Running barbarian centered campaigns

[Yora]

I am preparing a new campaign that is going to take place in a world dominated by tribal societies and alliances of clans, with only a handful of larger cities where people from all over the world come together for trade and learning.

I already have the basics for the setting pretty much nailed down, but I am still looking for ways to make the game actually play different than the common late medieval campaigns.

I am looking for specific ideas to use in my campaign, but also for general advice that might be of use for anyone running campaigns with similar themes.


So far, I think the most basic thing to change is equipment. Spears, daggers, and bows would make good standard equipment for most NPCs, with short one-handed swords and axes added for major characters. Non-metal armor would be also very common and metalic ones limited to chainmail and scale armor, and maybe some breastplates and lamellar for the more powerful warriors.
In games where gold is the common coin, I would also switch to silver and giving copper an actual role in trade and tressure. Gold would be stuff most common folk never actually get to see.

Another switch would be to put emphasis on the fact that the current time is where great legends are made. The armor of a great dragonslayer could be handed down to the PCs by the man himself as he is dying, and swords from a legendary weaponsmith could not only be found in old dungeons, but actually been made for the PC who gets it, as a reward from a king or warlord.

Unless the campaign is going to be Trojan War or Greek Heroes themed, I would also make space for the presence and worship of spirits. Pantheons of very human-like gods dominate most settings, but for more tribal themed settings, I think having shamans who communicate with the spirits of the land to protect the village, or with the ancestors to bring the warriors luck in battle does quite a bit to make the difference be felt.

 

[Grogg of the North]

What about doing away with coins entirely and move to a barter system?

Shiny small round objects? Those are for silly city dwellers. I'll offer you three goats and a mule for this fine piece of leather armor.

I like the idea of spirit worship. Each lake, forest, or field has its own spirit. What about ancestor worship too? Would that fit in?

 

[Rune]

The typical system of justice used in most games (where a judge--and, possibly, a jury--hear two sides dispute a matter and decide an outcome) is probably too civilized. Society will have developed some type of justice system, though.

Consider introducing the "holmgang" (that is, a duel to settle a dispute) and the "weregild" (a payment to the family of a slain person to compensate for the killing). Naturally, failure to pay a weregild would compel the family to take "blood revenge" in compensation, instead.

 

[amerigoV]

The typical system of justice used in most games (where a judge--and, possibly, a jury--hear two sides dispute a matter and decide an outcome) is probably too civilized. Society will have developed some type of justice system, though.

Consider introducing the "holmgang" (that is, a duel to settle a dispute) and the "weregild" (a payment to the family of a slain person to compensate for the killing). Naturally, failure to pay a weregild would compel the family to take "blood revenge" in compensation, instead.

During Charlemagne's time they had another option. If the case was not cut and dry, you could get people to speak on your behalf (basically character witnesses). There was a ritual in what was said. The catch was this - if any of your "witnesses" fumbled their words, God clearly intervened and you are guilty. The witness also lost credibility and would be excluded from future trials.

Nothing like having a PC accused of a crime and the other PCs have to talk their way out of it.

 

[Yora]

There weregild system is actually quite complex and sophisticated. Unless the offending party offered a compensation that was regarded sufficient by the offended party, the whole thing would have to go before an assembly. In the assembly the accusations would be heard and the gathered people would hear any evidence and testimonies to support the claim. Then guilt or innocence would be decided and a compensation be calculated based on how much damage was done to the offended party.
There were no written laws as in a civil law system, but there were still rules what constitutes guilt, what evidence is regarded as proof, and how much compansation was appropriate in a given case. These rules were part of an oral tradition and common knowlege, and also took into account how such situations had been handled in the past, making it a common law system.
The main purpose was not to enforce obedience to the laws or enact justice or revenge, but rather to reestablish harmony within the community, especially by preventing blood feuds. Once a trial had been made, the offended party had to accept the judgement of the assembly and take any compensation that had been decided, if they liked it or not. They could not commit any further acts of revenge, which all would be treated as new and separate crime.

Another distinction I would make is to not to base laws on morals, but on the safety and survival of the community. In a world where each community is on its own and can not rely on support from a higher authority in times of trouble, the idea of justice often has to take a backseat when survival is at stake. You need friends, you need allies, and you need other communities to trade with you, so you want other people to like you and come to your community. So guests need to be treated well, unless you're a cult of lunatics who secretly worships a tentacle monster in the basement under the chiefs house.
But when in doubt, the long-term survival of the community always comes first. When the amount of water or game in an area is scarce, neighbouring communities become enemies. It's a bit like turf wars. As long as you're a foreigner and stay neutral, nothing bad will happen to you. But when you pick sides, you're neck deep in the whole mess. A stranger is found on the beach? Bring him to the chiefs home and call the shaman! A ship from an enemy village ran on a reef and is surrounded by sharks? Tough luck, that's not our problem.
Allegience from the d20 modern game is a great system for such games, and since it has basically no mechanical impact, it can be used in virtually any game. Have the players pledge themselves to certain groups and write it down on the character sheet. When it comes to picking sides in a conflict, don't think so much about which side is right and wrong, and which one serves help, but consider where your characters loyalties are. You can still plea for mercy to an enemy or call for punishment of an ally, but you would have to consider if you can afford it. You can't exile your evil shaman when he's the one who keeps convincing the river spirit to supply the village with clean water. And you can't kill an evil warlord when your own clan depends on an alliance with his clan.
Having the players write their Allegiances down is just a small thing that doesn't take much time or requires learning new rules. But it makes the player spend five minutes thinking on something that usually is left undefined and develops as the game progresses. But when in a bind, players will always return to their character sheet: "Do I have a spell that might help?", "Is there anything useful in my backpack?", "What is my alignment?", "Would my race give any clue on what the character would do?". And when you read "Allegiances: 1. Shaman Queen of Nur; 2. Brotherhood of the Ember Flame; 3. Blue Falcon Tribe", then it can give you a very good hint what your character would do when the chieftain of the Blue Falcon tribe wants to steal the Ember Flame to murder the Shaman Queens nephew.
A great thing about RPGs, and especially in Heroic Fantasy games, is to play people who are different and live in a world where your own standards do not apply. Allegince is a great way to override your gut feeling with the way the character sees the world.

 

[billd91]

I presume you're going to prune magic way back? If you do and you still want to have bloody fights but without a lot of healing magic - consider really emphasizing the idea that hit points aren't physical wounds alone. Allow PCs to heal back a fraction of any hit points of damage they take if they rest after a fight. I use 50%. If they rest and bandage up for about 5 minutes after a fight is over, they recover half the damage they took during the fight. I chalk it up to minor bruising and muscle tiredness, strain, whatever.

So far, using this in Pathfinder, has been working pretty well. The PCs are more resilient from fight to fight without expending lots of healing, yet they also get worn down over time.

 

[Stormonu]

Hacksilver.

What role will the supernatural play in the game - things like goblins, orcs, chimera, trolls and the like? Would the tribes adopt some of these supernatural creatures into their totems? Do they gain any supernatural benefits from doing so? What about fighter lodges? shieldbiters? Is this going to be purely European or might you be willing to slip in some Native American, African, Mongol or whatnot dressing?

 

[Yora]

I think making something "purely european" has the very great danger of making the campaign become Vikings, Gauls, and Greek heroes.
To make it a truly fantastic world, I think influences from Africa and Asia are actually essential. Though I think I never mentioned fantastic worlds as being a prerequisite. But I think there's a great difference between an Iron Age historic campaign and a pseudo-Conan fantasy campaign. The more outrageous stunts and monsters would be quite out of place in the former.

 

[Nytmare]

The idea that the only world the PCs know is one of nomadic wandering from hunting ground to hunting ground, with no real civilization set pieces is something I find really appealing.

[EDIT]

Actually, this reminded me that I always wanted to run a game built around William Forstchen's "Rally Cry" novels. Basically it's a world with a solid uninterrupted land mass that runs east and west around the planet.

Riding ever eastward around the planet, stretching pretty much the entire height of the land mass, is a wave of what are basically monstrous, 4 armed Ogreish, man-eating, Mongol hordes; terrorizing the humans that live in the cities spread across the world, and forcing tribute from them.

 

[Yora]

It does have some merrits. But what do you do with it? In a novel, you can only reflect so much on the lonelyness of the wilderness, and in an RPG hunting for food and killing other predator only gets you so far before it loses steam.