1 of 1- StMichael
- Warrior
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- From: Ferndale, Michigan
- Registered: 1/15/2024
- Posts: 35
Player Agency of Lemuria
I've been working with the magic system lately, both to help generate a PC and for... my own purposes, and I'm really liking the unique way that BoL bakes-in incentive for players to drive the narrative of a campaign. Requirements like "Special Item," "Special Knowledge," or "Permanent Focus" allow the players to suggest things like, "I'd like to travel to Shamballah to have a special, rune-emblazoned bag commissioned to use when casting Conjure Item," or "Let's go delving in the ruins of Ygddar - perhaps we'll find the lost diaries of Torena the Sharp, mistress of the Demonic Blade, and I can learn her technique." Then the GM can play off that for the next story arc or so, and when it's done, bam! One of the Requirements for that spell is met for the rest of the campaign (as long as they can hold on to that bag). That's a significant Arcane Points savings!
Of course, there's also the same sorts of implied narrative permissions in Career advancement as well. Want to pick up a few ranks of Pirate? You better convince the GM to get the party on a boat for an arc or two.
This all is absolutely perfect for the way I want to run my campaign. I envision the arcs as each being the equivalent of a short story, published in a pulp weird adventure magazine. So once a story's over, we fade to black, and next session picks up somewhere else, sometime later. And I want the players to drive the where and why of that with their goals and whims; at the end of an arc, I want them to tell me where they're headed next, and why, and I'll use that to kick off the next arc.
It'd be even more perfect if the "stories" could be "published" out of order, but that would be some sort of tracking nightmare. I'm not that good a GM.
Last edited by StMichael (6/16/2024 4:56 am)
- CaptAdventure
- Warrior
Online! - From: Detroit, Michigan
- Registered: 1/17/2024
- Posts: 60
Re: Player Agency of Lemuria
StMichael wrote:
This all is absolutely perfect for the way I want to run my campaign. I envision the arcs as each being the equivalent of a short story, published in a pulp weird adventure magazine. So once a story's over, we fade to black, and next session picks up somewhere else, sometime later. And I want the players to drive the where and why of that with their goals and whims; at the end of an arc, I want them to tell me where they're headed next, and why, and I'll use that to kick off the next arc.
Love this idea (and will do my best to help with it), but it seems to me the hard part will be convincing some of the players to want specific things (defined by them, not you)/have particular goals. That is, to engage with the setting and their advancement enough to say, "Let's sneak into the City of Zalut so I can track down old scrolls of forbidden magic!" (Because the group doesn't always read deeply into the setting info, and might not twig to Zalut being the City of Magicians.)
It'd be even more perfect if the "stories" could be "published" out of order, but that would be some sort of tracking nightmare. I'm not that good a GM.
That would be cool (and very much in keeping with Howard and Lieber), but you're absolutely right that it would be a tracking nightmare. Plus players (in this case, generally, not our specific group) very much get into the mindset of "I keep getting better and better. So very few gamers (that I've run into) are willing to go from King Conan in Phoenix on the Sword to thief Conan in The Tower of the Elephant. I like to think I myself would be cool with something like that, but I'm probably giving myself too much credit. :-)
Hell, right now I feel like I'm devolving as a gamer, because I'm having very strong "I just want to stab somebody" impulses. Not exactly sure why, but don't think it's going to be a very helpful impulse for campaign advancement!
-- Paul
- Gruntfuttock
- Gladiator
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- Registered: 1/29/2014
- Posts: 429
Re: Player Agency of Lemuria
I think that the idea of player driven goals is the Holy Grail of gaming, but so often in the past I've ended up with players who want to be entertained, and put all the role of driving the campaign on the GM. However, in recent years I've had players who were happy to set their own goals, which is a lot more satisfying for a group activity.
I'm a big fan of episodic campaigns and this is usually what I've run over the years. I see games as long running tv shows, where each 'episode' stands alone but there may well be a unifiying arc over the 'series'. The arc might not be a big part, or even show up, in every game, but it's always there.
My real name is Steve Hall
- Gruntfuttock
- Gladiator
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- Registered: 1/29/2014
- Posts: 429
Re: Player Agency of Lemuria
I like the idea of playing PCs at different stages in their career, just like in the stories in the pulps. However, I agree that logistically it is too much of a headache, and you may well meet player resistance. You could only do it by actually re-writing/re-generating the PC for every story, already have a idea of the character's trajectory within the game worked out, and to provide script immunity so the PC doesn't die before the end of the arc.
This is not what players play rpgs for.
As a thought experiment it just confirms that rpgs arn't novels or films, but their own thing.
My real name is Steve Hall