Can Campaigns based on books be successful?

[terrya]

As the title sugests I am hoping to get peoples opinions on whether they feel you can base your game world around that of a book with any success. For example i am currently running a world that is completely based on the Belgarid Series by David Eddings. I pre generated all the charecters to match does from the book (Silk, Hettar, Berrak, Etc) and wrote up a description of the world geography and Gods for does who had not read the books.

Each charecter came with a guideline on the personaility and motivation of each charecter along with a brief history of why they started adventuring. These were to my great pleasure taken with a pinch of salt and we have had a lot of fun with them in a group that normally lacks allot of roleplay. The only times we have ever encountered problems is if some one feels they should act differently to how they want to due to the charecter concept but i dont enforce anything like this.

The main problem i encountered was some of the powers these people had to have for it to be true to the book, for example Berak being (in the closest D&D terms i could think of) a form of wearbear. I feel i have over came this by simply choosing slightly harder modules than there level would suggest to ensure that it maintains chalenging. I use allot of pre gen modules but have spent allot of time sloting them all in to my world and desiging a Campaign that will take Belgarion all the way from the farm to the epic battle with torak at the end.

Has anyone else ever tryed anything like this? Did you have much success? Has anyone got any advice? My players ensure me that they have enjoyed the game so far allot more than some of are recent games and seem to apreciate the work ive put in but im just looking for imput to improve the project further so that i can ensure it lasts the length of the full Campaign.

 

[Gryph]

As the title sugests I am hoping to get peoples opinions on whether they feel you can base your game world around that of a book with any success. For example i am currently running a world that is completely based on the Belgarid Series by David Eddings. I pre generated all the charecters to match does from the book (Silk, Hettar, Berrak, Etc) and wrote up a description of the world geography and Gods for does who had not read the books.

Each charecter came with a guideline on the personaility and motivation of each charecter along with a brief history of why they started adventuring. These were to my great pleasure taken with a pinch of salt and we have had a lot of fun with them in a group that normally lacks allot of roleplay. The only times we have ever encountered problems is if some one feels they should act differently to how they want to due to the charecter concept but i dont enforce anything like this.

The main problem i encountered was some of the powers these people had to have for it to be true to the book, for example Berak being (in the closest D&D terms i could think of) a form of wearbear. I feel i have over came this by simply choosing slightly harder modules than there level would suggest to ensure that it maintains chalenging. I use allot of pre gen modules but have spent allot of time sloting them all in to my world and desiging a Campaign that will take Belgarion all the way from the farm to the epic battle with torak at the end.

Has anyone else ever tryed anything like this? Did you have much success? Has anyone got any advice? My players ensure me that they have enjoyed the game so far allot more than some of are recent games and seem to apreciate the work ive put in but im just looking for imput to improve the project further so that i can ensure it lasts the length of the full Campaign.

Frankly, I would caution against doing this. TSR created a series of modules based on the DragonLance trilogy. They are near universally held up as the the model for what not to do with a campaign. Trying to do a campaign based on a playthrough of the main storyline of a book and from the pov of the main characters is simply a railroad. You can't really let the players interact with the fiction in a meaningful way unless they can change the ending and the journey.

That being said, there have been a lot of good campaigns run in the settings of good books. It's been a while since I read the Belgariad but I remember it being a fairly large world that could easily support a lot of other stories as well. Campaigns set in the world could be a real pleasure for you and your players. No reason not to meet and interact with the storyline characters. Maybe they can take part in Ce'Nedra's army or crew a ship in Anheg's fleet. Plenty of room to be in the story but depart from its specifics without invalidating the canon.

On the other hand, if you have a group of players that are psyched to play Silk, Garion and company, then go for it.

If you do go that route there are couple practical points to consider. Towards the end of the series when Silk, Belgarath and Garion go off on their own is going to present a logistically challenge to you if you have more than 3 players. Also, there is a pretty big power discrepancy between the three sorcerors and the rest of the main characters, I would address that with your players up front and be sure that the players of the supporting characters are good with being in those roles.

However you decide to go forward, good luck with your game. Those were favorite books of mine when they came out.

 

[terrya]

You highlighted some of my other concerns but i have taken from the book nothing other than the world and the charecters. Ive developed a different story (with heavy support from the book) to as how garion develops and eventually kills torak and will adapt this if the players change course.

I hate railroading players, my group quite often like to follow a storyline from start to finsh and dont often detour but if they did i would work with it not against it. I have tryed to keep the charecters all at an even power level whilst maintaining the flavour of each from the book to avoid the issues you talk about.

So far most of the adventure has been they were given the task from Belgarath and the prophecy in Belgarions Head of collecting parts of the orb of aldur (in this world it was shattered when the world shattered) so that torak can be defeated upon his awakening. This took them first to the tombs of Arden Brightheart (part of the dungeon Crawl Clasic Series heavily adapted to meet my adventure) which was located in the mountains of cherek and this quest should hopefully guide them all the way to the city of night and the final comfrontation. My aim was to design an adventure and world that would be nostalgic for does who had read the books but be a story in its own right with similar flavor to what they may expect from reading the books.

 

[Mort]

Basing a campaign on a book setting - the locations, the politics the rich history - that's often a great idea. It can really let the players sink their teeth in a world they wish to explore and save you some time in coming up wit the concepts yourself.

Basing a campaign on following the path of the characters in the book, trying to impose the same situations, challenges and overall story arch? That's not such a good idea (I'd go so far as to say a likely terrible idea). The players generaly want to write their own characters histories and stories, not relive someone else’s.

Sounds like you are mostly doing the former - which I think can work very well.

One question though, the characters in the Belgariad are of very different power levels, this works fine for the story but can be problematic in play. How are you handling it?

 

[terrya]

Basing a campaign on a book setting - the locations, the politics the rich history - that's often a great idea. It can really let the players sink their teeth in a world they wish to explore and save you some time in coming up wit the concepts yourself.

Basing a campaign on following the path of the characters in the book, trying to impose the same situations, challenges and overall story arch? That's not such a good idea (I'd go so far as to say a likely terrible idea). The players generaly want to write their own characters histories and stories, not relive someone else’s.

Sounds like you are mostly doing the former - which I think can work very well.

One question though, the characters in the Belgariad are of very different power levels, this works fine for the story but can be problematic in play. How are you handling it?

Belgarath is a npc so is polgara which eliminated the larger imbalances in power imho. The only other supernatrual abilities are obviously Belgarion's imence power somthing ive limited by having him apear in my series in his teenage form just coming into his power aka just any other level 1 sorcer who happens to have a voice in his head .

Berak turning into a bear when ever belgarions in danger? This was the hardest by far! I just gave him a wearbear template but the transformation only trigers when either Berak or Belgarion are on half HP and his actions are limited to charging the person who harmed Belgarion without exeception. This is just like the book and i felt balanced it out quite nicely. He also suffers XP penalties for being a Wearbear. Also i have made it clear to the group that berak dislikes this change and has no idea how it works and that they should not abuse it.

Hettar can speak to and to an extend command horses. In most cases without abuse from the player this is just gimicky and the charecter has slightly lower dump stats than the others to acomidate for this.

Other than this the charecters i felt sloted into classes perfectly. Silk = the rogue Mandorelen = the paladin Lorralen = the bard / arcane archer etc etc.

I also ensure that the increased power level therefor of this group of level 1s is met with more apropriate challenge ratings and the players have set to there suprise there finding it harder than usual to stay alive even with the stronger group! For example they are now all level 3 and currently working through a module designed for level 5s. The low hp can cause them scares but finding unique ways to use their more powerfull abilitys to overcome these restrictions has been the focal point of the entire game and is why i think their enjoying it

 

[gamerprinter]

I agree with Mort, completely. A book's setting can be great for a campaign setting, as you have defined places that are described in literal detail within the book.

However, as soon as you try to include characters from a book, as the player character party, you've just made a bad decision. As Mort mentioned regarding Dragonlance which was the ultimate in railroaded adventures, because those adventures tried to follow the plot in the books themselves.

The big plots like what the main bad guy is doing, who is invading - all those can be used from the book, but what individual characters do, shouldn't be dictated by the book's plot.

I think you're better off allowing players to pick whatever classes you limit within the campaign story, and let the players create their own story within the campaign world - and not depend on the plot of the books themselves. You can provide plot hooks from the actual books to offer some direction, but never use the book's plot as a guideline to developing the adventures in your game.

Edding's world I think would be a great place to adventure, but I would never want to play a character from an actual book and try to follow their story from the book. IMO, that's just a very bad idea.

 

[Gryph]

You highlighted some of my other concerns but i have taken from the book nothing other than the world and the charecters. Ive developed a different story (with heavy support from the book) to as how garion develops and eventually kills torak and will adapt this if the players change course.

I hate railroading players, my group quite often like to follow a storyline from start to finsh and dont often detour but if they did i would work with it not against it. I have tryed to keep the charecters all at an even power level whilst maintaining the flavour of each from the book to avoid the issues you talk about.

So far most of the adventure has been they were given the task from Belgarath and the prophecy in Belgarions Head of collecting parts of the orb of aldur (in this world it was shattered when the world shattered) so that torak can be defeated upon his awakening. This took them first to the tombs of Arden Brightheart (part of the dungeon Crawl Clasic Series heavily adapted to meet my adventure) which was located in the mountains of cherek and this quest should hopefully guide them all the way to the city of night and the final comfrontation. My aim was to design an adventure and world that would be nostalgic for does who had read the books but be a story in its own right with similar flavor to what they may expect from reading the books.

Rereading your OP, you did imply that the story wasn't the same so most of my post wasn't real helpful.

Belgarath and Polgara as NPCs is definitely a good choice too. Do they travel with the group or do they just show up occasionally? I would be careful that you don't have the NPCs overshadow the players.

Sounds like a fun experiment. As long as your players are cool with taking some RP hints from the character profiles and no one is expecting to hit a bunch of plot points from the series, I think you'll be fine. I hope you post some updates and let us know how your sessions go.

 

[terrya]

We had another session last night. Polgara and Belgarath are currently npcs that are just used inbetween adventures to get the party moving if they seem stuck for ideas. Eventually i plan to have them be part of an adventure but more in a hostage sort of situation.

The session went really well as they have now began their quest for the second part of the orb of Aldur. The players seem to be really enjoying the role play guidelines, some are rigidly sticking to them and others have added their own flavor which is leading to some great game play.

We did have one hicup along the road which seems to be the conflict between Mandorellen and Lorralen. After the player of Lorralen recently read the series he is now insistant on being a jackass to Mandorellen where ever he can which doesnt suprise me as the players of the two are quite conflicted in real life. Im sure this one can be easily resolved on its own and hopefully i wont have to do anything silly ^.^

 

[Crothian]

With the right people and DM of course it can be successful. Any campaign can no matter what the masses think. The key is to realize that what people not playing in the game don't matter. Just keep the players in front of you entertained and as long as they enjoy this type of campaign have a blast doing it!

 

[wedgeski]

Frankly, I would caution against doing this. TSR created a series of modules based on the DragonLance trilogy. They are near universally held up as the the model for what not to do with a campaign.

Except by those many people, like me, who have had nothing but good experiences playing what many people, like me, consider to be highly fun, innovative, and influential modules. Twice.

Where the DL series excelled, and what most detractors don't realise, was that it provided multiple routes to success depending on the players' actions. If you're doing more than just running a sandbox then you should consider several ways for the PC's to "succeed" (whatever that means in this context, I'm afraid I haven't read Eddings), even if those paths ultimately lead to the same climax. If you players accept and appreciate that what you have in mind is an adventure path, not a sandbox, it'll work just fine. You sound like you already have their buy-in so you're in good shape.

And so in answer to your question: yes.