Troll Lord Games

I was reading a thread elsewhere about how the PCs' actions changed the world in the course of the campaign, and I began to think about instances of destiny-carving moments in campaigns I've run.

And I realized that I tend to be pretty conservative when it comes to that. Rarely have I even given the PCs the opportunity to really make changes happen in the worlds I run. And that has to change!

So, for inspiration, I ask for examples of said epic actions and events from your campaigns.

For my part, I can say that one group of PCs defeated the evil wizard usurper to the throne of Ralinoria. That's about the most noteworthy I can muster.

I had a PC take off with an artifact he recovered for Verbobonc and the Duchy of Urnst in Greyhawk.

Now the two kingdoms are struggling for survival against an invading army.

Yep, world altering...and unexpected.

I try to ensure a 'real' experience when DMing, so characters are free to try just about anything, which results in some interesting adventures.

In my new campaign it's going to be all about changing the game world. An ultra-powerful dragon laid waste to the capital city of the equivalent of the Roman Empire in my world and has set himself up as a god there, sending priests of his cult to "spread the word" as it were. It'll be up to the PC's to fight him on two levels - militarily against his soldiers and psychologically against his cult. They not only will have to defeat his minions but also convince the local populace that they can win.

This is much more challenging stuff than I've usually done, and I think it's no coincidence it's the first time I've created an entire game world from scratch, as I've usually used Forgotten Realms or Greyhawk up till now. I've found it much easier to "blow up the world" with my own creation than with the pre-gen worlds.

The PCs in one of my games started a war between two nations, and, as that battle was raging, took off to find a scroll that would allow them to resurrect one of their fallen, but, in doing so, unleashed a terror onto the plane, and they then had to end the dispute between the two warring countries, bring in some other allies, and do the whole GI Joe thing. In the end, they barely scraped a victory, half the party dead, most the lands razed and ruined, so, off they went to bring the druid back, but in that mission they pissed off some elfs and caused a magical plague.... that never got resolved. They all died first.

I've had the PC in some of my camapaigns do a few world-altering things. Mostly, the PCs don't change that much, but on occassion they have.

-O
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> Omote's Advanced C&C stuff <
Duke Omote Landwehr, Holy Order of the FPQ ~ Prince of the Castles & Crusades Society

Very few in my past games. However I am kicking off a new campaign on New Years where the PC's could be at the center of some very region changing moments.
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The Lord of Ravens
My blog

Give Exalted a go. It's all about crazy world changing gaming.

I ran an Exalted game where one of the PCs was the general of a kingdom's armies and after the capitol has vaporized (big magic) the PCs basically became the rulers fo said kingdom, fought some wars, went on a big quest, fought a god and destroyed another city, and invaded a theocracy to get to some ruins and crazed mecha-giant robot/artifact bent on even more wide scale destruction. It was crazy, heady good.
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::: Shane

::: Rational thought, not superstition

Sure, PCs in my campaign are very relevant to the tide of the lands. That's what being an epic hero is all about--having an impact, saving the day (or causing ruin, pending character choices and desires). At lower level that impact is very slight but as they progress, and their history/fame brings more attention (good and bad), they find themselves very much involved in events that have a very noticeable affect on the world around them (politically speaking mostly, but sometimes in other ways, too).

In the longest campaign I ran, where characters reached decent levels (12+), one even got elected to the Governorship of the major freecity in my campaign world. Naturally he named his cohorts as his advisors and they ran the town for a long time, fending off invasion, protecting vassal towns, etc. Quite a group, really.

What fun is gaming unless your band of hearty adventurers can walk into the castle of the king of a neighboring realm and he looks at you with some shock and says "So YOU'RE the bastards that destroyed the dam and flooded the lowlands, preventing my armies from marching forth...." Good times.
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I am not a hamster and Life is not a wheel.

gideon_thorne wrote:
There are lots of explanations that a clever CK can use to bullshit any roll.

Being a shaker of Heaven's pillars is a fundamental part of the way I run games. You may not be super powerful, you may be half-terrified most of the time, but when History turns it's you at the fulcrum with the power to tip the world one way or another.

As an example, at the moment I'm running a SF game in which the PCs are mixed up in the uncovering of a centuries-old secret that has literally torn the planet's society apart and is about to spark off a civil war that could change the fate of a civilisation that's millions of years old.

Similarly, an old AD&D campaign that I remember very fondly pitted the PCs against a force of evil that threatened the future of an entire world. And they thought they were just spying!

As a player, I found myself in a game based on Bruce Sterling's Schismatrix universe. At first just a disgraced cop just trying to clear my name, we all ended up steering the course of the Solar System's evolution. And I mooned a battleship, but that's another story.

Trick is, start small. Let the pace of events build up around the PCs until time, place and the onward roll of events places them in THE place at THE time. Then just let them tell you what they want to do. This stuff cannot be railroaded, and you must be fully prepared to let your world burn if things go badly.

Just like in real life, in fact.
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History teaches us that men behave wisely once they've exhausted all other alternatives.

I haven't run anything over the top where players dramatically change the world for a very long time. (Years) But I think that I'm going to rectify that with some good ole C&C action.

I think C&C's style readily fits it as an excellent tool to run this kind of game without choking to death on the stats.
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History teaches us that men behave wisely once they've exhausted all other alternatives.

Just rip any console game off. Seriously. They have it all.