I have recently seen the movie "The Illusionist," which takes place in Austria in the late 19th century, and I think that settled in to the back of my brain. When I started thinking about my campaign, the Austrian nobility jumped to the forefront and I started thinking about Germanic royalty in general, especially titles like Markgraf (Margrave), Graf (Count) and Duke. But I didn't want to start big, I wanted small to start small. I also don't have a lot of experience with political games, so I wanted to skip that for now and start on easier things.
That got me thinking of Germanic culture in general. I don't know a lot about German history, so a trip to Wikipedia started to get me up to speed. The country we know as Germany hasn't really been around very long. The cultures and the peoples have been there a long time, but "Germany" is a pretty recent arrival. I was thinking about medieval Germany at first, and that is actually the Holy Roman Empire. That looked good, and that's where I really started my research.
Unfortunately, that article is really kind of dry and has a lot of names and dates, and soon my eyes started to gloss over. Poking around for related articles didn't get me much at first. I turned to some experts for help, and posted a thread on EN World asking for German-themed game resources.
Based on the feedback of some of those folks (a number of native Germans, I gather), I looked in to some more specific things about the HRE. The HRE was composed of many smaller states that were very different from each other - feudal states, free cities, and the Hanseatic League. I adjusted the time period I was looking at slightly, to a more modern 15th to 17th century. (D&D is typically considered "medieval", but the technology level is usually quite a bit higher than the medieval period, and the social structures more complex.) I started to poke around at the German states to get a better idea of individual cultures. I mentioned the Templars as a knightly order of the time, and someone else mentioned the Teutonic Knights, a Germanic knightly order. I noted some non-Wikipedia sources for more info, but haven't looked through most of them yet.
Other resources mentioned included the Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay game. I grabbed a copy and read through the section on the Empire, which was obviously based on the HRE. Unfortunately, I didn't find as much material as I had hoped. I'll also be borrowing the Empire Sourcebook to see if there are some good ideas to swipe there. (And I've just now discovered that Warhammer Fantasy has a surprisingly detailed network of Wikipedia articles, so I'll poke through those too.) There were also a few tidbits from other game systems and campaigns, including Terra Veijo and Codex of Erde.
I should clarify that right now I'm still in information gathering mode. I need to build up my knowledge of the subject so that I can make better decisions about designing the game. This will also pay off later when the PCs go to new areas and I need to come up with stuff on the fly that still fits the setting.
Wednesday, October 31, 2007
Monday, October 29, 2007
Translations
I found a psuedo-German phrase in the Warhammer Fantasy Role Playing book, "drakwald" and was trying to translate it. I figured it meant Dragon Wall or something similar (Dragonwood), but I realized that a really easy way to come up with good German place names is to take English words and translate them using Google's Language Tools. Voila, instant flavor in the language of your choice.
I also noticed there are Translation Browser Buttons, which let you translate part or all of a web page pretty easily, and the Dictionary gives you all of the possible words, plus interesting phrases that use it. Check it out for sword. A suggestion of "flammenschwert?" It's like it's reading my mind!
Just for the record, I don't know any German other than the few words I've been able to pick up here and there.
I also noticed there are Translation Browser Buttons, which let you translate part or all of a web page pretty easily, and the Dictionary gives you all of the possible words, plus interesting phrases that use it. Check it out for sword. A suggestion of "flammenschwert?" It's like it's reading my mind!
Just for the record, I don't know any German other than the few words I've been able to pick up here and there.
Welcome
You might be wondering why I'm blogging all this. Maybe not. People blog a lot of crap they think is interesting. I'm hoping this is interesting and useful.
I've been reading Treasure Tables for a while now, and there's really a lot of insightful stuff there. I'm hoping to try and apply some of that to my next game. This blog is me trying to test some of those ideas and get feedback.
I also want to give some insight into the process by which a game gets created. I don't think there's enough information on this. There are guidelines and tips - the various incarnations of Dungeoncraft are a great place to start, but they are only part of the picture. What's really lacking is examples.
So, what's going to happen here?
I'm going to rough-sketch a campaign world, work on some techniques for minimizing prep, recruit some players and, in about 6 months, run my first game with D&D 4th edition. After that, I'll continue to use this space to plan my campaign plots and expand the setting. You, dear reader, get to see how I do it all. A behind the scenes view, so to speak. Hopefully I'll be able to generate some good feedback. Feel free to contribute tips, tricks and techniques that you've tried.
Thanks for reading!
I've been reading Treasure Tables for a while now, and there's really a lot of insightful stuff there. I'm hoping to try and apply some of that to my next game. This blog is me trying to test some of those ideas and get feedback.
I also want to give some insight into the process by which a game gets created. I don't think there's enough information on this. There are guidelines and tips - the various incarnations of Dungeoncraft are a great place to start, but they are only part of the picture. What's really lacking is examples.
So, what's going to happen here?
I'm going to rough-sketch a campaign world, work on some techniques for minimizing prep, recruit some players and, in about 6 months, run my first game with D&D 4th edition. After that, I'll continue to use this space to plan my campaign plots and expand the setting. You, dear reader, get to see how I do it all. A behind the scenes view, so to speak. Hopefully I'll be able to generate some good feedback. Feel free to contribute tips, tricks and techniques that you've tried.
Thanks for reading!
Session Notes
DNAPhil has some great thoughts on writing session notes. There are three sections, but the last is the one with the real gold. I will try to apply some of his techniques later.
Link by way of Treasure Tables.
Link by way of Treasure Tables.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Getting started
Inspired by James Wyatt's Dungeoncraft article in Dragon #151, I want to start a new campaign for 4e D&D. Typically my games have been in Eberron, a detailed published setting. I start with a large plot and go top-down in developing it (or use a published adventure). Then, after I've figured out my plot, the players create characters which are wedged into the format I've already decided on. This is sub-optimal for many reasons.
My goals in this game are to have minimal prep and character-driven plot. I want to try to do more on-the-fly. I want to avoid overly complex plot lines that the characters never really pick up on. I want to avoid spending time onbackstory and plot elements that will probably never come into play. I don't want to use a published setting, because there's actually too much information there. I don't get the feeling that the players are actually exploring the world or interacting with it. They make too many assumptions. If they own the books, they already know all the interesting bits. I think I'd like there to be a theme to the game, to help me choose events and bind things together. I don't know what that theme is yet.
D&D 4th Edition is supposed to have monsters that are much easier to run and develop, so that will hopefully help with a lot of the on-the-fly work. I'd like to revisit some of the classic elements of D&D - goblin raiders,orc tribes, evil necromancers with skeletal minions, etc. Stuff that seems cliche now, but it's been such a long time since it was used that maybe it can be new again. The basics, like "rescue the princess," "save the children from the goblins" and "orc and pie" are simple plots, but can still be effective. I also like the idea that people aren't going to be reaching for supplements right away (mostly because they won't exist).
The bottom-up approach James uses for developing his starting town is appealing to me. Develop elements of the setting as needed and as appropriate, rather than all at once. "Points of Light" is a major theme in the default D&D 4e world. Small pockets of civilization surrounded by darkness. A journey even to the next town over has a real element of risk to it, and characters don't know much about what's outside. The PCs will start at first level, in a small town, to minimize their exposure to the wider world. As they move out from the town, they will be introduced to the wider world a piece at a time.
Culturally, I think I'd like the world to be Germanic in influence. I want the players to think "hey, I'm in a fantasy Germany" instead of England, France or just "Europe." I'm hoping the Germanic feel will make things a little bit different and interesting while leaving many of the basic assumptions and elements the same, like an alternate style sheet over a web page. Same content, different colors. A message board post on EN World helped me find a few sources of info, and it sounds like the Warhammer Fantasy Role-Playing game has a heavy Germanic/Holy Roman Empire feel to it, so I'll be looking to that for more inspiration. Wikipedia has lots of historical information like names and dates, but it's hard to find cultural elements that are useful. More on the Germanic feel later.
While I intend for the plot to be mostly character driven, I will still have a larger plot in place to give them something to fall back on or cling to. I'm going to try to keep it very simple. Here's a rough outline of what I've come up with so far.
For my NPCs, I'm going to try to use Conflict Webs, a neat idea for PC interaction. (The blog where the conflict web post originally happened (http://bankuei.blogspot.com) went defunct and the archives lost. The author has a new blog (http://bankuei.wordpress.com) and the old archives areaccessible on the Wayback Machine at http://archive.org.) Basically it's a relationship map indicating general reactions between people (or political bodies, or whatever): friendly, antagonistic or indicative of some kind of obligation. Anyway, I figure this is a good, relatively easy way to map out a town, or a nation, or a group of nations. That, combined with short descriptions of character, personality and notable appearance, should hopefully be enough to keep my prep limited.
I'm tentatively calling the game Hammerstein, after a possible name for the starting town. One idea I had for the town was to have it heavily economically dependent upon a brewery, which I'm sure will pique my player's interest. The Hammerstein logo will be a hammer embossed on a stein, which will feature prominently on the kegs.
My goals in this game are to have minimal prep and character-driven plot. I want to try to do more on-the-fly. I want to avoid overly complex plot lines that the characters never really pick up on. I want to avoid spending time onbackstory and plot elements that will probably never come into play. I don't want to use a published setting, because there's actually too much information there. I don't get the feeling that the players are actually exploring the world or interacting with it. They make too many assumptions. If they own the books, they already know all the interesting bits. I think I'd like there to be a theme to the game, to help me choose events and bind things together. I don't know what that theme is yet.
D&D 4th Edition is supposed to have monsters that are much easier to run and develop, so that will hopefully help with a lot of the on-the-fly work. I'd like to revisit some of the classic elements of D&D - goblin raiders,orc tribes, evil necromancers with skeletal minions, etc. Stuff that seems cliche now, but it's been such a long time since it was used that maybe it can be new again. The basics, like "rescue the princess," "save the children from the goblins" and "orc and pie" are simple plots, but can still be effective. I also like the idea that people aren't going to be reaching for supplements right away (mostly because they won't exist).
The bottom-up approach James uses for developing his starting town is appealing to me. Develop elements of the setting as needed and as appropriate, rather than all at once. "Points of Light" is a major theme in the default D&D 4e world. Small pockets of civilization surrounded by darkness. A journey even to the next town over has a real element of risk to it, and characters don't know much about what's outside. The PCs will start at first level, in a small town, to minimize their exposure to the wider world. As they move out from the town, they will be introduced to the wider world a piece at a time.
Culturally, I think I'd like the world to be Germanic in influence. I want the players to think "hey, I'm in a fantasy Germany" instead of England, France or just "Europe." I'm hoping the Germanic feel will make things a little bit different and interesting while leaving many of the basic assumptions and elements the same, like an alternate style sheet over a web page. Same content, different colors. A message board post on EN World helped me find a few sources of info, and it sounds like the Warhammer Fantasy Role-Playing game has a heavy Germanic/Holy Roman Empire feel to it, so I'll be looking to that for more inspiration. Wikipedia has lots of historical information like names and dates, but it's hard to find cultural elements that are useful. More on the Germanic feel later.
While I intend for the plot to be mostly character driven, I will still have a larger plot in place to give them something to fall back on or cling to. I'm going to try to keep it very simple. Here's a rough outline of what I've come up with so far.
- Characters get established in town.
- Town gets raided by orcs or similar. Many dead, but many missing.
- PCs go after missing townsfolk.
- PCs rescue townsfolk, discover that orcs are part of larger army or dangerous group.
- That group, in turn, is part of a larger plot. Possibly invasion of the region by a hostile army.
For my NPCs, I'm going to try to use Conflict Webs, a neat idea for PC interaction. (The blog where the conflict web post originally happened (http://bankuei.blogspot.com) went defunct and the archives lost. The author has a new blog (http://bankuei.wordpress.com) and the old archives areaccessible on the Wayback Machine at http://archive.org.) Basically it's a relationship map indicating general reactions between people (or political bodies, or whatever): friendly, antagonistic or indicative of some kind of obligation. Anyway, I figure this is a good, relatively easy way to map out a town, or a nation, or a group of nations. That, combined with short descriptions of character, personality and notable appearance, should hopefully be enough to keep my prep limited.
I'm tentatively calling the game Hammerstein, after a possible name for the starting town. One idea I had for the town was to have it heavily economically dependent upon a brewery, which I'm sure will pique my player's interest. The Hammerstein logo will be a hammer embossed on a stein, which will feature prominently on the kegs.
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