I just came out of a disaster of a game. It devolved into PC vs PC, Player vs. Player, blackmail, spying. Among other things, because PC goals, backgrounds, and personality, simply Did Not Mesh. This wasn't a problem during the first adventure, but afterwards, when the PCs had more free reign and could decide what they wanted to pursue.
After drinking the Spirit of the Century kool-aid, I've finally made a decision on how I want to run my next campaign. I'm going to detail my plan to you, and I'd like you to tell me if it seems unreasonable, scary, or too time consuming or whathaveyou as a player.
The basis I'm coming to here is that RPGs are a team effort, it's a team game. So it should work as a team from the beginning.
Step 0: Everyone sits at the table.
Step 1: Deciding a Campaign.
The group decides what kind of campaign they want to play in. For instance, I'm comfortable with: Anti-Hero, City-based, Arabian/Desert, Jungle, Exploration, Standard Points of Light Fantasy, a class-based game (Thief campaign, Arcane campaign, Church based) etc. I don't want "Epic Save the World/destroy the artifact" type thing.
This is where the group talks about what kind of elements they like. Horror, grittiness, humor, how fantasy is your fantasy. So that I, the DM, can gauge what everyone wants, expects, etc.
Also, do you want the game to be focused on adventures that are just handed to you, hooks that snag you, or do you want it driven by your character's goals. Such as, if your character wants to be a Lord who builds a stronghold and carves his way, then you have to act upon those. (And if this is the case, everybody has to submit goals for their character).
Step 2 Fleshing Out a Starting Point Together.
Once the Setting is decided, then the group fleshes out the starting area. Let's say, the country, or the starting town/city + 100 square miles.
That's right. Everyone at the table can point at the map (so to speak) and say "There's this here". Like a haunted forest, or here be humanoid x that have carved out a specific area as their territory. They have control over the town, like how the town was founded on the footsteps of a wizard's academy, or it's a frontier at the edge of the Untamed Wilds, or it's built ontop of a necromancer's crypt. This includes legends, history, etc.
I imagine I could mettle out how much everyone can contribute; everyone gets 20-25%. I get veto power, and I have the power to add more, or twist what they believe they are creating (for instance the haunted forest isn't haunted, but a cabal of illusionists and trickster fey control it, and everyone in the surrounding area BELIEVES it's haunted).
This way, everyone feels as though they are contributing to the setting, that they are familiar with it to a degree, so that it feels more real that way.
Step 3 Creating Characters as a group.
That's right, I'm suggesting that characters are created as a group. Not that people tell you what to play, but that everyone can announce what role/class they want. That players can help eachother with background. Everyone knows what everyone is doing, and others can bounce ideas of your background or personality off of one another, helping enrich the process. If you want to play a weird race, that's fine; it's just gotta have a reason for being there, and that reason can be further facilitated by meshing your background with the starting area, or the other PCs.
This is not "We all individually make our characters in the same room, or spend three hours looking at a book." This isn't a matter of crunch. It's everything else that the crunch sits on top of.
This has three rules:
1) Your background, and thus your character, needs to be worked in with others somehow. You and you were trained by the same guy. You and you are related by marriage by your uncle. And so on.
This way, everyone is on the same page with their characters. You begin play knowing one another, or at least being acquainted. More importantly, you have more of a reason to work with and stay with the other characters.
2) Your background, and thus your character, needs to be tied somehow to what has been fleshed out on the map. Thus, if someone created an Order of wizards, or created a hermit sorcerer, then your mage ought to be worked into that order or be taught by that hermit somehow.
This way, everyone is tied to the starting area, and they feel as though they are a part of the world they helped create. And it makes the things they created more important.
3) Secrets are allowable. But under one of two caveats: 1) Your secret involves someone else or something that involves the group itself (i.e. I'm really your sister, separated at birth). This way, it isn't just about Your character, but it brings everyone else into it, and makes it more. Or, 2) You tell the other players your secret. But your characters don't know. Thus the group can get in on enriching the secret's exposure, so the characters are surprised.
What do you think, EnWorlder? Is this too much to expect from players, or too much democracy and group exposition? The one big flaw I feel in this is the amount of TIME that it takes to do all of this, even before you have Session 1. On the other hand, it helps foster a group that will work together, and it puts everyone on the same page as far as expectations, and desires.
The other threat is the guy who doesn't make it to that session, so he's on the outside the entire time.
After drinking the Spirit of the Century kool-aid, I've finally made a decision on how I want to run my next campaign. I'm going to detail my plan to you, and I'd like you to tell me if it seems unreasonable, scary, or too time consuming or whathaveyou as a player.
The basis I'm coming to here is that RPGs are a team effort, it's a team game. So it should work as a team from the beginning.
Step 0: Everyone sits at the table.
Step 1: Deciding a Campaign.
The group decides what kind of campaign they want to play in. For instance, I'm comfortable with: Anti-Hero, City-based, Arabian/Desert, Jungle, Exploration, Standard Points of Light Fantasy, a class-based game (Thief campaign, Arcane campaign, Church based) etc. I don't want "Epic Save the World/destroy the artifact" type thing.
This is where the group talks about what kind of elements they like. Horror, grittiness, humor, how fantasy is your fantasy. So that I, the DM, can gauge what everyone wants, expects, etc.
Also, do you want the game to be focused on adventures that are just handed to you, hooks that snag you, or do you want it driven by your character's goals. Such as, if your character wants to be a Lord who builds a stronghold and carves his way, then you have to act upon those. (And if this is the case, everybody has to submit goals for their character).
Step 2 Fleshing Out a Starting Point Together.
Once the Setting is decided, then the group fleshes out the starting area. Let's say, the country, or the starting town/city + 100 square miles.
That's right. Everyone at the table can point at the map (so to speak) and say "There's this here". Like a haunted forest, or here be humanoid x that have carved out a specific area as their territory. They have control over the town, like how the town was founded on the footsteps of a wizard's academy, or it's a frontier at the edge of the Untamed Wilds, or it's built ontop of a necromancer's crypt. This includes legends, history, etc.
I imagine I could mettle out how much everyone can contribute; everyone gets 20-25%. I get veto power, and I have the power to add more, or twist what they believe they are creating (for instance the haunted forest isn't haunted, but a cabal of illusionists and trickster fey control it, and everyone in the surrounding area BELIEVES it's haunted).
This way, everyone feels as though they are contributing to the setting, that they are familiar with it to a degree, so that it feels more real that way.
Step 3 Creating Characters as a group.
That's right, I'm suggesting that characters are created as a group. Not that people tell you what to play, but that everyone can announce what role/class they want. That players can help eachother with background. Everyone knows what everyone is doing, and others can bounce ideas of your background or personality off of one another, helping enrich the process. If you want to play a weird race, that's fine; it's just gotta have a reason for being there, and that reason can be further facilitated by meshing your background with the starting area, or the other PCs.
This is not "We all individually make our characters in the same room, or spend three hours looking at a book." This isn't a matter of crunch. It's everything else that the crunch sits on top of.
This has three rules:
1) Your background, and thus your character, needs to be worked in with others somehow. You and you were trained by the same guy. You and you are related by marriage by your uncle. And so on.
This way, everyone is on the same page with their characters. You begin play knowing one another, or at least being acquainted. More importantly, you have more of a reason to work with and stay with the other characters.
2) Your background, and thus your character, needs to be tied somehow to what has been fleshed out on the map. Thus, if someone created an Order of wizards, or created a hermit sorcerer, then your mage ought to be worked into that order or be taught by that hermit somehow.
This way, everyone is tied to the starting area, and they feel as though they are a part of the world they helped create. And it makes the things they created more important.
3) Secrets are allowable. But under one of two caveats: 1) Your secret involves someone else or something that involves the group itself (i.e. I'm really your sister, separated at birth). This way, it isn't just about Your character, but it brings everyone else into it, and makes it more. Or, 2) You tell the other players your secret. But your characters don't know. Thus the group can get in on enriching the secret's exposure, so the characters are surprised.
What do you think, EnWorlder? Is this too much to expect from players, or too much democracy and group exposition? The one big flaw I feel in this is the amount of TIME that it takes to do all of this, even before you have Session 1. On the other hand, it helps foster a group that will work together, and it puts everyone on the same page as far as expectations, and desires.
The other threat is the guy who doesn't make it to that session, so he's on the outside the entire time.
