Quote from: Shasarak;1078507One good thing about Sci Fi games is that you can use your Ship as a home base (like the Millennium Falcon).

I actually hate that. It's like living out of a motorhome. It's not a home base; it's just a vehicle that has racks to sleep in. All of the things that a home base offers (mainly ties to the game world through NPCs and organizations) tend to be absent with the space vagabonds that live out of their ship.

Regarding the OP, yeah, having a home base is important for most of my long-term campaigns - and many of my short ones.

Champions was among my earliest role-playing, so I've always been pretty comfortable with the PCs having a home city and roots. I've always been fond of the setup of Ars Magica, with a home covenant.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1078512I actually hate that. It's like living out of a motorhome. It's not a home base; it's just a vehicle that has racks to sleep in. All of the things that a home base offers (mainly ties to the game world through NPCs and organizations) tend to be absent with the space vagabonds that live out of their ship.

I think there are some uses for living out of a ship, so I wouldn't say I hate it. But in general I agree that living out of a motorhome seems like a thin excuse for a life, and more like a plot device for adventures.

I love four methods.

1: The traditional "start town" which can be a campaign all on its own as the PCs range out and then head back to a place they feel secure. The other being the "Big City" which can be a campaign all on its own without the PCs ever leaving the city.

2: The "housing upgrade" style which usually sees the PCs relocating as their lifestyles improve. This could be something like moving from a small village, to a large town, to a city, to a capitol. The PCs stay for an extended period. But eventually they want to move to better abodes. Or DIY their own.

3: The "traveler" style where the PCs are constantly on the move and their homes are inns and tents on the road that leads ever on. It could be that the PCs are looking for a start town and never find it. Or by necessity are constantly on the move. This was pretty much how all PCs existed in Dragon Storm. Ever on the move.

4: And my personal favourite. The "Mobile Base". Most often in the form of a caravan home or covered wagon or equivalents. This is 75% of the time how my PCs live and about the first thing they set out to acquire. Your base is ever with you. Just don't forget where you parked it.

Quote from: jhkim;1078523I think there are some uses for living out of a ship, so I wouldn't say I hate it. But in general I agree that living out of a motorhome seems like a thin excuse for a life, and more like a plot device for adventures.

Poor old Jack Reacher does not even have a motor home, just a toothbrush and an expired passport.  He does seem to have a lot of adventures though.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1078512I actually hate that. It's like living out of a motorhome. It's not a home base; it's just a vehicle that has racks to sleep in. All of the things that a home base offers (mainly ties to the game world through NPCs and organizations) tend to be absent with the space vagabonds that live out of their ship.

A big ship like the Enterprise has NPCs and 1+ organisations, though - does that work?
I've never actually run a Star Trek type campaign, but I would like to do so someday.

Quote from: HappyDaze;1078512I actually hate that. It's like living out of a motorhome. It's not a home base; it's just a vehicle that has racks to sleep in. All of the things that a home base offers (mainly ties to the game world through NPCs and organizations) tend to be absent with the space vagabonds that live out of their ship.

I don't know that's necessarily true. Firefly's Serenity certainly felt like a home, and the gang didn't lack for social links. But the point is well-made, I think the GM should spend some session zero time developing that stuff.

Quote from: S'mon;1078546A big ship like the Enterprise has NPCs and 1+ organisations, though - does that work?
I've never actually run a Star Trek type campaign, but I would like to do so someday.

I don't mind that. To me it's not the same as wandering around sleeping in your car with no real ties to anyone or anyplace.

Quote from: S'mon;1078445Just musing to myself that all my successful long term campaigns have had the following format:

1. PCs start out in a safe and relatively familiar location, eg "You all meet at the Inn"; though it can be a castle or Pathfinder lodge, etc.
2. PCs hear the "call to adventure" - whether the greybeard in the corner with Quest to Save World, or just rumours of treasure
3. PCs go to adventure site, do stuff, then come back.

So, basically the "Hero's Journey".

Now, sometimes - often - the PCs eventually relocate their Home Base, eg they might move to a new Inn, or gain their own Castle. But the safe & familiar starting point seems to be very important for long term play. If I start the game as GM/am started as player with PCs on the run, looking for safety, or crashed on an unfamiliar & dangerous planet/island, it never works out. All player energy goes into establishing safety - creating that safe home base, or reaching a safe place - at which point the game feels 'done'. The energy dissipates.

Anyone else had this experience? Is it just me?

Yes, sure, that's kind of assumed in the stereotypical D&D campaign: you start out in the little town on the borderland, later on you are based in some big fantasy city, and later still you end up making your own stronghold.

Quote from: RPGPundit;1079603Yes, sure, that's kind of assumed in the stereotypical D&D campaign: you start out in the little town on the borderland, later on you are based in some big fantasy city, and later still you end up making your own stronghold.

Yes - my point is that this setup works, whereas other starting setups such as Fleeing the Zombie Apocalypse (or Fleeing the Armies of the Dark Lord) don't seem to work for long term play. It feels as if to run a long term Zombie Apocalypse game, I'd need to start the game where the films end - with the PCs in a reasonably safe & secure long term home base.

Quote from: S'mon;1079614Yes - my point is that this setup works, whereas other starting setups such as Fleeing the Zombie Apocalypse (or Fleeing the Armies of the Dark Lord) don't seem to work for long term play. It feels as if to run a long term Zombie Apocalypse game, I'd need to start the game where the films end - with the PCs in a reasonably safe & secure long term home base.

Well, seeing as thematically most Zombie Movies and stories are all about Man's Inhumanity to Man, with the Zombies being a vaguely threatening environmental condition rather than a true antagonist, its probably for the best that you start your zombie game AFTER the movies. Otherwise you're just asking for your players to murder each other (yes, players) over who gets to use the can opener.  


Its for the best really.

Quote from: S'mon;1079614Yes - my point is that this setup works, whereas other starting setups such as Fleeing the Zombie Apocalypse (or Fleeing the Armies of the Dark Lord) don't seem to work for long term play. It feels as if to run a long term Zombie Apocalypse game, I'd need to start the game where the films end - with the PCs in a reasonably safe & secure long term home base.

I ran a year-long fantasy post-apocalyptic campaign (with a dragon apocalypse instead of a zombie apocalypse). In it, the players started out fleeing - and they eventually found a home base, but only after a number of adventures. On the other hand, they had a group of NPCs with them from the beginning - their little mobile community of survivors.

It was patterned like the Walking Dead in a sense - wandering from spot to spot, protecting their charges, and only finding a safe place after a struggle. (The equivalent of the prison in The Walking Dead.) I thought it worked OK, though I might still prefer a real home base from the start for other campaigns.

Quote from: jhkim;1079692I ran a year-long fantasy post-apocalyptic campaign (with a dragon apocalypse instead of a zombie apocalypse). In it, the players started out fleeing - and they eventually found a home base, but only after a number of adventures. On the other hand, they had a group of NPCs with them from the beginning - their little mobile community of survivors.

It was patterned like the Walking Dead in a sense - wandering from spot to spot, protecting their charges, and only finding a safe place after a struggle. (The equivalent of the prison in The Walking Dead.) I thought it worked OK, though I might still prefer a real home base from the start for other campaigns.

Thanks Kim, that's very interesting!

So, this indicates that with a bunch of NPCs along, the PCs could have their own mobile 'home base' with them - a bit like the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. I could see that greatly mitigating the issue. Still, my expectation would be that the game's energy would tend to dissipate once a genuinely safe long term base is established. But still, I very much like the idea of the PCs shepherding - or being part of - a mobile survivor community, rather than being on their own & looking for such a community to join. This definitely gives me food for thought!

Quote from: S'mon;1079614Yes - my point is that this setup works, whereas other starting setups such as Fleeing the Zombie Apocalypse (or Fleeing the Armies of the Dark Lord) don't seem to work for long term play. It feels as if to run a long term Zombie Apocalypse game, I'd need to start the game where the films end - with the PCs in a reasonably safe & secure long term home base.

Worked for Dragon Storm for like 20 years. The PCs had to stay constantly on the move and what few safe places there were they couldnt linger long else they might be discovered. Get a breather, restock, train, then off again trying to stay one step ahead of the Necros else you end up their next power charge.

Quote from: S'mon;1079748Thanks Kim, that's very interesting!

So, this indicates that with a bunch of NPCs along, the PCs could have their own mobile 'home base' with them - a bit like the Starship Enterprise in Star Trek. I could see that greatly mitigating the issue. Still, my expectation would be that the game's energy would tend to dissipate once a genuinely safe long term base is established. But still, I very much like the idea of the PCs shepherding - or being part of - a mobile survivor community, rather than being on their own & looking for such a community to join. This definitely gives me food for thought!

I think I've mentioned the campaign before. It was using D&D5 - with the idea that a horde of dragons suddenly appeared to ravage the surface of world. Civilization fell, and the survivors looked for places underground to go live. So you have adventurers going into dungeons as the primary action, but they are looking for resources and a place to live, rather than gold. They had a group of 20 to 30 other survivors with them that they were looking out for.

When I introduced a safe area, it was physically mostly safe, but still had tensions. They had made it down into the Underdark, and encountered a larger group of survivors - but this was lead by an ambitious halfling general who wanted to take a stand and carve out a piece of the Underdark for themselves.  They had leveled up a bunch, so now they were the top tier in a larger setting - more of a small town of a few hundred people. They still had their little group that looked to them, but now there were equal-level rivals to them with tensions between them.

I have a soft spot for urban adventuring, so wherever my players start out, they usually end up setting up digs in the campaign world's Lankhmar equivalent and making forays into other regions of the world from there.