Post by hitokiri on Feb 14, 2007 21:43:23 GMT -5
Hey everyone! So I'm going to describe abstractly the game world I had created for my first DC game. It didn't go over too well. My group loves D&D, but I constantly try to bring in new systems that simplify what D&D has complicated and to try to address issues in our gaming group.
I will grossly stereotype my group now:
Basically I want advice on how to be a better DM. I like the world I've created, but I would like to make it better. Our group never usually plays a game longer than a night or two, and I made this so it would be extremely modular so that there would always be something new.
If you can, give me suggestions on what you think would make this campaign better, and how to DM better. I really like DC, more than any RPG I've found, and now I have to convert my friends.
A Wrinkle in Time
Background for DM:
The world is in the near future, which for the sake of the game means some nifty technological improvements without any huge sociological implications.
Time travel was discovered recently, and has opened up a pandora's box. Almost as soon as the device was created, it was stolen and copied. Because of that, a new agency has been created to enforce what they believe time was. The players start the game unaware of this in their final testing simulation.
Scene 1: VR West
The players all arrive in the small mining town of Blackfoot. While each arrives a different method, they all wind up broke due to various misfortunes. One player loses all of his railroad investment. Another had a run in with an Opium addiction. Another lost his in gambling.
The players look for work to earn food and a nights rest and find odd jobs from various townsfolk. Upon completion, they earn small pay and are told to talk to the Opium den's operator for future work. The den leader gives them all the task of finding a girl who disappeared. They are told what the pay is to bring her back alive and dead, as well as who the father is for more information.
The father discloses, on his farm, that he was in the fields and his daughter was probably out playing at the Devil's sandbox (There is a lot of myth and folklore that gets disclosed, but I'm leaving it out.) .
After some searching the team finds footprints in the white sand that leads to a cave that is marked as mining shaft #7. The cave is only 20 feet in, and at the end they see a cage with a small girl sleeping in it.
When they get her home, and when she wakes up she'll tell a story about how when she was playing she saw a small boy playing too, and they went into the cave together. He tricked her into the cage, and when she was crying she saw him push on the wall and it open into another room. The room was lit with a lantern and contained a child-sized cot, and a coffin on the floor. As the door shut, the lid of the coffin was opening.
At this point I had hoped the players had figured out that they had a vampire to kill. They didn't, they instead decided to go talk to everyone in town for another full day. I had the vampire come in the night and take the girl once again.
Finally after gathering supplies, they go to confront the vampire during the day. They use fire, holy water, and steaks to kill him while he sleeps, and return to the opium den for payment.
Scene 2: Dam Graduation
The players experience something similar to everything fading black and their entire bodies draining through their head as they wake up in the training facility. Their captain is there to congratulate them on passing their final exams. They are told to meet back the next day for graduation.
At graduation they are given their standard issue equipment, a time locator, a tranquilizing pistol, and a digital encyclopedia. They are lectured on how stupid it was to waste time when they should have neutralized the vampire immidiately.
They are also taught about the background of the game. Time travel, the future, and how monsters start to exist in history because of anomalies from people screwing around. They are then told to show up the next day for their first mission's briefing.
They are told that in the early 1900s a hydroelectric dam was built at Niagra falls, but never went into operation. They found an anomaly there that plays out to be the destruction of the dam, and Niagra falls. They don't know who is doing it, or why. They have to go stop it. They'll be given 2 hours and be deployed at 4AM. Three hours before the plant's scheduled fist operation.
For this I drew maps of the various places they would encounter. They split up immidiately to sneak in. One person tranquilized every body in the way. They infiltrated without incident. The odd monster I put in was a slime. However, no hint I could drop for the players on how to kill it in combat was taken, and one of the players almost died from trying to kick it. The bombs were disarmed and they made it out.
On the way they ran into the culprit who was wearing modern clothes. One of the players ran and dropkicked him into the river, where he was swept away.
Anyway, thats about all that happened. Let me know what you think.
I will grossly stereotype my group now:
- Someone who won't make a decision
- Someone who only wants to do the correct thing
- Someone who has to be the most powerful
Basically I want advice on how to be a better DM. I like the world I've created, but I would like to make it better. Our group never usually plays a game longer than a night or two, and I made this so it would be extremely modular so that there would always be something new.
If you can, give me suggestions on what you think would make this campaign better, and how to DM better. I really like DC, more than any RPG I've found, and now I have to convert my friends.
A Wrinkle in Time
Background for DM:
The world is in the near future, which for the sake of the game means some nifty technological improvements without any huge sociological implications.
Time travel was discovered recently, and has opened up a pandora's box. Almost as soon as the device was created, it was stolen and copied. Because of that, a new agency has been created to enforce what they believe time was. The players start the game unaware of this in their final testing simulation.
Scene 1: VR West
The players all arrive in the small mining town of Blackfoot. While each arrives a different method, they all wind up broke due to various misfortunes. One player loses all of his railroad investment. Another had a run in with an Opium addiction. Another lost his in gambling.
The players look for work to earn food and a nights rest and find odd jobs from various townsfolk. Upon completion, they earn small pay and are told to talk to the Opium den's operator for future work. The den leader gives them all the task of finding a girl who disappeared. They are told what the pay is to bring her back alive and dead, as well as who the father is for more information.
The father discloses, on his farm, that he was in the fields and his daughter was probably out playing at the Devil's sandbox (There is a lot of myth and folklore that gets disclosed, but I'm leaving it out.) .
After some searching the team finds footprints in the white sand that leads to a cave that is marked as mining shaft #7. The cave is only 20 feet in, and at the end they see a cage with a small girl sleeping in it.
When they get her home, and when she wakes up she'll tell a story about how when she was playing she saw a small boy playing too, and they went into the cave together. He tricked her into the cage, and when she was crying she saw him push on the wall and it open into another room. The room was lit with a lantern and contained a child-sized cot, and a coffin on the floor. As the door shut, the lid of the coffin was opening.
At this point I had hoped the players had figured out that they had a vampire to kill. They didn't, they instead decided to go talk to everyone in town for another full day. I had the vampire come in the night and take the girl once again.
Finally after gathering supplies, they go to confront the vampire during the day. They use fire, holy water, and steaks to kill him while he sleeps, and return to the opium den for payment.
Scene 2: Dam Graduation
The players experience something similar to everything fading black and their entire bodies draining through their head as they wake up in the training facility. Their captain is there to congratulate them on passing their final exams. They are told to meet back the next day for graduation.
At graduation they are given their standard issue equipment, a time locator, a tranquilizing pistol, and a digital encyclopedia. They are lectured on how stupid it was to waste time when they should have neutralized the vampire immidiately.
They are also taught about the background of the game. Time travel, the future, and how monsters start to exist in history because of anomalies from people screwing around. They are then told to show up the next day for their first mission's briefing.
They are told that in the early 1900s a hydroelectric dam was built at Niagra falls, but never went into operation. They found an anomaly there that plays out to be the destruction of the dam, and Niagra falls. They don't know who is doing it, or why. They have to go stop it. They'll be given 2 hours and be deployed at 4AM. Three hours before the plant's scheduled fist operation.
For this I drew maps of the various places they would encounter. They split up immidiately to sneak in. One person tranquilized every body in the way. They infiltrated without incident. The odd monster I put in was a slime. However, no hint I could drop for the players on how to kill it in combat was taken, and one of the players almost died from trying to kick it. The bombs were disarmed and they made it out.
On the way they ran into the culprit who was wearing modern clothes. One of the players ran and dropkicked him into the river, where he was swept away.
Anyway, thats about all that happened. Let me know what you think.