Episode 165: Campaign Part 2

Eden Ship

00:00 / 39:49

Main Topic

Zen’s Campaign Idea

I would start with a short run campaign like 3 or 4 adventures. What are those adventures? Where would it be set? Lets see what I had for an idea.

The Beginning

The opening scene would not be something in media res. It is a troupe that I feel like is over done in games. I think you should have in this case a question that is part of a mystery of something wrong on the ship. In this case I would do something with the Housing Sector being stripped out and the PC’s are going to be going in to reclaim some things from the old section of the ship. There is a group of people that command has left in this area, but why did they do it?

Ideas

This is where I would have a few ideas for types of adventures I would run here. The first one I would do is have the characters get caught in the middle of a battle between two groups in this section of the ship. The second would have to do with figuring out why they got cut off. The rest would be some back and forth trying to get them maybe lined up to come back into the habitable sections but at what cost to the ship and do they bring something that can be used to advance the ship.

The End

So in the end the characters should figure out why the group were left. As far as that I was thinking it could be something as small as they were the first group to show signs of genetic abnormalities. Over time Command figured the people had died so they could just go in and get the materials that were left in the area.

Guard-Manger’s Campaign Seed: A Small Patch of the Universe
- Themes: Scarce Resources; Moral Conundrums; Fear of the Unknown

Act 1 – A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Reclamation Center

Taking multiple months of real world time and many sessions sets the stage for the larger beats of the world. Following up on the intro adventure idea, these revolve around power fluctuations that are coming through the different sections of the Edenship and even some rolling brownouts. As these fluctuations become more frequent, the PCs get caught up in any number of situations where they must deal with the results of these fluctuations each of which can take several gaming sessions including:

Running Emergency Power conduits to a part of a habitat that has been cut off or frazzled at just the wrong time and exploring the exterior or bulkheads of the ship to keep the Gene Cradle active.
Retrieving a family or family’s keepsakes that were cut off from the rest of the ship when emergency power caused the Solar Storm Doors to slam shut.
Rescuing people from the disaster that happens when power fritzes and something just loses connection mid activity like construction or transportation.
Gangs trying to use protection rackets to claim to prevent the brownouts to certain sectors.

Plot Threads: Throughout this Act of the campaign, let the players discover certain plot threads or put things into place like the fluctuations are being engineered, some parts of the Command Sector know about the planned brown outs, and that the PCs are being watched.

Act 2 – Edenship Crusoe

To throw the Players off their expectations, Act 2 strands the PCs in a remote area and cuts them off from their usual methods of problem solving. This can be either on a planet where they have been sent with one of the recon ships or a cut off section of the base unsafe and unprotected areas of the Eden ship’s civil society areas. In either event, the characters must survive a hostile environment where the exploration aspects of a game may be emphasized and work together dealing with predators, let loose from … or even other sentient beings who see the characters as interlopers. The scavenged technology aspect of the post-apocalyptic Edenship setting should be driven home. Maybe this is the time for a special trick from Felix Chin to be overlooked by whoever put them in this predicament to be the key to making it out .

Plot Threads: The Characters should realize that they have put too many threads together from Act 1. Let the Characters figure out who was behind the stranding that occurred which will all play into the showdown in Act 3.

Act 3. The Curtain Drops

Finding a way back to the civilized parts of the Edenship, the Players should make it a priority to figure out what got them into such hot water. Knowing they are being watched, Act 3 begins with a sense of paranoia and espionage as the pieces become apparent. While there are several options for how the Campaign can conclude, here is one climax: The Prophylaxis Phylum has discovered that specific power fluctuations are planned and predictable – like a code – but not being driven by human choices. One concern is that Gaia A could be corrupted to direct power in ways communicating with aliens or subversive Edenship elements. The power spikes are an attempt to disrupt the communication as the code is still unbroken to attempt to stave off potential alien parasites. This conspiracy is slowly unraveled over the course of multiple sessions leaving the players and their characters with a quandary – what if the brown outs are protecting the Edenship? What if the K’ltl`moria are the advance force for these parasites? Here, the potential for combat, heists, and political maneuvering is huge and the showdown likely epic.

Closing remarks

Zendead – I have been looking into starting to play Warhammer. It has some really cool miniatures as well as some cool lore for each army. And to be totally honest I am looking at 40K more than Age of Sigmaur right now.

Guard-a-Manger – The Oresteia. As we are talking about campaign design, and how to interlock stories, the greek classic Oresteia about Orestes and the House of Atreus is a fundamental part of the western narrative traditions.

Music is courtesy of Sim on Twitter you can find him at @TheSimulacrae