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  1. - Top - End - #1
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    Lady Corvus's Avatar

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    Oct 2020

    Default Help with School Campaign

    Hi again!

    Everyone was really helpful with my other campaign, I'd love it if people could help advise me about the future of a campaign in progress? This one is a Traveller Sci-fi campaign. It's set in an academy that trains the best of the best humanity has to offer to become psionic wardens of the human race, paired with special secondary minds, like self-aware AIs.

    The players are in the middle of their training. Gameplay is generally separated into combat missions and class time. In combat missions, they go off and complete quests, such as dealing with human radicals, finding new planets, battling evil aliens and so on. When not on combat missions, they live in the academy and do classes which give them more XP and new powers and custom equipment. They can also use this time to hang out with NPC class mates or get special one-on-one lessons from their teachers. (Some of you can probably tell, I was somewhat inspired by Persona and Three Houses for this one.)

    We're a little ways into the campaign so far but I'm struggling with creativity at the moment and I'm worried it's going to stagnate. I'd especially like to find some more ways to make academy time more interesting and engaging, as people are feeling a little overdone on the combat stuff atm.

    Here's some important information so far:

    + The headmaster admitted to using a device to turn dead people's souls into those second minds I mentioned. The headmaster has been shown to be quite a sympathetic character who wants to help humanity at any cost. He cares about his students, but does keep a lot of info from them if he thinks its justified. I'm considering maybe having him turn slowly more obsessed and dangerous.

    + The players have found an ancient alien spaceship of organic metal trying to get into this reality to attack earth.

    + The players have found a conspiracy between radical human factions. Namely a cybernetic trans-humanist group, a rouge academy student, anti-alien religious fundamentalists and a colonial noble. They are all very interested in these microscopic insects that seem to be the first psionic race and perhaps the source of psionic power. They are weak alone and without a host, but they can either become symbiotic with a host and grant them great powers, or they can possess a host and control them. Unfortunately, they seem to cause their hosts to slowly rot and generate diseases that spread. The noble I mentioned is studying this rotting effect to try and cure it.

    The players are enjoying all the three points I mentioned so far, but I must admit I'm struggling to decide where to go next with them. Last session, the insects and their rotting hosts got onto the Academy station (it orbits Titan). Some players in secret were told by the headmaster that this was intentional. Other players suspect the headmaster. I'm not sure if I want the headmaster to have done this himself or that maybe he too was possessed? Or perhaps convinced to do it by a very smart AI from the trans-humanist faction that the players recently captured.

    Any help would be amazing!
    Married to Mister Biffo.

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    BardGuy

    Join Date
    Mar 2007
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    Australia

    Default Re: Help with School Campaign

    Quote Originally Posted by Lady Corvus View Post
    rouge academy student,
    I'm pretty sure you meant rogue. But if not, is this The Red Menace?

    The headmaster's slow descent to madness will be easier to show if he's not always "on screen". The PCs interact with him as a committed but rational person, then a month later, when they see him again he's making a questionable call. A month or so later he's doing something where the end does not really justify the means.
    If you want him as a regular, you should probably try to show his decision making going up and down a bit. So today his call is iffy, then a couple of days later he's fine, then another one that's not quite right. And a general trend of worse. That takes a lot of screen time to show, and probably needs to be planned to get the right tone.

    The Space ship - a few ideas. This is probably most inviting to a conventional story line. PCs need to find out how to beat it, then do that. Maybe there's records in history/mythology or a dead planet's archeology which gives a hint about how to beat it? Perhaps a contact of one of the PCs (friend or family) shows them the "Cool artifact" that was found on a new dig. The PC recognises the look of the ship. The party then go out and join the dig to get more clues.
    This plot would traditionally end with an assault on the ship and the PCs basically doing a dungeon bash to the ship's "brain". But other options include finding out what the ship wants and bribing it to go away, finding an enemy of the ship to do the fighting for you or finding the right weapon for the job

    The conspiracies and the insects seems like they could be separate plots which sometimes cross or, otoh once one side is resolved, the other issue could fade into the background. Are the insects friendly to humanity? Hostile but faking it? Split into factions of their own?
    Plots where anyone could be controlled by an enemy are tough to run well. It's too easy to make the players feel like they can't win without having the controllers make bad choices. It's also a plot that tends to break worlds so that takes a fair bit of running and would change the nature of your game (for better and/or for worse).
    Maybe the human factions are trying to negotiate with the insects, then the PCs will be trying to stop that by some combination of counter-argument, splitting up the conspiracy, and stopping the opposition from negotiating effectively (seduction, psionic attack, outright murder) - this could be more sandbox style.
    Present them with the problem and create adventures for the solutions they want to try
    I love playing in a party with a couple of power-gamers, it frees me up to be Elan!


  3. - Top - End - #3
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    DwarfBarbarianGuy

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    Emerald City, Oz
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    Default Re: Help with School Campaign

    If things are getting a little stagnant, then upset the applecart completely...

    A powerful rival faction swoops in and attempts to annihilate the school. They have government backing in the form of a senator (or the equivalent) who fears the school's growing power. They will come with overwhelming force and cannot be beaten. NPCs will die left and right, but the PCs have a chance to snatch resources and personnel. Let them use their superior skills to kill as many attackers as they like, but also let them realise that their fellows are being slaughtered in turn. It should be an excellent opportunity for angst and drama. Let them rescue as many as they can fit into the best ship the school has on hand. Give them opportunities to empty the armoury, the library, the headmaster's chambers, the vault, whatever they themselves think to try for. Have any instructors rush off to defend the school, ordering them to go elsewhere and do something, like get a younger student to safety, or take his instructional files to safety...then, when they have had a chance to retrieve some form of resource each, let them know that explosive charges are about to level the school and they must make a dramatic escape in their ship, pursued by starfighters or something...

    I usually run Star Wars games, but space opera should translate well to other systems...
    "There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter."
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  4. - Top - End - #4
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    Lady Corvus's Avatar

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    Oct 2020

    Default Re: Help with School Campaign

    Thanks guys, great ideas so far. Any others? Questions?
    Married to Mister Biffo.

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Barbarian in the Playground
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    Default Re: Help with School Campaign

    If you want to make class time more interesting, how about introducing an antagonist they can't use force against without looking like absolute heels? The whole "psionic wardens to take care of you other humans not capable of that" will rub a lot of people the wrong way. Some will be that radical anti-trnashumanism movement, but what about a movement that's not violent at all? All investigations into it come back empty, because they are led by someone who knows the value of being squeaky clean.

    Only way to battle these is through propaganda, debates and social confrontations. They can have a strong presence in the academy itself, because really, they are a non-violent political movement that cautions against going too gung ho into this transhumanism thing, why are you banning them from having a presence?

    Then, once the headmaster goes off the deep end, your PCs may well end up defending their long time political opponents.
    That which does not kill you made a tactical error.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Orc in the Playground
     
    RedWizardGuy

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    Feb 2016

    Default Re: Help with School Campaign

    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Greywolf View Post
    If you want to make class time more interesting, how about introducing an antagonist they can't use force against without looking like absolute heels?
    Professor Snape?
    -
    What is dead may never die, but rises again, harder, stronger, in a later edition.
    -

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    BardGuy

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    Mar 2007
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    Australia

    Default Re: Help with School Campaign

    Quote Originally Posted by Martin Greywolf View Post
    Then, once the headmaster goes off the deep end, your PCs may well end up defending their long time political opponents.
    That would be great story telling - The beloved headmaster threatening the annoying but innocent NPCs. Depending on personalities, you could have the whole thing going live to air, so the PCs have to save the "innocents" to avoid the anti-transhumists winning a propaganda victory, even if they'd like to let the headmaster do his worst
    I love playing in a party with a couple of power-gamers, it frees me up to be Elan!


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