Roleplaying Campaign Ideas

Wanna Play?

Here is where I post my campain ideas to garner player interest. However, all ideas are not purely my own, but also things I've picked up at my favorite RPG forums, The Forge, RPGnet, Story Games, and Rollspel.nu, as well as other places. If you spot one of your ideas here, please view it as a very sincere compliment.

A King Must be Crowned

Sharpen Your Swords!

You are all at the royal tournament grounds to attend the King's annual tournament. All the famous, and some quite infamous, knights of the kingdom are in attendence. On the eve of the tournament, as the priests consecrate the tournament grounds, the king dies without an heir. The signs are clear, the winner of the tournament shall become king!

Inspiration

George R.R. Martin's The Hedge Knight (the comic from Devil's Due Publishing is great), and the movie A Knight's Tale

System

Straight-up tanks will have trouble keeping the crown, while pure political protagonists will suffer in the tournament itself. It will be up to the players' protagonist choices, and their goals, to determine whether they work as a group, backing one champion, or duke it out amongst themselves for the glory of the crown.

The Burning Wheel would be a fantastic system for this campaign. The protagonists' Beliefs and Instincts would determine how political or combat heavy the game's focus would be. You can't just count on combat skills to hold win the crown, you need all the allies you can muster, so Circles test will be of utmost importance.

Circles, Resources and Duel of Wits would balance out the fighting, and should all be inspired by how Dunk, in The Hedge Knight, manages to obtain his shield, gear and allies. This situation would serve as a great foundation for a long-term campaign if desired, and a great introduction to The Burning Wheel's rules.

The Riddle of Steel would also be a great choice. The combat system together with the Spiritual Attributes would make the tournament action actually sizzle! I would definitely play the game using conflict resolution, skill pools, Battle of Wits, and a few other ideas inspired by games such as The Burning Wheel and FATE.

The Dragon and the Princess

Pitch

The dragon has kidnapped the princess and the king and queen are distraught. What does the dragon want? Is someone actually controlling the dragon? Is this related to the Great War? What is your role in this?

Inspiration

Fairy tales of all sorts, sappy Disney movies, and Shrek, but all totally dripping with influence of The Brothers Grimm. I am talking a very cliché backstory, but oozing with potential for great heroics and tragedy.

System

This is the cool part, as the system will impact the story greatly, right from the start. The Burning Wheel would be great for a dark medieval feel, focusing on political intrigue and action. The Riddle of Steel would certaily lead to a ton of blood, sweat and tears, great for focusing on over-the-top, dragon-slaying heroes. Faery's Tale would be perfect for a genuine fairy tale feel, and who wouldn't want to play small folks going up against a dragon?

The system used will pretty much tell how this story shapes up. Faery's Tale could make the entire game a Shrek-like comedic romp, while The Riddle of Steel will totally change that to focusing on the martial action, and The Burning Wheel will lend a huge amount of darkness to the feel of the campaign.