Skip to main content

Campaign Power Levels

Setting a power level for your campaign helps you tell players what the story will be about and how powerful their characters will be. The power level of a campaign can change over time and as characters level up.
You can start your game at any character level. A level 1 'World level' game could be about heroes just learning about their powers and responsibilities. A level 3 'Steet level' game could be about poweful magical forces attacking a small community that the players defend using their considerable skill.

Street Level Concepts
  • Young adults learning to cope with magic and power in their normal lives.
  • A neighborhood in Brooklyn has been targeted by a fiend that encourages deadly pacts.

Local Level Concepts
  • The small town of Nowhere, NM is beset by werewolves and skinchangers.
  • Feister College has started studying magical beasts and is recruiting researchers for their dangerous work.

Nation Level Concepts
  • A team of magical people that seek to end  the machinations of Guy Howard, an aspiring senator who is secretly a powerful fey that enchants and binds his supporters.
  • The team is hunted by a government agency that wants to dissect and study them.
  • A dragon decides to form its own nation in the heart of the Rocky Mountains.

World Level Concepts
  • Asura Corporation sells a variety of products that encourage fiendish possession across the globe.
  • The magical people of the world need protection as their cycle of life and rebirth is disrupted by necromancers.
  • Powerful forces lurk in the void between worlds, reaching out to take hold of our own.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The AstralNet

The AstralNet is a Dwarven creation that parallels the Internet. Using it magicals can communicate without crossing over mundane channels. There are a variety of apps and websites that link to the AstralNet for easy access. The AstralNet doesn't have the same information resources as the Internet but it does support a number of chat and messaging programs, bulletin boards and other information sharing resources. Magic spellbooks and reference guides have been scanned and shared online as well as guides to many beneficial and dangerous magical beasts. The AstralNet is also a source of jobs and tasks for entrepreneurs. These range from legal jobs that require magical skill to illegal black or wet ops. AstralNet servers are large, heavily enchanted computers. They are kept safely and securely deep within the Earth where only Dwarves go. 
2 comments
Read more

No Spellbooks - No Limits!

A major benefit of Open Legend RPG over others is the way magical effects are constructed. There are no spellbooks! While I love reading RPG books, I dislike reading and comprehending spell listings. Open Legend gives easy tools to simplify this. The concept of a 'spell' in Open Legend can be one of a few things, generally referred to as 'Favored Actions' in the example Archetypes given in the rules. They can be damaging attacks, just like you would make with a sword or bow, Banes - which are harmful effects, generally placed on enemies, or Boons - helpful effects placed on oneself or an ally. These effects are also not limited by levels of power or slots, so you can use each of them as many times per day/game as you like! Most require a simple action to use, the same as an attack in combat. One of the most fun and creative things to do in Open Legend is take these general, mechanical game effects and transform them into unique actions that describe your character...
2 comments
Read more

Campaign Example: The Infiltrators Adventure 1

Last night on twitch.tv/time2tabletop I got the opportunity to start bringing Legends of Today to life! This was a first Open Legend game for all the players and one of the first RPGs ever for 2 of the players. With that in mind I simplified out the magical races and just focused on 'normal' characters. So this was a proof of concept for the modern setting, not the idea of including magic. I learned a few things: 1. Loose notes are good notes. I kept the things the players liked best and skipped anything they didn't. 2. Fights in Open Legend can be brutal! This might be luck, but last time I ran OL, the party ran right over the opposition. This time, I immediately exploded the dice in a big way against a PC. They were knocked unconscious immediately. 3. Unsurprisingly, there is a big difference between a Power Level 7 and Power Level 5. The attacks made at Power Level 7 proved unstoppable against Level 1 players. I took note of the names the players wanted to use bu...
2 comments
Read more