Midnight Essentials

Well, thanks Devyn, ShadowDenizen, and boredgremlin; I'm basically bumping this -and probably will do so again for last time in some 24h- just in case anyone has something to contribute.
 

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OUCH!!! Be prepared for some work. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Midnight but I just decided against running a Midnight campaign for a couple reasons.

1) Rules Changes: Unless each member of your group is willing to shell out $50 to go pick up a copy of the campaign setting the task will be laid on you to get them spun up on the background of the setting and all of the rules changes. This includes the new races, classes, heroic paths, spellcasting system, herbalism system (don't forget that... they'll hate you when they find that they could have been using herbs to heal and stay below an astirax's radar), and whatever else I missed. This can be incredibly time consuming.

2) Lack of modules: I'm a busy guy so where I once disdained the use of modules I now depend on them. Fantasy Flight Games for some reason has deigned to only produce 1 module and concentrate on regional setting guides. Midnight is SUCH a different setting that using Dungeon articles or prewritten modules requires bit of adaptation to be used. This is one of the bigger complaints of the Midnight fans over at againsttheshadow.com.

That is about it. I don't mean to sound like I am trying to disuade you from running your Midnight campaign but make sure you've given the whole project consideration to avoid a "false start" for you group.

That said for your game I'd avoid using the material from the regional books. Flesh it out yourself. Make it your own. I do like Fury of Shadow as it is chock full of adventure ideas. Sorcery and Shadow & Steel and Shadow are great too but add more rules and you don't want to overwhelm your group.

Good luck! :)
 

Thanks for the warning CJ, but I've got faith in myself and on the learning abilities of my players (aside from the fact that actually running midnight is nothing more than a possibility for the time being, it'll be that or a Oriental campaign by other DM).
Also, there's a fair number of free modules at FFG's webpage and another pair at Againsttheshadow.org. So I'm not that much on my own.
 



Land Outcast said:
I lied...

Things to Consider:

How do the characters know to deal with the dead? If you want the fell to be a surprise, I'd recommend some sort of local tradition, such as cremation, that would naturally handle the problem without calling out the reasons behind it. If you link it to an idea of honoring the dead, then the players are in for a nasty surprise when they declare the enemy unworthy of the death rites. I've also been playing around with the idea of an ancestor-worshipping culture that ritualistically binds the souls of the dead to monuments where pregnant women pray to receive the blessings of the elders (and a soul) for their children, but I'm currently busy with the Savage Tide adventure path to play around with Midnight a lot.
 

I ran a Midnight game for a while when a buddy of mine was in a car crash and ended up spending 3 months in bed.

Nothing makes the time go faster than pretending to be in a world dominated by evil. Fun times.

We started our game with the players all as various folk who were pretty close to the Shadow, not right up to the bosom of the Shadow but close. Before the game started, something had happened that made them want to break from the shadow, like picture the little girl's red coat in Schindler's List, that one thing that makes you fight in any way you can.

So, the game started with JJ's character, a son of Vildar Esben, the first human to swear to Izrador, escorting a newly annointed priest to Baden's Bluff.

The Story Hour's got to be around somewhere.

Hope that helps.

Also, at the old Against the Shadow site I had an article that was a dozen or so ways to jumpstart a Midnight campaign. I wonder what became of it?
 


Nice idea about the fell mara, but I don't want to restrict them to be all from the same little town (altough I certainly could with no great damage)... Maybe run a first encounter with some of them (those who don't really know about the fell) in an enclosed locale in the middle of a storm so that the fell have their time to rise; and any others -hailing from elsewhere- already know about the fell but appear later on...
Actually I'm already decided, I'll implement that. :D

Wow, thanks Paka. I thought I had already found all the Midnight Story Hours (which comes to be a great number of "2": "of fey and shadow", and "shadow of a lost faith"), google failed me this time.

I like the idea of them being close to the shadow at first, or at least one or two of them... specially "something had happened that made them want to break from the shadow", that's an excellent drive :D
 

Land Outcast said:
Wow, thanks Paka. I thought I had already found all the Midnight Story Hours (which comes to be a great number of "2": "of fey and shadow", and "shadow of a lost faith"), google failed me this time.


Sure thing, let me know what you think of it.

Land Outcast said:
I like the idea of them being close to the shadow at first, or at least one or two of them... specially "something had happened that made them want to break from the shadow", that's an excellent drive :D

It worked out really well and was a fun campaign while it lasted.

It ended on a dire note and I'd love to get back to it some day and see where it ends.
 

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