#RPGaDAY2018 - Day 27: Share a great stream / actual play

I've been looking at several actual play streams lately, searching for a group that I'd enjoy watching weekly. Among the couple of groups I went through, the one I'm liking the most at the moment is Critical Role.

The production value of this show really helps

That being said, there is one actual play stream in particular that I would recommend everyone to watch, and it's not related to the Critical Role show. I'm talking about an episode of Acquisition Incorporated, a game where the guys at Penny Arcade get together during each PAX and play in front of a live audience.

This game has unicorns, dragons, giants, airships, and floating castles in it

This stream is the most fun I've had watching actual play. Not only are the players on the table genuinely funny, Chris Perkins is a master DM, and he killed it in this game. If you have four hours of free time, I would suggest letting this play out in the background (although you will want to watch the last hour or two).

#RPGaDAY2018 - Day 26: Gaming ambition for the next 12 months

For the next 12 months, I foresee myself running Tomb of Annihilation until that campaign is over. In the meantime, I also look forward to playing in my friends' games. If I'm lucky, I'll be able to run a game or two for some other friends that have never played before.

Waterdeep: Dragon Heist is almost out, so perhaps I can put it to good use!

Perhaps within that time, I'll tackle my interest of streaming a game of D&D. I've wanted to do something like that for several years.

I've also always wanted to write, and perhaps publish, my own content. I'd say this event has motivated me a little, and from now on, I will try to write something on this blog about once per week. There's a couple of ideas that have surfaced in my head lately and I'd like to materialize them. Perhaps after I post enough, I can look for a way to publish it. Baby steps.

#RPGaDAY2018 - Day 25: Preparing for an extended campaign. Part 5 - Ongoing Preparations

This post concludes my five part answer of how I prepare for an extended campaign.

Part 1: The Goal and The Antagonist

Part 2: Notable Landmarks

Part 3: Player Integration

Part 4: Adventure Outline



Part 5: Ongoing Preparations

Preparation doesn't end when the campaign begins. Before and after every session, I take some time to go through what's happened so far, what the PCs actions were and how they impacted the world and the story. Did they like a certain NPC? Is there anything I should bring more (or less) of? I try to fine tune my campaign every session to ensure that it stays fresh and everyone stays engaged. 

I'll end this one on a short note, since there's many great guides out there that detail ways to prepare yourself for your gaming sessions (and I don't want to give away all my secrets yet), and also because I'm past due RPGaDay and there are many projects I'd like to work on. Perhaps I can cover this subject in better detail at a later time. 

#RPGaDAY2018 - Day 24: Preparing for an extended campaign. Part 4 - Adventure Outline

This post resumes my five part answer of how I prepare for an extended campaign.

Part 1: The Goal and The Antagonist

Part 2: Notable Landmarks

Part 3: Player Integration

Part 5: Ongoing Preparations

Part 4: Adventure Outline

Once you have a good idea of the game's key points and how they connect to the players, it helps to write down a general idea of how you think the story could go. Keep in mind that this is bound to change at any time based on player decisions or any events that could change circumstances, so don't get too married to the idea of your original outline. If there is a better story to be told, go with that story instead.

WARNING: MAJOR CURSE OF STRAHD SPOILERS

The adventurers begin the adventure by entering Strahd's realm and the village of Barovia. This place needs to give the PCs enough of a shock for them to understand that they're not in Kansas anymore and how different it is from their home. Everything is bleak, Strahd does what he wants, and nobody can stop him. The NPCs here will suggest the PCs go talk to Madam Eva, who gives the PCs a card reading, which is basically a plot hook for at least three different places.

When the players reach Vallaki, they should be given the hook that the Wizard of Wines has not delivered wine lately and therefore they should check it out. Vallaki is also a good way to show how twisted the realm becomes in Strahd's influence. There are many ways for the PCs to gain allies here, so they know that they're not the only ones trying to fight back.

Eventually, the PC's path will lead to the Wizard of Wines, where they learn about the druids. From there, they'll head to Yester Hill. Following my notes from the previous posts, if a PC is tied to the archdruid, they may have a difficult decision to make. If they find Strahd here or otherwise find an NPC to expose Barovia's past, this can be a good midpoint to the story where the players start to find out what makes Strahd tick, by learning about his ancestral home. 

With some wine in tow, the PCs are able to enter Krezk and meet the Abbot. Even if there isn't a PC tied to the Abbot, the player will face a difficult decision on whether to play along with the twisted celestial or not. Regardless of the outcome, it'll make for good roleplaying. Krezk also serves as a way to further learn about Strahd if the players manage to bring Ireena here.

By now, the PCs may have explored enough of Barovia to feel confident enough to tackle Castle Ravenloft. Before that, however, they may want to check the Amber Temple first. In my game, the PC that was tied to Kasimir would have had an idea of how to reach the temple, and was just waiting for the best time to suggest going in. Since Kasimir's goal involves grabbing a dark power from the temple in order to use it inside Strahd's castle afterwards, he would have more reason to enter the temple first. By the end of Amber Temple, the PCs should know enough about Strahd to understand his origins and motivations. 

When the PCs enter Castle Ravenloft, Strahd expects them. The PCs are there to take down Strahd once and for all, but for the Vampire, they are all his playthings for the night. As they explore the castle, they learn of Strahd's depravity, and by the time they fight, they should be made well aware of his reign of terror, enough for their victory against him to be satisfying.

Strahd waiting for the PCs to show him a good time

There are many other places that this adventure can go to, of course, and this is just one path that you could take your players through in order to tell the story you want. The players shouldn't feel forced to go down any given path, and they may make a detour or two, but if you place the right incentives and motivations at the right places, it'll be easier for you to lead them to the story you want to tell.

#RPGaDAY2018 - Day 23: Preparing for an extended campaign. Part 3 - Player Integration

This post continues my five part answer of how I prepare for an extended campaign.

Part 1: The Goal and The Antagonist

Part 2: Notable Landmarks

Part 4: Adventure Outline

Part 5: Ongoing Preparations

Part 3 - Player Integration

After assessing the mayor points of the campaign and having a good general idea for it, it's time to see how the Player Characters fit in. There are multiple ways to do this, but for now I'll be focusing on my favorite technique: Assimilating NPCs. 

WARNING: MAJOR CURSE OF STRAHD SPOILERS

Archdruid's Apprentice

In the last post, I mentioned several notable landmarks, one of them being Yester Hill. This place is home to several druids that serve Strahd, their leader being an Archdruid. This is something that my previous Curse of Strahd DM did, and I think worked well.

Illustration by Ilya Bodaykin

One of the players was creating a Druid who was looking for his mentor in Barovia. The DM took this opportunity to tie him to the Strahd serving druids, and made his master be the archdruid leader. It eventually led to a very fun moment where the player had to choose between the group and his master.  

Abbot's Agent

If you recall The Abbot from the village of Krezk, I mentioned that he was looking for the perfect wife for Strahd. While he was constructing a flesh golem for this purpose, it could be the case that he could come upon someone worthy enough for the cause. And being in a position of power, he's capable of having underlings.

Depiction of a Deva, though The Abbot is probably less naked

In my last Curse of Strahd game, one of my players decided to play an Aasimar. The way the adventure was set, since she joined after the main group of players crossed through the mists into Barovia, her Aasimar must have been a semi-native. Therefore I took this opportunity to give her the chance to be an agent of The Abbot, searching for a potential wife for Strahd within the parties (there were two other female PCs) and she could make the decision of whether to follow through with the quest or reject it.

Kasimir Velikov

The thing about the Amber Temple is that pretty much no one in the adventure talks about it, therefore making it difficult to tie in. There is one NPC, called Kasimir Velikov, that is tied to the temple, but if the PCs aren't careful, he is liable to become their foe (and therefore die at their hands) for even a misunderstanding.

Every native of Barovia looks super goth

If a player were to decide to play an elf that is also a native of Barovia, you could hint his arc to them to see if they're interested in running it. This way you'll have someone interested in going to the Amber Temple from the start, as well as someone that could guide the PCs around in the world. 

There are several other NPCs that you can take and turn into PC backgrounds, like Ezmeralda D'Avenir and Ireena, and they each have their own story and roleplaying opportunities as well. The idea behind tying them with an NPCs story is empowering your players and helping them feel like their characters belong to the game. Make sure you give them as much control as you would if they made their own backgrounds however, since you don't want your players feel alienated from their characters. 

#RPGaDAY2018 - Day 22: Preparing for an extended campaign. Part 2 - Notable Landmarks

Yesterday, I set up the campaign's goal and main antagonist. This information will give us perspective when looking at the world that the players will be interacting with.


Part 1: The Goal and The Antagonist

Part 3: Player Integration

Part 4: Adventure Outline

Part 5: Ongoing Preparations

Part 2 - Notable Landmarks

After the goal and antagonist are clear to me, I make a note of important places and people that will help drive the story of the game. You can find your own, and there are many other spots in this adventure that deserve recognition, but for the purposes of this post, I'm sticking to these examples.

WARNING: MAJOR CURSE OF STRAHD SPOILERS

Notable Landmarks

When I look for places, I think: "What do the players take away from this place that will add to the overall narrative of the game?", "What cool moments or roleplaying opportunities can I take from here?" and "What kind of cool battles could happen if one were to break out?". With these questions in mind, I present to you the following landmarks:

The Village of Krezk

At the edge of Barovia, near the walls of mist, across from where the players start, is the fortified village of Krezk. The villagers hole themselves up in here to keep themselves safe from Strahd and his wolf minions. 

Looming above Krezk is the Abbey of Saint Markovia, a madhouse overrun with wicked mongrelfolk, with echoes of the people that used to take care of the villagers. This abbey is led by a mysterious ageless figure, a man that has been taking care of it for over a century. He is known only as The Abbot. Some villagers believe this Abbot to be Strahd in disguise, but the truth is actually worse.

The Abbot it actually a corrupted Deva, sent here to carry on the legacy of a saint that died previously. Now, Strahd is such a badass, that he managed to trick the Deva to be his ally. Now The Abbot spends his time secretly helping Strahd, and he believes that whatever curse is afflicting the vampire can be dispelled if he had the perfect bride; and  the fallen angel has been constructing just that. If the players go visit, they will see that accompanying The Abbot is what is effectively a Flesh Golem, meant to be delivered to Strahd as an attempt to cure him.

This is only one of the details in this village that drive home how even the most sacred of creatures can fall prey to corruption in these lands. The PCs are meant to slowly grow darker in this adventure,  and this village is a good way to foreshadow or mirror this transformation in them. The Abbot is always friendly and helpful to the adventurers, at least until they start acting suspicious. An epic "prison break" type fight could break out with The Abbot letting all the Mongrelfolk loose. This place is set up to be very memorable to your players.

Yester Hill

This hill is where a bunch of evil druids that worship Strahd reside. Strahd also likes to come visit from time to time to look at some sort of visions that show him the place where he used to live or something.

This is actually, probably, the least interesting landmark in the adventure, and that's what makes it notable. This gives us a lot of space to pour our own ideas and make this part interesting. Personally, I'd place some sort of spirit that would help reveal the backstory of the land before Strahd took over; By the time the PCs get here, they would have already gotten clues about old gods and forgotten settlements that were lost because of Strahd's rule. It's a good place to show the players that these lands didn't always bend to Strahd's will.

The Amber Temple

Long ago, before Strahd became a vampire, a group of wizards built this temple in the mountains thousands of years ago to contain evil vestiges. Naturally, these evil entities eventually corrupted the wizards and made the place their own, in a way. Some time passed, and another wizard named Exethanter came in, using the knowledge passed by these vestiges to become a lich. 

The Amber Temple can serve as the last dungeon before the PCs are ready to enter Castle Ravenloft, or the post-game dungeon that PCs can explore after they're done with Strahd in his castle. 

If they arrive before their expedition to Castle Ravenloft, this dungeon could serve as the final way to corrupt the PCs with power, effectively turning them into monsters. It could also test the PCs mettle; How far are they willing to go in order to gain power against their enemy? Strahd could also be watching, secretly tempting them into corruption.

If the PCs arrive after killing Strahd, this could be an excellent way to tie any loose ends regarding Strahd's origins and whether he'll be able to come back. The PCs could discover that this place is tied to Strahd gaining power over the land, and they could decide to go and avoid that situation from happening again. If the PCs try to destroy stuff inside the temple, Exethanter could try to stop them. He can prove to be quite a challenge for them, and if you reveal that he was the one that helped Strahd gain his powers, it'll be all the more meaningful. 

Other things to note

I also note stuff like cool or impotant NPCs and sometimes even magic items that I believe the PCs should come across. You might want to have a separate document filled with your thoughts or ideas on the contents of an adventure, and how you want to interpret them. I keep doing this until I feel I know the adventure enough to be confident to give it my own spin.

#RPGaDAY2018 - Day 21: Preparing for an extended campaign. Part 1 - The Goal and The Antagonist

Disclaimer: My style of DMing is akin to that of a storyteller. While this does not mean that I try to railroad my players into a course of action (a topic I can talk about in the future), it does mean that I am averse from running sandbox type games. If you are a sandbox type DM, or are looking to be one, then you might not find my next 5 posts as interesting or agreeable. I find sandbox type DMs amazing, but it's not my cup of tea when it comes to running a game of my own.

Before I begin, I'd like to point out that I will be using an adventure module, namely Curse of Strahd, as an example of how I would prepare for an extended campaign. If you'd rather know about the process of campaign preparation for a homebrew game, I can tell you that the process isn't too different for me. I know using adventure modules can be seen as lazy or limiting to some, but it really doesn't have to be. All you need to do is add your own flare, which is what you would do in a homebrew game anyway.

(Here's a link to the other posts)

Part 2: Notable Landmarks

Part 3: Player Integration

Part 4: Adventure Outline

Part 5: Ongoing Preparations


With that being said, let's begin.

Part 1 - The Goal and the Antagonist

The first thing I do when preparing for a campaign, is read up on the main goal for the players in it, or the main conflict that needs to be resolved, and study up on the character behind it, who should be the principal antagonist of the players. This is so paramount that adventure modules are generally titled to something related to one of these two things. Now, let's see what we can do when we take Curse of Strahd as an example.

WARNING: MILD CURSE OF STRAHD SPOILERS

Of course I was going to talk about Strahd in RPGaDay

The Goal

In Curse of Strahd, the PCs find themselves trapped in the land of Barovia. Their goal is to get out. The only way to do this is through Strahd, as he's the one that dictates who gets to go in or out. It can be as simple as that, though the adventure module brings a Tarokka card reading mechanic that allows players to search through the land of Barovia for objects that will help them against Strahd.

Castle Ravenloft, where Strahd resides

The Antagonist

The entire campaign centers around Strahd von Zarovich. He takes notice of the PCs as soon as they enter his realm, or perhaps even before that. He is capable and willing to manipulate events in the background. Bringing adventurers to his realm for them to become his plaything is what Strahd does to pass the time. It never ends well for them and this should be evident to the players.

Strahd von Zarovich

Strahd is capable of inviting the players to his castle, refuse their requests to let them out, and then overwhelm them if they become hostile. He can leave them be until they become a bigger challenge for him, perhaps attempting to corrupt them in the meantime. To Strahd, the PCs are his prey, and he is the hunter of hunters.

Strahd is in direct control of any beast in his realm, and he has loyal spies everywhere. His tyrant rule has taken all hope from those living in his lands, and he enjoys inflitrating in their lives to further torment them. Wherever the players go, they will notice Strahd's influence. 

With this information, we can build the rest of the campaign around how to get to the goal (find ways to defeat Strahd and leave) and how Strahd can antagonize them in the meantime. Next time, I'll talk about landmarks and NPCs in the adventure.