Let's Talk about the Game Master Book - Part two, "Your Campaign"

The second chapter of the Game Master book is all about Campaign structure; how to start them, run them, and end them. I know this is likely old hat to most people playing Tabletop RPGs, but I think it's a good section for beginners and I do my best to cover some stuff I don't think is usually talked about in rulebooks.

An outline of what's in this chapter:

• Starting Off (Location, 1st Adventure, Limited or Open Ended amount of sessions?)
• Various ideas for the Party's Origins
• Working with party roster changes (such as a player having to bow out, or character death)
• And a small bit on ending a campaign

And here's a small tid-bit of what's included in the chapter itself. I like showing this here because it's useful for other games besides BREAK!!.

Starting Social Bonds

The game master or players may want to begin the game with some established relationships between the party. This is not a bad idea at all, and is definitely beneficial for who have Abilities tied with existing Social Bonds.

• If this system is in effect, each player should choose another player’s character and decide (or roll on the Example Social Bonds Table) the nature of their character’s relationship with them. The other player may decide how their character feels as well - these don’t have to be equivalents!
• For example, a Battle Princess might have a crush on a Murder Princess who considers them a rival.
• Players should each try to choose a character who has not been picked for a social bond yet. Optimally, every one should end up with at least 2 - one with a player’s character who chose them, and another with the character they themselves chose.
• The players may flesh out the history of their character’s Social Bonds whenever they like. While it’s perfectly fine to decide on it right away, there is nothing detrimental about waiting do so later down the line.
• Social Bonds created this way are identical to ones earned via the Socializing Downtime Activity (x.x.x).
• Characters from the Other World are exempt from this (unless there are other Characters from the Other World present, then they may opt to create Social Bonds with one another) though they may choose which of the other characters they met first.

GM Tip!: The author’s favorite method of doing this is to have all the player’s sit at a table and have each establish a social bond with the player to their left’s character.

Example Social Bonds (Roll or Choose)

• (1-2) Close Friend - This is a person you feel you can trust and confide in. You might have grown up together, or maybe an important event brought you together.
• (3-4) Siblings - This person is (or is like) a brother or sister to you. You may squabble here and there, but you tend to be fiercely loyal to them. Note that adoption is very common in the Outer World, so characters of different species may consider themselves familial siblings.
• (5-6) Rivals - You are very competitive with this person; you may have comparable skills or methodology and you generally strive to top them in this arena whenever possible.
• (7-8) Partner In Crime - This person may not be your best friend, but they are someone you feel will help with some of your more rash or ill-advised schemes.
• (9-10) Mentor - You feel like you can really learn something from this character. They may be your superior in combat, social prowess, or some other adventuring vocation and you wish they’d teach you their secret.
• (11-12) Colleague - While you don’t have any strong feelings for this individual, you respect their ability and feel they are contributing their fair share to the efforts of the party.
• (13-14) Uneasy Ally - There is something about this person that makes you wary about them, even though you may still recognize them as a friend.
• (15-16) Shared Philosophy - This person has a faith or outlook on life that you wholeheartedly agree with, or at least respect a great deal.
• (17-18) Crush - You are infatuated with this person. Something there is simply something special about them that really attracts your attention.
• (19-20) Admiration -You may not always agree with this person or want to be like them, but they have earned a great deal of respect from you. You may even consider them to be a genuine hero!

(Next Week: Adventure Creation!)