How to write a campaign?

I'm playing DS mostly because of the stories, and the aspect of being able to make both squads and terrain that is both finished, and fits the setting. That said, I would really like to make a campaign, but lack any experience in doing so... What makes a campaing good? What pushes it forward? How does it tell a story, that fits the randomness of wins and losses?

Have any of you any experience in this field, and maybe even have a campaign / storyline you could share?

What would I like in a campaign?

- A progressing story.
- Either openended(ness) or conclusive.
- Fit a set type of squads. (ex: orks vs imp vs chaos)
- Dynamic progression (its not set who wins, but the story has to go on).

I'm sure there's more, but for now that is what I could think of of the top of me 'ead...

Well... I think I can give you a pointer of two. I'm not saying I'm the best, but Narrative Campaigns is what I like. If you find a better way, I will quickly learn too!

I treat my campaign as an RPG. When I played D&D, I would create a world... and 90% of the stuff would be unseen by players. Hey, it was High School and I had time! First, find out who are your 'regulars'... what Squads will be there. For example Orks, Cadians, Chaos, Mordians, etc. In terms of history, make a 'local' or 'home' team... let's say Orks. Yes, the typical bad guys could be your campaign's home team. Then explain why Orks (unrelated to the Squad) are the home team. For example, this was a Tau world that fell to an Ork invasion 1,000 years ago. The Tau are long gone, and we just have billions of Orks, fighting among each other... itching for a bigger fight OUTSIDE the planet.

In my Campaign (Return to Melkor) I created this Imperial World, Karameikos. I established why it was important for the Imperium (mined catalyst for fuel, now produces weapons) and how the world worked (2 continents... north agricultural and politics, south Manofactoriums and polluted.)

The set up an event that will dictate the direction (again, Squads count for nothing!). For example, there was a Warp Storm that isolated half the planet... after 300 years, all Ork there died. Then the Warp Storm shifted location... all Orks are trapped and the 'virgin' planet was available for colonization. Imperial Colony Ship landed and started to build colony when Warp Storm collapsed, liberating a weak population of Orks. TADA! Free conflict!

In my Campaign, the Orks were defeated ( ) but the Eldar know the world will be part of their Craftworld's doom unless it self destructs. Orks managed to gather and plan to re-take the Manofactorium. TADA! Free conflict!

Now... make EACH player make a story of THEIR Squad, using the campaign base as inspiration. They story should fit there. For example, your IGs are in charge of scouting and eliminating Ork incursions. Your Chaos agents are trying to re-attract the Warp Storms. The Orks are looking for a lost Mekboy to create huge warmachines.

Then, play the campaign as normal. Adapt Scenarios to YOUR Squads... for example, Missile Silo could be a Communication Array. The important part is that EACH player make a short story (2 or 3 paragraphs) about how THEY experienced the Scenario. They should be the heroes of THEIR story. Yes, you get two accounts of the same situation... but so many things will be so close, that there will be a web of deceit. You would be AMAZED how many time our RANDOM Scenario fit perfectly to the story.

Hope this helps.

That's good suggestions.

I was thinking in two lines:

- A "turnament" feel campaign like:

Combat A Combat B

resoves into a new combat which is dependent on the outcome of the two first combats.

Combat C Combat D

Again resoves into new sets of battles, and so forth until there is a final (?) combat to resolve the whole campaign.

- Or a more strategic campaign with a "overview map" ordered into regions (maybe a planetary or continental (or even hive-city) map).

The squads "move" around the map, and whenever they move into a contested area, they fight battles, where the missions are fixed to the region or tile if you want.

In this campaign style, the story more or less tells itself, and the conflict (although small scale) seems bigger.

There could be minor bonusses for holding a tile (maby a +1 on dice roll for "who starts combat") or such (things that do not alter the balance of the DS rules, but "makes sense" in a campaign. Like having a certain manufaktorum, you could have some minor bonus in ... i donno... -1 pay on upkeep or something.

HAHAH! Yes! I like that too! I suggest you check my Mordheim Map Campaign... www.Mordheimer.com Specifically, get The Mordheimer's Campaign Aid v1.20 on the Download section ( http://www.mordheimer.com/downloads/downloads.htm ) Ahhh... when I was a young designer... hehehehe...

As a matter of fact, in my Infinite List of Awesome Things To Do For Death Squads ^TM is the adaptation of that module for The cool thing about a territorial campaign is that it readily accepts other players. I mean, you can add more tiles or just give the noob uncontested areas. I have TILES here at home (I just unpack them!) so you could do something like that. Taking territory... fighting contested areas... setting 'power-ups' per tile (special prizes, etc).

Ha! You wrote that?! We used it way back when we played mordheim... full circle =)

HAHAH! Wow! Yes... that is my site. I don't play Mordheim any more, but I keep it for others. I kept the nick "Mordheimer" because of that work. See? I was BORN to make free rules and supplements for players! HA!

Well, hope you liked it... now you know that I will continue to work hard on !!!

I liked it alot - just up my alley!

Well, I think I'll try with a go on the territorial campaign thing.

Maybe I will try to whip up something in Campaign Carthagrapher, unless someone has a extremely high quality desert map in store... needs to be able to be printed very large for board tiles

Ok first I have to ask; is it ok to post pictures and ask for feedback on the territorial campaign on this forum? In this i refer to the forum and DS rules?

Second: I'm about to make the map / tiles for the campaign and a snippet of it looks like this:



The tiles hexagons are 5 cm across...

I was thinking about numbering the different tiles, and give them some advantages (not all of them), an maybe make 5-10 symbols to mark what a tile gives if you occupy it.

YES! Do as you see fit. I mean, what is not OK is creating your own Squads and posting them here... it creates confusion. You can post those Squads in your own place and have healthy discussions there. Other stuff, which do NOT conflict with what we are doing, is OK to post.

In terms of your Map-Based Campaign... feel free to post here too! Looks AMAZING! We can all enjoy it too!