It’s not a frog or Underdog either. Nope, just another reference largely unrelated to this actual post.
As part of our ongoing discussion about a new fantasy campaign, it seemed like a good idea to establish a few definitions for the purposes of our discussion. For example, “high fantasy” is often tossed around but not everyone necessarily shares the same definition of the term. So I laid out a few definitions. None of these are intended to be exhaustive or as the “end all, be all” of a definition. Just some working definitions to help us establish some expectations about our new campaign.
Epic Fantasy: The player characters, although they may start off as “farmboys,” eventually become movers and shakers in the world or, at a minimum, a small part of it. More often than not, the player characters play a significant role in saving the world from destruction and/or the evil machinations of some sort of big, bad guy. A non-epic fantasy campaign would be one of simple survival, greed, or the like. It would lack the world saving or the heroic element.
Everyone wants a heroic, epic type campaign. As that tends to be my preference as well, it is nice that the players feel the same way.
Adventure Path vs Plot Point vs Sandbox. For our purposes, this is essentially a continuum of how structured the plot is going to be in the campaign. At one end is the Adventure Path, epitomized by Paizo’s Adventure Paths, in which one adventure follows another and each is at least partially dependent one what happens in the previous adventures. The player characters typically have to complete specific adventures in particular order because the plot is already scripted out and is dependent upon them doing exactly this. The Plot Point is less structured than the Adventure Path but there is some sort of overarching plot already laid out. Gee, kind of like the Plot Points in many of the Savage Worlds campaign settings and nicely explained here. There is a background story going on that unfolds during the game but the adventures (or even that background story) aren’t already scripted out. The Sandbox has no structured plot or even a background story going on. Instead, the world is simply there for the player characters to explore.
With that crude continuum, I asked each of the players what they’d prefer. No one was interested in an Adventure Path type campaign. One liked the idea of the Sandbox and the other two are keen on the plot point type of approach. This makes me happy. My favorite campaigns have always been ones where there is some sort of background story or plot going on that slowly unfolds but not everything is related to it. Even better are the ones where that background story is driven as much by the actions of the characters as by the general framework or ideas that I’ve established. The Company H campaign pretty much took this tact. Actually, most FRG campaigns are like this…which is why I’m happy that’s what the players picked. It fits my GMing style.
High vs. Low Magic: This refers not to the power or magnitude of magic in a setting but, instead, to the availability or commonality of magic in the setting. In a high magic setting, magic is a fairly common thing regardless of the relative “power” of said magic. In a low magic setting, magic is a relatively rare thing but could still be quite powerful. The Lord of the Rings, for example, is more a relatively low magic setting in comparison lots of other fantasy literature from this definition. Magic is rather rare thing. You can almost count the number of “wizards” in the setting on one hand and the number of magic items on the other (as long as you don’t count all the rings).
In a “higher” magic setting, wizards and other spellcasters are common as are magic items. Most of the typical D&D campaign settings are relatively high magic settings; actually, most fantasy rpg settings are high magic. Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Mystara, and Eberron are all settings where you can’t shake a stick without hitting a spellcaster or explore a dungeon without finding magic items. A good example of a non-D&D setting that is “high” magic by this definition is Glorantha. Almost everyone can cast spells of one sort or another and magic items, even if not overly powerful, are pretty common.
Two of the players want a more high magic campaign while the third didn’t really have a preference, feeling that the pros and cons of each were pretty much equal. I’m okay with doing either so still all good.
Fantastic vs Realistic Campaign: A fantastic campaign setting is one that has elves, dwarves, and other typical fantasy fare as standard races that can be played (if not even stranger or more fantastic things). A realistic campaign is more like the real world with fantasy elements added on. Player characters are human and the more fantastic races are things of myth or, at the very least, exceptionally rare. In other words, a campaign with demi-humans being both common and playable races or one in which they are rare and, most likely, not playable races.
Everyone wants to play a more fantastic campaign. I’d be good with either so still all good.
Setting vs Campaign Centered: Some campaigns put the setting first and foremost where others put the campaign itself at the forefront with the setting just being something of a backdrop on which to play out the game. A Setting-Centric campaign has a very detailed and rich setting and the players need to have at least some basic knowledge of the setting to play. It is even better if they are well-versed in the setting and characters are expected to be deeply embedded within the setting. A Campaign Centered campaign focuses much more on the PCs and the interactions that they have with NPCs and the various situations/adventures the GM tosses out. The setting is there (or not) but it just provide some flavor. It tends to not be highly detailed and characters often are not deeply embedded within the setting.
Another pretty crude continuum of sorts. All of the players want the campaign to be focused on the campaign but they also want the setting to be important too in terms of providing some context and background (but not to the point where they can get into arguments about the finer points of the setting’s history). Again, fine with me. While I greatly appreciate a well-developed setting, I don’t want one that is so developed that if I make a change (or don’t remember some detail), it will freak out a player because it doesn’t fit “canon.”
So, all of the players seem to largely be on the same page. They want an epic, high magic campaign with many options for races and fantastical elements where the “plot” hasn’t been scripted ahead of time but there is some sort of ongoing “metaplot” that can be influenced by the actions of the player characters and the spotlight is on exactly those actions.
Sounds good to me and all three of the settings that are still in the running (Caladon Falls, Hellfrost, and Shaintar) can be used for such a campaign. 😉