KoreusZ: Do Bards act condescendingly towards other Bards who went to colleges that weren't known for partying? Patt: oh god, new headcanon Patt: ****- this is how hard world building can be Patt: 8 wizard schools, at LEAST 8 gods for cleric domains, at least 2 bard colleges, 3 monastic orders, etc Patt: oh god... yes- CAMPAIGN SET ON A UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
So yeah, I'm going to create a College Campus Campaign for my college friends to play. Where the adventure takes place in the lives of learning students.
Bards go to college, wizards go to school, clerics go to temples, monks have their orders, paladins have their orders, the list goes on! Somehow before level 1, bards and other classes of character are assumed to have spent a considerable amount of time at some institute for learning magic and fighting. When was the last time any bard in your party referenced their life at bard college? This is the silent background of every character, how did they learn their skills? I want to make an adventure in adventure school! I can play to college tropes, and have non-battle challenges in sports, training, testing, and even studying. Muahaha!!!
Now, just as we have fun at college, so can players in this game. Entertaining the party is easy here, escapism will come naturally. The PROBLEM here is not even finding an interesting overall plot, as RWBY and Harry Potter are both extremely different takes on school-gone-to-hell. What the problem IS is what the university even is! What, is there really some super-massive public structure that houses education for EVERY class my players choose? Or is there some kind of grounds where people come from all other schools to meet, some kind of graduate school? Or is some event hosted at each school system and people travel to and fro, like the Vital Festival?
I need help from your minds on what this campaign is before I can start it! (If you find yourself inspired, steal my idea and tell me how it goes!)
I'm not a ridiculousness-kind-of-d&d dungeon master, I'm not great with doing wacky, I do best with making my adventures speak through realism and relating. I very well could have a big tournament or sport rivalry or even a quizbowl, but I don't want to force the party into something like that. I want a sandbox with an underlying plot, for the party to just character develop in. You don't start the vital festival/tri wizards tournament in the first book.
My question isn't on plot, its on LOGISTICS. I want to know what this thing looks like on a map, and how it interacts with the surrounding world. What does it mean for politics, economics, what scale is it. Is it a village to village school thing, or is it the size of the city of brass? Maybe this is where I bring about my mobile cloud giant city....
Boy howdy is this a rabbithole, that went from "wacky fantasy" to "a dungeon master's own world building novel series" quick. That map is intensely neo-tolkien.
Anyway- this is getting me a little bit more focused, thanks a lot I'll keep reading wikis tomorrow. I'm just gonna sleep on this choice of big-university, group of diff schools, or place ppl are sent from school... and I want to keep the spirit of college campus but with dnd. Like, we sit in my dorm at college and we warp into a parallel dorm at dnd college.
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On a discord, this happened.
KoreusZ: Do Bards act condescendingly towards other Bards who went to colleges that weren't known for partying?
Patt: oh god, new headcanon
Patt: ****- this is how hard world building can be
Patt: 8 wizard schools, at LEAST 8 gods for cleric domains, at least 2 bard colleges, 3 monastic orders, etc
Patt: oh god... yes- CAMPAIGN SET ON A UNIVERSITY CAMPUS
So yeah, I'm going to create a College Campus Campaign for my college friends to play. Where the adventure takes place in the lives of learning students.
Bards go to college, wizards go to school, clerics go to temples, monks have their orders, paladins have their orders, the list goes on! Somehow before level 1, bards and other classes of character are assumed to have spent a considerable amount of time at some institute for learning magic and fighting. When was the last time any bard in your party referenced their life at bard college? This is the silent background of every character, how did they learn their skills? I want to make an adventure in adventure school! I can play to college tropes, and have non-battle challenges in sports, training, testing, and even studying. Muahaha!!!
Now, just as we have fun at college, so can players in this game. Entertaining the party is easy here, escapism will come naturally. The PROBLEM here is not even finding an interesting overall plot, as RWBY and Harry Potter are both extremely different takes on school-gone-to-hell. What the problem IS is what the university even is! What, is there really some super-massive public structure that houses education for EVERY class my players choose? Or is there some kind of grounds where people come from all other schools to meet, some kind of graduate school? Or is some event hosted at each school system and people travel to and fro, like the Vital Festival?
I need help from your minds on what this campaign is before I can start it! (If you find yourself inspired, steal my idea and tell me how it goes!)
Have you read Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett?
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Oh jesus...discworld...
I'm not a ridiculousness-kind-of-d&d dungeon master, I'm not great with doing wacky, I do best with making my adventures speak through realism and relating. I very well could have a big tournament or sport rivalry or even a quizbowl, but I don't want to force the party into something like that. I want a sandbox with an underlying plot, for the party to just character develop in. You don't start the vital festival/tri wizards tournament in the first book.
My question isn't on plot, its on LOGISTICS. I want to know what this thing looks like on a map, and how it interacts with the surrounding world. What does it mean for politics, economics, what scale is it. Is it a village to village school thing, or is it the size of the city of brass? Maybe this is where I bring about my mobile cloud giant city....
Logistics. Okay then. The Collegia from Mercedes Lackey's Valdemar series should be an acceptable example.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
http://gryphonking.powermad.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/valdemappage.jpg
Boy howdy is this a rabbithole, that went from "wacky fantasy" to "a dungeon master's own world building novel series" quick. That map is intensely neo-tolkien.
Anyway- this is getting me a little bit more focused, thanks a lot I'll keep reading wikis tomorrow. I'm just gonna sleep on this choice of big-university, group of diff schools, or place ppl are sent from school... and I want to keep the spirit of college campus but with dnd. Like, we sit in my dorm at college and we warp into a parallel dorm at dnd college.