Manic Typist Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Here's an idea that hit me out of pretty much nowhere the other day as I was browsing the boards. An entire campaign based upon a long, continent crossing pursuit. The entire game is focused upon some sort of chase/race against a foe, across vast distances and varying geographies. There's two initial flavors: a race out into the new, with the group never knowing what lies ahead. New enemies and allies await, with the foreign constantly being just one more obstacle that stands in the heroes' way. Or you could have it a race back to familiar territory, to home. The passage of time brings you closer to what you once knew. Have you been gone a long time? What changes have taken place? Are your allies still willing/able to stand by you? Do old enemies still wait, remembering the defeats and insults you've dealt to them? I recommend this as taking place immediately after the culmination of some particularly tough campaign. It is important that the players have a real sense of victory with which to brace themselves before they set out on this arduous mission that should be very personal. It is critical that the GM create a real sense of urgency and personal investment. Two examples: Let me just brush off this dust and see what this inscription sa... What the? During the course of their adventures, the heroes stumble across an ancient statue which they accidentally reanimate. The golem immediately takes off West, and they pay it no real mind... until they read the ancient prophecies on the wall behind where it once stood, which describes how it is the key to reawaken a long dormant evil that once shook the whole continent to its very foundations. The heroes must set out in hot pursuit to stop this relentless construct which needs no rest and stops for no force. They pass out of their homeland into stranger and more exotic locales which existed mostly as speculation and rumor to them before. They will encounter foreign cultures, strange creatures, and suspicious natives. Their task is made more difficult because many will blame them for the destructive wake left by the golem, and seek to exact retribution upon them, or there is chaos as various factions in a region try to capitalize upon the shift in the status quo that the golem has made in his passing by crushing through previously firm power structures (a powerful king, guild of wizards, important irrigation project, what have you). Perhaps along the way the golem accomplishes specific tasks necessary to pave the way of the Great Return, which leaves additional complications and clues for the adventurers. The journey culminates at the veritable doorstep of the golem's destination, be it some long dead volcano or a decrepit castle or something else entirely. Perhaps in the very throne room of the long dead evil, which has gathered its energies in anticipation of its return... A Friend in Need The heroes have long been from their homeland. Perhaps they've simply been going wherever adventure and chance take them. Perhaps they've been acting as agents and emissaries of their rulers, or are pursuing their personal histories and settling old scores. Regardless, they've just defeated some powerful foe, and their jubilation turns to horror as they realize that with his dying breath he has cursed one of their own with his vile power. The curse has taken over their companion, and his or her new motivation is to wreak havoc upon what he or she holds most dear- home. This isn't a threat to their nation, or even a large number of people really. This is simply personal. The heroes must stop their friend before he or she hurts what is most important- and maybe the friends and family of the heroes too! The chase is on, with the group racing through lands that they have history in. Along the way they clash repeatedly with their friend, or catch tantalizing glimpses that demonstrate just how close they are. Hard decisions await them, and unexpected developments catch them unaware. Should they pass straight through on the most direct route, and risk the lands of old enemies and known threats, or should they detour through friendlier lands in which the rulers don't hold a grudge? Old friends are turned cold since their companion has returned opened arms with betrayal and defamation of their name, and now everyone is suspicious if they will bring the same harm to them that their friend wrought just a few days before... Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase I'm thinking that you move Blake's 7 or Farscape into a fantasy genre, and you've got 100 plots to use for the campaign Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ocelot Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase Oh ho ho... I am definitely going to use this! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychoticbarber Posted January 29, 2008 Report Share Posted January 29, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase Let me just brush off this dust and see what this inscription sa... What the? *snipped* This is officially yoinked. From me, that's a big compliment . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Typist Posted January 30, 2008 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase Let me know how it is received. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmadanNaBriona Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase This sort of thing was the prime motivation in a lot of the David & Leigh Eddings books. the various heroes were always chasing off after one macguffin after the next, often with said macguffins being bad guys who were trying to get away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derek Hiemforth Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase This sort of thing was the prime motivation in a lot of the David & Leigh Eddings books. the various heroes were always chasing off after one macguffin after the next' date=' often with said macguffins being bad guys who were trying to get away.[/quote']Yep, and it can work exceptionally well for having the heroes get to see most/all of the campaign world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gadodel Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase It was sort of a chase... Two of my players and I were bored. They made up a couple of characters and decided that they wanted to world-hop between the pile of homebrew worlds I've got sitting around in notebooks. They had heard about a villain that came and went from various worlds and decided to try to find him. The villain eluded them for a long time, but they learned a great deal about him as they traveled: 1. He had 10 wives and many children. 2. He had many identities, but secretly ruled this or that Thieves' Guild. 3. He was a Prince on one of the worlds and had no chance of ever being King...hence his career as a Thief-I suppose. 4. He knew about the characters and their pursuit. The characters ended up joining his cause, once they caught up with him. The campaign lasted 27 sessions and was quite a bit of fun. To this day, those two players and I have decided to never start up that campaign again...it's already perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psychoticbarber Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase Let me know how it is received. That'll be awhile, I'm not actually running until the fall. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lawnmower Boy Posted January 30, 2008 Report Share Posted January 30, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase I've contemplated a flight campaign -not that I ever run anything, so take it for what it's worth. China or the eastern United States have been overrun by zombies, and the last survivors of the Twelve... uhm, civilisation flee across the Oregon Trail/Silk Road to the promised land, with zombie hordes in hot pursuit. The heroes can fight off goblin raiders, cross rivers, fix wagons, find shelter from blizzards... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Markdoc Posted February 2, 2008 Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase My current game is a chase campaign. It started out with some bad guys trying dirty deeds in their home town, and the PCs have so far chased them - around town, then across their home kingdom then to another kingdom, and are currently at the edge of their map of the known world peering hesitantly off the edge... One of the things this game was designed to do was take the chracters through some changes. They started out as nobodies and then became local heroes. At one point they even became recognised by the authorities and could count on assistance a lot of the time. Now they are following their foes into the foes' own territory. They're becoming unsure who they can trust or what their enemies are actually trying to do. Soon - I hope - I'm going to get some of the players questioning what they are trying to do. The other thing the game was designed to do was move the characters right out of their starting area: show them a bit of the world. That's worked fine: they started off with a map - then they recently got a better one and realised that the area they've spent the last 2 years adventuring is is actually that little island in the middle there and that this whole chase business is going to take longer than expected... cheers, Mark Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverhawk Posted February 2, 2008 Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase Best thing about this is that it can be used in any genre. Take The Maltese Falcon (Pulp genre) from the point of Kasper Gutman (Sydney Greenstreet). He had been following the Falcon for years around the world, from Paris to Istanbul to San Francisco. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Manic Typist Posted February 2, 2008 Author Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase I should probably watch that movie at some point... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Silverhawk Posted February 2, 2008 Report Share Posted February 2, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase I should probably watch that movie at some point... You can't go wrong with the the book either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jatravartids Posted February 13, 2008 Report Share Posted February 13, 2008 Re: Capaign Theme: The Chase Let me just brush off this dust and see what this inscription sa... What the? *yoink* This would work in the campaign I'm (painfully slowly) planning, using the premise of BTRC's Dark Millennium in (possibly) the Valdorian Age setting. The PCs start as nobodies, do regular adventures, gain experience etc and then trigger this prophesied event. The golem "Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born" (well Elweir) trailed by the PCs. Cue much chaos and desperate attempts to work out what's going on and what they've done. It stops in Elweir and seems deactivated. The PCs should have learned enough by this point to understand the arrival of this beast has triggered the prophesied return of the Gods (well, two opposed deities) and settle down in Elweir to learn more about the prophesy and what's to come. Over a period of years things start to go all Book of Revelations, the dead rise, the seals are broken etc. The sons of the God(s) are born and the PCs children become caught up in the battles between Good and Evil, (hopefully) playing a pivotal role in deciding who gains dominion over the world. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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