A Campaign Carol - Ghosts of Campaigns Present

Last time, we looked at the Ghosts of Campaigns Past, reminders of your last campaign that can ruin the mood of your new one. It’s like the hangover after a big night out, sure you had fun but it can kill your interest in getting out of bed the next morning. This time I will discuss some of the mistakes I have made that caused some of my sequel campaigns to fail harder than Godfather 3.

High on your success from you last campaign, it can be very tempting to throw your players straight into a fully evolved story even though you have set your new campaign in a new area of your world or with a new set of themes.  It is often very easy based on your previous success and intimate knowledge of the world to set up an amazingly detailed and complex story, with double agents, hints of secrets at every turn and events that have serious impact or world shaking consequences but still don’t do it.  Great stories have simple beginnings, they need room to grow.  Ever see one of those poor cats raised inside a tiny bottle?  Yeah that is the horrible fate you are condemning your campaign to.   It’s like taking a friend to the gym after you have been working out for months and expecting them to lift the same weights as you do, sure they might manage it but the pain they will experience for the next 3 days means they are unlikely to be keen to join you next time.  Like weight training, characters and stories need time to build up a good base before you start targeting areas to tone or load on the big weights.

You see Timmy, as much as you want to get hot and heavy with that cute girl on the first date, you need to let her get to know you and like you before you bring out your sexy clown costume and shiny silver duct tape.

Existing campaign worlds are great but they can come with an over abundance of complex material that can be too much for a new campaign.  It’s hard for a baby to learn to crawl if you are putting bricks on its back.  Its why Wizards of the Coast wrote a campaign to scrub the Greyhawk world clean between the second and third editions of Dungeons & Dragons, there was no room left for new players, no way they could invent and really add to Oerth.  Equally so, even if your world has lots of areas where characters can fill your world with their stories don’t overcomplicate it, start with humble beginnings.  It’s great to have a campaign setting with rich history to use, but it should be a prop not a cage for your players.

Smack 1 started with only 2 keen and slightly deranged Game Masters, a map and 3 warm bodies.  As it was a spur of the moment kind of thing and we hadn’t really done any preparation nor had I played many game session with Yeti, my co-GM.  In fact I had never co-GM’d before but Yeti was keen so I gave it a shot.  I had no idea of the awesomely twisted trip awaited us.  So in the 2 minutes before the game we worked out an incredibly simple plot; give the characters a big heavy box wrapped ostentatiously in yellow silk with instructions no to open it and to deliver it some faraway place for a hefty reward, then try to steal it from them.  We had recently watched the first Pirates of the Caribbean and enjoyed it so piracy was in the mix a little too. It turned out to be the best campaign I had ever run. Even the somewhat random spur of the moment things we did in the beginning ended up having story reasons that appeared as if by magic later on. It flowed because we let the simple premise grow into a mighty story with the help of the players.  It involved a lot of spur of the moment adaption and playing but that can be a lot easier to do with 2 GMs. 

Conversely, Smack 6 was difficult for a player point of view, it was hard to run and burdened with too much pre-existing story infrastructure, too many things I wanted to explore and do.   While there were many other problems with the game, one of the early ones was I introduced too much too soon, too many concepts, too many factions and too much complexity.  I had the characters caught in a large web but hadn’t given them enough time to really get to know their characters, get to love or hate the NPCs they had met, or really get to feel for the world.  It was like teaching someone to play tennis and then hitting 20 balls at them simultaneously and expecting them to suddenly turn into a Wimbledon Pro.  Luckily I had some seasoned players so they did alright and the game didn’t immediately fall apart.  It certainly struggled to breathe though, and character growth was somewhat stunted by the pace the themes, NPC’s and factions were introduced.

You see Timmy, true romance can only be achieved between a torturer and his subjects by starting simple , you have to start with something like thumbscrews before breaking out the boiling water, rats and strawberry jam. 

Another mistake I have made, and have seen in other games is the predetermination problem.  Based on how great your last story went, and how many others it inspired in your mind, you may plan out a full campaign.  Not only does this break the first rule of dungeoncraft but it can be as fun to play as listening to the thrilling account of that time your friend found $10 in the back pocket jeans for the 30^th time.  Basically, no matter how cool the story is for you, no matter how great it sounds in your head, it’s generally not as fun to play for your players.  No one likes being the warm body for someone else’s character to ride around in.  You should at least respect your players enough to grace them with the illusion of choice, chasing down your victims much more fun when they believe there is a chance they might get away. Avoid stories where the characters may as well be NPC’s.  You might have directions you might want their characters to go in or develop character traits that fit your plan for the story, but avoid the temptation to railroad them down it.

You see Timmy it’s much more fun if you let your victims might be able to escape as you chase them through condemned carnival park before they experience the grizzly end that awaits them.  

Smack 3 was a campaign I started with grand ideas and a grand story arch.  The players were going to go back in time to the formation and rebellion of the Imperial colonies and establishment of the main monotheistic religion on the western continent that the players in Smack 1 had spent a lot of time in.  It was going to deal with some of the background of lesser NPC’s from Smack 1 and tell their stories.  Other than the obvious problem of tying in characters from previous Smack campaigns, and a few other minor issues, the story was too predetermined.  I had a plan for what had to happen, what I really wanted the characters to see and get involved in; problem is despite my best efforts the players were playing a game for which I had already completed the story in my head.  There was too little room for them to influence events in their own way.  It wasn’t fun, despite my players trying to make the best of it. They weren’t playing their characters; they were playing mine, and playing my story rather than our story.  Good games and good stories are a collaborative effort between players and GMs.

Now I could just say don’t run campaigns which are set as part of the history of a campaign you have already run.  But that wasn’t the issue, Smack 5 was set in the era just before the Smack 1 was set and was based on the events that lead to the story arch that I told in Smack 1.  It was probably the second most successful Smack game I had run.  Running historical games aren’t the problem.  The problem was that as a game master I had already determined what had to happen and then invited the players to act out parts I had already written rather than let them write their own parts in my story. 

You see Timmy no masterpiece was ever created using a paint by the numbers set.

Up next ‘the Ghost of Campaigns yet to come.’

A Campaign Carol - The Ghost of Campaigns Past

Welcome gamers, dungeon masters, authors, artists and lurkers.

Rather than start my articles with tips and advice about creating worlds, setting up adventures and making awesome NPC's, I am going to start with a series of 'You see Timmy' articles about my failures and the mistakes I made trying to recapture the magic of the my golden campaign, Smack.

Smack was a campaign that had simple beginnings and turned into an epic story of cultists, evil plans that spanned thousands of years and three characters caught up in the middle of it. Smack was a dark almost gothic horror campaign where my masochistic players turned up week after week to see what other nasty yet cool thing I could to their characters or what new secret might get hinted or revealed at. Smack was a campaign where each player added to each other’s others characters and personalities,


The Ghost of Marley

Recently Tyrant Mithras came to me and said he was thinking about running a Smack campaign, I was immediately interested, another chance to resurrect the world I had spent years building. I immediately asked a few questions then thought of all the background information and events that might be applicable to the game he was thinking of running. I started compiling lists of NPCs and organisations, here was another chance to breathe life into something I was still very passionate about. Then I started thinking about all the subsequent campaigns, most short lived that I had attempted to run in the Smack campaign world. Keen to help Tyrant Mithras to learn or at least gain some benefit from my mistakes I decided to write a series of 'You see Timmy...' articles to pass along the lessons I had learnt from previous campaigns.


The Ghost of Campaigns Past

Most long term Game Masters have at one point or another run a golden campaign, a campaign that spanned several years, often run on a weekly basis which players turned up enthusiastically week after week. Laughs are had, legends are made, the story seems to write itself and characters come to life in a way that makes them almost real. The campaign draws to a close and you begin setting up the next one, you plan, furiously scribble notes, draft NPC's and maps. You know this world, you know its history, it is so alive to you that it almost breathes. You talk about your plans with your old players and they are immediately enthusiastic, they talk character ideas with you, keen to play in their old playground but with new characters. Then the time comes when the new game begins. It normally starts well, players get right into it, they know chunks of the world, know a bit about what is going on. Discussions about the previous campaign come up, glorious stories of battles, shrewd negotiations and those times when everyone held their breath waiting on the outcome of that one dice roll. However, a few games later, no one is as keen, the world is there, the story is there but there is something off. Players don’t seem attached to their new characters, the campaign starts to dwindle, it just doesn't have that old magic. Pretty soon you stop feeling like running the game, things feel forced and no one is enthusiastic and other priorities come up.

I could blame it on being older, having more commitments that eat up mine and my players free time, and there is an element of that, kids, families and jobs can take away from available time. It is harder when you have other responsibilities to set a regular time for roleplaying. It does naturally move down the priority scale compared to paying the bills, spending time with the spouse or looking after sick children. But that isn't quite it. Sure having a player not be able to make it in a heavily character and story driven game is inconvenient but that isn't it.

I could blame on the emergence of MMO's. Digital games designed to mimic the power development and non-personality advancement of characters. Designed to be highly addictive and immersive with shiny loot, pretty graphics and an endless treadmill of things to achieve and get. But that game I ran wasn't based on those things. It was based on story, characters and secrets revealed. MMO’s are quite compelling, and running around exploring a new digital world can be fun for a while but their stories get old and stale once you hit endgame. Over all that isn't the problem, though it can certainly impact on the free time a player has left at the end of a week to come to game.

The problem is you aren't feeling engaged or motivated by the new campaign either. It is not the other priorities as easy as they are to use as a scapegoat, they can add an element of difficulty, nor is it the digital distraction of online worlds. I have a theory that people always find the time (baring emergencies) to do the things they really want to. If you are spending your time in a digital world and not something else, It is because that is what you want to do more. That wasn't a problem with the golden campaign.

‘You see Timmy, a baby campaign cannot live and grow while its older sister is smothering it with a pillow.’

In every Smack campaign I have run after the first, the legends of the first Smack campaign have come up. The larger than life heroes, the amusing character rivalries and events and catastrophes that arose as a result of them, those 'that was just so cool' moments. Problem is, there was so much focus on the past, looking for the impact of the previous campaign that there was no room for a new mythology to rise. New characters were always in the shadow of the old ones. New stories were always being compared with old. A certain amount of fan service was put into the games, hints or links to the old campaign so players could see the subtle impact previous characters had on the world. Problem is, no one was working to forge a new legend. You see it a lot in the less successful sequels of movies, there is too much of what was before and not enough of the new. It is hard to for new characters to grow and develop when they in the long shadows of characters that took years to develop.

It is not a fair comparison to expect new characters to immediately have well rounded personalities, despite the best intentions of their players. New campaign events cannot, and probably should not immediately be able to compare to earth shattering events that took years to develop in previous campaigns. Players are going to have a hard time bonding with new characters so long as the ghosts of their old ones are about. Newly introduced players are going to feel like they missed out on the best part of the world story or worse, they could feel like outsider because they don't have a connection to the world’s past. This is especially if there if it seems like no room for new legends.

First Rule; do not discuss old games in or around game sessions for the new campaign. We all loved the old game, we all want the new one to end up like the old one, but it won't be so long as the ghost of the last campaign is still hanging around. Or basically, like in relationships, while you are still hung up on your ex and thinking about them, there will be no room in your heart for a new relationship.

Instead encourage players to talk about the campaign at hand, get them guessing at what they think is going on. Bonus points if you can get them doing it somewhat or mostly in character during the game. Player chatter can be a powerful source of ideas. Some of my best games were run out of ideas I got from players’ theory crafting, and some of my best twists were by using their assumptions against them.

'You see Timmy, talking about how amazing that thing your ex did is always going to be a deal breaker on a first date.'

The Fifth Smack campaign had a rule, mostly instigated by an ex of mine who was playing and not involved in the first Smack campaigns, that previous Smack games could not be brought up during game time. It was a good rule. Smack 5 was the only other Smack game that made it to a successful conclusion. While there were many problems with the game the rule meant that players weren't always living in the past they were able to get into the new story, get into their new characters. It is like trying to start a relationship while your new girl is talking about how great her ex was. It doesn’t matter how hot she is, its gets old fast. No one likes that, don't let it happen in your games.

Second Rule; do not bring anything to do with previous characters or major NPC allies or villains in the new game. In fact, it is best to keep them out of the game until the players have bonded with their new characters and in turn their new characters have developed friendships and rivalries of their own. It is ok to have major NPC's in the background, if you are playing in the same time line. Old NPC's will remind the characters of old events, if you are going to use an old NPC reinvent the kind of relationship they have with the new characters, if there were a rival before, have them as an ally of a valuable source of information. Even then, I don't recommend it if you are running the game with the same players.

Instead of focusing on your old successes, focus instead on new ways to deliver the world you created to your new and old players alike. My suggestion is to pick at least 3 new things when designing your new campaign, new time period, new culture, new continent, new themes, new politics.

'You see Timmy no matter how much you loved Grandma, you shouldn't dig her up and bring her to Sunday dinner.'

The second Smack had a really good start. Admittedly it was at a time when the first Smack Campaign was still running and I had enough time to run a second campaign. While it had a couple of new players, the others were all veterans of the first Smack game. Smack 2 started really well, it was dealing with a part of the world that the Smack 1 players new existed, a part that had in some distant way had an effect on the first Smack game but was different in every other way, different race, culture, politics, themes and goals. The game was very successful and was shaping up to be a really interesting and successful campaign in its own right until I brought in a major NPC in from the first Smack campaign. From that point on the campaign unravelled quickly. Even though the NPC was just a guest appearance, it took the focus off the new story and new characters. Resist the urge to bring your aging rock-stars into new games, Smack 2 had dozen successful games before I brought my rockstar into it and the campaign died a game or two later.

It is like trying to move on when the ex you haven't gotten over turns up and starts flirting with you a couple of weeks after you start seeing someone new. It makes everything awkward and generally just messes with everyone’s heads.


Moral

‘Let your dead remain buried, its ok to take out old photos once in a while, but a corpse no matter how attractive can make the best of dinner parties feel a little awkward. Instead, invite a few new friends to the table, reminiscing is fun once in a while but it’s much healthier to meet new people and invent new fun. Or as the fortune cookie says ‘those that live in the past limit their future.’ The same holds true for running games. Past games provide powerful mythology for campaign creation but be careful not to let them stifle the birth of new legends.

‘You see Timmy, to quote Barney Stinson from How I met your mother, “You know who is hotter than the hottest girl you have ever banged? Her slightly less hot friend who you haven’t had sex with yet.”’

Stay tuned for the next article, the Ghosts of Campaigns Present.

About Me

Lokius is a crazed perhaps slightly deranged individual who is writing his about Me post in the third person, mostly because he dislikes likes writing posts like this.

Lokius has been playing Roleplaying games since 1989 and running them since 1990. Sadly he spends more time running than playing as he would like. He started with AD&D 2nd Ed, and quickly moved on to the first editions of Shadowrun, Call of Cthulhu, Rifts and other Palladium games. He has created homebrew rules, learned from mistakes, had amazing adventures and experienced the pitiful dying breaths of campaigns that never quite took off. He played 3rd ed DnD, and 3.5, flirted with 4th ed before moving to Pathfinder. He has played old and new World of Darkness and even LARP'd as part of Camarilla (now called Beyond the Sunset in Australia).

He has been addicted to World of Warcraft and other MMO's afterwards. Enjoys painting and playing minature wargames, although focuses entirely on Warmachine and Hordes now.

He is currently residing in Japan where he is trying to keep this gaming blog up as a means of staying somewhat sane between long hours at work , long hours of studying Japanese and being away from his fiance, friends, family and beloved victims, ahem he means players.

His blog is to share the benefits of 25 years of gaming experience, mistakes, lessons learned, to collect his thoughts but mostly to appease his vanity.