Playing All the Campaigns

[Andrewfroehlich1]

So I'm running a DLR game and I have a lot of very role play centric players. Which is great. Except for one thing. They're going to want to run ALL the campaigns as their characters. Which for the most part is really cool (one of my players had this great moment with Hellstromme where she remarked, and I quote "you know what they say, the path to hell is paved with good intentions" and that really jolted Hellstromme. Really sets up Good Intentions). But then there's stone and a hard place. Knowing THAT scene in stone and a hard place plot point 2. How would you go about with four, very likely legendary, characters?

[ethicalcrackpot]

Wouldn't going through all 4 plot point campaigns take years?

[Andrewfroehlich1]

Wouldn't going through all 4 plot point campaigns take years?

More than likely. I'm expecting a year a piece. Plus breaks for one shots and such tonkeep the blood pumping.

[Mavis]

Simplistically I would not do it and I would strongly advise finding a way of discouraging your players from wanting to do this. But that is not the answer you are looking for so...

The danger with Plot Point 2 for Legendary PC's who have already directly defeated one Servitor and thwarted another is that the players will think that their PC's will be able to slug it out with Stone. The combat will be very long and drawn out and you will need to use GM fiat to stop the PC's dying. I would therefore run it as a Dramatic Task where the PC's are not directly engaged with Stone but dealing with something else (Curly Bill and the Cowboys) whilst desperately trying to come to the aid of the Earp's and Doc who are facing up to Stone. Setting that up will in itself require a lot of GM fiat and PC shoehorning. Stone then has to get away without the PC's chasing after him, which, with the range of abilities available for Legendary PC's, may again require some GM fiat, but better that than fudging their deaths.

An alternate suggestion. Find ways to weave the PC's from the previous campaigns into the later stories. This is not so easy with Last Sons but certainly Stone and A Hard Place offers plenty of opportunities to do this. The most obvious way of doing this is for Stone, when hunting down 13 heroes to power the Heart of Darkness, targets the Legendary PC's from the earlier campaigns (this is what I intend to do). Another suggestion, in the middle of Last Sons, take a break from the PC's in that campaign to run Return to Manitou Bluff using the PC's from The Flood.

[Andrewfroehlich1]

Simplistically I would not do it and I would strongly advise finding a way of discouraging your players from wanting to do this. But that is not the answer you are looking for so...

The danger with Plot Point 2 for Legendary PC's who have already directly defeated one Servitor and thwarted another is that the players will think that their PC's will be able to slug it out with Stone. The combat will be very long and drawn out and you will need to use GM fiat to stop the PC's dying. I would therefore run it as a Dramatic Task where the PC's are not directly engaged with Stone but dealing with something else (Curly Bill and the Cowboys) whilst desperately trying to come to the aid of the Earp's and Doc who are facing up to Stone. Setting that up will in itself require a lot of GM fiat and PC shoehorning. Stone then has to get away without the PC's chasing after him, which, with the range of abilities available for Legendary PC's, may again require some GM fiat, but better that than fudging their deaths.

An alternate suggestion. Find ways to weave the PC's from the previous campaigns into the later stories. This is not so easy with Last Sons but certainly Stone and A Hard Place offers plenty of opportunities to do this. The most obvious way of doing this is for Stone, when hunting down 13 heroes to power the Heart of Darkness, targets the Legendary PC's from the earlier campaigns (this is what I intend to do). Another suggestion, in the middle of Last Sons, take a break from the PC's in that campaign to run Return to Manitou Bluff using the PC's from The Flood.

That's basically what I was thinking. If they're only heroic or very recently legendary I MAY run Last Sons with them, but I had already been planning on doing a new party for Stone and a Hard Place. Thanks, though.

I do like the bit about Manitou Bluff, as that's been sitting on my shelf for awhile.

[Erolat]

One option is instead of one character running through all four PPCs have siblings out saving the world in their own way. Families back then were reasonably large (for a verity of reasons) so this would not be too much of a stretch. This way you can do one or two PPCs per character and with letters/telegrams being sent they would have some of the background of what happened in the other stories. With a bit of judicious tweaking you might even have one or two of the stories overlap. (Flooding occurring around the same time as Stone PP2 for example.)

[Baiyo]

Part of the problem with trying to run the same characters through multiple PPC's is that the timelines of the separate stories overlap. It'll require some serious fudging with the Timeline to keep things consistent. (Which isn't a problem at all if you're OK with doing that.)

I think after you run them through the Flood at least, it may be easier to talk them out of wanting to start a new PPC with the same characters. You could offer them the option of bringing their old character into the new campaign at a later time, or as a replacement for a dead character. They may also be less reluctant to set their old character sheets aside if you let their new characters start at Seasoned, or with everyone automatically being a Veteran of the Weird West.

[MightyMicK]

"They may also be less reluctant to set their old character sheets aside if you let their new characters start at Seasoned, or with everyone automatically being a Veteran of the Weird West."

This is EXACTLY what I did for my group, who completed The Flood as Legendary characters, but I had them all "washed away" by the deluge, with only scattered rumors and tall tales that they had somehow survived (they are "Legendary" after all, thus Living Legends!). The group then rolled up a new posse for Last Sons, but all began as Seasoned with Veteran of the Weird West edges/hindrances.

Eventually, when the Last Sons group reaches Legendary, the players can choose which character they want for more "Legendary" challenges like "Stone and a Hard Place" or "Return to Manitou Bluff." So far, so good.

[Séadna]

I've only run Stone and a Hard Place to the end. It started mostly with my own Savage Tales to let them get to know the world, slowly replaced by the Stone and a Hard Place Savage Tales and the actual Plot Points around the mid-Veteran stage. To be honest I can't imagine taking the same characters into Good Intentions say, they'd slaughter the early stuff and skip their way to the final Plot Point and from a story perspective it'd just dilute it. These post-Stone titans wouldn't fumble their way around Junkyard, get to know Nevada Smith, e.t.c. The way the campaign actually assumes.

That said, I completely understand the impulse! You could always follow up with Noir. Which campaign are you thinking of doing first?

[Andrewfroehlich1]

So basically, here's my thought process. I'll run The Flood and the Last Sons with the current posse (I'm calling them the Coffin Rock Six). Start off the Last Sons with Escape From Worn Canyon, and upscale the PPC itself when applicable. The only reason I'm even bothering with that is two of the PCs are shaping up to want to takedown Raven, and not giving that to them could be very disheartening.

As for noir, I've also got long term plans for that. One of my players will have drunk from the fountain of youth (it's actually one of my favorite ideas. An undying huckster forced into service with the Texas rangers or she gets executed and actually becoming part of the institution for half a century until after the Second World War) so it's basically confirmed she'll be around for noir, lest she be killed in the interim.

I do appreciate the feedback, and as much as I support role playing I completely agree that groups from one PPC are going to be far too OP.

[lunchmoney]

I'm running The Flood for my group right now. And when we complete that we are fully intending to play the other three, even it if does take a few years. That's not a problem.
As far as the characters are concerned I presented an idea to my players that they liked and are going with.
It is very likely they will end The Flood as Legendary (though due to a way I am tweaking the plot to be more personal at least one of them wont survive the actual Flood). When we start Last Sons they will start with new characters that have Veteran of the Weird West and their old characters will be NPCs they can call on for advice and help (if need be). Rinse repeat for Stone & a Hard Place and Good Intentions. By the end they should have a stable of characters that are full of skills and knowledge, and should be a formidable army in the fight against the Reckoners. (Something like the network of knowledgeable folks in Supernatural pre them all getting killed )

[tnbh]

I ended The Flood, with the characters settling down or moving on, then being found and killed by Stone. I intend to do the same when I reach the end of Last Sons. I want to make my players fume when Stone and a Hard Place comes around.

[Andrewfroehlich1]

I think when alls said and done, after we go through all the PPCs and maybe even a noir campaign, I'll set up HoE and say "okay. Which character do you want to play?" And have that character have been plucked out of existence to fight in HoE

[Erolat]

Just be aware that there are some effects that can make that difficult, for you and the players. There is no AB (Miracles) and I can recall at least one point where that can make a difference on how a fight runs. You may also need to impose the Clueless hindrance on the characters as a LOT has changed between the Weird West and the Wasted West. Then there is the fact that most long distance movement is via motorized vehicle and none of them are likely to have driving.

It could be fun but it could also be a bit frustrating is all I am saying.

[Dead Man's Hand]

So I'm running a DLR game and I have a lot of very role play centric players. Which is great. Except for one thing. They're going to want to run ALL the campaigns as their characters. Which for the most part is really cool (one of my players had this great moment with Hellstromme where she remarked, and I quote "you know what they say, the path to hell is paved with good intentions" and that really jolted Hellstromme. Really sets up Good Intentions). But then there's stone and a hard place. Knowing THAT scene in stone and a hard place plot point 2. How would you go about with four, very likely legendary, characters?

I was hoping to start this exact same thing on Roll20.net in the not too distant future. My group is pretty burned out on DnD. Whether or not I would play through HOE would depend on how the PPCs turn out. That future might not even happen.

I would probably let the characters continue as Legendary. Savage Worlds isn't as "level based" as other systems and it seems like running a more experienced character through a plot point campaign would not be such a big issue. This is the opinion of someone that yet to actually run a Savage Worlds game and is subject to change. If I feel they got too over-powered, I would have Stone show up and reward them with some lead-milkshakes.

[Dead Man's Hand]

I ended The Flood, with the characters settling down or moving on, then being found and killed by Stone. I intend to do the same when I reach the end of Last Sons. I want to make my players fume when Stone and a Hard Place comes around.

That's the most evilest DM move that I have ever heard of. You are awesome.