RPGaDay 2015 #15 Longest Campaign Played

Well, long-time readers will probably know this one. For a little over 4 years, off and on, I ran an old school campaign using Castle of the Mad Archmage from BRW Games. Who knows? I might even come back to it, but I think it's really dead this time.

That campaign has taught me a number of this, both about the old school of gaming, but also about managing long term campaigns. For one thing, long campaigns require lots of content. Prior to starting my megadungeon, my campaigns were very seat-of-the-pants affairs. I'd start with a basic idea, but then place just enough scenery around to keep the players busy for a session or so. Sometimes less. If the players managed to get out of that prepared zone, I would have to improvise madly to keep up with them (and I have learned that I am a terrible improviser).

Moving forward, my primary intention is to level up my content creation for the campaigns I run. I've been building notes for a Star Trek campaign concept for about a year now, as time and energy allow. It's not quite ready for players, but when it is, it should be capable of running for quite some time.

Any other campaign I create will receive similar attention.

This Is The (Emerald) City

This week, we're stepping out of the Palace and hitting the streets of the Emerald City.

The most curious feature of the city, and all of Oz in general is its lack of money. While early stories mention money in passing, it is never a plot point. By Road to Oz, Baum had apparently decided that money didn't exist in Oz.

So why do people work if there's no money, no way to get ahead? Largely out of necessity. In communities as small as those in Oz (the largest population number we are given is 101), every hand is needed to ensure the success of the entire community. Most communities have a leader of some kind, whether they call that person Mayor, Duke, King or Queen. This person is generally well taken care of by their community, but exactly how well depends on how much the community is willing or able to provide. If the community cannot use all that it produces, the excess usually gets sent to a regional potentate (such as Emperor Nick Chopper of the Winkies) or directly to the Emerald City.

Larger communities (such as the massive Emerald City) make this sort of arrangement trickier, but not impossible. Princess Ozma (or more likely, some functionary) takes a direct role in the distribution of needed supplies to and from the Royal Storehouses, combining a degree of socialism with the relatively pure communism of rural Oz.

The Emerald City does have a number of shops lining its streets, but most of these are more accurately described as distribution centers. Emerald Citizens may go into any shop and ask for items that they want or need. Other shops are workshops, where craftsmen receive a share of raw materials from the Royal Stores and turn it into finished products before passing it on to customers.

The tradition of hospitality that exists throughout Oz is still upheld in the Emerald City. A number of inns, hotels, restaurants and pubs serve travelers and locals who need a night out, a place to meet with friends, or simply a quick bite between here and there. So if you feel like doing the whole "You all meet in a tavern" bit, you can definitely do that.

What does this do for crime? Between the lack of material need and the fact that nobody can be killed, there's not a lot of crime in the Emerald City. But the crime that does happen tends to be personal. If someone steals from you, it's because they want that object, not because they can sell it for a lot of money.

One crime that is unique to the Emerald City is that of Mooching. That is, enjoying the benefits of the Emerald City's distribution network without contributing to the welfare of the city. The easiest way to do this is to avoid work. Some gluttons take deliberate pains to accumulate all the goods they can acquire, but these criminals don't last too long. They will either get discovered in short order, or they will burn out on consumption rather soon. If you are caught breaking this law, you will either be given work or asked to leave the city.

Law enforcement is fairly weak. There are no police, but none are really necessary. Because of how the city works, criminals stand out. Thieves steal personal treasures, not costly knickknacks. Unlawful practice of magic leads to more powerful and more obvious spells. The Guardian of the Gates is most often called upon for law enforcement duties, as his previous responsibility of fitting green glasses to everyone entering the city has become irrelevant. He is not terribly clever, but he's friendly enough that he gets the help he needs to ensure the safety of the Emerald City and its people.

The Emerald Sandbox

I know this is late, but it's taken some time to assemble my thoughts on this subject.

Last week, I talked about using the land of Oz, or some section thereof as a sandbox/pinball setting and creating things for characters to bounce off of. This week, I want to go to the heart of Oz, the Emerald City.

There are actually two levels to an Emerald City campaign: The Palace, and the City itself. Most familiar to Oz fans is the Palace, containing Ozma, Dorothy and all of their friends. It's where many stories start, end, or simply change.

The challenge of the Palace is that everyone gets along. A story can't really happen unless there's a conflict to resolve. Now, your characters can provide that conflict, trying to push their agenda and watching how their favorite Oz characters react to it. But if they just want to bounce off of the established cast, you should put more effort into strengthening the differences that the characters have.

While I tend to point to the Emerald City as the point where my playtest campaign fell flat, there were a couple of things that went well. Specifically, Bungle the Glass Cat and Jellia Jamb. The reason being that both of these characters had agendas. Jellia likes playing jokes on people and Bungle wants to be admired.

Coming up with conflicting agendas for the different characters doesn't mean that they have to become enemies or even stop liking each other. Take The Wogglebug and the Scarecrow, for example. Both of them are smart people, but go about it rather differently. The Scarecrow was created knowing nothing, and is eager to learn new things. The Wogglebug studied in the classroom of Professor Nowitall and is eager to show off what he knows. So the Scarecrow's agenda of "learn new things" can interact with Woigglebug's agenda "Show off what you know" in a number of ways, including a few that can create a story-worthy conflict.

Next week, I will stat some Ozzy thing from the books (If there's something you would like to see, feel free to ask for it) and the week after, I'll try to continue with a look at the mean (not really) streets of the Emerald City.

Building an Ozzy Sandbox

Latest results on the poll are a bit more encouraging. No one admits to having played the game (which sucks) but "No, but I really want to!" has 9 votes, beating the flat "No", which only got 5.

If you want to do a classic "Wandering Adventurers" campaign, that is totally doable (Just ask Woot) and there are tons of adventure seeds and ideas in the rulebook to support that. But what if you want to explore a single area in depth? That's when we start talking sandbox (or pinball, to use my preferred metaphor).

If you wanted to create a sandbox of original creations, both the Munchkin and Gillikin countries have plenty of unexplored space to put whatever you want. Or you could take advantage of the well-documented Quadling Country. The Emerald City is also a great setting for a campaign; Not only does it have immense variety within itself, but it can also lead to a variety of adventures in Oz at large.

The hard part about building a pinball machine from existing Oz material is that many of the countries exist by themselves, with no real relations to their neighbors. In fact some, like the Cuttenclip Village and Bunnybury, are strongly isolationist in order to protect their citizens. But there are some that can clearly benefit from connecting to other communities. For example, Bunbury and Utensia. Bunbury is populated by living baked goods, while the people of Utensia are living kitchen utensils. Perhaps, when a boy Bunn and a girl Bunn love each other very much, they take a trip over to Utensia. After much preparation, they are finally ready to put their little baby Bunn in the oven to be properly baked.

Suddenly, new adventures present themselves. What if Mayor Cinnamon Bunn's son fell in love with the daughter of his enemy, Herr Kaiser Roll and the lovebuns are dashing away to a honeymoon in Utensia? Worse yet, what if, in their hurry, they get terribly lost and head toward the Forest of Fighting Trees? Now, on top of the challenge of locating the lost couple, your players have to keep them from getting smashed into crumbs by the Fighting Trees.

Creating these sorts of connections will give your players plenty of pins and bumpers for their characters to bounce off of into all sorts of directions.