Pinning this comment, as I see a lot of remarks about this. This video is NOT how to make an XCOM RPG. It is not how to make the videogame in Dungeons & Dragons. So before you comment saying: "X system would be better suited" or similar, please actually watch the video. I go over how to take the *themes* and *mechanics* of XCOM and add them to a fantasy D&D game. I'm not giving rules for guns, or sci-fi, or anything like that. I know enough about RPGs to know there are plenty of great systems out there better suited for an XCOM TTRPG setting. This is about making a D&D Campaign with some of XCOMs themes and ideas.
I love this video quite a bit. I’ve been wanting to run an XCOM-style game for a while now, and this really helps take the themes and lay them bare. The thought of an alien invasion of a fantasy world is very intriguing, too.
Hey I just met your channel, and I really like your video, it gave me lot's of insights. But I'm looking for something more into battle mechanics. Full cover, half cover, flanked condition, attack bonus as closer you get and critical chance as closer you get, or higher the ground. Do you have something on how to balance all of this and put it in DnD format?
@@joaorenatoantunes Well, half cover and full cover can already be represented by the existing rules for half/three-quarters cover (which gives a +2/+5 bonus to AC and Dex saving throws). Flanking you could maybe modify the optional flanking rules to say attacks against a creature that is using cover are made with advantage if they are made from a position/vantage where they would gain no cover benefit. For the others that would be trickier as D&D doesn't really support those mechanics as far as I know; if I were to take a stab at it, I would say maybe lower the crit threshold the closer the attack is made from so they're easier to get, but I suspect that would really throw the balance of the game off, especially where attacks made from melee range are concerned...
Yeah but its still a WAY easier and arguably more fun option to use a different system suited for sci-fi or tech-fantasy scenario like Starfinder. Kinda like shooting yourself in the foot and then complaining that people are confused/worried by you shooting yourself in the foot. What else did you expect?
The campaign starts with the players given character sheets for bog-standard commoners (4 hp, AC 10, basically there to be squashed). Describe the characters going about their standard day when they notice a group of clouds overhead acting strangely: they're moving against the wind. Suddenly the illusion is dropped and the clouds become a flotilla of ships suspended in midair that begin disgorging goblins and other monstrosities that begin attacking. Taking up whatever weapons they can find (mostly clubs and daggers) the players must navigate the city in an attempt to avoid the monsters. Eventually they are herded by fear of death to a courtyard where one of the flying ships has landed and one of the local nobles is being held captive by a minimal guard. By this point it should be clear that the only way out of the city is to steal one of the airships. After managing a daring rescue - made somewhat easy by how uncoordinated the goblins are acting, the players seize control of the airship and escape the encirclement. They eventually discover that a group of Illithid enslaved the Deep Gnomes and forced them to create the floating ships as part of a campaign to conquer the surface world, controlling other creatures to serve as shock-troops for the initial assault. The noble calls upon a few of his retired retainers to take command of the ship and provide the commoners with the training they'll need to become 1st level characters. Two of the NPCs the players are sent to recruit is a mad old Rock Gnome Wizard who was banished for creating magical weapons (which had a tendency to explode) and a Hill Dwarf Cleric who has the blessing of the Dwarvish god of making. It's hoped that between the two they can create magical items that won't kill the user - mage-arms that allow a normal person to cast magic spells. Will it be enough to stem the tide as the Illithid spread across the realms? Only time will tell.
Watching this as a massive XCOM fan and a massive DnD fan i went in hyped. As the video prgressed i realised i was not to be disappointed. Mark sir you are a grade A genius. Masterful.
X-Com Campaign? You sneak through the city, you roll for perception, you spot a Viper, you the take the shot, you flat-out miss, the Viper crushes you.
Filbert The White Wizzard yeah maybe you could pitch this to the yogscast and u may not be able to dm it or play but Ben, Lewis, Duncan and tom could or hat films because I would love to see this.
+1 agreed and i think mark is one of the few that can pull it off and keep it interesting lewlew, ben, trot and a 4th maybe a 5th player i think this would be a perfect replacement for the tomb of annihilation campaign maybe?
i say roll a percentage dice and when they have full cover -1/2 of that roll if they have lucky feat they can re-roll and add the both totals together.
Perhaps instead of failing the post-battle CON roll causing death, the characters take permanent injuries, such as deafness (penalty to perception rolls), loss of fingers (penalty to DEX or similar), or developing a mental condition (certain afflictions that could have recurring consequences, like depression or a phobia)
I would love to see an Avatar DnD Game, Either of them. A game set on the Avatar: Last Airbender where the players were benders and could manipulate the resources around them and have really cool fighting & survival techniques but also Avatar the movie, Massive fantasy world with some fantastic creatures and Denizens inside. Would be mind blowing!
Look up Avatar World. It is an Avatar: The Last Airbender RPG using the Powered by the Apocalypse rules skeleton like Apocalypse World, Monster Hearts, Night Witches, etc.
Wow I've never thought of anything like this, I've been playing DnD as a PC for a while now and really wanted to get into running a campaign, this has inspired me to start writing, Thanks!
I think this is absolutely brilliant Mark. The production of the green screen is great & i'd never thought before of how well XCOM could translate to DnD. I would love to see you do more!
Being a long-term XCOM player, I really enjoyed this video and the ideas in it! I might actually have to get some friends together and try some sessions with this! And it also kinda makes me want a fantasy-style XCOM video game. Maybe it could have a bit of a steampunk theme so that you still have the tension of taking potshots with some gunslinger characters while others engage in more direct melee with the enemy, and the idea of an airship (not at all inspired by the Avenger :P ) would also fit into it.
after watching this video I realized i have inadvertently created my home brew campaign in the xcom style. Lots of ideas for how to continue it as well! so much thanks to you!
Coming back to this after a year because A: It's an awesome concept, and B: I'm going to use it as a base to create an XCOM style Star Wars Saga campaign. It's perfect for a new rebel cell vs. the Empire! Also sorry for being one of the contributors to that whole "Why don't you just use..." way back when it went up. The awesome destructive power of this idea didn't fully sink in at the time.
Excellent video Mark, It will certainly help those who have been wanting to run a campaign like this and needed a starting point. Many people will hopefully want to see so much more of these for other games. Also if possible I'm sure people would love to see more tips and ideas on running the xcom based campaign. Keep it up DM :)
Subbed, because of this video. Now the idea is in my head and I blame you, good sir, when I lose all my gaming friends because I won't be able to shut up about this. I love it.
I stumbled upon this video while doing research for a Phoenix Point style game set in the world of Eberron. I found your advice very helpful and will be trying to impliment some of into my game. One of my players just so happens to be an alchemist who likes picking up the corpses of fallen enemies to research. Another of my players is a mad scientists aasimar. Just writing this comment down is flooding my brain with wonderful ideas that you have helped spawn. Thank you so much and have a beautiful day dude :)
I honestly liked this video, Im kinda planning a similar thing with my group, where I'm letting them have some fun and talk to the different races and kingdoms. So when the time for the main plot happens, their choices will determine who's gonna help them.
Thanks to this video I've been developing the frame work for an XCOM-style campaign with the rules presented here, but using Starfinder instead of DnD. It happens to have the perfect framing for this; the Swarm invasion, set only 26 years before the "present day" presented in the core rulebook. A starcraft Zerg-like enemy that mindlessly devours planets, the Swarm has just set its sights on two systems: the Pact Worlds and the Veskarium, currently engaged in a Mutually Assured Destruction-style "Silent War" with one-another. Interesting plot point: the Shirren--one of the default player races--actually mutated and broke-off from the Swarm over 2 centuries ago, becoming community-minded yet literally addicted to individual choice.
The Long War mod adds Fatigue to XCom, which means after every mission soldiers have to take a break. That's pretty well modelled by the Long Rest mechanic. I'd just make Long Rests take a week, and then have the mission frequency be at like one every 2 or 3 days. Characters can go on multiple missions in a row, but you're depleting your spell slots, hit dice, etc. if you don't give them chance to rest up after each mission.
Awesome video and great idea, I did this exact thing with the World of Darkness Hunters system. It was really easy to convert it since it takes place in the modern real world. There wasn't really anything that you had to convert. I also had a buddy do an absolutely amazing Call of Cthulhu version where the invasion happened in the 1920s and you had to use the technology of the times to stop the invasion. That time period was kinda before the 1950s space craze so it played perfectly with the insanity mechanic. I totally recommend trying and XCOM campaign with these systems as well if you are having a hard time thinking of a way to convert it to D&D fantasy mechanics.
I've been doing this with Hyperlanes. The simplified monster rules make it real easy to simulate the "throw rookies at it till it dies" approach from the 1994 X-Com.
I'm working on a campaign with a similar theme of time management and guerrilla tactics. Basically the Winter Court in the Feywild have successfully obliterated the Summer Court and are now launching a full-scale invasion of the Material Realm. The players get revived as the spawn of a vampire lord who's trying to restore the balance to protect his own interests.
Amusingly, I actually went and did this in a very literal sense at one point. Used Ultramodern4E, which is basically an attempt at using 4th edition rules to do D20 Modern right. It worked out... eah reasonably well, but I left too much to chance and as a result not only did the PC's end up grabbing a functional plasma pistol early on (which had research consequences down the line) but they seized a partially intact UFO too. Which rapidly pushed the tech scale up beyond where things worked properly. Part of that is my using NeuroSpasta 4E for the higher end equipment, which resulted in the 'squad' dynamic revolving around the member in the mech with the heavy weaponry. I ended up writing up a LOT of material, both for systems (I made an Overwatch basic action which REALLY changed the way fighting plays out compared to base 4E, more then having guns even.) and a random event chart, complete with random timing for 'next event'. The really excessive thing was the charts of event modifiers. Everything from 'this mission is a demo of what XCOM can do to keep a council member onboard, so excessive force is the name of the game.' to 'Armed civilians are holed up on the mission map, what do?' and the truly over the top 'absurd events' which started with 'Aliens attack broadcasting center relentlessly. (it is the sci-fi channel)' The document, which I still have, is an 82 page monster and still incomplete. Honestly right now I'd much rather take those same themes as you do here then try to do something like that again. Still it was fun at the time for everyone, thanks to the charts even I didn't know what was next until I had to start writing up the mission post rolls.
I'm amazed that I found this video by accident. Are you a reading my mind? I've been slowly tinkering with this very same idea myself for a few months. The general idea of my game is the PCs are members of a newly formed resistance movement. A century ago a figure known only as 'The Black King' has brought humans into the industrial revolution and proceded to enslave and subjugate the other races on the continent. The players have a 'base' in the old sewers and catacombs of the human capital city, from where they can launch their missions - robberies, arsons, jailbreaks, etc. Using the loot gained from these missions, they can upgrade the base in a number of ways, adding blacksmiths, gunsmiths, alchemists, sleeping quarters, etc. Each room has multiple ranks, higher ranks adding more unique and powerful boons. I've even had the idea that they can make contact with the several guilds of the city, hire them for specific tasks, scry for magical items, have undead companions. One of the rooms they can construct is a hall of heroes, at its first tier, it will let new or existing characters jump to level 3 once four players have reached that milestone. Each player will start by making two characters, so they have a choice depending on the nature of the mission. There will then be a preparation phase, where a roll is made to determine their success in one of three areas - discovery, preparation, misdirection. These will give 'benefits' that the players can use out of combat to change something about the mission to represent their planning - back gate is unlocked, two guards are off duty, the combination to a safe, etc. Rolling very well on these even has the chance to 'unlock' hidden objectives and missions. As for escalation, they will start low key, the enemy is the local police force and their various ranks. Once they start ramping up and getting a reputation, professional soldiers are brought back from the various campaigns the black king is undertaking. Elite rifle/halberdier troops, artillery wizards, divination detectives. As the players upgrade their base, their crafters making masterwork weapons, better potions, more powerful blessings. The enemy is coming up with new technology, blimps that can quickly drop troops to the ground by cables. Gattling guns, revolvers, grenades. Maybe the players learn of these plans and can attempt to sabotage these projects. I like the idea of the many-headed-snake for the Black Kings forces, they learn whos in charge of different areas, learn where they are vulnerable, and what it will take to move their way up the chain of command to eventually reach the King himself. Ramble ramble. You've given me some fantastic ideas. Thanks! Subbed :D Edit: Another thing that has me really excited for trying my game out is that I can get a bunch more players in. In 'normal' story-driven campaign, each PC is a crucial part of the story and the game, I never play if I'm missing a player. In this game I can have a pool of players, if people cant play its no big deal, we can do missions from anywhere from 2 to 8 PCs - just like the alien base assaults in XCOM 1 :D
That sounds like a fantastic campaign! Best of luck with it friend and thanks for subbing! May not be too much "D&D" content till the new year as I have some other RPG/Boardgame stuff scheduled.
One of my favorite parts of XCOM is how attached you get to a squad only to have one (or all) of them die on an outing. I think it would be fun to come prepared with 3-5 player characters *per player and just have death be a real and tangible risk every mission. Good way for people to try out characters or classes without worrying about backgrounds too much. I have a group that might find this right up their alley, as they all dread character creation and RP but enjoy the combat and free decision making.
This was an absolutely terrific video! Whether you want to play an XCOM game or not, there's tons of great ideas there for people to use. Thank you Mark!
Strategy games in general are a surprisingly good inspiration for tabletop RPGs if you are willing to do the extra work. Over the course of a campaign you have a series of strategic objectives you either need to complete or stop the enemy from completing in order to win like "secure this town that provides a vital resource" or "disrupt the enemy's research." I tried to do something similar with my Pathfinder campaign. The world is besieged by the vast army of a necromancer lord and he's been having the upperhand for the past several months by the time the campaign begins. I planned for things like strategic assets and material salvage... unfortunately I didn't end up with quite the right party for an auspicious campaign idea so I may just shove them through a couple dungeon runs that relate to the end game then wrap things up by Christmas. It's probably just as well, I'd rather run some sci-fi.
I don't think I could offer much by doing another video, the detail is really in whatever story you want to create and then the types of missions. This video covers the basic premise of how to do it/mechanics to add etc. :)
Love this! Also, gave me a great idea of how to do it...having the Shadowfell/Near Negative Energy Plane suddenly coexistant with the Prime Material, weakening healing, adding undead encounters, making death far more dangerous. Players have one year and one day, to undo the epic spell connecting the two planes too closely, or it becomes permanent.
Fantastic stuff, Mark! I can see how much extra work would be involved, but this is the kind of campaign I could be inspired to run. Hmmm... I'll have to think of other franchises that could be turned into RP campaigns!
This helped a lot with a campaign I am working on currently. While it's not XCOM based, I wanted my world to be in a constant state of change, not a typical game where when players reach X location and events just happen. I'm having my world tick off screen, so when the players get to specific areas different events could and would have already happened even if the players got involved or not. In my campaign a huge war is a possibility that would be decided on the fate of a peace talk form an alliance and if that goes smoothly or not. There are assassins and people who don't want this alliance so during the ball before hand an attempt will be made to kill the ambassador, IF the players don't end up finding about the ball and a way to get in X amount of days a series of events could happen. I have a whole lot planned, political intrigue, backstabbing, and shady deals that I will be running off-game time which I will roll for after the players day(s) are done. IF anybody has any tips on how to make this run smoothly I would gladly appreciate the input. (and yes I have told my players before hand this is a event turning world, their actions in one place and not another effect the fate of a course of multiple paths.)
Excellent video, just what I needed for my campaign. I'm planning an invasion of the "soulless", creatures who have bartered their souls to a fallen Goddess, and I needed a way to get the players involved with the defense of the world, as they are uniquely qualified and knowledgeable on this particular foe. Thank you Mark for the top-notch content!
One of my favorite elements of xcom is the introdcution of new enemies. Remember your first terror mission in enemy unknown, where you walked into the burning city expecting to kill a few sectoids or something, and then your team got torn apart by Chryssalids? Remember the first time a cyberdisc or a sectopod stepped out of that fog of war, and you were like "oh sh*t!". Have some way of holding the most dangerous threats to only be revealed halfway into the mission, because nothing gets the blood flowing like a sudden unexpected miniboss fight with the knowledge that there are more of these things coming soon as normal enemies.
My friends and i homebrewed a shadowrun campaign years ago that was kinda like xcom in everything but name alone. It was shadowrun, with all the technomagic cyberpunk stuff, but then there was a secret alien invasion coverup shadow war going on that they uncovered and had to stop. It was pretty cool.
I made a conversion for the warhammer 40k RPG Only War... it worked flawlessly and was shocking easy to do. It was mostly a matter of plugging a few things in and coming up with a way to keep the players at it. Edit: Well, watch the video... see my comment is fairly unrelated. Still... it's good.
I would use long rest variant thing from the DMG where a Short rest is 8 hours and a Long rest is a full week. Definitely fits the theme of risk and reward from X-Com, you might also want to add the Sanity stat to show the stress of fighting against overwhelming odds and if an ally dies or not. Just 2 things I would throw in
This video didn't end up being what I expected, I thought Mark would just be going through how to re-skin d&d for a sci-fi setting but I love the way he explores the gameplay elements that would make the flavor of the game work in d&d. Also if you're taking suggestions I've seen the idea of a pirate style d&d campaign floated around and I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to do that well.
Thanks Ryan. I kind of like focusing on a specific thing, like a game series or movie, rather than just generic settings. Lets me focus on things like you said, exploring gameplay elements and themes.
Tabletop Weekly I get that. Well if you do choose to do more of this sort of thing I'm excited to see whatever topic/franchise you choose, this one was very interesting and I'm thinking I might try it out with my own party.
This is great, my friends and I used to think up ways that we could turn games into D&D campaigns and this brought up great memories of that (along with making me think of other games) I'd love if you do more of this.
1st in the vein of the video I actually sort of run something like xcom tactically and one of the big baddies is Orcus atm and basically it's a race against the clock where they have to complete missions to hinder his forces or recover magical items to aid their faction and try to ally other factions with themselves to eventually defeat his plans. Starting to really come to a head at the point the campaign's at now. The Campaign I started because YOU Mark inspired me with High Rollers to start my own. Now I know I know this is about making and XCOM STYLE D&D game not XCOM the rpg BUT I would really say you should check out Starfinder if you ever want to try running something close to it because it's basically pathfinder meets 5E in a nice depth and complexity mix and has all those nice shiny guns and mechanics for how this would work in it. That and it's still fantasy for people who want to do magic but it's science fantasy sort of like Star Wars. With the stuff you brought up during this Mark I really think you'd like it... I mean I think you'd like it for a variety of other reasons too but you should check it out.
This is so good, man, first video of the channel I saw and I am already in love. Apparently this channel is just for D&D 5, but I guess your tips can work with anything, in a more futuristic or sci-fi set can even be a good x-com RPG (something I wanted since EU).
D&D 5th Ed is what I'm known for/do best. But yeah as the tips are more about theme and general mechanical ideas you could definitely port them into anything.
make this your christmas special, would be so awsome mark, and i know you are the right guy to do it. because your Lightborn campaign is frikin awsome.
For those who play on roll20 this could make a great large. Use this system, give people a home base to strike out from and then just build a big big roster of folk who maybe cant always guarantee a specific day. You can have multiple GMs who make missions, post the time they wanna play and then who ever can bring there character on that day and that time is part of that strike team.
To follow up on the strategic layer ideas here, you could use the crafting rules to give the players another decision making ppint. A wizard can only work on 10 gp worth of goods a day (5 days for a healing potion). Recruit another wizard, and that time is halved. This creates a new mission reward, and allows players to better understand and use their downtime (strategic layer in XCOM) They know what they want to make, and how long it will take to get it.
I'm actually playing in an XCOM D&D game, but with a custom system. As another DM, I've helped him make the classes. I play as an Engineer, so I can build custom weaponry at my workshop. My other friend plays a Cyborg, so he's big and tanky, but can't get psionic abilities. The other player is a medic, which is kind of self explanatory.
Love the premise of this, but think that to add an extra layer to this you could have a HQ commander as a separate player, they could manage the items the players have, add an extra layer to the game
I am not sure a DMPC would quite fit what I was thinking, I know some people who would quite like to play that kind of position. Kind of like what Lewis does for his and bens x-com playthroughs. That extra layer of resource, tech, and manpower could be quite interesting, especially when it is limited. Just need to make sure that when the team goes out, that player still has something to do.
Just for those that are interested in this, there is actually an PnP RP out that can give some ideas for how to run this type of campaign. Operation Perfect Blue was actually designed to be a XCOM-like, though I'd say it's got some… issues, particularly with the tactical area. I'd personally say try looking into that and possibly combining it with either SpyCraft/StarGate or the Mongoose Starship Troopers for the tactical battles as a rough starting point, at least if you want something roughly on Earth or similar/higher tech arenas.
I did something similar but used Traveller for the roleplaying system. As its sci-fi based those rules seemed to fit a lot better into the complete xcom experience.
I was thinking about a xcom style game with a friend before I watched this video, what we were thinking is using shadowrun as a base, having the party be a small group of survivors of the alien apocalypse from a small town trying to survive the events of between the 1st and 2nd game transitioning to this new world
Hey Mark I loved the idea of this and would love to try it out unfortunately I doubt I could even try it (not many people play dnd in my group online) I think It would be very interesting for you and a group to play it maybe even after you finish Uncharted Territory. Watching the group recruit more people making a small militia defending the land (could work in a way were your a merc company trying to grow bigger) another idea could be If you were to do this instead of the group making multiple characters, let them make 1 each and the fans(donators or subs) make the others you choose ones you think are the best (if you did this you choose mine first lol) Anyway I Really liked the idea and would love to see it, if you didn't no problem Love the content, keep it up :)
This was very informative; Thank you so much!~ Perhaps if you want to do another campaign style video, perhaps something in the vein of a New World setting? Like characters are part of the colonies of the new world.
This is quite an interesting idea and sounds pretty cool to me. I may keep this idea in my back pocket and work on it. I've done a little bit of DM'ing but mostly just pre-made WOTC stuff. I'm not entirely confident in my own storytelling ability just yet, but all I can do is give it a try and work on it I suppose.
I'm working on this exact idea for my own (newly starting) campaign. I'm basing my campaign in Eberron I think will work well, because the dragonmarked houses can be a real source of resources for the party if they are doing missions associated with the house. One of the problems that I'm running into is how to introduce the idea of a base of operations without the players feeling like they are being railroaded into my vision. I have a main bad guy who has had brief contact with the party, and who will be lurking the background, so I need a plotline that will gradually reveal his evil plan. The bad guy is named "Mr Gone" and he's actually a creature from the plane of madness who is locked into the current world. He has developed connections with the plain of dreams. The first adventure involved Mr. Gone transporting the party to the plane of dreams to pass through some wards that he could not breach. The party moved through a "dream" version of the dungeon, got the McGuffin, and then "woke up" in the REAL room that the McGuffin was in. They now have to fight their way OUT of the dungeon through the real world. This is their FIRST LEVEL adventure. The problem that I'm running into is that if the bad guy is a mystery, then why would the government/dragonmarked houses support the party. They know nothing of this development. I'm having some difficulty tying it all together. One idea I had was to have a Morgrave university scholar learn about Mr. Gone through his research, and contact the party with some information, that is their one tie that takes them seriously. He would also be their version of the Tygan character from XCOM2. So if you guys have any ideas?
Consider having one or more of the houses have members who've heard of Mr. Gone, or at least of what he actually is without knowing the tie to Mr. Gone. While you could open Mass Effect 1 style, with the need to get evidence to get the support, having such effectively be optional thanks to a few of the houses knowing about the threat. The reason for their limited support could easily be explains as internal house politics, which is also a thread for events to pull on later. Alternatively, several houses might all have independently setup groups to look into the matter, but none are willing to coordinate with their equivalents in the other houses. All of them see Mr. Gone's interaction with the PC's as a reason to work with the PC's though. Depending on what Mr. Gone's objective/win condition is and how well it's known, you could have a council of houses offer their support to the PCs on a contract basis. No one house can afford this, and/or none of the other houses are willing to let anyone get advantage over them from this endeavor. One way to explain whatever group picking the PC's up to do the dirty work that would be particularly grim is to simply have it eventually come out that the previous field agents they had were wiped out/broken by Mr. Gone. The seeming initial support was more 'get someone to fill the job while we prep the replacements we'll surely need.' and the PC's ongoing success means the replacements were never needed. For a REALLY out there idea on support: Their support is from the (pardon my misnaming because it's been a while) Iron King, the Warforaged independence movement leader holed up in the Mournlands. This implies that Mr. Gone was involved in the day of mourning and is a source of support that would be both limited and need to operate quietly, making the PC's a useful front, especially if they're known independent contractors.
Wow, a lot of great ideas there! Thanks Sorain! I like the idea that there was another team that got screwed up by Mr. Gone. I can have them be a bunch of crazy and/or traumatized NPC heroes who provide the trail of breadcrumbs that lead the heroes through the various adventures. That's a great idea! As for the dragonmarked houses, I think I'll have a few of them be aware of the situation, but have various agendas around it. Same thing with Breland's noble houses. That way I can use them for multiple roles - villians, helpers etc.
I love this idea and would love this to be a video series! I think I might incorporate the idea about finding resources to give NPCs to build better weapons and such for my next campaign. My setting is post-apocalyptic so there's no real currency being used so I needed some type of system for them to receive upgrades.
I really love this type of idea and I'll definitely try and do this kind of campaign. Could you do a video about future technologies and how that can work in a D&D campaign?
Pinning this comment, as I see a lot of remarks about this.
This video is NOT how to make an XCOM RPG. It is not how to make the videogame in Dungeons & Dragons. So before you comment saying: "X system would be better suited" or similar, please actually watch the video. I go over how to take the *themes* and *mechanics* of XCOM and add them to a fantasy D&D game. I'm not giving rules for guns, or sci-fi, or anything like that. I know enough about RPGs to know there are plenty of great systems out there better suited for an XCOM TTRPG setting.
This is about making a D&D Campaign with some of XCOMs themes and ideas.
I love this video quite a bit. I’ve been wanting to run an XCOM-style game for a while now, and this really helps take the themes and lay them bare. The thought of an alien invasion of a fantasy world is very intriguing, too.
Hey I just met your channel, and I really like your video, it gave me lot's of insights. But I'm looking for something more into battle mechanics. Full cover, half cover, flanked condition, attack bonus as closer you get and critical chance as closer you get, or higher the ground. Do you have something on how to balance all of this and put it in DnD format?
@@joaorenatoantunes Well, half cover and full cover can already be represented by the existing rules for half/three-quarters cover (which gives a +2/+5 bonus to AC and Dex saving throws). Flanking you could maybe modify the optional flanking rules to say attacks against a creature that is using cover are made with advantage if they are made from a position/vantage where they would gain no cover benefit. For the others that would be trickier as D&D doesn't really support those mechanics as far as I know; if I were to take a stab at it, I would say maybe lower the crit threshold the closer the attack is made from so they're easier to get, but I suspect that would really throw the balance of the game off, especially where attacks made from melee range are concerned...
You know how long I was looking for something like this for my own D&D campaign
Yeah but its still a WAY easier and arguably more fun option to use a different system suited for sci-fi or tech-fantasy scenario like Starfinder. Kinda like shooting yourself in the foot and then complaining that people are confused/worried by you shooting yourself in the foot. What else did you expect?
The campaign starts with the players given character sheets for bog-standard commoners (4 hp, AC 10, basically there to be squashed). Describe the characters going about their standard day when they notice a group of clouds overhead acting strangely: they're moving against the wind. Suddenly the illusion is dropped and the clouds become a flotilla of ships suspended in midair that begin disgorging goblins and other monstrosities that begin attacking. Taking up whatever weapons they can find (mostly clubs and daggers) the players must navigate the city in an attempt to avoid the monsters. Eventually they are herded by fear of death to a courtyard where one of the flying ships has landed and one of the local nobles is being held captive by a minimal guard.
By this point it should be clear that the only way out of the city is to steal one of the airships.
After managing a daring rescue - made somewhat easy by how uncoordinated the goblins are acting, the players seize control of the airship and escape the encirclement. They eventually discover that a group of Illithid enslaved the Deep Gnomes and forced them to create the floating ships as part of a campaign to conquer the surface world, controlling other creatures to serve as shock-troops for the initial assault. The noble calls upon a few of his retired retainers to take command of the ship and provide the commoners with the training they'll need to become 1st level characters.
Two of the NPCs the players are sent to recruit is a mad old Rock Gnome Wizard who was banished for creating magical weapons (which had a tendency to explode) and a Hill Dwarf Cleric who has the blessing of the Dwarvish god of making. It's hoped that between the two they can create magical items that won't kill the user - mage-arms that allow a normal person to cast magic spells. Will it be enough to stem the tide as the Illithid spread across the realms? Only time will tell.
Watching this as a massive XCOM fan and a massive DnD fan i went in hyped. As the video prgressed i realised i was not to be disappointed. Mark sir you are a grade A genius. Masterful.
X-Com Campaign? You sneak through the city, you roll for perception, you spot a Viper, you the take the shot, you flat-out miss, the Viper crushes you.
I get wrapped up by snek lady? Sign me up.
Man I would LOVE for Mark to do a High Rollers-type campaign based on these ideas. I'm sure there would be a LOT of people eager to watch it.
Same, I would love to see this being played.
well obviously you must play this with Lewis and Ben
Filbert The White Wizzard yeah maybe you could pitch this to the yogscast and u may not be able to dm it or play but Ben, Lewis, Duncan and tom could or hat films because I would love to see this.
please play this with somebody
Filbert The White Wizzard this comment explains why this video was in my feed
+1 agreed and i think mark is one of the few that can pull it off and keep it interesting lewlew, ben, trot and a 4th maybe a 5th player i think this would be a perfect replacement for the tomb of annihilation campaign maybe?
In order to make things more like xcom, weight your dice so they land on 1. ALWAYS
To make extra memes, use the weighted dice for the PCs AND the enemies.
So make it so that the enemies always roll nat 20s? Sounds about right if you ask me. >_>
i say roll a percentage dice and when they have full cover -1/2 of that roll
if they have lucky feat they can re-roll and add the both totals together.
Perhaps instead of failing the post-battle CON roll causing death, the characters take permanent injuries, such as deafness (penalty to perception rolls), loss of fingers (penalty to DEX or similar), or developing a mental condition (certain afflictions that could have recurring consequences, like depression or a phobia)
I would love to see an Avatar DnD Game, Either of them. A game set on the Avatar: Last Airbender where the players were benders and could manipulate the resources around them and have really cool fighting & survival techniques but also Avatar the movie, Massive fantasy world with some fantastic creatures and Denizens inside. Would be mind blowing!
There is a great 5e avitar the last airbender campain thing called last of the lacers its free on dm's guild
Look up Avatar World. It is an Avatar: The Last Airbender RPG using the Powered by the Apocalypse rules skeleton like Apocalypse World, Monster Hearts, Night Witches, etc.
Wow I've never thought of anything like this, I've been playing DnD as a PC for a while now and really wanted to get into running a campaign, this has inspired me to start writing, Thanks!
Nice! Good luck with it!
Awesome! I've been thinking myself about a Witcher campaign, so if you're making this a series I'd most certainly be interested in that.
I think this is absolutely brilliant Mark. The production of the green screen is great & i'd never thought before of how well XCOM could translate to DnD. I would love to see you do more!
Thanks friend! Glad folks like it. :D Will definitely look at doing more.
Being a long-term XCOM player, I really enjoyed this video and the ideas in it! I might actually have to get some friends together and try some sessions with this!
And it also kinda makes me want a fantasy-style XCOM video game. Maybe it could have a bit of a steampunk theme so that you still have the tension of taking potshots with some gunslinger characters while others engage in more direct melee with the enemy, and the idea of an airship (not at all inspired by the Avenger :P ) would also fit into it.
after watching this video I realized i have inadvertently created my home brew campaign in the xcom style. Lots of ideas for how to continue it as well!
so much thanks to you!
Xcom + D&D = Darkest Dungeon.
Coming back to this after a year because A: It's an awesome concept, and B: I'm going to use it as a base to create an XCOM style Star Wars Saga campaign. It's perfect for a new rebel cell vs. the Empire!
Also sorry for being one of the contributors to that whole "Why don't you just use..." way back when it went up. The awesome destructive power of this idea didn't fully sink in at the time.
Excellent video Mark, It will certainly help those who have been wanting to run a campaign like this and needed a starting point. Many people will hopefully want to see so much more of these for other games. Also if possible I'm sure people would love to see more tips and ideas on running the xcom based campaign. Keep it up DM :)
Subbed, because of this video. Now the idea is in my head and I blame you, good sir, when I lose all my gaming friends because I won't be able to shut up about this. I love it.
I stumbled upon this video while doing research for a Phoenix Point style game set in the world of Eberron. I found your advice very helpful and will be trying to impliment some of into my game. One of my players just so happens to be an alchemist who likes picking up the corpses of fallen enemies to research. Another of my players is a mad scientists aasimar. Just writing this comment down is flooding my brain with wonderful ideas that you have helped spawn. Thank you so much and have a beautiful day dude :)
You have made me want to do something like this using the new Starfinder rules. Learned so much.
Nice! I'm looking to do a proper Starfinder overview at some point!
Tabletop Weekly Sounds great. Watching this video really got creative juices going.
Please do more of these. This game me so many ideas for campaigns I could make. excellent video
I love the setting in XCOM 2. It’s like a mix of cyberpunk and Cold War science fiction.
I honestly liked this video, Im kinda planning a similar thing with my group, where I'm letting them have some fun and talk to the different races and kingdoms. So when the time for the main plot happens, their choices will determine who's gonna help them.
Fantastic outline Mark. A bunch of great ideas in here.
this was a delight to watch, as a fan of both the xcom franchise and d&d. hope to one day set up a game like this thanks to your suggestions.
Mark you are a Genius! I will defiantly have to do this for a campaign! absolute legend!
This is one of the coolest campaign ideas I have heard ever. I really want to play, maybe even DM.
Love the idea of further videos with hints and tips on how to put together different types of roleplay. Looking forward to more Mark... keep it up 😀
Thanks to this video I've been developing the frame work for an XCOM-style campaign with the rules presented here, but using Starfinder instead of DnD. It happens to have the perfect framing for this; the Swarm invasion, set only 26 years before the "present day" presented in the core rulebook. A starcraft Zerg-like enemy that mindlessly devours planets, the Swarm has just set its sights on two systems: the Pact Worlds and the Veskarium, currently engaged in a Mutually Assured Destruction-style "Silent War" with one-another.
Interesting plot point: the Shirren--one of the default player races--actually mutated and broke-off from the Swarm over 2 centuries ago, becoming community-minded yet literally addicted to individual choice.
Please do continue this as a series. I'm not sure what game but this could be such a cool series
Yes please make more like this it was a great idea generator and really interesting as well.
The Long War mod adds Fatigue to XCom, which means after every mission soldiers have to take a break. That's pretty well modelled by the Long Rest mechanic. I'd just make Long Rests take a week, and then have the mission frequency be at like one every 2 or 3 days. Characters can go on multiple missions in a row, but you're depleting your spell slots, hit dice, etc. if you don't give them chance to rest up after each mission.
This was awesome! Would be cool if you made a series of videos like these detailing how to set up a D&D campaign in a bunch of different settings.
I think I'll do it based on games I'm playing/come out, as that way I have the best frame of reference.
Awesome video and great idea, I did this exact thing with the World of Darkness Hunters system. It was really easy to convert it since it takes place in the modern real world. There wasn't really anything that you had to convert. I also had a buddy do an absolutely amazing Call of Cthulhu version where the invasion happened in the 1920s and you had to use the technology of the times to stop the invasion. That time period was kinda before the 1950s space craze so it played perfectly with the insanity mechanic. I totally recommend trying and XCOM campaign with these systems as well if you are having a hard time thinking of a way to convert it to D&D fantasy mechanics.
I like these types of videos, and XCOM (Extra-dimensional Combat) is now officially on my list for campaigns to run!
I've been doing this with Hyperlanes. The simplified monster rules make it real easy to simulate the "throw rookies at it till it dies" approach from the 1994 X-Com.
I'm working on a campaign with a similar theme of time management and guerrilla tactics. Basically the Winter Court in the Feywild have successfully obliterated the Summer Court and are now launching a full-scale invasion of the Material Realm. The players get revived as the spawn of a vampire lord who's trying to restore the balance to protect his own interests.
Yes, more of this! I have (sadly) not played DnD yet, and am not into many video games - but I loved this! :D
Amusingly, I actually went and did this in a very literal sense at one point.
Used Ultramodern4E, which is basically an attempt at using 4th edition rules to do D20 Modern right. It worked out... eah reasonably well, but I left too much to chance and as a result not only did the PC's end up grabbing a functional plasma pistol early on (which had research consequences down the line) but they seized a partially intact UFO too. Which rapidly pushed the tech scale up beyond where things worked properly. Part of that is my using NeuroSpasta 4E for the higher end equipment, which resulted in the 'squad' dynamic revolving around the member in the mech with the heavy weaponry.
I ended up writing up a LOT of material, both for systems (I made an Overwatch basic action which REALLY changed the way fighting plays out compared to base 4E, more then having guns even.) and a random event chart, complete with random timing for 'next event'. The really excessive thing was the charts of event modifiers. Everything from 'this mission is a demo of what XCOM can do to keep a council member onboard, so excessive force is the name of the game.' to 'Armed civilians are holed up on the mission map, what do?' and the truly over the top 'absurd events' which started with 'Aliens attack broadcasting center relentlessly. (it is the sci-fi channel)'
The document, which I still have, is an 82 page monster and still incomplete. Honestly right now I'd much rather take those same themes as you do here then try to do something like that again. Still it was fun at the time for everyone, thanks to the charts even I didn't know what was next until I had to start writing up the mission post rolls.
I'm amazed that I found this video by accident. Are you a reading my mind? I've been slowly tinkering with this very same idea myself for a few months.
The general idea of my game is the PCs are members of a newly formed resistance movement. A century ago a figure known only as 'The Black King' has brought humans into the industrial revolution and proceded to enslave and subjugate the other races on the continent.
The players have a 'base' in the old sewers and catacombs of the human capital city, from where they can launch their missions - robberies, arsons, jailbreaks, etc. Using the loot gained from these missions, they can upgrade the base in a number of ways, adding blacksmiths, gunsmiths, alchemists, sleeping quarters, etc. Each room has multiple ranks, higher ranks adding more unique and powerful boons. I've even had the idea that they can make contact with the several guilds of the city, hire them for specific tasks, scry for magical items, have undead companions. One of the rooms they can construct is a hall of heroes, at its first tier, it will let new or existing characters jump to level 3 once four players have reached that milestone.
Each player will start by making two characters, so they have a choice depending on the nature of the mission. There will then be a preparation phase, where a roll is made to determine their success in one of three areas - discovery, preparation, misdirection. These will give 'benefits' that the players can use out of combat to change something about the mission to represent their planning - back gate is unlocked, two guards are off duty, the combination to a safe, etc. Rolling very well on these even has the chance to 'unlock' hidden objectives and missions.
As for escalation, they will start low key, the enemy is the local police force and their various ranks. Once they start ramping up and getting a reputation, professional soldiers are brought back from the various campaigns the black king is undertaking. Elite rifle/halberdier troops, artillery wizards, divination detectives.
As the players upgrade their base, their crafters making masterwork weapons, better potions, more powerful blessings. The enemy is coming up with new technology, blimps that can quickly drop troops to the ground by cables. Gattling guns, revolvers, grenades. Maybe the players learn of these plans and can attempt to sabotage these projects.
I like the idea of the many-headed-snake for the Black Kings forces, they learn whos in charge of different areas, learn where they are vulnerable, and what it will take to move their way up the chain of command to eventually reach the King himself.
Ramble ramble. You've given me some fantastic ideas. Thanks! Subbed :D
Edit: Another thing that has me really excited for trying my game out is that I can get a bunch more players in. In 'normal' story-driven campaign, each PC is a crucial part of the story and the game, I never play if I'm missing a player. In this game I can have a pool of players, if people cant play its no big deal, we can do missions from anywhere from 2 to 8 PCs - just like the alien base assaults in XCOM 1 :D
That sounds like a fantastic campaign! Best of luck with it friend and thanks for subbing! May not be too much "D&D" content till the new year as I have some other RPG/Boardgame stuff scheduled.
One of my favorite parts of XCOM is how attached you get to a squad only to have one (or all) of them die on an outing. I think it would be fun to come prepared with 3-5 player characters *per player and just have death be a real and tangible risk every mission. Good way for people to try out characters or classes without worrying about backgrounds too much. I have a group that might find this right up their alley, as they all dread character creation and RP but enjoy the combat and free decision making.
one of my favorite videos you have made to date, this is my favorite kind of mark just talking about something you are passionate about.
Fantastic idea, Mark! I'm already planning to use this. It's suck a great idea
This was an absolutely terrific video! Whether you want to play an XCOM game or not, there's tons of great ideas there for people to use. Thank you Mark!
Strategy games in general are a surprisingly good inspiration for tabletop RPGs if you are willing to do the extra work. Over the course of a campaign you have a series of strategic objectives you either need to complete or stop the enemy from completing in order to win like "secure this town that provides a vital resource" or "disrupt the enemy's research." I tried to do something similar with my Pathfinder campaign. The world is besieged by the vast army of a necromancer lord and he's been having the upperhand for the past several months by the time the campaign begins. I planned for things like strategic assets and material salvage... unfortunately I didn't end up with quite the right party for an auspicious campaign idea so I may just shove them through a couple dungeon runs that relate to the end game then wrap things up by Christmas. It's probably just as well, I'd rather run some sci-fi.
This is such a cool idea!! I'd love to see a more in depth video on like actually creating a campaign for it! I think that would be a cool video idea!
I don't think I could offer much by doing another video, the detail is really in whatever story you want to create and then the types of missions. This video covers the basic premise of how to do it/mechanics to add etc. :)
Love this! Also, gave me a great idea of how to do it...having the Shadowfell/Near Negative Energy Plane suddenly coexistant with the Prime Material, weakening healing, adding undead encounters, making death far more dangerous. Players have one year and one day, to undo the epic spell connecting the two planes too closely, or it becomes permanent.
This was very well put together I'm
sure more of this type ought to be entertaining
Fantastic stuff, Mark! I can see how much extra work would be involved, but this is the kind of campaign I could be inspired to run. Hmmm... I'll have to think of other franchises that could be turned into RP campaigns!
This helped a lot with a campaign I am working on currently. While it's not XCOM based, I wanted my world to be in a constant state of change, not a typical game where when players reach X location and events just happen. I'm having my world tick off screen, so when the players get to specific areas different events could and would have already happened even if the players got involved or not. In my campaign a huge war is a possibility that would be decided on the fate of a peace talk form an alliance and if that goes smoothly or not. There are assassins and people who don't want this alliance so during the ball before hand an attempt will be made to kill the ambassador, IF the players don't end up finding about the ball and a way to get in X amount of days a series of events could happen. I have a whole lot planned, political intrigue, backstabbing, and shady deals that I will be running off-game time which I will roll for after the players day(s) are done. IF anybody has any tips on how to make this run smoothly I would gladly appreciate the input. (and yes I have told my players before hand this is a event turning world, their actions in one place and not another effect the fate of a course of multiple paths.)
excellent advice this sounds like loads for fun to create and run.
This is highly similar how I made my player's current campaign.
You gave me a lot of inspiration and ideas.
Awesome video, Thanks Mark!
Excellent video, just what I needed for my campaign. I'm planning an invasion of the "soulless", creatures who have bartered their souls to a fallen Goddess, and I needed a way to get the players involved with the defense of the world, as they are uniquely qualified and knowledgeable on this particular foe. Thank you Mark for the top-notch content!
This could be pretty fun!
One of my favorite elements of xcom is the introdcution of new enemies. Remember your first terror mission in enemy unknown, where you walked into the burning city expecting to kill a few sectoids or something, and then your team got torn apart by Chryssalids? Remember the first time a cyberdisc or a sectopod stepped out of that fog of war, and you were like "oh sh*t!". Have some way of holding the most dangerous threats to only be revealed halfway into the mission, because nothing gets the blood flowing like a sudden unexpected miniboss fight with the knowledge that there are more of these things coming soon as normal enemies.
TBH, D&D combat can easily work that way. Monsters can be summoned, appear out of mist or portals.
My friends and i homebrewed a shadowrun campaign years ago that was kinda like xcom in everything but name alone. It was shadowrun, with all the technomagic cyberpunk stuff, but then there was a secret alien invasion coverup shadow war going on that they uncovered and had to stop. It was pretty cool.
I am in LOVE with this idea
This is a great format for videos! More would be great
This is the first video of yours I have seen, but I am definitely subbing and I really hope to see more videos like this!
I made a conversion for the warhammer 40k RPG Only War... it worked flawlessly and was shocking easy to do. It was mostly a matter of plugging a few things in and coming up with a way to keep the players at it.
Edit: Well, watch the video... see my comment is fairly unrelated. Still... it's good.
I would use long rest variant thing from the DMG where a Short rest is 8 hours and a Long rest is a full week. Definitely fits the theme of risk and reward from X-Com, you might also want to add the Sanity stat to show the stress of fighting against overwhelming odds and if an ally dies or not. Just 2 things I would throw in
This video didn't end up being what I expected, I thought Mark would just be going through how to re-skin d&d for a sci-fi setting but I love the way he explores the gameplay elements that would make the flavor of the game work in d&d.
Also if you're taking suggestions I've seen the idea of a pirate style d&d campaign floated around and I'd love to hear your thoughts on how to do that well.
Thanks Ryan. I kind of like focusing on a specific thing, like a game series or movie, rather than just generic settings. Lets me focus on things like you said, exploring gameplay elements and themes.
Tabletop Weekly I get that. Well if you do choose to do more of this sort of thing I'm excited to see whatever topic/franchise you choose, this one was very interesting and I'm thinking I might try it out with my own party.
A series of videos like this would be great.
This is great, my friends and I used to think up ways that we could turn games into D&D campaigns and this brought up great memories of that (along with making me think of other games) I'd love if you do more of this.
Excellent video! I might have to try this now...
1st in the vein of the video I actually sort of run something like xcom tactically and one of the big baddies is Orcus atm and basically it's a race against the clock where they have to complete missions to hinder his forces or recover magical items to aid their faction and try to ally other factions with themselves to eventually defeat his plans. Starting to really come to a head at the point the campaign's at now. The Campaign I started because YOU Mark inspired me with High Rollers to start my own.
Now I know I know this is about making and XCOM STYLE D&D game not XCOM the rpg BUT I would really say you should check out Starfinder if you ever want to try running something close to it because it's basically pathfinder meets 5E in a nice depth and complexity mix and has all those nice shiny guns and mechanics for how this would work in it. That and it's still fantasy for people who want to do magic but it's science fantasy sort of like Star Wars.
With the stuff you brought up during this Mark I really think you'd like it... I mean I think you'd like it for a variety of other reasons too but you should check it out.
This is so good, man, first video of the channel I saw and I am already in love.
Apparently this channel is just for D&D 5, but I guess your tips can work with anything, in a more futuristic or sci-fi set can even be a good x-com RPG (something I wanted since EU).
D&D 5th Ed is what I'm known for/do best. But yeah as the tips are more about theme and general mechanical ideas you could definitely port them into anything.
more please, this was very interesting!
make this your christmas special, would be so awsome mark, and i know you are the right guy to do it. because your Lightborn campaign is frikin awsome.
For those who play on roll20 this could make a great large. Use this system, give people a home base to strike out from and then just build a big big roster of folk who maybe cant always guarantee a specific day. You can have multiple GMs who make missions, post the time they wanna play and then who ever can bring there character on that day and that time is part of that strike team.
To follow up on the strategic layer ideas here, you could use the crafting rules to give the players another decision making ppint. A wizard can only work on 10 gp worth of goods a day (5 days for a healing potion). Recruit another wizard, and that time is halved.
This creates a new mission reward, and allows players to better understand and use their downtime (strategic layer in XCOM) They know what they want to make, and how long it will take to get it.
I'm actually playing in an XCOM D&D game, but with a custom system. As another DM, I've helped him make the classes. I play as an Engineer, so I can build custom weaponry at my workshop. My other friend plays a Cyborg, so he's big and tanky, but can't get psionic abilities. The other player is a medic, which is kind of self explanatory.
I love this idea. It sounds like it could make for a really awesome campaign. :)
I LOVE this! Please do more things like this, I'd love to see other styles of play for D&D.
Love the premise of this, but think that to add an extra layer to this you could have a HQ commander as a separate player, they could manage the items the players have, add an extra layer to the game
Problem with that is they get nothing to do while the actual strike force is out and doing their thing, though I imagine you could work out something
luketfer maybe some kind of off map support while they are out thier. Scan for intel. Getting an artillery strike ready. Eva management
The commander could always be a DMPC - Now that would be cool.
I am not sure a DMPC would quite fit what I was thinking, I know some people who would quite like to play that kind of position. Kind of like what Lewis does for his and bens x-com playthroughs. That extra layer of resource, tech, and manpower could be quite interesting, especially when it is limited. Just need to make sure that when the team goes out, that player still has something to do.
sounds like the Dragonlance series of books to me or if anyone elses remembers Pendragon RPG you could use the Saxon invasion of Britain as a backdrop
Just for those that are interested in this, there is actually an PnP RP out that can give some ideas for how to run this type of campaign. Operation Perfect Blue was actually designed to be a XCOM-like, though I'd say it's got some… issues, particularly with the tactical area. I'd personally say try looking into that and possibly combining it with either SpyCraft/StarGate or the Mongoose Starship Troopers for the tactical battles as a rough starting point, at least if you want something roughly on Earth or similar/higher tech arenas.
This is an awesome breakdown of XCOM, I would love to play in a campaign like you've described!
Yes, next maybe Assassin's Creed, where the players start as low level mercs and get a chance to build their own guild. Or something like that.
I did something similar but used Traveller for the roleplaying system. As its sci-fi based those rules seemed to fit a lot better into the complete xcom experience.
This is a great idea for a video series on how to make an "x" campaign
I was planning for an apocolypse event with a vampire family.
this is perfect thank you so much
I was thinking about a xcom style game with a friend before I watched this video, what we were thinking is using shadowrun as a base, having the party be a small group of survivors of the alien apocalypse from a small town trying to survive the events of between the 1st and 2nd game transitioning to this new world
Mark your a genius. You should make an xcom campaign and publish it.
I've been thinking of how to do something like this for a while! Well done!
This was very interesting to hear about. I would love to see any more videogame to D&D conversions in the future.
Hey Mark
I loved the idea of this and would love to try it out unfortunately I doubt I could even try it (not many people play dnd in my group online) I think It would be very interesting for you and a group to play it maybe even after you finish Uncharted Territory. Watching the group recruit more people making a small militia defending the land (could work in a way were your a merc company trying to grow bigger) another idea could be If you were to do this instead of the group making multiple characters, let them make 1 each and the fans(donators or subs) make the others you choose ones you think are the best (if you did this you choose mine first lol)
Anyway I Really liked the idea and would love to see it, if you didn't no problem
Love the content, keep it up :)
This was very informative; Thank you so much!~ Perhaps if you want to do another campaign style video, perhaps something in the vein of a New World setting? Like characters are part of the colonies of the new world.
Too bad that when the Xcom RNG kills my veteran, I can't retire the dice that did it.
This is quite an interesting idea and sounds pretty cool to me. I may keep this idea in my back pocket and work on it. I've done a little bit of DM'ing but mostly just pre-made WOTC stuff. I'm not entirely confident in my own storytelling ability just yet, but all I can do is give it a try and work on it I suppose.
Oh god, now there are plans in my head. Plans, so many plans.
Very good advice, makes me think of modding my dnd group.
Also I could also see an invasion of Devils and Demons being a good invading force for an Xcom styled campaign.
I've been wanting to try something like this, thank you for the ideas and video.
I'm working on this exact idea for my own (newly starting) campaign. I'm basing my campaign in Eberron I think will work well, because the dragonmarked houses can be a real source of resources for the party if they are doing missions associated with the house. One of the problems that I'm running into is how to introduce the idea of a base of operations without the players feeling like they are being railroaded into my vision.
I have a main bad guy who has had brief contact with the party, and who will be lurking the background, so I need a plotline that will gradually reveal his evil plan. The bad guy is named "Mr Gone" and he's actually a creature from the plane of madness who is locked into the current world. He has developed connections with the plain of dreams. The first adventure involved Mr. Gone transporting the party to the plane of dreams to pass through some wards that he could not breach. The party moved through a "dream" version of the dungeon, got the McGuffin, and then "woke up" in the REAL room that the McGuffin was in. They now have to fight their way OUT of the dungeon through the real world. This is their FIRST LEVEL adventure.
The problem that I'm running into is that if the bad guy is a mystery, then why would the government/dragonmarked houses support the party. They know nothing of this development. I'm having some difficulty tying it all together. One idea I had was to have a Morgrave university scholar learn about Mr. Gone through his research, and contact the party with some information, that is their one tie that takes them seriously. He would also be their version of the Tygan character from XCOM2. So if you guys have any ideas?
Paul Susac I
Consider having one or more of the houses have members who've heard of Mr. Gone, or at least of what he actually is without knowing the tie to Mr. Gone.
While you could open Mass Effect 1 style, with the need to get evidence to get the support, having such effectively be optional thanks to a few of the houses knowing about the threat. The reason for their limited support could easily be explains as internal house politics, which is also a thread for events to pull on later.
Alternatively, several houses might all have independently setup groups to look into the matter, but none are willing to coordinate with their equivalents in the other houses. All of them see Mr. Gone's interaction with the PC's as a reason to work with the PC's though.
Depending on what Mr. Gone's objective/win condition is and how well it's known, you could have a council of houses offer their support to the PCs on a contract basis. No one house can afford this, and/or none of the other houses are willing to let anyone get advantage over them from this endeavor.
One way to explain whatever group picking the PC's up to do the dirty work that would be particularly grim is to simply have it eventually come out that the previous field agents they had were wiped out/broken by Mr. Gone. The seeming initial support was more 'get someone to fill the job while we prep the replacements we'll surely need.' and the PC's ongoing success means the replacements were never needed.
For a REALLY out there idea on support: Their support is from the (pardon my misnaming because it's been a while) Iron King, the Warforaged independence movement leader holed up in the Mournlands. This implies that Mr. Gone was involved in the day of mourning and is a source of support that would be both limited and need to operate quietly, making the PC's a useful front, especially if they're known independent contractors.
Wow, a lot of great ideas there! Thanks Sorain! I like the idea that there was another team that got screwed up by Mr. Gone. I can have them be a bunch of crazy and/or traumatized NPC heroes who provide the trail of breadcrumbs that lead the heroes through the various adventures. That's a great idea! As for the dragonmarked houses, I think I'll have a few of them be aware of the situation, but have various agendas around it. Same thing with Breland's noble houses. That way I can use them for multiple roles - villians, helpers etc.
I love this idea and would love this to be a video series! I think I might incorporate the idea about finding resources to give NPCs to build better weapons and such for my next campaign. My setting is post-apocalyptic so there's no real currency being used so I needed some type of system for them to receive upgrades.
Absolutely love this vid Mark. I'd love to see a video on how to run a Witcher themed D&D Campaign, beyond just being a professional monster hunter.
I really love this type of idea and I'll definitely try and do this kind of campaign.
Could you do a video about future technologies and how that can work in a D&D campaign?
More of this please!
Sounds like an opportunity to use Matt Colville's yet-to-be-released Stronghold Rules. Or, if you don't wish to wait, then adapt them from AD&D.