"Exploration of the New World" Campaign

[Wolf88]

Hi everyone, soon i'm going to start my first experience as a dungeon master, and i decided i'm going to run an exploration style campaign, where the PCs land with an expedition into a newfound, unconquered continent to found a new colony.

I'd like, if you please, some brainstorming, ideas and general tips as to running a campaign like that. Thanks!

 

[Sigurd]

My .02

Settle on a gaming system you like.

Get a very rough idea of what your players would like - don't give away too much. Buy a compatible setting you respect that excites you. Play in that setting.

It will be enough to concentrate on DMing without inventing everything the players run into.

What game system?




Sigurd

 

[Wolf88]

My .02

Settle on a gaming system you like.

Get a very rough idea of what your players would like - don't give away too much. Buy a compatible setting you respect that excites you. Play in that setting.

It will be enough to concentrate on DMing without inventing everything the players run into.

What game system?




Sigurd

Ouch you are right i forgot to mention that the system will be D&D 4E

 

[Sigurd]

4e makes the selection smaller and actually makes your choice(s) easier.

In your shoes I'd probably plunk for the Punjar storyline from Goodman Games. It looks like a decent project. Pay special attention to the writers game design and adventure choices. Look for things you can learn from in your own adventure(s).

Modules are a great way of reducing your work and upping your rate of learning for a new game\new system\new group.

Once you've got the structure down pat you can make your own adventures or convert 3e adventures much easier.

Sigurd

 

[fissionessence]

At Role Playing Public Radio, they're playing a 4E campaign just like what you described. You can listen to them play in their actual play podcast (explicit content), and you can read through the campaign setting material in their The New World Campaign Primer. It's pretty long, very informative, and should be great inspiration if you're wanting to run a similar campaign.

~

 

[Wolf88]

At Role Playing Public Radio, they're playing a 4E campaign just like what you described. You can listen to them play in their actual play podcast (explicit content), and you can read through the campaign setting material in their The New World Campaign Primer. It's pretty long, very informative, and should be great inspiration if you're wanting to run a similar campaign.

~

Hey thanks, that was actually extremely helpful!
That campaign primer is really neat, i'm gonna use a lot of the stuff that's in there!

 

[RichGreen]

4
In your shoes I'd probably plunk for the Punjar storyline from Goodman Games. It looks like a decent project.

The Punjar modules are good but they won't fit into a campaign that's all about exploring a new world.

I've never run Eberron but I found Secrets of Xen'drik very useful for stealing ideas and maps from. Stuff from this book ended up in my Pirates of the Caribbean game. I've often thought about running a campaign like this myself so let us know how it develops.

Cheers


Richard

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

One of the most important things to remember about a New World campaign is this:

Equipment will simply not be available unless:

1) it was brought over on the ship the team traveled in,

2) it is made by the explorers,

3) is available from the natives.

To that end, I would take at least a little time and effort to having the players actually decide what gets loaded on their transport. As GM, you may and should help direct them in this, so they don't forget something that absolutely no explorer would forget...like warm blankets, hammers, nails, etc.

 

[Sigurd]

The Punjar modules are good but they won't fit into a campaign that's all about exploring a new world.

That depends on what lies in the new world now doesn't it .


Sigurd

 

[Bercilac]

I would take at least a little time and effort to having the players actually decide what gets loaded on their transport. As GM, you may and should help direct them in this, so they don't forget something that absolutely no explorer would forget...like warm blankets, hammers, nails, etc.

There's an old tradition of the Australian bush of frying eggs on shovels. The probable source? The First Fleet forgot to bring frying pans. Let the players make mistakes at this stage, and half the plot is written for you already.

Before you begin, read a narrative of one of the first white settlements in either the Americas or Australia or wherever. Then remember that you're only reading half a history, as the indigenous people were literally considered to be animals (I'm not joking: there were long debates on their species and relation to "humanity" that got carried on in Europe). The official policy was one of genocide.

What role with the party have? Are they leading an expedition? Then they might officially try to befriend the natives, and get irritated when their subordinates get into fights with local folks (who have no concept of stealing) stealing cattle. Or maybe they're there to protect the colony from the dangers, in which case you have a nice wilderness campaign set up, with plenty of NPC and monster potential. Or maybe (my favourite) they're convicts or indentured servants, and have to actually scratch a living out of the land. I'm not sure how that would work as a D&D adventure, unless you focussed on a diplomacy/skill/rogueish party that had to deal with brutal colonial administration, unsympathetic indigenous folks (or maybe sympathetic, if they see people in chains and getting flogged), and possibly carnivorous fauna... and flora (what the heck!).

I say to hell with published adventures. Make mistakes. Get stuck in.