…Ooh, it’s hot hot hot!
In Which The Gaming Discussion Picks Up Speed
As I mentioned last time, this whole “Level 0 Campaign” idea came to me when I was map making with Campaign Cartographer (an exceptionally cool new edition of which will soon debut) and the map you would use with this game is an integral part of the whole enchilada.
See, my idea is that you create a map of a small area, say 10 miles by 10 miles, stick a small village or town in it…add a few farms…maybe a small fort…put in a smattering of wilderness…and that’s the home town of the PC’s. Naturally, you could choose to create a city for them…or populate the small town with one or more races…or whatever you choose. The idea is to GIVE them a (somewhat loosely defined) home town…something that most characters in most games don’t have.
I said the town was loosely defined and I mean that mostly in regards to the population. Yes, you’ll have various businesses and farms and such, but you only need to give names/basic descriptions to the people the young PC’s encounter or are related to. More in depth definition comes later, with the players filling in the blanks as the grown up PC’s go about their adventuring.
So now we have a location with a loosely defined population. Next up is to create a few kids, some of whom will be chosen to become our proto-PC’s. These would be pretty simple templates for the players to choose from. You’d have strong kids, fast kids, tough kids, kids with a bare touch of magic potential, kids with better than average dexterity/agility…a couple or so of each.
From there, character development would be entirely based on choices made by the players. Naturally, they would have an idea of what sort of PC they eventually want to play, but exactly how the kid PC gets there is up to them. Perhaps Avis wants her kid to use his dexterity to become a swashbuckling type of fighter/thief, while Grace wants her high dexterity kid to become a martial arts using mage. This game (setting, actually) is what lets them lay the groundwork for that…as well as developing the character’s basic personality.
Next time: The rules question, kid adventures, non-gamers and the big finish.
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