Starting a Campaign

The Storyteller (usually shortened to ST) is the focus of the game. If the game is fun, the Storyteller gets the praise. If the game falls flat, for whatever reason, the Storyteller gets the blame.

What is an ST?

The Storyteller's job includes teaching, guiding the story, performing, moving the game along, resolving rolls, and so on. Below we outline the ST's work. You may find you enjoy some parts more than others, and you can focus on the parts that interest you most, but please note: if you want to be a good ST, the other parts matter just as much.

Why is it called an Infinite-genre TRPG?

Since these rules are an Infinite-genre TRPG, the game is usually set up so that the Storyteller sends the PCs (players) on recurring adventures.

The game usually starts with the PCs being summoned by the Storyteller from their own world into a brand-new one. That world might be the world of a film, of an anime, or one the Storyteller created. (Of course, if the Storyteller wants, the PCs can also be natives of that world.) Once summoned, the Storyteller gives all the PCs a main mission. As soon as the main mission is complete, the PCs return to the Storyteller's imaginary space, where they can use the rewards from that adventure to exchange for all kinds of things to strengthen themselves for the next challenge.

The Storyteller then starts setting up the next challenge. After a period the Storyteller sets (usually 10 days), the PCs are summoned into a new world to begin a new adventure. As the PCs grow stronger, the worlds they adventure in, and their opponents and monsters, grow stronger too.

Designing missions

We just mentioned main missions. Besides main missions there are side missions. The main mission is the most important one in the adventure, running from start to finish, while side missions crop up along the way, and the more side missions the PCs complete, the more rewards they can earn.

Designing these two kinds of missions takes a lot of time, and many STs spend far longer preparing than actually running the game. Usually these STs find creating all this a lot of fun too. Designing interesting missions, plots, challenges, and monsters, and drawing your friends deep into them, gives full play to the ST's imagination and creativity.

Designing a good adventure is very important. One adventure usually means summoning the PCs into a world until they complete the main mission and return to the imaginary space; in general, we call this one horror film.

What is the overall flow of the game?

The first world the PCs are summoned into doesn't go through the imaginary space first, which means the PCs enter that world with their starting character sheets.

In the third world they are summoned into, that is, the third horror film, the Storyteller picks one of the PCs who have already had a burst of potential, based on how the PCs have done, to become captain with captain's privileges. All the PCs in that group then automatically form a team, called an Infinite team.

After that, in the fourth, sixth, eighth horror film, and so on, they meet other Infinite teams. This is called a team battle, and those horror films are called team-battle horror films.

The twentieth horror film is called the final battle. In it, all the Infinite teams fight to the death until a final winner emerges. It is also the final adventure; usually, finishing twenty stories means the campaign is complete.

Changing the original story

As we just mentioned, the PCs are summoned into new worlds, which might be film worlds, anime worlds, or something else. These worlds have their own original settings and plots.

Please note: you are the one leading the whole adventure, which means you can change any of the original content. When you bring in a plot, you may often need to change small things to make the whole story flow smoothly. Since most PCs may have seen the anime, film, or whatever it is, changing some details to keep the story flowing is perfectly normal.

But if you do, please tell your PCs, so they don't get stuck in fixed thinking. And if the PCs' actions change the original plot, that is itself part of a side mission, so please give them proper rewards.

Teaching the game

Sometimes teaching new PCs how to start playing is part of your job too. You might feel this is a burden, but it's actually the opposite. Everyone understands the game differently, and that difference depends largely on their first experience of it, so for an ST, teaching a new PC is a great opportunity. It doesn't just add a new PC; it can guide them into being a player on the same wavelength as the ST, someone you'll enjoy playing with.

Here are some tips:

Read the "Building a Character" chapter carefully, then help new PCs create their characters. Ask them to describe the character they want to play, including looks, height, weight, sex, and how they want the character to develop.

The ST needs to teach the PC how to use these rules to shape the character they have in mind. If they don't know what to play, you can tell them this book holds countless possibilities and let their imagination run wild. You can give them examples from fantasy to reality, past to future, magic to technology, guiding them to create a character they love.

For example, a PC could create an ordinary-looking, 1.9-meter-tall muscular big sister who swings a greatsword with one hand and throws fireballs with the other. Or a scrawny 1.3-meter-tall man charging around behind a shield.

It all depends on what the PC wants from their character sheet.

Once the new PC has created their character, they also need to learn the game's basic rules.

This part is very simple, because early on they only need to know the rules that relate to themselves and their character.

Since the game starts with mortal characters, new players have almost no supernatural abilities, so they only need to know how to attack, defend, use Skills, and so on. They can learn the rest gradually during play.

Remembering the basic rules for attacks, defense, speed, Initiative, saves, rolling dice, and rolls is enough.

As long as the ST knows the rules and is well prepared, the game can begin. In play, players only need to look after their own characters and know how to act when events come up. You just build a basic world that runs logically. When the PCs act, have them tell you what they plan to do; you help interpret their characters' actions through the rules, tell them how the relevant rules work, and then resolve things after the PCs act. Once they've seen how to count and roll for something, and work out the final result, a few times over, they'll have learned it.

For example, if a player's character wants to charge, have the player choose a target, then check whether there are obstacles in the straight line between them, and work out the character's movement speed. Once all that checks out, work out the DP the charge adds, then resolve attack and defense, and finally roll damage.

Creating the world

The ST is the creator of the game world. Even if the ST uses the setting and plot of an anime, film, or other world, it is still the ST's world.

The game world includes all of that world's background. But in most cases, we don't encourage characters to explore the whole world, because with a main mission, players may only have a little room and time to move around. In that case, the ST only needs to plan the parts of the world that relate to the players themselves. In an Infinite TRPG, each PC only exists in a world for a short time before leaving, so there isn't much need to make the PCs fit into it. But if you want players to go on several adventures in one world, we suggest setting up everything in that world. A well-designed world changes in response to the characters' actions; only then will players find it interesting and be willing to put more energy into interacting with the world the ST designed.

Referee

Please note: in this game, the ST decides everything, but that doesn't mean you can boss people around outside the game. It only means that during play, you are the final arbiter of the rules. In this game, you have absolute, supreme authority over the current game's rules, resources, rulings, setting, lore, and mechanics, even above the rulebook and the original world's setting.

But a good ST knows not to change or overturn existing rules lightly without good reason, and not to change or overturn the existing setting lightly without warning, to avoid upsetting the players. Whatever happens, you're all sitting together because you want to have fun playing a game together.

Running the game

Although every player is part of the game, the ST must keep it moving, keep the players engaged, and keep things interesting. Remember that keeping the game running smoothly matters far more than frantically flipping through the rulebook for some detail or spending time arguing over a rules call. But this doesn't mean the ST can fudge and change the rules at will; remember that the rules are neutral in every situation.

Still, a well-run game sometimes gets stuck. After playing for a while, players may get tired of repetitive, clichéd, boring plots. And different players like different things: at a given plot point, some players may find it interesting while others find it dull. That's all possible. The ST can't prevent it, but when you realize the plot has gotten stuck like this, you can cut or simplify it rather than dragging it out and ruining the structure of the whole session.

Besides the plot, a frightening monster or a puzzle can also leave players stuck. In that case, lower the difficulty or find some other way to let them get through. After all, matching wits on a puzzle is very hard; your job is to let the players enjoy the game, not to wipe them out with some challenge.

Of course, we can use a few tricks to give players a deeper experience, such as making physical props, or terrain cards and the like.

Also, because of how these rules work, you can use the original work's terrain, scenes, pictures, lines, and so on to recreate the scene, reading them out to the players or showing them directly. This gives players a more exciting, more vivid experience.

Of course, because of limitations, you may not be able to prepare props or pictures for every monster, scene, item, and NPC. In that case, you need to rely on spoken descriptions that spark the imagination.

For example, the players enter an alien spaceship. If you say "You enter an alien spaceship. This seems to be its storeroom. There's a passage over there," that does describe the scene. But you could say: "You enter a huge alien spaceship. As soon as you step inside, you see piles of things you can't identify stacked beside you, and another deep passage stretching off to who knows where. The whole space feels oppressive. You think you hear a low sound from far away; you can't tell if it's the wind or something else." I'm sure the latter will make your players feel far more like they're really there.

Remember: in the game, you are the players' eyes, nose, ears, and sense of touch. You must tell them the sensory information they can pick up in the game. This greatly increases the fun of your game.

Of course, the thing that grips players most is tight combat. Players won't forget a great battle in a raging storm on the Caribbean, or a fight to the death with the Ringwraiths at Mount Doom. But you don't need to make every fight a world-shaking nail-biter; pace it like an action film or adventure novel, with tension and release, and that's gripping enough.

If you like setting a mood that fits the moment, we suggest using BGM (background music). You can use the music from the original film or anime, or other kinds of music, but never let the music break the players' immersion. Some players don't like music either and find it distracting; in that case, go with what the players prefer. After all, if setting the mood makes players unhappy, you've got your priorities backward.

You can also use sound effects to bring certain scenes to life, such as wind or a door opening, all of which can make your atmosphere even better.

When you play an NPC, you can change your tone of voice, change how you speak, or add a verbal tic, which leaves players with a strong impression of the NPC.

You can also do simple imitations, such as a dwarf, someone with a limp, or a hunchback. You can also act out an action from the game, such as swinging a sword, issuing a challenge, taunting, handing something over, eating or drinking, and so on. Players usually respond to your performance. But please note: these are just performances; don't actually do them, or it could be very dangerous.

Game styles

The ST provides the adventure's plot and world, and needs to cooperate with the players for the game to go well. Please note that the relationship between the ST and the players is cooperative, not opposed or competitive. So at the start of a campaign, the ST should explain things clearly; finding players who share your tastes is especially important, and the most important part of that is game style, which we also call campaign style.

Door-kicking campaigns

A door-kicking campaign means the players enter a world simply and bluntly, start hacking at monsters, loot the rewards, and return. Then they enter the next world, hack at monsters, loot the rewards, and so on, over and over.

This style is very direct and exciting, and action-oriented. There's little plot and little interaction with NPCs, players don't really need to develop their characters' personalities or roleplay them, and don't need to pay much attention to non-combat scenes for roleplaying or other plot strategy; they just need to bring enough combat power to fight.

In this style, you can put players straight up against monsters or enemies (such as facing zombies head-on in Resident Evil, or facing the xenomorphs head-on in Alien). Players just need to think about steamrolling (defeating) every monster in front of them, without dealing with much plot or emotional entanglement with NPCs. The players' main mission and motivation are very simple: kill the target, or get the reward.

In this kind of game, the rules matter a great deal. If you use this style, make sure to set up a wide variety of enemies to challenge different players, and know the rules well enough to handle all kinds of surprises in combat.

Story campaigns

In this style, the players' combat power doesn't stand out as much. This kind of game is all about dialogue and roleplaying, deep personality development, and interaction between characters, both between players and between players and NPCs. A whole session might not need a single roll.

In this style, NPCs usually need to be designed with as much complexity and richness as the player characters, and the ST needs to know the world's setting, background, and the NPCs who appear (of course, if the setting is the ST's own creation, just set it up yourself).

You can expect players to spend a lot of time discussing in detail what their characters will do and why. Reaching an agreement with an NPC is just as important to them as killing a monster together, and actions that change an NPC's view and the story's direction can also bring them rich rewards. Characters sometimes do completely unexpected things, which means the whole plot may end up completely different from the original film or anime because of the characters' interactions. This tests the ST's control of the story even more. If you decide to use this style, please don't stop players from doing this, because more interesting stories may come of it; your job is to keep the plot moving forward properly.

In this style, the rules aren't as important. Since combat isn't the core of the game, the game's core mechanics serve to develop the plot and flesh out the characters' personalities and backgrounds. In this case, you can simplify some combat rules to leave more time for storytelling, or skip some fights and move the characters quickly into the next part of the story.

The middle road

Most campaigns actually fall between these two extremes. They include plenty of action scenes, but also plot, and need the characters to interact. Players both upgrade their combat abilities and flesh out their characters' personalities and backgrounds. Players want to interact with other characters and NPCs, and also want a good, satisfying fight. Here you can skillfully combine roleplaying and combat, moving scenes along with a rhythm that gives players a sense of tension and release, rather than chatting the whole way or hacking the whole way.

Key points for running a campaign, from one ST's experience:

Don't have too many NPCs. Because of how the Infinite genre works, PCs don't really have enough time to form emotional bonds with NPCs, and too many NPCs can throw off your plot and make the PCs feel like they're just watching a film.
Keep the plot simple. Give the PCs some freedom. If the PCs get stuck on a problem, give them clues, ideally right in front of their faces; don't let the story hit a dead end.
Monsters must be straightforward and honest. Unless it's a special monster like a boss or miniboss, have it go head-to-head with the PCs. Don't target Will just because the PCs' Will is low, fill the whole battlefield with AOE because their Reflex is low, or throw wave after wave of poison mist because their Fortitude is low. Always hitting their weak spots wears down the players' own will.
Design the points and Rank well, so the PCs can see something to work toward.
Control the pacing. The ST always controls the pacing. For example, right after the PCs finish a big battle isn't the time for fight after fight. Alternate between fighting and rest. Too many fights wear out not only the PCs' characters but the players, and even the ST.
Make the PCs feel the threat of death, and let them know danger and reward go hand in hand. Keep up the pressure, so that solving it gives the PCs a sense of achievement. But never make them feel powerless, or they'll quickly get tired of the game.
Following on from that: there's danger, but don't let the PCs die easily. Every PC is attached to their character sheet. Controlling the pace of deaths is part of the job too. A PC coming to a session with 3 or 4 spare sheets waiting to be torn up is no good experience for any ST either. If too many characters die, the PCs will stop throwing themselves into their characters.
Know your limits; don't do what you can't. For example, if you can handle at most a strength of 3 S's, keep your rewards in check. If you don't know how deep the water is, test it bit by bit; don't try to swallow it all at once.
Make serving the PCs your guiding principle, not tormenting them. The world may be short of STs, but a group saying your campaign was fun and a group saying it was a total mess are definitely not the same to you. The PCs finding your campaign fun is what matters. How good you are only shows in how well you run games; being great at building characters or great at writing doesn't prove anything.