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View Full Version : Balancing Spotlight Throughout a Campaign



StoryKeeper
2011-01-02, 08:09 PM
DnD and other systems tend to lend themselves very well to an epic-style storyline. From Luke Skywalker to Frodo, we've all seen those lead protagonists which the spotlight focuses on most. Sure, Trinity got her time in the spotlight, but the Matrix was all about Neo. This is all well and dandy for a movie, but what about when it comes to players in an RPG?

What if all five (or six, or seven, or three, or...) of your players have come up with great character concepts that all revolve around them being "the chosen one?" Or maybe it's not that overt, but the character still has the sort of goal that would lend itself well to a lot of the action focusing on them? Do you just hodgepodge it all together? Do you finish one character's story arc, focusing primarily on that character throughout it, then shift focus to another character? Or do you try to marry all of the different characters' plot hooks together and make a single story out of it?

Raum
2011-01-02, 08:25 PM
What if all five (or six, or seven, or three, or...) of your players have come up with great character concepts that all revolve around them being "the chosen one?" Or maybe it's not that overt, but the character still has the sort of goal that would lend itself well to a lot of the action focusing on them? I tend to create complex plots weaving from one thing to another. Not only does it give the world more depth, it also allows you to move the spotlight between characters from one session to another.


Do you just hodgepodge it all together?"Hodgepodge"? If you want to call it that. I call it a living world with more than one antagonist and a group of (hopefully) allied protagonists.


Do you finish one character's story arc, focusing primarily on that character throughout it, then shift focus to another character? No. The antagonists / NPCs are all trying to meet their individual goals. Some with complimentary goals may ally for a time, some may even ally with PCs when their goals coincide, but all move forward. None stand still waiting for the PCs to show. The PCs control where the foreground plot is runnning but there's a lot going on in the background.


Or do you try to marry all of the different characters' plot hooks together and make a single story out of it?Not usually. If they're very similar I may talk to them about collaborating on backgrounds...but they'll generally move back and forth between plot arcs at will.

You may also want to look at collaborative character creation if this is a problem for your group. Many of the FATE games systematize character (and setting) creation as part of play. Whether you use group character creation or not, you do need to encourage creation of compatible characters.

Curmudgeon
2011-01-02, 09:03 PM
What if all five (or six, or seven, or three, or...) of your players have come up with great character concepts that all revolve around them being "the chosen one?"

For as long as there have been vampires, there has been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One... If you know the series, you know that there ended up being over a thousand 'Chosen Ones". So yes, special ... but maybe not as special as they thought.

Maybe you can work something like that into your campaign setting, and have the party come across a few other "Chosen One"s who are somehow all interconnected.

Xiander
2011-01-02, 09:04 PM
Maybe you can work something like that into your campaign setting, and have the party come across a few other "Chosen One"s who are somehow all interconnected.

Also, play The Bards Tale.