My campaign draws more inspiration from real life than fiction. In fact, one of my major campaign villains was inspired by a crooked scientist on display in London's Natural History Museum.
I'm somewhat of a random student of history, but I love using it for inspiration - both as a DM and as a player. Spoiler:Show
I have a character, a warlock from an isolated village of hereditary warlocks, whose people's 1000-year-long backstory reads like an early-American history slideshow - I referenced the Puritans, the Quakers, the Amish, Joseph Smith and the Mormons and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Salem Witch Trials, even the Donner Party, lol. Another character's backstory is a modified version of the life of real-life Irish pirate Gracie O'Malley, and a third strings out the Lizzie Borden story into a six-generation-long tale of murder and madness "possibly" (specifically left entirely up to the DM) brought about by the possession of the family heirloom - the hatchet (magical handaxe) that my ranger killed her parents with and still uses as her primary weapon.
- There was one adventure where I set up a fairly large battle that the party was supposed to participate in. I'd drawn a great deal of inspiration from stuff I'd read about a somewhat Biblical-era battle (can't remember for the life of me which one, though) that seemed thematically appropriate to the adventure, and had used modified versions of the real names of places and certain pivotal NPCs. One of the players, who was Jewish and a bit of a history scholar, suddenly turned white as a sheet. I knew he'd figured it out, lol. When the other players asked him if he was alright, I took an indecent amount of pleasure in watching their reactions as he told them I'd placed the party squarely in the most heated part of the battle...on the losing side... (The whole point of the battle was that they were supposed to lose in order to set up the next part of the adventure, but I certainly didn't tell them that, hehe.)
- In one campaign I ran, the party accidentally set off "World War 1" by preventing the assassination of "Archduke Ferdinand"...
- In another, a war campaign, it was basically the Roman (i.e., the "good and civilized" Empire) conquest of the European barbarian tribes (i.e., orcs and a couple of other random humanoids) with the players starting out briefly working for the Empire before discovering that it was corrupt and illegitimate and that the orcs were simply fighting for self-preservation. The leader of the orcs was one of the most brilliant generals of the age, modeled off of Boudicca, Braveheart and several others.
Every time I read a history book or watch the History Channel, I end up coming up with ideas for scenes, adventures or whole campaigns.
I'm somewhat of a random student of history, but I love using it for inspiration - both as a DM and as a player. Spoiler:Show
I have a character, a warlock from an isolated village of hereditary warlocks, whose people's 1000-year-long backstory reads like an early-American history slideshow - I referenced the Puritans, the Quakers, the Amish, Joseph Smith and the Mormons and the Mountain Meadows Massacre, the Salem Witch Trials, even the Donner Party, lol. Another character's backstory is a modified version of the life of real-life Irish pirate Gracie O'Malley, and a third strings out the Lizzie Borden story into a six-generation-long tale of murder and madness "possibly" (specifically left entirely up to the DM) brought about by the possession of the family heirloom - the hatchet (magical handaxe) that my ranger killed her parents with and still uses as her primary weapon.
- There was one adventure where I set up a fairly large battle that the party was supposed to participate in. I'd drawn a great deal of inspiration from stuff I'd read about a somewhat Biblical-era battle (can't remember for the life of me which one, though) that seemed thematically appropriate to the adventure, and had used modified versions of the real names of places and certain pivotal NPCs. One of the players, who was Jewish and a bit of a history scholar, suddenly turned white as a sheet. I knew he'd figured it out, lol. When the other players asked him if he was alright, I took an indecent amount of pleasure in watching their reactions as he told them I'd placed the party squarely in the most heated part of the battle...on the losing side... (The whole point of the battle was that they were supposed to lose in order to set up the next part of the adventure, but I certainly didn't tell them that, hehe.)
- In one campaign I ran, the party accidentally set off "World War 1" by preventing the assassination of "Archduke Ferdinand"...
- In another, a war campaign, it was basically the Roman (i.e., the "good and civilized" Empire) conquest of the European barbarian tribes (i.e., orcs and a couple of other random humanoids) with the players starting out briefly working for the Empire before discovering that it was corrupt and illegitimate and that the orcs were simply fighting for self-preservation. The leader of the orcs was one of the most brilliant generals of the age, modeled off of Boudicca, Braveheart and several others. ..."window.parent.tinyMCE.get('post_content').onLoad.dispatch();" contenteditable="true" /> Every time I read a history book or watch the History Channel, I end up coming up with ideas for scenes, adventures or whole campaigns.
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- In one campaign I ran, the party accidentally set off "World War 1" by preventing the assassination of "Archduke Ferdinand"...
That is not the least bit implausible. In fact, about the only implausible twist on how that war started, that I can think of, is that it didn't start.
"The world does not work the way you have been taught it does. We are not real as such; we exist within The Story. Unfortunately for you, you have inherited a condition from your mother known as Primary Protagonist Syndrome, which means The Story is interested in you. It will find you, and if you are not ready for the narrative strands it will throw at you..." - from Footloose
- In one campaign I ran, the party accidentally set off "World War 1" by preventing the assassination of "Archduke Ferdinand"...
That is not the least bit implausible. In fact, about the only implausible twist on how that war started, that I can think of, is that it didn't start.
You mean because his party prevented the assassanation (War in game) or becuase you have some sort of unique and haughty historical perspective on WW1?
We summoned a devil once. All we used was the D&D books, too. It was pretty kwazy.
God of Arrested Development and Intelligence Resident Left Hand of Stalin and Banana Stand Grandstander Pie-Cooling-On-A-Windowsill of the House of Trolls In the morning HK'll be sober but you'll still be a meatbag. I know I misspell "Danke" in my posts. It's an inside joke. "Ten cents gets you nuts." -George Michael Spoiler:Show
''Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening.'' —Bill Clinton
You are not a moral man. There are not enough middle fingers in the world for you.
"Heroes"...I wish I had those. I remember in my first-ever campaign one PC went around shootin all the unconscious baddies in the head to gain Dark Side Points...
Whaaaaaat?!??
Wow...way to waste perfectly good potential slaves.
Er...no wait I mean..uh...something not evil!
(Quotes screwed up on the next one, won't give the poster's name. It's in the Best Lines thread on the D&D forum)
First, an experience from a game I played in a few years back. Our DM didn't like 3.5 as a whole but liked parts of it. So he hands us a big ass rules packet for his modified FR campaign, complete with quotes from important NPC's on the front. I can't remember most of the HRs, just that some how gods like Cyric and Bhaal existed at the same time, despite the obvious problems there. In the end the game became a problem more because of the railroading than the HRs, but it ended with this classic line, after our ranger tried to disarm the strange woman following us WITH HIS BOW: DM: You just killed (insert random noble sounding name here) JP: Was she important? Jack: Dude, she's quoted on the front of the rules packet!
"Why in the wide,wide, world of all things irrational would I help you? -Daniel Jackson "Fun will now commence." -Seven of Nine
Cut the last encounter on your way out after dealing with the Darth. He's the BBEG. Treat him as such. Play up that Darth Revan is THAT much of a badarse. When the shuttle landed, I had no less than 13 JEDI MASTERS step off the shuttle. The PCs were slack-jawed. After the meetup with Bastila (as she's carrying Revan's body), only TWO jedi masters remained with her. Let me tell you, the player whining about not getting to fight Revan himself shut up pretty quickly when he saw that.
1. Cleric cast protection from fire on Tank. 2. Tank goes in and get surrounded by enemies. 3. Wizard cast fireball and blows them up. 4. ??? 5. Profit
I go by the saying," If it ain't friendly fire then it's not working."
- In one campaign I ran, the party accidentally set off "World War 1" by preventing the assassination of "Archduke Ferdinand"...
That is not the least bit implausible. In fact, about the only implausible twist on how that war started, that I can think of, is that it didn't start.
You mean because his party prevented the assassanation (War in game) or becuase you have some sort of unique and haughty historical perspective on WW1?
Hardly haughty. The political situation in Europe at the time was a powder keg waiting to explode. The assassination was just an excuse. If it had not happened, something else would have very likely triggered the war.
- In one campaign I ran, the party accidentally set off "World War 1" by preventing the assassination of "Archduke Ferdinand"...
That is not the least bit implausible. In fact, about the only implausible twist on how that war started, that I can think of, is that it didn't start.
You mean because his party prevented the assassanation (War in game) or becuase you have some sort of unique and haughty historical perspective on WW1?
Hardly haughty. The political situation in Europe at the time was a powder keg waiting to explode. The assassination was just an excuse. If it had not happened, something else would have very likely triggered the war.
Obviously. But, it did, so I don't understand your previous comment.
We summoned a devil once. All we used was the D&D books, too. It was pretty kwazy.
God of Arrested Development and Intelligence Resident Left Hand of Stalin and Banana Stand Grandstander Pie-Cooling-On-A-Windowsill of the House of Trolls In the morning HK'll be sober but you'll still be a meatbag. I know I misspell "Danke" in my posts. It's an inside joke. "Ten cents gets you nuts." -George Michael Spoiler:Show
''Being president is like running a cemetery: you've got a lot of people under you and nobody's listening.'' —Bill Clinton
You are not a moral man. There are not enough middle fingers in the world for you.
"Heroes"...I wish I had those. I remember in my first-ever campaign one PC went around shootin all the unconscious baddies in the head to gain Dark Side Points...
Whaaaaaat?!??
Wow...way to waste perfectly good potential slaves.
Er...no wait I mean..uh...something not evil!
(Quotes screwed up on the next one, won't give the poster's name. It's in the Best Lines thread on the D&D forum)
First, an experience from a game I played in a few years back. Our DM didn't like 3.5 as a whole but liked parts of it. So he hands us a big ass rules packet for his modified FR campaign, complete with quotes from important NPC's on the front. I can't remember most of the HRs, just that some how gods like Cyric and Bhaal existed at the same time, despite the obvious problems there. In the end the game became a problem more because of the railroading than the HRs, but it ended with this classic line, after our ranger tried to disarm the strange woman following us WITH HIS BOW: DM: You just killed (insert random noble sounding name here) JP: Was she important? Jack: Dude, she's quoted on the front of the rules packet!
"Why in the wide,wide, world of all things irrational would I help you? -Daniel Jackson "Fun will now commence." -Seven of Nine
Cut the last encounter on your way out after dealing with the Darth. He's the BBEG. Treat him as such. Play up that Darth Revan is THAT much of a badarse. When the shuttle landed, I had no less than 13 JEDI MASTERS step off the shuttle. The PCs were slack-jawed. After the meetup with Bastila (as she's carrying Revan's body), only TWO jedi masters remained with her. Let me tell you, the player whining about not getting to fight Revan himself shut up pretty quickly when he saw that.
1. Cleric cast protection from fire on Tank. 2. Tank goes in and get surrounded by enemies. 3. Wizard cast fireball and blows them up. 4. ??? 5. Profit
I go by the saying," If it ain't friendly fire then it's not working."
- In one campaign I ran, the party accidentally set off "World War 1" by preventing the assassination of "Archduke Ferdinand"...
That is not the least bit implausible. In fact, about the only implausible twist on how that war started, that I can think of, is that it didn't start.
You mean because his party prevented the assassanation (War in game) or becuase you have some sort of unique and haughty historical perspective on WW1?
Hardly haughty. The political situation in Europe at the time was a powder keg waiting to explode. The assassination was just an excuse. If it had not happened, something else would have very likely triggered the war.
I wouldn't say that Europe at the time was a powder keg waiting to explode.
I would say it was a powder keg with the lid off, surrounded by people throwing lit matches at each other.
"The world does not work the way you have been taught it does. We are not real as such; we exist within The Story. Unfortunately for you, you have inherited a condition from your mother known as Primary Protagonist Syndrome, which means The Story is interested in you. It will find you, and if you are not ready for the narrative strands it will throw at you..." - from Footloose
That is not the least bit implausible. In fact, about the only implausible twist on how that war started, that I can think of, is that it didn't start.
Basically, he was agreeing with Mad_Jack's initial storyline, adding that the only approach that would be implausible would be one in which the war was prevented from happening.
Here are the PHB essentia, in my opinion:
Three Basic Rules (p 11)
Power Types and Usage (p 54)
Skills (p178-179)
Feats (p 192)
Rest and Recovery (p 263)
All of Chapter 9 [Combat] (p 264-295)
A player needs to read the sections for building his or her character -- race, class, powers, feats, equipment, etc. But those are PC-specific. The above list is for everyone, regardless of the race or class or build or concept they are playing.
