Social Dynamics and Change In The Campaign

[El Mahdi]

I agree with Umbran. However, I will keep such ideas in mind when modeling a campaign world. I want the history of the Campaign World to make sense. I don't want the world to have just sprung into being, I want the cultures to have a reason for being the way they are.

 

[el-remmen]

End result - no. Even if I wanted to do that, I'll be honest: my gaming sessions are not long and frequent enough to spend on things that are (by comparison to the plotline) minutiae. I have enough trouble getting through the campaign events, let alone getting across the fact that since the start of the campaign, the rigid class structure in the world has loosened up a bit...

I see it more like the PCs playing a part in a much longer narrative of events/movements. So in later campaigns in the same setting that advance some years there is the neat factor of knowing that your past character had a part in making the world into what it has becomes since they died.

So it doesn't have to be minutia. . . It could just be two or three linked adventures (or adventure path thing) that set off a chain of events that have social effects.

 

[roguerouge]

HOw's that for an epic sword and sorcery theme? Conan the Banking Regulator.

Wow. I want in.

 

[Raven Crowking]

The 1e Oriental Adventures book had tables of annual/monthly events in the back which I have modified for use in my own games. Allowing random changes to happen, and then decided what those random changes mean/how they manifest within the game world, has allowed me to create a sense of ongoing social dynamics.

It has also led directly to the creation of adventure scenarios which I would otherwise not have thought of.


RC

 

[Daniel D. Fox]

Yes, and YES.

My game is very politics-heavy in a sandbox world. The players in my former game formed a revolutionary group called the WLF (Walstanian Liberation Front) to free the serfs of Walstania from the ruling Fifth House armies of Goth Moran. Their "crimes" were heavily inspired by historic political terrorists (for instance, they had to convince a governor to turn against the Fifth House - he refused, so they dressed up in Fifth House clothing and arms and killed the governor and his family to persuade the people to side with their cause). They'd blow up bridges with blackpowder kegs, sinks passenger ships between Goth Moran and Walstania and poison watersources where the Gothric armies were holed up.

 

[Jack7]

Shark, I don't know you but I very much liked your initial examples of change in the Church as spreading throughout the general culture in Europe.

It was an interesting set of analyses and choices.

Change is common in my milieu. My milieu is set in two worlds. In one, the world in which Elves, Eladrin, Giants, etc, live, Arcane magic (Elturgy) is real. However magic also has side-effects, kind of like radiation exposure does to us. It can cause mutations, even monsters to develop. In that world magic is used like technology is here, but as I said it has side-effects and is causing "pollution" and other malignant side effects. (Not always, but enough to cause problems.) So the major political power there is looking for a replacement to Elturgy, a form of energy that will replace it. The leader of that nation is seeking support for replacing Elturgy with something else.

In the other world, our world, events are set in the Byzantine Empire, circa 800 AD. Thaumaturgy (Divine magic, or miracle-working) is real but arcane magic doesn't exist. It doesn't work at all like a technology, and often it is uncontrollable or has unintended consequences, but it does work.

The two worlds are exactly alike geographically, but not culturally, or as regards what species or animals exists there, etc. Humans live in our world, humanoids on the other one.

The Elves and others have found a way into our world, and some among them have become fascinated with human religion, culture, and thaumaturgy. The leader of the greatest kingdom of elves even sees Thaumaturgy as a (at the very least) temporary replacement for Elturgy. He and some members of his court have secretly converted to Christianity, have secretly invited Christians and Jewish humans to his own world, and has been intensely studying miracles, religion, and God. Other elves, as well as some members of other cultures have an underground organization to oppose any replacement of Elturgy. So secret political factions, underground organizations, even terrorist groups have been developing. Different parties of elves, eladrin, dwarves, giants, and others all have their own views of the matter. Some of these groups are very anti-human and anti-anything dealing with the human world. They would kill humans if they could locate them. Some humans are now living on the Elven world in secret and some also wish to covertly study Elturgy.

Meanwhile, on our world, the Emperor and the some of the Patriarchs of the Church have discovered the existence of the elves and others like them but don't really know where they come from, or who exactly they are. They think the leader of the Elves is really Prester John. Since the Byzantine Empire is currently involved in major wars with both the Muslims in Egypt and Syria and the Persians elsewhere they hope the elves are a Christian Empire and will offer them military assistance. But others in the church and some in the court and military think the elves are really devils or demons in disguise or at the very least Persian or Oriental spies hired by their enemies. Many deeply distrust the elves and their overtures. The elves want human support for their initiatives, the humans want eleven support for their problems, and neither side can afford to trust the motives of the other too easily.

Both worlds are also pursuing mundane and what might be called proto-scientific civil and military technologies, but in radically different ways, to try and help solve their own various problems.

But because of the various religious, magical, political, cultural, military, technological, and social conflicts and events (not to mention the competing parties) both worlds are in turmoil and both governments are facing insurrection and subversion and possible civil wars as well.

So the conditions now, the situations in which the players are playing now, are very different from when they first started and first started making these different discoveries. Societies, cultures, and even religions are changing and shifting and sometimes benignly and sometimes violently.

Comfort is an illusion. A false security bred from familiar things and familiar ways. It narrows the mind. Weakens the body. And robs the soul of spirit and determination...

Ain't it the truth. The living truth.

It is my observation that social dynamics change fairly slowly in comparison to the length of most campaign storylines, especially if you eliminate widespread fast communication and modern media from the equation.

There are indeed time periods in which little happens. That's certainly true enough. But then again there are also time periods in which dramatic and sweeping changes happen in history all at once. The Peloponnesian Wars. The Punic Wars. Constantine converts and Christianity becomes the State religion of the Roman Empire. The Renaissance breaks out. The Archduke is assassinated. Germany invades Poland. Men undertake the first moonshots. The Berlin Wall falls and shortly thereafter Russian Communism collapses. 9/11, followed by the Afghan War, then Iraq.

Sometimes a lot happens in a short period of time that it is almost impossible for anyone to escape the consequences of. In my game I like to place the player sin the middle of such "Historical Maelstroms."

As part of the overall milieu cause I think it makes for a much, much better and more interesting background.
Plus they can usually help shape events instead of just live through them.

 

[Umbran]

So in later campaigns in the same setting...

Ah. Well, you see, I've never done that. By the time I'm done with one campaign, I'm stacked full of ideas so different that they really can't fit in the same world as the old one, so I have never reused a setting.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

In addition, the globe-trotting and plane-hopping nature of many campaigns will mean that the slow change in a local culture would be overshadowed by the plethora of variations the characters see among the variety of cultures they encounter.

One of my ideas for my next campaign is to make it a primarily Urban campaign, set in one big city. There would be excursions to other places, but I would keep them short. That way, all of the PC's change-creation would be concentrated in one small area, and thus more noticeable.

The 1e Oriental Adventures book had tables of annual/monthly events in the back which I have modified for use in my own games. Allowing random changes to happen, and then decided what those random changes mean/how they manifest within the game world, has allowed me to create a sense of ongoing social dynamics.

It has also led directly to the creation of adventure scenarios which I would otherwise not have thought of.

I've used those same charts for the same purpose. I like creating a background for campaigns out of random elements sometime. Often, when I'm creating a city for a game, I'll roll up a few years of events on that table, roll up very basic NPC info for the noble houses, etc and look to see what kinds of connections seem to pop out of the random noise.

I find that it ends up with a pretty realistic setting.