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Setting up a campaign: the "Ten Commandments" |
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1. HAVE FUN!: Like all campaigns, all this takes time and effort. Assembling minis, painting, building terrain, meeting... all is worthless if you guys do not have fun. Learn to be flexible in certain things (like WYSIWYG models, etc). 2. Start Simple: Once you create a basic plot (in the “Shards of Power” campaign, we are set 15 days after the comet crashed, so Mordheim is in utter chaos and we are just organized looters for different reasons, backgrounds, etc) choose basic and simple rules to start with. I mean it! Newbies (like me) won’t know how to play… Experienced players will bring their techniques/bad-habits from other games systems. People will forget the simplest of things (like Parry… we all do! I have over 18 battles and I have remembered to Parry 9 times… yes I suck!). Later on, introduce other “normal” rules; like climbing! Then maybe “Diving Charge”… poisons, Hired Swords, hiding, etc. Once you get it all, you may decide for the “alternate” critical hit tables (way cooler!) and other optional rules. 
3. Re-learn Terrain Placement: At the beginning, people will forget that the terrain is VERY important in Mordheim! Terrain would be setup a la 40k… few and sparse. Eventually players will learn you want it PACKED. I mean, we have people “converting” to our cause (playing Mordheim) and wanting to learn because they see a “cool looking city” in the table. Sometimes it takes them few minutes to find where we have all our minis. People must re-learn that this is a 3D environment, and that arches can climb and snipe the enemy, runners can hide in cover, etc. Give them a chance. 4. Choose a Referee: Designate someone as a referee... maybe your campaign could have more than one. In case of a dispute, the referee(s) have the last word on House Rules. The referee(s) can be the campaign story creator and/or the record keeper. In our campaign, I'm the primary referee (I'm a newbie, but I’m the story creator), an experienced player and the store owner (he is the living encyclopedia of useless/gaming facts) are my "advisors". If I have to make a ruling, I consult their opinions... My vote counts as 3, theirs as 1. What?! Is MY campaign!... Just kidding... we all have 1 vote! 
5. Have a Record Keeper: WTF?!? Well... this will make sense in a sec. Your group (like mine) is composed of nice people, who want to play for the sake of playing, sharing and have a good time. Nobody wants to win so badly that will make them cheat. 
Even then, it is nice to know that someone has all the records. A Record Keeper
would receive all Battle Reports (who were in the battle, what scenario, who
won, short details/story of game, etc.) You never know and a dispute of having
this item or spell may occur. A simple proof (record) can solve a problem with a
simple “See, after the battle with the Reiklanders at the Executioner’s Square
they bought that blunderbuss.” This is way better than having a silly argument
ruin the campaign for everyone. This would also allow any player to actually
follow any other warband’s progress and create a “fan-base”… or maybe rivalries!
In our campaign, I'm also the record keeper because I wanted a story-based
campaign, and my players do not want to write too much. So they send me a short
battle report, I talk to them and then fluff their BR to create a short story.
Like the old saying goes… I wanted the story, so I got the stories!
6. Publish Your Progress: A website, a newsletter, mass emails... do not matter. Publishing will give you guys a shorter "bonding" time with your warbands and everyone would keep up with what is happening. You can use your medium to spread campaign rumors, communicate new House Rules, etc. 7. Choose Appropriate Times to Meet: This is critical! When I was in high school (just before the American Revolution 
) I used to role-play everyday at lunch-time. Now that I'm married, have a job
and a daughter, we meet every other Thursday. Even then, not everyone can make
the meeting! Talk among yourselves... be flexible and understanding. But once
players commit to go to the meeting, enforce it! 8. The Meting Does Not Have to Be Play Time: Meet to make some special advancements, decide who plays against whom, to share stories. Does not have to be long... 30 minutes! After that, some people may want to play and they will! Others would have a situation and sadly depart.... to play another day. 9. Give Players Time to Play: If you play a fast paced campaign, lets say every other day at the office’s lunch time, then you don’t care much if you can’t play a specific day. If you decide to play every two weeks, and someone miss the game day (either an emergency or pure stupidity) your campaign goes down the drain. In our campaign, we meet every two weeks for 1 hour or so and then players have 2 weeks (before the next meeting) to play their game(s) at THEIR convenience. It is way easier for two players to find out when they have time, than with 10. Sometimes, we all play after the meeting so it is like a small tourney… but we don’t mind if someone can’t make it. 10. Create Sensible House Rules: Sometimes, you decide you like to change something. It is natural. Let any player suggest a change; ask the others for their opinions. The then put it to vote among the referees. It is not a democracy… just a tyrannical benevolence.
The bigger the group the harder is to come to a consensus. Someone, at some
point won’t like something that everyone likes… mainly because it does not
benefits him/her like it does the others or worse, gives his/her warband a
slight disadvantage. For example; in our campaign Rats can climb. Yes, they are
animals, but they can climb. I can understand a Warhound or a Cold One not being
able to climb, but a giant rat? The cost the same as a dog, yet their stats are
worse. So the Rats can climb. The fact that I’m the only player with a Skaven
warband was an issue (a.k.a. me being bias towards my benefit.) Tried to
explain, few did not listened. Eventually players saw that I did not use Rats,
so they understood it was fair and balanced… I just did not choose to use rats
because they don't fit my story. I may include them later...
Did I mention HAVE FUN?
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