Campaign of Losers

[everloss]

so i got this idea in my head for a fantasy campaign. at first, i thought it would be fun to just have the players roll the toughest, most bad-ass characters they could come up with (i normally run games that are not munchkin at all, but sometimes i like to let it all go) using races and OCC's that are rarely used. but as i started writing, i came up with a better idea.

the characters should all be "losers" and misfits and weak (mentally and/or physically)

the basic story is that the Shadow Colonies are being harassed by Gigantes who are using organized tactics (they are being controlled by some other being - not revealing what that being is right now, and no, it isn't an alien intelligence). Unfortunately, the Byzantium government/military isn't willing to do anything, so the Warlock Council has to organize bands of heroes to stop the threat. They pick three of the greatest heroic groups in the land and send them out - to their deaths.

enter the player-characters.

a mystic foretells that the PC's are the only ones who can get to the bottom of the gigante problem. unfortunately, the PC's aren't the typical heroes. I wanted to use races and classes that are not typically used. I originally had a kobold priest of light, but decided it just didn't fit with what i was looking for. then my roommate pulled out his ancient 2nd edition AD&D Dragonlance Adventures and I found the perfect race to be a priest of Rurga - the Kender. Perfect in the sense that it makes very little sense at all, which is how i like it. A natural born thief as a priest of the goddess of truth and justice? oh yeah. anyway, here is the list of races and classes available to my players.

Gnome Pirate
Goblin Were-Shaman
Orc Barbarian
Ratling Ludicrous Mage (from Rifter 19 1/2 or whatever)
Hogoblin Psi-Sensitive
Troglodyte Scathach Druid (from Rifts England)
Kender Priest of Rurga

I toned down the Trog Druid a little bit to make it less Rifty, but pretty much everything else is by-the-book. Except the Kender, which i had to convert over as best i could. not too difficult, the abilities speak for themselves and AD&D used the same 3D6 attribute rolls as Palladium.

basically, the A, B, and C squads have either been wiped out or are missing and it is up to the "D Team" to save the world, as unlikely as that may be. I'll run them around the Northern Wilderness for a while, and eventually lead them into the Northern Mountains and the Land of the Damned.


so anyone else ever use purposely weak characters for their games?

[J. Lionheart]

Don't think of them as "weak," merely non-traditional. The fact that some gamers are incapable of coming up with anything other than "elf bowman" or "dwarf axeman" is a reflection on their own lack of creativity, rather than the weakness of the alternatives. There's nothing on that list that can't kick serious butt in the right hands! I'm definitely a fan of putting unusual combinations together for convention games and other one-off's as a GM; it's a fun thing that can lead to great RP and adventure! A Pre-gen I made for a POH game a couple years ago was a Goblin Mind-Mage named Stooky, who was endlessly entertaining. Being up in the Shadow Colonies myself, in the game my GM is currently running, I know the area has lots of adventure potential. Your group should have a blast.

Only question I have is if these, like the one I mentioned above, are for a single-session game? I ask, because it's highly unusual for a GM to completely dictate race-class combos for a "real game" with their normal group, and I'm interested in how that's working out.

[The Dark Elf]

I think those OCCS are quite normal and not to weak. I was thinking you'd have a merchant, a peasant, a squire, a scholar, a bard, an actor etc.

I think it would make a fun one off adventure to do both extremes (munchkin and weak). Do the weak one first incase its really short

[t0m]

yeah that sounds like a fun game imo. any character in this game can become powerful with the right player...hopefully your players play their characters like a bunch of rag-tag losers (for some reason im thinking 'spaceballs'). the game could be filled with funny moments as well as triumphant heroes.

i really like the combinations of races/classes. it really sounds like it would be a fun game

[everloss]

okay, after thinking about it (and reading your comments) i've decided to keep the same races, but use only the Optional OCC's from the Main book, Adventures on the High Seas, and Northern Hinterlands (not allowing Gladiator or Acrobat/Tumbler though).

These leaves the potential problem of no healers, so i'm thinking of including the Priest OCC, maybe a psi-healer, and I'm also keeping the Ludicrous Mage.

I'm going to let the players pick which Race and OCC they want to be, with no restriction, from the previously mentioned classes.

I'm also going to utilized some alternative rules; PPE Channeling for magicians, Perception as an attribute (taking the place of PB), all skills start at 35% + 4% per level (add bonuses of course), Speed attribute gives a bonus to Dodge (like old school TMNT), low attributes give penalties, and some other tweaks.

Because the characters will be relatively underpowered, i'm going to use magic items (yes, there will be cursed items) more than usual. And i normally don't use magic items very often, so I won't be going overboard. I've been flipping through my roommates Encyclopedia Magica and those things are FULL of awesome ideas for magic items. Particularly ones that aren't very powerful or game-changing.

[The Dark Elf]

Try and develop a thinking mans campaign for the losers. A murder mystery or problems to solve. Less combat and easier foes. A lone troll maybe their final boss. If you equal the balance to a normal game with too much rules and items (I know you said dont use overpowered stuff) then there is a risk of losing the point of playing loses - they are supposed to be underpowered - just a nod to ya.

[Gazirra]

Hey, I have a Goblin Peasant whose highest ability score is 8, and it's not intelligence. She's armed with a meat cleaver and a frying pan. First combat, my party (myself and two others) get ambushed by bandits. While the bandits are taking on the others, my goblin sneaks in, and, using her limited cooking/butchering knowledge, slices into a bandit's Achilles tendon with the meat cleaver. Nat 20, cut the foot off! Then, she tried to sneak over to another bandit. Once she was in melee range, he takes a slice at her after seeing his friend go down like that. He misses, then I go after the tendon below the knee ^_^ Another nat 20, and he goes down screaming I took out more bandits with my "loser" than the others did!

[everloss]

Hey, I have a Goblin Peasant whose highest ability score is 8, and it's not intelligence. She's armed with a meat cleaver and a frying pan. First combat, my party (myself and two others) get ambushed by bandits. While the bandits are taking on the others, my goblin sneaks in, and, using her limited cooking/butchering knowledge, slices into a bandit's Achilles tendon with the meat cleaver. Nat 20, cut the foot off! Then, she tried to sneak over to another bandit. Once she was in melee range, he takes a slice at her after seeing his friend go down like that. He misses, then I go after the tendon below the knee ^_^ Another nat 20, and he goes down screaming I took out more bandits with my "loser" than the others did!

haha that's awesome! i have always liked my characters that were underpowered in comparison to other characters; they always seem more "alive" than the murder-machine, awesome statted, bad-asses.

[everloss]

id let them pick what ever basic race/ classes they wanted but make them do stat rolls at like -4 with a minnum of 4 so no one is so gimped they cant reason there way out of a paper bag...but that way they would all be used to being picked on when they were younger and probly shy and or stupid....dont give them good gear its funnier and way more fun to make them have to strugle to find a bow sting or cook a decent meal when they were to un-experienced to know to bring food and cooking gear on a quest.

i never start my players off with any equipment. They start the game naked with two fistfuls of gold.