Somewhere in time

I have always been plagued by bursts of inspiration for a particular period in history. Now enjoying books or movies set in these times is easy enough, but it's harder when you want to run a campaign set in a specific historical era.

The reason I say I'm plagued is that these bursts can pass as fast as they come, usually lasting only a couple of weeks, sometimes just days. With an inspiration span this short it's difficult to keep up the enthusiasm necessary to GM a campaign, and it's rude to get your players all fired up only to tell them “Sorry, can't be bothered anymore” three sessions later.

Luckily I've come up with a solution of sorts. I've yet to test it, but I believe it'll work.

It goes a little something like this;

The players roll up a “main character” each, who together will run through an investigation, or perhaps unravel a conspiracy. Something that has been going on for a very long time, in any case.

Then, when they manage to uncover a vital clue, or some important fact, you run a side game, lasting only half a session to perhaps three sessions in length, detailing what they found. In these mini games they play pre-made characters who experience what went on in that time and place. And this is what's so great. These side games can take place at any time anywhere, as long as someone is around to document it. From the American Revolution to the beaches of Normandy. Ancient Greece to Cuba in the 60's, anything is possible!

This set up has several benefits. First off, the players don't have to sit through long briefings or read tons of documents, instead they get to play the event.

Secondly, you can illustrate what the bad guys have been doing in a more visceral way, perhaps even let the players be the bad guys, if they're into that.

Thirdly, you can play around with historical settings without the need for in depth research. Just add enough flavor to make it work. I'll discuss how I do this in a later post.

When I talked to my friend, who is also a GM, about this idea, he expressed concern about how to keep the players on track when playing these side characters. An idea that hit me, and this is where experimentation is needed, is that the main PC's only get XP when the side characters complete whatever they were supposed to do. I have no idea if this is going to work, but it might very well.

Of course, they'll need proper pre-briefs in addition to the pre-made characters.

So there you have it. My experimental solution for multi-era play without all the hassle of time travel or dedicated lengthy campaigns.