Eldritch Earth: Five Hacks Deep

User Tools

Site Tools

Trace:
western_marches

Differences

This shows you the differences between two versions of the page.

Link to this comparison view

Both sides previous revisionPrevious revision
Next revision		Previous revision
western_marches [2019/12/05 18:37] – [XP Rewards] andrewwestern_marches [2019/12/11 15:15] (current) – [Encounters and Wandering Monsters] andrew
Line 31: Line 31:
  
 //I suppose this map is now just Pennsylvania.// //I suppose this map is now just Pennsylvania.//
 +
 +**I have a black and white, line-drawing topographic map of the U.S.,  when I did the "Mutants and Muskets" campaign I took a picture of a section of Texas and embiggened it to use as the base map.   I'll try to dig it out and see what I can do for PA.  This is what the Texas Map looked like:**
 +{{::texas_map.jpg?400|}}
 +
 +//I like it!  I'm handy with drawing tools if we need to do some fix-up. Specifically, I could probably take out the cities and their names if we wanted to.//
  
  
Line 39: Line 44:
 Greater emphasis on creative problem solving rather than fighting Greater emphasis on creative problem solving rather than fighting
  
-Several GMs+===== Several GMs ===== 
  
 Each prepares their own “civilization” starting point - village, city, keep, etc Each prepares their own “civilization” starting point - village, city, keep, etc
Line 57: Line 63:
 Each of us will have NPCs Each of us will have NPCs
  
 +=====LOGS===== 
 +Instead of the traditional LOH session log, we should have a section of the wiki set aside, it will have 1 page for each in-game month, each character's activities will be briefly noted as to time used.  Bullet items, not prose paragraph descriptions.  When all active characters have been accounted for in a month, it is "closed", and a text copy printed out.  Since with side quests and healing times and long projects underway, several months might be open at the same time. 
 +Individuals can offer prose narratives to flesh out details, perhaps for bonus xp.
  
  
Line 123: Line 131:
  
  
-For engaging in a scene with another PC **probably weak sauce, cause for dispute**  //I PREFER THIS FOR INSPIRATION/CHIPS RATHER THAN XP.//+For engaging in a scene with another PC **probably weak sauce, cause for dispute**  //I PREFER THIS FOR INSPIRATION/CHIPS RATHER THAN XP.//  Then good.
  
 <del>Maybe there is an XP “bucket” that all players contribute to and withdraw from?</del> **Boo, Wendy Testaburger** <del>Maybe there is an XP “bucket” that all players contribute to and withdraw from?</del> **Boo, Wendy Testaburger**
Line 132: Line 140:
  
 You kill some goblins, but they are carrying dwarven-crafted weapons carved with symbols of a forgotten clan. Hmm, sounds like there’s an abandoned dwarven lair somewhere in this region. If you deciphered the runes in the depths of the dwarven mines, you could learn that the exiles established another hidden fortress in the valleys to the north. You kill some goblins, but they are carrying dwarven-crafted weapons carved with symbols of a forgotten clan. Hmm, sounds like there’s an abandoned dwarven lair somewhere in this region. If you deciphered the runes in the depths of the dwarven mines, you could learn that the exiles established another hidden fortress in the valleys to the north.
-Rumors at town+ 
 +===== Rumors at town ===== 
 Wanted posters Wanted posters
 There were other kinds of bounties that cropped up in town: the local priesthood is paying gold for water collected from the Opal Caves to treat a spreading fever, or an apothecary who pays for certain herbs growing in the Frog Marches. These weren’t plots, just simple excuses to go out and maybe earn some guaranteed money if you found what you were looking for and made it back. There were other kinds of bounties that cropped up in town: the local priesthood is paying gold for water collected from the Opal Caves to treat a spreading fever, or an apothecary who pays for certain herbs growing in the Frog Marches. These weren’t plots, just simple excuses to go out and maybe earn some guaranteed money if you found what you were looking for and made it back.
  
- 
-So a lot of the day-to-day organizing is going to be the same. 
  
  
Line 147: Line 155:
 How campaign calendar/narrative is managed. Since you are doing a smaller scale shared campaign, you have more power over the overall narrative. You may give each PC a certain amount of Time Units to use in each Time Period (e.g. 28 days in 1 month that can be used for adventuring and/or downtime activities), or you may just say, "Each inactive PC accumulates Downtime while the active PCs go off and adventure." Or something in the middle would be using narrative milestones where you just advance the calendar as necessary. How campaign calendar/narrative is managed. Since you are doing a smaller scale shared campaign, you have more power over the overall narrative. You may give each PC a certain amount of Time Units to use in each Time Period (e.g. 28 days in 1 month that can be used for adventuring and/or downtime activities), or you may just say, "Each inactive PC accumulates Downtime while the active PCs go off and adventure." Or something in the middle would be using narrative milestones where you just advance the calendar as necessary.
  
-Rules for rewards. Specifically, rules for how magic items are handed out.+===== GM Rules for Rewards ===== 
 + 
 +Specifically, rules for how magic items and loot are handed out. What are GMs empowered to do. What could be threatened? What can't? 
 + 
 +===== Downtime Activity Rules =====
  
-Downtime activity rules. I guarantee someone will want to make scrolls or potions, and probably even permanent magic items.+    * [[Crafting]] 
 +    * [[hench|Recruiting]] 
 +    * Strongholds
  
-DM rules. Assuming you are splitting DMing duties. What DMs are empowered to do (such as, "How many magic items can they place?"). 
  
-What kind of tools are there for DMs who want to create a West Marches campaign? Is it done through a wiki page or facebook or something? What kind of things need to be on the random encounter tables, and do players get to see the encounter tables? Thanks for the help!+===== Encounters and Wandering Monsters =====
  
-I think the DMG has some okay encounter tables.+I think the DMG has some okay encounter tables. We should agree on a standard method of PC travel through the wilderness that encourages choices. One resource may be my wilderness [[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-I3TlCLE-j9XTyWGIQUDwFRiaZxunPfBQqRzhItz-xM/edit?usp=sharing|crawl-o-matic]]. 
  
-My main recommendation is to set aside encounter balancing. I read a great article recently that suggested not trying to balance encounters against the party. Instead, create a thematic locale with thematically appropriate monsters to populate it, then figure out the relative challenge to the party and inform your PCs when they hear about it (and especially if they manage to sneak up to spy on it).  **Absolutely plus plus**+My main recommendation is to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnKc64ADYf8|set aside encounter balancing]]. I read a great article recently that suggested not trying to balance encounters against the party. Instead, create a thematic locale with thematically appropriate monsters to populate it, then figure out the relative challenge to the party and inform your PCs when they hear about it (and especially if they manage to sneak up to spy on it).  **Absolutely plus plus**
  
-This works great for West Marches because (in theory) you are creating a world that gets more dangerous as things get further away. That means that any location you create should fit some distance out based on how dangerous it is. +This works great for West Marches because (in theory) you are creating a world that gets more dangerous as things get further away. That means that any location you create should fit some distance out based on how dangerous it is. So if you just create a bunch of locations and start slotting them into the world.
-So if you just create a bunch of locations and start slotting them into the world.+
  
  
  
western_marches.1575571022.txt.gz · Last modified: 2019/12/05 18:37 by andrew