Campaign too boring?

[DongShenYin]

Here's my game idea. Would you play or run?

The game will take place in a medieval kingdom currently at war with goblin raiders from the west. The adventures will center on a newly knighted squire who is made steward of a small domain and his companions. The domain belongs to the steward’s famous knight father and will provide food and supplies to him and his men if successfully run.

Players are encouraged to create the steward and the characters who grew up with him at court. PCs should be newly knighted/ordained/promoted members of the gentry who are familiar with and involved in politics. (GM will help with linking PCs and noble families.) They don't have to be friends but they know each other and their families/religious order/patrons are all loyal to the king (at least outwardly so) and they should be willing to work with each other at the king's orders.

Players should be prepared to face challenges that include a betrothal between the steward and the heir of the domain’s former lord; dealing with the witch who controls the forest surrounding the domain; the mayor in the town downriver who is pursuing the heir in marriage; raids on the domain by bandits who steal crops, cattle and women; restoring and increasing the domain’s productivity; and the king’s approval as to whether they are keeping the domain or not. Further details will be discussed during the first session where characters will be made and the background developed.

 

[Blue_Kryptonite]

I'd play in a heartbeat. And with some change in detail, it sounds similar to my backup campaign.

 

[Frostmarrow]

Not boring by a long shot. Very good ideas!

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

I'd like to see some additional institutions developed to complement other character types and make the setting more intriguey/diplomatic.

Churches, guilds, various political and social clubs, maybe some odd economic schemes and peasant movements. Labour trouble is always fun.

Some integration of monsters would be nice, but then again I loves me the high fantasy where part of your eighteenth century costume drama is bargaining with the magic turtle who lives down the river to restore some of the flow even though those young rational turks blasphemed him. Or getting the trolls to either get out or start eating more bandits and fewer local children.

Still, I love the basic premise. Sounds like it will give you a chance to do some court, family, school, and romance drama that is generally missing from these things.

Aside from the raids, are things in the area on an upswing, just now declining, totally dead, or just now getting better? I'd need to have a better sense of the immediate historical context before I chose a character.

Otherwise, feels great, I certainly won't 'run' away, and I certainly will check back on this thread to see if you develop it more.

 

[Corsair]

I'd love to play a game like that, and I can think of a handful of characters with no trouble, but the first one that came to mind was the one which would be "different" from the others. Every great party has to have someone who goes against the grain!

The outsider. Perhaps a childhood friend of the steward. They didn't realize when they were children however their difference in station. Born of non-noble blood, "the outsider" is a trusted confidant and friend of the steward, and serves to provide an additional point of view to contrast with those of the nobles/knights in the group.

If the DM doesn't want that sort of character, I'd easily swap up for something else.


As a DM myself, I think I'd only run a game like this if I had a small number of players, like 2 or 3. Lots of detail and roleplaying might cause the game to bog down with more players.

 

[DongShenYin]

One idea of an institution I did have at 4am one night is instead of having a wizard school like everyone else seems to, I want to create a wizard family. This family was originally founded by a dragon who is still alive and still in control, although not blatantly so. Those who wish to become wizards in my world are either born into the family or marry into it or get adopted.

Those who are born with the dragon's blood are much more powerful wizards, but of course they are more subject to grandpa's control. Those who are not blood related are less powerful, but have more freedom. And of course there are rogue wizards who don't want to be controlled by the family at all. So far, this is the only dragon in my campaign. He's relatively benign, because he's old enough to have been there and done that.

Fortunately for the rest of the world, the family is vast enough that no one faction can get another to co-operate to the point where they can just conquer everyone and everything. Of course, should anything threaten the family, they WILL unite and squash the opposition. I think the mage family would be the third spoke on the wheel of power so to speak--the other being the church (which I haven't got any good ideas for yet) and the state (and how THEY don't get crushed by the other two is a miracle in itself. They probably outnumber the others.... 15 knights vs 2 priests vs 1 mage)

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

Oooo, I like the magic family idea.

Hmmm, maybe legitmate children could be wizards and illegitimate children could be sorcerors or vice versa?

 

[Corsair]

Actually the "magic family" is something I'm not a fan of. In general, I don't like such restrictions on basic things like who can be what class. Just kinda feels wierd to me.

 

[Dr. Strangemonkey]

If the bloodline has been succesful and been around for a while, it's not much of a restriction.

Ghengis has something like at least 25 million direct male line descendants in a fairly limited area, and he's not capable of refounding as a Dragon could so that you would have multiple lines running around.

 

[Steverooo]

Welcome to the boards, DongShenYin!

The campaign sounds fine. Might want to add Knowledge (Nobility & Royalty), and, perhaps, Diplomacy to each PC's skills list...