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Post by janewalksfar on Dec 25, 2015 23:04:41 GMT
I'm 4 chapters/sessions into my second campaign. After my first campaign bogged down from a mix of scheduling issues and 1st-time-DM discouragement, I decided to start this second campaign small. The heroes started in an underground community (think the Vault from Fallout 3), traveled through Dwarves ruins to the surface, trekked a bit through the wasteland, and will reach their first town in the next session. Because whole-world building left me discouraged the 1st time around, I've basically been working out. I have a rough map (literally sketched in the sand by a hermit) with a few locations labeled.
However, now I think it's time to start filling in the region more--which brings me to a question of scale in the second sense: how big are things? How long do I want the heroes to travel from point A to B? In one campaign I play in, the continents we've traveled thusfar are huge. We fast-travel weeks at a time. While that has the advantage of moving forward the timeline for the global-scale events taking place in that world, I'm not a bit fan of fast travel. It makes it too easy to disregard material things like supplies, food, equipment, etc. and the lack of resources in my post-apocalyptic world add an important survivalist aspect to the game.
So here's my 3-part question: how do you scale your regions/continents/nations? Can you direct me to some resources (either RPG or IRL-based) for calculating travel distances, landmass size, etc? And finally, how do you balance realistic travel with the need to move the game forward?
I'm still a fledgling DM, so any resources, stories, or perspectives you have are appreciated.
Thank you for your input!
~Jane Walksfar
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Post by Deleted on Dec 26, 2015 4:25:33 GMT
Short answer is that if survivalism is an important flavor in the setting, you are moving the game forward when you subject the PCs to survival-oriented challenges. However, this sort of thing can get tedious for players if they're not totally on board with a survivalist game. Even the ones who say they are will probably tire of spending much table time on it after awhile, and more importantly, you might, too.
To answer your questions more directly:
1) Scale isn't important. Having a predetermined method of handling survival challenges is, because it can apply to virtually any size region.
2) I don't have any resources to link, sorry. However, most systems include long distance travel subsystems. Which game are you playing? We might be able to suggest modifications to suit your survivalist theme.
3) Just don't spend much table time narrating survival challenges. It should suffice to ask for a (group) skill check, and narrate success or failure without even describing a specific obstacle. Either they find shelter and enough forage, or they don't and experience exhaustion. Vary the frequency and difficulty of checks with region. Be wary of randomizing the chance for hostile encounters to occur, lest you get multiple encounters that make the journey a slog rather than an adventure.
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Post by catcharlie on Dec 27, 2015 23:31:42 GMT
Edit: Just realised what I said doesn't relate to what you was asking, I was going to say something about travel but I can't remember what it was now. Still I hope what I've said is useful.
While as I am a Pre-DM (creating a campaign. but haven't DM'd yet) so I can't give you any dos and don't, here is something that I would do if I was DM'ing.
- resource management - If you want to focus on a survival type game having a physical object to represent resource management should (in theory) get the players to connect more when resources are running low, numbers on a sheet are all good and fine, but they don't really mean much, but if your players have got 3 'food tokens' in front of them and they know when they are all gone they are going to be in big trouble and they need to get some more fast because the next journey they will be going on will suck up 4 'food tokens'. Little glass/plastic beads would do good for water and food tokens.
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Post by whipstache on Dec 28, 2015 12:18:04 GMT
I'm 4 chapters/sessions into my second campaign. After my first campaign bogged down from a mix of scheduling issues and 1st-time-DM discouragement, I decided to start this second campaign small. The heroes started in an underground community (think the Vault from Fallout 3), traveled through Dwarves ruins to the surface, trekked a bit through the wasteland, and will reach their first town in the next session. Because whole-world building left me discouraged the 1st time around, I've basically been working out. I have a rough map (literally sketched in the sand by a hermit) with a few locations labeled.
However, now I think it's time to start filling in the region more--which brings me to a question of scale in the second sense: how big are things? How long do I want the heroes to travel from point A to B? In one campaign I play in, the continents we've traveled thusfar are huge. We fast-travel weeks at a time. While that has the advantage of moving forward the timeline for the global-scale events taking place in that world, I'm not a bit fan of fast travel. It makes it too easy to disregard material things like supplies, food, equipment, etc. and the lack of resources in my post-apocalyptic world add an important survivalist aspect to the game.
So here's my 3-part question: how do you scale your regions/continents/nations? Can you direct me to some resources (either RPG or IRL-based) for calculating travel distances, landmass size, etc? And finally, how do you balance realistic travel with the need to move the game forward?
I'm still a fledgling DM, so any resources, stories, or perspectives you have are appreciated.
Thank you for your input!
~Jane Walksfar
More of a philosophical response, but the most important thing to remember is that the best (only?) way to make any game fun is to provide situations where the players are forced to make interesting choices. Do I try to pickpocket the key from the merchant despite having a negative DEX modifier or do I attack him in broad daylight and face the consequences? The party seems outmatched by this BBEG and I have an unlabeled potion; do I drink it, throw it at him, pour it on my sword, or just hope for better rolls? Our party is on half rations as some of our food was stolen last night by a dire bear; do I give some to this starving escaped slave goblin? If yes, do I tell my party? The scale is only important inasmuch as it provides negative space (i.e. wilderness) for the party to cross. In a survivalism setting, the longer the journey, the harder it will be. (If realism is important, the distance between civilized places will also have an impact on the culture of the places themselves.) Personally, I only find survivalism integrating as a player if we are in a semi-permanent predicament. Mostly, what I mean is that there's a tipping point, where the danger of travel is greater than the difficulty of setting up a permanent camp, which is more interesting to me anyway. The best survivalism setting to me is marooned on an island or trapped in a cave system, where creating systems of sustainable food, water, shelter, and a hope of being rescued and/or escaping is the goal. Good on you for giving DMing a second go! |
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Post by DM Kiado on Dec 28, 2015 17:17:56 GMT
So here's my 3-part question: how do you scale your regions/continents/nations? Can you direct me to some resources (either RPG or IRL-based) for calculating travel distances, landmass size, etc? And finally, how do you balance realistic travel with the need to move the game forward?
I'm still a fledgling DM, so any resources, stories, or perspectives you have are appreciated.
Thank you for your input!
~Jane Walksfar
Hey Jane, I am going to take a different approach and assume that you do care about scale, and how it relates to your world. A lot of people, as you can see, don't worry too much about scale and travel distance at a finite level. You may be like me though, where you want those details at least for your own knowledge even if they are never used as an exact science.
There is an interesting program from ProFantasy Software called Fractal Terrains 3 (Demo Available). This idea of this program is to generate fractal worlds. The program has lots of options and things you can change and play with, which I won't cover here, because honestly I don't know all about yet. Now the cool part about this program is you can build a world in it, see climate, temperatures, rainfall, and other factors in the world based off the generated world it gives you. You can do things like pick the highest/lowest elevation, temperature levels, greenhouse effects, percentage of water, and all kinds of crap when you are generating worlds. It has a measuring tool to give you an idea of distance, etc. You can then export a world you have created, and load it into Google Earth, where you can do things like lay the Earths continents and borders over it to give you an idea of scale you can understand.
I am working on this area of my homebrew right now, using FT3. Whether this world generation will be the actual world used, or I will create a characterized version of it is another question. FT3 can almost be overkill on details and in reality mapping out an entire world as apposed to smaller areas and continents won't burn you out near as quick. Plus it leaves you the whole rest of a planet to adapt and add for any players in it. I also highly recommend our "Master List of DM Resources" Post. We have pulled together tons of links, to tons of sites, and probably covering anything you can think of at least in some detail. I will share more relating to this (if you are interested) as I move through it. |
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Post by janewalksfar on Dec 28, 2015 18:43:52 GMT
Catcharlie, I like the idea of using tokens or objects. My PCs are total hoarders at this point...makes me think of those hags from Labyrinth with all the junk on their backs. I warned them resources would be scarce when we started, so they're all mad-encumbered at this point.
Which is interesting from Whipstache's point about difficult choices. I'm thinking the next session's survival challenge may revolve around the choice to abandon supplies to either gain speed or access confined spaces.
Kiado, thanks for the link to FT3. I'll have to scope that at some point, but it def. sounds like something that could become a time/planning trap. How has your time investment balanced out thusfar?
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Post by catcharlie on Dec 28, 2015 18:50:12 GMT
Catcharlie, I like the idea of using tokens or objects. My PCs are total hoarders at this point...makes me think of those hags from Labyrinth with all the junk on their backs. I warned them resources would be scarce when we started, so they're all mad-encumbered at this point. Glad my point was useful, not that I can remember what I was originally going to say about travel. Also, sounds a lot like my current Fallout 4 Character, Bethesda making junk useful was a double edged sword! lol |
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Post by DM Kiado on Dec 28, 2015 21:49:49 GMT
Kiado, thanks for the link to FT3. I'll have to scope that at some point, but it def. sounds like something that could become a time/planning trap. How has your time investment balanced out thusfar? My time investments are terrible to be honest. I check out and play with so many things at this point, I can't decide what to actually use. It is definitely a time sink. It's one of those things where I just keep making new ones, generating world after world, and not actually using them.  I am apparently looking for a specific, random generation. (Smart right?!) I bought Fractal Terrains 3 and Campaign Cartographer 3 though, because I was spending way too much time time to draw things in Photoshop. I love PS, use it all the time, but I find that I am my own worst critic when it comes to drawing in it. So these are just my newest toys. Anyways, both programs will accurately gauge distance and scale, if you are into that kind of detail. |
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I am apparently looking for a specific, random generation. (Smart right?!)