Isles of the Saharan Sea: The Campaign Arc of Mavarasha...

Good Afternoon, All:

As a further exploration of the adventure potential for the Isles of the Saharan Sea campaign, I'm going to explore the concept of applying the Nine Act Structure to a campaign arc focused on one of the major villains of the setting. If the setting is strong enough, enough basic concepts should exist to create a possible Plot Point-style campaign arc. Consider this to be a "proof of concept," as it were.

First things first, we should choose which one of the major villains we should use from the Hall of Infamy: Mavarasha, Priest of War; Peleon Nightshade, Ninja Master; or Warlord Tal-kash, Gorllia-man Emperor. Mavarasha is actually intended to be the ultimate Big Evil Bad Guy for the setting, so let's start with him. As a reminder, here's his blurb:

Mavarasha, Light Upon the Throne Triumphant
The Vanaran known as Mavarasha, Light Upon the Throne Triumphant, is a devoted priest of Thanatos, the Flame Lord. Conquest is a sacred responsibility to Thanatos, and the Light Upon the Throne Triumphant is no stranger to war and battle. He has conquered many of the Smoking Isles, and has set his sights on the islands closer to the mainland of Mediterranea. Mavarasha wears the Flamegold Warmask into battle, whether on land or see, as a sign of his devotion to the Flame Lord.

And here's the blurb for his "base camp":

Lukrada, Ruins of: Once an ancient city under the patronage of Thanatos, the Flame Lord, Lukrada has long since fallen into crumbling ruins. These ruins are located atop a mesa overlooking the Burning Bay, and is very difficult to reach on foot, save for a narrow winding road leading from the beach to the flat mesa top. Necromancers and priests of Thanatos populate a few of the ruins, all in service to the Vanaran known as Mavarasha, Light Upon the Throne Triumphant, a High Priest of Thanatos.

With these details in mind, here's a very quick "off the cuff" plot arc:

Act Zero
Thanatos is a god of death, fire and war. The city of Lukrada once stood as a shining beacon of flame, resplendent even in this realm of eternal day. When it fell to the unified forces of those who would oppose his priesthood's conquest, such was a glorious day for Thanatos, and the souls of his faithful who had fallen in battle made for a grand sacrifice. Recently, with the Wrath of Serpentis and the disappearance of the snake goddess from the pantheon, the Flame Lord has noted a new opportunity to spread war, death and fire. Calling one of his greatest priests to the former site of his greatest temple among the Isles of the Saharan Sea, Thanatos bade his priest to lead a Crusade to take the lands once controlled by the followers of Serpentis. Since then, Mavarasha has become the Light Upon the Throne Triumphant, and is ready to lead his legions into war.

Act One
The ship upon which the PCs travel is attacked by pirates as it rounds a small island, introducing the characters to one another and to another passenger with a desperate mission. He has a map to a hidden treasure, and has to get there before his rival does. He'll split it with the party if they save him and help him find it. This leads to a wild chase across a tropical island as the party is pursued by pirates and the map owner's rival. In the end, they find the treasure and a few mysterious items.

Act Two
When the party or their partner attempts to sell a particular item (or are seen with it in their possession), they come to the attention of Mavarasha's followers. The party are pursued by cultists of the Flame Lord, who are after the item, and may stumble onto the preparations for a secret assault on a nearby port. Depending on their actions, they could become heroes or scarred by apathy here.

Act Three
Mavarasha and his retinue of major NPCs are intrigued by the news of the special item, as well as perturbed by the thwarting of their plans (if such has happened due to non-apathetic heroes). Mavarasha arrives with his Man-O-War and demands the party as tribute, I mean "honored guests". After meeting the mastermind and his flunkies, they learn that the special item they possess will lead him to the equivalent of the Ark of the Covenant. Before they can decide to hand it over, though, a freedom fighter breaks them out, and they are able to escape, although at the cost of the capture of their new-found ally. (Upon review, this sounds like a lot of exposition. I should come back to this one and rewrite it at some point into a more action-oriented adventure. But this is an "off the cuff" description. Perhaps this can be expanded on a "Well of Souls" scenario that shows the location of the Ark, and the PCs escape with knowledge of the Ark's location, although they know that Mavarasha possesses that knowledge as well. Yeah, that's the ticket!)

Act Four
Knowing the location of the Ark of the Covenant item, the party is in a race against Mavarasha to get to the site first. Now's the time to introduce a nice jungle temple dungeon adventure, with lots of deadly traps, nasty critters and even a puzzle room or two. Of course, the players have seen "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark", so they are expecting to be caught when they step out of the main entrance, so they need a back way out, so they can escape and feel good about outsmarting Mavarasha. (I'm beginning to feel a theme emerging here. Time to consider changing it up because the players will sense it, too.)

Act Five
Shortly after their escape from the temple, the party begins to hear of Mavarasha's successful crusade, launched without the Ark of the Covenant item. All of their enemies to this point, as well as backstory elements, should come to the fore here. This should be filled with major stumbling blocks, and they should really grow to hate Mavarasha's success. This storyline has to become personal for them, even if it means taking a well-loved NPC and torturing or killing him at the hands of the Light Upon the Throne Triumphant. It is with this final sacrifice story-wise that the players find out that Mavarasha's power stems, not from the Ark of the Covenant item, but from a sacred figure from within the jungle temple. (Maybe they see it on the prow of the ship as a new figurehead or something.)

Act Six
Some research reveals that the idol of the Flame Lord was forged in sacred flames from a volcano, and in order to be destroyed, the idol must be returned to that same volcano. They must find a way to capture the figure (easy enough to do while Mavarasha's men are raiding a great port), but they are then chased with a fierce determination. The final scene culminating in the destruction of the idol should be one of the most memorable of the entire campaign. (Holy Shades of Mount Doom, Batman!)

Act Seven
Without his source of power, Mavarasha is still powerful in terms of numbers. However, the forces of his enemies gather as well, leading to some potential for mass battles leading to the ultimate mass battle for the War of Mavarasha. Some element needs to be worked in here for the last fight where the party must lead Mavarasha away so the two armadas can fight without major PCs involved, leading to greater losses among the NPCs while the party and Mavarasha battle it out. Alternately, one of the PCs could challenge Mavarasha to a duel, seeking to end the battle with one fight rather than massive forces. It should be harsh, and either through victory or treachery and flight, Mavarasha leaves the fight alive.

Act Eight
The final adventure sees the party chasing Mavarasha back to his lair on Lukrada. Here's where they get to face off against all of Mavarasha's lieutenants and such (those who haven't been killed) as part of the final confrontation with the Priest of War. Thanatos should honor this battle with his presence, in some form or fashion, and deny Mavarasha's call for aid with his dying breath, taking the soul of the slain priest as a sacrifice when the party wins. (That is, if they win. It's the last fight of the story arc, so it's no holds barred.)

So, what do you think? There will be a number of other adventures in-between each of these, of course. That is the nature of a Plot Point-style campaign story arc. However, is there enough material available to create a good set of adventures to scatter over the breadth of a character's career? I think so, but it's always good to hear the thoughts of others.

With Regards,
Flynn

Sword & Planet: A Campaign Story Arc...

Good Morning, All:

Early on in my discussion of the Planetary Romance genre, I mentioned a quote from Wikipedia regarding the common conventions of the first book of a Sword and Planet series, which I'll repeat here for the sake of easy reference.

"Burroughs established a set of conventions that were followed fairly closely by most other entries in the Sword and Planet genre. The typical first book in a sword and planet series uses some or all of the following plot points:

A tough but chivalrous male protagonist, from Earth of a period not too distant from our own, finds himself transported to a distant world. The transportation may be via astral projection, teleportation, time travel, or any similar form of scientific magic, but should not imply that travel between worlds is either easy or common. The Earthman thus finds himself the sole representative of his own race on an alien planet. This planet is at a pre-modern, even barbaric stage of civilization, but may here and there have remarkable technologies that hint at a more advanced past. There is no obligation for the physical properties or biology of the alien planet to follow any scientific understanding of the potential conditions of habitable worlds; in general, the conditions will be earth-like, but with variations such as a different-colored sun or different numbers of moons. A lower gravity may be invoked to explain such things as large flying animals or people, or the superhuman strength of the hero, but will otherwise be ignored. (A Princess of Mars, however, when it was first written did loosely follow the most optimistic theories about Mars - e.g., those of Percival Lowell who imagined a dying, dried-up Mars watered by a network of artificial canals.)

Not long after discovering his predicament, the Earthman finds himself caught in a struggle between two or more factions, nations, or species. He sides, of course, with the nation with the prettiest woman, who will sometimes turn out to be a princess. Before he can set about seriously courting her, however, she is kidnapped by a fiendish villain or villains. The Earthman, taking up his sword (the local weapon of choice, which he has a talent with), sets out on a quest to recover the woman and wallop the kidnappers. On the way, he crosses wild and inhospitable terrain, confronts savage animals and monsters, discovers lost civilizations ruled by cruel tyrants or wicked priests, and will repeatedly engage in swashbuckling sword-fights, be imprisoned, daringly escape and rescue other prisoners, and kill any men or beasts who stand in his way. At the end of the story he will defeat the villain and free the captive princess, only to find another crisis emerging that will require all his wit and muscle, but will not be resolved until the next thrilling novel in the adventures of...!."

As I had mentioned in that earlier post, this gives us a nice blueprint to use for the first few adventures in a Planetary Romance setting. Using something like the screenwriter's Nine Act Plot Structure as the basis for a campaign story arc, it occurs to me that you could easily use something like the following to help launch a strong Sword & Planet campaign.

Act Zero
Over the course of the campaign, we reveal the background of the campaign arc through small scenes and insights. As this is not a formal scene within the screenwriter's plot structure, neither is this an actual adventure for the players.

Act One
The characters arrive via some mysterious means on a distant world, which will be the setting for the entire campaign. Just as they begin to familiarize themselves with their new environment, they find themselves caught in the middle of a struggle between two different factions, and must choose sides. Obviously, as a beautiful woman needs saving, they will side with the faction that rescues her.

Act Two
The party must prove themselves to their would-be compatriots, and protect the woman from the barbaric ways of the natives. This starts off with some political/social machinations, possibly with duels or combat to help establish the players in a new social position. As the party relaxes and begins to enjoy their newfound position, a jealous or vengeful second in command, displaced by the party due to their arrival and success, kidnaps the woman and flees with her into the night.

Act Three
Following the kidnapper, the party comes upon the enemy of the woman's people. These enemies happen to desire the woman as well, given that she is a Princess and the daughter of their enemy. Their first encounter with the enemy warlord defines his arrogant manner, and displays his position of power within the world, a position that the players will not be able to overcome at first, simply because they didn't grow up on this world. The enemy warlord and the kidnapper will leave the site of that first encounter, and the players will be left alive to lick their wounds and plan the next step in their quest to rescue the Princess.

Act Four
Following the enemy warlord, the party travels across wild and inhospitable terrain, confronting animals and monsters, before arriving at the capital city of the enemy's empire. Upon entering the city, they immediately hear that the enemy warlord will be marrying the Princess, and be elevated to the Right Hand of the enemy emperor as the governor of the Princess's homeland, to rule in the emperor's name. The party must stop the wedding.

Act Five
Having decided to stop the wedding and save the Princess, the party must identify the ways by which they can enter into the palace, execute their plan and rescue the woman. Every complication encountered as they proceed toward their goal is harder and harder, challenging them to be creative and action-oriented whenever possible. They barely succeed in fighting to save the Princess, only to have to flee into the subterranean dungeons beneath the enemy city. The Princess then demands to be taken back to her native city to warn her father of the impending attack on her homeland.

Act Six
In travelling through the underground ruins in search of an exit, the party risks being captured by cultists that have captured prisoners, including children, to sacrifice to the monster they worship as a god. One of the prisoners will offer to show them the way out, if they will free the prisoners and help them to escape as well. Upon leaving the dungeons, they will come upon the enemy warlord's flagship in the upcoming invasion, a small flying warship that they can use to escape.

Act Seven
The party makes for the Princess's homeland, the enemy close at their heels. There may be an encounter or two with advanced scouts, enough to slow down the party long enough for the enemy warlord to catch up. The prisoner that originally helped the party escape the dungeon offers to sacrifice himself by crashing the flagship into their enemy, leaving the party to cover the short remaining distance to the Princess's homeland and warn her people. As the party watches, though, the flagship is taken out by the enemy warlord's more powerful vessel, giving time for the party to barely make it to the city and raise the alarm.

Act Eight
The party escorts the Princess to her father, only to find that the kidnapper is in the Great Hall and is about to poison the greatest warriors of the land with bad wine. The party takes care of the kidnapper, explains the situation, and fights the good fight. The final fight scene should involve the party and a handful of warriors against the invading enemy warlord and his soldiers, in a final climactic battle atop the greatest towers of the city, where all can see the results of this battle. If the Princess can be in the clutches of the enemy warlord and be rescued as a result of the fight, so much the better.

Act Nine
There is much rejoicing. If a party member is interested and has played up the romance well all the way through, this is the point where he might become betrothed to the Princess, otherwise that honor goes to an NPC. Either way, there's a large celebration taking place at this point as honors and awards are laid upon the heroes for their part in all of this. Just as the wedding ceremony starts, the party is whisked away by some mysterious force, either to return to Earth or perhaps to be sent elsewhere on the world by powers beyond their ken...

It needs a lot of work, of course, but this should make for the start of a great campaign. I'll likely spend more time polishing the story arc up, adding some more elements here and there, and removing some of the railroady factor from parts of it as I continue to work on this concept. Of course, any thoughts or suggestions you might like to share would be greatly appreciated.

Enjoy,
Flynn

Post-Apocalyptic Thoughts: A Simple Campaign Arc...

Good Evening, All:

As part of my gaming research into adding post-apocalyptic elements to my Madlands Campaign, I've been researching science fantasy post-apocalyptic games such as Gamma World and Darwin's World. (Some of this was inspired by the games I've played at Owl Con XXX, too.) Of course, in reading through some of that material, I came up with an idea for a post-apocalyptic campaign arc. Using the Nine Act Plot Structure that I'd blogged about previously, here's the core of that campaign arc. Other adventures could be worked into this structure with relative ease, adding to the overall length of the campaign arc and allowing you to focus on player-driven adventures as well. If you like any of the following content for either a fantasy game or a post-apocalyptic game, please feel free to use this as you see fit.

Act Zero, the campaign background, is revealed in small parts throughout the rest of the campaign. In this case, a mutant discovered a lost cache of knowledge, primarily about the medieval period of Old Europe. Using the lore found within, as well as his own powerful mind-controlling abilities, this mutant has taken over a warrior and turned him into its servant. The enslaved warrior has taken on the name of the Lord Protector, and is building up a kingdom under his iron fist, all at the direction of the mutant operating behind the scenes. The expansion of the Protectorate is approaching the characters' homeland, and if they do not do anything to stop it, their people will become slaves to the kingdom of their conqueror.

Act One is the opening adventure, which sets the status quo. In this adventure, we introduce the home village of the player-characters. The annual migration of a particular predator appears to have started early, as a few of the village's children were attacked by such predators, and two of them were carried off. The characters are pressed into the search for the lair of the beast and the missing children. The lair turns out to be an Ancient ruin, where other mutant beasts dwell.

In Act Two, we introduce humanoid raiders from a nearby realm, when the characters encounter a patrol. Shortly thereafter, a larger band of humanoids strikes at the characters' village, and the characters must take the fight to the heart of the enemy force in order to eliminate the immediate threat. Any captured enemies comment on the need to take this village as a refuge from the assault of the Protectorate's forces. Alternately, the characters may be assigned to guard the fleeing women, children and elderly while the rest of the warriors remain behind. The adventure here focuses on obstacles that must be overcome to get their wards to safety, until the enemy forces attacking the village are overcome.

After a few weeks of refugees traveling around the village, or coming to the village and more humbly asking for sanctuary as they flee the war with the Protectorate, we start Act Three with a visit from knights in service to the Lord Protector. They first demand the surrender of the village, then react with force when the villagers do not surrender. They can be chased out, but return with bigger forces and more powerful weapons. While the characters can defeat the Protectorate knights, they realize that they could not survive the full attention of the Lord Protector.

Act Four sees our heroes assigned a task by the village council to visit some Ancient ruins where lost treasures may include weapons of such destructive power that they will be able to devastate the Lord Protector's forces and render the Protectorate unable to successively continue their plan of conquest. The artifacts they uncover certainly appear to fit the bill, but will require that they deliver the weapon deep into enemy territory before it is activated.

Act Five could easily represent one to three adventures, as the party sneaks into Protectorate territory. The way gets harder and harder, and the obstacles more and more complicated. In the end, the party is betrayed by someone they've trusted, their weapon of mass destruction turned over to the Lord Protector himself and the characters are banished to a dungeon. It is in the dungeon at the end of this adventure that the party makes the acquaintance of a fellow prisoner who reveals the true solution to this dilemma: the Lord Protector himself is actually a front for a mind-controlling nemesis that is operating from the shadows.

Act Six finds the party breaking free from the dungeon and escaping into the undercity of the ruins that the Lord Protector claims as the seat of his power. Within the undercity, the party discovers the truth of their fellow prisoner's words, and reveals that the best way to strike at the Lord Protector is to slay his hidden master. It is in this adventure that the party learns the location of the hidden master, so that they can strike.

Act Seven requires the heroes to travel to the hidden master's lair and strike down the mind-controlling mutant. This adventure should require some form of heroic sacrifice at this point in order to actually succeed. Despite their loss, the ultimate destruction of the hidden master leaves the Lord Protector without the knowledge of his master in the upcoming confrontation between Protectorate forces and the villagers who would be led by the characters.

Act Eight is the final adventure, where the party faces down the Protectorate forces, slays the Lord Protector, and breaks the Protectorate's hold on their lands. This leaves behind a power vacuum that will eventually be filled by other enemies, but a divided enemy is much easier to deal with than a unified one.

Enjoy,
Flynn

GM Mentoring: The Nine Act Plot Structure as Campaign Design...

Good Evening, All:

I have been toying around with the idea of using the screenwriter's Nine Act Plot Structure as the basis for a campaign story arc. In many cases, each Act could almost be considered an individual adventure, ala the EPIC Adventure System proposed by Marc Miller for Traveller. With that in mind, you can find my initial thoughts on the matter below.

Act Zero covers the background for the entire campaign arc, and as such, should be revealed only in small portions over the course of the campaign. While this wouldn't be a formal adventure in and of itself, it provides the motivation for the other eight Acts, and so should be heavily considered to insure consistency and continuity.

Act One makes for a great starting adventure. This is the module that introduces the characters to the milieu, and helps to establish the mood and flavor for the rest of the campaign. Often, this adventure establishes the status quo before it gets interrupted and things go out of control in the next Act.

Act Two gives our heroes the big hook for the rest of the campaign arc. Here's where the GM introduces the major complication that pushes our adventurers and the setting forward into the main storyline of the campaign. Just as the first adventure set the scene for the players, this Act helps us realize that something's going wrong, and there's a need for adventurers to fix the problem.

Act Three establishes the main villain and their supporting characters. This is the adventure where the party begins to invest themselves in the setting. A good villain gives them that opportunity, and this is the adventure in which the villain is showcased. Obviously, he can't be put in a position of danger here, so it is advised that either the party meets a representative of the villain should combat arise, or that the villain only be present during social scenes where slaying him is not an option. (For example, maybe he's a guest of the King, or is meeting under a flag of truce.)

Act Four provides the party with their first goal. They should believe that this solution will address the problem introduced in Act Two, and thus overcome the villain from Act Three. As the Referee or GM, you should consider either offering the goal piecemeal and letting them put clues together over the course of this adventure to arrive at the solution, or simply presenting the solution to them at the end of the adventure.

Act Five could easily represent one to three adventures, as the party pursues their first goal. Each step toward this goal is harder than the last, and the complications continue to pile up. It should seem like the villain is winning at this point, but not so much so that the players are overly frustrated. You don't want them to quit, but you do want them to feel challenged by the scenarios. At the end of this Act, over the course of the final adventure (or perhaps right at the end of that adventure), the party should discover that they've been pursuing the wrong goal, and this should be the point when the villain looks most likely to succeed in his long-term goal.

Act Six is the adventure that realigns the party's focus on the second goal, the one that will actually resolve the complication for them, save the day and end the tyranny of the main villain. This is where they get that final clue or insight that empowers them to successfully move toward a positive completion of the campaign arc.

Act Seven offers an adventure that should involve heroic sacrifice of some sort or another. Even though this is the correct path, it should not be a walk in the park. The party should deal a significant blow to the main villain here, but they should also have to make a hard decision in order to do so. This gives more emotional weight to their investment and ultimate victory.

Act Eight is the final adventure, where the party wraps up the campaign arc, finishes off the villain, ties up all the loose ends (or at least the big ones, anyway), gets the treasure, saves the world (or at least their small part of it), and potentially wraps up the campaign.

These are my thoughts, anyway. So, what do you think?

Enjoy,
Flynn