TTS Narrative (light) Map Campaign

[Kramer]

Because I can't shut up about the campaign we are playing right now I got some questions about it and thought I would also share it in general. This is our basic set up and then i'll throw in some of the optional things we thought about adding. In the end we didn't us much of that because i'm playing a newish player so didn't want to make it more complicated than needed. But we did use the 7th and 8th thing on the list in the end. 

I decided to make it a battle for the city we both studied in. The structure is based on the firestorm supplement btw. It's core mechanics are really fun but too in depth for my goals. All the marked locations are places we had a connection with. The places we lived, the university, a church, a bar etc. I just googled the city name + 'old map'. 

The goal is to get to 6 glory points to win. (change this as you see fit, we decided on 6 because I rather end it when its still fun and start a new campaign than drag it out until it dies out)

The mechanics: 

- Every round the player with the least points challenges another player. (skip if you are playing with 2 players)

Step 1: Both players decide which area they will claim if they win. It can only be a free area or one owned by the opponent. The area with the highest domain score is where the battle will take place. see Domain below.

Step 2. Decide on the battle plan. Taking the Domain bonuses into account.

Step 3. Play the battle

Step 4.  - The winner gets 1 Glory point
              - If the winner takes over an area owned by his/her opponent remove all the domain upgrades
              - Both players can upgrade the domain score of an area they control

Domain rules

In step 4 players can upgrade one area they own by one domain level. If a battle takes place in an area with a domain score the defending player gains the following bonuses.

Three levels. Destroyed if you lose the location. 

Level 0: 
Discovering the land:
- You decide which deployment zone you set up in.

Level 1: 
Settling the land: 
- You decide Battleplan 
- You decide which deployment zone you set up in. 

Level 2: 
Minor settlement: 
- You decide battle-plan
- You decide which territory you set up in 
- You can set up two terrain pieces before deployment

Level 3: 
- Play a siege/streets of death battle or you decide battle-plan
- You decide which territory you set up in 
- You can set up two terrain pieces before deployment
- Gain 2 Glory points

[Kramer]

All the optional things we thought off:

1. Set a deadline to play or lose the upgrades on a random area. If no area has domain levels, lose one area entirely. 

2. If domain bonuses allow you to choose a battleplan. Decide and tell your opponent before he/she makes a list

3. Name your general. We always play this. It's the first step to get some narrative commitment in there. 

4. After every battle award one unit an upgrade from their respective Path to Glory charts. You could randomise the unit/the upgrade or maybe even let your opponent choose which unit he/she felt deserves it the most. The unit must then be named and can't be changed in composition to keep the bonuses. for example if my 10 chaos warriors gain an upgrade, I name them and can bring them as a unit of 10 but not bring 30 with the same upgrade)

5. Don't automatically upgrade one area per round but play with build points. This is closer to what the firestorm campaign. Every upgrade cost the amount of build points equal to the level. After every round both players gain d3 build points. If one player scored a major victory he can choose to re-roll the d3 build points. 

6. Specific bonuses for locations. Maybe the library gives the player that owns it a dispel scroll (see knight-incantor warscrol), or the smithy allows you to bring a 5th artillery unit, the vault maybe allows you to bring one more artefact, etc. To prevent snowballing you can set a rule that only one area bonus can be in play per army.
(personally I won't use 'X extra points' as a bonus anymore. that snowballs.)

7. The Hail Mary. I always try to build in one of these. It occasionally backfires because someone achieves it too soon but it at least leaves players a chance to win even when they are down in points. But give it a cooler name than Hail Mary . Maybe it releases the spirits of the city and it cleanses all armies from it, or something. Basically the Hail Mary is: 
If one player is up to half the victory points needed to win, the Hail Mary victory condition is activated. To win through Hail Mary a player needs to control all three locations marked in red. This allows the controlling player to call for a deciding (multiplayer) battle. If possible get all the players involved and whoever wins, wins the campaign. But makes sure it feels super epic. Maybe the generals of every army can't die the first two turns as they go on an absolute rampage. And definitely use the volcanic terrain rules but let it happen on a 5+. As much mayhem is possible as the armies fight in a city that is tearing itself apart. 

8. Carry over rewards. The winner of our campaign will get an artefact for his general. the next campaign this player will get this artefact for a character and can bring it along without it taking up an artefact slot. We will think of something if we know who won. 

9. Preset player match ups. With multiple players it might be fun to determine the first few match ups so that everyone plays each other at least once. 

10. I always like the in between round reports if you are playing with 4+ players and don't see each others games. Maybe there is one neutral area where a Bard tells the tales of the battles, which you can write out. or players can submit their own. Other possibilities are a Hammerhal Herald style board if your shop allows, secret notes from a 'spy' network, maybe it's the underground militia that is talking to each other. Definitely make them appear in the Hail mary game if you do that. An assassin per player hidden in a piece of terrain or something that just tries to attack the closest hero in range. 

There's of course an endless supply of options to add. But my main learning the last few years is: Short and simple beats grand and complicated every single time. People lose interest after a while. So get a good climax in as soon as possible and all the players will be excited for the next one. 

 

[Kramer]

So what are your main tips for a narrative campaign? Or a map campaign in general? Always happy to learn new tricks and tips.