JP On Gaming

Thursday, April 16, 2015

I love this campaign: Legacies, past and future

From the first table I ran at Enchanted Grounds in the early summer of 2011, I knew what was to become the Legacies campaign was going to be something special. Although for the first year of the Campaign, it was just an adhoc side-project. Something I did for fun, to keep me writing. Something to do with friends as a change of pace.

Here we are, almost four years later, well over twenty adventures and event written, hundreds of table run and now is time for me to evaluate the campaign. What it is doing right, where it can improve, what is my plan for the next years, you know the sort of things people wonder about every day!

The Good

When I started working on NeoExodus, one of the things I kept telling LPJ is that the setting, though great had no mythology. By mythology I did not mean that it lacked NPCs or deities or villains. All of that was in there. However, a campaign setting is just an empty set of stat blocks without experience. What it needed was its own series of people. Someone the PCs could grow to hate, but also to love and be passionate about.

Those who play more than the occasional event see the flow and pattern of the NPCs actions and reactions to events. These no longer come as surprises, and more than a few times players correctly guessed what their patrons was planning (of course I'd never admit who). The campaign now has a flow of its own. It has an identity of its own.

An area where I am quite happy is that the campaign has drawn a number of PFS VO. For many of them, Legacies is a opportunity to play the game they love. So they can burn and GM all the PFS they have to, then turn around and play some Legacies. In turn, I get to play PFS when I want, or when I have the girls with me. This collaborative effort has been very good for the campaign. I pimp their work out, they pimp my stuff out: quid-pro-quo!

The Improvable

The campaign remains small, but that's something I believe each game run changes that. I think this is really something that can be improve.

Quality is always something I seek to improve. This past year has seen some fairly creative writing in a number of our adventures. The addition of Minions to our arsenal this year has given us a lot of options to create new and different encounters.

The Plan

My plan, as it has been from the start is to play the pusher: although talking about and selling the high points is one thing, I feel it's like someone telling you about their character: after a minute, you just stop caring. However, when you PLAY... That is when you form an attachment. The experience of playing sells it (or not). By then, you have first-hand experience of the setting and can make an informed decision.

One of the things I really like to hear is why someone does not like the campaign, after having played a game or two. It has been very instrumental in improving the campaign. Not only does it forces me to re-evaluate what I am offering, but also whether what I am trying to put forward.

Some good friends have mentioned that they disliked the use of mob/minions. Another wanted the patrons to be carbon copies of what they were in early PFS (ergo the "only" focus of the campaign). Another player told be he did not like having to worry about where he was from (and I kept telling him that his character was not his country, but he ignored it).

This process of review and improve is something I hold dear and have been working on in my professional life and as a writer.

Next, I plan to attend as many local events as I can this year to present and introduce people to the campaign. More offerings means a healthier gaming community.

JP

1 comment:

  1. Very interesting and a lot of hard work. I can't thank you enough.

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