I posted this thing on RPG.net and since the Riddle is on my mind lately many of my adventure seeds have concered this game.

A campaign trailer is what I send the players to let them know what the seed idea is and hopefully get the excited about it, like a movie trailer but with more open space for the player to create contribute.

Here's one for the Riddle:

The Holy Order of Blah*


You are all members of the Holy Order of Blah* and the temples have all been secured against the infidel for now. On a glorious day you find a majestic hawk feasting on a dead raven. Upon further inspection you find a note attached to the raven's foot, in the fashion of your Order.

The note is the head of your sect, petitioning the Grandmaster to declare you heretics and so he might burn you at the stake.

Is it an elaborate trick?

Was it left here by the powers of Blah*?

The sun is going down and in the First Temple they will be expecting you and after nightfall the hills will seeth with unholy armies.

Gird your faith and your steel, it is time for action.

*Blah will be a religion and holy order of knights created by the players as they make up characters together.

What I find interesting about making up trailers for the Riddle is that the character's motivations aren't clear to me until the character creation is over and so the adventure direction, while outlined a bit, isn't really evident to me until the players have their Spiritual Attributes finished.

Please post any ideas you have for an adventure trailer.




Riddle of the Dark Sun
using the Riddle of Steel in the Dark Sun setting (ouch!)


The Templar who owned you died on an obsidian knife last night. He had no heirs and so his property is to be re-distributed among the Sorcerer-King and his living Templars.

Your owner was a member of the Veiled Alliance, you are one of the few who knew this but now he is dead and who knows how much the Defilers know.

Tomorrow the Templars will come and look you all over, maybe one will take you or maybe you'll be chosen to toil in the Sorcerer-King's palace.

If no one takes you there is only one place for you to go:

The Gladiatorial Pits, where you will die for other's amusement...


[definitely inspired by Weekend at Burnius, a scenario I read about run with the FVLMINATA system]

What i'm doing,
The players only know what is on the handouts. In addition to just the characters, for a change. Usually players know as much, or more than you about a published setting.

For the first group game, I'm running a scenario involving the players guarding a Lady, the daughter of a Duke. The party is ambushed, and everyone, including the players, dies. The Lady survives, of course, for much good use later....

I am running a fairgrounds for the start of my first scenario, celebrating the Duke's 49th birthday. I will let the party be amused by archery contests, fortune tellers, drunken louts and so on until i figure it's been long enough. Just as things are really getting underway in the town, an armed party shows up at the gates to the town and demand that the Duke surrender his throne to a local King or his daughter would be used for sport, and then the Duchy taken by force. (See how it ties in now?)
The Duchy is the home of the characters and one or more may actually be landed nobles with Baronies to their names (which would make an interesting game, actually). Whatever happens next is determined by the players.

I merely have a sequence of events that would happen:
Duke sends a rescue party, could be PC or NPC. Daughter is (most likely)freed. The enemy King invades. Maybe the King wins, maybe the Duke beats him back. I haven't decided. If the party isn't there for the invasion, but instead skipped town to, say, Oustenreich, well, they'll hear about it later, as a "current event".

I launch the game, and see where it goes from there. I have lots of things i could do to stir the pot, since they're right on the border with Gelure and Oustenreich.

Have stuff going on in the background to illustrate a world in motion (Gelure invades Cyrinthmeir, for example), and work with the SA's. Does buddy have Passion: Love for a someone in a manor directly threatened by the fighting in the Duchy? Put them in that manor, he gets to use his SA's, which is the whole point.

You start a game by explaining the setting, dropping them in and then having something affect their surroundings e.g. We're being invaded!".

Don't worry about a meta-story right now. Kick start the game and let it evolve on its own.

Wait, wait- the bodyguard party gets ambushed and everyone (including the PCs) dies? You're /planning/ that?

These aren't the player's characters. These are guardsmen. I'm giving them the character sheet filled out, so they can absorb that while playing the guardsman, realize how SA's are used (since they will have Drive: Protect the Duke's family) and mechanics are resolved, and then they will generate their real characters.

Guess i forgot to mention that part, huh...
But yes, they die.

Drew Stevens wrote: Wait, wait- the bodyguard party gets ambushed and everyone (including the PCs) dies? You're /planning/ that?

An idea I've been toying with provides a background for both an initial session and campaign.

Starting in some backwater place in a peaceful land, I would fill the characters in on the general gist of the land - its cultures, people, what people know about other lands, about magic, etc...

What I have often found difficult in starting games in a new world are those discrepancies which PC have in perceiving the land. How much do they know, what is common practice, and what is taboo (i.e: walking round town in full plate and halberd)?

This is why the first session would concern the whole world going topsy-turny; the equivalent of a nazi invasion. The PC are given the basics of their land, who rules and what people do. But this soon becomes irrelevent when that very same status quo is disrupted. One minute, everything is going as it has for the last hundred years, the next: a wholesale invasion has infected the whole world. The equivalent of Stormtroopers now appear everywhere, claiming land in their emperor's name and generally enforcing a new draconian law.

What this offers the players is an ongoing campaign theme - how they will cope and deal with this new threat.

It also gives them the perfect theme for a first session - their immediate reaction against this change in life. What do they do when their parents and family are arrested, when 'stormtroopers' start ordering everyone about, when they are press-ganged into the imperial troops?

It may sound cheesy on paper, but I reckon it could work. Imagine the PCs fleeing their place of birth, evading enemy patrols, not knowing what to do and whom to trust. Later on, rebel forces might well get int contact with the PCs. Irregardless of what path the PCs choose (to abeit the enemy or oppose) there is a huge host of options available. Secret Police anyone?

And what's more, the PC's lack of knowledge about the setting (after all, they have't actually spent eighteen years living there for real) soon becomes redundent. They are now dealing with a world that's new for everyone.


Take care


'Imperial Troops have entered the base. Imperial troops have entered the - '

Jake Norwood wrote:

Drew Stevens wrote: Wait, wait- the bodyguard party gets ambushed and everyone (including the PCs) dies? You're /planning/ that?

I did that once. Worked pretty well.
Jake

That *is* dang cool. My experience went pretty well, too, but we never finished the campaign. That ever happen to you guys?

Jake

Jake Norwood wrote: That *is* dang cool. My experience went pretty well, too, but we never finished the campaign. That ever happen to you guys?

Jake

This is why the first session would concern the whole world going topsy-turny; quote]

Well, I'm taking a little bit longer than the first session to put my war into action, but your approach and mine are similar. Chances are that some of their SAs are going to keep them in the same general area as the war. Which is good stuff.

Rebellion of the Ringed Lords
Riddle of Steel maybe with some Universalis thrown in

The Ringed Dukes, holding the fiefs of Saturn and Uranus, rebelled against the Sun King, taking over Jupiter's floating keeps and orbiting baronies.

The stone kings were set against the lords of vapor giants. Stone was victorious.

You were there, a decorated veteran in the War of the Rings. Now it is time to strip the Ringed Dukes of their holdings and re-distribute the lands, set hostages and set examples.

The King has summoned you to his Solar Palace in order to show his love for his vassals who came to his aid in this war.

The loyal (or is it naive?) look forward to breaking bread with their brothers and sisters in battle and splitting up the usurper's moons and keeps like pie after dinner.

The wise (or is it cunning?) realize this is not the end of war but the seeds of the conflict to come.

I am intrigued by the idea of using the solar system as a fantasy setting. Picture Spelljammer as written by George R.R. Martin ala A Song of Ice and Fire.

I would fiddle with the social class priorities so that the lowest would be a landless knight and the highest would be a close relative to the Sun King.

Gifts and Flaws could be taken about being the hero of a major battle or being a known coward, all revolving around your actions in the war.

OR a kind of Amber-ish system could be put out so that all of the battles could be named and the players could bid on which ones they were heroes in and how...that might be neat.

Maybe even go whole hog Universalis and make up the war between us, knowing who is playing which character and making the drama of the war unfold at the table via that system.

Also posted on RPG.net

That sounds pretty cool, Paka. The way you describe it makes it sound like the classic fantasy novels i used to read, like Vance and Moorcock

Vance and Moorcock...wow, thanks, I've heard great things about Vance but haven't read any of his yet but Moorcock was among the first fantasy novels I read.

Thanks.

Brian Leybourne wrote:

Jake Norwood wrote:

Drew Stevens wrote: Wait, wait- the bodyguard party gets ambushed and everyone (including the PCs) dies? You're /planning/ that?

I did that once. Worked pretty well.
Jake

Heh, me too.. didn't work out quite as I had planned but made for a fricking good game.

What happened? Against all the odds, one of the PC's survived. Completely new to the system they rallied around it, learned on the fly and did a bloody good job. The player who survived was the player who used his SA's to the max, re-writing one (using the usual rules) to be a passion for the duchess they were guarding after one of the attackers stabbed her. I don't restrict passion to "MA times per session" and his passion very quickly rose to 5, some of it got spent, rose to 5 again. He was a whirling dervish going through the ranks of enemies who should have been more than sufficient to slaughter the PC's several times over.

When then mist cleared, there were hacked-apart bodies everywhere and this guy, covered with blood and entrails, was kneeling at the duchesses foot, calmly bandaging her wound. They then had to flee because more bandits were coming, and the PC took her to a friendly "Robin Hood" type camp he knew about in the wood nearby, where the other PC's made their actual characters, and we continued from there.

Damn cool start to the campaign. And all thanks to TROS and SA's :-)

Brian.

Furniture! LMAO! That's pure evil, man, pure e-v-i-l!

I love it.

Been thinking about how absolutely frightening dragons would be in the Riddle.

This was also posted on RPG.net:

Thieving Bastards

You are the leader of a group of heartless bastards. You're the head of your guild, chief of your ninja clan, captain of your pirate ship or just leader of the gang back in your home town.

But out here on the edge of a mountain range where the Gods were supposed to have been born, all that doesn't matter. What matters is that you have a piece of the map and the map leads to the Dragon's lair.

Entering a Dragon's lair can mean whatever you want it to. A dragon can be a dangerous god, a revered spirit or just a big monster sitting under a mountain on a hoard of gold.

There's a sit-down at the Dragon Pass Inn with all of the other bastards with the map and then you'll plan the biggest B & E job since Prometheus stole fire.

Hmm. Dragons...

Scaled Vengeance

First its shadow passed over. Then you heard a single gigantic flap of its wings. Over the capital it screamed vengeance, upon humans, upon the land, but most importantly, upon you, by name. Cities burn, human and livestock are burned alike, the charred scent fills the realm, blackens the sky.

And the only thing that keeps you going is that you know it was once human. And that it was once a sorcerer. Yes, the very folk you once hunted in the name of the church. And your God hasn't answered your prayers. And you killed its wife, a collaborator in the blasphemy.

You brought this upon yourself. And your people.


Rule #1- No Sorcerers

Pick any religious country that doesn't like sorcerers that you'd like to obliterate over the course of the campaign. Don't forget that the Dragon sorcerer is after one or all of the PCs and people will blame them personally...

And if the players fail, let their next characters be in the next country over. And again, no sorcerers. How much of Weyrth will fall before someone succeeds?

Chris

Bankuei wrote: Hmm. Dragons...

Scaled Vengeance

How much of Weyrth will fall before someone succeeds?

Chris

I'm not really trying to go for a TPK, but I really dig desperate battles. After all, taking on the classic "D&D" type dragon, intelligent, powerful, and magical, without magic and a safety blanket of 300 hitpoints is a pretty nasty thing to try to pull off.

If you dig the concept, do a search for "Draconic" in the Design Forum.

Chris

Not that you are going for the TPk but that the players know that it is a real possibility. There is no, "But we're the heroes, someone has to survive," kind of safety net and yeah, like you said, that makes the struggle truly desperate.

Fun stuff.

The idea of nations falling before its might is really cool.

I got a question about the "start the PCs as mooks, then slaughter them" approach...

Is it best to let them know the plan up front, or do you think it's acceptable to simply hand them mook characters without letting them know the grisly fate you've got planned?

I know this is probably a social contract issue, but I'm considering this for a possible upcoming game with a partially unknown quantity.

Wolfen wrote: I got a question about the "start the PCs as mooks, then slaughter them" approach...

Is it best to let them know the plan up front, or do you think it's acceptable to simply hand them mook characters without letting them know the grisly fate you've got planned?

I know this is probably a social contract issue, but I'm considering this for a possible upcoming game with a partially unknown quantity.

Angry Assassins


You've heard of parties gathering in taverns to go traverse some dungeon, all possessing noble reasons to go forth and save the world.

Nope, wrong group.

The only thing this group has in common is they want this one particular person dead.

The gamers gather at the table and create the NPC they all want dead and then come up with their individual reasons why they want him so. The reasons could be personal, economical, magical...doesn't matter, as long as you have a burning, cold or stark raving passion to put what's-his-name in a box.

I ran a campaign that lasted about, oh, 3 to 5 years, playing once a week for about, oh, 6 hours on average, but a great session would go a lot longer.

We concluded that campaign. It was Palladium Fantasy, all centered around this one all powerful ancient evil returning and trying to conquer the world in eternal darkness. It began with their local village - I made them all come from the same village, having known each other since childhood, and I disallowed certain character choices due to the history of the village - and they dealt with local issues (bandits threatening their village, that kind of thing).

When they learned this old hermit in their village was actually the previous Archmage (guy who led the entire Council of Wizardy for the entire kingdom), and that he had been researching SOMETHING in great secret, and was assassinated by horrid and unnatural beasts, that set it all off, having them discovering the awful truth, and running form one side of the continent to the other trying to beat The Shadow Lord to a number of key artifacts that would spell final victory or defeat....

I had to rush the ending, as I was suddenly moving to Seattle... but in the end, the Shadow Lord was beaten (albeit in an unexpected way), one character became King, at the cost of his heart (his one true love was murdered, along with their child), a second expelled from his own kingdom or his life be forfeit, a third was the said murdered one with child of the other PC, the paladin became the old village's sherrif, and the last had sired 2 daughtered unwillingly, who are destined to one day tear apart the kingdoms in a war against each other.

Grand old time. I just moved back, and we seriously discussed taking up the same campaign world, 20 years later (and maybe using The Riddle of Steel), but since the other Game master (me and another guy alternated) is running D&D, they want us to play a superhero game for mine (most likely Godlike / Wild Talents).

Brian Leybourne wrote:

Jake Norwood wrote: That *is* dang cool. My experience went pretty well, too, but we never finished the campaign. That ever happen to you guys?

Jake

One of my groups is pretty good about always finishing campaigns, and the other one is "famous" for campaigns dying when the players find a new system they want to try out :-)

There's nothing cooler than a really long term campaign. One current game I am running has been going for 40-odd sessions now, but those are 10 hour sessions, so it's more like 80-90 in most peoples games (about 4 hours apparently being the average for most groups). The characters have really amazing histories and backgrounds now, and when they meet up again with old NPC's from 20 or 30 sessions ago, it really is like meeting up with old friends. Damn fucking cool.

Brian.

You know, there was a module for D&D that did something very similar - the killing of a first party thing. It was called Vecna Lives and was about, oh, you know, Vecna returning from the dead, and becomming a God.

Anyway... the players play the CIRCLE OF EIGHT in the first scene, and meet what appears to be Vecna, and gets utterly exterminated.

And the PCs are far weaker than the Circle of Eight. It was intended to strike fear into what they were opposing... and to learn that what the Circle of Eight fought wasn't even Vecna, but someone who had the Hand and Eye and THOUGHT he was Vecna, while the real vecna waited in the wings, put an even greater fear in them.

It was very fun! :)

the players play the CIRCLE OF EIGHT in the first scene, and meet what appears to be Vecna, and gets utterly exterminated.

Knights of a Shattered Circle

The Table has broken, as has the land.
The Dark Son has slain his brother, the father-king.
The Sword has returned to water, the Grail to stone.
Sunk is the Gold Isle, and the Sage with it, and in the north the sleeper is stiring, a storm is rising and darkness falls.

It has been ten years since the death of Arthur. Camelot is gone, but the dream remains and Brittain is about to really need heroes.

wolfsong wrote: Knights of a Shattered Circle

It has been ten years since the death of Arthur. Camelot is gone, but the dream remains and Brittain is about to really need heroes.

Paka wrote:
Cool. Can I run the son of the King who hunted the Questing Beast?

Father has been in a coma ever since the final Battle of the Round Table, a battlehammer beat into his helm.

wolfsong wrote: Pelinore (the king in question) is actually one of my major NPC's

One of the major story arcs is going to be the PC's discovering Pelinore's kingdom and restoring him to the throne. (here's the spoiler: Pelinore is actually Oberon.)

Having someone play his son would be amazingly cool.

*blush* Aw, shucks.

Just wait till I bring out the Horned King and (dun dun DUN) the Cauldron.

Just who was the Wild Hunt hunting anyway? More importantly, why?

How about this one...

The Riddle of... ummm.... huh?

You awaken... the first thought that flits across your mind is that you head hurts... bad. Reflexively you start to reach up to touch your head, and a weight slips from between your fingers.. you sit up, and see a sword lying beside you. The first question that comes to mind is "Why have I been sleeping in this field?", and it is soon followed by "Who am I?"

That's right folks... total amnesia.
Your player's character got bonked on the head, and now it's all gone. All that's left is a flash of a girl's face, or perhaps something from their childhood, or maybe a group of friends lying around them dead.

That's how my current game started, and it's been great.

The Mythic Gates
The Riddle of Steel

Your mother is a Dragon. She gained her Draconic status from her years as a hero. The way she fought, hoarded, protected her own and surrounded herself with magic turned her into the fierce beast she is today. Once she was human and young like you.

Her kingdom has allies, friends from her adventurous youth. The Rukh to the north took a heroic leap from a skyship to save an innocent's life. He went through the Mythic Gate during his descent, becoming a hawk the size of a castle. The Griffon in the valley to the south was a ferocious, proud and valiant warrior. His steps through the Gate came after winning a princess's hand at the Tournament.

Her kingdom has enemies, not all steps through the Mythic Gate are valiant, some gain their foothold by the atrocities they commit.

It is time for you to leave your mother's lair-keep, find the beast that your destiny has in store for you. Your actions will determine the form of your turning. Inaction leads to a gray death stuck in a human form. Only epic heroism will take you through the Mythic Gate.

Draigh wrote: How about this one...

The Riddle of... ummm.... huh?

You awaken... the first thought that flits across your mind is that you head hurts... bad. Reflexively you start to reach up to touch your head, and a weight slips from between your fingers.. you sit up, and see a sword lying beside you. The first question that comes to mind is "Why have I been sleeping in this field?", and it is soon followed by "Who am I?"

Draigh wrote: How about this one...

The Riddle of... ummm.... huh?

You awaken... the first thought that flits across your mind is that you head hurts... bad. Reflexively you start to reach up to touch your head, and a weight slips from between your fingers.. you sit up, and see a sword lying beside you. The first question that comes to mind is "Why have I been sleeping in this field?", and it is soon followed by "Who am I?"

That's right folks... total amnesia.

yeah, definately a blank sheet if you've got an amnesiatic...

That's what I gave my player... and he said "This is my character sheet?"

Any of you guys tried running an immortal game, ala highlander? TROS is perfect for it.
(Priority A human. The "quickening" gives 1d6 spiritual attribute points. Sort of a 6th sense Per roll to sense other immortals in the area)
Anyway, I'm starting a historically based immortal game. The PC's are personal retainers of Vlad Draculya. He happens to be immortal, and also unbeknownst to the PC's, they are immortal.
Vlad personally picks them for his house retainers due to that fact. He wants a personal immortal retinue.
The game starts just after Vlad is released from a hungarian prison, not long before his death. He chooses the PC's, trains them, and takes them on his campaigns. The PC's could very well start as simple free soldiers, and Vlads special attention peeves his nobles.
Most of Vlad's raids and executions are disguised hunts for other immortals. Besides, a prominent turkish noble is immortal.
Anyway, after all that, in Vlad's final battle, he's struck down by an arrow and then beheaded in a cool lightshow by his turkish enemy. If the PC's haven't yet been introduced to their own immortality, the wierdness could start there.
After his death they would likely go errant, and then, unless they die, the campaign could span centuries.

Here's the campaign I am about to begin.

The kings only son drowned a few years back. He has several other sons, but they are all illegitemate. His only legitemate child is his daughter, Margareth, who is married to a foreign duke (causing two problems 1. she is female and therefor an unpopular choice among the misogynistic lords, and she is married to this foreign duke). She has a son however.

The king has forced the lords to swear loyalty to Margareth, which they hace done. However the King has gotten himself killed. Not wanting a rule by a woman, the lords have turned to the kings three nephews, and have gathered to elected the oldest to become the new king.

While they are debating this, the younger nephew, Stephan, lands an army and siezes the royal castle and more importantly the royal treasury. His elder brother, a powerful man in the church annoints his younger brother King for major concessions to the church.

This rankels the Lords, who led by earl Robert, a bastard son of the king, then rebell to put Margareth's son on the throne (with earl Robert as a protector of the crown, becoming king in all but name).

As civil war flares up one has three major factions battling for the throne.
1. King Stephan who has the backing of the church.
2. Lord Theobald, the duly elected king.
3. Lord Robert, the king in all but name.

Into this mess the charcters will be dragged as the kingdom slides into chaos. First at the periphery, then deeper and deeper.

I got to thank English medival history for this setting.

Let me just get this straight in my head:

1. King Stephan who has the backing of the church. This guy got an army together and with his brother's help and some concessions, got the backing of the church.

2. Lord Theobald, the duly elected king. This is the eldest brother, the one elected by the Earls, right?

3. Lord Robert, the king in all but name. The babe, Margeth and the Foreign duke's son.

I love fights for the throne, they're such great adventure fodder. Rock on. Please post some Actual Play as to how it goes.

AND THAT GOES FOR THE LOT OF YOU!

wolfsong, Draigh, I'm looking at YOU with your fascinating campaign concepts...

it's in the works Paka... but keeps getting pushed aside by the bigger thing in the works :(

Paka wrote

Let me just get this straight in my head:

I played the amnesiac character in one of mayehems games, it was fun- especially when I found out I had no CP when I drew my sword and charged a bad guy only to realize I had only 8 dice total. I did learn however that the characters move score was pretty high once he ran like a sissy.