We tend I think to classify or categorise campaigns into genres (fantasy, SF, horror) or sub-genres (high fantasy, sword and sandal); or into particular 'types' (hexcrawl, megadungeon, etc.). In a recent post, I suggested that there are a lot of 'types' of campaign that have not really been systematised in the same way that the OSR has managed over a course of decades to really finesse the matter of how to design and run a megadungeon-based, and to a lesser extent a hexcrawl-based, fantasy (more specifically, sword and sorcery) campaign.
It was suggested to me in the comments on that post that a better way of thinking about things is that there is out there a fairly limited number of campaign styles that might be said to function at a higher, transcendent level of abstraction and which each have a set of key principles that it would be worth elucidating. For example, the fantasy megadungeon campaign might be said to come under the umbrella of a larger campaign style that we could, putatively, call 'anchored raiding and looting'; the fantasy hexcrawl, on the other hand, might fall under 'roaming'. The advantage of thinking about campaign modes, as I will call them, in this way is that it allows us to come up with some principles for each which are transferrable between different genres or scenarios that fall under the larger mode.
Some suggestions for modes, and the principles governing them, would be:
- Anchored raiding and looting: a mode of campaign in which the PCs are self-directing rogues whose main aim is to amass wealth through plunder, and where the action circulates around an 'anchor' location. Key principles: biased sandbox (i.e. open-ended but with the assumption that a particular location is the focus initially); advancement chiefly through treasure accumulation; assumed high character fatality rate. Key tools: wandering monster tables; methods of stocking; location design principles; etc.
- Roaming raiding and looting: a mode of campaign in which the PCs are self-directing adventurers whose main aim is to amass wealth through plunder, and the where the action is in an 'open world'. Key principles: genuine sandbox (open-ended wiith no anchoring location); advancement chiefly through treasure accumulation; assumed high character fatality rate. Key tools: random encounter tables; wilderness survival rules; travel rules; etc.
- Merchanting: a mode of campaign in which the PCs are self-directing adventurers whose main aim is to amass wealth through trade, and where the action is in an open-world with a pre-defined or discoverable set of resources, trade-routes, and arbitrage opportunities. Key principles: genuine sandbox but with assumed relationships between geographical locations; advancement chiefly through profit; assumed low character fatality rate. Key tools: ways to calculate fluctuating prices for resources; rules for travel; ways for generating competitors; etc.
- Investigative: a mode of campaign in which the PCs are solve mysteries or unearth knowledge. Key principles: confined sandbox (in a well-defined geographical location or set of geographical locations); advancement chiefly through solving/unearthing; assumed low character fatality rate. Key tools: relationship mapping; ways to generate clues; etc.
- Exploration: a mode of campaign in which the PCs discover hitherto unknown (to them or to the world at large) places. Key principles: open sandbox; advancement chiefly through visiting new places; assumed low character fatality rate. Key tools: wilderness survival rules; detailed and exciting rules for climbing, swimming, etc.; random encounter tables; random map contents; etc.
I like form, mode, and genre (in that order before looping genre back to form) as ways to conceptualize a game, campaign, and session. For example, many Mothership sessions and campaigns are probably: episodic/small party + merchant + "truckers in space," with the genre transitioning into horror/survival to capture the tension between the mundane and dreadful. Similarly, a "saltbox" campaign would probably be defined by the mode (i.e., are they adventurers/explorers, pirates, or merchants/couriers)? Form, mode, and genre seem to capture much of a campaign's essence, and I like that there is potential fluidity between them as well as opportunities to emphasize some parts over the others. Curious what is left out of that way of seeing it.
ReplyDeleteSo, I get mode and genre, but how are you defining 'form'?
DeleteSorry for the lack of clarity - I was thinking in terms of form/format/system for the game. For example a west marches-style game or a specific system (say, rules light) might have impact alongside mode and genre.
DeleteYou missed an important one, the stronghold based adventure where the PCs are meant to lead a domain. This was meant to be the endgame of the other nodes, so it has a historic place, but it hasn't been fully explored. I suppose there's always ACKS.
ReplyDeleteThe Heretic
Yes, true - there are lots I will have missed. I should have said this is just an illustrative list.
DeleteI don't generally run Fantasy but I'd have to say many of the game's I do run fall into both the Exploration and Investigation Modes.
ReplyDeleteWhen I do run Fantasy of the D&D-esque type, it's more, 'The PCs are heroes traveling from location to location - but with a home base to return to - where they respond to requests for help or aid locals in solving a problem; defeating bandits, fighting off a monster, saving people from a flood or earthquake, etc.'
Wealth is unimportant for the most part. Experience is gained from solving issues, interacting with other PCs and NPCs, and being smart or clever.
Does that work in this model?
What you're talking about is what I would call perhaps the 'heroic' mode. That's one among many I didn't mention in the post!
Delete"The idea here is that the key principles and tools are then elaborated and systematised in such a way as to be readily utilised."
ReplyDeleteFollowing this line, what are the highest, most abstract tools that are key to all modes? That's a place to start systematically thinking about how to elaborate them for each campaign mode and then type. For example it goes without saying they all need some sort of basic gameplay loop, so if we're trying to make a taxonomy that would be one entry at the "top" level. [1]
I would say they also need a map. It could be just a flowchart (and a dungeon map is really just a special kind of flowchart), but if there isn't SOME sort of chart showing the relationship between important elements in an adventure you aren't firing on all cylinders. [2]
A means of advancement. All games have some victory condition or other goal or form of advancement, open-ended or not. [3]
Stats, i.e. whatever method of meaningfully distinguishing the different qualities of the basic units of gameplay, like PCs or NPCs or ships or sealing-wax. Not necessarily numerical, things like NPC personality traits would also qualify. [4]
Generative tools are probably not essential in the strictest sense, but since we aren't immortal geniuses let's include them too. [5]
Sticking numbers on the above and applying them to your "anchored raiding and looting" mode, I see them refining into [1] the call-and-response exploration and combat loops (really more of a figure eight so my hastily conceived taxonomy is leaking already); [2] the dungeon and/or terrain maps; [3] the XP & treasure advancement system; [4] the traditional D&D-type statistics for monsters, characters, items, etc, as well as their descriptions, faction associations and so on; [5] wandering monster tables and stocking methods.
I think that covers everything, although some of those categories are obviously doing heavier lifting than others. Some parts of these depend on the rules system you use and the rest have been thoroughly conceptually explored. So the next step would be to take these categories (or preferably another, better, more thought-out set) and apply them to each mode in turn and examine what needs to be changed to make them fit that mode. The "roaming raiding and looting" mode's map requirements seem to have come to a reasonably settled consensus by now, but one of its core gameplay loops, wilderness exploration, is still pretty filmy. If you can come up with a satisfactory answer to every category then you have a basic set of operating principles for that game mode even if you haven't worked out all the kinks.
This is an interesting comment, and deserves a lot more thought than I can give it at the moment - I like this as a way of unifying all genres, styles and modes under one umbrella, although there are I am sure people who would criticise and/or whine about your choices. Very thought-provoking though.
DeleteYes, this is very interesting approach. Maybe will have something more to add upon reflection...
ReplyDeleteMike