This Week in Campaign History

[We welcome back the our resident Kingdoms of Legend campaign GM, Nate Christen, for more heart warming tales in 'This Week in Campaign History!' -Brent]

It was supposed to be a single CR 7 encounter—a challenge for the party, of course, but nothing overwhelming. It was a succubus. She’d taken up residence in a Greek temple, and the heroes opted to walk right in and confront her.

Two things happened in quick succession that changed the situation for the worse. One was that the demon summoned another of her kind, a babau; the other was that she managed to dominate the rogue. (In that last part, I know I was picking on the character with the weakest Will save, but I figured that was a better idea than trying it on the more resilient paladin.)

Suddenly, instead of four heroes against one monster, it was three against two. To his credit, Al, who was playing the rogue, didn’t pull any punches. When he had the chance, he used his two-weapon fighting and sneak attack, while flanking opposite the babau. It was touch-and-go for a while, but I figured that the PC’s were still going to win the day.

Then there was a critical hit and, to paraphrase Howard Cosell, “Down goes Paladin! Down goes Paladin!”

In the aftermath, Mike coined the term TPTKO to describe the outcome. It wasn’t a TPK, by any means, since only one character had died. But another was still dominated, while the remaining two were beaten into unconsciousness. Now they’ve been taken prisoner, and it remains to be seen just what will happen to them. For the first time in a while, I ended a session wondering just what the heck was going to happen next.

At first I felt bad, like I as the GM had made a mistake because of the result. After further reflection, however, I started to think otherwise. After all, the PC’s never pull their punches when dealing with the villains. Even though this is a setback, it will only add to the drama in the campaign. For one thing, it gives us an excuse to visit Athens and the Parthenon, to seek help from the late paladin’s order. More importantly, it’s going to make revenge for the party that much sweeter, if and when they should have the chance. And this way, the players will always know that their rewards were well earned.

We reached a landmark in the campaign over the past couple of weeks, having been at play for six months now. I’m half of the way to using the catchphrase “One year ago in campaign history,” followed by a summary of the events from that session’s notes.
More importantly, the past couple of sessions have been a good reminder of an element that makes RPG’s so fun: I never know quite what’s going to happen.

This week the heroes followed up on their business on Crete, where they found a labyrinth being excavated by slaves. After dealing with the captors—regular and half-fiend minotaurs—they discovered a hidden workshop belonging to the inventor Daedalus. Therein they found a book of valuable secrets, but it was stolen away by an invisible quasit. That was when the paladin/gunslinger strapped on a pair of wings, flew to the temple that I’d intended to be the site of the big final battle, and blasted the demon into a bloody smear on the marble.
This was followed by a pitched battle with more minotaurs and a gorgon, after which the heroes took up shelter in the hidden chamber. The conjuror who was behind everything called up the rest of his minions and came to find them, unleashing a variety of summoned monsters during the ensuing combat. On his person, along with other magical items, the heroes found a communication scroll, and item that I’d figured they would use carefully to find out who was behind the plot. To my surprise, the heroes have now called out their enemies by revealing what they’ve done and I can spend the intervening week devising all kinds of comeuppance. Very little of this was part of my plan for the adventure, but it’s making for some fun sessions. It just has me a little bit worried for when, at higher levels, the heroes might start having dealings with genies.

[EDIT: I am pleased to introduce the regular host of the IPG Campaign blog, Nate Christen! --Brent]

I’ve been fortunate as a gamer.

I started playing in junior high and continued into high school, times in which there were always plenty of other players with whom to set up a campaign. As I headed off to college, then, I took it for granted that I’d find others. Given that my brother was going to the same school as I, we were determined to join the campus gaming club or start one if none existed.

What we found, however, exceeded our highest expectations. read more →

There was an existing group of gamers, including a mix of newer and experienced players. More importantly, there were numerous people willing to GM, allowing for bunches of campaigns. It was a cornucopia of gaming opportunities; I was able to run my own campaign while playing in one or two others.

After graduating, starting a career and moving to a new area, I was lucky enough to continue having such opportunities. While my schedule (and balancing new priorities) doesn’t allow for more than one session a week, I’ve had a steady chance to run and play in campaigns. That is what has led to a practice of mine, once a group has been playing together for long enough. At the one-year mark, I start sessions by reviewing my notes from twelve months earlier—always opening with the announcement “One year ago in campaign history.” Sometimes I cheat a little and start making these declarations at the six-month mark, because I enjoy making them.

That’s the origin of this blog’s title. In this case, however, I intend to update a little more regularly. My current campaign is set in the Kingdoms of Legend, with four regular players and one who pops in from time to time to aid with or add to the conflicts. I’m not going to name names, though. (Cough, Brent, cough.) This blog is going to be a place for reflecting on this campaign specifically, and the Kingdoms of Legend and Pathfinder RPG in general.


The Advantages of a Shared World Setting
I’ll be honest. During the brainstorming phase of developing the Kingdoms of Legend campaign setting, I wasn’t too excited about the notion of using the real world with an altered history. At the time, I would have preferred to see an entirely new setting. I was quickly proven wrong, however.

The main reason for this change of heart has become apparent to me while running my current campaign. It’s something that I’d learned before in other games, but hadn’t thought to apply to this one. For one thing, players who sit down at the table for a KoL game already know what to expect. The places and background are already somewhat familiar to them, although they can still be surprised by the changes. This makes the game approachable, but not predictable.

More importantly, from the perspective of the GM, is the fact that all of the world’s history and mythology is possible source material. Wikipedia therefore becomes an invaluable reference, as a starting point for generating ideas. It’s amazing how details seem to flow together; one core idea quickly expands into a complex scenario.

Take, for example, a recent series of adventures that started with the PC’s rescuing an oracle. They’d slain a basilisk and found its lair; the items there included a statue of a beautiful woman. I added that element with the intentions of developing it later. The PC’s had used the basilisk’s blood to restore one of their fellow adventurers, along with a horse, so they had to wait until they could return to town to learn her story. All of that bought me some time, between sessions, to further develop that plot.

I’d gone into the whole thing because of an interest in the mysterious women know as sibyls. Reading up on them revealed a few interesting details.

1. The sibyls were connected to the Greek-Egyptian Queen Lamia, said by some to be the mother of the monsters of that name.
2. This queen was blinded as a result of angering Hera because of an affair with her husband Zeus. This may also have involved Hera or Lamia murdering her children.
3. One of the sibyls was said to have lived at the Siwa Oasis in western Egypt.
4. According to the Pathfinder Bestiary, lamias were said to live under a horrible curse.

These details, all gleaned from reading a few articles online, laid out a plot involving a quest to break a curse, a hidden shrine in a desert oasis, and wicked monsters who could recruit other beasts to do their bidding. I don’t want to spoil everything for those who might have a chance to play through these adventures, but one thing became quite apparent.

This creativity was fueled by the fact that the world’s rich folklore could be considered canon. There PC’s dealt with that business, and are now sailing for the island of Crete to investigate business involving minotaurs, the inventor Daedalus, the bronze warrior-creature Talus and slave trading via North Africa. Here again, the adventures nearly write themselves, and that’s what has sold me on the virtues of “Earth as it wasn’t.”