PDA

View Full Version : information detail in a campaign - suggestions?



Shurz
2007-04-18, 07:38 AM
When running a campaign, how important is in-game time, to keep a timeline progressing the world around the adventurers?

Obviously not only as a way of keeping tabs on travellers rations. Should there also be a progression of events in the local area? As in what happens to minor NPCs is important as well, not only updates about what has happened in the world at large.

For example, if they frequently run through the same village and stay at the same inn:
"welcome back adventurers !! Did ye have a good journey? I see ye have
armour to repair. Barney the blacksmith got kicked in the chest by horse while replacing a horseshoe. It broke a few ribs so his son Thor is working the forge now.
Ye should have been here last week, Mary the miller daughter married Fred the forester. Ooch, 'twas a grand party and Martin the miller got so drunk he fell into the pond and had to be rescued. 'Tis why Sarah, Mary's sister, is our new barmaid.
I see ye still have Billy the Bard with ye, could ye play for us tonight?
Be careful if ye plan riding to Ironfel, Baron Haarkness's wife run off with a bard. Put up rewards for capturing bards so he has, and flogged a few as well."
"A flagon of ale for each of us, barkeep, got a dire thirst to quench"
"have ye heard anything more about the war? A merchantman last week told us that war has broken out between Teskia and Skedaria. No more petty raids or border clashes, their fleets met at Greenwater Reef and a grand battle it was. Both claim to have won the battle.
The caravan from Farleign got attacked and gutted at Roalds ford. Travellers found the remains of it and people think Bertram the Banditlord took it. He has been getting more aggressive lately.
As if this wasn't enough, cattle has been disappearing in Neegai without a trace, some say it is witchcraft or foul spirits from the old ruins in the hills"

While Thor is making a new horseshoe for one of the packhorses, Barney complains,
"this is the fourth time a tools shipment of mine has gone missing. Master workmanship tools, made by Master Blacksmith Twinbeard of Ironfel. It should have come with the caravan in a few days. One could think I was cursed by foul spirits.
Now I heard the others talk about Bertram again, bah, he has no reason to wait this long. Why should he take the caravan several days hard ride from his keep, when there are better ambush sites than the ford closer to his keep."

This is the style I am planning on using, but am worried I am adding too much irrelevant detail, too many stories and rumours.
Now, I was thinking that adventurers would be more keen to go to places they had heard more rumours about than just a single rumour. Obviously it depends on the quality of rumour and detail of information presented as well. By nature a rumour will change from being told over and over again, which is why I think that with more rumour sources a more complete picture would be presented. That they would be more inclined to interact more with NPCs than just hack & slash.
Am I barking up the wrong tree?

/Shurz

Meat Shield
2007-04-18, 09:46 AM
What I have been doing this campaign (and has been well received by my players) is a Town Crier I send out in between sessions. Basically, I throw local and national news at them, which has happened, and a rumor section, which contains items that may or may not have any truth in them, as well as any plot hooks I want to throw their way without taking up game time.

Here is one from a recent session:

Town Crier 03/30/07

News from the Throne:

The leaders of various city-states around the Renaarian Bay will arrive in Geanavue in about a week for the anti-piracy conference. Representatives of the Thrones of Zoa, Xaarum, Baethel, Thygasha, and Saaniema are expected to attend.

Local News:

Navadaal, a cavalier of Tymorda, has recently been calling for assistance in the down-trodden city of Gillia. Report from him indicate the population is
held under the sway of a tyrannical despot. The general population has been ruled by the despot Esmaran for so long that they are afraid of reprisals should they attempt to change the current leadership.
Unfortunately, with events unfolding on the border with Karasta, there appears to be no immediate help forthcoming.

Councillor MacGaellus has ordered the constable to tighten security and 'suppress the criminal element'. Apparently it is to crack down on the newly organized underground run by the mysterious Shade.

Rumors:

Cathal talking to one of his more disreputable customers: "Wha? The Broken Hag? Yah, I heard o' da place. Nasty tavern up in Gilli. Find all sort o'
desp'rate folk there. Ye say you 'met' someone that had been hired there recently? Har, I bet you met him - at the edge o yer blade!"

"Cor, if all 'deese kingly types are gettin' togetter to talk stoppin' piracy, then why did I hear that the Aassaerean pirates are sending folk 's well? T'aint make much sense ta me."

"I tells ya, I can't cross da street anymore wid'out trippin' over one o' dem deputies anymore. Not since the good Councillor started crackin down on all us honest merchant folk. The Shade won't stand for it."
"I wonder what the Shade did this time to get the good Councillor so uppity in his gnome-sized britches?" - overheard from a booth in the back of the Bloody Harp. Careful observation would note the people involved in the conversation are well known for NOT being 'honest' merchants.

All the dwarves in town associated with any sort of leather or metalworking have been not seen socially very much lately. They still go to their homes at night, but do not get to the local taverns as much. Several of them have also made large purchases lately to increase capacity at their forges and bring on extra apprentices.

"Who, Navadaal? Oh, THAT guy! Yeah, that coot has been looking for help up there for years! Can't he see that I have enough of my own problems to deal with. I mean, c'mon! Right over there is a perfect example - that guy just dumped his garbage in the middle of the street and walked on as if nothing happened. I gotta go - that guy needs a lesson in how we should act around here." - Tyrgal, paladin of Altair

"Several expeditions have been sent to assist Navadaal in the past, but none have returned that we have sent. I fear I cannot spare anyone else." - Tomesea, priestess of Birah

"I tells ya, I think the millish-y is coming around bettern' I'd hoped, and the defenses are startin' to take shape, but I don't see how we can stand up to a legion of Kalamarn infantry, let alone several. Even with allies from around the Renaarian Bay, we are in trouble. We need more help. Doesn't matter though - my family and home are here, and that is where I will stand." - Seargent Azus Pickman, Geanavese Army

Matthew
2007-04-18, 10:05 PM
It very much depends on the group. Some people in the group may love interacting with the game world at that level of detail, whilst others will find it frustrating to the point of boredom. If you have a mature group of players that takes an interest in the world that their characters are interacting, then this level of detail is appropriate. If not, then you might find you are wasting your time. The best way to find out is to try it out and see what happens, but you should probably also talk to the players afterwards in order to gauge how useful your efforts have been towards creating a believable and consistant world through minutia.
I have had mainly positive experiences with this sort of thing.

Ravyn
2007-04-20, 12:21 AM
Trickle it out--more if they seem to be curious. Having a group that isn't as willing to look for information as you are to give it can be frustrating, but a lot of groups aren't immediately ready for an exposition-flood, so you may need to ease into it. Giving them some sort of in-game carrot for asking about it and listening to it might help.

Shurz
2007-04-20, 09:55 AM
thanks for the suggestions, will definetly borrow the Town Cryer idea and trickling the information slowly at first and see how the players react. Time to play and have a good weekend :smallsmile:

Tellah
2007-04-20, 10:11 AM
I try to think of campaigns more as short stories than as fully interactive game worlds. PC RPG designers have an awful lot of time on their hands to make huge piles of detail that may not necessarily see use for every player--I don't. I design things that I think players will interact with and improvise what I haven't accounted for. If you think your players will be interested in Barney the blacksmith and Mary and Fred's wedding, by all means include it, but don't drive yourself nuts planning for every possible interaction the PCs might have.

That way leads to madness.

Meat Shield
2007-04-23, 12:18 PM
I try to think of campaigns more as short stories than as fully interactive game worlds. PC RPG designers have an awful lot of time on their hands to make huge piles of detail that may not necessarily see use for every player--I don't. I design things that I think players will interact with and improvise what I haven't accounted for. If you think your players will be interested in Barney the blacksmith and Mary and Fred's wedding, by all means include it, but don't drive yourself nuts planning for every possible interaction the PCs might have.

That way leads to madness.
That's why I went with the Town Crier. It lets me flavor the world, while allowing me to concentrate fully on the things immediately in front of the PCs and make sure I stay one step ahead of them in plot and story.

I also do a write up of (almost) every session, with which I give a narrative to what transpired. I add flavor text in there as well, allowing me another opportunity to flesh out the world.

Shurz, have you tried these out yet? I'd like to know how it went.