I've been taking part in a long-running warhammer campaign which has been running now since October 2011. You can see it here, we've blogged the whole thing. We started with eight players. Currently there are four left, the Dwarves, Vampires, Bretonnians and the Warriors of Chaos. We're seven years in in campaign time, and it's been a blast. I do love my warhammer, but when you're gotten the added background and context of a campaign game, it can really up the ante.
Two of the biggest problems with campaigns as far as I can see are getting games played and running out of steam. We seem to have solved both issues. Games that can reasonably be played on the tabletop are preferred, but when people just can't make it the GM rolls off using the old Mighty Empires rule, and this has worked well. On that note, having a non-playing GM is pretty much mandatory. We've been very lucky to have someone willing to make all the rolls, harass people for orders, send out fluff and all the rest.
Running out of steam is the other biggie. We're playing until there's a certain amount of victory conditions met, but another way to do it would be a time limit, perhaps five or six years. You have to have committed players, but a definite end point gives people something to aim towards.
The other thing you need is somewhat thick skin, certainly in the company I keep. My gaming group are notorious backstabbers, evidenced by my former allies the dwarves and bretonnians combining forces to give me the shaft this turn, as you can see above. I'm the vampire player. This will result in my next tabletop games against them being somewhat coloured by a barely controlled need to enact painful and over the top revenge upon them. I live for this kind of gaming, not just a simple warhammer game, but part of an ongoing story where you get emotionally entangled.
Love it.
What are you using to generate the map? Or is someone just tweaking it in Photoshop?
ReplyDeleteGood old Photoshop. There's a lot of layers.
DeleteSounds awesome. Super jealous. I can't seem to get one started or get involved in one that doesn't fizzle within a month. Seems nobody has the time or energy necessary to make it happen around here...I think most of the people who game just want to get in the thick of it as quick as possible.
ReplyDeleteRegardless its good to see a great campaign happening elsewhere!
Brilliant - I love the scope of the whole thing. The noble GM should be sainted too!
ReplyDeleteI've mentioned before I'd like to try something like this with a bit of Warmaster and possibly Man O War thrown in, but it'll probably be a solo affair.
We gabbed on for years about running a decent campaign, so it took a while to get it together, but worth it, I must say.
ReplyDelete