natos4unlife
2014-12-13, 12:23 AM
Hello all. This may well turn into a wall of text. I apologize in advance if it does.
1. I am in the process of prepping for a campaign I will be running starting sometime within the next few weeks. As is often my way, when I get stuck trying to think of plot devices (and the plethora of possible ways they could go in the hands of unpredictable players), I will go into the mode of fleshing out the world. Giving flavor, story, and whatnot to various aspects of the world that will invariably come into play. In this campaign I intend to make ample usage of factions the players will encounter, and may "befriend", or anger, depending on how things go. I got started on the basics.. the ones that exist in campaigns all over.. for example a theives guild. I wanted to just come up with a basic hierarchy, and hammer out a couple quick sheets for key people who will, throughout the story, be engaged with the party, either as allies or foes.... but then a question struck me. What level, on average, would you say a headmaster of a theives guild, or other similar faction, should be? Obviously they are a cut above the rest, as they have the skills to attain their positions of power, but I think making them 20, or even mid to high teens, seems excessive. Anybody else have thoughts on that?
2. The idea of this campaign is to ramp up the difficulty from what we normally play with. Encounters (not just combat) will be harder. A brief example: Story wise, the gods are "dead" (as far as it seems) so divine magic is very rare. Most clerics that do exist are relatively unknown to the public, and evil (story reasons). Many good clerics that do exist are of low level, and thei magic is unreliable at best. As such, potions and healers are hard to come by, and when found are more expensive than book listed prices (and, within this world, the oft overused Healing Belt does not exist). For the matter of fairness and avoiding arbitrary exceptions placed upon players, the PC cleric of the group will not face sporadic magic shortages with the noted exception of there will be caveats for when and if resurection will work, but that won't be for a long time, as we are starting lvl 1. This "forces", for lack of better term, conservative usage of the healing materials the do get their hands on.
Long winded "brief" example aside, does anybody have anecdotes, warnings, or suggestions from your own past experiences running campaigns with ramped up difficulty levels? Potential pitfalls to watch out for, etc. The players have all been forewarned that character death is a very real threat, as this world is unforgiving and cruel, and they are all on board with that idea, but I don't want to accidentally through them into a meat grinder simply because I guaged how a situatoin would pan out incorrectly.
3. There was a 3, but I forgot it. I will try to remember and follow up if I succeed.
Thanks in advance to anybody who lends any advice.
1. I am in the process of prepping for a campaign I will be running starting sometime within the next few weeks. As is often my way, when I get stuck trying to think of plot devices (and the plethora of possible ways they could go in the hands of unpredictable players), I will go into the mode of fleshing out the world. Giving flavor, story, and whatnot to various aspects of the world that will invariably come into play. In this campaign I intend to make ample usage of factions the players will encounter, and may "befriend", or anger, depending on how things go. I got started on the basics.. the ones that exist in campaigns all over.. for example a theives guild. I wanted to just come up with a basic hierarchy, and hammer out a couple quick sheets for key people who will, throughout the story, be engaged with the party, either as allies or foes.... but then a question struck me. What level, on average, would you say a headmaster of a theives guild, or other similar faction, should be? Obviously they are a cut above the rest, as they have the skills to attain their positions of power, but I think making them 20, or even mid to high teens, seems excessive. Anybody else have thoughts on that?
2. The idea of this campaign is to ramp up the difficulty from what we normally play with. Encounters (not just combat) will be harder. A brief example: Story wise, the gods are "dead" (as far as it seems) so divine magic is very rare. Most clerics that do exist are relatively unknown to the public, and evil (story reasons). Many good clerics that do exist are of low level, and thei magic is unreliable at best. As such, potions and healers are hard to come by, and when found are more expensive than book listed prices (and, within this world, the oft overused Healing Belt does not exist). For the matter of fairness and avoiding arbitrary exceptions placed upon players, the PC cleric of the group will not face sporadic magic shortages with the noted exception of there will be caveats for when and if resurection will work, but that won't be for a long time, as we are starting lvl 1. This "forces", for lack of better term, conservative usage of the healing materials the do get their hands on.
Long winded "brief" example aside, does anybody have anecdotes, warnings, or suggestions from your own past experiences running campaigns with ramped up difficulty levels? Potential pitfalls to watch out for, etc. The players have all been forewarned that character death is a very real threat, as this world is unforgiving and cruel, and they are all on board with that idea, but I don't want to accidentally through them into a meat grinder simply because I guaged how a situatoin would pan out incorrectly.
3. There was a 3, but I forgot it. I will try to remember and follow up if I succeed.
Thanks in advance to anybody who lends any advice.