Starting a campaign

[bobbarnetson]

I'm going to be running a western campaign using the rules Legends of the Old West at our club this fall. I have a couple of questions and was looking for some feedback.

1. The campaign will start modestly, with four factions in town, three of which will be present in any one game. The campaign season will include five games. Between the games, players can read about the goings on around town in the newspaper I will create. In this way, I will guide the storylines and the players will game out the climax of each episode. I will also run the bookkeeping for the posse's between games. If the campaign has legs and the players want a second season, we'll can negotiate different campaign mechanics.

2. I'm going to modify "the drop" mechanic in LoTOW to allow for three sides with a card draw to determine who has the drop and have sides then activate clockwise from the side with the drop.

3. I'm going to allow for varying attendance (a feature of our club) by having each game set up for three players with six models. If we have six players, each side gets divided into two sub-posses and two additional figures are added to each side (so each guy gets to run four figures).

4. Most games will see each side have conflicting (but not necessarily mutually exclusive) victory conditions. Where a side has two players, they too might have slight differences in what they want to accomplish (one guy might have to burn the saloon while his teammate might want to loot the booze and then burn the saloon).

I have the five basic scenarios (leading to a huge showdown in episode five) sketched out.

Can anyone see major holes or offer advice to improve the campaign?

thanks

Bob in Edmonton

[O gato Mortimer]

  Hello. I don't like the photo of Franco. This man murdered many comrades and censured my culture for many years (I'm from Galiza, a little nation in the northwest of the Iberian peninsula). Thanks and sorry for my english 

[bobbarnetson]

Didn't realize who that was actually. I tried to register without using a avatar but couldn't seem to manage it. I'll go and try to get it changed.

[bobbarnetson]

Fixed! Now if only someone would comment on my original post!

[O gato Mortimer]

 Thanks! 

[Will Bailie]

Hi, Bob,

Good choice on the avatar, much cuter than Franco.  and, no offense intended, cuter than you, too!

I've used the card mechanic for multi-player LotOW games - it's worked well.  Since each player gets their own card, there's no need to switch to clockwise (or counter-clockwise), simply ask for the player with the next card.  This means that there is no problem with players moving around - as they often do, to keep up with their models.  This worked well with half a dozen players.

We found that things worked well with players bringing in their own posse.  That allowed each player to have a sense of ownership, and the starting points for the posses are fairly well balanced.  Where we found the system broke down was that experienced posses had a pretty big advantage over the new posses, which meant that the guys who got in more games quickly reached the point where they over powered the guys who played fewer games.  The obvious response is to allow the two weaker posses to team up against the stronger one!

Sounds like you have some great ideas for the multiplayer scenarios.  The scenarios where I only know my own objectives but not my opponents' tend to be the most fun, mostly due to the staggering around in the dark effect!

I'll look forward to seeing the battle reports.

will

[bobbarnetson]

Will,

Thanks--that is handy advice on the card activation. So the deck comprised 1 card for each player and your shuffled? I might just go for chits in a baggies then as the shuffling is easier. How did you track the sequence of players for the second part of the "move first, shoot first" mechanic. Just lay the cards down in order on the side of the table?

I agree that allowing guys to own their own posse is probably best, but I've been burned with drop-outs a lot of times in a campaign. As I'd like a narrative, I can't have posses disappearing in the middle of the campaign! Hopefully having old west games on a non-club night (i.e., a special club night) will reduce the attrition. Having the ref run the campaign allows me to adjust the number of figures and the mix of figures so games ever get too out of whack, although I have an idea to exploit this dynamic at the end of the campaign.

On the topic of the avatar, I was torn between Rosie the Riveter and this one, but always was a sucker for a lady in uniform. Obviously I watched too much JAG in the 1990s.

Bob in Edmonton

[Will Bailie]

Bob,

We used a standard deck of cards.  At the start of each turn, each player was dealt a card.  We did a quick comparison to see who got to go first, second, etc.  I think we had aces high, and had spade>heart>diamond>club.  Each player kept their cards until the end of the turn, when a new "hand" would be dealt.

Rosie's pretty cute, too, but I think you made a good choice.  I doubt she could grow as nice a beard as you, though!

W

[twrchtrwyth]

I hope you don't mind if I steal some of your ideas Bob.

  Hello. I don't like the photo of Franco. This man murdered many comrades and censured my culture for many years (I'm from Galiza, a little nation in the northwest of the Iberian peninsula). Thanks and sorry for my english 

You'd be a fellow Celt then.

[O gato Mortimer]

Hello twrchtrwyth, hello Gales! Yes, i'm a fellow celt