#campaign model

Many great stories have been told using the theme of rebellion, but it can sometimes be a difficult or elusive concept to grasp and portray. To that end I’ve created a simple campaign model that can help anyone create a rock solid rebellious campaign. We’ll break it down to it’s essential parts in order.

Part 1.) The Injustice. Before a good rebellion story can be told, there must be a reason to rebel. There must be a catalyst that stirs the players to action, while at the same time establishing that their rebellion is justified and needed. This requires that the current powers that be, the government, empire, mages guild, vampire enclave, whoever it is, commits a wrong against the player that is undeserved. This should include a prominent abuse of their power, and ideally should also display at least a portion of the vastness of that power. Since one can’t rebel against someone with less power and influence than you this is an essential component. The injustice doesn’t need to happen directly to the player, it can also target their loved ones, family, friends or the like. In a campaign with multiple players it may be a single injustice that rallies all of them, or they may each have their own incident that unfairly targets them.

Part 2.) The personal rebellion. This is the moment that the player acts on their desire to create change, or on their rage against the current authority. This may be the same scene as the injustice or it may be days, weeks, or even years later. This personal rebellion should be reflective of the injustice done to them and how the character feels about it. Some personal rebellion might be something small. The child stays home from school. The businessman takes an hour long lunch. The knight no longer salutes his king. Or it may be something more grand. The smuggler keeps his cargo instead of handing it over. The grief stricken father blows up an abandoned construction site. The superhero removes his mask. Unless the goal is a story about revenge blackening ones soul it’s important that the rebellion not be worse or more destructive than the injustice. The one suffering the most from this rebellion should be either the oppressor or the rebel themself. Lastly this personal rebellion should be ultimately futile. It does not stop or defeat or even hinder the oppressor, it either goes entirely unnoticed or at worst is a minor inconvenience. This helps to establish the need for allies.

Part 3.) Convergence. At this stage the rebels, whether through intention or circumstance are united with each-other and others who share their viewpoint. They’ll likely commiserate and share the stories of their injustice. This not only helps establish the players with each-other, but it also helps them meet other npc’s who may be allies while at the same time revealing more of the extent of the need for rebellion. One person wronged or slighted is a grudge, is revenge. But many becomes a problem for society itself, it brings the need for rebellion into sharper focus and each victim makes it more justified.

Part 4.) United action. Now, together the group of rebels can begin taking real, co-ordinated and meaningful action against their oppressors. They can move, strike, and achieve objectives previously unreachable thanks to their combined resources, their combined intelligence, and their network of contacts. This comes the closest to a standard “adventure” that might be found in other games and is where the meat of the campaign is, alongside the next part.Part 5.) The push back. The powerful oppressors are of course not going to suffer a defeat without taking action. They push back. At this part the oppressors will take a powerful, decisive and potentially demoralizing action. Often times this process will harm others besides the rebels, which could potentially turn innocent bystanders into enemies, who blame the rebels for the punishment being meted out, or into allies who now see the malevolence of the oppressor for what it is.

Part 5.5) Repeat. Optionally you may choose to repeat the previous two steps one or more times, each time the rebels make an advancement, the oppressors strike back with a new plan for revenge. This cycle can continue for as long as is needed based on the campaign. Each event is more likely to draw others into the crossfire allowing great opportunity to add new allies and foes and to have players question or re-affirm their resolve. Part 6.) Resolution. This is the end. The big finale. In one final move the players overcome their oppressors. This may mean killing them, reforming them, exposing them to the public, or stripping away their power. The important thing is that their rebellion, once seen as agitation and trouble-making has been vindicated and justified. Perhaps the common folk recognize them as heroes, perhaps they don’t, but their lives will be noticeable better for the act of rebellion that has taken place. Ideally the resolution should wrap up all the remaining plot threads and character arcs as any good ending should.

And so, just like that you have an entire campaign. This might all take place in the span of a single marathon session, or it might be a multi-year long epic. It could take place in the distant past, the modern world, a far flung future, or any of a thousand other places. No matter the era, the technology or the powers there are always stories of the many and mighty being toppled by the few and dedicated. Acting against the law, the authority, the church, the gods, the nobility, the alien overlords, or whomever else will always be a gripping tale of personal and societal reform. And this basic arc functions equally well for freedom fighters roped into a bigger cause, innocent citizens facing disenfranchisement, or even for members of the oppressors who have seen the evil they serve and turned their backs on it.Your rebellion campaign may play with themes of freedom and slavery, with media perception and propaganda, with self sacrifice or the importance of finding joy even in a dark world. It may be a bloody tail of anarchy and social reform, or a clear-cut case of plucky rebels vs comically evil overlords. But however you choose to run it, this basic structure will be your guide. And as always, have fun.

This campaign model tells the tale of a single powerful work of magic going awry. As such it's suitable for fantasy games. One could also replace the magic potentially with toxic or biological mutation or even a freak of evolution. The tone can easily be adjusted from light and adventurous to bitch black tragedy or horror.  As it stands, the adventure is designed with elements of mystery, horror, and fantasy. It's a slow build to a massive confrontation.

The story is as follows:

It all started with a simple tree. A beloved tree, with deep strong roots covered in moss and fungus. A tree that stood for decades, the favoured tree of a humble nature lover.  And then there was a moment, a moment of beauty and a single instance of magic. Perhaps it was a blessing from above, perhaps the humble nature lover had earned the power through training or sacrifice or the admiration of a fairy. But regardless of how, they were blessed with the power to bring a plant to life, to sentience and sapience with a touch. But when the moment came to lay hand upon the tree, there was a mistake. Instead the magic flowed into the fungus, deep into the earth, spreading across a massive network of fungi so expansive that it covers much of the world itself. (And of course if it suits your game you can replace this origin with a network of fungal roots reaching a spilled pool of toxic waste.)

Now a single massive organism lives, and breathes and feeds and grows beneath the surface of the world. It hears words whispered in the royal gardens, it feels the indiscretions hidden in the cornfield, it drinks the blood of the battlefields and it comprehends all of it, constantly feeding an intellect as vast as the organism itself. It knows the knowledge of the open world, and through this it learns.

As it waits and listens, drinking in the knowledge of the world, it is discovered by a small coven who form a cult around it. They meet in tunnels webbed with roots and fungi and perform their strange rites in honour of the mushroom god they have discovered. Depending on the mood you want to go with these could be entirely mundane beings believing themselves mystical connected to this world sized life form, or they could have true magical power. Likewise, the tone can decide what exactly the cult is doing. A darker game could find the cultists abducting humans and using them as fertilizer to feed the their god, whereas a lighter game may have them pressuring others to join, stealing garden supplies and mulch, or consuming dangerous psychoactive in an effort to commune with the plant. But regardless of their motives and abilities, they do manage to catch the entities attention, and through their supplication it comes to believe that is indeed a god.

When the players inevitably foil the cult, this being takes notice of them, deciding to enact the godly vengeance that is promised by its cultists. It's first attempt should be minor but mystifying. It could be a great sinkhole opening up beneath one of the players, exposing a deep root filled tunnel, or it could be several small savage mushroom creatures attacking from a small hole in the earth. Even something subtler still, like the player's garden dying and rotting and filling with fungus in short order., and then finding the ground beneath the garden has opened up into small tunnels. Enough to tell the players that something is definitely going on, and to lead them to a network of tunnels similar to where the cult was, but smaller.

From here the players may want to wanted into the tunnels alone or they might group up to explore. Depending on how things worked out with the cultists they may seek out surviving members or victims. The important thing here is to put on more pressure. if they visit cultists they get waylaid on the way, by living fungi, felled trees, or more stronger mushroom minions. You may also choose to have the cultist or their victims also attacked, their fate also left to help enforce the tone of the game. If the players advance into the tunnels confront them with choking roots, or toxic spores, or animate mushrooms, nothing too strong for them, but enough to tell them they're on the right track. Another major boon of this model is that if the players try to leave or flee, the organism is everywhere.

If the players back off, give them a brief reprieve, let them catch their breath, plan their next move, and then as they implement that plan, put the pressure back on, no stronger than last time, but just a reminder that they can't escape this. If they press on into the tunnels heading deeper, then it's time to get psychological. The being communicates with them, and it wants the players to surrender to it. This can be anything from demanding they become it's champions, to submitting to fungal infection, to earnestly asking them to lay down and die amidst its roots. The important thing is that these are not the idle growling demands of a monster. They are the sweet cajoling words of a god, of a being so mighty that it already knows the party will die and fail, so they should save themselves the trouble. Sine few parties ever back down when asked to they'll likely press on. At this point wet stomp the gas and throw a big threat at them. Good options are a vast cavern with a massive fungal creature, a hidden clearing on the surface with fugally infected animals, optimally in varying states of decay, or just massive tentacle like roots. When the party wins the battle, they'll quickly realize the war is just beginning. This is a good chance for ominous messages from around the world. If players have friends across the world, have it drop one of their names and what they're doing. If there's a war the players have investment in, have the creature give ominous news from the front, or just tell them what their family back home is up to. This is a power play, this is the god revealing at least in part how expansive and powerful it is.

At this point the players should be allowed a little reprieve, a chance to draw back and consider their options. They can consider a lot of approaches here, Magical, Chemical, Alchemical, Psychological, the important thing is that as long as they settle on a somewhat reasonable goal, have it seem like it should work. If it seems like they really need a bone, you could even have them discover there's a powerful heart at the center of the mass, grown around where the spell was laid. Regardless of the approach as a general rule it should take 1 adventure to prepare and a second to implement. If they want to blow the heck out of it with explosives, that's 1 adventure to get the goods, and 1 to place and detonate. If the approach is magical it should be 1 adventure to find the info and another to bring it to bare. You get the idea.

It's also important to remember, the players by this point should be aware the creature can see and hear them in an outdoor environment. So if they decide anyways to prepare their plan outside near all the plants and moss and fungi, then take note. Have the plant react accordingly, it's not a stupid entity that will allow it to be destroyed. If it knows where the players are going and what they plan to do ahead of time, it should take steps to prevent it. whether that means taking over the chemical plant, infecting the sage who knows it's weakness, or anything else.  Depending on campaign length, that could mean just making an encounter a bit harder, throwing in a few enemies or an extra obsticle, or it could mean completely foiling that option and forcing them to go on another adventure. That last option should also only be used if the players actually have more than one idea about how to stop the entity.

Finally all the preparations are set, the players have what they need and have finally begun moving to place it or enact it. At this point the entity offers a truce, a partnership, after all it is a being with more knowledge and power than any other , surely it could turn the tide of any conflict. Of course this being would never actually be the tool of mere mortals, but if it can buy enough time it can heighten it's defenses and defeat the players. Hopefully the players will see through this ruse, and together defeat the massive being, ending it's existence and saving themselves and perhaps the world.

Photography:  Michael Dumlao Styling:  Elaine Mensah Hair:  Urban Style Lab, Soel MUA supplied by Fashion Fights Poverty Distribution:  Style and Image Network, PR

Aaaw yeah!  You're looking at the image that went into the Fashion Fights Poverty 2008 "Dress Responsibly" Look Book.  The FFP Look Book is a major component to the visual campaign that advertises the main fashion show event, taking place on September 26, 2008.  All of the apparel and jewelry featured in the FFP Look Book are made by designers that help promote eco-friendly, ethical and fair traded practices in their respective fashion businesses.  The theme throughout the Look Book is a tribute to American innovations in fashion design and their creative approach to addressing global poverty.