DM-ing Birthright campaign

[RocksHope@aol.co]

All of the following is merely my opinion (of course).

There is nothing that says a player/character has to know about any bloodline
they have. Also, there are rare circumstances where a regent will either name
someone other than their son/daughter as heir or if no heir is named, that the
land itself will choose a new regent. Of course, using these excuses for an
entire party at once might be stretching things.

Regarding level, if it's your first time playing AD&D, I would most certainly
suggest 1st level. No need to bludgeon new players with more information than
they need. (this applies to bloodlines as well). Also, I dislike the idea of
handing out anything to players for free, it cheapens the role of early
development of a hero.

In the same vein, try to pick an early location that you can handle. Juggling
an entire city of NPCs and making it believable is difficult, and won't give
you as many oppurtunities to utilize the same NPC again (hey, developing NPCs
is important too!).

- -joshua

[Morg]

I suggest that you join one of the many play by e-mail games. Darkstar has a
great list of these games on his site http://darkstar.cyberserv.com/
That's how I learned to play Birthright. It is much easier to learn the system
as a player first, then once you have the basics, go for the regent stuff. I
agree with the other list members: start your group of as regular adventurers
until you learn the regency mechanics.

In answer to your question, you are correct, only blooded characters may be
regents. However, your players don't have to be blooded from the start. If
they start as regular adventurers, it is possible that they may gain a bloodline
through the acts of blood theft. However, they may also be blooded, but just do
not rule a kingdom yet. They would either have to conquer the land, or become
the named heir of the regent in order to gain rulership. (Or else, they could
do it the hard way, and carve a kingdom out of the wilds!)

I have only been laying Birthright for just under a year, but I'll tell you
Vladislav, that you can read & re-read the rules a thousand times, but it won't
make sense until you actually start applying the rules & seeing how they work.
I read the rule book 3 times before I joined this list & started playing PBeMs,
and couldn't 'see how the system played' until I started playing in PBeMs.

Good luck!

Keith

Vladislav Slavov wrote:

> Hello fellows,
>
> I really want to say Thanks for your quick responce to my queries. I
> appreciate it...
>
> See, the problem is that here in South Africa, AD&D it's not so popular.
> Even I ordered all this stuf from US. So I want to say that is nearly
> impossible to find expirenced gaming group around here. I must do it my
> self. I'll start directly with the role of DM and I know how difficult it
> will be, but I have no other choice. Can you give me an advice how to show
> my friends this amazing world? If I fail in the beggining with the
> campaign - it will be difficult to convince them to play again. (or I think
> so) I know that you already gave me good advices abot buying those
> accessories and adventures, but I mean generally AD&D game. Thanks again.
> About Birthright:
> You say that it will be nice if I start the adventurers as a common
> people who become regents later, but isn't it say that only blooded
> characters can be regents. If the character wasn't born blooded can he
> become later?
> Is it good for this setting the characters to start as 1st level? Or because
> they are kings it's better if they start from at least 3rd or 4th level?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Vlad
>
> ************************************************** *************************
> > - --
"I hate it when my brain stem hurts."
The New Draftmine Repository:
http://members.home.net/morgramen/index.html

[Daniel McSorley]

From: Vladislav Slavov

>I know that you already gave me good advices abot buying those
>accessories and adventures, but I mean generally AD&D game. Thanks again.

First off, I don't think you need to buy anything else immediately. If
you limit the campaign to Anuire for now, then you have everything you need
in those four(?) books you mentioned.
If you have the heroes start off as rulers, then adventures will almost
write themselves. Use the random problems table in the BR set, and they'll
have plenty of problems: assassination attempts, brigands, espionage,
whatever.
The problem for non-ruler heroes will be to create adventures that are
challenging enough, but not too deadly, since you said you were new at this,
it might take a bit. Cheat a lot. If you mess up and send too many enemies
at the heroes, miraculously, they flee after a few fall, they were really
cowards at heart. If you discover that this roll you just made wipes out
half the party, re-roll, or better yet, make it up. Don't let the dice ruin
a good time for you and the players.

> About Birthright:
> You say that it will be nice if I start the adventurers as a common
>people who become regents later, but isn't it say that only blooded
>characters can be regents. If the character wasn't born blooded can he
>become later?
The basic rule is, if you say so, then yes, he can. If the heroes kill
some terrible awnshegh, then you might rule that it awakened some minor
bloodline in the hero.
You could also have some of the characters begin blooded, but since they
don't rule any lands, that won't mean much to them right away, only later
will it become important.

>Is it good for this setting the characters to start as 1st level? Or
because
>they are kings it's better if they start from at least 3rd or 4th level?
>
It is fine for them to begin at 1st level. As kings, they don't have to
deal with a lot of grunt work themselves, so level isn't as important. If
some 10th level enemy tries to fight them directly, they can just have the
guards throw him in the dungeon.

Daniel McSorley- mcsorley.1@osu.edu

[MANTA]

Osoerde is perfect for this scenario!

MANTA
ip209007@ip.pt
ICQ: 17080887


> Desparate heros. The player's characters village/province or homeland
has been overrun by THE ENEMY and
> they have been forced to flee. Once again a mentor, perhaps a
simpathetic neighboring regent or military commander, recruits the
characters to stike back at THE ENEMY. The mentor once again sends them on
> simple missions. Scout out enemy troops in the lands you know so well.
Rescue the captured mayor of your old village. Opponents should be Level 0
soldiers or mercenaries of THE ENEMY. Move this up to heavier troops (AC
3) or Gnoll mercenaries as the players become more accomplished. Possible
future storylines include coming into conflict with the mentor as S/he
directs the players to other tasks that don't
> include THE ENEMY (perhaps they've been bought off), or taking rulership
of their home area after
> freeing it at last from the clutches THE ENEMY'S corrupt toady.
>
> Good luck.
>
> Randax
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[prtr02@scorpion.nspco.co]

- ----- Begin Included Message -----
Hello fellows,

I really want to say Thanks for your quick responce to my queries. I
appreciate it...

See, the problem is that here in South Africa, AD&D it's not so popular.
Even I ordered all this stuf from US. So I want to say that is nearly
impossible to find expirenced gaming group around here. I must do it my
self. I'll start directly with the role of DM and I know how difficult it
will be, but I have no other choice. Can you give me an advice how to show
my friends this amazing world? If I fail in the beggining with the
campaign - it will be difficult to convince them to play again. (or I think
so) I know that you already gave me good advices abot buying those
accessories and adventures, but I mean generally AD&D game. Thanks again.
About Birthright:
You say that it will be nice if I start the adventurers as a common
people who become regents later, but isn't it say that only blooded
characters can be regents. If the character wasn't born blooded can he
become later?
Is it good for this setting the characters to start as 1st level? Or because
they are kings it's better if they start from at least 3rd or 4th level?

Thanks in advance.

Vlad

- ----- End Included Message -----
You're exactly right. Your toughest challenge will be getting the players into
the game. If you fail to get them interested, it will be difficult to get them
to try again.

Start with very simple tasks/stories/adventures. Get some fighting in. Like it
or not AD&D, relies heavily on combat to determine story issues. There aren't many rules on resolving a love affair (that's more advanced stuff that needs to be
role played), there's lots of rules on how to fight.

You're exactly right. Characters need to be blooded to become regents. You could start them
out with a bloodline (scions) so they could become regents later or you could have them all
be commoners that inheirit bloodlines later. Another option is to hide their heritage from
them. They could all have tainted bloodlines (bloodline strenth of 1-10) and simply haven't
displayed any bloodpowers yet. They could be scions of minor noble lines, bastard children of someone
prominent etc.

Be honest with your players. Tell them the first couple sessions are only a test. You'll all be trying
to learn the rules and if you don't like how things are progressing, or too many characters die, trash the game and start over. I think that after 2-3 sessions you and your players will have an exponentially better grasp on how to play the game and what you want to do within it.

Some suggestions on scenarios.

Monster hunters for the King. The players could start out as mercenaries for the Regent of kingdom X.
They can reply to the posting the regent puts up for adventurers that promises great pay, opportunities for advancement etc. Introduce the regent or an advisor who will be the players primary contact. This NPC (played by you of course) can then direct the course of the beginning of the compaign. He/She will
give the players missions to accomplish (the adventures you set up) and act as the player's mentor within the game (perhaps S/he's a retired adventurer or the only survivior of the last group of monster hunters). Send them out to kill/capture/neutrilize and group of bandits or a batch of kobalds. Nothing too
tough- 1st level characters are notoriously easy to kill. Use the -10 rule (hovering at Death's door)
in BR. Repeat the process as necessary. When this becomes routine, move the story forward. Perhaps
the heros have become too successful and the mentor or regent now sees them as a threat to be eliminated. The mentor might now join with the heros to combat a greater evil that threatens the kingdom or any
of a dozen other ideas you may develop.

Desparate heros. The player's characters village/province or homeland has been overrun by THE ENEMY and
they have been forced to flee. Once again a mentor, perhaps a simpathetic neighboring regent or military commander, recruits the characters to stike back at THE ENEMY. The mentor once again sends them on
simple missions. Scout out enemy troops in the lands you know so well. Rescue the captured mayor of your old village. Opponents should be Level 0 soldiers or mercenaries of THE ENEMY. Move this up to heavier troops (AC 3) or Gnoll mercenaries as the players become more accomplished. Possible future storylines include coming into conflict with the mentor as S/he directs the players to other tasks that don't
include THE ENEMY (perhaps they've been bought off), or taking rulership of their home area after
freeing it at last from the clutches THE ENEMY'S corrupt toady.

Good luck.

Randax

[Vladislav Slavov]

Hello fellows,

I really want to say Thanks for your quick responce to my queries. I
appreciate it...

See, the problem is that here in South Africa, AD&D it's not so popular.
Even I ordered all this stuf from US. So I want to say that is nearly
impossible to find expirenced gaming group around here. I must do it my
self. I'll start directly with the role of DM and I know how difficult it
will be, but I have no other choice. Can you give me an advice how to show
my friends this amazing world? If I fail in the beggining with the
campaign - it will be difficult to convince them to play again. (or I think
so) I know that you already gave me good advices abot buying those
accessories and adventures, but I mean generally AD&D game. Thanks again.
About Birthright:
You say that it will be nice if I start the adventurers as a common
people who become regents later, but isn't it say that only blooded
characters can be regents. If the character wasn't born blooded can he
become later?
Is it good for this setting the characters to start as 1st level? Or because
they are kings it's better if they start from at least 3rd or 4th level?

Thanks in advance.

Vlad

[gingerprince]

>All of the following is merely my opinion (of course).
>
>There is nothing that says a player/character has to know about any
bloodline
>they have. Also, there are rare circumstances where a regent will either
name
>someone other than their son/daughter as heir or if no heir is named, that
the
>land itself will choose a new regent. Of course, using these excuses for
an
>entire party at once might be stretching things.
>
>Regarding level, if it's your first time playing AD&D, I would most
certainly
>suggest 1st level. No need to bludgeon new players with more information
than
>they need. (this applies to bloodlines as well). Also, I dislike the idea
of
>handing out anything to players for free, it cheapens the role of early
>development of a hero.
>
>In the same vein, try to pick an early location that you can handle.
Juggling
>an entire city of NPCs and making it believable is difficult, and won't
give
>you as many oppurtunities to utilize the same NPC again (hey, developing
NPCs
>is important too!).
>
>-joshua


This got me thinking, when exactly does a Scion take control of his
Blood Abilities? Michael Roele was using his from about 14 or 15, other
characters don't discover them for years. Maybe Blooded characters are
tutored in how to use their abilities, the Half-Elf from War doesn't know
about his abilities until he's instructed.

When I started my campaign I had all characters at 1st level but
gave them full hit points. They had a slight advantage in that the lowest
CON of four characters was 16 (only by chance). I would suggest that the
hardest part was combining the domain turn with adventures.

Nick

[DKEvermore@aol.co]

In a message dated 12/18/98 3:38:28 PM, morgramen@home.com writes:

>In answer to your question, you are correct, only blooded characters may
>be
>regents. However, your players don't have to be blooded from the start.
> If
>they start as regular adventurers, it is possible that they may gain a
>bloodline
>through the acts of blood theft. However, they may also be blooded, but
>just do
>not rule a kingdom yet. They would either have to conquer the land, or
>become
>the named heir of the regent in order to gain rulership. (Or else, they
>could
>do it the hard way, and carve a kingdom out of the wilds!)
>

I haven't seen any mechanism within Birthright to give commoners a bloodline
through bloodtheft. Only rare, special cases have occurred in the literature,
and usually involves the death of a powerful awnshegh (not the sort of
bloodline most characters want!).

However there remains two ways a commoner may become nobility. One, a noble
may invest the character with his bloodline (not part, all of it--a rare
occurrence but can happen when a King REALLY wants THIS particular guy to have
the kingdom). Or, occasionally when a regent dies, it may not go to the
appointed heir. Instead the Land itself chooses someone to carry a new line
and rule the land. See the Book of Priestcraft for further details on both
these methods.

Hope this helps!
Dustin Evermore