish with various skill stunts for consistency's sake. Also bludgeoning weapons are a bit incongruous, so consider changing dwarves' weapon training to something slashing or piercing.

Intrigue should involve lots of detective work, and you'll want to think carefully about what diviniation rituals the PCs have access to and how that can disrupt the villain's schemes. Also, be careful that social skill challenges don't overwhelm role-playing. Because action can be a bit slower in an intrigue campaign, you might space out milestones or just not include them at all; keep a pulse on your group to make sure it's not too slow for them. Finally, I'd encourage your players to come up with personal minor quests, and orchestrate some of these to be in opposition to each other. If you really wanted to shake it up, you could include a Virtue/Vice mechanic to replace alignment and reward PCs with an action point when they fulfill one or the other.