There was a post on Reddit that I responded to recently. It was very straight forward, and it was simply “Tell me about your campaign”. In contrast to the post, my response was a bit of a read, at least compared to what I normally see on Reddit. Well, even though my comment was rather hefty, it still leaves out a lot of information, and, more importantly, it got me thinking that I might benefit from maintaining an ongoing journal of the campaign’s sessions. Of course, I have many notes, so what I really mean by journal is a “pretty” version that is fun to read. This “Entry Zero” covers everything that went into the game before it actually started. It sets the stage with all the context for how I am running the game, what I’m using, and what my plan was for the start.
Rules
Using the Basic Fantasy chassis, I began with a set of rules that closely resembled the rules I use today, with some omissions; I believe there is merit to running games close to as-written to start and modifying them as needed. Still, I had an idea of what I wanted to change, since I was already familiar with the OSR style via AD&D 1E. Going in the same order as in that prior letter, I’ll explain the differences now. For Character Creation, I only allowed the “Rangers and Paladins” and “Background Skills” supplements, and everything regarding Magic-Users was missing completely, since my initial party had no interest in playing one. My Gameplay rules were likewise bare, consisting only of the “Combat Options” and “Equipment Emporium” supplements with XP coming only from treasure and the “last call” save vs. Death mechanic omitted completely. I only had the “Combat Reference”, “Basic Fantasy Monster Index”, and the “Creature Sheet” supplements for ‘DM Stuff’.
Setting
At the time I was getting around to putting the campaign together, I was fascinated by Greyhawk. I still am, but that’s beside the point. I intended for the party to begin in Narwell, which is southwest of Greyhawk on the Darlene map, and adventure around that part of the map until they become bold enough to go further. We did play a few sessions like this, but, while I appreciate that I am allowed to deviate from “canon”, I find it hard to simply use parts of Greyhawk’s (or any setting’s) history, cultures, and so on, and ignore the rest. The problem is that I ask too many questions, and I overthink whether parts of established settings are fine being taken piecemeal or if they depend on other contexts and truths to make sense. Plus, I wanted the game to start sooner rather than later, so becoming a Greyhawk Grognard was out of the question for me (although, I like watching the videos anyway). Since Narwell had already been used by the time I came to this conclusion, I took Narwell out of Greyhawk and dropped it into my own setting called Asheraven, which, at least in name, is inspired by the former setting. I also kept much of the surrounding area the same, namely the forest to the south and southwest and the nearby river.
Guide Rods
Prior to even pitching the campaign, I binged the entirety of Chris Gonnerman’s “Solomoriah Speaks” series on YouTube. He compared launching a model rocket to launching a campaign in his Solomoriah Speaks Episode 1 video, and that was something that I generally did before without knowing it, but I made sure this time around to be aware of it to be certain that I even wanted the campaign to begin with going the direction I set it. I took out the “Olde Island Fortress” from Basic Fantasy’s BF1 Morgansfort module, placed it in the forest south of Narwell, and decided they will meet a drunken noble from far away that will have a magical certificate that acts as both deed and key to the fortress; he will brag loudly about this inheritance to him for all nearby to hear, and, as copious amounts of alcohol send him to sleep, the certificate will be free for the taking. Now, the first set of players were not completely unknown to me, so I knew they would snatch the certificate as soon as the opportunity presented itself.
The other guide rods I had set were the scenarios called “Steaks” and “The Circus of Gandolfo” from TSR’s I13 Adventure Pack I module. I planned to introduce the first scenario after a handful of delves into the fortress, so that the players might have something else to occupy themselves with, if they wanted to take a break from dungeoncrawling. The circus would come into town a bit later. That scenario involved saving a high-profile individual, and I did not want the party to be known as “heroes” of any sort so soon and especially did not want them to feel like heroes.
The final call to adventure was something that was not fully developed at the time, but I wanted to at least have some reference to. I’ve also always liked “Terror in Skytumble Tor” from the same I13 module, which got me thinking about giants as I was considering how and whether to add that in somewhere. At the time, the only giants-focused adventures that I knew of were for much higher-leveled characters or, if skill is considered a substitute for levels, required more skill than I thought my players would have. They weren’t old school gamers, so I wouldn't expect them to think like them right away. One thing I did know was that I wanted the adventure to involve quarrels between different giant factions. Until I had an adventure ready to go, I settled for simply having there be a chance every so often in town that the players would hear sounds of battle from far off in the distance. I knew Gandolfo’s Circus had giants in it, so I noted that those two giants would have some connection to this greater adventure.
Required Reading
I touched on it vaguely at the end of my first look at Tonisborg, but I like to read things all the way through at least once, but preferably twice, before considering myself ready to put them to good use. Besides watching Gonnerman's videos, I also had to read the Basic Fantasy Core Rulebook, all the supplements I planned on using, and the adventures I was planning on using. That final point proved lucrative, because it turned out Release 31 of BF1 Morgansfort was missing a compass rose on the map, and I would have run it completely out of whack if I had not looked through it. The only thing I didn’t understand, and still don’t, is how the olde island fortress is supposed to be entered; the stairs to the first room are in the middle of the fortress. I ended up just having the fortress sunken into the ground with a shoddy above-ground entrance. I should ask on the Basic Fantasy forums.
Ending Prep
That wraps up the steps I took leading up to the first session of the campaign. Next week, I am planning on writing up the events up until just before the session that will happen this week. It may end up being two or even three separate letters depending on how long it ends up being. The sessions began as far back as February of 2022, but there were at least 2 months’ worth of sessions over the year that got missed. Regardless how it comes out, I am then planning to put the notes for the four sessions in this January together and releasing them as part of an ongoing monthly series. February will have its release, as will March, etc., and that way, I can take another look at the game’s events to see where things might be going as well as share how my games unfold and what my players are doing.
Thank you for reading this pre-play report. If you keep a similar sort of journal yourself, feel free to mention it in a comment wherever you see this or right on this letter. Have a good day.
Next: Play Report #1