Starting a Campaign in media res?

[Pants]

Three questions:

Which breeds (if any)?

Two SL or WH version?

Any chance I can design your major NPC ratmen?!?

Heh.
I was actually planning on using the SL Ratmen, but I only have access to the CCII and the ratmen in that one aren't what I was looking for (though I may just use the uber-cool picture of the Ratman Stalker). I'll probably design my own. Seeing as this probably won't be run for a while, I'll have plenty of time to work out the kinks.

I've often been curious how in media res isn't the exact same thing as railroading from the players' perspectives--?

Considering that most campaigns need railroading just to start, I don't think it's that much worse. It's bad when the whole campaign devolves into railroading.

"Whaddya mean we're in a tavern? I don't want to be in a tavern! I'm a soldier in the king's army!"

"Whaddya mean I'm being sent on a mission? I don't want to be sent on a mission!"

And so on, and so on.

 

[Galethorn]

GM's Perspective
Because, while the players and/or PCs should get to choose what they do and where they go in the game, there's no good reason the GM shouldn't get to set the stage however they want it. It's one thing to force them (the PCs) to go a certain way, whether subtly or not, but it's entirely another thing to put them in a specific position/situation and let them loose.

Player's Perspective
Railroading would be if the only possible choice for 'what to do next' was to storm the castle of the BBEG which the GM wants us to fight; it makes it less of a game, and more like a bad novel. In Media Res is just where the GM just sets the stage with action instead of everybody just meeting in a bar; the group is going to end up together either way, and sometimes it's more fun to start with a fight.

That's just my take on the matter.

 

[NewLifeForm]

There's another way to start?

Jus' kidding

But seriously , almost all my best campaigns began in the middle of the action, with players forced to think on their toes. It wasn't really forced per say, as I have excellent and very creative players.

Here's a couple of ideas...

One campaign began with one of the players waking up from a good night sleep. He threw the sheets off, put his feet on the floor and - SPLASH! Right into a few inches of water. The room was a cabin...on a ship...that was sinking


Another began with the following conversation...

GM(Me): That was close.
Player: What was close?
GM: That shot.
Player: Shot?!
GM: The one that just missed your head.
Player: They're still shooting?!
GM: Well it was the Major's wife.
Player: Had I known that ahead of time...
GM: You would'nt have...
Player: I would have planned a better escape.


Just two of many examples. I love to ad lib and I love when players come up with reactions to spur of the moment trouble. I love this hobby.

NewLifeForm
"It's life Jim, but not as we know it..."

 

[S'mon]

I've often been curious how in media res isn't the exact same thing as railroading from the players' perspectives--?

In media res is about start conditions, railroading is about what happens _during play_ - the two are very different.

OTOH there is a danger that in media res can work to disempower the players. I started a Traveller game with the PCs defending a trench against enemy assault, then a spacecraft landed and 'rescued' them, recruited them as mercenaries, took them to adventure X, then adventure Y... ie it was a railroad, definitely a GM mistake. In media res can be great but the PCs need to be able to make meaningful choices _right away_.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

I did this once. I started the campaign with a battle between the PCs and a group of privateers. The battle was on the decks of two ships, locked together on the rolling seas during a furious storm. I even knocked off some hp and spells to indicate that the battle had been going on for a while.

Just when the players thought they had figured out what was going on, I had both ships be attacked by sahuagin!

It was a great way to start a swashbuckling campaign filled with action.

I would pee myself with joy to be in a campaign that started this way. Hard to not get your buckle swashing on in that situation.

 

[yennico]

I was a player in a short lived campaign that started with us escorting a caravan and then coming under attack.

This is a classical campaign beginning.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Must be the season for this idea. I started my new campaign like this. Last weekend.

Their background had to include a reason why they were currently serving in a mercenary company.

Players on the left flank of an army, defending the cannon battery from a swarm of goblins. Started off with a couple of rounds of them firing missiles into this seething mass of foes. After seeing how this didn't even slow them up, it was down to melee!

It was fun, got their focus right away... Very early on, their (NPC) leader had an extremely fatal encounter with a WH style goblin fanatic. Left the PCs trying to rally the remains of the company and keep the cannons firing. Threw them a few curveballs, goblin infiltrators sneaking in, counterfire from the enemy artillery, idiotic 'friendly' noble cavalry and so on.

They all seemed to enjoy it and I had a lot of fun running it.

Got the campaign off to an exciting start. Now they've got a shiny bravery medal, a heavily armed but rickety riverboat and 3 NPC mercenaries to play with. They've decided to travel to the capital to register ownership of the boat and return the boss's body to her family.


My plan was to keep everything looking a lot scarier than it actually was. Took pains not to kill any of the PCs (unless they had done something really suicidal). Figure having your low level PC die in the first session is kinda sucky.

There were plenty of NPCs around to die violent deaths instead. No dice fudging, but I did make the goblins pretty feeble and badly equipped... but they looked real mean!

Got good milage out of the armies encampment afterwards. They went and did soldiery stuff - got really drunk, gambled and so on. Nice contrast to have an unpressured roleplaying segment after the fight...

 

[S'mon]

Inconsequenti-AL, sounds great - the in-media-battle done right.

Edit: BTW did you use minis, or wing it? I find it very hard to evoke a free-flowing battle with miniatures & square-counting.

 

[Inconsequenti-AL]

Inconsequenti-AL, sounds great - the in-media-battle done right.

Edit: BTW did you use minis, or wing it? I find it very hard to evoke a free-flowing battle with miniatures & square-counting.

I winged it.

Find pretty the same thing you say.

The minis tend to get used to for important small scale skirmishes. Find if there's too many weak combatants zooming around then it bogs things down too much... For this situation I wanted to keep things deliberately vague. If there's doubt in a winged battle then I tend to rule 'in favour' of the players, which was particularly useful here.

It was a fun one. Came up in the consulting phase of campaign design - it was a player request...

 

[Frostmarrow]

As a player I ALWAYS start by raging:

DM: Right, you've arrived to a roadside inn. Inside you find the barkeep, his missus, and a mysterious stranger sitting in a corner.

Me: WAAAAAGH!