RPGnet Columns
10-14-2004, 12:52 PM
Post originally by Sébastien Allard at 2004-10-14 11:52:36
Converted from Phorums BB System
Hi!
Recently, to gives a welcomed break to my main GURPS campaign, one of my players mentioned that it would be nice to play a short campaign of Big Eyes Small Mouth.
So I gave serious thoughts to my players likings and realize that they are all fan of various degrees of things like ; anime, Squaresoft RPG like Chrono Trigger/FF, etc.
So I've decided to start a short anime style campaign and right from the beginning, I've decided to make it a fantasy, in respect to my players' tastes.
In my search of the perfect setting, I've did some research on some of the Squaresoft games (I've only played FFX a little bit). Chrono-Trigger was the more intriguing to me because it was like RIFTS but with an anime touch.
What impress me the most was the fact that the main protagonists of the story were quite diverse; a frog knight, a cavewoman, a robot, etc.
Then I got my main idea for my campaign : let have the players decides what they want to see in the campaign.
Your article made me remind that fact, and I wanted to share my (similar) experience.
Thus, I reunited my players, one shining saturday noon, around the table to discuss and ask them to choose "one" thing they would like to see most in this game. Each player had to choose one thing withour the other one knowing. I included myself in the process (I am a player too after all!).
Here's what we have choose :
- A class of knights inspired by the game Legend of the Dragoon. (My player designed a core class with the mechanics of BESM d20, and I tweaked it a little bit.)
- Chrono-Jump Gates, basically a time traveling device.(Mainly a story device that I will use to jump my players into weird and fantastic locales.)
- A Sigil common to all the heroes. (My girlfriend choose that one, and I've decided to use it as a story device too, mainly as a reason to unite the characters, but also to allow a special mechanic that I will use for this game... similar to a Team Combo.)
- A race of sapient plant. (This one was fun. I've designed an humanoid race called the Enori, divided into three sub-species. For short, they gain 1 cm each year, have higher longevity, takes root when about to die and transfert their consiousness into their seeds.)
- The existence of entities that powerful magic can summon (akind of the aeon in FF).
- An common model of airplane use by the Kingdom to win a war. (That was my choice. I've always liked the airplanes in the Last Exile series. I was conscious that I was the only one to choose a "mecha" or a vehicles, but I though "what the heck that's the whole point!")
In conclusion, I would said that I was lucky my players did choose things that fits together, that might have not been the case, but the experience was great. I look forward the first game of this min campaign. Building a setting like that is quite a GM experience.
I also found worthwhile to discuss with my players prior to their choice. It help focus our group on the wanted themes.
Converted from Phorums BB System
Hi!
Recently, to gives a welcomed break to my main GURPS campaign, one of my players mentioned that it would be nice to play a short campaign of Big Eyes Small Mouth.
So I gave serious thoughts to my players likings and realize that they are all fan of various degrees of things like ; anime, Squaresoft RPG like Chrono Trigger/FF, etc.
So I've decided to start a short anime style campaign and right from the beginning, I've decided to make it a fantasy, in respect to my players' tastes.
In my search of the perfect setting, I've did some research on some of the Squaresoft games (I've only played FFX a little bit). Chrono-Trigger was the more intriguing to me because it was like RIFTS but with an anime touch.
What impress me the most was the fact that the main protagonists of the story were quite diverse; a frog knight, a cavewoman, a robot, etc.
Then I got my main idea for my campaign : let have the players decides what they want to see in the campaign.
Your article made me remind that fact, and I wanted to share my (similar) experience.
Thus, I reunited my players, one shining saturday noon, around the table to discuss and ask them to choose "one" thing they would like to see most in this game. Each player had to choose one thing withour the other one knowing. I included myself in the process (I am a player too after all!).
Here's what we have choose :
- A class of knights inspired by the game Legend of the Dragoon. (My player designed a core class with the mechanics of BESM d20, and I tweaked it a little bit.)
- Chrono-Jump Gates, basically a time traveling device.(Mainly a story device that I will use to jump my players into weird and fantastic locales.)
- A Sigil common to all the heroes. (My girlfriend choose that one, and I've decided to use it as a story device too, mainly as a reason to unite the characters, but also to allow a special mechanic that I will use for this game... similar to a Team Combo.)
- A race of sapient plant. (This one was fun. I've designed an humanoid race called the Enori, divided into three sub-species. For short, they gain 1 cm each year, have higher longevity, takes root when about to die and transfert their consiousness into their seeds.)
- The existence of entities that powerful magic can summon (akind of the aeon in FF).
- An common model of airplane use by the Kingdom to win a war. (That was my choice. I've always liked the airplanes in the Last Exile series. I was conscious that I was the only one to choose a "mecha" or a vehicles, but I though "what the heck that's the whole point!")
In conclusion, I would said that I was lucky my players did choose things that fits together, that might have not been the case, but the experience was great. I look forward the first game of this min campaign. Building a setting like that is quite a GM experience.
I also found worthwhile to discuss with my players prior to their choice. It help focus our group on the wanted themes.