I was working the late shift at work tonight, and I took advantage of my time in the
penalty box Customer Services desk to scratch down a couple notes for my PbP campaign (as you'll see, it was a very slow night)...
Currently, I'm drawing inspiration from the Grimms' Fairy Tales, the Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, and (ever so slightly) The Chronicles of Narnia. My title for the game is
You are Old, Father William, but I've broken the game down into six chapters, as follows, corresponding to character level:
1. How Doth the Little Crocodile
2. A Winter's Tale
3. King of the Forest
4. Here We Go Round the Mulberry Bush (looking to evoke the despair of TS Eliot's "Hollow Men," not the nursery rhyme, per se)
5. All the King's Horses
6. You Are Old, Father William
As I see it, the main path of the story goes through chapters 1, 3, 5, and 6, with 2 and 4 as slight breaks in the story, allowing for immersion in the world and a chance to rest a bit. My main story is this: Father William (taken out of the poem in Lewis Carroll) is mounting a rebellion against the Rotten King and has drawn the children into Grimm in order to overthrow Humpty's rule (the climax, hopefully, of chapter 5) so he can then swoop in and take things over. The problem with this is that Father William's not any better than Humpty Dumpty (let's call him H.D. to make things easier for me), in fact, he's a damn sight worse in some ways — I'm setting up the campaign as an examination of extremes; for example, my main themes are atavism vs. civilization and anarchy vs. law, with the rule of Father William (hereafter F.W.) at the atavism/anarchy end and the rule of H.D. at the civilization/law end (if that's my dichotomy, you can guess how bad things'll be under F.W.
).
Chapter 1, which I have mostly plotted out, would basically be a "getting to know you" adventure where the PCs start to learn about the major players in the world and get a feel for how things work. The players will be pulled into the Village — it seems like these places never have a name in fairy tales, and really one village or the other doesn't matter; six of one, half a dozen of the other — where they'll learn about 3 critical things: (1) the Rotten King rules the Grimm Lands, (2) an awful force of savage beasts in the Forest are starting to build up to revolt against H.D., and (3) almost all the Village children have been eaten up by a crocodile in the nearby river. This last bit is the hook, hopefully — I'm trying to work out a way that the PCs can be indebted to the villagers to make sure of it; perhaps the Villagers save them from an attack by Mother Goose. The key NPC for the section (aside from the crocodile) would be Peter Pangloss, a village youth who believes that in the best of all possible worlds, he'd never have to grow up. Peter's completely pure of heart, a wicked good kid, and (conveniently) the last ingredient in the ritual that will allow F.W. to make his revolution work (generally gruesome ritual, too — involves baking). The crocodile attacks on the Village are designed to draw out Peter, who's been too cautious thus far, but, because of his like for the newcomers, when they're enlisted to eliminate the crocodile, he tags along. Long story short, F.W. zaps in while the party fights the crocodile, kidnaps Peter Pangloss, and zaps out. The overarching early goal will be to save Peter — the Villagers will likely accuse the Lion, as he and his frequently steal sheep and cows to eat.
The Tiny Crocodile: I'm thinking of giving him
enlarge as a power, so he can really be a small, cute croc for a bit, and then a nasty bigger one. Also, he'll have a clock in his belly (I think this is mandatory if I'm going to have a Peter Pan character).
Chapter 2 is a breather, but will feature an early winter that the PCs will have to fix. Turkish delight will play a little part (a nod to CS Lewis and, via the magic powers I'll give it, Lewis Carroll's mushrooms), the Tin Woodsman will make an appearance, frozen stiff, and the party'll get its first glimpse of the Lion's followers and Little Red Riding Hood (cameos only — she won't figure in the main plot). The Cheshire Cat might appear here (he'll play a bigger role as time goes by).
Tin Woodsman, Dorothy, Toto: The main villains of the 3rd chapter (and 4th, too, in the case of Dorothy and Toto), they'll appear in this one and the next. Toto will be a three headed wolf and the Tin Woodsman will be a warforged (or maybe ironborn) with some fighter levels. I know right now that they'll be bad folks, but not the how and why as of yet. I'm thinking of making Dorothy a witch and somehow later using the Wicked Witch of the West and her Flying Monkeys as good guys — probably in Chapter 4.
Chapter 3 will function as a false climax, as early clues in the game will (correctly) suggest that F.W.'s lair is in the forest, but (incorrectly) lead the party to the lair of the Cowardly Lion, who rules over a benevolent, but ruthless group of animals in the recesses of the Great and Awful Forest. The Lion's going to be the main ally and benefactor of the group through the next two chapters and maybe through the end (a certain chain of events could lead to his death and resurrection at the end of the 6th chapter, but he'll fair as the kids fair — my other nod to CS Lewis). I see him as a loose version of The Man in the Mountain (the leader of the Assassins during the Crusades) — maybe a litorian from Monte Cook's AU with some rogue levels (hence, the cowardly bit).
Chapters 4, 5, and 6 are still jumbled. Ch. 4 will end the Oz stuff for the most part, with 5 taking care of H.D. and his retinue, Ch. 6 (the titular chapter) deals with the battle against F.W. and the discovery of Babylon, which could be vaguely reminiscent of the Emerald City, leading to the kids escaping back to the real world.
Some other random notes that I have include these:
1. I want each kid to have two focuses, one from the real world and one they discover in the Grimm Lands, probably granted them by the C. Lion at the end of chapter 3. I'd design the second based on how they played their character, but they'd have complete control over the first. I'm not sure if I want them to lose the first or have it change or what.
2. I see each chapter giving either everyone a chance to shine (chapters 1 and 6) or letting each character in turn really get the limelight (chapters 2-5). I'd tailor the moral or the tricks and traps in that section to the character (or, if I have 6 players, characters).
Finally, I've scratched out a list of major NPCs (most of which I've already mentioned, but will repost here) that I'm planning on using somehow as either villains, allies, or just to have them show up.
Villains: Father William (main), Hansel, Gretel, Rotten King, Cinderella, Dorothy, Toto, Tin Man, the Little Crocodile
Allies: The Cowardly Lion, Jack, Wicked Witch of the West, Flying Monkeys, Peter Pangloss
Other/Cameos: Little Red Riding Hood, the Big Bad Wolf, the Cheshire Cat
That pretty much covers everything I've scratched out. I'll take any comments on it (good, bad, or indifferent), particularly on morals that could tuck into my themes and the rest of the story. Thanks in advance.
Nick
