After successfully running BROZER, my friends wanted to play another session Braunstein, people who couldn’t make it asked to make sure they were invited to the next one, and others who I hadn’t invited asked if they could come too. It was a very encouraging success.
So as I planned a follow-up, I wanted to set myself up for success, and come up with an approach that would make it easy to put together session Braunsteins with my friends. Much of the talk in BroSR and BroXT circles has been about taking Braunstein play to the next level by creating connectedness between session Braunsteins. By maintaining continuity between sessions, it means I wouldn’t have to come up with new factions, maps, etc. every time we wanted to do a Session Braunstein, so I decided to get started on creating a campaign as a series of connected Braunsteins.
To start with, I created a Braunstein scenario. This was really for my own practice learning how to use the AD&D DMG and MM to generate a factions; looking back I should have just kept going with BROZER.
The scenario was pretty straightforward: there was a local Duke, and his King had tasked him with escorting a treasure caravan across the Duke’s domain. The other key faction were a group of Orcs with a young leader seeking glory by any means available to enhance his status. Other groups might be willing to work as mercenaries for the Duke, make their own attempt at the treasure, or pursue their goals independently.
Unfortunately, due to some rescheduling, by the time we played this scenario, we only had enough players for a wargame. The Duke and his forces fought off the Orcs in a big battle. This less-than-optimal outcome still sowed the seeds for multiple future session Braunsteins.
First, the Orcish chief is now facing major doubts about his leadership. The sub-chief thinks this may his opportunity to take on the mantle of leadership. Leaders of other tribes see an opportunity to absorb the Death Moon tribe into their own. I had put together an Evil Wizard as a faction for the Braunstein, and while he stayed out of the battle, he now sees an opportunity to take control of the Death Moon tribe. Another unplayed faction, some Kobolds, want to wipe out the remnants of the orcs and take control of a larger area.
On the other side: while the Duke successfully drove off the Orcs and appeased the King, he still paid a price. During the battle, the Duke’s vassals bore the burnt of the casualties, while the Duke’s retinue had been held back till the final charge. As a Duke recently installed by the King, the local nobles were already distrusting, but now they are whispering about whether the Duke was trying to deliberately weaken them. This brewing distrust may soon turn into open conflict. Will the Duke be able to secure support to ensure his continued reign? A group of bandits, a faction which wasn’t directly involved in the large battle, may be harboring a claimant to the Duke’s title.
While these aren’t my only ideas, these have a special importance of directly deriving from the previous game.
What did I learn from this?
- Time spent making factions doesn’t go to waste because they can always be included in a future Braunstein
- A faction can be a composition of factions, creating additional session Braunstein opportunities
- An “Always On” campaign means that there is enough time in the campaign world for new opportunities for a session Braunstein to arise, and players don’t need to participate day to day for the passage of time to affect the campaign
- While a wargame is for its own sake is fun, it loses something without the grounding in an outside campaign.