Campaign

The Campaign is the entire story the collective group looks to tell as they progress through playing Echelon. The Campaign section is worldbuilding itself. Campaign thoughts include themes, groups, individuals, objects or places that may be encountered throughout connected Arcs. It also includes the major story Goal to be revealed through play.

In the Campaign stage,you’ll build loose detail about people, places and things. To do so, refer to your Meta Lore. Meta Lore gives us the boundaries of our Campaign. Boundaries tell us what can be achieved within the constraints of our Meta Lore. For example, in a world of mortals and immortals,it sounds like we’re leaning into fantasy. In fantasy settings it's less likely that you’ll command a starship and peddle moisture farming equipment through the ‘verse than it is that you'll sail a frigate over treacherous kraken infested seas to explore uncharted lands.

Echelon continues to use the Top Down Approach in Campaign generation. This allows you to fill even more precise detail beyond your initial concept as events happen within the game during Gameplay. In the example below we’ll stick with one Campaign story within the Echelon Meta Lore. If you’d like to tell more, just repeat the process for the number of stories to unfold through the course of a game. For every story in the Campaign, use the below as a guide.

Campaign Goal

The Goal is a clear objective to be accomplished by the Player group.Goals are their strongest when all Players Characters are tied to it and are reminded how to achieve it. The main function of a Goal is to keep the Player group focused and on the same team.

When defining a goal you want to put a specific focus on an element that exists within the bounds of your Meta Lore. At this point you’ll want to generate detail about the object of the goal. As the Campaign progresses you have the ability to add, remove, and edit the goal as players help you reveal more of the story.

Goal: Unlock hidden secrets to the Font of Arcanum

Font of Arcanum: Navash’s final blessing of equality between the mortals and immortals. Innate to immortals and sought to be mastered by the mortals.

Allies

Allies are people or organizations within the story that provide opportunities to the Player group. Allies help nudge Players in the direction of the story by reminding them what’s at stake. The main function of an Ally is to point the Player group in the direction of their Goal.

When defining Allies it’s important to leave room for discovery. Perhaps Allies aren't known from the start and should be sought. Maybe Players find themselves attributed in some way to an Ally organization. When creating an Ally keep in mind that they may possess something that each Player seeks.

     Allies: Arcane users,Researchers, Magic seeking races

     Arcane Users: Many mortal races have begun to tap into the Font of Arcanum, the most advanced users have become the most interested.

     Researchers: Perhaps an arcane academy? The Doyen Academy. They seek to progress the human understanding of the Font of Arcanum–at any cost.

Adversaries

Adversaries are people or organizations within the story that provide a source of conflict. Adversaries provide complications and consequences for the Player group on their path to achieve their Goal. The main function of Adversaries is to provide adversity to the Player group.

Similar to Allies,Adversaries should have room for discovery. Perhaps over time the group learn show menacing an Adversary truly is. Or the Adversary becomes more apparent as they come closer to their Goal.

     Adversaries: Anti-magicgroup, Protectors of secrets

     Anti-magic Group: Sisters of Jasadin. A group of ultra fanatics under the influence of an immortal they believe a god.

     Protectors of Secrets: Venarra. A race of Venerate descendants believed to be agents of Navash themself on the Physical Realm. They seek to enforce balance lest the War of Immortals start again.

Story

The story is a quick sequential snippet that might cue you in on how close the Player group is to unlock/progress elements of the Story. The Story is also where you piece together the elements determined within the Campaign. It’s often general as the Players may dictate the specifics of how, when and for how long. Each phase represents parts of the story which must take place before progressing to the ultimate Goal.

     Phase One

     The player group must first learn about the Font of Arcanum‍

     Learn from someone and discover a lead on knowledge tied to Font of Arcanum

     Phase Two

     Adversaries gain the upper hand and players must even odds

     Adversaries take something that belongs to Players and become stronger than the Players

     Phase Three

     Players must find and use an Arcanum relic

     Go full circle to the lead on Font of Arcanum and position players to acquire and use it

Campaign Summary

A key element to keep in mind while you’re in this stage is that Campaigns should focus on a story. The elements you define here should support that story. You can tell as many stories as you like when creating a Campaign. The more stories you try to tell, the more immersive your world may become as you build more opportunities for interaction.

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