Campaign Mechanics - Fluff

Old campaign - Where the Druchii Net Online Campaign was discussed

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Langmann
Malekith's Tastetester & Physician
Malekith's Tastetester & Physician
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Campaign Mechanics - Fluff

Post by Langmann »

Pre-Fluff

I hope that you guys are getting familiar with the pre-fluff that I have on the web site. Some of the things you may not agree with but as the campaign wears on you can warp them into your collective opinion. I think its likely imperative that you know the pre-fluff like the back of your hands.

On Dark Elves

While some Dark Elves are definitely homocidal maniacs, the general race is actually quite rigidly controlled in both social emotions and interactions and organizational structure, regardless of what a lot of noobs would like the DE to be. If Naggaroth were run by lunatics it would not be the complex and organized kingdom, with rigid rules and strict social interactions that it is.

Malekith

There is one King, and he does know everything according to the fluff. He sits in a high tower in Nag much like Sauron and can see his entire land and possibly the world as well (Book 4 and 5). Regardless of how cheezy and as much of a rip as that is off of Sauron in the LotR, it is still GW fluff. He is extremely powerful, a 4th level mage, an exceptional fighter, and probably the most talented General still alive in the WFB world. His victories are immense and his cunning is as well. He is quite emotional about the HE, BUT has strong control over those emotions as demonstrated with his first beating of Eltharion. In some ways Malekith is the poster child for the entire Dark Elf race: Given to rage in the very thick and intimate part of battle, but extremely cunning, plotting, unemotional, and proud outside of personal combat.

Malektih will use any tool he can, be it dragons, daemons, chaos, khainites, his mother, whatever. He is the Great Manipulator of all things. Dark Elves are also this way, they use many monsters, slaves, and other tools available to them. They are not afraid to do this.

Morathi

Like it or not, Malekith runs Morathi's little world. During the Cult days, he turned her in to advance his own position. Whether they worked this out before hand is unknown, but he did it. Later, after the establishment of Naggaroth, Malekith had the Khainites kill off the leaders of the cities, which were some of the original worshippers of Slaanesh because they were becoming too powerful.

According the GW fluff he has sanctioned his mother's use of the cult. Whether this is another one of his maneuverings to beat down the khainites, who have also become very powerful is unknown, but likely the way we would want to approach it.

Morathi is both the Bride of Khaine and Slaanesh. This is a paradox, but likely it could be possible for one as powerful as Morathi to server two masters. Either way this issue has not been resolved by GW. The way I look at it is like this: regardless of how much the cult hates the khainites, Morathi could walk into either temple and be received as the leader. She can bath in the true cauldron of blood anytime. However could she take the cauldron of blood away from the khainites and give it to the cult openly? Probably not, it would cause a huge rift in the followers. Therefore anything she does would have to be subtle. She can easily move followers from either religion to do whatever she wishes at the time, even steal and kill people from the other temple. Probably the best way for us to resolve this is to allow the paradox to run and moreover make it part of the plot. Its actually quite interesting when you think about it and makes it much more of a complex plot than the usual one side verses the other.

The Campaign

The campaign is based upon one main plot and several side plots.

The main plot is that the Cult is trying to become more established in Naggaroth. It is likely that many DE worship both Khaine and Slaanesh equally very similar to the way the ancients in human society worshipped many gods of which each had certain responsibilities. The true fanatics, which alway exist, are constantly vying for supremecy and are likely the root of the current civil war. Once Malekith releases the flood gates they will work against each other quite happily, but until now have been strictly controlled by the King.

As such many druchii probably don't really want to toss their lives into either side but will sideline and watch to see who comes out on top and then quickly join that side so that when the bloodbath that always results after a civil war happens, they won't get killed.

So right now the scale of the battles, which gamewise can be as many points as the players want to play (and there should be no limit on that by us), would be from a representational point of view small battles. For instance while a normal 2000 pt game is likely almost 10,000 men, a 2000 pt game in the campaign would be maybe 150 men. Each model actually represents 1 guy rather than the 50 it is supposed to represent according the WFB Big Red Book.

The main plot also involves a skirmish around Ghrond which as you guys feel like, will have various skirmishes the players are required to play to resolve the plot. This central skirmish should have a large effect on the other battlesites. Sequentially release the skirmish scenarios as time goes on.

The subplots involve the other races. This should be considered as part of the campaign fluff because not a lot of people have DE opponents and would still like to play. Also the other races might like beating DE down on their home turf anyway. Make it logical and stimulating for them.

Presenting Fluff

1. Make sure that you guys decide on how many and which days the fluff will be presented and stick with it. The players will look to us for regularity and will expect a regular fluff update. If we fail them they will get bored quickly. I would.

Now this campaign should run slower than the SoC. I envision almost 6 months rather than 1.5. This means that obviously a fluff report every day is a lot of work and should not be expected. Also many players only play once a week and so would not expect the campaign to run very fast. Regularity is better than a big avalanche at the beginning and then it dying off.

For example say you decide that a fluff report every Sunday is good enough. If you want to do some smaller reports whenever you feel like it do so. Just make sure you tell the players that every Sunday we'll present a fluff report. The others are bonus. I think people will easily accept that.

2. User fluff. Some of the players will be submitting Battle reports in the Druchii Net Battle Report Forum. Encourage this by using their fluff in the fluff reports much like Gav did for the SoC. It makes them think even more deviantely and plot a lot more and we like that.

3. Teams. Some of the players may decide to team up and do certain things. IE: some DE make the team of Khaine-Slaaneshi Avengers who hate all humans in Karond Kar. Some may make the team of Orc Mauraders who work for Slaanesh Chaos in the northern wastes. I have added a comments section to the battlereports to allow them to label their teams. If the teams become really large and make impacts, perhaps we can change some of the battlereport options to allow them to make a decision more applicable to their team.

Anything anyone wishes to add?
While running a million dollar company, singing at weddings, and his frequent jetting to Spain Elton Jon style, Dark Alliance found the time to stand on the doorstep of Games Workshop like Moses and the Pharoah and calmly state, "Let my people go."
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