How to Write a 3-year-long role-playing game campaign

[Colmarr]

Sneaky RangerWickett, hiding Zeitgeist information on his personal blog.

Some highlights:

I definitely was motivated by a desire to let players have a gunfight while balancing on the shoulders of a giant metal colossus and clinging to massive rivets as it tries to shake you off

Part of the fun here is that players have a strong say in how much they steer the campaign. Will their characters embrace technology, fight against it, or somehow reconcile the two sides?

While we've got plenty of action and explosions lined up, I think a plot with criminal factions, hidden machinations, and conspiracies will keep you thinking about the game well after all the combat has ended and you're heading home

Of course, I've also seen LOST and The X-Files, and I know how frustrating it is to find out, after investing years in a story, that the creators were sorta making it up as they went along. Don't worry. We know where we're going.

Especially with that last quote, I can't wait for the DM guide. I'm dying to get more of a feel for where this AP might end up.

 

[Riastlin]

Thanks for the link. No offense to RangerWickett but I generally don't have time to read too many blogs, so I had never visited his before.

Personally, from what he says in the blog, I think Zeitgeist is going to have the potential for pure awesome. I say potential primarily because its ultimately up to the DM and players to make it awesome -- no matter how good the actual adventures are.

What I like about what I'm seeing so far is that not only will player choices and decisions matter, but their "choices" won't necessarily be obvious. With "antagonists" as opposed to true villains being arrayed against them, it creates the potential to forge alliances and break those alliances etc. Personally, I love games wherein the players don't have just one "obvious" choice, or where it isn't simply a "Do we go the good or evil route?" When either of say three different choices can be equally justified without pigeonholing the characters as good or evil per se, I think you really create an interesting experience, and better yet, one that will likely be that much more different for every group that plays through it.

As a counter example, take the Scales of War adventure path. Personally, I think that the path does a pretty good job once you get to the late heroic tier (though some of the early adventures are a mess). I haven't read through the epic tier adventures yet, but I do really like the paragon tier in that path. The problem with it though is that it should be fairly obvious what the players will do by and large. Sure, they might come up with some surprising tactics, or go a little bit out of order, but it is likely pretty clear whose "side" they will end up on. That can still make for a fun game, don't get me wrong, but I think it also leaves a lot of potential excitement on the cutting room floor so to speak.

So in sum, I'm pretty excited by Zeitgeist. It definitely sounds as though it will be the type of campaign that can lead to very different experiences for different groups -- and that's no easy feat.

 

[OnlineDM]

I have every faith in Ryan's abilities as an adventure writer, and it sounds like ZEITGEIST is going to be a fantastic adventure path.

I'll be curious to see how he handles the choices available to the players. If they truly have the freedom to decide whether to fight for magic or technology or harmonize the two, and they have some freedom in choosing allies, what will that look like in the printed adventure materials? It sounds fantastic, but hoo boy, a challenge to write!

Will there have to be two or three different versions of each adventure, depending on which paths the party picks? I'm sure that won't be the case, but at the same time I feel confident in saying that Ryan et al will find a way to make it all work somehow.

 

[Riastlin]

I have every faith in Ryan's abilities as an adventure writer, and it sounds like ZEITGEIST is going to be a fantastic adventure path.

I'll be curious to see how he handles the choices available to the players. If they truly have the freedom to decide whether to fight for magic or technology or harmonize the two, and they have some freedom in choosing allies, what will that look like in the printed adventure materials? It sounds fantastic, but hoo boy, a challenge to write!

Will there have to be two or three different versions of each adventure, depending on which paths the party picks? I'm sure that won't be the case, but at the same time I feel confident in saying that Ryan et al will find a way to make it all work somehow.

I agree there won't be multiple versions of later adventures. However, my guess is that the prestige system will come into play here. Siding with magic over technology likely gains you prestige with the fey of the Unseen Court, thus making your interactions with them easier and/or opening up options that wouldn't be available otherwise. At the same time, that's also likely to reduce your standing with Danor and possibly Flint.

In way, I guess I could see the prestige system as building to a campaign-long victory point like system. So if you keep the fey happy, at the end you get one possible outcome, etc. Likewise, assuming there's some major battle at the end, the fey may be allies or enemies depending on the decisions the players have made along the way.

All speculation of course, but that would be my guess. You are right though, it is a lot easier said than done to make those decisions truly pivotal such that they affect outcomes and future interactions, etc. and may well require a good (or at least time-committed) DM to keep everything really straight to give those decisions the most impact. Note: this is not to say that the campaign won't be fun with just any old DM though, just that as is often the case, the more the group puts into it, the more they'll get out of it.

 

[Colmarr]

In way, I guess I could see the prestige system as building to a campaign-long victory point like system. So if you keep the fey happy, at the end you get one possible outcome, etc.

I had my doubts about the Prestige system, but if its role in the AP is anything like your speculation, then it suddenly makes a whole lot of sense.

I'm curious to know how it will work, particularly given the Prestige system is one of "prominence" rather than "good will". If you can reach Prestige 5 with Faction X either through being their best buddies or by foiling their every plan, how do you rely on Prestige as a determinant of outcomes?

Alternatively, I can easily see a sort of 'what if' resolution system, where certain actions lead to certain outcomes. (Did the PCs give the Doodad to the Unseen Court? +1. Did the PCs destroy the fey titan Gravelrash? -2. Add all the modifiers together to determine the outcome).

As for how you structure the AP itself, my first thoughts were that you'd need each faction to have common and competing goals, so that regardless of who the PCs side with their patrons send them to retrieve the Doodad. If En Publishing has something else in mind, I'm very keen to see it.

Speculation is fun!

 

[RangerWickett]

The way we've planned it, heroic tier has the default assumption that the PCs are RHC members, though they might end up being enticed by other factions.

Paragon tier gives them options of whether to change allegiances. There's going to be a primary antagonist group, but if the party decides to side with them, you just switch stuff around and make one of the other factions be the source of the opposition as the PCs pursue their goals.

By epic tier, the PCs are pretty much in charge.

I admit, there's got to be a slight bit of Schroedinger's plot to make stuff work if the party makes a few decisions. I'll be able to explain more once the Campaign Guide is out.

 

[ridingsloth]

I'll be able to explain more once the Campaign Guide is out.

Speaking of which, can you give us any idea when the Campaign Guide and Adventure 1 are looking to come out? My players are chomping at the bit ever since I sent them the link to the Player's Guide!

 

[carmachu]

Does anyone know if there will be a print version, even if its print on demand?

 

[ridingsloth]

The print version of the Player's Guide is available now, and I imagine the rest will follow suit.

 

[TarionzCousin]

I admit, there's got to be a slight bit of Schroedinger's plot to make stuff work if the party makes a few decisions.

So now we know one thing for certain: magic cats!