Campaign idea - "On The Run"

[Wordmaker]

I'm planning to start a new DFRPG campaign. I was running some other games for the last couple of years, but with my second novel due out this year, writing my third, and taking care of my two beautiful baby girls, I just have to go back to a system that I can prepare for quickly and improvise with easily. So it's back to DFRPG, which I really have missed.

I've had two campaign ideas and I left it for my players to decide which we run with. It looks like they've gone for an option I titled "On The Run."

The idea is simple. The PCs are being pursued across America by the Wardens for violations of the Laws of Magic (whether rightfully or wrongfully accused). They stick together for protection, stopping to look for ways to clear their name and, importantly, help those people who no-one else will help.

I have a few ideas for how it's going to go. I'm thinking Up To Your Waist for the power level, to allow a variety of decent abilities but keep them weak enough that simply standing their ground against fully-trained Wardens won't be an option. I also like that this will allow them to use modern technology to give them an edge in evading their pursuers, since the most powerful of them would at most be a Sorceror. I'm not allowing anyone to play a Knight of the Fae.

Most importantly, they won't have any major factions to call on for help. They're out on their own, fighting the good fight and trying to stay alive.

I've decided that at least one player has to have their First Book be about the events that led to the group being hunted. The two co-star characters are likewise specifically being hunted, while the other three (we have a six-player group) can just be friends who agree to stick with them and help, if they want.

Aside from this, I have a lot of work on my hands. We can't really do a normal city-creation session, and while the rulebook does mention "non-city" games, it doesn't really provide much advice for a game where the group's journey might not be predetermined before play starts.

I was thinking maybe that instead of creating specific locations, my players could come up with generic elements that crop up from time to time, like how in Supernatural, the Winchester brothers always wind up going over a case in a local bar, or stay in crappy motels.

Does anyone have any other ideas or advice for how to do a travelling campaign in DFRPG like this?

[Mr. Death]

Sounds very A-Team. I like it.

I'm also running a sort of 'wandering the earth' game, from the opposite end, ironically--the main(ish) character is a Warden, and it largely follows his assignments during the Red Court War.

It does take a lot of improvisation, but I've found what works best is having each scenario tied to a particular location. The campaign at large might be on a national scale, but a single adventurer might have them stuck in one city for a few days.

Do your best to anticipate where the characters and players will decide to go next, and have some general ideas in mind for scenarios or events that you can adapt to a particular location once it's been picked.

Will they largely be traveling geographically, or through the Nevernever? If they're limited to mundane travel, that will limit the amount of distance they can logically cover, which will help to narrow down where they can go from one scenario to the next--if they end up fighting Red Court Vampires in New Mexico this scenario, they probably won't be dealing with Ghouls in New York City the next, since that's a long way to travel, for example.

Another angle to do might be to have them chasing something--maybe someone who can clear their names, some ally someone has who might support them, something to give the campaign some direction you can control rather than wandering aimlessly.

I like the idea of thematic/generic locations. Maybe Accorded Neutral Ground locations in different cities where they can find shelter, help, or enemies.

[wyvern]

I'd strongly suggest taking a look at the Highway to Hell thread - it details a similarly city-less campaign, and is generally full of awesome.

[Haru]

I think the easiest way to go would be to create your threats and themes based on the chase and linking them to an organization, without linking them to a specific location. Every time your characters change to a new setting, you can decide, either by yourself or as a group, which of those threats and themes will be present, and if it has a unique threat that they want to conquer. Within the new setting, there are your usual locations, as you would have in any regular city creation. Give the threats you have decided on for this particular town a place to stay, either generic, if you can't think of anything cool, or a specifically cool idea you come up with. You can have a fixed face for a chase threat that will always show up. Like Col. Decker, to stay on the A-Team idea. Other times it might just be a faceless organization drone that is just chasing them because they are ordered to do so.

Basically: flesh out a new city each time the players are forced to go to a new setting. Doesn't have to be anything fancy, but if you have a cool idea, you can add it there and then.

Depending on what you want to focus on, you could put up a sort if investigation track, that will slowly fill up, every time the PCs stay in a place for too long. That will create some tension, when the time is running out to deal with the local problem, and they have to decide whether to let that threat run free, or to suffer the consequences of staying too long (losing a car, because it was discovered, for example). If you want to focus more on the local threats, you should give them as much time as they need.

Just because the characters don't have any of the major factions to call upon doesn't mean that the players can't use them for help. If there are enough factions looking for them, they might fight upon each other over who gets to take them, and the PCs can get away during the conflict.

And wyvern was faster, I was going to look for that thread as well.

[Wordmaker]

Mr. Death, I love the idea of the group having something to pursue. Maybe either someone who can clear their name, or if they've been accused of killing someone, proof that the person is still alive. I guess it depends on what the players decide. I'd like to let them decide what law(s) they've been accused of breaking, and whether or not they're really guilty (or believe they are).

As for transport, I'm picturing a road trip style of game. A couple of beat up cars or an RV or something. But if the players decide to make characters capable of opening a Way to the Nevernever, then that certainly opens up all kinds of possibilities.

Wyvern, that thread looks great. Thanks!

Haru, I was thinking of maybe just requiring that the players take Aspects relating to their fugitive status and compelling them when the Wardens catch their trail.

If I get what you're saying about locations, how about I have them come up with several generic locations and themes/threats and recurring NPCs, and then before each adventure, say I have each player come up with a new location, NPC and theme/threat to help me create the next town?

[Haru]

Haru, I was thinking of maybe just requiring that the players take Aspects relating to their fugitive status and compelling them when the Wardens catch their trail.

Sure, that'll work as well. Like I said, it all depends on how much pressure you want to put your players under in the first place.

If I get what you're saying about locations, how about I have them come up with several generic locations and themes/threats and recurring NPCs, and then before each adventure, say I have each player come up with a new location, NPC and theme/threat to help me create the next town?

Yeah, that's pretty much what I meant.
Mainly two things:
First, don't jump around between settings, chose one and play it out, then go to the next, once the wardens are about to find you. I think it will be easier that way, and it feels very supernaturalesque.
Second, let the players help you in creating those new settings, just like they would for city creation. A quicker and smaller version of what you do in city creation, basically, guided by what you have already chosen for your game in general, and what happened in the last city specifically.

[Wordmaker]

I definitely want them to spend several sessions in the one place before they move on. I'm planning to run the campaign in a series of story arcs, with each arc taking place in a specific town. They'll move on when they've dealt with the major threat to the town, or when the Wardens come knocking. Pretty much exactly like Supernatural 

So I could have the players come up with a few locations and faces, then structure the plot arc around that. Then when that arc is over, ask them for some new ones, which I'll use to craft the next arc.

[Haru]

Sounds good.

I would maybe give them an idea of what you are planning for the next arc, so they might be able to add things that fit into the general theme you want to go with.

[Arcane]

Another thing you could do for locations is cheat.  Take a look at locations and faces created for the various Play By Post games on this site and just tweak them for your campaign's needs, adjusting power levels, affiliations and aspects to fit the scenarios you have in mind.  You potentially have an entire world's worth of locales available considering the various game cities that are being used or have been used in the past.

[Wordmaker]

Good idea, Haru.

Arcane, that's an idea. I do like the idea of giving the players some say in the kinds of things they'll get to encounter, though.

[Arcane]

Arcane, that's an idea. I do like the idea of giving the players some say in the kinds of things they'll get to encounter, though.

Well, in addition to creating their own locations from scratch, you could always give them the option of looking through various cities here and picking places they'd like to visit.  Of course, what's written here and what the place is actually like when they get there could potentially vary quite widely.  Think of writeups here of what the characters might have heard about a place rather than what they truly know. 

[Wordmaker]

I find that in most cases, one person's campaign ideas might not gel properly with another's. I'd have to change a lot to make someone else's notes work with my game.

Also given the fugitive element to the game and my focus on "helping those who no-one else will help" I can't see the group travelling to large cities very often. Big cities have lots of people to look out for them, and usually a White Council presence. If the players are on the run from the Wardens, they'll be sticking to the towns without much in the way of the White Council.

[HumAnnoyd]

Also given the fugitive element to the game and my focus on "helping those who no-one else will help" I can't see the group travelling to large cities very often. Big cities have lots of people to look out for them, and usually a White Council presence. If the players are on the run from the Wardens, they'll be sticking to the towns without much in the way of the White Council.

I have to agree with this assertion. In my group's version of Seattle for example there are two Wardens.  One is much older and would come down on your group with all his might and while the younger one might sympathize with their situation he would reluctantly hunt them as well.  Given the power the two Wardens wield and their connections to the supernatural communities and spirits of the area the survival chances of a high profile group of fugitives would be pretty low in the Emerald City. 

Perhaps an idea would be to go through a City Creation session and have everyone offer several ideas and locations complete with Faces.  Then spread those faces and the like out over several towns or regions as needed. 

[Mr. Death]

I dunno. The thing about big cities is they're big. Lots of places to hide. Lots of people who might be willing to hide you. Lots of non-people who might be willing to hide you for a price.

Seattle has two Wardens, sure--but it's got upwards of 600,000 other people in it too, and it's 142.5 square miles. That's a lot of urban jungle to get lost in.

[Wordmaker]

True. I suppose I like the idea of a frontier travelling campaign. Sort of a western vibe, or travelling-hero tv shows from the 80s like Knight Rider and the A-Team, where the good guys stuck to the small backwater towns.

Of course, there's always room for a risky journey into the heart of a White Council-controlled city to find the key to defeating the current threat.