2 parties, 1 world?

mr_angry

Hey guys,

I'm just beginning a Legend of the Five Rings campaign in Dundalk at the moment, but I have a second party interested in playing in Dublin, and I am considering the somewhat questionable option of running the same game in both locations. The creative burden of writing two entirely different stories for each location (or letting the storyline diverge for each location) seems quite intimidating, so I am considering running both parties in the same world, albeit in different regions of Rokugan.

One of the gaming group in Dundalk, Steve, has told me that on a previous occassion, he tried much the same thing, with fairly disasterous results. All the same, I'm tempted to give it a go and see if I can make it work. The biggest disadvantage I forsee is the potential for the two parties to run into one another. Given the disperate nature of the two OOC groups, it would be logistically impossible to run a game with the two parties present. Keeping them apart shouldn't be especially difficult however, unless both parties gain a considerable amount of glory and end up working against the same threat to the empire at the same time.

Has anyone else tried this before? Is it just plainly a bad idea?

--
Angry

Nevyn

It's not only possible but if you manage it right you can make each group the npcs in the other's game, which drives the plot along and can cut out a lot of work for you as gm.

But don't get lazy and don't let the groups get in touch and start conspiring.

LoLth

Another option is to set them in the same world, but have one group be descendants of the same family as the other (eg: A Crab warrior is the descedant of a Crab priest , both are players in different groups) and have the first groups actions form legends , historical allies/enemies, blood feuds etc for the junior members.

Later on in the campaign, you could run a crossover. though the only time I did this, the groups started fighting.... not pretty....

hairyheretic

I think using one group as NPCs in the others game would be the simplest way of handling it.

Sarky

I'm hoping to do something like this soon with Exalted. I have one group of Dragon Bloods with over 150 xp under their belts, I was hoping to pit them against a "newbie" party of Abyssals who used to be their classmates.

I think I can manage it. I've gotten into a style of GMing with the first game where they supply most of the plot themselves, with minimal work from me. I haven't actually written anything down to prepare for a game in over a dozen sessions. If you can manage that with your L5R people, you should be free to create the gentle (and occasionally not-so-gentle) nudges and NPCS they need for a game with buggerall effort.

On the subject of having both parties meet, I'm wondering whether a LARP might be the way to go for that. It would make an interesting break from pen&paper, and could be an excellent way to end a particularly epic story arc. It would also offer a chance to really get into the social aspect of Exalted, as opposed to the "10-foot long sword that fires burning mountains" nature of most games...

Anyway, best of luck with it.

mr_angry

LARP, you say? Hmmm. Could be an interesting way to run a Winter Court game! I might leisurely pencil that in for Christmas / New Year when people will be available, and it might seem atmospheric to come in out of a cold day to act it out. Its probably a good way to end a calendar year of gaming too.

I'll mull that one over...

nesf

A Larp working would depend on the groups very much. From experience, getting (purely) "roll-players" to larp is not a pretty sight.

That said, if it's a good character driven story in both games (being L5R this is fairly likely) it could work really well. The biggest problem will be working whether the Larp will be isolated from the RPGs (i.e. the characters meet and do stuff together but it doesn't have repercussions in the RPG games) or whether serious stuff like character death etc can happen.

One way I see of doing it is by giving each group plot info (along with a bunch of "white noise" stuff) for the other group and give them reasons to not divulge it instantly to each other. That way the Larp could be a bridge between arcs or within an arc for both sides.

mr_angry

The biggest problem I forsee with any LARP element is the activity of NPCs. If you want to create a rich Winter Court setting, I would say that you have to create the perception that there are tens, if not hundreds of courtiers swarming about, some of whom should be recognisable to the players for one reason or another. In a table-top setting, I think this is fairly easy to achieve because everybody is used to creating an imaginary perception of the world. By turning it into a LARP however, I think you're creating a piece of the world that isn't imaginary, and trying to retain the NPC and environment element, which is totally imaginary. For this reason, I'm now leaning towards a potential table-top gathering around Christmas, but obviously only if the players themselves are interested.

The Dundalk chapter of this particular pair is already up and running, with some interesting characters. I'm running the storyline in the first edition, pre-Scorpion Clan Coup era, but I'm letting the players choose schools from the third addition, with some minor tweaks here and there. Thus far, the party consists of a Kakita (Asahina) Shujenja, his duellist Kakita yojimbo, a half-monk-half-Wasp archer of unknown origins, and a Mantis courtier. Technically, in the first edition, there is no Mantis courtier school, but I think its a safe leap of faith to assume that they have someone to attend Rokugani courts and do business, so I've allowed the mechanics of the third edition school to operate within the game.

Nevetheless, its fairly apparent that this party aren't going to fare too well against goblin armies and the like. Three of the characters can handle themselves in combat, but we all know what happens when a shujenja runs out of spells, or has a couple go awry. Essentially, there are two characters who can take care of themselves when things go arseways, so games based purely on bludgeoning opponents are pretty much ruled out. Of course, I wasn't planning on such a linear experience, but it certainly affects the usual back-up strategy for when the party choose to ignore the intended plot for a given week.

So far, I'm mainly writing storylines based on the "Challenge : Focus : Strike" method suggested in the book. I've decided to write three or four plot-points in advance, so that I have a reasonable amount of backup should one be discarded by the party. Having written them, I then try to add a couple of layers which should grab the interest of the shujenja and courtier, and allow them to employ their skills for the benefit of the group. I have to admit though, its proving a bit of a creative burden to engineer all of this. Having said that, the first game went pretty damn well, and the impromptu role-play opened up some interesting potential plot-lines. The party also seem to have gelled together quite well, as characters. With a bit of luck, some more of the impromptu stuff will help keep the story diverse enough for the non-bushi characters to enjoy.

Sarky

I've kicked it off, with Exalted, anyway. I found the "old" players a great excuse to travel 6,000 miles off from their normal haunts for a month, which leaves me an opening for my new Abyssals to wander in and, as the kids are wont to say nowadays, f*some sh*t up.

If all goes well, they'll be long gone by the time the Dragon Bloods get back from what was essentially a wild goose-chase (shhh! If they found out NPCs can lie they'll kill me!) to find that all hell has broken loose, while the others go about some other nefarious schemes, perhaps leaving clues for the others to trail them...

Spyral

I dont see the problem. Just pretend that one group doesnt exist. I mean unless they know that there are 2 groups happening it shouldn't be a problem

Sarky

You'll never end up with a "Head of Vecna" scenario that way.