Brave New World

Only one player gave me grief about starting up a new campaign world, and he always gives me grief. The other six were extremely supportive, with most of them saying, "You're doing most of the work and if you feel you need to make this change then go for it." I even gained an eighth player. Very cool.

If you're wondering what the heck I'm talking about, I started a new campaign world way back in November. Started again I should say. This time, I made a long term commitment to go with my long term plan.

One player asked why I'm using a "non-heroic" points method. In fact, I toned down every other random variable as well including hit points and starting gold. Not to a "non-heroic" level but to an average level for beginning heroes.

I made this choice because I want my players to lean on each other a bit more in this campaign. I have eight players after all, and I don't want every one of their characters to be able to do everything on their own. I want them to pull together as a team.

Chaos

I took a hands off approach to this campaign. In fact, the adventures I plan to write will revolve around the individual backstories and/or the gaming direction of each of the eight characters. Therefore, I wanted to start very broad and give my players lots of room to maneuver.

My previous maps were functional but not exciting. I decided to use some of the professionally rendered maps from my collection of defunct and I-will-never-ever-play-this games. Birthright gave me a world map, a continent map, a part of a continent map, and a local map. A lot easier than doing it myself, although I'll need to tweak it. The beautiful and highly functional map of Sassarine from Dungeon Magazine will serve as the city of Anbegriffon.

These maps serve two purposes. First, they are highly functional, with Sassarine including street names for nearly every avenue. A nice touch I don't remember seeing on any other city map I have.

Second, the maps inspire me. I want to know what lies where and who is doing what. The maps are cool and spark the imagination. And let me be completely honest here. They are a lot less work than trying to draw them on my own!

The First Adventure

I wanted the first adventure to resonate in my player's mind. As good as adventures like the new "Scourge of the Howling Horde" are, I didn't want another goblin adventure. I didn't even want to start with combat.

I also wanted the first adventure to focus on the city of Anbegriffon. I have never run a focused city adventure before and I wanted to do so now.

So I had an insane halfling necromancer create a burning skeleton (from Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil, thanks Monte and Wizards minis) and set the Halfling Harbor Encampment on fire. The player characters sailed into the harbor to find a blazing inferno on the water.

Once again, Dungeon maps came in handy. I used the ship map from the latest adventure path. Instead of four levels, I had the map represent four ships tied together. I spread some red dice and clear plastic fire elementals out along with some downed halflings.

The player characters minis sailed in on a ship from Broadsides and Boarding Parties. (Have there ever been board games as cool as Milton Bradley’s "Axis and Allies-like games other than Heroquest? Maybe Viktory II will be that kind of game). The ship came complete with an eight-man rowboat, cut out from a handout from Dragon or Dungeon magazine (can't remember which).

Wow, what an encounter. Characters rowing and fishing halflings out of the drink. Fighters leaping ship to ship holding barrels of water. Grenade like attacks on burning fires. Smoke inhalation. Crumbling and crackling decks. And burning, red dice, um I mean fire, spreading everywhere.

I was thrilled with how the robust skill rules, combat rules, and mini rules for 3.5 worked in this encounter. I actually felt like I was watching these seven characters (the cowardly wizard hung back) risk their lives to save some halflings that the rest of the city considered little better than refuse.

I'd have to say this encounter is my all-time favorite encounter I've written for D&D in the many years I've been DMing. My players seemed to like it too.

Then the beholder showed up.

Belamere, Paladin of Elishar

Other gamers can complain all they want about the minis focus of D&D. (I won't mention how AD&D 1st edition wrote everything in inches instead of feet because of its wargaming roots. Oh, wait, I just did.) I like minis.

The looks on my players' faces when that beholder mini came floating over the water toward them was priceless. No description I could have read could have floored them more than old eyeballs on a stick coming right at ‘em.

Belamere is a paladin of Elishar. He also happens to be a beholder.

I didn't want some smarmy human paladin. Or any other boring NPC. I wanted a rebel, a leader, a real monster.

The Monster Manual lists the alignment of beholders as usually evil. Belamere is the exception the usually implies.

His race as a whole consists of megalomaniacal tyrants who treat sentient beings as chattel and currency on their best days. Belamere couldn't get his eyestalks around that idea, so he left. He found peace and acceptance in the light of Elishar.

Elishar's followers, however, aren't quite as loving as their god. Belamere cannot enter the rest of the city as ordered by both the Temple of Elishar and the ruler of the city. The only place he is allowed is in the Halfling Harbor Encampment. Like the halflings of the floating slums, he's an outcast.

And he doesn't give a damn. He serves Elishar faithfully and has just been waiting for some adventurers to come along who can serve as his eyestalks in the city proper.

Enter the player characters.

Coming To a Crossroads

I listened to the D&D podcast with Keith Baker talking about the new Dragonmarked book for Eberron. In the podcast, he explained starting with a one-page proposal, then increasing it to a ten-page synopsis, and finally making the hundred page Eberron "Bible". And I realized I've never got much past the ten-page synopsis in most of my campaigns.

One problem I have is that new ideas show up and I want to try something new. At any one time I might be reading about the HARP rules and the world of Cyradon, exploring D20 Future, and reading GURPs Traveller. I'm also writing this column and working on a PDF setting for a d20 company. I cannot possibly play every game I have or even begin to explore every idea that pops into my head.

Up to this point, I've been using the shotgun approach to DMing and world building. Pull the trigger and spray ideas all over the place.

In a couple of days I'll turn thirty-five and has my wife says that's really old. (Thanks sweetheart.) Funny thing is, I don't feel really old. In fact, I feel like I'm about to experience a Renaissance in my gaming experience.

I'm hoping to get Viktory II for Christmas and finally find the game I had hoped Twilight Imperium 3.0 should have been (the last time I played TI3 I won by building up forces on all my planets and meeting a minor victory condition every round. I attacked no one and won. Just about the saddest and most boring victory I've ever attained). A game like the old Conquest of the Empire or Axis and Allies but more balanced, with the fun of exploration, and an invitation to use real tactics and strategy in play.

In addition, Wizards keeps putting out great books that I can really use. I'm looking forward to Fiendish Codex II this year and the Magic Item Compendium and the drow sourcebook next year. Stuff a DM can actually use, not just new rules.

So I have all these tools and exciting materials. What am I going to do with them?

Well, I'm going to explore what I originally started this column to write about. I'm going to take Crossroads from a roughly ten page synopsis and slowly build it into a Crossroads "Bible" of a hundred pages or whatever is required. Along the way, I'll keep writing adventures and helping my players explore this growing world.

Hopefully, you'll find the journey interesting enough to check back here each month and see where I am currently. Maybe drop some advice and/or encouragement of your own for me to use. The journey of a hundred pages begins with the first word.

World Building on 1/25

Prestige guilds are the movers and shakers in Krarvell. From orders of knights to thieves' guilds, prestige guilds offer more options for character and create plot hooks all their own.

This new section for the Crossroads campaign setting contains a lot of information so it will be featured in an extra column of Brave New World on 1/25.

Charli