my new campaign: the Western Shore

[helium3]

I have used this before with limited success. Er, not so limited that I would dissuade you from using it; just limited in that the particular players in my particular campaign seemed to prefer hopping on the railroad car to exploring the wilderness. So to speak.

I've found that it works much more effectively if you find out what kinds of rumors the players would be interested in and then tailor them to fit. Course, that sort of also means that you have to place adventures that the players want to participate in. It's worth making the effort, though.

 

[SWBaxter]

Oh, and the Western Shore is an incredibly evocative name for a setting. Kudos on that.

Indeed. Fantasy Hero for fourth edition Hero system had a campaign setting called "the Western Shores", and before opening it I thought this thread would be about converting that setting to D&D. But a new homebrew is also cool.

 

[el-remmen]

I am using a similar method for my "Second Son of a Second Son" Aquerra campaign. I chose a bunch of modules I'd like to run and then used the personalized hooks to seed rumors for the PCs to perhaps follow up on - and I also tried to link a few to character backgrounds as well to add extra incentive towards particular ones.

Also, since travel is going to be big part of the campaign, I am going to take advantage of that time for events and encounters that might also lead off on some adventure or another.

 

[EricNoah]

Also, since travel is going to be big part of the campaign, I am going to take advantage of that time for events and encounters that might also lead off on some adventure or another.

Exactly, that's why I don't just want to do the "red line" approach to travel. I want a couple of "genuine choice" moments during travel -- something that's aluring enough to make them second-guess their current quest (or journey to the next quest site), something to distract them, something to, frankly, put the fear of god into me ("can I pull it off if I give them free reign?"). Pre-written adventures and a handy bag-o-encounters or bag-o-sidetreks will, I think, be a key to me being able to offer at least the illusion of genuine choice.

 

[EricNoah]

Oh, and the Western Shore is an incredibly evocative name for a setting.

Thanks -- for a long time it was just a placeholder name because I couldn't think of anything cool. And then I just started thinking of it that way.

 

[Woas]

Isn't that the eastern shore though? I guess it depends which way your coming from.
It is a great way to run a D&D game. I'm also running a game where I try to through out as many hooks as I can and just let players do whatever and then connecting the dots after the fact.

 

[Tomovasky]

Funny I was just looking over my games, I thought to my self that I need to step away for the adventure paths that I been running( which pazio has done a great job on) and move to this type of game..

On one thought in these campaigns do not be afraid to let the characters take long amount of time off to see to personal things… The rumors and tie in’s from these stories can be a great spear in a memable campaigns

Also I get some major inspiration from KotD, for this is how I imagine there gaming style most be.

 

[EricNoah]

Hey, just a follow-up for y'all...

1) The campaign has started! The PCs are about halfway through the first adventure, Halls of the Minotaur. I took great pains to disguise the nature of the foe, referring to him as "the beast-man" for much of the session until they found more detailed information. I have to say I was very impressed with my players -- they did a phenomenal job of role-playing their initial meeting. Lots of strong personality traits appeared pretty quickly. Very entertaining. I made a concerted effort not to rush them while they did this. I let them set the pace, and it was unusually liesurely (for them) at first. Adventure log: http://webpages.charter.net/ericnoah/noahrpg/westernshore/log.htm

I am concerned that the stuff that happens between the adventures might be more entertaining (for them, for me) than the stuff during the adventures. If this turns out to be the case, I will have to re-think my game plan. I don't want to bore anyone with adventures if all they want to do is hang out in taverns punching each other or whatever.

2) I thought I'd attach another way I am organizing potential adventures -- a flowchart. I'm using this to help me generate 1-3 rumors (on labels -- see the Word attachment) for each potential adventure to plant some seeds and see where they want to go next. Put the labels on 3x5 cards, distribute as needed. Again, I'm making a conscious effort not to push in one particular direction. I hope they take the bait leading to Quasqueton, but I also hope they take the bait for Into the Wilds. And I specifically only picked adventures I was excited about running, so no matter what they pick it will be fun. This does take some effort up front -- putting in the reading to get quite familiar with around a dozen adventures is some hard work. And familiarity doesn't guarantee deep knowledge -- as I discovered while running Halls of the Minotaur. I found a lot of rooms/areas that I had only skimmed or had never read at all as I was running the module! Kinda scary ... and kinda cool at the same time.

 

[Toric_Arthendain]

Interesting thread. As someone building his own homebrew (still a total work in progress), I really like the retro feel and the mish-mash of items cobbled together from various sources. The flavor from Song of Fire and Ice is a nice touch.

I really like the map. Interesting to look at without being too busy. Has a sort of Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms retro thing going on. Very nice. What did you use to make that map, Eric? Looks like either Campaign Cartographer or Fractal Mapper.

 

[EricNoah]

Interesting that you should note the FR connection -- I actually took a map from the FR Atlas (CC2) and replaced a lot of names. The map started life as part of Zakhara (the land of the Al-Qadim setting).