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campaign is defined as a set of adventures that are linked together to tell an on-going story. It takes a special type of GM to be able to build a campaign and run it successfully, but it can be a very rewarding experience for those who can do so. Campaigns take a lot of thought and energy, especially considering that they require a GM to build several adventures, with each as important as the one that occurred previously. But building the adventures is only part of a campaign. It is up to the GM to present a living, thriving universe. This final section of this chapter talks about campaigns and offers advice for how to make any campaign a rich, immersive story.
Before a campaign is ever established, the GM should sit down and think about what they want to do with the campaign. The campaign is going to tell a long and involved story, as opposed to a single adventure. It will be a story about a central group of characters who, throughout whatever mechanism is in play, will work together to accomplish the goals of the campaign. The GM must have a clear idea of what their story is going to be about before they can even begin to create the campaign. The plot slicing method presented in
Chapter 11.1.1 also works well for creating a campaign, though the method must be applied over the course of several adventures. The GM has to ask themselves whether or not their campaign will have a single, overarching storyline (which tends to lend itself towards greater opportunities for character development), or if it will be composed of single plots (which tends to be a little easier to create). With the ideas and goals of the campaign in mind, the GM can take each goal and sub-divide it into goals for the individual adventures of the campaign, and slice them up as much as they'd like.
Once the creation process is complete and the campaign is ready to play, a GM needs to establish the core group of heroes, the character group. The GM needs to be flexible with the playing group (even more so than in an adventure), as campaigns will take longer than single adventures and thus there is a larger risk that players will have to drop out or be added as time goes by. It is likely that players will come and go during the course of a campaign; this simply cannot be helped. What is important, however, is what happens to the character the player was portraying. The easiest thing to do when a player leaves the group is to have their character leave the character group, for one reason or another. That character can be kept in reserve, until another player comes by to pick the character back up again. The character can explain that they had an opportunity to perform some business, and now that business is concluded for one reason or another. Another thing that can be done is to kill the character off. If the character was one of the main group, their death should be fairly heroic, such as a character who sacrifices themselves for the good of the others. Don’t kill off every member of the core group, however, or the whole plot will seem contrived.
Also of importance is how the adventuring party begins the campaign. There are several methods through which characters will get to know one another and decide to work together. In Starflight, military groups may be assigned to one another. Interstel crews were likely recruited off the streets by the ship's master, who might've in turn been approached by a company recruiter just a few hours earlier. Non-military groups may have characters who have a common goal. There are even campy reasons why groups of characters decide to work together, like the group of characters who decide to work together over drinks in a bar. Any beginning is all right, as long as it works for the campaign in progress. Just as important is how to introduce new characters into the character group. As with the beginning of the campaign, it is important for the new character to have some back story, and to have a reason for joining the group. These reasons can be the same as the reasons the original group got together in the first place (even the campy reasons).
Once the campaign has been established, it is part of the GM’s job to maintain the campaign. This is best done by building on what has happened so far, by foreshadowing what is to come, and by creating a living environment for the characters through such methods as the relationships they form and making subtle yet important changes to the campaign universe.
Building on the past and foreshadowing the future is perhaps the most important and best way to keep a campaign running once it’s been established. In the early going, foreshadowing events to come is important. For example, if one of the adventures involves rescuing trapped workers after a cave-in, the characters could run into somebody in a prior adventure who used to work there and who complains about the earthquakes and insufficient safety precautions on the asteroid. This will hint to the characters what they will be doing in the future and help prepare them for that adventure (if they know they’ll wind up in fire caves, chances are they’ll want to save up for some flame-resistant gear). Building on events that happened in the past is also important. If the characters rescue the pro-consulate’s daughter, the pro-consulate will remember them and their heroism the next time they meet. If (heaven forbid) Starport bit the dust in an adventure, chances are good it won’t be there later in a later adventure.
It is the GM’s job to portray the roles of all the NPCs the characters meet during a campaign, as is normal. One thing the GM should be sure to understand is that most NPCs won’t know about the characters or their reputation. Because of this, most people will treat the characters like they would other people, simply because they don’t recognize something special about so-and-so. Most people won’t even pay attention to the characters, unless they do something to attract the attention of others. The characters will have to be careful in how they act around others. If they are kind and just, chances are they will earn friends and respect from others. This can affect how much it might cost the characters to get a meal or borrow transportation within a town in their favor. If the characters act like a bunch of law-breaking jerks, the opposite can also be true...
As part of building on the past of the campaign, the GM should from time to time have recurring characters. Chances are good the barkeeper at the Nebula Lounge at Starport Earth will still be the same guy the next time the characters drop in for a visit. This can apply to other types of characters as well. A dark figure seen in an alleyway in the middle of the night could show up later on an entirely different planet, and finally reveal their goals and intentions. The characters can even form relationships with certain NPCs (such as the innkeeper at the Regal Inn in New Braunfels on Koann III, who lets the characters stay at a reduced rate because they helped find his lost cat), which adds to the story and help flesh out the campaign. The GM should be careful not to overuse recurring characters, as overuse may make the campaign seem artificial, but if used well they add realism to the story and confirms the place of the characters in the campaign.
Another way to make the campaign world seem more alive is to change what the characters know. If a mechanic the characters trust has been talking about retirement, have the character’s nephew working in their place the next time the characters visit the mechanic's shop. If the characters know a friendly noble on an oligarchic planet, have that noble become the sovereign. The GM can even hit the characters where it will hurt. If they love a particular city, have that city become the victim of some natural disaster or enemy raid. Wars and other major calamities are part of real life in a real world, and this should be true even in the character’s world. Don’t hit them below the belt too often, or the players won’t want their characters to become too attached to anything. If used judiciously, changes and calamities will add meaning and purpose to the campaign.
After a campaign has gone on for a while, the GM may decide the time has come to begin a new campaign. In that case, it's fitting for them to go ahead and try to wrap up the loose threads of any ongoing campaign; don't just drop the campaign mid-stream, except in the very rare case where all the players quit the game at the exact same time. All stories deserve a good climax and a final resolution; campaigns are no different. If the players had a run-in with a mob boss in an earlier adventure, the GM should write an adventure wherein their final, climatic conflict takes place. If the players have been trying to demolish the Crystal Planet, put that goal within their grasp and write an adventure wherein that is their final goal. It may take a couple of sessions (or adventures) to wrap everything up, but it is well worth it, especially if the GM wants the players to remember the campaign and talk about how great it was for years to come.
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