Suppose I’ll be starting a US campaign soon, and two players have expressed their intention of running it too (as sequels). How would starting the first with a character of my own interfere with the game?
I mean, it’s not like I’ll have any plots planned beforehand or anything. Has anyone ever tried that?
(Mind you, I’m still half way through my reading, so it’s possible such thing is already covered in THE book.)
I’m not sure we cover it in the book. I think it’s fine, especially if you’re switching off GMing duties. Sometimes when I’m training a new GM, I make a character and help the new GM get started in the same session.
My recommendation is that first you figure out what is meant by “sequels.” Since you describe what you are running as “a campaign,” I assume that you plan on being MC until there is a satisfying place in the story to stop.
One kind of sequel would be “a little time passes, then the same characters have more crazy hijinks.” This would be like a new season of an existing television show. It seems unlikely that you will already know that this is the kind of sequel you want before you ever start the first campaign. This style might have some benefit to having your character already present, but I’d recommend not and just have them show up when it’s your turn to play.
Another kind of sequel is “same universe, different story.” Much like Buffy/Angel and things of that ilk, while there might be some cameos from familiar characters, the core idea is that it’s in a different location and with a different cast of characters. If this is the case, then there is no reason for you to have a character already introduced because EVERYONE is likely to have a new character.
A third kind is “Same universe, notable time gap.” Like the option above, everyone is assumed to be playing someone new (with perhaps the exception of someone immortal, but I wouldn’t recommend it). Again since the cast is entirely new, there is no reason to have already introduced a character. I don’t recommend a serious time gap though because unless your first campaign is in the past, then you have to define what your future is like, which isn’t really the kind of game that Urban Shadows is.
Overall, I suspect that if your game is a “campaign” (a whole bunch of sessions) that everyone will be making new characters for the sequels, so there is no reason to introduce your character early.
You mean you would have an active PC in a game you are GMing?
I have played several 2 player games where each player did shifts as GM and had multiple characters, so not the same model, but has similarities.
The biggest thing you’d have to account for is interaction with your own character and the fronts & NPCs How will you manage that?
Charlie Collins
You’re right, I have no idea how our first season will play out, but since my group tends to run ANY game as a TV show season, my guess is our sequels will be “same place, same characters, a few weeks/months later”.
Mo Jave
I haven’t planned that far yet, but I’ll keep this in mind when I reach fronts/NPCs part of the book.