My group is starting to finalize our characters for a unique campaign style that keeps the game fluid for players who can or cannot attend regular events. I wanted to run it by people here and receive feedback to improve/modify the idea.

Our campaign has the characters acting as operatives who come together and fulfill contractual missions for their superior officers. While our campaign has an overarching story, we realized that the modular nature of our system meant we could come and go as we were able as players, and not miss too much of the story or too much of the growth. This allowed a few other things as well. Other people could run a mission as a GM for a session, we could have a much larger number of players who wouldn't be able to commit regularly (but often enough and with a drive to play), it could be held online, and it could work for any of the three traditional factions: Rebels, Imperials, and Scoundrels.

Right now this is how it works:

1. The GM selects a mission from a pool of missions submitted by the players. These missions are submitted in the form of "Potential Targets" with just enough details as to what type of mission it is (elimination, sabotage, rescue, recon, etc...) and where it is with potential threats.

2. The GM constructs the mission with character archetypes and roles in mind (to be as inclusive as they can). The mission will list Primary objectives, Secondary objectives, Secret Objective count (like "Two secret objectives"), and personal objectives tailored to each player (NOTE: These will not always be available to everyone).

3. The GM submits the mission to the players a few days beforehand in the form of a delivered official correspondence from their handler in the organization they work for.

4. Players get together online and discuss among themselves how they are to accomplish the task. This will lead to such creativity at times. This is more informal, but helps them get an idea of how they are going to proceed (which can really streamline sessions we have found in another game).

5. On the game day, players meet to execute the mission. Things may go wrong, the may go super smooth. Ultimately, they are trying to accomplish the main objective as well as any secondary, personal, and hidden objectives associated with the mission.

6. Afterwards, they are debriefed on the mission. Successes are rewarded and failures are not. If players succeed, they are given their contract award as well as any bonuses from extra work completed. It comes in the form of credits, duty, and experience.

**If we have a few too many players, the GM will have some of the folks run NPC rivals or nemeses for the session and reward them base experience for a job well done. They don't have to succeed at stopping the players, they just have to help facilitate a challenge and provide a fun experience for everyone.

Our group will be utilizing the Duty system in a very unique way (read: duty in name only). Basically, Duty awards can be used to raise your rank (highest ranking officer leads the mission), requisition items from the Quartermaster, receive special training in a skill (raise a rank) one more time per session than normal (which is currently one to encourage steady, realistic growth), gain experience, or gain credits. Essentially, Duty is a measure of how well you personally perform on missions.

In a lot of ways, this is similar to the old Larp system IFGS (International Fantasy Gaming Society).

This could work wonders for a system online because using a system like Roll20 and Obsidian Portal, you can easily track character growth and craft missions for characters at different levels of progression. Not ot mention that this system doesn't have a huge power creep problem, and new characters can roll fairly well with others and still feel involved.

Another flair we are adding for our group, is that players have a service record, where they will have commendations, rank advancements, service medals/ribbons, and running career achievements (like you have with Skyrim). This is just a way for our group to have fun and talk about their exploits with each other as they might not all get to play together regularly.

What do you guys think? Does this sound fun? Does it seem like it might be lacking for you in some way? We are trying to catch problems before we get to them, but are keenly aware that we may to just go trial by fire here.

It's an episodic format which works well for what you are talking about in regards to people coming and going. The opposite in a serial format has those awkward sessions where people swap in and out in the middle of the 'dungeon'. They both have their pluses and minuses but I think your format will work fine.

The key part is the mission needs to be 1 session long.

There are a lot of different tactics to handle the unavoidable problem of players missing sessions. I've played in groups that would run the character as an NPC, or have another player run two characters for the night. I think it was a Dragon Magizine article back in the 90's that suggested literally having the character vanish, summoned away to another plane by a wizard or elemental - returning the next session with no memory of the extra-planer adventure.

My current group generally has the missing player's character fade into the background for the session. This has worked well so far.

Your idea sounds great. The biggest challenge I see will be keeping each adventure to a single session. You might find that the format limits the type of stories you can tell. But, in the end, if everyone is having fun you are doing it right.

7 hours ago, O the Owl said:

There are a lot of different tactics to handle the unavoidable problem of players missing sessions. I've played in groups that would run the character as an NPC, or have another player run two characters for the night. I think it was a Dragon Magizine article back in the 90's that suggested literally having the character vanish, summoned away to another plane by a wizard or elemental - returning the next session with no memory of the extra-planer adventure.

My current group generally has the missing player's character fade into the background for the session. This has worked well so far.

Your idea sounds great. The biggest challenge I see will be keeping each adventure to a single session. You might find that the format limits the type of stories you can tell. But, in the end, if everyone is having fun you are doing it right.

7 hours ago, Daeglan said:

The key part is the mission needs to be 1 session long.

I completely agree with both of you. This has been the one thing the GM and I have been discussing. The missions are supposed to last one session. Things don't always go that way though.

2 hours ago, Geodes said:

I completely agree with both of you. This has been the one thing the GM and I have been discussing. The missions are supposed to last one session. Things don't always go that way though.

Be prepared to cut encounters or streamline information gathering on the fly. Players will always surprise you with plot-derailing digressions, and quick trips to the market district can turn into hour-long shopping sprees. I once had to cut a battle involving a couple of Gamorrean-eunuch-harem guards with cybernetic vibrosword implants because two players spent far too long trying to coerce a desk clerk at the police headquarters.

Sounds like you are planning to do a fair amount of pre- and post-gaming through email or chat. Perhaps you could save actual game time by restricting shopping, crafting, and bookkeeping (like spending experience) to email.

3 hours ago, O the Owl said:

Be prepared to cut encounters or streamline information gathering on the fly. Players will always surprise you with plot-derailing digressions, and quick trips to the market district can turn into hour-long shopping sprees. I once had to cut a battle involving a couple of Gamorrean-eunuch-harem guards with cybernetic vibrosword implants because two players spent far too long trying to coerce a desk clerk at the police headquarters.

Sounds like you are planning to do a fair amount of pre- and post-gaming through email or chat. Perhaps you could save actual game time by restricting shopping, crafting, and bookkeeping (like spending experience) to email.

That's the plan as well. There is a Pre mission prep phase each player takes independently with the GM to get what they need. Since discussion has occurred about the approach to handling the mission beforehand, they'll know what they are looking to purchase...in theory*. Lol

Our group did something very similar to this for a couple months and it works really well. For us our group was enslaved but hutts and was sent on jobs to do. Had a handful of recurring characters and some overarching story arc (trying to gain our freedom) which was great for members who made every session. For those who couldn't, it was easy to pop in and out. Lots of fun.