Archpaladin Zousha
2014-02-18, 02:57 AM
Lately I've gotten the itch to play in the fantastic Midnight (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midnight_(role-playing_game)) setting. I find myself dealing with my usual hangups when I want to play something like this. Here are the problems as I see them:
As far as I know, Midnight remains relatively obscure compared to other settings, especially since the books are now out of print. Though most of the relevant gameplay info can be found here (http://darknessfalls.leaderdesslok.com/index.htm), it's vague in regards to story since that's obviously not OGL. I feel ridiculously shy about asking for a game to be played when I'm not willing to GM it myself, because that smacks of presumptuousness and a spoiled, demanding attitude.
Plus, I've developed the suspicion that games like these, where the players request and recruit a GM rather than the other way around, tend to fall apart quickly as the GM doesn't have a clear direction in mind and said GM's commitment is not guaranteed.
I really, REALLY would like to play in this setting rather than run it, particularly because I have a hard time figuring out how to balance the storytelling in the setting. Midnight is supposed to feel dark and oppressive, players should constantly be looking over their backs for legates or orcs and that they're never going to win, but at the same time they're supposed to be heroes, the brightest lights in this time of utter darkness and that they should at least make a difference. it seems like a tug of war between these two things and I don't trust my experience as a GM to do it justice.
From reading the Midnight books I own, one of the most compelling potential hooks for character creation I've found is the mystery surrounding the lost heirs of the royal family of Erenland. There's even a special covenant item that anyone can use, but an heir to the throne of Erenland can use EVEN BETTER. I've always liked the story of a kid learning he's royalty and growing in wisdom and courage to become a leader, like the three men I list (King Arthur, Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings and Alistair from Dragon Age).
The problem arises because this missing heir is a BIG part of Midnight's metaplot concerning Erenland, and thus I believe would (and most likely should) be the purview of the GM. Plus, if the hints in the Midnight Chronicles movie (originally intended as the pilot for a TV series that never got picked up) strongly suggest that one of said characters in the film was likely the heir, and the opposite character a reincarnation of Beirial the Betrayer or something, and again, I get really OCD about canon. If I wanted to disregard the film and play my own heir, then I'd need express permission to do so, which isn't a guarantee. The only way I'd be sure to do it is to GMPC such a character, which is NEVER good roleplaying or team playing. Even if I did have permission, playing such a character would demand a certain amount of spotlight stealing, another cardinal role-playing sin. D&D is about COLLABORATIVE storytelling, and the only way to make a "special hidden heir" character not become the dominant focus among the PCs is to either have ALL the PCs be heirs, or to have this heir be an NPC that the PCs support. Note that Aragorn is a second-stringer for Frodo, Arthur fades into the background as Lancelot and the other knights adventure, and Alistair deliberately turns down leading the party despite being your senior.
And to be honest, part of me LIKES the center-stage aspect of actually PLAYING the prince, rather than a knight who serves said prince. There's a reason people prefer being the Dovahkiin in Skyrim to being Martin's right-hand man in Oblivion.
Midnight's character creation system is based off D&D, yes, but the new rules and ideas that it intertwines in it makes me feel that traditional guides of optimization (insofar as to make a character effective, not to break the game) are all but useless.
What I'd like to play is a paladin, since, as you might guess by my username, it's my favorite class. And ostensibly, that's easy in Midnight: play a Lawful Good Fighter, and take the Guardian Heroic Path. But in order to be a leadery kind of guy, I feel like I'd need more skills and stuff like that, which fighters simply don't have. There's a number of prestige classes that might work, but some I'm not sure of the mechanics on (Lightbearer, for example, grants paladin-like abilities, freeing me up for a different Heroic Path, but the smites are WIS-based rather than CHA-based, and only INT-based hermetic channellers can readily qualify for it, since other classes won't get enough skill ranks until high levels). Plus, class and crossclass skills in 3.5 have always confused me greatly when compared with Pathfinder. Do I still pay the class skill cost for a skill that's not on my new class' list if I put ranks in it via my previous class? Will I always lag behind? Add to that the fact that many more skillpoints need to be spent on languages in Midnight just to be able to talk to people, and I feel pretty skill-starved (but then I tend to feel that way no matter what character I play because of my crippling obsession with covering all the bases so no matter what the other party members' skills or talents are there's no base left uncovered so we don't miss out on XP or loot because no one put ranks in a particular knowledge or spellcrafing or diplomacy check.
I don't know. The more I think about it the more frustrated I get. I really want to enjoy Midnight, but I feel like all it's going to do is collect dust on my shelves because I'm so OCD about the whole thing that no one will WANT to play, even if I ask politely (if there's such a way to do that). HELP! :smallfrown:
As far as I know, Midnight remains relatively obscure compared to other settings, especially since the books are now out of print. Though most of the relevant gameplay info can be found here (http://darknessfalls.leaderdesslok.com/index.htm), it's vague in regards to story since that's obviously not OGL. I feel ridiculously shy about asking for a game to be played when I'm not willing to GM it myself, because that smacks of presumptuousness and a spoiled, demanding attitude.
Plus, I've developed the suspicion that games like these, where the players request and recruit a GM rather than the other way around, tend to fall apart quickly as the GM doesn't have a clear direction in mind and said GM's commitment is not guaranteed.
I really, REALLY would like to play in this setting rather than run it, particularly because I have a hard time figuring out how to balance the storytelling in the setting. Midnight is supposed to feel dark and oppressive, players should constantly be looking over their backs for legates or orcs and that they're never going to win, but at the same time they're supposed to be heroes, the brightest lights in this time of utter darkness and that they should at least make a difference. it seems like a tug of war between these two things and I don't trust my experience as a GM to do it justice.
From reading the Midnight books I own, one of the most compelling potential hooks for character creation I've found is the mystery surrounding the lost heirs of the royal family of Erenland. There's even a special covenant item that anyone can use, but an heir to the throne of Erenland can use EVEN BETTER. I've always liked the story of a kid learning he's royalty and growing in wisdom and courage to become a leader, like the three men I list (King Arthur, Aragorn from the Lord of the Rings and Alistair from Dragon Age).
The problem arises because this missing heir is a BIG part of Midnight's metaplot concerning Erenland, and thus I believe would (and most likely should) be the purview of the GM. Plus, if the hints in the Midnight Chronicles movie (originally intended as the pilot for a TV series that never got picked up) strongly suggest that one of said characters in the film was likely the heir, and the opposite character a reincarnation of Beirial the Betrayer or something, and again, I get really OCD about canon. If I wanted to disregard the film and play my own heir, then I'd need express permission to do so, which isn't a guarantee. The only way I'd be sure to do it is to GMPC such a character, which is NEVER good roleplaying or team playing. Even if I did have permission, playing such a character would demand a certain amount of spotlight stealing, another cardinal role-playing sin. D&D is about COLLABORATIVE storytelling, and the only way to make a "special hidden heir" character not become the dominant focus among the PCs is to either have ALL the PCs be heirs, or to have this heir be an NPC that the PCs support. Note that Aragorn is a second-stringer for Frodo, Arthur fades into the background as Lancelot and the other knights adventure, and Alistair deliberately turns down leading the party despite being your senior.
And to be honest, part of me LIKES the center-stage aspect of actually PLAYING the prince, rather than a knight who serves said prince. There's a reason people prefer being the Dovahkiin in Skyrim to being Martin's right-hand man in Oblivion.
Midnight's character creation system is based off D&D, yes, but the new rules and ideas that it intertwines in it makes me feel that traditional guides of optimization (insofar as to make a character effective, not to break the game) are all but useless.
What I'd like to play is a paladin, since, as you might guess by my username, it's my favorite class. And ostensibly, that's easy in Midnight: play a Lawful Good Fighter, and take the Guardian Heroic Path. But in order to be a leadery kind of guy, I feel like I'd need more skills and stuff like that, which fighters simply don't have. There's a number of prestige classes that might work, but some I'm not sure of the mechanics on (Lightbearer, for example, grants paladin-like abilities, freeing me up for a different Heroic Path, but the smites are WIS-based rather than CHA-based, and only INT-based hermetic channellers can readily qualify for it, since other classes won't get enough skill ranks until high levels). Plus, class and crossclass skills in 3.5 have always confused me greatly when compared with Pathfinder. Do I still pay the class skill cost for a skill that's not on my new class' list if I put ranks in it via my previous class? Will I always lag behind? Add to that the fact that many more skillpoints need to be spent on languages in Midnight just to be able to talk to people, and I feel pretty skill-starved (but then I tend to feel that way no matter what character I play because of my crippling obsession with covering all the bases so no matter what the other party members' skills or talents are there's no base left uncovered so we don't miss out on XP or loot because no one put ranks in a particular knowledge or spellcrafing or diplomacy check.
I don't know. The more I think about it the more frustrated I get. I really want to enjoy Midnight, but I feel like all it's going to do is collect dust on my shelves because I'm so OCD about the whole thing that no one will WANT to play, even if I ask politely (if there's such a way to do that). HELP! :smallfrown: