A conscripted GM

[LiverMike]

Well, my friends wanted another campaign to be run, so I was asked to GM.

Here's the idea:

A human King is about to turn the throne over to his eldest son so a great tournament is had...

At the beginning of the tournament, a Knight shows up with a five man retinue and his guards of 10 Armored and Armed TROLLS! Immediately the church sends out a call to the Templars.

so the trolls stay camped 1/4 mile away as do the Templar, because most of them don't participate in tourney. The tournament goes off normally, and at its conclusion the matter of regency needs to be settled.

The Usurper has a signet ring that exactly matches the kiing's, it is supposed prove the true king, so the church digs up the old rituals that will reveal the real ring, and it shows the King's is real and the Usurper's ring is a forgery. The Usurper's advisor accuses the church of faking it and the ring.

There is some split in the ranks of Nobles and Knights and people are taking sides.

this is when and where the character's enter the campaign. And no I can't say what is actually happening because at least one of the players view this forum regularly, So I will Continue the saga, if you all like it.

[Wuxing]

I'm all for more. But what I want is the characters. Who are they? What are they? What are the stakes? What are they willing to die for?

In other words, give me BITs and thier involvement in this whole set up.

[luke]

and why isn't one of the PCs the Usurper?

[LiverMike]

Characters are being created as I write this....Right now we have a 5 LP knight who lost his mind after a particularly bloody battle years ago, and now is a wandering Madman...

And the second character is a 5 LP Elf=Prince... I think he'll be sent to the Usurper's lands to be a diplomat or emmisary.


And as to why the Usurper is an NPC, two reasons:

First, I don't want a PC to have all of his knowledge of what is going on ..
Second, I like to let players make their characters and I would have to lead a player into a character concept, and I didn't want to do that....

I'll log in with new post as the game progresses, but I will answer PM's in case someone wants to know what really is happening, or wants to give me ideas for where to go...

[Kublai]

To be terse, your players Beliefs should be the only thing telling you where the story should go!

[LiverMike]

that would make for a lousy GM...

I feel that the GM should set the world and initial conflict and then let the characters go from there...

The players will certainly direct the story, but WITHIN the world I create. I am sure there will be many things the characters can do from the beginning, like choose to seek out the Usurper, choose to start a civil war within the kingdom, or totally ignore all of this plot. Ther are several plotlines in my mind, but there has to be some cohesiveness, because these players don't like games in which every character goes his own way...

Also I should note that the player who is playing a Knight, has his 12-13 year old son joining the campaign, so it limits me a little in what I can do....

But, yes the characters will direct the campaign after the initial happening....

[Angaros]

What Kublai is suggesting, and what BW was designed for, is collaboration from the beginning. If everyone gets to discuss and decide on the driving conflicts of the campaign and setting and then build characters and BITs around these conflicts you will have a much more manageable game on your hands as a GM and the players and characters will have a natural stake in what's going on. I'm not suggesting that the group should discuss every little detail from the beginning. Just as much as you can read from the back cover of any DVD you go out to rent. Or thereabouts.

This way you won't have players ignoring your well planned plots or yawning when you reach a climactic part in the campaign. Letting the players in on the planning doesn't mean that their characters will go their own way. Their characters will already be tied to the conflicts at hand. Will the "avaliable concepts" be too narrow? Will the players have too little freedom? Nope, they won't. Not if you keep away from the details and let character concepts and setting conflicts evolve side by side. (Sort of like thesis, antithesis and synthesis (blasted Germans).)

In my days as a GM I've tried the "I make a campaign -- you make characters for it" and "Make characters and I'll build a campaign around it" styles. They never worked for me. I was certain I lacked some skills as a GM, or rather I envied one of the GMs I had that really could make those styles work. Thinking about it I now believe that what he did to make the campaigns so great was to do what BW explicitly tells us to do. He conversed with the players (not with explicit questions but ordinary chit-chat), found out what was important to them (not the characters), got an understanding of how the players' priorities were reflected in their characters and then forged campaigns and adventures around this. Sounds great doesn't it? This is exactly what BW is all about but it's more open about it than any other game I've played so far. It's not about the GM being a slave to the players' demands. It's about the gang collaborating and cooperating on equal terms to produce material that they're all comfortable working with. Material that will allow them to have the most fun when they play. *sniff*

[LiverMike]

Point taken Angaras,,,but we (as a group) have too much experience playing to care about a campaign concept, except if a GM goes crazy and in troduces futuristic ray guns into a Medieval setting...

I'm in my 30's and have been seriously RPGing since Freshman year of high school...(20 something years).. and have seen GMs who limit characters too much and it won't happen...

I allow all my players to do just about anyting they can come up with, i.e. "I Kill the Duke",,,,"OK, How?"... (actually happened)

But I agree that BW is perfect for allowing the Characters' Beleifs to guide it....

[ChrisG]

LM, check out the chapter called Playing the Game on p265 of BWr, especially the section called "Tying in Beliefs". The collaboration with players is not an optional part of BW, it's a fundamental part of setting up your campaign. You can just play BW like D&D with different mechanics, but you'll be missing out on the way BITs and Artha fuel the game.

The extended example that follows that chapter is also very helpful reading.

[Kublai]

that would make for a lousy GM...

:shock:

I have exactly the opposite opinion! A BW GM who makes sure at least one of the players' Beliefs tie directly into the campaign goal is a great GM. And the campaign goal SHOULD be decided by the group as a whole in order to ensure that every player has a stake. After that, it's the GMs job to throw in conflicts involving the goal and conflicts that test Beliefs.

Beliefs drive BW play. Beliefs tell the GM what sort of conflicts the player wants. Beliefs are the mechanic which will earn the most Artha for a player.

For instance, you said a character once tried to kill a Baron. In BW, if that character had a Belief that led him to such an action, he would earn Artha for what seems to be a disastrous idea. Also, if he had such a Belief, you as a GM would've been prepared for just such an occassion!

[LiverMike]

OK Chris I have P.265 in front of me and essentially this is what happened to create my campaign...:

Danny - Hey mike, I could play in a game if you GM'd it. (Danny hasn't played in years bvecause he likes GMing)

Mike - OK, I have an Idea that could work....

Danny - Great we could use a backup in case I don't feel like running, but You know I Like lots of combat, and Seth will play in it (Seth is his son)

Mike - Alright, its typical Medieval but a small Kingdom... King is giving Throne to son... (rest of intro here)...

Danny - Kewl... I'd like to play a Holy knight with Faith...

Mike - OK, one of the things you had noticed is that although Trolls are Evil and the Adviser is Evil... The Usurper is not....

Other player - I've never played an Elf ... can I?

Mike - Sure , but 5 LP limit and I want to see Beleifs as soon as Possible....


I gave a general setting... nobody cared about character specifics at that point, so I went with the intro to help player form B eleifs... We'll see if they and I coincide....

My point about our experience is that I, personally have played over a thousand character, probably, so I don't have desire to play a certain type of character, so I can take a background vof a campaign and then formulate a perfectly acceptale character top me and the GM.....

[ChrisG]

Sorry Mike, I inadvertently pointed you to the section "Extended Example" confusing it with something else. I didn't mean to give the impression that I thought you were an inexperienced roleplayer or GM. Anyway, my apologies if because of that my advice came off as a put down.

The reason I suggested p265 is because of what you said about the GM's job being to set the initial world and conflict. The initial world is supposed to be a group creation--and it seems like you've done that part. Your players seem to have said, "make us a world". You came back with the medieval kingdom the King passing on the crown. Some groups have more player input, but so far so good.

The next step is to get those BITs, and use them to create the conflict. Because the whole power struggle campaign is very cool, but if the BITs don't tie into it, it won't work as well. Also, as Luke mentions, pay attention to the character choices--sometimes picking a character with Faith or an Elf is the player saying something about the kind of game they want to play: one that's all about religion or Grief, for instance.

Good luck and have fun!

[LiverMike]

Chris... no offense taken.. I just wanted to show that the people I play with rarely care about the setting and are also not used to helping the GM to create the World.... But actually thatwhole section you pointed to, Will haelp me run in BW system (this will be my first here),,,,


And I can't wait to see the beliefs etc.... that the characters have... be happy to fill you all in when I see them...

BTW the campaign started as I was walking out the door to go home. (I've Got an Hour and a half drive home....)

[Kublai]

I just wanted to show that the people I play with rarely care about the setting and are also not used to helping the GM to create the World.

Little by little, I would love to see this attitude reversed. I was so thrilled the first time I realized I had a role. I had the same thrill later on when my own players realized the same empowerment.

Trust me, I am as old-school as they come and most of us here at BW have had the same amount of experience you've had. But it seems old dogs can learn new tricks, after all. I resisted like Hell, at first, but now I am one of us. (And it had nothing to do with the pod Abzu put into my bedroom, I swear!)

Good luck, no matter!

[phredd]

No, it was me clubbing you over the head with a surly dwarf. 8)

[LiverMike]

Kublai.... actually I have run and played in campaigns where the players wrote down exactly what type of campaign and character they want...And it was pretty cool, so I understand what you're saying...

Phredd-- ????? (confused puppy-dog look) .... I assume that was supposed to be a reply to something else...?....

[LiverMike]

phredd, never mind, tired boy understands now....The liver thing must be affecting my mind....