Page 1 of 2 12 LastLast
Results 1 to 10 of 17
  1. #1
    Hello all!

    I'm new to Birthright (actually right now all I have in terms of info are this sight and the 3E playtest version - a copy of the 2E version is on the way.) Anyway, my question, "How is everyone running there campaigns?"

    My immediate thought would be to have each of the players create a regent (what character level?) and then create a "generic" character for use by everyone to function as an adventurer for whoevers regent is in the spotlight. Good idea? Other ways to do it and have all involved as regents? I'm interested in all thoughts!

    Thanks for your time.

    -S.

  2. #2
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2003
    Posts
    317
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    When I first started out, I used the same approach - everyone had a regent character, and then everyone had a "secondary" character that was part of an adventuring group. The two characters were not necessarily related in any way.

    The regent group still did go on adventures, it just wasn't quite as common as the other group. The secondary group ended up working primarily for one of the PC regents.

    Eventually that group was abandoned because 2 of the PCs got lost in the Shadow World, and I was getting tired of running adventures with different groups of characters. Now I am just using the regent group.

    Birthright campaigns tend to have a lot of variety. Some people run adventure-only, others domain-only, and others a mix of both. Some allow mixed race parties and others don't. Some have all the regents running one realm, others have one PC regent and the rest of the PCs as lieutenants, and others have each PC running their own domain (which is what I prefer).

    You can really go any way you and your group want. If it sounds fun then do it :)

  3. #3
    Thanks Shade!

    I'm just trying to get a handle on a good way to manage the game without it either getting out of control, i.e. too big or having too much "happenstance" in getting the players to adventure together. As an example, if you run a game where all of the players are regents controlling their own realms, just why would these kings, queens, princes, etc., go adventuring together? All the time? My only answer was they wouldn't. That's why the generic characters that could be plugged in as retainers as needed. But, I'm sure there are other answers to this question and I'd love to hear them!

    -S.

  4. #4
    Member
    Join Date
    Jul 2002
    Location
    Oslo, Norway
    Posts
    87
    Downloads
    3
    Uploads
    0
    On 25 Apr 2003 21:05 CEST you wrote:

    > ssheftall wrote:
    > Hello all!
    >
    > I`m new to Birthright (actually right now all I have in terms of info are this sight and the 3E playtest version - a copy of the 2E version is on the way.) Anyway, my question, "How is everyone running there campaigns?"
    >
    > My immediate thought would be to have each of the players create a regent (what character level?) and then create a "generic" character for use by everyone to function as an adventurer for whoevers regent is in the spotlight. Good idea? Other ways to do it and have all involved as regents? I`m interested in all thoughts!
    >
    > Thanks for your time.
    >
    > -S.
    >

    The way I prefeer is the united regents system...i.e. where the party has a class-mix that means they sort of controll all the holdings within a single domain. An example would be a 1-2 fighter regents controlling law and provinces while there is a cleric, wizard or rogue controlling the remaining holdings.
    My first campaign started with one realm falling apart and the players where the heirs to the holdings and provinces within the realm, that way the players represented a sort of ruling council and any threat to any one of them meant they responded together often through adventuring....
    Though that campaign died in part because I had serious problems finding good adventures for them....

    So the new and improved campaing V2 :) I`ve gone for mostly the same solution but this time all the players start out as sons and daughters of some of the minor nobles in the realm (i.e. provincial counts, the ones actually administrating/running the provinces), and at first lvl. After I ran each player through a solo-adventure that got their attention from the realm Duchess (Duchess Laela Flaertas of Tuornen in my case), they were all hired as sort of "troubleshooters/adventures/agents etc...." And that meant I could send them on structered missions the first 2 lvls that also meant they got to meet the important NPCs of the realm firsthand, as well as see the troublespots of the realms...
    And slowly I`m turning them onto domain lvl play through the backdoor :) It helps that one of the players a minor noble fighter started out as a unit commander. He is the commander of one of the duchess` pikemen units. That way I can also use a military angle.....

    Anyway I`m rambling, if you want to know more please send me an email.

    Cobos

    ************************************************** **************************
    The Birthright Homepage: http://www.birthright.net
    Birthright-l Archives: http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/birthright-l.html
    To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM
    with UNSUB BIRTHRIGHT-L in the body of the message.

  5. #5
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Hawaii
    Posts
    29
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    Well, as everyone will tell you it is up to you. One thing to keep in mind is does your gaming group enjoy twists and turns and backstabbing or are they more of a kill the baddies get the gold group? It is more difficult to run regents but it can be much more fulfilling if you group cares for that. (To me nothing is more disheartening then working up some interesting possibilities just to see a glazed look on my players faces, not to mention having everyone unable to remember why we are playing BR to begin with.) The world itself is very rich and a non-regent campaign can be the best for new characters to give everyone a heads up about the world and slowly work into a more political game. Just my two cents.
    Ben

  6. #6
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    Sydney, Australia
    Posts
    474
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    On Sat, 2003-04-26 at 05:00, ssheftall wrote:
    This post was generated by the Birthright.net message forum.
    You can view the entire thread at:

    http://www.birthright.net/read.php?TID=1607

    ssheftall wrote:
    Hello all!

    I`m new to Birthright (actually right now all I have in terms of info
    are this sight and the 3E playtest version - a copy of the 2E version
    is on the way.) Anyway, my question, "How is everyone running there
    campaigns?"

    My immediate thought would be to have each of the players create a regent
    (what character level?) and then create a "generic" character for use
    by everyone to function as an adventurer for whoevers regent is in the
    spotlight. Good idea? Other ways to do it and have all involved as
    regents? I`m interested in all thoughts!

    Thanks for your time.

    -S.

    There are many different "styles" of BR. e.g.
    (i) Domain-only play, (no adventuring)
    (ii) Adventure only play
    (iii) Hybrid Domain/Adventure

    I use a hybrid. It`s a very low-level BR world.

    Each player creates a role playing character who acts as an agent for a
    domain level regent. Players are not required to reveal truthfully who
    their domain level regent is to the other players. One player chose to
    be a double-agent, actually working for one regent while appearing to
    work for another. Regents rarely adventure and have few levels,
    typically 1-3, unless they are Wizard source regents who spend most of
    their time adventuring (such a player has two adventuring characters - a
    wizard and her bodyguard/lover in this case). Adventuring characters are
    around 4th or 5th level, or are dual-classed at 3/3 (not a fan of 3e at
    all).

    I do not award experience points to player characters for any reason
    whatsoever - the levels are the players starting levels, they cannot
    advance on their own actions alone. They start as heroes, and are
    expected to act appropriately - should the player characters exceed
    expectations (or get bored) I`ll change it to something else.

    The players, through their regent characters, decide much of the plot
    lines (but not the consequences - that`s my job). The maneuvering and
    politics occurs at the local political level - there`s no grand plan to
    unite Cerilia, or to defeat the Gorgon.

    The current adventure plot revolves around an action taken by a priest
    regent to curry favor with the local real regent to endorse his faith as
    the state faith officially. At the domain level of play, the action was
    to send a gift (an enchanted golden chalice) to the realm regent. The
    chalice was stolen by pirates. (BTW This is set in Berhagen in Brechtur)
    The agents of almost everyone have a vested interest in getting the
    chalice back, and for those who wouldn`t normally care - there is a
    reward too.

    ************************************************** **************************
    The Birthright Homepage: http://www.birthright.net
    Birthright-l Archives: http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/birthright-l.html
    To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM
    with UNSUB BIRTHRIGHT-L in the body of the message.

  7. #7
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Location
    ne ohio
    Posts
    24
    Downloads
    21
    Uploads
    0
    I can understand your dilemma I kind of overwhelmed when Birthright first came out but I was stubborn and kept with it.

    The best suggestion I have is start out with an NPC Regent that you run as your personal Character. Run him or her through the domain turns taking your actions collecting Regency points and taxes/moneys and of course paying maintance costs. Try to cover everything with this character and then when you get a good feel for what is going on then your can have your NPC declare one of your PC as an air to the throne or regency. (This of course can be a whole adventure by itself).

    After this is going well then work up the other PC into regents, and before you know it you will be a pro.

    It’s Good to be Kind, but better to be Dungeon Master

  8. #8
    Site Moderator kgauck's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2002
    Location
    Springfield Mo
    Posts
    3,562
    Downloads
    2
    Uploads
    0
    ----- Original Message -----
    From: "ssheftall" <brnetboard@BIRTHRIGHT.NET>
    Sent: Friday, April 25, 2003 2:00 PM


    > My immediate thought would be to have each of the players
    > create a regent (what character level?) and then create a "generic"
    > character for use by everyone to function as an adventurer for
    > whoevers regent is in the spotlight.

    I definitely go this way. Too often regents are too involved in their own
    business to adventure together. Having spare characters for players allows
    everyone to play even when one or more regents is busy with domain actions.
    Rather than thinking in terms of two groups, I think in terms of one group
    with alternates.

    Kenneth Gauck
    kgauck@mchsi.com

    ************************************************** **************************
    The Birthright Homepage: http://www.birthright.net
    Birthright-l Archives: http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/birthright-l.html
    To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM
    with UNSUB BIRTHRIGHT-L in the body of the message.

  9. #9
    Senior Member
    Join Date
    Jan 2002
    Location
    Germany
    Posts
    883
    Downloads
    0
    Uploads
    0
    ssheftall wrote:

    >This post was generated by the Birthright.net message forum.
    > You can view the entire thread at: http://www.birthright.net/read.php?TID=1607
    >ssheftall wrote:
    > Hello all!
    >I`m new to Birthright (actually right now all I have in terms of info are this sight and the 3E playtest version - a copy of the 2E version is on the way.) Anyway, my question, "How is everyone running there campaigns?"
    >My immediate thought would be to have each of the players create a regent (what character level?) and then create a "generic" character for use by everyone to function as an adventurer for whoevers regent is in the spotlight. Good idea? Other ways to do it and have all involved as regents? I`m interested in all thoughts!
    >Thanks for your time.
    >-S.
    >
    The major problem with that is that the regents must be friends.
    No regent would take an adventurer with him on an adventurer if you e.g.
    search for the major artifact of overcoming your enemies, if in the
    party is a character played by the same player who plays your enemy ;-)
    bye
    Michael Romes

    ************************************************** **************************
    The Birthright Homepage: http://www.birthright.net
    Birthright-l Archives: http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/birthright-l.html
    To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM
    with UNSUB BIRTHRIGHT-L in the body of the message.

  10. #10
    Site Moderator geeman's Avatar
    Join Date
    Nov 2001
    Location
    California, USA
    Posts
    2,165
    Downloads
    4
    Uploads
    0
    At 09:00 PM 4/25/2003 +0200, ssheftall wrote:

    >My immediate thought would be to have each of the players create a regent
    >(what character level?) and then create a "generic" character for use
    >by everyone to function as an adventurer for whoevers regent is in the
    >spotlight. Good idea? Other ways to do it and have all involved as regents?

    Sounds like an excellent idea to me. You might want to consider the exact
    role of the "adventurer" PC in relation to the "regent" PC. A couple of
    things that might make sense to think about:

    1. Should the character classes differ between these two PCs? Having both
    a fighter regent and a fighter adventurer might promote some consistency in
    the player`s activities during sessions, but it could also limit the amount
    of participation that the player has in sessions.

    2. Similarly, what will be the relationship between the players regent and
    adventurer PCs? Having the adventurer being the "right hand" (or LT) of
    the regent PC might again promote consistency in the player`s activities,
    but could also limit the involvement of the player in the session. If
    players control a PC regent and an "adventuring" PC who works for one of
    the PC regents of another player that could also promote more interaction
    between players.

    It depends largely on the style of play you prefer and that of your
    players, but it sounds like there are a lot of cool role-playing
    possibilities to arranging sessions the way you`re suggesting. In the past
    I`ve had players take on the role of just about any character they came
    into contact with as part of their "role" as regent. That is, if they
    delegate an action to a character that is part of their realm`s staff then
    they have to play out that character`s activities. That certainly keeps
    players involved in the action, and doesn`t let them "get away" with
    anything when it comes to having access to resources at the domain level,
    which can be quite extensive, but it does require a lot of flexibility on
    the part of the players and a whole stack of character record
    sheets. Character information is somewhat more complex in 3e than in 2e in
    my experience because one has to spend skill points, consider
    multi-classing options, choose feats, etc. where in 2e characters were
    simpler, so it`s not as easy to have a list of such NPCs/PCs available
    making that style of play require a lot more of a time investment. At the
    moment I`m running a pretty exclusively adventure level campaign, but
    limiting players to one regent and one adventurer might be more manageable.

    Within that context you might also want to consider how you`re going to
    divvy up XP awards to the two PCs. CR awards for encounters are still
    pretty straight forward, but if you give bonus points for story, good play,
    accomplishing particular goals, etc. then those might go to the regent or
    be split with him.

    Gary

    ************************************************** **************************
    The Birthright Homepage: http://www.birthright.net
    Birthright-l Archives: http://oracle.wizards.com/archives/birthright-l.html
    To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM
    with UNSUB BIRTHRIGHT-L in the body of the message.

Thread Information

Users Browsing this Thread

There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)

Tags for this Thread

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •  
BIRTHRIGHT, DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, D&D, the BIRTHRIGHT logo, and the D&D logo are trademarks owned by Wizards of the Coast, Inc., a subsidiary of Hasbro, Inc., and are used by permission. ©2002-2010 Wizards of the Coast, Inc.