18, 18, 18 STR, CON, CHA
18, 18, 18 STR, CON, CHA
Introduction
A good campaign needs buy-in from the players from the very moment they show up at the table. The best way to do that is have them immersed in your world from the moment of character creation. By habit, for each new campaign, I try to include:
The elevator pitch: A summary of the setting.
Background primer: An overview of the types of societies and peoples in the setting.
Bespoke backgrounds: A set of backgrounds made specifically for the setting.
The Elevator Pitch
To summarise, it is an overview of your setting that developed from your initial high-concept setting idea. In essence, it is you selling your campaign to your players, getting them excited and thinking about how their character may fit into this world you have created.
The pitch for Webrail went like this.
Webrail Elevator Pitch
''In the beginning, a thousand worlds were scattered into a million fragments and cast into the Abyss, an endless, starless void.
At first, people were isolated on their fragments, and many without resources warred or perished from famine.
Eventually, the spiders appeared, giant inscrutable beings that spun their webs and united the fragments together into a single network.
In time, the enterprising peoples of the fragments created trains, vast moving cities that moved from fragment to fragment, engaging in commerce and diplomacy. The Webrail was born.
However, the Abyss began to stir and change. Demonic forces manifested across the Webrail and waged a war of extinction against all living things. It was only put to a stop when the spiders spun great threads and descended into the darkness of the Abyss, from which they never returned.
Centuries later, the Webrail is rebuilding, and ancient trains still run across its network, but the spiders are long gone.''
Background Primer
Alongside your elevator pitch, give your players a short background primer. This only needs to be a paragraph or two, and should describe the types of societies found within your world and how they contrast.
Webrail Background Primer
Your character is a citizen of the Webrail. There are a huge number of diverse people. Some live on the fragments, floating islands in the Abyss, and others will be citizens of the roaming city-states that are the trains. Generally, the quality of life is much better on the trains as they have access to powerful technologies and magics. However, some larger settlements may have a comparable quality of life.
Technology levels are varied, from wild Stone Age tribes to steampunk locomotives. However, due to the catastrophic nature of the demonic inundation, much knowledge was simply lost. In many cases, technology is maintained, but the theoretical understanding of it is lost for the ages.
Bespoke Backgrounds
Many TTRPGs do character backgrounds really well. Where possible, I create backgrounds which are tailored to the setting. This means that when your players create their characters, they are choosing backgrounds that fit the themes of your world and allow them to think more deeply about how they fit within the setting.
A good bespoke setting should contain:
The Profession Title
Equipment they gain
A question to answer about their character that should help create a dynamic background from the word go.
Scavenger
Question: You have dared to walk into the ruins of the world before. What did you see that made you weep for what was lost? |
This first example is from a campaign where players took on the roles of pilgrims in a post-apocalyptic world.
The scavenger starts with a minor magical item.
And they have to consider what horrors are in the ruins, and how this might have affected them.
Outcast
Question: Someone is rarely cast out from their home and kin. It must have been a terrible crime or prejudice that forced you out. What was it? |
This second example from the same campaign has a choice.
They may start with additional equipment. Or they can become a mutant, which may have benefits and drawbacks.
The character has been cast out of their home. Perhaps they were shunned because of their mutation, or perhaps they have a terrible secret that was discovered.
Conductor
Question: You check everyone’s ticket. No stowaways allowed. However, there was that one time you found someone without a ticket. It was a hard choice, but you had to make a decision. What did you do, and why? |
This example is from the Webrail campaign and is for a player who wants their character to have grown up on one of these vast city-sized trains. Having no tickets in this world means getting kicked off the train. In Webrail, it could have massive implications, and the question invites the player to reflect upon, further immersing them in the game world.
Linguist
Question: The Webrail is a diverse place, and linguists are in high demand. When did you prove your worth? Did you placate or fool a threat? Did you enable a great peace or trade? Or did you intimidate a foe into capitulation? |
This final example is also from Webrail. It provides the character with some real skills. It also makes the player think more deeply about the game world and how their character acted within it.
Summary
Your elevator pitch should be designed as a summary and a sales brochure for your setting, while your background primer and bespoke backgrounds are to immerse your players in the world from the moment they start making their character.
Next time, shopping.
