After my melancholy previous post, I've decided to start prepping another campaign. I'll go ahead and play with a group of strangers on Roll20.
James recommended that I post my planning process here. That way I can get input and feedback from my readers. "There's one problem with that," I said. "I don't have that many readers, and almost none of those comment."
"If you build it," he said, "they will come." Well, maybe not those exact words, but that's what he meant.
So, to the campaign.
Here's my initial thoughts for the campaign and the world:
- The game world will be an iron-aged fantasy world.
- The players will all be human.
- I'm not sure if there will be non-human NPCs. I'm fond of light fantasy.
- It will be a sandbox campaign. There won't be any huge overarching plots unless the players "create" one by following leads.
- I want to run it as an open table.
- I want the game to be about exploration into unknown lands.
- I want there to be a strong merchant component to the campaign. Character can pick up cargo at one town in the hopes for selling it at a profit in another. As the game goes on, the smart character should be able to make a comfortable living from his trade routes.
That's my rough idea in a nut shell. Some of those bullets lead to other choices that need to be made. Some bullets narrow down the possible choices. All that will be covered in future posts.
So what do you think? Want to help me make this campaign?
An interesting premise! I for one would like to watch this develop and provide feedback where I might.
ReplyDeleteAnd as for current thoughts - the only thing that comes to mind based on the current spread of bulleted items is the non-human NPCs. Providing some sparse representation of fantasy races could dovetail nicely with strategic merchant-ing; i.e. recognizing that certain races and civilizations will put more value (and thus pay more) for certain items or materials than others.
Thanks for the comment!
ReplyDeleteI get what you mean about racial stereo-types for marketing. (Dwarfs are a good source of minerals and metal, and a good market for cloth and meat!)
It's also useful to instantly tell the players something about a town they wander into. "This is a Goblin town!"
This is why I'm unsure.