Stormborn
Explorer
Types of Game Play
The following are three types of games play as they relate to creating and running an rpg campaign. Which does your group use? Are there others?
Type One: Concealed Linear
In this style of play the GM has a single predetermined path (Linear), a meta-plot, that the PCs are supposed to follow; but the players are unaware what that path is (Concealed). Initial information provided to the players may be about the setting or available classes or even organizational restrictions, but not about the primary challenges in the game. Each session the GM introduces these challenges to the players and expects them to follow through on the hooks. However, if the players fail, for whatever reasons to grab one of those hooks the game can become frustrating for players and GM as it goes to the “Belgian Congo” or just for the players, as they feel forced into certain actions. Also, if the players have not created characters that are optimized for dealing with that particular plot the game can flounder due to a lack of skills or abilities. On the positive side the game requires less work for all involved when it goes well. The GM has less material to prepare; the players create characters however they wish with as much or little detail and background as they choose.
Example: Players are told to create characters for a campaign that begins in a city controlled by a powerful temple in a standard DnD world, but not much else. The GM plans that a rogue faction of the temple is going to attempt to open the Vault of the Eclipse and usher in the Age of Broken Dreams, and comes up with some plot hooks for the PCs to become aware of this faction but assumes they will take one of them. If the PCs fail to stop the cult the city/world is doomed.
Type Two: Revealed Linear
In this type of play the GM has a meta-plot (Linear) but during character creation the PCs are told the general direction of the plot and the nature of the campaign (Revealed). This type makes it clear upfront what PCs are expected to do, broadly, but limits their choices in terms of character class and background. It is easy for the GM to prepare, and if the PCs get stuck in someway the GM can always nudge them in the right direction with an obvious plot hook that is consistent with game world. The players are aware of the artificial nature of the world and plot, but actively participate in following through with the plot the GM has in mind.
Example: The players are told to create PCs that all serve in the Temple of Pelor. They can be clerics, paladins, monks, cantors(bards), guards (fighters), inquisitors (rogues), or “sun-touched” (sorcerers) or with a good reason could be a follower of an allied pantheon member who has come to study at the Temple, and thus another class. They are also told that the High Priest has seen a vision of the Age of Broken Dreams and has been told by an archangel that he must choose a team of “neophytes, untouched by the eclipse of corruption that hides in the Temple” to prevent the opening of the Lost Vault. The players are told that this campaign will involve a mixture of investigation and dungeon crawling and that they should plan appropriately. The first planned adventure involves them learning all of this in character and being sent to investigate the theft of an important tome from a nearby monastery devoted to Pelor. The GM plans that the PCs will report back to the High Priest at each stage and can be given directions from him or from “visions” if they stray too far off course. If the PCs fail to follow these hints the cult opens the Vault and the city/world is doomed.
Type Three: Dynamic
This type is potentially both the hardest to pull off for all involved and the most rewarding to run or play. In this type of play the GM prepares a setting and informs the players of it in a relatively high degree of detail. The players are then allowed to create characters as they choose, but with the restriction that they must answer a questionnaire or provide detailed backgrounds about their PCs. They would also be encouraged to collectively come up with a reason to be in the location where the game will start and to know each other and work together, although the GM upon request can supply the latter. The GM prepares several initial plot lines for the opening sessions based on the types of PCs that have been created. The PCs are free to choose which of these they follow up on. Long range planning on the GMs part may involve several NPC plotlines, all of which will continue unless the PCs make choices that impact those plotlines. However, at no time would any of those plot lines, if the PCs failed to act, result in events that would radically alter the nature of the campaign. The campaign is dictated by the actions of the PCs in relationship to the material the GM has prepared. This requires the GM to not plan too far ahead, in other than vague details on a timeline, and to prepare a lot in the short term, or be prepared to ad lib, for any actions of the PCs. The GM must be flexible and innovative while the players must be interested in role-playing and taking the initiative to find adventure or the campaign will flounder from lack of direction; or if only one player is doing so the campaign can quickly become a solo game where other PCs are relegated to supporting characters.
Example: The GM provides the players with detailed information about a city that is dominated by a Temple of Pelor, including the various aristocratic families, guilds, and crime syndicates as well as the districts, geography, and history of the city. The players are asked to create characters that fit somewhere in that setting and provide the GM with a one page background and a list of 3 non-PC friends, 3 relatives, and 3 enemies or rivals. One player creates the Sorcerer daughter of one of the wealthy merchant families who looks for forbidden lore in the shops in the bad part of town. There she has become involved with a dashing Rogue, PC number 2, whose family is heavily in debt to the local crime boss. The Rogue has a drinking buddy, a Ranger who only comes to town to trade his skins and furs but is actually looking for his long lost sister who came to study at the Temple years ago. The first session begins with the three of them drinking in a bar discussing rumors. The GM tells them that they have heard the following: a reward has been offered by the Temple for the recovery of some stolen items, a rare and valuable magical animal has been seen by travelers on the North Road out of town, a friend’s child is missing, and the Sorcerer’s uncle was seen in the neighborhood last night. None of which are related. The GM has adventures related to each hook, and a few others ready just in case. The PCs, in the course of the campaign, may never learn about or directly interact with the Cult of the Eclipse, the Sorcerer’s fiendish heritage, the whereabouts of the Ranger’s sister, or the crime boss’s take over of the Craftsman’s Guild but all of those plot lines will continue without them. However, none of them will result in any drastic changes to the campaign except through the PCs actions.
The following are three types of games play as they relate to creating and running an rpg campaign. Which does your group use? Are there others?
Type One: Concealed Linear
In this style of play the GM has a single predetermined path (Linear), a meta-plot, that the PCs are supposed to follow; but the players are unaware what that path is (Concealed). Initial information provided to the players may be about the setting or available classes or even organizational restrictions, but not about the primary challenges in the game. Each session the GM introduces these challenges to the players and expects them to follow through on the hooks. However, if the players fail, for whatever reasons to grab one of those hooks the game can become frustrating for players and GM as it goes to the “Belgian Congo” or just for the players, as they feel forced into certain actions. Also, if the players have not created characters that are optimized for dealing with that particular plot the game can flounder due to a lack of skills or abilities. On the positive side the game requires less work for all involved when it goes well. The GM has less material to prepare; the players create characters however they wish with as much or little detail and background as they choose.
Example: Players are told to create characters for a campaign that begins in a city controlled by a powerful temple in a standard DnD world, but not much else. The GM plans that a rogue faction of the temple is going to attempt to open the Vault of the Eclipse and usher in the Age of Broken Dreams, and comes up with some plot hooks for the PCs to become aware of this faction but assumes they will take one of them. If the PCs fail to stop the cult the city/world is doomed.
Type Two: Revealed Linear
In this type of play the GM has a meta-plot (Linear) but during character creation the PCs are told the general direction of the plot and the nature of the campaign (Revealed). This type makes it clear upfront what PCs are expected to do, broadly, but limits their choices in terms of character class and background. It is easy for the GM to prepare, and if the PCs get stuck in someway the GM can always nudge them in the right direction with an obvious plot hook that is consistent with game world. The players are aware of the artificial nature of the world and plot, but actively participate in following through with the plot the GM has in mind.
Example: The players are told to create PCs that all serve in the Temple of Pelor. They can be clerics, paladins, monks, cantors(bards), guards (fighters), inquisitors (rogues), or “sun-touched” (sorcerers) or with a good reason could be a follower of an allied pantheon member who has come to study at the Temple, and thus another class. They are also told that the High Priest has seen a vision of the Age of Broken Dreams and has been told by an archangel that he must choose a team of “neophytes, untouched by the eclipse of corruption that hides in the Temple” to prevent the opening of the Lost Vault. The players are told that this campaign will involve a mixture of investigation and dungeon crawling and that they should plan appropriately. The first planned adventure involves them learning all of this in character and being sent to investigate the theft of an important tome from a nearby monastery devoted to Pelor. The GM plans that the PCs will report back to the High Priest at each stage and can be given directions from him or from “visions” if they stray too far off course. If the PCs fail to follow these hints the cult opens the Vault and the city/world is doomed.
Type Three: Dynamic
This type is potentially both the hardest to pull off for all involved and the most rewarding to run or play. In this type of play the GM prepares a setting and informs the players of it in a relatively high degree of detail. The players are then allowed to create characters as they choose, but with the restriction that they must answer a questionnaire or provide detailed backgrounds about their PCs. They would also be encouraged to collectively come up with a reason to be in the location where the game will start and to know each other and work together, although the GM upon request can supply the latter. The GM prepares several initial plot lines for the opening sessions based on the types of PCs that have been created. The PCs are free to choose which of these they follow up on. Long range planning on the GMs part may involve several NPC plotlines, all of which will continue unless the PCs make choices that impact those plotlines. However, at no time would any of those plot lines, if the PCs failed to act, result in events that would radically alter the nature of the campaign. The campaign is dictated by the actions of the PCs in relationship to the material the GM has prepared. This requires the GM to not plan too far ahead, in other than vague details on a timeline, and to prepare a lot in the short term, or be prepared to ad lib, for any actions of the PCs. The GM must be flexible and innovative while the players must be interested in role-playing and taking the initiative to find adventure or the campaign will flounder from lack of direction; or if only one player is doing so the campaign can quickly become a solo game where other PCs are relegated to supporting characters.
Example: The GM provides the players with detailed information about a city that is dominated by a Temple of Pelor, including the various aristocratic families, guilds, and crime syndicates as well as the districts, geography, and history of the city. The players are asked to create characters that fit somewhere in that setting and provide the GM with a one page background and a list of 3 non-PC friends, 3 relatives, and 3 enemies or rivals. One player creates the Sorcerer daughter of one of the wealthy merchant families who looks for forbidden lore in the shops in the bad part of town. There she has become involved with a dashing Rogue, PC number 2, whose family is heavily in debt to the local crime boss. The Rogue has a drinking buddy, a Ranger who only comes to town to trade his skins and furs but is actually looking for his long lost sister who came to study at the Temple years ago. The first session begins with the three of them drinking in a bar discussing rumors. The GM tells them that they have heard the following: a reward has been offered by the Temple for the recovery of some stolen items, a rare and valuable magical animal has been seen by travelers on the North Road out of town, a friend’s child is missing, and the Sorcerer’s uncle was seen in the neighborhood last night. None of which are related. The GM has adventures related to each hook, and a few others ready just in case. The PCs, in the course of the campaign, may never learn about or directly interact with the Cult of the Eclipse, the Sorcerer’s fiendish heritage, the whereabouts of the Ranger’s sister, or the crime boss’s take over of the Craftsman’s Guild but all of those plot lines will continue without them. However, none of them will result in any drastic changes to the campaign except through the PCs actions.
