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Hey, all,

I thought it might be useful to start a general conversation about our prep & organization of the LOST WORLDS campaign. We all do things differently, of course, but I always find these discussions very useful.

So, I’ll begin. Having absorbed and internalized the campaign for several weeks, I’m now planning out how to run and organize it. I’ll have three players in my group, each of whom will start out playing 2 characters each. This helps fill out the UNCSS Solovetsky Island crew nicely. These PCs are:
• A Colonial Marshal sent to the Far Spinward Colonies on a UN mandate. Due to unforeseen consequences, they are selected to be the Solovetsky Island captain, following the murder of the intended captain (more on this below)
• A Kid, the daughter of prospector and adventurer Emily Quintana, modeled partially on True Danziger from the Earth 2 TV series.
• A former Colonial Marine turned private sector security officer.
• A Roughneck and secret a former W-Y Dog Catcher who defected and got a new ID.
• A Company Agent of the Omni-Tech corporation, charged with the responsibility for the gear (lifeboats, tractors, excavators, rescue pods, etc. that the company has invested in the Solovetsky Island scoutship)… and to further their company’s nefarious plans, of course.
• And, a W-Y scientist there to study whatever the expedition turns up.

As mentioned, the intended captain was murdered in cryosleep en route to the Far Spinward Colonies. What’s worse, Gaius & MU/TH/UR are unable to produce any evidence of the murder – whomever the assassin was, they were able to infiltrate the fleet, move about and interact with systems (including cryopods), and murder a man without leaving a trace (or more likely, by covering their tracks expertly through deep, root-access to MU/TH/UR’s systems). Very serious stuff that should instill some extra, personal tension into the campaign from the get-go. In any case, MU/TH/UR selects the Marshal to take the captain’s place, to the chagrin of several other crewmembers who think themselves more qualified for the job. (Basically, the intended captain was a UA/W-Y agent and the UPP found out and had him assassinated; there’s a lot more to this that will unfurl as the campaign professes, setting up the UPP coup towards the end of LOST WORLDS).

As for the campaign structure, I plan to run it something like this.

Campaign Event – Protocol: [Homemade] Before the mission even starts, ICC Protocol Inspector Blatchman tries to pressure the new Captain into granting him powers and access onboard the Solovetsky Island. This, of course, is an effort to make the crew hate the dude, which should become a useful distraction.

EPISODE 0 – ARRIVAL: Solovetsky Island checks out Pelican Colony, the bred-basket world that should be a priority of the Great Mother Mission. Basically, I’m splitting Ep.6 into two; here at the start, the PCs go here to find the place ruined and haunted by automatons, but the Gorham Marauders have not crashed here yet and the crew won’t find the Engineer stuff and such. This will be a metapuzzle-free start where the PCs explore the irradiated world, possibly butting heads with a mad, cannibal survivor or something, just to spice things up a bit.

Campaign Event – Quarantine is Not a Dirty Word: p.166


EPISODE 1 – HOME SWEET HOME: p.176

Campaign Event – Baiting the Bear: p.167


EPISODE 2 – TO GO MY OWN DARK WAY: p.192

Campaign Event – UPP Dead in Space: p.168


EPISODE 3 – LEAVE ALL ELSE TO THE GODS: p.206

Campaign Event – Throop to the Rescue: p.166. This will be preceded by UNCSS Solovetsky Island suffering hit-and-run attack from someone (Gorham Marauders, probably, or Children of the Two Divines, OR due to betrayal from within… we’ll see what fits best).


EPISODE 4 – THE DEVIL LIVES IN STILL WATERS: p.219

Campaign Event – Facing the Marauders: p.169. The Gorham Marauders survivors from Ep.6 will be introduced here.


EPISODE 5 – AGAINST A SEA OF TROUBLES: p.233

Campaign Event – Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing: p.169


EPISODE 6 – LET SLEEPING GODS LIE: p.246. Having already introduced the ruined colony in Ep.0, the UNCSS Solovetsky Island returns following a tip or to investigate a distress call or whatever.

Campaign Event – Bring them to Hell: p.169


EPISODE 7 – IN THE SHADOW OF PERFECTION: p.261. The Finale.



Well, there we have it, my intended campaign structure for the LOST WORLDS. Of course, things might change along the way and I’m certain the players will inspire other, ad hoc scenarios as well. Plus whatever I end up stealing from all y’all inspired GMs, of course.

Furthermore, I will add post-mission reports from each of the other 3 Great Mother Mission exploration crews to sprinkle in rumors and color the overall story. In particular, the UNCSS Typhoon will feature extensively in these reports, and will even cross paths with the PC crew from time to time, to set up the rescue mission in Ep.5.


I’d love any feedback and suggestion, and most of all I’d love to hear about your plans for the campaign. Share your brilliance, peoploids!

I am at work but have a few minutes to toss in a thought.

When I am prepping - I am looking for the following things for each encounter:
3 transitions (or ways) *in* to each encounter so that I can shuffle and shift them to occur in different orders more smoothly which ever way the players go.

Anticipate the 5 basic approaches the players' characters may take to the encounter itself:
Will they try to avoid or go around it?
Will they try to explore / scout / or learn more about it before committing?
Will they try to parley? (even Ripley negotiated with the Queen ... at the point of a flamethrower...)
Will they attempt some trickery to resolve the encounter?
Will they simply attack?

Then consider 3 possible outcomes:
Success - they are victorious / achieve their goal / win and can run off with that encounter's loot
Complication - they fail somehow - but its recoverable against stiffer opposition or higher odds - what ways can they fail but come close to success?
Setback - they blow it - it all goes wrong and they need an entirely new plan - against an alert opposition?

And finally ... can I work in up to 3 clues / hooks / choices about what options or encounters could be next?

hey Angelman, I love your structure. You are always very prepared and I like that. I'm really looking forward to reading your play reports (I don't think I've read any play reports from you, very glad you're embracing that).

I love all your characters. Integrating the UNCSS Typhoon into a few adventures sets the table for episode 5, it's very well thought out and I'm going to steal your idea there.

As you read in my play reports, we are going to do the episodes consecutively (1+2+3+4+5+6+7) but I am thinking of adding some extra cinematics between the episodes soon too.

Scoop - I will probably do an episode with a UPP crew and my players, for this episode, will play other characters (the UPP crew).

Good start to the campaign,
Arthur.

I am not a very good GM, and preparedness is my crutch, heh heh.

Indeed, I have not done many game reports in the past, and I’m not certain that I will have the time and strength to do them in the future (I tend to overthink and overwrite everything I do, so game reports always end up super long and complex. I think I did a couple for my prelude to FRONTIER WAR, but that’s it).

I have, however, done these plannings & preps threads before and they always go down well

Imposter syndrome or the Dunning-Kruger effect strike again...

"I am not a good GM"

If you stick to facts, not undefined "feelings", then you can help beat this recurring curse:
Do you have players?
Do they come back for more?
Is everyone having fun?
Are you working extra to make things fun for not just yourself but your players?

Each yes is a fact that puts paid to the nonsense we tell ourselves like "I am not a good GM"

And before you try to argue with me - ask yourself what scale you were using to measure your "goodness" or "badness" as a GM with?
On a scale of ? to ? you scored ? ... oops ...
... and if you do noodle up a scale then we can go over how honestly you scored yourself on it
... and you will already have a list of do-betters to score more on that scale

Imposter syndrome or the Dunning-Kruger effect strike again...

"I am not a good GM"

If you stick to facts, not undefined "feelings", then you can help beat this recurring curse:
Do you have players?
Do they come back for more?
Is everyone having fun?
Are you working extra to make things fun for not just yourself but your players?

Each yes is a fact that puts paid to the nonsense we tell ourselves like "I am not a good GM"

And before you try to argue with me - ask yourself what scale you were using to measure your "goodness" or "badness" as a GM with?
On a scale of ? to ? you scored ? ... oops ...
... and if you do noodle up a scale then we can go over how honestly you scored yourself on it
... and you will already have a list of do-betters to score more on that scale

Heh heh, alright alright alright

Let me refine the statement and explain that I am GM in possession of a narrow tool set -- most GMs I've experienced can draw upon a richer set of tools and talents to engage the players and paint the story than what I can -- and my absolutely horrendously poor memory (=I suspect light brain damage from some childhood stuff) is a major setback to GMing. That said, I'm good at preparing and, as a wannabe fiction writer, I've got a fair grasp on literary techniques and such. In short, I basically run quite railroaded stories, but they're rich and well-plotted railroads... and the players seems to enjoy it.

Also, I don't really like myself, so there's that.

EDIT: I messed up my last few posts here a little and need to readjust = I am not planning to do detailed game reports. What I was trying to say was that I intend to do in-game expositions of what the three other expedition ships have been up to, so as to paint a broader picture. I used the word "report", which is easily read as post-session write-ups, but that was not the intenstion, heh heh

Thanks for the peptalk, ExileInParadise <3

Just know you're not alone in self-doubt and many people do struggle with individual realities when trying to create shared fun experiences for groups of folks.

You know you - and it sounds like some more honest self-assessment there where you have fenced in areas you want to make sure don't drag down your games.

And, you got some strategies to shore up those areas and negate them from seriously affecting your game ... (see two more facts a bad GM wouldn't care about either...)

The idea of chronicling or outlining what the rest of the expedition fleet is up to is a good one ... man I can see how that would add a lot encounter and event opportunities to throw in the mix of the main sessions anytime you like ... as well as a running "this is the world in motion outside of just the players ..." news items etc.

*great idea* *yoink*

Now, finally - if your table has fun with it - railroading isn't all bad ... sometimes players are like cats and need a bit of sign post or herding to keep them on the path because that was the fun they wanted to have before something accidentally distracted them.

GM's are guides too.

There's a huge holy war right behind the term "railroading" that nobody needs to get into ... but what you might be calling railroading could also just be clearly communicating the bounds of the sandbox and your players agreeing that's where to play and have fun which I can't see as a bad thing.

I don't get the feeling you roll your players dice for them or tell them which way to turn at the fork in the road so there's that.

A published adventure or campaign *is* a railroad of a sort - they have plots with beginning middles and ends - but with some choices along the way as well as bounds everyone kind of tacitly agrees to ... published adventures or campaigns aren't infinite pages long to accommodate every possible action at every possible point so if you're going to stay between the covers of the book - you gotta limit choices somewhere.

For me, the trick is to think of GMing as being an illusionist - you're providing chances and choices or opportunities *within* the outline or framework or prepped railroad that are enticing enough to keep them looking in those directions instead of looking elsewhere.
"Ignore the man behind the curtain!" - Oz

Yeah, the self-doubt is strong in this one...

Anyway, talking about the in-between episodes developments with other explorer ships, I’m going for a sort of friendly rivalry between the crews. My focus is mostly on featuring the UNCSS Typhoon, which sets up the mission to rescue that ship in Ep. 5 – AGAINST A SEA OF TROUBLES (p.233).

So far, I’ve brainstormed news updates for the first four post-episode downtime periods, and it goes something like this.

Post-Ep.0 – ARRIVAL:
• UNCSS Typhoon strikes it big right from the start, staking a claim for a cold, water-rich, nameless/uncharted world with breathable atmosphere; a good potential planet for setting up a colony. Commander Barton of the Typhoon offers a fairness deal with the other three ships, wherein each pledges 1% of every survey bonus to their rivaling crews as a way to bolster camaraderie and ensure that everyone partakes in each other’s successes. (This idea was inspired by how George Lucas and Steven Spielberg gave each other percentage points on A New Hope and Jaws respectively; I always like that idea).
• UNCSS Umisindis surveys an uncharted system but finds little of note.
• UNCSS Chimata-no-Kami encounters a small ship of unknown class, which does not answer hails and turns tail and FTL it out of the system. Chimata-no-Kami decides not to pursue. (It doesn’t really matter who they are, but probably a Gorham Marauder or Children of the Two Divines shuttle, or possibly an UPP advanced scout ship, but the function here is to hint to larger things going on in the Far Spinnward Colonies space)


Post-Ep.1 – HOME SWEET HOME:
• UNCESS Typhoon does it again, finding a large asteroid with helium-3 rich surface; a potentially very valuable claim. Since Solovetsky Island happens to be nearby, Commander Barton invites them over to assist in guarding the space rock for a 5% piece of the survey bonus, until the UNCSS Ìyánlá can get there to harvest the asteroid.
• UNCSS Umisindis visits a system supposedly populated, but finds it eerily empty. (Not sure which system yet).
• UNCSS Chimata-no-Kami finds and tags an asteroid family of 11 water rich rocks. Not the most exciting or valuable find, but water sources are always useful.


Post-Ep.2 – TO GO MY OWN DARK WAY:
• UNCESS Typhoon wastes time surveying a dead system of rocks and dust.
• UNCSS Umisindis explores one of the forlorn systems (p.117).
• UNCSS Chimata-no-Kami stumbles into a space skirmish! (Gorham Marauders vs. Children of the Two Divines battling it out). As they arrive, one ship (CotTD) is already on fire, approaching the other at ramming speed. The ships collide and tumble into the gravity well of the system’s second gas giant. Noting useful is learned about the two warring ships, but everyone wonders what the Hades is going on around here…


Post-Ep.3 – LEAVE ALL ELSE TO THE GODS:
• UNCESS Typhoon spends time in “dry dock”, docked at the UNCSS Ìyánlá for maintenance and a spot ICC check. Commander Barton vents his frustration to the PC crew.
• UNCSS Umisindis is temporarily put in lockdown as the UA & UPP contingents of the crew threw a tantrum. The 3WE folks tried to intervene, but only made matters worse, and now everyone is receiving a stern talking to from Gaius. (The main W-Y rep will step in and smooth things over with a bonus, which pisses off everyone else who were behaving well and didn’t get a bonus)
• UNCSS Chimata-no-Kami discovers a cold, marshy world with trace oxygen and microbial life, marking it down for potential terraforming and colonization. A good site for ranching and agriculture, and possibly factories, too.

These ideas are all subject to change at this point; basically, I'm in the middle of brainstorming it still.

I also want to steel _ArthurDallas_' session 0 scenario in some way, but I haven't figured out how to use it yet. We'll see...

As always, suggestions and feedback is more than welcome

HI All

Love the thread. If anyone wants rivals or rival ships, by all means adopt my UNCSS Umsindisi crew. We are the best funded crew in the fleet, with deep family, political & cultural links to the UN Governor & CCA. This may provoke jealousy and or political shenanigans.

My GM style is part read most of the module, and try to remember the rest of the Aliens rules & setting, but I don't read each mission in detail until the party choose it.
(My gamers have played at my weekly table with me 40 years, they can spot my foreshadowing a mile off, and go the other way

I'll post more of their mission prep here this weekend.

DX

Just to add, my UNCSS Umsindisi's initial 3 mission choices were 1 - random system exploration
[KOI 1404-3 dying ancient desert planet spiralling into its Red dwarf, a trillion! year old K star swelling daily to proto-Giant, going Wolf-Raynet, and about to Nova again or Supernova for the very last time. The new Neutron star will be a beacon to Eng, Perf & the rest… but it’s neutrino burst will sterilise that system and seriously disrupt KOI-1401 & 2 unless deep underground or shallow undersea or both. Sensible solar enigineers will want to red matter it into a quiet BH. If only RM existed. Maybe those chaps on HoD can help?)

2) targeted former colony (Archimedes colony) your basic super earth water world. I'm using the Blue Planet 2 kickstarter for maps and alien life inspiration.
The initial Archimedes colony write up refers to the rich mining moon in close solar orbit (mercury like), called Umschlanga Rock by the colonists. Its ores are now played out. Which is why they moved to the higher G water world during the Isolation.

CCA are offering a 'suspiciously large' contract of $250 per week per PC to recontact, then if recontact is successful, follow on contracts of $1m/month whole ship charter to deliver and erect a WY space elevator for cheap aid delivery & to get the accumulated ores up the grav well , and then $10m/year to set up a new colonial administration under CCA/UN jurisdiction.

and then
3) Home Sweet home, after those Sol Island crew come back with claims of only a few survivors. My lot think that there is valuable scrap & ore in all them abandoned mining sites. So they are going there first before the Sol Island crew get back to register a salvage claim....


DX