Join the ranks of great literary heroes like Francis Grimm, Tristan Thorn and Darian Frey, fly aboard a merchant airship and explore the world from above! In this homebrew world (and system!), the heroes embark on a great journey that takes them high above the clouds. The characters are deeply entrenched in this medium-fantasy world, with their attachments and goals guiding them as they plan and prepare for their future. Detailed, layered maps, deep roleplay and memorable antagonists – all are waiting for you inside GM rus1001‘s adventure, Aloft!
First off, feel free to tell us about the person behind the GM screen. Where are you from? What do you do aside from gaming? Alter Egos? Life partners? Family? Where can we interact with you on the internet?
I’ve travelled the world and done many jobs – some of which most people only see on TV. I try to tell myself that it’s not just about bringing authenticity to my tabletop and live roleplaying games. Sadly, as a saggy 50-ish adult with a kid, I’m not likely to be making it into space anytime soon, but I’m content with what I’ve done and where I’ve been.
I try to match my fantasy life with some real-life adventure; thus wild-camp and Canadian canoe in Scotland – a dawn on a Scottish loch and watching sea-eagles hunt is as close as I’ll get to my game for real. If anyone wants tips on visiting Scotland, feel free to contact myself through Obsidian Portal.
Tell us about “Aloft” in a nutshell. How did you design the world? What was your inspiration?
Aloft is a medium-fantasy game, where the players have decided to take a gift of a ridiculous airship and found a trading company.
In the last ten years, I’ve run some lengthy war-campaigns that stretched between players in two continents. They were exciting but quite serious games. I wanted something more whimsical. And I was inspired by the latest D&D movie – what fun!
Aloft takes me back to delivering great locations, great NPCs, complex and layered plots to the tunes of Led Zeppelin. Just like I did in the ‘good-old-days’. But with more adult themes than the teenage me would ever had dared.
How regularly do you play, and where do you play? Tell us about your current group of players.
I play online every two weeks, using Zoom. And four times a year in person for weekends, or a whole week on a small Scottish-island rocked by the Atlantic rollers.
The core of my players have been in my games for about 30 years. I play with great friends. But there is always opportunity to add new chums. I had a diverse and wonderful group after co-founding the Gulf Roleplaying Community (https://www.facebook.com/groups/gulfroleplayingcommunity/).
I interview rigorously for my games, as I know they are marmite. If you love them you’ll stay for years or decades; if not, you’ll be gone in three sessions. For people who know me they’ll compete to join the campaigns if a space comes up.
What game system are you using? What made you choose that system? How does that system complement your campaign?
I started life with AD&D 2nd ed. Stayed with that for years, and now run my own homebrew system. It has everything I need: narrative based PC build, and no initiative in combat.
The system allows me to run nerve-wracking combat, either at the personal level or to enact huge battles and campaigns at various levels. More importantly, the system allows me to bring the past 6,000 years of history of my campaign to reality through rules.
Your landing page puts a lot of emphasis on the flying ships, including propeller gifs. It gives a sense of exploration and wandering. Can you tell us what role exploration takes in your campaign? How do you handle it?
Exploration of ideas, themes and places is at the heart of any roleplay, and with my shift from a ‘serious’ campaign to something zestier I’ve given myself space to play as a ref. I also got used to travelling PCs with my sc-fi campaign.
With a whole world before them I rely on my players being the veterans they are. They have fully formed PCs with motivations and attachments to the world (baby dragons, family and businesses); therefore, they don’t just ‘fly off’ randomly. They are also adults, and know that I have a life too, and need a bit of planning to map out and deliver regions. Younger-in-service and more impulsive players are kept in check by the oldster’s social-norms.
And I’ve given myself the luxury of a long campaign. Aloft is likely to last for another 4-5 years. My players may think they have settled in the, Kingdom of The White, but they have much, much more exploration to enjoy and be challenged by.
In your maps section, you have several identical maps with different layers on them. Can you please tell us a little about your campaign setting and the use you make of the map section?
I have two brilliant players who manage the uploading and meta-tagging of OP. They also manage the maps. The maps are used extensively by players/PCs during the games. They are used for different levels of planning, understanding the world, and acting as a prompt and a reminder to the politics of the world. My players use them in and out of time frequently.
How much time is usually spent preparing your game sessions? Describe a typical session.
I must balance my sessions between those who want to swing a sword and roll dice, and those that want political and adult-themed intrigue.
With my DMing experience the more romantic, sexy, political, moving, and personal angles I usually sketch out when doing sport, and they will end up as three bullet points, written in twenty minutes and will last for about 12 hours playing.
Sadly, online roleplaying is much more demanding of a ref’s time. As soon as you want combat or dungeons, you cannot just draw them on a white board. It’s much easier to write for a week of face-to-face than it is for two months of online sessions.
And a lot of that is my fault. I want to make the world engaging and real for the players. I want them dreaming of it and lying awake after sessions obsessing about what has just happened. Therefore, I will construct my own maps in Fractal Worlds, Campaign Cartographer and Photoshop.
I do a lot of 3-d modelling as well. Most of my PCs I will render out in Daz3d, which despite its appalling misogyny, is still a great resource.
On the more creative side I will build very simple models and animations to illustrate a session, such as in Sketchup with a castle. If I have time I will render in Unreal Engine 5, which allows me to prepare videos such as ‘sneaking’ around Sturmburg or even to quickly render out on the fly when players choose a different route with the balloon. You’ll note I don’t do NPCs – UE5 is awesome, but I don’t have the time to master that – yet. I have managed to make one with a moving dinosaur, I’ll post the link here, but I cringe a bit as it’s only my third animation in UE5 and clunks – but it mesmerized my players.
What I do is to show my players my dungeons. These are quite rough and ready, I’ve often only a few evenings, say four, to build or buy models, learn how to use lighting, animation and texturing in Unreal and then pose and photograph them. The players love it and said ‘dungeons’ and the like utterly grip and involve them. My favorite is probably this, with this being a close second (for scale.)
With many of the zeppelins I will sometimes create ‘playable’ UE5 levels that my players can download and run around the interiors – as I said I want my players as immersed (and obsessed) as me.
In your wiki section, you link to several other campaigns. Can you please explain what these campaigns are and how they are connected to Aloft?
Aloft sits as one of my current campaigns in a world I have been reffing and creating since I was 12. I got ‘serious’ about the internal logic of my world at about the age of 21. Since then, no matter where I have lived, or whom I have reffed, I have played in that world. My campaigns tend to last for 4-12 years in real life, with PCs retiring into my stable of NPCs. My world has been shaped by my players and me for about 30 years.
It has great mapping and moons and its technology has evolved over the decades (out of game) and centuries and millennia (in game – I’m not that old).
I am currently running another campaign that is running concurrently with Aloft, which is set in a major city of the world.
How long have you been using Obsidian Portal? What brought you to the site and what keeps bringing you back?
I have been using OP for over 11 years, and I love it. It was the most prominent site like it at the time of joining, and it has weathered well.
If you had to pick just one thing, what would you say Obsidian Portal helps you with the most?
Helping old and new players explore, in their own time, or during time-ins the rich and decades old world we have been building.
What would you say is the biggest highlight of your game so far (please also provide images and links if possible)?
The biggest highlight of my game has been having the PCs have their own baby dragons for the first time in any of my campaigns. Watching my players get competitive and protective of them has been a joy to watch.
Okay, as a last question, we always ask for the GM’s “pearls of wisdom”. What GM insights can you offer the community this month?
Use great music. I have over 70GB of music that I use in my games. Get to know your music, make up playlists for general types of play (sneaking, battle, the tavern), and then run special sessions to the second using a soundtrack of your own making.
Thank you to the community for making this campaign of the month possible! That’s all for now, join us on our next adventure November 1st, and don’t forget to nominate your favorite campaigns for our next Campaign of the Month!
