Start & Scope

Ref: Okay we should talk about the start and scope of the campaign. For the start you can be Knights-Errant, newly knighted and out for glory, Knights-Gallant who are older, with a place in Court, or Knights-Tenant if you want to start ruling a Holding. To be honest that sounds a bit much for me at the moment, but we could do either of the others. Tal: I assumed we’d be starting out as new Knights, but starting in Court could be cool. Moss: Yeah I’m happy with either. Ref: Well let’s talk about scope before we lock it in. This is how many sessions we’ll run and how time will advance across them. I know we agreed to run for 6 weeks, so that would fit a chronicle. We can always carry on afterwards if we’re enjoying it. Moss: Yeah I’m away for two weeks and I think Tal has that other campaign? Ref: Sure, we’ll do six sessions then. The book suggests each session should end by moving onto the next Season, and at the end of winter we’ll advance to a new Age, which means advancing like twenty years or so. Tal: Right… but what if we end the session right in the middle of something? Ref: I mean we don’t have to set it in stone, but things persist between Seasons. Maybe we’ll leave the exact timing of the Age-skip loose so that we can do it when it feels right. It’ll be neat to look back on the campaign and have a proper span of your Knights’ lives. Tal: Okay that makes sense. Moss: I guess we try to finish each session in a place that makes sense too, right? Like we won’t end right in the middle of a combat? Ref: Yeah, and if that happens we can always finish the fight next time and do the time-skip mid-session. It doesn’t take long. Tal: Great. Well if we’re doing that shall we start as brand new Knights? Moss: Sounds good to me.

For those used to more traditional campaign structures, the between-session time jumps of Mythic Bastionland can seem daunting. It’s understandable that some players don’t like the idea of releasing control of their characters for these “off camera” months or years that pass during such an advancement. Of course, the intent of this rule isn’t to leave players with a lack of control, so here Ref does a good job of reassuring Tal and Moss. I think Ref strikes a good balance between keeping plans loose by suggesting some flexibility in when to advance the Seasons and Ages, but also making it clear that these advances are planned into the campaign, explaining why they want to include them. I’d possibly be clearer here, telling the group that each session will always be the start of a new Season, and deciding ahead of time which session will also advance to the next Age. This is no more right or wrong than Ref’s approach here, and comes down to your own preferences and your experience of playing with your group. They eventually settle on starting as Knights-Errant, which is where I expect the majority of groups to begin their games. Ref even goes as far as to recommend against the most advanced starting point. Even if a group is unlikely to want to begin as experienced Knights, it’s worth highlighting these options at the start of the campaign. Just showing them as possibilities helps players see the likely direction for their Knights and gives a bit more context to where they might be after some Seasons and Ages.