Need help with New Campaign

[Checkmate]

I don't want to get anyone too excited, I don't know how far I'll take this idea. It depends on if I get everything worked out, and that's where I need help.

 

I've been had time for a lot more reading lately, and come across a theme that shows up quite often, and I've been trying to translate that into a Fantasy Hero game. Here's what I mean:

 

The hero of the story goes off on an adventure, let's say he's a Wizard. He's not a very good Wizard has problems with the simplest of spells, but all his teachers say he has incredible power, he must be holding himself back. Through the course of the adventure the hero learns that he's actually the first Uber Mage that's been born in the last 1,000 years and the reason he was having trouble is because Uber Mages do magic differently.

 

Now I think this would make a cool campaign. Here's how I'm thinking it would work: The player would make say, a 50pt character. Give the GM an idea of where they want the character to go, a concept, like "I'd like to be a Mage" or "I'd like to be really fast" or "really good with a sword" etc. They player wouldn't really have any more control than that. Then during the course of the adventure the GM would give "hints" as in the character would develop strange abilities and either have to research the abilites or someone notices it and teaches them about it etc.

 

The problems I see with this are:

1. It's easy to do with 1 PC but what about a group of 4-6? I mean you either have some contrived reason that they all "Blossom" at the same time, or you have a bunch of 50 point character running around with a 150 point character.

2. Lack of control by the player. I think part of the fun of this type of campaign is that the players wouldn't know what they were going to become. This could also be a problem if the GM turns the player into something the player doesn't want to play. I think this could be mitigated by talking to the players prior to the start of the game, but the potiential for disaster is still there.

3. How unlikely would it be that the PC's, who just happen to be traveling together, ALL just happen to be the coolest thing to happen in the last 1,000 years?

"Hey Frank, check me out, I just found out I'm an Uber Mage, the only one that's been born in the last 1,000 years, pretty cool huh?"

"Yeah, uh..yeah that's great George, I just found out I'm the only War Singer born in the last 1,000 years, and Tom yeah he's a Gingerbread Man, haven't seen one of those in a few hundred years eh..."

 

I could make the option that some could start out 150 point characters and get regular XP so with the 50 point characters "Blossomed" they'd all be 200pt characters together. I'm pretty sure I could vary the different Blossoms so they didn't all feel like they came from the same origin, and MAY even tell the story well enough not to feel contrived, but the "...and they all just HAPPENED to meet in a tavern?" thing would be tough to get around.

 

So that's my idea, I'm now soliciting for comments, suggestions on how to improve the idea and/or get around the pitfalls I've laid out (or even warn me of more).

 

I think I"ll cross post this on Hero Games forums too, I'll be checking both, so feel free to post here or there.

[yukonhorror]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

Maybe it isn't an issue of "being born" but more exposure to a substance. Maybe excalibur in the stone concept. Adventurers visit the X every day in hopes they will be the uber mage. A group of friends decide to do it as a lark, but actually succeed (possibly without knowing it). Maybe they visit it as part of a merchant company and they are just making deliveries. They don't even know what X does or what it is. They are just hanging near it while they wait for the mage to sign the paperwork of the deliveries.

 

Stemming from this, I think it would be kind of nifty to have some sort of "link" between them all. Like a VPP they all pull powers from (as defined by the GM), but they are also linked in terms of life. So they all share a pool of BODY/STUN/END (possibly other stats too and skills). They always have the same CP total, but the distribution of specific CP can be pulled and shared in different ways (the party always has 20 pts to spend on STR, so if one character decides to take 20 pts of STR, everyone else is stuck at 10 STR). In a story sense, the group is the "uber-mage" Maybe they can even go captain planet (or voltron or power rangers) and "combine themselves" to form the uber-mage (with a combined total of all the members).

 

I think this could be fun with the right players.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

Perhaps all of these war-singers and wizards and gingerbread men were born at the same time for a reason -- there is a threat growing (or already here) that requires the greatest of heroes to take care of it. An invasion of demons which only happens once every 1000 years (when the planes are aligned properly), for instance.

 

They aren't together because of happenstance. They're together because the Masters of their particular guild/tribe/college put them together so they could learn to work as a team and hone their skills with each other. The characters might not be aware of this fact (at least, not at first), but their "chance" meeting wasn't very "chance" at all -- it was pre-arranged by their teachers.

[Checkmate]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

Stemming from this, I think it would be kind of nifty to have some sort of "link" between them all. Like a VPP they all pull powers from (as defined by the GM), but they are also linked in terms of life. So they all share a pool of BODY/STUN/END (possibly other stats too and skills). They always have the same CP total, but the distribution of specific CP can be pulled and shared in different ways (the party always has 20 pts to spend on STR, so if one character decides to take 20 pts of STR, everyone else is stuck at 10 STR). In a story sense, the group is the "uber-mage" Maybe they can even go captain planet (or voltron or power rangers) and "combine themselves" to form the uber-mage (with a combined total of all the members).

 

I think this could be fun with the right players.

I like the concept, and do think that would be fun, but not exactly what I'm looking for. Not everyone will be an Uber Mage, some will be Gingerbread Men or War Singers (where do I come up with these names?). I have actually ideas for certain concepts, but don't want to give too much away, in case I do actually run this in an online game.

They aren't together because of happenstance. They're together because the Masters of their particular guild/tribe/college put them together so they could learn to work as a team and hone their skills with each other. The characters might not be aware of this fact (at least, not at first), but their "chance" meeting wasn't very "chance" at all -- it was pre-arranged by their teachers.

Yeah, I can get behind the "it was the Prophecies" angle, thanks. That solves the why so many at one time.

 

Any thoughts on the whole Blossoming thing? My idea was to give the players "Secret" powers that would come up during play, and each one would learn who or what they are at different times, and through different means. Now this may cause problems when you have the Buffy/Xander issue. It gets even more complicated when it's the Buffy/Buffy/Xander/Xander issue (assuming 4 players), how do I challenge the Buffy's without killing the Xander's or making them feel useless?

[rentauri]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

What if it is being around the Uber mage that causes them to power up as Gingerbread Men or War Singers. Trying to discover more about his power his friends follow him where he must go and eventually he arrives at a War Singer holy place and here one of his friends is possessed by the ancient spirits becoming the next War Singer. This friend now has all that power but now has to deal with a one thousand year old War Singer ghost using his body as a time share. Later discovering a site of power the Uber mage attempts to dispel the wards cast by the last Uber Mage and doesn't quite get the spell right with delicious but horrible results as another of his friends becomes a Gingerbread Man. Now he needs to deal with being cursed in this form yet trying to manifest the powers that the miscast granted him. Being around the Uber Mage seems to be bad luck with a side of power ups for his friends. They all may be built on the same points but to keep to the idea of the Uber Mage being more 'special' perhaps his powers are more varied, either with VPPs or simply with spell selections while the Gingerbread Men and War Singers are more focused into a certain path of power and growth.

[kahuna's bro]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

maybe his magic is like bending in the last airbender hes studying say earth based magic bout his power works better on air spells crating a cyclone etc

[Checkmate]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

What if it is being around the Uber mage that causes them to power up as Gingerbread Men or War Singers.

The problem with this though, is that it depends on 1 player to always be around. I'm planning on this being an online game at Hero Central, and in my experience the person you base the game around inevitably is the first one to drop out.

 

The other thing is I don't want a Hero and then Hero Support. I want them all to be equal... but different. Maybe one is more or less rare, but the same power level.

 

maybe his magic is like bending in the last airbender hes studying say earth based magic bout his power works better on air spells crating a cyclone etc

I'm not sure what you're getting at here, but I assume you're talking about the "Blossoming", if so then that is one option. One thing to keep in mind though is that right now I don't know what he players are going to want to be. Maybe none of them wants to be a Mage, maybe they all do. I'm not overly concerned about what they'll turn into, more of how will they do it. As much as I don't want to.

 

Something I just thought of though, in the case of say the Uber Mage, it's doesn't have to be like someone walks up and says "Hey your an Uber Mage"... "Oh" *facepalm* "NOW it all makes sense" POOF Cosmic Power. Just because one of them finds out what they are doesn't mean they automatically outshine the other players.

[Manic Typist]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

Legendary, ancient heroes who are continually reborn throughout time. They are all together now because they have, repeatedly throughout time, joined together to fight great evils. Their souls are linked, destined toward one another as a part of Eternal Struggle in the Grand Arena. Perhaps sometimes they've actually been siblings, or parents and children, or friends and lovers, or some combination thereof... regardless, in each cycle they find themselves fighting side by side. Stolen more or less from the Wheel of Time.

[rentauri]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

The problem with this though, is that it depends on 1 player to always be around. I'm planning on this being an online game at Hero Central, and in my experience the person you base the game around inevitably is the first one to drop out.

 

The other thing is I don't want a Hero and then Hero Support. I want them all to be equal... but different. Maybe one is more or less rare, but the same power level.

 

What if the Legend/Prophecy/Song/Drunken Ravings of the Uber Mage are wrong to begin with. Instead of it being one person being the Uber Mage it was always more of a concept and an idea and the real Uber Mage was in the past a group of people collective known as Uber Mage. That the players themselves channel a particular aspect of the Uberness like it was done in the past but because no one really knows the truth the other players are credited with being Warsingers and Gingerbeard Men. Whether you want to take it to the extreme of "let our powers combine!" is something else but I'm more talking about the sense that each character may embody something like an element, a school of though more then anything else. If they don't want to play Mages you could always switch the idea being a reborn God or something more open in concept and the players all take an aspect of power from that being.

 

Further it could be that if the scholars screwed up the translation they believe that one of the characters is in fact the de facto 'hero' when in fact they all are. The quest to learn about the hero's power is what makes the adventurers realize the truth about themselves as they seem to grow in power to match the 'hero.'

[Ranxerox]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

How about this?

 

The last Uber Mage, Warsinger and Gingerbread Man put aside differences and egos and came together when a great evil threatened the world. In order to defeat the evil they gathered magic items of great power and an army of heroes to help them. They sacrificed much in there preparation for the battle that they knew was to come. And then it came. Great power was unleashed and army of heroes, including many who they had come to love, fell before the great evil. Yet when the smoke cleared the great evil was also fallen ... but not dead. It would recover. The legendary heroes has failed to secure some ingredient necessary to kill it permanently.

 

The Uber Mage came up with a plan. Rather than let all the valiant who died bringing the great evil down deaths be in vain, he would cast a spell to bind the beast so it could not escape. Binding spells of such great power don't cheap. He would have to sacrifice all three of their souls to make the spell secure. Perhaps the others agreed to the sacrifice or perhaps the mage tricked them. Either way the spell was cast and both the mighty heroes and great evil disappeared and faded into legend.

 

Skip to the present. Someone has decided to free the great evil for their own evil ends our PCs having gotten wind of this plan set out to prevent it. They fail. While the PCs are busy fighting underlings the necessary ritual is complete and the great evil is unleashed. Not considering the PCs worth it attention after its long imprisonment the great evil slaps them aside nearly killing them in the process and stalks off.

 

Unbeknown to both the great evil and the one who freed it, breaking the bonds that held it not only released the great evil but also freed the souls of the Uber Mage, Warsinger and Gingerbread Man.

 

Okay, I'm sure you can see where I'm going from here. Just add some rousing adventures worthy of legends, a quest to locate the missing ingredient needed to kill the great evil, an epic final battle, a decision about whether the heroes get to keep their expanded abilities after defeating the great evil, put in the oven at 350 and cook until done.

 

Hope that helps.

[Checkmate]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

Thanks for the ideas guys I really appreciate it, it's helping TONS to solidify this thing. There are a couple of things I've nailed down: The Prophecy says Heroes (plural) will face the evil. Everyone who knows the prophecies knows it's more than one...Although, an idea just came to me, maybe the prophecy was changed over the years. The Uber Mage School, in their arrogance, interrupted the Prophecy to mean that only the Uber Mage can save them. The Bakers believed only the Gingerbread Man could save them, and the Choir believed only the Warsingers could save them... Hmm that bares more thought.

 

Here's an example of what I'm envisioning:

 

Okay you have Rich and Rick. It was discovered that Rich had the potential to become a POWERFUL mage, so they whisk him off to mage school. While there he's AWFUL. Most of his spells tank, things don't work the way they should, he's horrible no matter how hard he tries.

 

Meanwhile Rick is living a happy life in a small town, when Big Scary Guy (PC support character perhaps?), comes in and says "Come with me if you want to live", Rick, not wanting to die, goes with BSG. BSG tells Rick that he's pretty sure Rick is THE Gingerbread Man. Rick has to pull his Gumdrop eyes from the stone to prove it. Rick learns that if anyone who isn't destined to be the Gingerbread Man tries to pull the gumdrops out, nasty things happen, so he's got that to deal with.

 

Meanwhile, Rich can't get this darn song out of his head. He starts singing while trying to wave the wand and Poof power happens. His teacher does a facepalm, "You're a Warsinger, no wonder you suck at magic, we're teaching you wrong"

 

About the same time Rick pulls his eyes from the Stone (which happens to be in the Mage School) and low and behold Rick IS the Gingerbread Man.

 

See what I mean? Both of the PC's got their "powers" in completely unrelated ways, does that make sense?

[teh bunneh]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

I ran a FH game once where different organizations had different pieces of a single Prophesy -- like each one had one verse from a song, but none of them knew the whole song. Each of them thought they had the whole song, but only when you put all the parts together did it make perfect sense.

[Checkmate]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

That sounds awesome, how did it work out? I don't think I'm smart enough to do that though. Create a prophecy, then break it up so each part feels like a whole prophecy, but makes more sense when together? Nope man has to know his limitations.

[teh bunneh]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

It worked pretty well. There were certain lines and themes repeated in each prophesy, so that made it easier for me (and slightly harder for the PCs --

 

PC1: Mine says "The Emperor will be born among the storms..."

PC2: Yeah, mine too.

 

...And then they didn't recite the entire prophesy so that the others could say, "Wait a sec, mine doesn't say that!"

[Manic Typist]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

Do you still have the prophecy? I'd be interested in hearing the pieces and seeing how they were used.

 

It worked pretty well. There were certain lines and themes repeated in each prophesy, so that made it easier for me (and slightly harder for the PCs --

 

PC1: Mine says "The Emperor will be born among the storms..."

PC2: Yeah, mine too.

 

...And then they didn't recite the entire prophesy so that the others could say, "Wait a sec, mine doesn't say that!"

[teh bunneh]

Re: Need help with New Campaign

 

Do you still have the prophecy? I'd be interested in hearing the pieces and seeing how they were used.

 

I sincerely doubt it. It's been years. But I'll take a look.