Do you use the Hero's Journey (Campbell)

[Evilhalfling]

It seems like this would be a great guide for writting adventures. Not every adventure perhaps, but for big quests - or even as a full campaign arc. Has anyone tried it and been successful or unsuccessful ?

So I found this site
http://www.ias.berkeley.edu/orias/hero/index.htm
Which explains the steps of the hero's journey
Birth/Home
Call to Adventure
Helpers/Amulet
Crossing the Threshold
Tests
Helpers
Climax/Final Battle
Flight
Return (Crossing the Threshold)
Elixer

I know werewolf the apocolypse advocated this type of journey, and it was one of my favoriate aspects of the game. I created at least two of these cycles, but both fell apart in play. I have never set out to do it in D&D.

 

[Darkness]

I thought about it, but haven't yet invested enough effort to make it work with my style. Not sure I will.

 

[JimAde]

My problem with using this model in an RPG is that the Hero is almost by definition an individual, while most RPGs are geard to a group. If you were REALLY good you might be able to get each character to go through such a journey and have them all be the "helpers" of the others, but that kind of orchestration is beyond me. I have enough trouble just keeping my group on the main plot.

 

[Enkhidu]

I don't usually like pimping story hours (especially ones I had a hand in), but I think you'll find the Small Beginnings SH (link in the sig) fits this cycle (not perfectly, but very closely).

 

[WayneLigon]

I have, in the sense that usually it's so generic (not in the bad sense) that almost any normal narrative will fit the outline in some way. The idea of crossing the threshold, though, is the one I usually leave out; to my way of thinking that's what seperates the PC adventurers from the rest of the crowd: they cross over that first time they leave the farm and kill a kobold stealing apples or something and never cross back.

 

[Mark Hope]

I have used it under various aspects, either as a direct template for an adventure, as a thematic element that informs gameplay, as a general guide for the pacing of important combats etc. I find that it suits some games and genres better than others. Also, I feel that you need to break it up a bit as its format is (consciously or otherwise) very recognisable to players and can be a little predictable sometimes.

 

[Stormborn]

I don't think I have ever intionally used the model for an RPG. I agree that its kind of hard to do that for a group, but in many ways my currently-on-hold Leviathan campaign was following that model with a group of friends who were all from the same home town and were driven out by the forces of evil and got caught up in a larger crisis. Probablly creeps in from all those folk lore/sociology classes.

 

[Wulf Ratbane]

I'm personally very intrigued with the Hero's Journey-- more so since I discovered that I sort of instinctively "knew it" long before I had heard of Campbell or Jung.

It's a bit embarrasing to me at times to go back and read the things I've written and realize how they fit into the template. Makes everything seem a bit hackneyed. And yet, those are some of the most satisfying reads.

As for how it works in an RPG group dynamic-- yes, I think it works. Often, one person rises to the role of Hero, and other player characters in the group fall into the other roles typical of the journey (a mentor, a wise old man, a maiden, a trickster, etc.)

If you were to look at the iconic D&D party-- fighter, rogue, wizard, cleric-- you could map each of them to a typical role. The fighter is the Hero; the rogue, the Trickster; the wizard, the Old Man; the cleric, the Maiden (the life-giver/nurturer).


Wulf

 

[francisca]

It's a bit embarrasing to me at times to go back and read the things I've written and realize how they fit into the template. Makes everything seem a bit hackneyed. And yet, those are some of the most satisfying reads.

Wulf

Why be embarrassed? It's worked well for thousands of years. I'd count yourself among good company.

As far as Campbell, I can say that Hero with a Thousand Faces is a good read for those who like mythology and RPGs. However, you probably shouldn't use Campbell's analysis of the topic to over analyze your RPG adventures, as there is the potential that you'll drive yourself nuts trying to be "original", only to fall back into the same habits and be disappointed.

 

[JimAde]

Wulf: My problem is that everybody should get a chance to be the hero. In a game like Ars Magica, where you clearly have a single main character, it works great. Also it's a good way to go for solo or maybe 2-player games. I'm just not up to the challenge of interweaving four separate hero journeys to get all my players their proper spotlight time.