Quote from: Elliot Wilen;626965So the group collaborated on setting the initial situation? Or did you pick the tidbit and create the situation by yourself?

A bit of both. We discussed the player's background and established he would be seeking some of his relatives while sailing with the Vikings. I introduced the rumour he heard in taverns and ports that one such relative might still be alive and well, leading a band of mercenaries along the Savage Boreal Coast of Hyperborea. From there, it wasn't hard to convince the Vikings to sail for that area, since the valley where the relative seems to have been primarily sighted has a few Viking settlements of its own.

So it was based on a mutual background brainstorm, aided by what I had already come up with as far as the Coast was concerned.

I tie campaigns together at the beginning to get the ball rolling by emphasizing where you came from (background).  When launching my Cambarra campaign, the first session was a solo player/solo DM.  He presented his background, and he and I worked out a 'way in the past' scenario to give him a reason for being where he would be now (a lone orphan, just ready to graduate from his basic apprenticeship at level 1).  The intro was nothing more than how his parents died, but it left a small idiosyncracy that he would continue to display for the remainder of the campaign involving rocks and puzzles.

Then I launched directly into waking up one morning, he had a visit from a friendly NPC, graduated, and was left with a simple task -- go to the nearest village.  The village was beset by a werewolf (or so the villagers believed) and the solo character dared face the 'beast' (which, at the time, certainly seemed like a werewolf).  He was badly wounded but forced the retreat.  

In the next session, the other PC's joined the game.  One was a cleric, one was a warrior, and one was a ranger.  Since the foundation had been laid, I described the village situation for the cleric and did a short 'rerun' of the battle, as the first character needed medical attention after the battle and, naturally, ended up at the small temple.  The warrior was arriving the day after the battle on a routine stop to pick up supplies after having ridden from his hometown (he had asked to have little background, so I ran with it and his intro story was much less focused on).  The ranger received a small aside wherein he found evidence of the passing of some kind of huge wolf, and he tracked it into town.  This brought everyone together, and they decided (at the first character's insistence in-character) to pursue the wolf.

I never had to prompt anyone after that; there were several sidestops, explorations, and long nights of RP.  Eventually they began to tie some of the incidents together and focused their pursuit on a powerful, evil sorceror who had been responsible for causing the nation's 10-year civil war and been presumed dead, but not once did I have to 'direct' them to do it.  It was entirely in the nature of their characters.

It should be noted though...I flat-out disallow evil characters.  That makes it much easier to deal with.

Quote from: zarathustra;626976Ok, I can give a more specific answer to that.

Thanks. All that is very useful in general, but here I'm looking specifically for the method used to get the PCs started in the campaign. Point is, something or someone needs to set things in motion: I'd like to know who or what that is, and how it works. After things are in motion, I think it gets easier. Or at least, that's a different topic.

I'll violate my initial request by doing a bit of theorizing: the system or setting itself could set things in motion. E.g., event tables could generate something to which the PCs must react, or rules for personal upkeep could mean that PCs will have a net negative cash flow if they don't do anything, which of course would goad them into action.

This is a little like what happened in the game I described earlier--the PCs were in town and there was no dungeon. I don't remember if I was charging them room & board but someone got the idea of hanging out on an intersection and looking to mug people, which generated several memorable battles with ruffians. (I.e., the players wanted to be chaotic but they accidentally ran into real criminals before they could ambush a fat merchant.) Then someone got the idea of working as caravan guards. Did I, as GM, make the job offer, or did they go looking for it? I don't remember, but it illustrates the principle.

Quote from: CerilianSeeming;626995It should be noted though...I flat-out disallow evil characters.  That makes it much easier to deal with.

Interesting observation.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;626948But how did your campaign start--what set things in motion?

Paris. March 1625. The weather is cold, and the only sign of spring is that snow flurries have turned to cold wet showers. The streets are deep with muck, and on the north sides of buildings, patches of snow and ice remain in the shadows. Along the Seine laborers break up ice collecting along the piers of the bridges while rows of barges are docked along the quays, waiting for spring to begin in earnest.

Despite the weather, the markets are bustling, as Paris is the seat of government and never truly rests. Merchants and crafts people, bundled against the chill, sell their wares to the families of the laborers and the servants of the bourgeoisie and nobility who throng the city's churches, courts, and ministries. At night they huddle in taverns, drinking mulled wine, slurping ragout, singing songs and tossing dice. In the townhouses in neighborhoods like the Marais and the Faubourg Saint-Germain, aristocrats take their ease under candle-lit chandeliers, around tables laden with game and fowl, pastries and other dishes, and gossip about the negotiations for the marriage of His Most Christian Majesty's youngest sister to the Prince of Wales or the progress of the Constable of France's fighting in Savoy against the Genoese, and what the Spanish are likely to do in response.

They also talk about the crowds thronging the opening of a new play at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and the commedia performers on the stage of the Foire Saint-Germain. The fair is in its closing weeks, but merchants and craftsmen from across the north of Europe are still selling luxuries to the aristocrats of Paris within its sunken walls. While the fair continues, it is the place to see and be seen, supplanting strolls along Pont-Neuf and carriage rides around the Cour de la Reine.


So that was pretty much my introduction, conducted over a poster-sized map of Paris laid out on the table. Only one of the two original players was present that night, and his character, a King's Musketeer with the Don Juan Secret, decided to cherchez les femmes at the fair. On the way he had a random encounter: a pair of apprentice painters, looking for a swordsman to protect them from the guards - thugs - hired by the Parisian painters' guild to stifle the competition. The musketeer chose not to help them. Once in the fair, he had another random encounter: three young nobles harassing a young acrobat on a highwire. After he convinced the trio to leave, he was thanked by the leader of the acting troupe performing at the fair and invited to the hôtel de Bourgogne by a playwright, Racan, who was visiting with the head of the troupe. He attended the play, which proved uneventful, but on the way back to his lodgings near the Place Maubert, he had another random encounter, the aftermath of a duel in an alley. (This encounter would lead to two assassination attempts on him months later.)

The next time we played, both players were present, and the pair decided to join another musketeer who was gambling at a seedy tavern. A random encounter involving two disguised nobles - the duchesse de Chevreuse and her lover, Lord Holland - resulted in a fight with a gang of bravos in an alley, sneaking the duchess and the earl back into the Louvre, a murder on quay Saint-Bernard, and a hunt for the leader of the bravos, who escaped the earlier melee.

And by that time, we were off and rolling.

A subsequent development was a rumor of a family seeking to fill a number of household positions: fencing master, tutor, banker, and so on. This lead them into the circumstances which resulted in their exile from Paris after a duel gone wrong.

So that's how I do that. Is that what you were looking for, Elliot?

Thanks much. It'll take some digesting...oh, yeah, what's the Don Juan Secret? How specifically does that play into making things happen or motivating the PC? My copy of Flashing Blades is in the other room but it's cluttered and cold in there...

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;627082. . . [W]hat's the Don Juan Secret? How specifically does that play into making things happen or motivating the PC?

Quote from: Flashing Blades, "Advantages and Secrets," p. 11Don Juan
Any character may choose to have this secret. A character who is a Don Juan will have great difficulty resisting beautiful women. Such a character may fight duels over women he doesn't even know, rescue ladies in distress, no matter the odds, and flirt shamelessly. This secret may become dangerous if the character falls for the wrong woman - such as the King's mistress.

Riordan's player does an excellent job of roleplaying this Secret.

Are secrets anything more than roleplaying suggestions? Do you get some specific benefit by RPing a secret (mechanical benny, GM is supposed to supply situations that match it, etc.)?

We completed three sessions of the campaign with the fourth session set for tonight.

The characters are

• Delvin, an impoverished dwarf from Thunderhold.
  
• Aeron, an ordinary common man with special skills.
  
• Cei Kerac, a hedge knight who lost everything but his horse and makes his living as a sell sword to regain his fortune.
  
• Durgo, a warrior banished from his forest home for doing the right thing accompanied only by his faithful dog Red.
  
• Kermit, a puppeteer that uses magic to enhance his performance but his half-Viridian (half-demon) heritage has left him physically scarred
  
• Henry Kiefer, a hedge knight who arrived from the north after after some unpleasant business with his deceased father's liege.
  

The game is based around the town and keep of Abberset on the southern frontier of the Principality of Nomar.  Abberset is part of the domain of the Count Salian Crompton of Shodan. Count Salian is concerned over the rising power of Duke Divolic of City-State who conquered the Halkemenan city-states to the south of Nomar.

At first the Ghinorians of Nomar, devout followers of Mitra, the Goddess of Honor and Jusice, felt the Halkemenans had it coming to them as they were notorious for being death cultists of Hamakhis, God of the Death. But Divolic being a Myrmidon of Set is no friend of the Ghinorians and Mitra. And now many nobles are worried he beginning to view Nomar as his next conquest. Count Salian more than most.

He has hired a number of mercenary companies including the Red Hawks under Captain Jonas Hawkwood. The campaign started with the characters' first day with the Red Hawks.

Most of the first sessions was spent exploring Abberset and learning about the Red Hawks. I am trying to play it like a medieval mercenary company which means discipline is pretty loose in some area and very harsh in others. Captain Hawkwood informed the players that there are only a few simple rules they need to follow.

Be easily available for duty or let your commander know where you are going to be.
Don't brawl with your companions in the company.
Don't do anything to get the locals angry at the company.
Stand with your companions in battle.
Share all loot with the company.

They also met their sergeant and his corporal;   Sergeant Raedric and Corporal Octa. They also met Corporal Tunfa, a very rotund man who promised the two hedge knights that he was "A man who can get anything they desired".

The party spent a game day exploring Abberset, they met Elder Drogon and his acolyte Ned. The party cleaned him out of bless amulets. In GURPS amulets cast with a level 1 bless are very inexpensive (25d or $100) and confer a +1 bonus on all rolls. If something "bad" happened, like a crippled limb", the amulet will nullify the results (convert it to normal damage) and the magic will dissipate. Interestedly Durgo bought a bless amulet for his dog Red and attached it to his dog's collar.

The next game day the party got their first assignment, to check out a quarry to the west and see why a supply wagon hasn't returned yet.  A half day's journey away they crossed Vikram Stream on the ferry and headed up the trail. About an hour out from the quarry they spotted a naked man wandering around.  It turned out he was a miner and half-crazed from something that happened at the quarry.  Delvin the Dwarf took him out in one shot with the flat of his axe blade and tied him onto the mule.

When the party arrived at the quarry they found all the miners dead, half torn apart by wild animals. At first they thought the creature was in the Miner's Lodge but it turned out to be just a wild bear. Cei took out with a shot from his Knight Killer crossbow.

Drogo tried following the track but they disappeared into the stream. However when searching the banks he found some other tracks of a man on horseback along with several men on foot. Careful examination of the horseshoe prints found that they were probably made in City-State.

Session Two
This began with the party following the tracks. Meanwhile Henry Kiefer arrived in Abberset and signed up with the Red Hawks. He was told to head to the quarry and join up with the group. Meanwhile the rest of the party stumbled across several men in the middle of the forest who were hanged. Looking over their gear the group found that they were poorly equipped warriors from Halkemenan. Aeron points out they were likely outlaws rebelling against Duke Divolic. Shortly before leaving, Henry Kiefer manages to catch up to the party.

Durgo looks at the tracks again and determines that they camped here for a while before continuing, likely the party will be able to catch up to them before dark. After riding for a few more hours the party found the group camping near a ruined barn. It appeared to a Knight of Set and men from City-State.  Cei tried to parley but Henry Keifer was having none of and plugged the knight with a bolt from a knight-killer crossbow. The knight fell and the fight was on.  The party won and the surviving City-State warriors were their prisoners. They also found two Halkmenan Outlaws tied up apparently prisoners of the Knight of Set. So they set camp for the night.

Then in the middle of the night the party was attacked by four wild dogs. However these dogs were able to phase in an out and had a deadly breath of code. (see Barghest from GURPS Natural Encyclopedia). The players got lucky were able to take out two at once, the third one was dispatched within a few rounds, and the fourth one killed several of the prisoners before being killed. From the Halkmenan Rebels they found out that these were Hounds of Hamakhis sent by the death god to wreck vengeance for some great wrong.
 
You can download the Roster of Session 2. It has combat stat blocks for the Barghest as well as the stats for the Black Bear, and the Knight of Set warband. One reason the party won the fight with the warband so easily despite being 75 point characters was the fact Henry Keifer was on horseback. Without an opposing knight on horseback he dominated the fight.

Durgo and Aeron being hidden and launching surprise attacks helped a lot. Cei took a bad hit from a spear but was able to recover and take out the remaining men-at-arms, cutting one of their arms off. Unfortunately Kermit started too far out and by the time he was able to close in with his spells the fight was mostly over.

Session Three
This session didn't have a lot of fighting and was a bit confusing for the players as they had to sort out the deal with the  House of Hamakhis, the Halkemenan Rebels, and the Knight of Set's warband. After a debate the party decided to head back to Abberset.

Durgo, Cei, and Henry practiced their lance skills by tilting at rings. They really sucked due to the size modifier of the ring and the speed of the mount until they figured there is no reason why they can do a all-attack get a +4 to hit bonus. Then they only kind of sucked. Afterwards they went to the Laughing Fox and had dinner and drink. During the dinner Cei's chair broke underneath him.

I rolled, Step and trip over a pothole, for a random encounter. So since they were in the tavern I rolled to see which character had a chair break underneath them.

Captain Hawkwood summoned Aeron to a meeting with Elder Drogon and the Bailiff of Abberset, Sir William. Then Aeron went and talked to his contacts about the situation with the Halkmenan Rebels and anything about Hamakhis he could find.

Kermit when to the temple to see Elder Drogon, Bumped into a really drunk villager along the way. The villager saw Kermit check himself to see if anything was stolen and started following him shouting "I didn't steal anything of yours. Please don't turn me in. I didn't steal anything. Kermit handled the situation pretty well except for an unfortunate choices of words with Acolyte Ned that left the boy with the impression that he was going to enchant the drunk villager to leave him alone.

The session ended with the party interrogating both the City-State prisoners and the rebel prisoners. Cei was adamant that they should kill the rebels as trespassers on the baron's lands. While Aeron was pointing out that they were fighting against Divolic who is no friend of Nomar.  The party wasn't sure what to make of the Hounds of Hamakhis. Half believe that the rebel summoned them and let them loose to attack anybody and anything. Half believed that Divolic men did something to cause them to be set loose.

The session ended with the party being ordered back out to the quarry to deal with the Hounds so the site can be reoccupied.

The group asked for a map and a write up of what the prisoners said so they can keep track of what going on. So I drew up the map. I chose a hand drawn style to make it more of in-game map.

And I made this handout for the group.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;627088Are secrets anything more than roleplaying suggestions?

Pretty much.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;627088Do you get some specific benefit by RPing a secret (mechanical benny, GM is supposed to supply situations that match it, etc.)?

With respect to benefits, some of the Advantages involve things like lands, titles, memberships, or additional wealth, but withe the exception of Secret Loyalty, which gives you a hidden contact, most of the Secrets - Don Juan, Secret Loyalty, Sworn Vengeance, Religious Fanatic, Duelist, Blackmailed, Code of Honor, Compulsive Gambler, and Secret Identity - provide no benefit rules-wise.

The referee is encouraged to work Secrets into the game.

Quote from: Flashing Blades, p. 11The Gamemaster should allow character's advantages and secrets to affect nearly every adventure. He or she should keep in mind, however, that they are designed to make the game more fun, not more difficult. Thus, a character's secret may get in the way occasionally, but it should not cause constant misfortune.

The Gamemaster and players are encouraged to create their own advantages and secrets. The Gamemaster should be sure that these are balanced for play - neither too powerful nor too dangerous.

Given that the Advantages and Secrets are common cape-and-sword tropes, following the advice in "A Swashbuckling Sandbox, Part 3" means that situations which involve the characters' Secrets tend to be baked into the campaign.

In subsequent the following major turnings points happened.

Sir Cei broke away from the party and rode north and met with Sir Mordran of the Brotherhood of the Wyrm about their plans to campaign against the Skandian Viking. He successfully negotiated a contract with the Brotherhood and went back south to the group. He convinced the party to pay off their current contract and join the Brotherhood's army.

When the party joined the Brotherhood they were assigned to run Chevauchée (raids) against the Skandian Vikings to distract them from the main campaign. With hirelings the party was up to a half-company (10 men) in size. During the next month of raids they learned of the whereabouts of the Skandian King and successfully were able to setup an ambush that resulted in his capture. The party then sold his ransom to the Brotherhood and now plans to use the proceeds to open a crossroads tavern. Shifting the campaign yet again to a new focus.

Rob, so basically the PCs started with a patron/membership in an organization/sense of duty, which let you assign them a mission. Now they've basically internalized the goals of their patron and are proactively pursuing them.

You also have a couple of random encounters there (I especially like the one with the drunk) but they don't seem to develop into major threads.

That sound about right?

Thanks again to all for the responses. They've been interesting and helpful. Anyone else?

Some background on how it was put together.

The campaign started when the players told me they wanted to do something like Game of Thrones. In the current date of the Majestic Wilderlands there are some areas that had that feel. One of which was Nomar, my pseudo King Arthur region. Because of my personal style, my notes focused more on the politics rather than the mythic side of the Arthur side.

So I explain the choices and the players choose Nomar. So then I asked them in broad terms what they wanted to play. Now Sir Cei and Durgo players are already very familiar with my campaign so told me right off the bat in detail what they wanted the play.

Sir Henry's player is an experienced roleplayer but not as into as the two mention before. After thinking about he decided to be a knight as well and came up with the general background. I then gave about four choices where that would fit and he picked the one he liked best.

Aeron's player is also an experienced roleplayer who has played my campaign a handful of time. Like Sir Henry's player he mulled around a couple of choices until he settled on being a spymaster who masquerades as a servant.  I then worked with him on fleshing out the details of his spy network.

The players of Kermit and Delvin are both second time players of the Majestic Wilderlands and this was also their first time playing GURPS. They played in the MW when I ran a Swords & Wizardry campaign.

Kermit's player used my Swords & Wizardry MW Supplement to come up with his character background and for the details of his GURPS Character I pulled out the original templates and GURPS Notes.  He chose to be a half-Viridian mage from the Karian (Japanese) Island wandering around making a living by putting on puppet shows. He uses his puppets as part of his magic.  

Like most players coming over from D&D, he had a hard time wrapping his head around the 1 second rounds of GURPS, the limited range of GURPS Magic  and the high fatigue costs of GURPS Magic. The roleplaying side was a piece of cake compared to that.

Delvin's player decided to play a dwarf. And like Kermit's play he developed his background out of my MW Supplement. As a dwarven fighter type his character was simple to build. The main issue he is running into is that he didn't take many skills. So a lot of times he relying on defaults.

The group agreed that they would start the campaign by arriving in Abberset to sign up with the Red Hawks. Captain Jonas Hawkwood assigned them to same company and by the end of the first session the group was together. When sent out as a group Sir Henry was placed in charge followed by Sir Cei.


The way I prepared for this campaign is I have a master timeline of events that I plan to happen in absence of the player doing anything.  I had two timelines, one for the Nomar region and one for the area around Abberset.

I then prepared a regional map of the area around Abberset where 1 hex equals 1 league. With a league being 2.5 miles or 1 hour of walking/riding on level ground. I made notes on the locals groups and sites which including plenty of fantasy elements as well as religious, political and social conflicts. It very sketchy with most of it in my head.

When the group abandoned Abberset and went north to join the Brotherhood, I ab-libbed the journey using my general notes and knowledge of Nomar along with random tables for encounters.  The session was consumed by the players helping a knight to bring some bandits to heel. By the next session I had another map with notes around Vestin, keep where the headquarters of the Brotherhood was located. This also included some fantasy elements but not as much as Abberset due to the area being more settled. Like Abberset I created a more detailed local timeline for the Vestin Area

Now that the party is planning to retire from the mercenary life. I will generate another regional map centered on where they locate the tavern. Currently the tentative plan to place the tavern has easy access to orc infested mountains to the west, and the Plain of Cairns to the east which has a lot of ancient burial mounds left from a millenia ago from a previous culture.

I think the plan is to get the tavern going and using it as a base of exploration.

As for the original timeline, the events in Abberset didn't change much. The players discovered that a Duke of City-State (a rival kingdom to Nomar) was also preparing to attack the Skandians but left north without reporting it to the Lord of Abberset.

However the capture of the Skandian King has caused some major changes in the original timeline and brought the characters to the attention of the powers that be.

Like my previous campaigns, all of my timelines, plots, and notes are plans that I fully expect to change in light of what the player do or not do.  What the players typically see is the ground's eye view implemented through how I roleplay the NPCs. I rarely if ever do any exposition. I roleplay the parts and the players usually gets the general idea of what happened.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;627098Rob, so basically the PCs started with a patron/membership in an organization/sense of duty, which let you assign them a mission. Now they've basically internalized the goals of their patron and are proactively pursuing them.

Yup and as you will read in what I just posted. They will also change their mind and radically alter the course of the campaign. It pretty much plays out how people normally live their lives working at a job. Folks will pursue the goals of their employers because that what they are paid to do but however they have their own dreams as well.

I felt that there was a unspoken assumption that if they struck it rich.

Quote from: Elliot Wilen;627098You also have a couple of random encounters there (I especially like the one with the drunk) but they don't seem to develop into major threads.

That sound about right?

I use random encounter tables that allow me reflect a slice of life of the area the players are in.  The drunk and subsequent events were the result of me extrapolating from rolling who the drunk was and how the encounter played out. As it turned out Kermit's player roleplayed it well and turned a negative encounter with the Acolyte Ned into a good relationship with the Temple's Elder.

So the drunk gave Kermit an in with the local Elder (priest) of the Church of Mitra. I didn't go into the details in my posts but Kermit's player cultivated that relationship for several sessions. The only reason it didn't work out because the party abandoned Abberset when they were able to pay off their contract with the Red Hawks.  Prior to leaving Kermit was able to get a deal on some bless amulets (+1 to rolls) and access to their library which allowed him to spend some points on new spells he otherwise couldn't have.

If the party would have stayed, it relationship would have continued to develop. If they went back, Kermit has a person of influence in Abberset that views him in a favorable light.