So a bit went on and I got a few emails, and this is where things really picked up. This is the first real start of the conversation, but it took a bit to get to with it. Bare with me as I give you everything.
Daniel's Question
Email 1
Cool, and its fine it took you a bit, until now I was away from a computer since dnd Friday.
Email 2
Also thanks for the help.
My Response
Always glad to help. I'm particularly good at world building...
Daniel's REAL Question
If that's an offer to help...
Although I'm not too worried about any of that yet, I haven't heard back from 3 of them. I also told them we wouldn't start until September to give me time to get my own computer and set something up.
How do you normally go about planning a campaign, I've generally just started with a planned adventure and improvise from there. Do you start out more concrete?
My REAL Response
Email 1
Well, it depends on what I'm running. TBH, I've been running Ronlin for so long that it is second nature to me, but that being said I love world building. I find that having a definitive idea of what the overall uberplot is can help. Dinner time. More later.
Email 2
Prepare yourself, this is a master course. So I'll be expounding at length.
When creating a campaign, there's a few key things to keep in mind. The Theme, The Underplot, and The Uber-plot. I'll address these in turn.
Theme of a campaign is the flavouring. It's the guns of Ronlin, the Katana of the Orient, or the Sacrificial Blade of the Aztecs. The theme of the campaign helps determine the other stuff. If I don't know the theme of the campaign, I'm wary. A solid theme on the campaign influences how it will go, a bad theme or one that is not strongly enacted can actually detract from a game. A theme doesn't have to be deep, it just has to be solid. For instance, if I were to run a GIJOE game, I would leave out cameos by the Autobots (even though they are a well established part of the Joe Cannon- haha pun), because it would dilute the theme of a realistic special forces game. However, a theme of Joes vs Transformers would be a very thin theme, but an awesome one.
The Under Plot is the stuff that is going on in the world that is not directly attributed to the PCs or their actions. A good underplot gives a campaign world a certain verisimilitude. If the players decide to get mixed up in it, fine, if not, then things still happen. A good example from Ronlin is the growing tension between the two kings. If you guys didn't get involved in it, it was still happening. The thing with a good underplot is that it gives NPCs something to talk about besides plot hooks or dreer lives. Under Plot is best described as 'what's happening where we aren't'. It is something that is heavily influenced by the theme. Talk about warring shoguns, the construction of a new temple complex, or the potential marriage of previous rivals. All good stuff, and it works best as things that aren't potential adventure hooks. Seriously, you throw a war or a uprising and the PCS are going to be all over that.
The Uber Plot is the least important one in world building, but the most important one in campaign building. It is the over all story arc of the campaign. This is the one that is best left until the PCs have made it clear what they do and do not want to do. There's no point in creating a grandiose campaign involving the destinies of dynastic rulers when all the PCs want to do is hunt dragons. The best example of Uber Plot to ever exist is the TV series X-Files. Most of the episodes are stand alone (as should most adventures), but every once in awhile one of the episodes had to do with the Uber Plot of the Aliens and Mulder's sister. The uberplot is basically the planned end of the campaign. I've had the end of the Ronlin campaign in mind since before you joined. We're about half to three quarters there. If you ever wondered why a campaign fizzles out, its down to uber plot. If the uberplot is not engaging enough, a campaign fizzles. The Ronlin campaign is engaging, because the uberplot (that you asshats decided on) of rebuilding a city is engaging. It is slowly undergoing a change, which you might have realized recently, but it is still the same uberplot. Previous uberplots I've had were Dragons controlling Thieve's Guilds, Deamons controlling the clergy of a city (which ended in a time tripping, planar thing).
Showing posts with label Campaign. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Campaign. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Monday, September 26, 2011
Monday Night Mordheim; Campaign Organization
Hello, and welcome to another installment of Monday Night Mordheim. I tend not to think too much about what I am going to post, unless I'm on a roll with something. I tend to look at what is happening around me and then riff off that.
Originally I was going to write an article about multiplayer, or about using Mordheim as a roleplaying substitute. However, after the events of tonight, I want to talk a bit more about the role of Campaign Organization.
I've talked a lot about campaigns here, and it seems that the subject is inexhaustible. So what brought me back to them tonight? Well, Boy Scouts. Those of you who know me, irl, know that my kids and I are involved in the Boy Scouts. Tonight after the Cub Scout meeting, there was a adult leader meeting. At this meeting, we worked on getting the Spaghetti Dinner. Lots of things were discussed, and I ended up getting the plum assignment of data entry of the mailing list to digital. Huzzah, at last the troop is entering the 20th century. Sitting around with the Scout Master, Assistant Scout Master, The Troop Council, and the other members of the adult leaders group, I realized something. It takes a lot of work to get something done right.
Like a Spaghetti Dinner, a good campaign requires a lot of forethought before it can be put into action. I've talked about the pre-campaign set-up, and the types of campaign that someone can run. What I've completly neglected to mention is the stuff that is required once the campaign starts up and gets going. So, yet again, I am going to hit up a bunch of different points, doing so in my favorite way possible; a numbered list.
1. Win-Lose-Draw Record. While each player in a campaign will probably keep this themself, but it pays to have someone keep an official track of it. That way, there is a neutral (or quasi-neutral) party keeping everyone honest.
2. Experience During a Match. Each scenario has ways to get additional experience beyond just the participation award. In most of them it is heroes that get additional experience for taking someone out of action, but in others models (heroes and henchmen) gain additional experience for completing certain tasks. This should all be recorded by another player who is not taking part in the battle that is going on.
3. The end of battle sequenece. This is especially important. I can't count the number of times that someone has lost their warband record sheet, and we had to rebuild from just the notes we had on file. Recording each post battle sequence can help this immensely. Also, it helps if you have some unscrupulous players (and we all know they are out there, but they obviously don't read this blog). Sometimes a surprise audit of the warband record sheet can catch those guys off guard, and keep 'em honest.
4. Game schedules. Depending on the type of game, this can resolve itself fairly easily, or become complex. A map campaign may have a set time for the campaign phase, and then each player schedules matches against opponents at their leisure. That's tough to handle, but it needs to be done.
5. Campaign Recorder. During the campaign, someone needs to keep track of what happens during the campaign. There are times that someone misses a meeting or a match, or doesn't catch what happened. The campaign record or some sort of telling of what happened during the game. This can be very important and very indepth, or it can be very open and vague. If you do something indepth, like battle reports, it can be a great benefit to the game. Especially if people like to use sneaky tricks. You can read up on them and see what worked and what didn't.
6. Space Maintainer. The janitor. Someone needs to clean up after the game is done, and it can be done in many different ways. Everyone splits the chore, last one out cleans up, owner of the space (if someone's house) cleans up, loser cleans house, the guy who didn't chip in for pizza. Something, anything. Leave the place you were in better then when you left it.
7. Liaison. This one is not really that important, unless you play in a FLGS, then it is VERY important. The Liaison should be someone there to help explain the game and promote it and invite more people to play in the game.
Well, that's enough for now. I can't take much more of this. Next week, I think I'll do something interesting.
Oh, and if you happen to be in Pittsburgh on November 12th, I can recommend a great place to get some spaghetti....
Originally I was going to write an article about multiplayer, or about using Mordheim as a roleplaying substitute. However, after the events of tonight, I want to talk a bit more about the role of Campaign Organization.
I've talked a lot about campaigns here, and it seems that the subject is inexhaustible. So what brought me back to them tonight? Well, Boy Scouts. Those of you who know me, irl, know that my kids and I are involved in the Boy Scouts. Tonight after the Cub Scout meeting, there was a adult leader meeting. At this meeting, we worked on getting the Spaghetti Dinner. Lots of things were discussed, and I ended up getting the plum assignment of data entry of the mailing list to digital. Huzzah, at last the troop is entering the 20th century. Sitting around with the Scout Master, Assistant Scout Master, The Troop Council, and the other members of the adult leaders group, I realized something. It takes a lot of work to get something done right.
Like a Spaghetti Dinner, a good campaign requires a lot of forethought before it can be put into action. I've talked about the pre-campaign set-up, and the types of campaign that someone can run. What I've completly neglected to mention is the stuff that is required once the campaign starts up and gets going. So, yet again, I am going to hit up a bunch of different points, doing so in my favorite way possible; a numbered list.
1. Win-Lose-Draw Record. While each player in a campaign will probably keep this themself, but it pays to have someone keep an official track of it. That way, there is a neutral (or quasi-neutral) party keeping everyone honest.
2. Experience During a Match. Each scenario has ways to get additional experience beyond just the participation award. In most of them it is heroes that get additional experience for taking someone out of action, but in others models (heroes and henchmen) gain additional experience for completing certain tasks. This should all be recorded by another player who is not taking part in the battle that is going on.
3. The end of battle sequenece. This is especially important. I can't count the number of times that someone has lost their warband record sheet, and we had to rebuild from just the notes we had on file. Recording each post battle sequence can help this immensely. Also, it helps if you have some unscrupulous players (and we all know they are out there, but they obviously don't read this blog). Sometimes a surprise audit of the warband record sheet can catch those guys off guard, and keep 'em honest.
4. Game schedules. Depending on the type of game, this can resolve itself fairly easily, or become complex. A map campaign may have a set time for the campaign phase, and then each player schedules matches against opponents at their leisure. That's tough to handle, but it needs to be done.
5. Campaign Recorder. During the campaign, someone needs to keep track of what happens during the campaign. There are times that someone misses a meeting or a match, or doesn't catch what happened. The campaign record or some sort of telling of what happened during the game. This can be very important and very indepth, or it can be very open and vague. If you do something indepth, like battle reports, it can be a great benefit to the game. Especially if people like to use sneaky tricks. You can read up on them and see what worked and what didn't.
6. Space Maintainer. The janitor. Someone needs to clean up after the game is done, and it can be done in many different ways. Everyone splits the chore, last one out cleans up, owner of the space (if someone's house) cleans up, loser cleans house, the guy who didn't chip in for pizza. Something, anything. Leave the place you were in better then when you left it.
7. Liaison. This one is not really that important, unless you play in a FLGS, then it is VERY important. The Liaison should be someone there to help explain the game and promote it and invite more people to play in the game.
Well, that's enough for now. I can't take much more of this. Next week, I think I'll do something interesting.
Oh, and if you happen to be in Pittsburgh on November 12th, I can recommend a great place to get some spaghetti....
Friday, September 9, 2011
Off the Beaten Cobblestones- Metagaming, Intent, and Being a Bastard
Well, here it is almost 24 hours until our final match for this round of our campaign. We decided that after this week, we are going back to Castle Ravenloft for awhile, so no more campaign updates. We are going to save our files and whatnot and then pick it back up a later date. Which is the awesome thing about saving the information somewhere, we can always pick up later.
So here's our standings;
If you notice I include the win percentage. That's important for my metagame. I am always thinking about the overall. I know that my fellow players are constantly thinking only about this game. I know when I can comfortably lose, and still remain in the first spot. Strategic.
This week is another Chaos in the Streets, four way match. Its a good way to put a capstone on the campaign so far. There's a lot of not on tabletop action happening behind the scenes. Right now, Jim and Megan had plotted to take out Tom. Fortuitously, I have also joined that alliance. Which is good, because while I have lost to everyone at some time, Tom is the only one that I've lost to twice. Playing Skaven, I have a hard time dealing with ranged foes.
This alliance, for me, is about taking out the foe that I have trouble with. For Jim and Megan, its about killing Tom because he has pissed them off with how he plays the game (ie ineffectively and inattentively). As was noted in previous posts here, that Tom's antics also get on my nerves. So in a way, I'm being a total bastard. Everyone is ganging up on the guy in the worst spot. I'm winning, and I'm planning on continuing that practice, at the expense of the guy who is kinda clueless (about the game).
See, this game means nothing for me. Even if I lose, which is possible, I still win overall with a 58% win record. Let me break it down, if Megan wins, she'll have a 58% record as well. Ok, so a tie, at best. If Jim wins though, he'll have a 50% win record. If Tom wins (doubtful at this point), he'll end up with a 29% win record.
The best possible outcome for me though, is that Jim wins. Actually best for us both. He and Megan would end up with a 50% win record. So while I'll be a unanimous first place, he and Megan would tie for second. If Megan wins, its a tie way tie between her and me for first place, with Jim in third. Not where I want to end up.
Right now, I have not formalized an alliance with Jim, but I'll probably send him an email with a link to this post, thus showing the best possible outcome for him. That being said, it is entirely possible since this is the internet, and I know that Megan does occasionally read my blog, that she might try to get him to come around. That really isn't in his best interest. Let's see, second place or third place?
Here's where my intent comes in. I am going into this battle knowing that I am going to lose. With everyone sitting in a position to try to best me, that's some heavy duty opposition coming down. My job in this battle is to make Megan lose. Thus, assuring my overall victory for this stage of the campaign. I need to have Tom's dwarven crossbow men taken out, which will allow me to concentrate on my real goal. Right now it seems that I have taken care of that.
That could all change though, if Megan reads this and takes it to heart. She might turn on our already forged alliance and form one with Tom. Which to be honest is the Bastard move that I would do. Right now, she is the one with things to lose. First place tie or second place tie. I'm such a bastard, that I am willing to post this and make it public. It will add a bit of doubt to her. I know my plans, and I've probably figured out hers, or even straight up given them to her.
At the end of the day, a win would be nice, even if I split it with Jim. Tom is a thorn in my side that needs to be dealt with. Megan is the one with everything to lose, and Jim is the one with everything to gain. The thing is though, at the end of the day, I'll still be in the front position. It doesn't matter who wins the battle. I still win the war. This huge wall of text is a metagame to end all metagames. If no one reads it, all will go according to plan. If only Megan reads it, well, it might make things a bit difficult. If Jim is the only one to read it, everything comes up roses for me. If Tom reads it (HA!) well, that will be interesting. If they all read it, they will all go into the match not knowing who they can trust. At the end of the day, that suits the Skaven just fine. Divide and conquer.
Well, I for one can't wait until Saturday when this all comes down. Until then I'll be sitting in the catbird seat, grinning like the rat that ate the canary.
So here's our standings;
If you notice I include the win percentage. That's important for my metagame. I am always thinking about the overall. I know that my fellow players are constantly thinking only about this game. I know when I can comfortably lose, and still remain in the first spot. Strategic.
This week is another Chaos in the Streets, four way match. Its a good way to put a capstone on the campaign so far. There's a lot of not on tabletop action happening behind the scenes. Right now, Jim and Megan had plotted to take out Tom. Fortuitously, I have also joined that alliance. Which is good, because while I have lost to everyone at some time, Tom is the only one that I've lost to twice. Playing Skaven, I have a hard time dealing with ranged foes.
This alliance, for me, is about taking out the foe that I have trouble with. For Jim and Megan, its about killing Tom because he has pissed them off with how he plays the game (ie ineffectively and inattentively). As was noted in previous posts here, that Tom's antics also get on my nerves. So in a way, I'm being a total bastard. Everyone is ganging up on the guy in the worst spot. I'm winning, and I'm planning on continuing that practice, at the expense of the guy who is kinda clueless (about the game).
See, this game means nothing for me. Even if I lose, which is possible, I still win overall with a 58% win record. Let me break it down, if Megan wins, she'll have a 58% record as well. Ok, so a tie, at best. If Jim wins though, he'll have a 50% win record. If Tom wins (doubtful at this point), he'll end up with a 29% win record.
The best possible outcome for me though, is that Jim wins. Actually best for us both. He and Megan would end up with a 50% win record. So while I'll be a unanimous first place, he and Megan would tie for second. If Megan wins, its a tie way tie between her and me for first place, with Jim in third. Not where I want to end up.
Right now, I have not formalized an alliance with Jim, but I'll probably send him an email with a link to this post, thus showing the best possible outcome for him. That being said, it is entirely possible since this is the internet, and I know that Megan does occasionally read my blog, that she might try to get him to come around. That really isn't in his best interest. Let's see, second place or third place?
Here's where my intent comes in. I am going into this battle knowing that I am going to lose. With everyone sitting in a position to try to best me, that's some heavy duty opposition coming down. My job in this battle is to make Megan lose. Thus, assuring my overall victory for this stage of the campaign. I need to have Tom's dwarven crossbow men taken out, which will allow me to concentrate on my real goal. Right now it seems that I have taken care of that.
That could all change though, if Megan reads this and takes it to heart. She might turn on our already forged alliance and form one with Tom. Which to be honest is the Bastard move that I would do. Right now, she is the one with things to lose. First place tie or second place tie. I'm such a bastard, that I am willing to post this and make it public. It will add a bit of doubt to her. I know my plans, and I've probably figured out hers, or even straight up given them to her.
At the end of the day, a win would be nice, even if I split it with Jim. Tom is a thorn in my side that needs to be dealt with. Megan is the one with everything to lose, and Jim is the one with everything to gain. The thing is though, at the end of the day, I'll still be in the front position. It doesn't matter who wins the battle. I still win the war. This huge wall of text is a metagame to end all metagames. If no one reads it, all will go according to plan. If only Megan reads it, well, it might make things a bit difficult. If Jim is the only one to read it, everything comes up roses for me. If Tom reads it (HA!) well, that will be interesting. If they all read it, they will all go into the match not knowing who they can trust. At the end of the day, that suits the Skaven just fine. Divide and conquer.
Well, I for one can't wait until Saturday when this all comes down. Until then I'll be sitting in the catbird seat, grinning like the rat that ate the canary.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Monday Night Mordheim; Organizers, Recorders, and Referees, OH MY!
Monday Night Mordheim; Organizers, Recorders, and Referees, Oh My!
Originally, I wanted to do a piece on the nature of a map based campaign, but I'm still gathering my thoughts on that. Can I haz moar Research? So in the mean time, I wanted to talk about the other things that are important for running a campaign. Everything I want to talk about today is what I call the Book Keeping Triumvirate. Get your organizational skills ready, ladies and gentlemen!
If you were to ask me what the most important thing in a successful campaign was, I would say the Organizer. Hands down, no holds barred, primo, numero uno, and other quaint clichés! Coming a close second is book keeping. At a far distant third is referees. Sometimes they are all different people, sometimes they are all the same person, and rarely (but not unheard of) they are different personalities of the same person.
The Organizer: Now, I said the Organizer is the most important. Let me get into the reasons why. The Organizer is the one who determines when and where the matches are taking place, who is playing against who, what rules are to be used, and how the campaign is run. The Organizer is the one who makes the important decisions. You could almost liken the Organizer to the commissioner of a sports league. The Organizer has the least book keeping, and paradoxically, the most important book keeping. Most of the work they have to do is at the start of a campaign, determining all the things that will make a campaign work, but once those things are settled, the rest of the information determines itself. Without a good Organizer to schedule events, a campaign is doomed to failure.
The Recorder: This is probably the second most important job there is. This position may also be the one to cause the most problems, and the one that takes the most explanation. The Recorder is to me the second most important job, but it is also the most likely to be ignored. The Recorder is the person who keeps track of the stuff that isn't the win/lose record or the schedule, but they take care of the other important stuff. They note all of the warbands, they watch the post game sequences to make sure that everyone is rolling correctly, they audit warband rosters to make sure that everything adds up. This is an especially important job with campaigns with more people. The smaller the group of players, the less necessary this job is. With more players, you need to have someone semi-impartial to make sure that everyone is adhering to the rules (RAW or RAI), it is too easy for someone to make a mistake by ignorance or maleficent. The other jobs of the Recorder are also easy to forget, ignore, or even abandon. The Recorder is the one who takes care of the newsletters keeping everyone up to date about the campaign, writes any battle reports for matches, and generally does all the paperwork. Much of this (especially battle reports), are often foisted onto the players in the campaign if there is no designated bookkeeper.
Referee: Ah, this is probably the least likely to be ignored position of all the book keepers. Mainly because it is an easy position to fill. Anyone that isn't playing at the moment can jump over and referee a game, heck, even if a rules question comes up during play you can bug someone else playing a game to make a judgment call. And if you really need someone to make a ruling, you can grab someone who doesn't even play the game to act as an arbitrator! Or, the more rational roll a d6, winner gets their way. Just because it is an easy job, doesn't mean that it isn't important. A referee can keep a game going over stalled rules questions so that things can get back on track.
ORR. Organizer, Recorder, Referee. All can be separate jobs, or all can be the same job. When I play in a campaign, I generally keep all of the jobs myself. Maybe its because I'm a greedy untrustworthy so-and-so, and assume that everyone else is too. Or it could be because I'm the only one that is willing to do it, and the rest of my group are lazy people. Or it was my idea to Play Mordheim, and everyone else is just using my warbands and my terrain. Regardless, I find that each of the different book keeping jobs are important, highly rewarding, and thankless tasks that need to be done for a campaign to work properly. If at least the basics of the book keeping aren't done, a campaign can devolve into chaos, and not the fun kind with mutants and deamons, but the unfun kind with hurt feelings and angry players. One of these days, I'm going to do a really long collated post with all the stuff I've written about Campaigns for easy reference. Many of the thing's that I've said about campaigns doesn't just hold true for Mordheim, it holds true for any game that you want to make a campaign for.
Originally, I wanted to do a piece on the nature of a map based campaign, but I'm still gathering my thoughts on that. Can I haz moar Research? So in the mean time, I wanted to talk about the other things that are important for running a campaign. Everything I want to talk about today is what I call the Book Keeping Triumvirate. Get your organizational skills ready, ladies and gentlemen!
If you were to ask me what the most important thing in a successful campaign was, I would say the Organizer. Hands down, no holds barred, primo, numero uno, and other quaint clichés! Coming a close second is book keeping. At a far distant third is referees. Sometimes they are all different people, sometimes they are all the same person, and rarely (but not unheard of) they are different personalities of the same person.
The Organizer: Now, I said the Organizer is the most important. Let me get into the reasons why. The Organizer is the one who determines when and where the matches are taking place, who is playing against who, what rules are to be used, and how the campaign is run. The Organizer is the one who makes the important decisions. You could almost liken the Organizer to the commissioner of a sports league. The Organizer has the least book keeping, and paradoxically, the most important book keeping. Most of the work they have to do is at the start of a campaign, determining all the things that will make a campaign work, but once those things are settled, the rest of the information determines itself. Without a good Organizer to schedule events, a campaign is doomed to failure.
The Recorder: This is probably the second most important job there is. This position may also be the one to cause the most problems, and the one that takes the most explanation. The Recorder is to me the second most important job, but it is also the most likely to be ignored. The Recorder is the person who keeps track of the stuff that isn't the win/lose record or the schedule, but they take care of the other important stuff. They note all of the warbands, they watch the post game sequences to make sure that everyone is rolling correctly, they audit warband rosters to make sure that everything adds up. This is an especially important job with campaigns with more people. The smaller the group of players, the less necessary this job is. With more players, you need to have someone semi-impartial to make sure that everyone is adhering to the rules (RAW or RAI), it is too easy for someone to make a mistake by ignorance or maleficent. The other jobs of the Recorder are also easy to forget, ignore, or even abandon. The Recorder is the one who takes care of the newsletters keeping everyone up to date about the campaign, writes any battle reports for matches, and generally does all the paperwork. Much of this (especially battle reports), are often foisted onto the players in the campaign if there is no designated bookkeeper.
Referee: Ah, this is probably the least likely to be ignored position of all the book keepers. Mainly because it is an easy position to fill. Anyone that isn't playing at the moment can jump over and referee a game, heck, even if a rules question comes up during play you can bug someone else playing a game to make a judgment call. And if you really need someone to make a ruling, you can grab someone who doesn't even play the game to act as an arbitrator! Or, the more rational roll a d6, winner gets their way. Just because it is an easy job, doesn't mean that it isn't important. A referee can keep a game going over stalled rules questions so that things can get back on track.
ORR. Organizer, Recorder, Referee. All can be separate jobs, or all can be the same job. When I play in a campaign, I generally keep all of the jobs myself. Maybe its because I'm a greedy untrustworthy so-and-so, and assume that everyone else is too. Or it could be because I'm the only one that is willing to do it, and the rest of my group are lazy people. Or it was my idea to Play Mordheim, and everyone else is just using my warbands and my terrain. Regardless, I find that each of the different book keeping jobs are important, highly rewarding, and thankless tasks that need to be done for a campaign to work properly. If at least the basics of the book keeping aren't done, a campaign can devolve into chaos, and not the fun kind with mutants and deamons, but the unfun kind with hurt feelings and angry players. One of these days, I'm going to do a really long collated post with all the stuff I've written about Campaigns for easy reference. Many of the thing's that I've said about campaigns doesn't just hold true for Mordheim, it holds true for any game that you want to make a campaign for.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Monday Night Mordheim; Campaign with Style
Monday Night Mordheim: Campaign...With Style...
Sorry about the delay, I was unfortunately caught up in real world work stuff. I guess that's the real nature of the world, fun stuff always seems to get pushed back.
On with the show! I've been thinking about the various types of campaigns that I've been involved in over the years that I've been playing Mordheim. Some are structured, some are not. All of them have their benefits and their drawbacks. What I want to do is talk about each type of campaign. The good thing is that quite a few of these are good for more campaigns then just Mordheim. If you wanted to run a campaign using say 40K or Maulifaux, then you would not have any trouble doing so with a quick adaption.
Campaign Style 1: Chaos
A chaotic campaign is the simplest of all the campaigns to run. Basically it means having a set time to play, and who ever isn't already playing another player, gets together and plays.
Benefits: Loose, doesn't require a lot of dedication. Zero book keeping.
Drawback: There is a chance that people play each other over and over again, and different warbands can quickly become lopsided.
Campaign Style 2: Tournament Brackets
A tournament bracket campaign is possibly what most people think of when I say campaign. It is the standard double-elimination type of bracket.
Benefits: Structured schedule of matches. Definitive winners and losers. Minimal book keeping.
Drawback: After the second round, you lose a lot of players, and each round after that you continue to lose more- which can be frustrating for people playing late bloomer warbands (like Dwarfs or Possessed).
Campaign Style 3: Round Robin
I personally Round Robin is my favorite for a number of reasons, which I've outlined previously. Round Robin everyone plays everyone.
Benefits: Set schedule of matches. Potential to go forever, allowing even late bloomer warbands to eventually flourish. Everyone plays everyone. Standard book keeping.
Drawbacks: Only works for a dedicated core of players, lossing players can have detrimental effects on a campaign.
Campaign Style 4: Map Based Campaign.
If you didn't think of the either of the tournament styles, you probably thought of the map based campaign. I think that many other games do better with maps then Mordheim, but don't sell it short.
Benefits: This campaign lends itself to narrative scenarios much better then any others. Easy to drop players in and out of the campaign.
Drawbacks: Potential quagmires where the same few players end up playing each other over and over again. High amount of book keeping. Potentially huge mismatch of Warband Ratings can happen if not carefully refereed.
Campaign Style 5: Sports Style
This is a potentially different campaign, which I rather like. I haven't run one myself, and I've mainly seen it with Blood Bowl, but I am willing to say that it would work well for Mordheim as well. The best way to describe it is like a sports season, where there is an initial 'season' where there are scheduled matches and no one gets eliminated, and then it goes to the 'playoffs', in which the top few warbands go through a single elimination tournament to find a final winner.
Benefits: Everyone gets to play everyone, set schedules, set end with final winner.
Drawbacks: Set end. Much book keeping.
Those are what I consider the main styles of campaigns that can be run. There are probably more, and variations of those I've mentioned are probably too numerous to even mention. While I'm done talking about the particular styles of campaigns for now, I think that I'll be talking about the different ways of running campaigns in the future. I think that most of them can be covered in a single post, but I think the map campaign deserves its own special listing.
Sorry about the delay, I was unfortunately caught up in real world work stuff. I guess that's the real nature of the world, fun stuff always seems to get pushed back.
On with the show! I've been thinking about the various types of campaigns that I've been involved in over the years that I've been playing Mordheim. Some are structured, some are not. All of them have their benefits and their drawbacks. What I want to do is talk about each type of campaign. The good thing is that quite a few of these are good for more campaigns then just Mordheim. If you wanted to run a campaign using say 40K or Maulifaux, then you would not have any trouble doing so with a quick adaption.
Campaign Style 1: Chaos
A chaotic campaign is the simplest of all the campaigns to run. Basically it means having a set time to play, and who ever isn't already playing another player, gets together and plays.
Benefits: Loose, doesn't require a lot of dedication. Zero book keeping.
Drawback: There is a chance that people play each other over and over again, and different warbands can quickly become lopsided.
Campaign Style 2: Tournament Brackets
A tournament bracket campaign is possibly what most people think of when I say campaign. It is the standard double-elimination type of bracket.
Benefits: Structured schedule of matches. Definitive winners and losers. Minimal book keeping.
Drawback: After the second round, you lose a lot of players, and each round after that you continue to lose more- which can be frustrating for people playing late bloomer warbands (like Dwarfs or Possessed).
Campaign Style 3: Round Robin
I personally Round Robin is my favorite for a number of reasons, which I've outlined previously. Round Robin everyone plays everyone.
Benefits: Set schedule of matches. Potential to go forever, allowing even late bloomer warbands to eventually flourish. Everyone plays everyone. Standard book keeping.
Drawbacks: Only works for a dedicated core of players, lossing players can have detrimental effects on a campaign.
Campaign Style 4: Map Based Campaign.
If you didn't think of the either of the tournament styles, you probably thought of the map based campaign. I think that many other games do better with maps then Mordheim, but don't sell it short.
Benefits: This campaign lends itself to narrative scenarios much better then any others. Easy to drop players in and out of the campaign.
Drawbacks: Potential quagmires where the same few players end up playing each other over and over again. High amount of book keeping. Potentially huge mismatch of Warband Ratings can happen if not carefully refereed.
Campaign Style 5: Sports Style
This is a potentially different campaign, which I rather like. I haven't run one myself, and I've mainly seen it with Blood Bowl, but I am willing to say that it would work well for Mordheim as well. The best way to describe it is like a sports season, where there is an initial 'season' where there are scheduled matches and no one gets eliminated, and then it goes to the 'playoffs', in which the top few warbands go through a single elimination tournament to find a final winner.
Benefits: Everyone gets to play everyone, set schedules, set end with final winner.
Drawbacks: Set end. Much book keeping.
Those are what I consider the main styles of campaigns that can be run. There are probably more, and variations of those I've mentioned are probably too numerous to even mention. While I'm done talking about the particular styles of campaigns for now, I think that I'll be talking about the different ways of running campaigns in the future. I think that most of them can be covered in a single post, but I think the map campaign deserves its own special listing.
Saturday, July 9, 2011
Missing Matches
Well, two weeks in a row, and it looks like it will be three weeks next week that I miss my normal Mordheim game. See, I have a unique position, on Saturday the boss is out of the building, and we are just waiting for calls to come in. So we play. Usually its D&D, but right now, I've convinced some of my players to give Mordheim a try.
It works out well, except for two things. If work gets busy, that's it, no Mordheim. Gotta put food on the table and paint in the pots. Second, if someone is sick, they call off and we have to scramble to figure out what's going on.
Two weeks due to busy. Next week I have to pick up the Elder Children from Boy Scout Camp. So three weeks without Mordheim.
Which brings me to the topic on my mind. How to deal with missing matches. It is a common problem with Mordheim that doesn't necessarily come up in other games. Since Mordheim is a campaign based game, those missing games cost dearly.
There's a few problems that need to be thought about in the grand scheme of things when talking about handling a missing game or match.
Single Person Missing;
Now, from what I've been able to tell, there's really two ways to handle it.
The first is just like in Little League, the team that doesn't show up forfeits. The winner gets to roll on his exploration phase as normal, but the loser doesn't. This can be a huge advantage, since the person who gets to do the exploration phase gets all the benefits of winning, but without the potential causalities. This can cause a moderate warband, or one with cheap troops (ie Giant Rats, Zombies, etc) to expand exponentially (or is it geometrically, I get them confused). This sometime isn't a bad thing, necessarily. If the one who misses a game has a very high warband rating, and the other has a very low one, then a missing game can be a great equalizer. However, I suggest using this method sparingly, if at all. It can be done, and over the course of a campaign, it will probably happen to everyone at least once.
The other way is to re-arrange the schedule of matches. This one is often the best of the options, but sometimes harder to pull off. It takes a well defined schedule to being with, and a group that doesn't mind changing what is happening. As long as you don't let it happen too frequently it should be fine as long as everyone stays at roughly the same amount of games. In our campaign, the first week, Megan was unavailable (I think she had a longer night then expected), so we re-arranged all the matches so that she wouldn't have to play that week. However, the next week, she had to face the rest of us. Each one of us had played at least two games, and were pretty pumped up from it, but she was on the short end of the stick for the first two games. Fortuitously, Megan's Orcs & Goblins warband was up to the task and she handled herself well in all of them. However, that was just luck.
Missing An Entire Session:
My this shouldn't happen, but it does. Work gets in the way, the kids get sick, and Bill's dog bit the mailman. Sometimes you don't have enough players or time to make it worth playing. There's a real problem. The good thing is that it doesn't upset the schedule of games, or create monster warband ratings. However, missing a whole night of gaming can cause problems.
The main problem is that one missed session can lead to a second, and then well, you've already missed two, so what's a third? That's when gaming inertia sets in. Its easier to keep going if you are going, but once stopped, its hard to get going again. The main problem with gaming inertia is that it can end a campaign faster then anything else. Once gamer inertia sets in, then the often dreaded gamer ADD picks up and people want to move onto another game.
There is a solution, by no means is it an easy one. The main thing is to make them keep thinking about the game, maybe you can show them this neat blog you found dedicated to Mordheim. You have to keep the interest alive. Keep telling people about what is happening in your campaign. Let them know that you are still figuring out how you can whup their Reiklanders, or marvel at how bloody the last fight between the Possessed and the Witch Hunters was. However, just keeping their mind on the game is more then just the obvious like the above. Sometimes its more subtle. Like showing off the beautifully painted minis that you happened to have time to do, or showing them a neat little rule that can help them in their next match (much like I showed the Dwarf player that starting in the upper floor of buildings protected his thunderers against the Undead Zombies!).
So lets say you beat the dreaded gamer inertia. Then you face the other problem. People forget what is going on. This really shouldn't be an issue, but unsurprisingly it is. The main thing you need to do is keep everyone on the same page. That can be as easy as starting a blog/forum post/email list, just to keep the tallies of who beat who. It can also be as indepth as doing your own mini Town Cryer. What you want to do is keep the information spreading. Even check in with a phone call before the game to make sure that the other person is well aware of what is going on.
The last problem is sometimes getting people to come back. Even if you avoid the gaming inertia, and you keep people up to date, they might not feel like coming back. The great thing is that this is the simplest solution. Food and drink. This works especially well if you've missed a few sessions. Pizza and beer for the night brings most gamers running. If you are a bit cheaper, or a bit more chefy, a spaghetti night can be a great way to welcome back the club. Its cheap and easy, and it looks like a real meal! An hour or so to eat and enjoy each other's company and then you'll be ready to vivisect each other in no time flat!
Well, I think that I've run my mouth off enough for now. I think that I'm starting to repeat myself and my ideas. I just realized that I brought up a lot of jargon that might only apply to me, and how I structure campaigns. So I think that maybe Monday I'll do a post on that sort of thing. Tomorrow, I'll be busy, so I probably won't be posting new stuff, probably just something from the the archives. Needless to say, I've been posting at least one thing a day here, and sometimes more, but right now everything is new. Chances are that it will slow down fairly soon, right now I just want to get everything set up and ticking over before I suffer from my own gaming ADD.
It works out well, except for two things. If work gets busy, that's it, no Mordheim. Gotta put food on the table and paint in the pots. Second, if someone is sick, they call off and we have to scramble to figure out what's going on.
Two weeks due to busy. Next week I have to pick up the Elder Children from Boy Scout Camp. So three weeks without Mordheim.
Which brings me to the topic on my mind. How to deal with missing matches. It is a common problem with Mordheim that doesn't necessarily come up in other games. Since Mordheim is a campaign based game, those missing games cost dearly.
There's a few problems that need to be thought about in the grand scheme of things when talking about handling a missing game or match.
Single Person Missing;
Now, from what I've been able to tell, there's really two ways to handle it.
The first is just like in Little League, the team that doesn't show up forfeits. The winner gets to roll on his exploration phase as normal, but the loser doesn't. This can be a huge advantage, since the person who gets to do the exploration phase gets all the benefits of winning, but without the potential causalities. This can cause a moderate warband, or one with cheap troops (ie Giant Rats, Zombies, etc) to expand exponentially (or is it geometrically, I get them confused). This sometime isn't a bad thing, necessarily. If the one who misses a game has a very high warband rating, and the other has a very low one, then a missing game can be a great equalizer. However, I suggest using this method sparingly, if at all. It can be done, and over the course of a campaign, it will probably happen to everyone at least once.
The other way is to re-arrange the schedule of matches. This one is often the best of the options, but sometimes harder to pull off. It takes a well defined schedule to being with, and a group that doesn't mind changing what is happening. As long as you don't let it happen too frequently it should be fine as long as everyone stays at roughly the same amount of games. In our campaign, the first week, Megan was unavailable (I think she had a longer night then expected), so we re-arranged all the matches so that she wouldn't have to play that week. However, the next week, she had to face the rest of us. Each one of us had played at least two games, and were pretty pumped up from it, but she was on the short end of the stick for the first two games. Fortuitously, Megan's Orcs & Goblins warband was up to the task and she handled herself well in all of them. However, that was just luck.
Missing An Entire Session:
My this shouldn't happen, but it does. Work gets in the way, the kids get sick, and Bill's dog bit the mailman. Sometimes you don't have enough players or time to make it worth playing. There's a real problem. The good thing is that it doesn't upset the schedule of games, or create monster warband ratings. However, missing a whole night of gaming can cause problems.
The main problem is that one missed session can lead to a second, and then well, you've already missed two, so what's a third? That's when gaming inertia sets in. Its easier to keep going if you are going, but once stopped, its hard to get going again. The main problem with gaming inertia is that it can end a campaign faster then anything else. Once gamer inertia sets in, then the often dreaded gamer ADD picks up and people want to move onto another game.
There is a solution, by no means is it an easy one. The main thing is to make them keep thinking about the game, maybe you can show them this neat blog you found dedicated to Mordheim. You have to keep the interest alive. Keep telling people about what is happening in your campaign. Let them know that you are still figuring out how you can whup their Reiklanders, or marvel at how bloody the last fight between the Possessed and the Witch Hunters was. However, just keeping their mind on the game is more then just the obvious like the above. Sometimes its more subtle. Like showing off the beautifully painted minis that you happened to have time to do, or showing them a neat little rule that can help them in their next match (much like I showed the Dwarf player that starting in the upper floor of buildings protected his thunderers against the Undead Zombies!).
So lets say you beat the dreaded gamer inertia. Then you face the other problem. People forget what is going on. This really shouldn't be an issue, but unsurprisingly it is. The main thing you need to do is keep everyone on the same page. That can be as easy as starting a blog/forum post/email list, just to keep the tallies of who beat who. It can also be as indepth as doing your own mini Town Cryer. What you want to do is keep the information spreading. Even check in with a phone call before the game to make sure that the other person is well aware of what is going on.
The last problem is sometimes getting people to come back. Even if you avoid the gaming inertia, and you keep people up to date, they might not feel like coming back. The great thing is that this is the simplest solution. Food and drink. This works especially well if you've missed a few sessions. Pizza and beer for the night brings most gamers running. If you are a bit cheaper, or a bit more chefy, a spaghetti night can be a great way to welcome back the club. Its cheap and easy, and it looks like a real meal! An hour or so to eat and enjoy each other's company and then you'll be ready to vivisect each other in no time flat!
Well, I think that I've run my mouth off enough for now. I think that I'm starting to repeat myself and my ideas. I just realized that I brought up a lot of jargon that might only apply to me, and how I structure campaigns. So I think that maybe Monday I'll do a post on that sort of thing. Tomorrow, I'll be busy, so I probably won't be posting new stuff, probably just something from the the archives. Needless to say, I've been posting at least one thing a day here, and sometimes more, but right now everything is new. Chances are that it will slow down fairly soon, right now I just want to get everything set up and ticking over before I suffer from my own gaming ADD.
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday Night Mordheim: Tuesday Night Special
Monday Night Mordheim: Tuesday Special
Well, if you are observant, then you are probably realizing that this isn't Monday, its Tuesday. You probably realized that it was the Fourth of July, Independance Day, a major holiday here in the US. Had a lot to do, parade in the morning, picnic at my sister-in-laws for lunch, and then over to my wife's aunts where we could have a big BBQ dinner and watch fire works off the back porch. Needless to say, I didn't have time to do a piece of Mordheim tacitca.
I wasn't just telling you that to make you jealous of how great my holiday was, there was a point. Mordheim is a campaign game, which means you have to play a series of games over time for it to go from an okay game to an amazing one. Today, I'm going to talk about the campaign side of things. I thought about this for two reasons, because I didn't get to post a tactica yesterday, and the fact that my normal weekly game didn't happen. So this is an excellent time to talk about it.
Most of you should be familiar with the term campaign, its one that us wargamers appropriated from the real military. In short a campaign is a series of connected battles. Which is exactly what Mordheim is, each battle represents your warband in another skirmish against different foes, but it is the same group. There are some significant differences from playing a campaign and playing a short one off battle. For one thing, your tactics have to change and evolve as your and your opponents warbands change. For the other, a campaign requires a bit more logistics and thought then just walking into your FLGS throwing down your warband and taking on all comers.
The logistics are what really keep the game going, and without proper logistics, your campaign isn't going to continue. The first part of it follows the standard journalism questions, of who, what, when, where, and how. So lets break them down a bit.
Who do you get to play? This seems like a really easy question, most of us have friends, or a constant game club to play with. However, there is a bit more then that to it, especially if you have no friends. One of the key considerations for who you want to play are not the same as who you want to play in a one off game of 40K or WHFB. The people you want to get to play are people who are ready to play the same thing over a long period of time. So many players you may otherwise enjoy playing with may not be able to participate due to the time that is required. The main thing you should do when inviting someone to play a campaign is make sure that they are aware of how much time it will take to play out the campaign. While it might not seem like a big deal now that they spend the entire month of August in a cloistered monastic retreat communing with the cosmos, when July 30th comes around it becomes a much more important thing.
What do you play? Mordheim, duh! Well, yes, but to a point. There is a lot more considerations to ponder then that. While Mordheim is in and of itself a self contained game, there are a lot of extras out there that you might want to consider. Most of them have to do with the different rules out there floating around on the internet. First and foremost, is what do you want to allow? Do you use just the main book, or do you expand it to all of the information currently available on GW's Mordheim website? Do you allow Dramatis Personae, or just hired swords? Do you allow the experimental warbands or unofficial warbands that can be found out there? These are just a few of the questions that need to be answered before you can start your campaign.
When do you play? I think this is the most important of all the questions. There are really two parts to this question. First is the actual time to play, and I've found it best if you use a consistent day of the week and time. That way everyone can plan around the campaign, instead of trying to campaign around plans. Our group, we play Saturdays from 8:45 am to 5pm. The second part is almost as important, which is how long the campaign is going to last. I love to play Mordheim in the summer. For me, that's the best. I like to start right after the kids get out of school and go until school starts back up. That's me, a good 11 weeks, and at 2 games a session, its 22 games which is just perfect if you ask me. You might want to go differently, and that's fine, but the key thing is that you have to have a definitive start and end date for the campaign. Playing forever is nice, but like all things, you will get tired of it and you might want to go to another warband.
Where do you play? Ah, this is a tricky one, and almost as important as the ones above. It's great if you have someone's house to play, because you don't have to worry about anything. However, most of us aren't lucky enough to have a game room, so you might end up playing at your FLGS. This is not a bad thing, but you may have to contend with 40K Tournaments, Magic Drafts, tables being taken by Flames of War, or that creepy guy with the beard (oh, wait, that's me). So if you intend on running a campaign at your FLGS you may want to speak to the manager/owner to see if you can reserve tables or make sure that you aren't running into tournaments or the Harry Potter Re-enactment Society's annual Muggle Awards. My group, we play on an improvised table at work, but for some of you that probably isn't an option.
How do you play? With dice, models, and tape measures! Of course, but it is a bit more then that. This is the really labor intensive part for someone that wants to run a campaign. Besides taking care of everything that appears above, it also determines how the campaign is to run. There are several hard decisions to make in this phase. Part of it is to gather the decisions of the above and put them out to your players so that everyone is on the same page with the other stuff. Another important bit is to determine how the campaign is going to be run, is it a round robin where everyone faces everyone else, rinse and repeat? Or is it going to be a map based campaign and who goes to what area determining what games are being played? Or is it going to be the most labor intensive where warbands of the same rating are matched up each round? Besides just the way that the campaign is run, you also have to determine what will happen if someone can't play a game? Do they forfeit, and their opponent gets a free win? Do you re-arrange the game schedule to accommodate them? Or do you move the game time so that everyone gets to play? The last decision is either the easiest or the hardest, depending on your game group, how do you handle rules disputes? That is something that should be set in stone before the campaign ever starts. It will save you alot of headache later!
So let me show you how my group handled this:
Mordheim Campaign!
When: Saturday 8:45 am-5pm Saturdays from now, until we return to Ravenloft in September.
Where: At Work
Important Stuff: Only rules from the main book, Best of Town Cryer, and Empire in Flames are allowed. This will be a round robin campaign, with everyone facing everyone and a big Chaos on the Streets match at the end of each round. If someone is missing we will re-arrange the matches of that round. Rules Disputes will be handled with fisticuffs until the boss yells at us.
Matches Taking Place per round:
1-2: Jim vs. Tom
3-4: LAZ vs. Megan
2-3: Tom vs. LAZ
4-1: Jim vs. Megan
3-1: LAZ vs. Jim
2-4: Tom vs. Megan
Chaos On the Streets
If you notice, I did leave out a few things, like who was going to play. That's because our game group has been pretty stable for quite awhile now, with the same people. So I didn't need to think about that. However, these are just the basics of the things you need to think about before starting a Mordheim campaign, and possibly at a later time, I'll come back to something that I touched on here later.
Well, if you are observant, then you are probably realizing that this isn't Monday, its Tuesday. You probably realized that it was the Fourth of July, Independance Day, a major holiday here in the US. Had a lot to do, parade in the morning, picnic at my sister-in-laws for lunch, and then over to my wife's aunts where we could have a big BBQ dinner and watch fire works off the back porch. Needless to say, I didn't have time to do a piece of Mordheim tacitca.
I wasn't just telling you that to make you jealous of how great my holiday was, there was a point. Mordheim is a campaign game, which means you have to play a series of games over time for it to go from an okay game to an amazing one. Today, I'm going to talk about the campaign side of things. I thought about this for two reasons, because I didn't get to post a tactica yesterday, and the fact that my normal weekly game didn't happen. So this is an excellent time to talk about it.
Most of you should be familiar with the term campaign, its one that us wargamers appropriated from the real military. In short a campaign is a series of connected battles. Which is exactly what Mordheim is, each battle represents your warband in another skirmish against different foes, but it is the same group. There are some significant differences from playing a campaign and playing a short one off battle. For one thing, your tactics have to change and evolve as your and your opponents warbands change. For the other, a campaign requires a bit more logistics and thought then just walking into your FLGS throwing down your warband and taking on all comers.
The logistics are what really keep the game going, and without proper logistics, your campaign isn't going to continue. The first part of it follows the standard journalism questions, of who, what, when, where, and how. So lets break them down a bit.
Who do you get to play? This seems like a really easy question, most of us have friends, or a constant game club to play with. However, there is a bit more then that to it, especially if you have no friends. One of the key considerations for who you want to play are not the same as who you want to play in a one off game of 40K or WHFB. The people you want to get to play are people who are ready to play the same thing over a long period of time. So many players you may otherwise enjoy playing with may not be able to participate due to the time that is required. The main thing you should do when inviting someone to play a campaign is make sure that they are aware of how much time it will take to play out the campaign. While it might not seem like a big deal now that they spend the entire month of August in a cloistered monastic retreat communing with the cosmos, when July 30th comes around it becomes a much more important thing.
What do you play? Mordheim, duh! Well, yes, but to a point. There is a lot more considerations to ponder then that. While Mordheim is in and of itself a self contained game, there are a lot of extras out there that you might want to consider. Most of them have to do with the different rules out there floating around on the internet. First and foremost, is what do you want to allow? Do you use just the main book, or do you expand it to all of the information currently available on GW's Mordheim website? Do you allow Dramatis Personae, or just hired swords? Do you allow the experimental warbands or unofficial warbands that can be found out there? These are just a few of the questions that need to be answered before you can start your campaign.
When do you play? I think this is the most important of all the questions. There are really two parts to this question. First is the actual time to play, and I've found it best if you use a consistent day of the week and time. That way everyone can plan around the campaign, instead of trying to campaign around plans. Our group, we play Saturdays from 8:45 am to 5pm. The second part is almost as important, which is how long the campaign is going to last. I love to play Mordheim in the summer. For me, that's the best. I like to start right after the kids get out of school and go until school starts back up. That's me, a good 11 weeks, and at 2 games a session, its 22 games which is just perfect if you ask me. You might want to go differently, and that's fine, but the key thing is that you have to have a definitive start and end date for the campaign. Playing forever is nice, but like all things, you will get tired of it and you might want to go to another warband.
Where do you play? Ah, this is a tricky one, and almost as important as the ones above. It's great if you have someone's house to play, because you don't have to worry about anything. However, most of us aren't lucky enough to have a game room, so you might end up playing at your FLGS. This is not a bad thing, but you may have to contend with 40K Tournaments, Magic Drafts, tables being taken by Flames of War, or that creepy guy with the beard (oh, wait, that's me). So if you intend on running a campaign at your FLGS you may want to speak to the manager/owner to see if you can reserve tables or make sure that you aren't running into tournaments or the Harry Potter Re-enactment Society's annual Muggle Awards. My group, we play on an improvised table at work, but for some of you that probably isn't an option.
How do you play? With dice, models, and tape measures! Of course, but it is a bit more then that. This is the really labor intensive part for someone that wants to run a campaign. Besides taking care of everything that appears above, it also determines how the campaign is to run. There are several hard decisions to make in this phase. Part of it is to gather the decisions of the above and put them out to your players so that everyone is on the same page with the other stuff. Another important bit is to determine how the campaign is going to be run, is it a round robin where everyone faces everyone else, rinse and repeat? Or is it going to be a map based campaign and who goes to what area determining what games are being played? Or is it going to be the most labor intensive where warbands of the same rating are matched up each round? Besides just the way that the campaign is run, you also have to determine what will happen if someone can't play a game? Do they forfeit, and their opponent gets a free win? Do you re-arrange the game schedule to accommodate them? Or do you move the game time so that everyone gets to play? The last decision is either the easiest or the hardest, depending on your game group, how do you handle rules disputes? That is something that should be set in stone before the campaign ever starts. It will save you alot of headache later!
So let me show you how my group handled this:
Mordheim Campaign!
When: Saturday 8:45 am-5pm Saturdays from now, until we return to Ravenloft in September.
Where: At Work
Important Stuff: Only rules from the main book, Best of Town Cryer, and Empire in Flames are allowed. This will be a round robin campaign, with everyone facing everyone and a big Chaos on the Streets match at the end of each round. If someone is missing we will re-arrange the matches of that round. Rules Disputes will be handled with fisticuffs until the boss yells at us.
Matches Taking Place per round:
1-2: Jim vs. Tom
3-4: LAZ vs. Megan
2-3: Tom vs. LAZ
4-1: Jim vs. Megan
3-1: LAZ vs. Jim
2-4: Tom vs. Megan
Chaos On the Streets
If you notice, I did leave out a few things, like who was going to play. That's because our game group has been pretty stable for quite awhile now, with the same people. So I didn't need to think about that. However, these are just the basics of the things you need to think about before starting a Mordheim campaign, and possibly at a later time, I'll come back to something that I touched on here later.
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