kaomera
05-22-2005, 03:02 PM
I am starting to work on a campaign based on (and in) the world of Glen Cook's Black Company series. I have a good group of players whom I game with every other week, rotating campaigns / systems / GMs. I'm interested in getting them interested (well, hooked, really...) in BW, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
I have passed out a bit of fiction that you can read here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/kaomera/27236.html#cutid1), if you wish. In short, the game takes place in the North, about 100 years after the Black Company and the Lady headed South. I have sketched out some power groups, obvious points of conflict, history, etc., and I have a good basic idea for a first "adventure", if the players can't come up with something better to do themselves.
One point of history that I'm planning on focusing a bit on (especially in burning characters) is the siege of Wist (as well as the subsequent flight west to the Salient cities {currently planning on dropping them in Deal} by the handful of survivors). I plan on the characters revolving around a small band of veteran mercenaries who have survived a terrible ordeal together and are now moving on / on the run.
Wist is part of the “Near Eastern” cities, which where taken over by a group of Wizards calling themselves the Cabal about 50 years ago. Wist was taken over by another Wizard, Skyshaker. The Cabal's response was very disorganized (none of them trust one-another), but eventually they sent a force of “regulars” from their various city militaries, plus a number of mercenary units. These two forces laid siege, and eventually the regulars' siege engines knocked a hole in the walls of the city. When the mercenaries broke through, the regulars bungled things, and the mercenaries ended up trapped in the city in a siege within a siege... Eventually Skyshaker and the Cabal made a deal, partially involving the Cabal weaseling out of paying the mercenaries. However, the mercenaries had grown so desperate that when they where given a clear route out of the city they ended up storming the Skyshaker's bastion instead of fleeing, and despite all but getting themselves wiped out they killed the Wizard and scattered his forces. At that point they decided to loot what supplies they would need and bugger off before the Cabal retook the city, figuring they wouldn't get paid in any case.
They are headed for the Salient, the main north-south road through the center of the North. There are a number of prosperous city-states along the length of the road, and they where taken over by Wizards (who claimed to be allies of the Cabal, much to the Cabal's surprise and fear) at the same time as the cities of the Near East. The “Magi of the Salient Cities”, as they call themselves, are even more loosely organized than the Cabal. However, while they play political games and push around the criminal elements to snipe at one another, they rarely come into direct confrontation. Of course, the exceptions to this rule tend to be really, really spectacular.
My suggestions to the players for (very basic) character concepts are:
* Mercenary who survived the siege.
* Hanger on / camp follower / city dweller who got stuck with the mercenaries during the siege.
* Mercenary or new recruit picked up on the retreat west from Wist.
* Wizard who hooks up with the group in the Salient.
* Underworld type who joins the unit for protection and/or other goals.
* Underworld type who pretends to join the unit with the intention of scamming them.
* Henchman of one of the Salient Magi (or a crime boss, or something) who makes contact with the unit on the basis that they might be useful.
I'm currently trying to get everyone to come up with a basic character idea, then getting together with them to go over the basics of the rules and have them burn up one or two of the NPCs with the unit. (Oh, yeah, and I want the players to name the unit, too.) I'm currently figuring on about 12 NPCs plus the PCs being all that's left (until they decide to go recruiting, if they do). I'm not sure exactly when it will get scheduled, but I want at least one session to burn all the PCs and maybe a second to play out some more or less “pre-campaign” stuff like the march from Wist to Deal.
If nothing better comes up, I plan on the unit making a deal to work for one of the crime bosses in Deal (not that he will be presented that way); when they get there, however, Magi of Deal (who goes by “Puppetmistress”) has decided she doesn't want a company of mercenaries camping in her city and he sends them on their way with a pittance “for your inconvenience”. As they are grumbling / leaving, however, Puppetmistress finds out how few of them there are, and decides it would be ok for them to stay, as long as they where working for her...
Deal (the city is built near the ruins of the old Fortress at Deal) is loosely divided into four main sections: the Palace and the surrounding mansions and gardens are patrolled by Puppetmistress' personal guard; the Merchant District is patrolled by the City Guard, with the amount of protection directly proportional to the amount of “taxes” paid; the “Thieves' District” is patrolled by the City Guard, with the amount of protection inversely proportional to the amount of “taxes” paid; and the peasant living in the huts ringing around the whole thing are on their own.
It seems that a series of grizzly and mysterious murders have been taking place in the Thieves' District. Victims (up to a dozen at a time) are found torn apart as if by a great beast, and generally the crime scenes are utterly wrecked; and yet no-one ever remembers hearing or seeing anything (even under magical compulsion). This obviously needs to be stopped, but just sending in the Guard poses political problems... The citizens of the Thieves' District would resent the Guard's presence, no matter their purpose, whereas the citizens of the Merchant's District would feel a bit cheated if their neighbors on the other side of the city got protections they had not paid for... As a result, Puppetmistress is interested in arranging an “anonymous” reward for actions that result in an end to these attacks...
I have passed out a bit of fiction that you can read here (http://www.livejournal.com/users/kaomera/27236.html#cutid1), if you wish. In short, the game takes place in the North, about 100 years after the Black Company and the Lady headed South. I have sketched out some power groups, obvious points of conflict, history, etc., and I have a good basic idea for a first "adventure", if the players can't come up with something better to do themselves.
One point of history that I'm planning on focusing a bit on (especially in burning characters) is the siege of Wist (as well as the subsequent flight west to the Salient cities {currently planning on dropping them in Deal} by the handful of survivors). I plan on the characters revolving around a small band of veteran mercenaries who have survived a terrible ordeal together and are now moving on / on the run.
Wist is part of the “Near Eastern” cities, which where taken over by a group of Wizards calling themselves the Cabal about 50 years ago. Wist was taken over by another Wizard, Skyshaker. The Cabal's response was very disorganized (none of them trust one-another), but eventually they sent a force of “regulars” from their various city militaries, plus a number of mercenary units. These two forces laid siege, and eventually the regulars' siege engines knocked a hole in the walls of the city. When the mercenaries broke through, the regulars bungled things, and the mercenaries ended up trapped in the city in a siege within a siege... Eventually Skyshaker and the Cabal made a deal, partially involving the Cabal weaseling out of paying the mercenaries. However, the mercenaries had grown so desperate that when they where given a clear route out of the city they ended up storming the Skyshaker's bastion instead of fleeing, and despite all but getting themselves wiped out they killed the Wizard and scattered his forces. At that point they decided to loot what supplies they would need and bugger off before the Cabal retook the city, figuring they wouldn't get paid in any case.
They are headed for the Salient, the main north-south road through the center of the North. There are a number of prosperous city-states along the length of the road, and they where taken over by Wizards (who claimed to be allies of the Cabal, much to the Cabal's surprise and fear) at the same time as the cities of the Near East. The “Magi of the Salient Cities”, as they call themselves, are even more loosely organized than the Cabal. However, while they play political games and push around the criminal elements to snipe at one another, they rarely come into direct confrontation. Of course, the exceptions to this rule tend to be really, really spectacular.
My suggestions to the players for (very basic) character concepts are:
* Mercenary who survived the siege.
* Hanger on / camp follower / city dweller who got stuck with the mercenaries during the siege.
* Mercenary or new recruit picked up on the retreat west from Wist.
* Wizard who hooks up with the group in the Salient.
* Underworld type who joins the unit for protection and/or other goals.
* Underworld type who pretends to join the unit with the intention of scamming them.
* Henchman of one of the Salient Magi (or a crime boss, or something) who makes contact with the unit on the basis that they might be useful.
I'm currently trying to get everyone to come up with a basic character idea, then getting together with them to go over the basics of the rules and have them burn up one or two of the NPCs with the unit. (Oh, yeah, and I want the players to name the unit, too.) I'm currently figuring on about 12 NPCs plus the PCs being all that's left (until they decide to go recruiting, if they do). I'm not sure exactly when it will get scheduled, but I want at least one session to burn all the PCs and maybe a second to play out some more or less “pre-campaign” stuff like the march from Wist to Deal.
If nothing better comes up, I plan on the unit making a deal to work for one of the crime bosses in Deal (not that he will be presented that way); when they get there, however, Magi of Deal (who goes by “Puppetmistress”) has decided she doesn't want a company of mercenaries camping in her city and he sends them on their way with a pittance “for your inconvenience”. As they are grumbling / leaving, however, Puppetmistress finds out how few of them there are, and decides it would be ok for them to stay, as long as they where working for her...
Deal (the city is built near the ruins of the old Fortress at Deal) is loosely divided into four main sections: the Palace and the surrounding mansions and gardens are patrolled by Puppetmistress' personal guard; the Merchant District is patrolled by the City Guard, with the amount of protection directly proportional to the amount of “taxes” paid; the “Thieves' District” is patrolled by the City Guard, with the amount of protection inversely proportional to the amount of “taxes” paid; and the peasant living in the huts ringing around the whole thing are on their own.
It seems that a series of grizzly and mysterious murders have been taking place in the Thieves' District. Victims (up to a dozen at a time) are found torn apart as if by a great beast, and generally the crime scenes are utterly wrecked; and yet no-one ever remembers hearing or seeing anything (even under magical compulsion). This obviously needs to be stopped, but just sending in the Guard poses political problems... The citizens of the Thieves' District would resent the Guard's presence, no matter their purpose, whereas the citizens of the Merchant's District would feel a bit cheated if their neighbors on the other side of the city got protections they had not paid for... As a result, Puppetmistress is interested in arranging an “anonymous” reward for actions that result in an end to these attacks...