Fantasy campaigns are very basic creatures. Usually, they revolve around a series of adventures that are quest-like in nature. A group of characters are gathered together, given a task, and sent off to accomplish that task. Along the way, they face various obstacles. They then accomplish that task, return to the person or group that gave them their task, again facing various obstacles, and receive their reward. Then they do it again next week/book/month/film/gaming session.
Several basic character types make up these quests. A short list includes the following: Warrior, Magic User, Entertainer, Criminal, Rebel, Priest, Outcast, and the Noble Heir. Not to mention the standard supporting cast of ?Evil Rotten Nasty Villain?, his henchmen, Wise Advisor and Plucky Comic Relief. Quests involve tasks. Classic tasks involve dealing with some sort of object. Usually, it either must be recovered or disposed of. Another classic is the ?proof of worthiness? wherein the subject must prove that he or she is ?worthy? of some particular status. A third task could involve escorting someone or something to some significant event. Quests also involve obstacles. Common obstacles include terrain, long and difficult travel, some sort of deadline, or a force that is actively working against the character. Quests usually include rewards. These can be broken down into glory, goods, and status - AKA ?fame, fortune and all kinds of fun.?
Read those paragraphs again. Now think of the last batch of fantasy novels you read, the last few games you played, or the recent movies that you?ve seen. This sums them up fairly well and makes them sound rather boring, doesn?t it? Rather like ?hack and slash, grab the cash, what next?? Yet, those same basic plots describe the main theme behind many classic stories. Stories that range from The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum to The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. From C. S. Lewis? ?Chronicles of Narnia? to any of David Eddings? series to ?Le Morte D?Arthur? and the Mabinogion.
The trick to making those ?boring set pieces? work is what style of flesh or campaign color you as a GM put onto the skeleton of the quest. The purpose of the next few articles of this column is to suggest some interesting twists to these commonly used themes.
The issues discussed in this installment are priests and the clergy. Priestly classes are among the most misunderstood of character classes. They are primarily seen as either warriors or semi-mages. Religion and faith, because of their difficult nature and ability to be accurately depicted, are often hand-waved or ignored; yet they can lend a unique flavor to a quest. It lends a certain air to a situation to state ?We?re on a mission from God.? Few people question such a claim. If they do, it makes for very interesting role-playing when the party has to PROVE their claim. Let us ring the changes, shall we?
Take as your centerpiece, a young novice in a religious order. A simple set-up would be to have this young novice charged with the job of being part of an escort team for the leader of his order on the way to an annual ritual. This ritual involves an item from the order?s home sanctuary that the leader must bring with him. This item must be presented at the site of the ritual before sunset on a given day, or it is believed that terrible things will happen. Other members of the party could be guards for the party, pilgrims traveling with the party or folk traveling with the party for security?s sake. That is a good, basic scenario right there. Throw in some standard travel encounters, allow the young novice to save his leader?s life perhaps, and you have a decent one or two session scenario. Another twist would allow the novice and a few companions to be the only ones to survive an attack situation. This would either leave them charged by the dying leader to protect and present the item, or have the item stolen and the same group charged to recover and present the item. Still basic, still simple, and still only a one or two session game.
If we want to bring this up to a campaign level plot line, it is time to introduce some twists. How about the possibility that if the item is not presented at the ritual, the current ruling house or order will lose power? Religion is often tied to rulership. In many cases, rulers are also priests or have some serious religious requirements or duties. Perhaps our novice is from another family?s house. If he can prevent the item from reaching the ritual, his family will take power from the current family. Where does his loyalty lie, to his house or to his god?
Maybe the novice is to become an initiate or a full member of his order at this ritual. Perhaps all of this escort duty and its challenges are merely a way to test his faith and ability to handle the advanced level of duties.
Perhaps his deity has selected him to cleanse the order. Now, not only must our novice win allies to help him do so from among the other party members, but also from among his companions in the order. In addition, what if what he proposes to them involves what normal members consider heresy? Again, where do his loyalties lie ? to his god, as he has been TAUGHT (i.e. the order and adherence to something he believes is wrong), or to his god as he has been INSPIRED (i.e. the new beliefs and the heresy must be promoted even if it means his martyrdom)? Remember the initial comment about having to prove you are on that ?mission from God?? It gets a lot more difficult to achieve such a mission if you have to prove you are not insane or criminal. Gods are not known for making things easy for their followers or chosen ones.
What if the novice found out that his teachers deceived him? Possibly, as a result of some factor on this trip, the novice gains some knowledge of the inner workings of his order that cause him to decide that this ritual should not go forward or the item should not be delivered. What will the young novice do then?
Returning to our basic plot line, what if the entire party is not destroyed, only an essential member, and our novice is called upon to take that member?s place? What is the ?quality? that allows the novice to do so? How can it be corrupted, removed, preserved or defended? What will happen to the ritual if the novice is changed in some way by his journey? How would such a change affect the faith of our character and his duties to the order? What will his rewards be if he is successful? Perhaps, instead of being rewarded, he will be sacrificed. Does he save his own neck, or willingly step forward into Death or perhaps the proverbial ?Fate Worse Than Death?? What will happen to the rest of the party if he does either?
See how the addition of one or two 'kinks' in the thread elevates what was a simple quest to something that can provide hooks to keep an entire group interested? Anyone in the party could be inspired by the religious zeal of our novice. Maybe his devotion to the order could cause a knight to seek holy orders. Maybe his fervor causes a thief to mend his or her criminal ways and seek redemption. That thief could then spend the next few adventures trying to mend past mistakes or repay his victims. Not to mention the possibility of wonderful court intrigues and political mayhem that could be generated by newfound religious convictions.
Any good sculpture starts with a skeleton of some sort. The quest is the primary skeleton of Fantasy.