Planning Sword & Sorcery campaigns

[Yora]

I started a new campaign earlier this year and my plan was to make it a Sword & Sorcery game.
Pinning down the essentials of the genre is relatively easy: Protagonists follow personal goals and don't serve the greater good; there's no real clear cut line between good guys and bad guys; things can get hostile suddenly and violently; and success is never guaranteed".

But how do you actually turn that into adventures?

One thing that I neglected at the start of the campaign was to have the players make characters with complex backgrounds and motivations. I only told them that they are warriors in a village about a days march from the chiefs stronghold, and that's pretty much all the background the characters still have. (Two of the PCs are sisters and one is known among the shadier circles of the stronghold, but that's it.)
I think I'll introduce Alliegiance from d20 modern next time we play, but anything else you can recommend?

 

[Selkirk]

have them stumble upon situations that lead to adventure. the murdered tailor actually has a hole in his basement leading to a tunnel to the underdark (drow and duergar await). and/or have them serve morally suspect masters...the drunken prince or better yet the wife of the prince that wants him dead.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Yora, read some Conan and some Fafhrd and the Grey Mouser. While the latter pair especially are sometimes driven by something more complex than "half-naked chick needs help" or "something killed my horse" or "there appears to be a lot of inadequately guarded gold," their motivations tend to be "the thieves guild killed my girlfriend after I robbed them blind, I should go kill them in the face."

Just create an environment long on evil sorcerer-priests, sinister guilds, inadequately guarded gold and ruins with strange monsters the heroes cannot communicate with (giant lizards, mastadons, gargoyles who speak a different language) and the players will sort it all out.

 

[gamerprinter]

What game system are you using for your S&S game? I only ask, as 'sword and sorcery' settings in my mind have certain assumptions (like weaker magic or magic is always evil) that not every game system is ideal for running. D&D/PF, IMO, for example are poor systems to run S&S games.

I know of a d20 based setting called Xoth that is a very S&S styled game with its own assumptions regarding magic and other concerns to better fit the sword and sorcery theme and mechanics. Its only one way to do S&S, but it might be worth looking at to get some ideas for your game.

I've wanted to try and run an S&S styled game, unfortunately my players are so spoiled with D&D styled magic, that they won't 'gimp themselves' into playing a game of weaker magic assumptions.

 

[Yora]

Castles & Crusades with 10 level limit and custom spellcasting. I think that part is covered very well.

 

[gamerprinter]

For a more urban flavor, I'd include factions like a Thieves Guild and Assassins Guild, both of which are more threatening in a magic weak world, that what you'd find in a typical D&D game. Rogues aren't weak-sauce in an S&S world. Of course, a city-state fits urban S&S concept best for urban adventures. Also exotic religions might have more power in an S&S game, think Thalsaduum's religion in Conan, or the sacred sons of Set.

I like to include some exotic monsters that might fit a Jason and the Argonauts styled setting: harpy, medusa, minotaur, griffin, bronze golem, hydra, but these would be singular monsters and very rare, found in isolated isles, ruins and other desolate places.

Most activities would be interactions with slavers, religious fanatics, merchants, trade guilds, military orders and fighting units, PC vs. NPC, moreso than PC vs. monster.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Honestly, the easiest advice I can offer you is to pick up some Conan comics, change the names of the characters and settings, and run them through that. The classic Roy Thomas books are especially good for this.

 

[Yora]

I don't think that really works. Even more so than in other types of fantasy, it's important that the characters do what they want, without anyone telling them what to do. Coming up with a full scenario and expecting the players to do what the plot demands doesn't seem very entertaining.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

It wasn't my intention that you point a gun at them and say "you ARE going to the temple and stealing the treasure," but rather that you present the situation and let them go from there.

Why don't you describe a bit more of what your actual problem is, since this thread has mostly been you shooting down the proffered advice? I feel like we're not really clear on what the actual issue is.

 

[Yora]

I think the main point that makes Sword & Sorcery more difficult than other types of fantasy, is that whatever the PCs are doing, they should do for their own benefit, and not out of the goodness of their hearts.
You can offer them payment, but that's again just regular dungeon crawling without any intrigue or backstabbing. Simply quitting the job and finding money elsewhere should never be a viable way to solve the characters problems. Having a powerful NPC forcing them to do as they are told by threatening enprisonment or death is only fun once or twice. And the fact that there won't be any game to play if the PCs don't go along and finish the quest isn't a better motivation either.

Both the players and the PCs need to have to want to get the reward and to defeat the villain. How can a GM plan an adventure that does provid this?


S&S Motivations:

• Money, biatch! The most basic of hooks. The PCs are broke and long for luxury. Great as a filler between stories or an introductory adventure, but while it's an easy enough to grasp motivation for the characters, it probably isn't really doing a lot for the players by itself. There's only so much you can say about how your character is spending his fortune until it runs out.
• Clear a debt: Slightly more personal. The PCs are again going to some place and kill monsters and look for treasure, but they are compelled to do so by an obligation and not for their own benefit. Probably works best if they are paying of a debt to an NPC who did them a big favor earlier in the campaign, so the players are more invested in setting things straight. Alternatively, the employer might hold someone close to the PCs hostage, which will probably lead to an interesting situation once the hostage is back to safety and the PCs seriously angry.
• Revenge: Some people killed someone close to the PCs. The PCs pursue with the simple, but often highly entertaining goal of killing them in return.
• Rescue: Similar to revenge, but instead of someone close to the PCs being killed, they have been kidnapped. The stakes are somewhat higher, since worse things can still happen, and the PCs are probably under time pressure to reach their destination in time before they are too late. They also don't just have to get inside the villains stronghold, have a fight, and then get out somewhat more alive than dead, but they also have to get the hostage back to safety as an additional concern, which can be a quite significant problem.
• Clear your name: People are hunting the PCs because of something they didn't do (or since it's Sword & Sorcery, actually did!), and they have to set things right again so they don't have to worry for their lives all the time.
• Lift a curse: Similar to clearing your name and rescuing a relative, but with a stronger supernatural element. Either the PCs got corrupted by something magical, or someone close to them, and they have to set out to end the curse before they can return to their normal life or their relatives are save again.

You can always have a curse or kidnapping affecting someone unrelated to the PCs and have them dealing with the situation for someone else, but in those situations it's probably a case of payment, debt clearing, or name clearing that actually motivates the PCs.

It's actually not that short of a list and it could take quite a long campaign to use each of these just once. However, I feel that most of these come down with the GM setting up a situation in which someone is held hostage in some way, to force the PCs to comply with the task. Deal with the situation, or you or someone close to you will suffer. I wonder if there isn't more that could be done to motivate characters.