Question: As game master, do you ask your players to come over and play “Dungeons and Dragons,” or do you say, let’s play “Airship Defenders of the Forgotten Realms”?
In other words, does presenting a specific campaign arc, with stated objectives for character types and a plan to emulate a certain genre of adventure serve everyone better than a generic, “Let’s play D&D”?
While there are certainly times it is OK to say, “Let’s play D&D,” I thought it would be worth exploring how being specific can provide a table experience that helps better meet everyone’s expectations.
The July 31 podcast episode of “Ken and Robin Talk About Stuff” was a discussion about how those two game designers compose “campaign frames” for their games.
As they describe it, campaign frames provide a narrow thematic focus and apply a recognized fiction or film genre to a game. For example, they said the original Tracy Hickman treatment of Ravenloft would be the Dracula campaign frame applied to a baseline Dungeons and Dragons game.
As another example, Kenneth Hite’s recent Kickstarter, the Dracula Dossier, got its start as a campaign frame for his espionage game Night’s Black Agents. It is based on this compelling premise: “In 1893, a visionary spymaster in the British Naval Intelligence Department launched a plan to recruit the perfect asset: a vampire.”
Being primarily a D&D game master, however, I thought applying the campaign frame concept in a structured format would be helpful.
As I envision it, each campaign frame has four parts: Theme, Player Character types, Monsters and Adversaries and a catch-all I’ve labeled Genre Furniture.
And as an exercise, I’ve been brainstorming some campaign frames that could be applied the D&D published campaign book “Princes of the Apocalypse,” a reboot of the Elemental Evil mega adventures.
Here is one for your consideration. The others are available as an attached pdf:Â frameshandout.
Airship Defenders of the Realm
Theme: The same elemental forces that power the wonders of the age — flying machines and other pulpy gizmos — are being yoked by religious fanatics intent on establishing a new order.
PC types: Rogues, alchemists, mechanics, techo-wizards and spellcasters with an elemental bent, as well as some fighters who favor two-fisted solutions to problems.
Monsters – adversaries: Add more constructs, especially those powered by water and steam. Provide cult leaders with mad scientists.
Furniture: Airships, of course, as well as gear-driven “magic” items, ray guns; when you see an instant where a monster is serving a purpose that a machine might work, think about swapping out.
Nice. For me, “Airship Defenders” has much more of an Eberron-ish feel, but that’s no bad thing.
Good point. I think one of the things a campaign frame will let you do, Mr. Flibble, is take something that is very baseline — like the Forgotten Realms — and tweak it in one direction or another. Did any of the other frames on the download catch your interest?
Ken loves frames, he’s got them in Night’s Black Agents (where he calls them Modes) and Trail of Cthulhu (where he calls a Frame a Frame).
Your frame pitches are so much more intriguing than “come play D&D.” Cool stuff!
If I had to pick one, it would be Quest of the Gauntleted Knights. If I were running that, I’d use the icon system from 13th Age. Green Knight, Elemental Wizards, Lady of the Lake…
Glad to see it grabbed your interest.
More specific pitches are better on almost every level. They often spark an excitement–and make it easy to imagine characters that work for the specific world.
There’s nothing more disappointing that showing up to a generic pitch with a specific character and finding out that it doesn’t match the not yet shared world/setting the GM is actually running. Similarly, a strong pitch is clear enough to spark a discussion… sure, we said Dragonlance, but is this a kender caper?
I think as long as you are up front with your players about the type of adventure you are running, whether it is generic fantasy or a specific setting, you are doing them a favor, assisting in their character creation and providing a platform from which they can buy in.
This premise also goes back to having a “Session 0”, the session where the GM and the players talk about the game they want to play together. The GM can’t have a game without buy-in from their players and it should be a game that the GM is enthusiastic to collectively tell stories with the players. Thanks for your thoughts Troy. -Nerdarchist Ryan
This is a great article, and an excellent idea. In my own games that I run, I utilize a similar system, but allow each player to contribute some element of the basic premise. I let each person at the table contribute a sentence or two, and these become part of the campaign backstory.
I will be posting a protocol for this soon on my website: http://ojogames.com/fantasy-chimera/
It is an integral aspect of giving the players creative input into the campaign.