Troupe Play and Sandbox Campaigns

[AmICoolYet?]

So if it's not saving me that much time, it needs to be better quality than what I'd prep myself--but that means it needs to better match my sense of taste than things that I write myself.

But the thing is, it does not only need to be better than what I'd randomly come up with, it needs to be a better prompt than the sum of all of the TV, video games, books, etc. that I am consuming at any one time. Doing something like that is probably so difficult that I have no idea what a "good" version would look like.

[HawkCohenDC]

I've been running a semi-open table fame using Hot Springs Island (heavily, heavily adapted admittedly). It's not quite fully troupe play but the players are leveraging access to a pool of survivors from their shipwreck as characters. Increasingly as they make connections on the island or add survivors to their band and their base they are choosing to pick up and play those characters when they die or when new players join. It's not fully troupe play in the style of "oh yeah just play this grog" but it's close. And it does really provide a nice continuity even when characters leave the story.

Similarly, retainers in another open table game (snackrifice) have served the same purpose. I've had a character die mid-session and I picked up another player's hireling. When a player retired rather than playing a new guy entirely, he swapped to his retainer. That continuity is excellent in terms of providing a stronger sense of verisimilitude and the nature of the world - even in what I would call relatively Arcade-y modes of play.

[sam_the_bold]

Agreed, for sure. I think there is some real magic to be found as the adventuring party progresses towards fully Ship-of-Theseus-ing itself—it's happened in a few of my naval campaigns, where the crew has experienced 100% turnover from the original lineup, but the crew as a whole continues to maintain its own distinct identity inherited from their past characters.

I think it's even cooler when this happens in a West Marches or open-table style of game, where there can be turnover not only in characters but also in players. Seeing what knowledge and advice gets shared and filtered down over the months and years I think can be super cool and rewarding.

[HawkCohenDC]

It's one of the true joys in Luke G.'s Wednesday morning Snackrifice game. I don't think anyone who regularly plays at the moment was there when they first entered Rutghast. Maybe Jert. So the mode of play has tipped back and forth from puzzle solving slow dungeon crawling, regime change, and base building. There are labels on the map that no one present understands. It feels very lived in and mysterious.