I ran a similar concept once upon a time. Start as gods, build the world, conflicts and god wars, eventually grew to be proxy wars, and then finally the gods vanished and new faiths developed on the world while the players made mortal characters to find out what had happened to the deities they had made. It was pretty fun!
When the Domains table first came on screen, with me being recommend this video with no other context, my first thought was the players needing to start off with negotiating for which Domains their gods would control. The RNG method for that step is fine, but I'd be excited to strategize for a certain "build" against and with the other gods. (Before you even mentioned it, I was thinking about how much fun a deity with dominion over one of the pairs of dualities like Chaos and Order could be. Or the whole spectrum of Domains for Light, Darkness, and Twilight together.) ...It could maybe start the same way, drawing three Domains at random, and you need to still try to obtain/keep at least one of those of during your bids for power, but it would otherwise be a matter of each player coming up with their own goals for a couple Domains they want and writing down in secret what they plan to do for each one they do or don't end up with after its all settled. Could even make deals deciding if your god is more concerned with being powerful or willing to concede more power to other gods to get the exact core portfolio they want. Maybe gods that end up with only 1 or 2 Domains are minor deities and those with 3 or more are the major deities? Or 2-3 for minor and 4+ for major, especially if the idea is that the gods the players make are the only gods of real note for the setting (potentially leaving any remaining single Domains to the preview of potential Demigods that might pop up in later phases). The draw at the beginning could just be to limit you to one RNG Domain in your build, or it could more like be the cards you have on hand to start that you can trade during negotiations, with those leftover not drawn being neutrally up for grabs. In the later case, a player that likes their three drawn Domains could be totally within their rights to just stubbornly refuse to concede any other those cards and keep those three domains until the end of that phase (unless maybe enough other gods allying to take one of them could force their hand?). All kinds of other ideas and details I could probably think up, but I'm unlikely to need to plan a campaign this way or have someone else run a campaign for me this way anytime soon, since my current goal for at least the summer is just trying to get around to putting together a more typical style of campaign for some new players that don't need any additional wrinkles added into the mix that way. P.S. The fact one of the players ended up with the deity of Death and Taxes in your experiment here was the neatest thing in the video for me. So simple, yet so evocative.
I agree with all of your ideas, but what I do like about the random pairings is the tradition of random "chargen" I do think that there should be some allowance in the randomness for two gods to share a domain - much like Athena and Ares share War. So perhaps the domains can be returned to the deck? Narratively, if there are dupes, the first player to have drawn a domain gets to define their Sphere of Influence first, and the subsequent Gods must work off that.
As a moorcock fan (or just general ideas) a god of both chaos and order represents Balance, the god that intervenes when one side is too powerful, like the G-man putting the right man in the wrong place
I really like this concept. I don't think my current table could do it. Two of the guys will skip out on one-shots because they can't make a character in less than two weeks. When I've done my own campaigns, it's always built from the bones of something else. Usually just heaps of homebrew and tweaks to the modules. As a writer, it's very appealing to go ham on creating a world and it combines the shared storytelling that I love about TTRPGs. I can't wait to see how it all works out!
This is super bizarre timing. My counterpart GM and I in our five player group are developing our own ttrpg game system from the ground up based on D10. We are making our own world setting as well to accompany our game system to set up the in world logic for some of our game mechanics. We are also taking the route of players helping to make the world. I found this quite enlightening.
Hi Harmony - an online friend recommended this video, I enjoyed watching it, so thank you for sharing! I've been playing D&D since the 90s and I had never heard of a Braunstein game, so thank you for introducing me to a new way of playing :)
+1 for the god of Death and Taxes... I hope you gave this player extra XP for that. this sounds like a great way to set up the starting world and get players involved from the beginning.
It reminds me about Dawn of Worlds, a board game/ttrpg about gods creating a world and populating it with races. Its pretty simple and easy to pick up, and can be used with any system (in theory). I ran it a few times. Sadly, not once our collective creation went further than this. I guess the most important thing you did is carefully choosing players for this kind of game. I will be looking forward to your next videos.
This is a cool concept. I once made a world for D&D by playing the Smallworld board game. I recorded each turn of the game as a historical age for the D&D world.
This is insanely creative, very well thought out, and right up my alley of cooperative worldbuilding. I saw that you linked the file in another comment, you might want to throw the link to it in the description box as well for others. Subscribed, I look forward to hearing more about you and your group!
Played braunstein with Wesley at Gary Con. Cool guy. Fun game. Beginning of the game he pulls out a Brown Stein and puts it on the table and said this is how he gets folks to remember the pronunciation. "Brown Stein"
Great video- this was well organized and had good pacing and length. You’re very easy to listen to and while I’ve only played in PF2 and 5e campaigns the whole game you describe piques my interest. I look forward to hearing more of the adventures!
This sounds fabulous. I want to try it for Fabula Ultima or some other Non D& D rule set, but I'm fascinated with the idea now. Your players are lucky to have you as their DM. Way to get them involved. Way to stay organized. Great video. Keep up the good work! 💚👽🛸
Such an interesting thing to learn about!!! I hadn't heard about Braunstein so I'll be expanding that for sure. I'll need to watch again to absorb the ideas better, as I was a bit distracted watching. So hopefully I'll get some ideas to implement and maybe even add something to the conversation. For sure will be around to watch the next parts. Many thanks for sharing!!! 😁
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17 That's what I gave them, it wasn't meant for public release so it may be a little specific to the players. I don't remember.
Feel like you missed 2 domains from that list, earth and water. An interesting thing to try if you ever do this again is to make the gods in stages. Start with primordial ones like time, light, dark then move on to the elementals and nature gods as the world is formed then end with the civilisation gods like war and peace.
Aah, this makes a lot of sense! I think it would help if you could include the document you and your group worked out of as a link in the video description. Being able to follow along with some of the parts would make it more clear, and it could work as a foundation for people wanting to try this!
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17 That's what I gave them, it wasn't meant for public release so it may be a little specific to the players. I don't remember.
Interesting that you decided to do a setting creation game with Braunstein as a basis, rather than a game made for co-op world-building like Microscope or Dawn of Worlds. But those are map-making and storytelling games that don't have a wargaming component, and don't require the players to take on the role of one specific god. I'm interested to see how the wargame and LARP elements of Braunstein affected the setting you ended up with.
I like your pantheon creation process. My Fabula Ultima campaign has no known gods at the moment, the only real gods I have is the "mother nature" force that caused the fall of an ancient civilization and the 9 Arcanum that the game comes with for the Arcanist Class.
I started in AD&D (1e) in the 80's. The DMG is worth reading (as is the PHB) no matter what system you play. BUT... I always found it janky, even tho I preferred it to the other rpg's we tried. Then I played 3e, and I knew what the future was. The d20 system resolved so many problems, and 3e introduced so many needed elements. For people used to 5e, who like it, AD&D is unnecessary. If you want to try it out on its own merit, go ahead. But don't get into it unprepared. It's a big shift. You may even love it. But personally, I never want to go back, and I don't want to play any clones. Not even Hackmaster. (which came from the best comic about OS gaming ever) btw, your video was very good. Keep at it.
This looks like a lot of work and one could end up with a campaign world that feels not right for the GM. But if the campaign is not too lengthy or you have a realy good group of people this might work 😁 but I would rather use „microscope“ for the worldbuilding. My group is very familiar with microscope, so that would be an autowin
Group worldbuilding can be a lot of fun, though I certainly haven't gone to such lengths of playing the gods and the creation myth etc. Not sure if I would find going to this length necessary, instead preferring something like FATE (spark of fate product I believe it was called), or Microscope.
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17 I probably should have put it in the description. It isn't really set up for public release, so it may be specific to my group
You say you're new to youtube -- are there other platforms you're not new to that we can find you on, or are you new to "content creation" in general (funny term given that you obviously create content for your D&D games, but I just mean making videos or streaming or whatever).
So, why would the cultures of the world worship a god of of time, light, or chaos? Did the players rationalize their place in the mortal world? Or are they just base elemental forces that go without need of worship?
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17 I probably should have put it in the description. It isn't really set up for public release, so it may be specific to my group.
@@harmony_ginger Yeah its super hard to find this video when i wanna reference it due to its long title which wont show up in search results unless you get it PERFECT
Hi Harmony. I left a comment, but it's not here. Maybe you don't allow certain words to be used? I've heard of Braunstein, but don't know anything about it, other than Arneson and his Blackmoor campaign, which I know just a little about. If only Arneson and Gygax had remained friends, maybe TSR would still exist today. Oh well. I don't know if this will interest you, but I've written two D&D novels, and narrated them. Hope you check them out, as I'd love to hear your thoughts. ttyl maybe : )
Weird. I don't think I put an automod on and I didn't remove anything! Sorry about that! I will look into it and see if it is something I would be interested in reading, thanks
@@harmony_ginger Yeah, yt is weird. Sometimes my comment doesn't remain, and I don't know why. Other times it remains after trying like 2 or 3 times. Again though, no clue why. By the way, you can read it, or listen to it, or both. ttyl
![ไลฟ์สุ่ม iPhone 295 บาท... โกงมั้ย?[ โกงมั้ยครับ ep.97 ] | DOM](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/gdstHEE4UUE/mqdefault.jpg)
I like the commitment to create a well formated 'manual' for the game.
Godstein definitely seems like an interesting way to further invest your players in the game world beyond their characters.
I ran a similar concept once upon a time. Start as gods, build the world, conflicts and god wars, eventually grew to be proxy wars, and then finally the gods vanished and new faiths developed on the world while the players made mortal characters to find out what had happened to the deities they had made. It was pretty fun!
The god of death and taxes! Bonus points for that one!
This is an incredible idea and it needs to spread
To any witnessing this, post this video to any dnd groups you have contact with. It’s genius
The concept must grow
Spread this video more
With most German words, when you have two consecutive vowels, the general rule is say the 2nd one: Braunstein, say the " i ". Braunstien, say the "e".
Well, this is amazing. Thanks youtube algorithm for suggesting it!
Subbed, can't wait to hear more, and good luck running it!
Yes, for once the algorithm really did its job. Everyone, tell your friends.
Really cool concept! I'm definitely intrigued to learn more about how it all worked out!
When the Domains table first came on screen, with me being recommend this video with no other context, my first thought was the players needing to start off with negotiating for which Domains their gods would control. The RNG method for that step is fine, but I'd be excited to strategize for a certain "build" against and with the other gods. (Before you even mentioned it, I was thinking about how much fun a deity with dominion over one of the pairs of dualities like Chaos and Order could be. Or the whole spectrum of Domains for Light, Darkness, and Twilight together.)
...It could maybe start the same way, drawing three Domains at random, and you need to still try to obtain/keep at least one of those of during your bids for power, but it would otherwise be a matter of each player coming up with their own goals for a couple Domains they want and writing down in secret what they plan to do for each one they do or don't end up with after its all settled. Could even make deals deciding if your god is more concerned with being powerful or willing to concede more power to other gods to get the exact core portfolio they want.
Maybe gods that end up with only 1 or 2 Domains are minor deities and those with 3 or more are the major deities? Or 2-3 for minor and 4+ for major, especially if the idea is that the gods the players make are the only gods of real note for the setting (potentially leaving any remaining single Domains to the preview of potential Demigods that might pop up in later phases).
The draw at the beginning could just be to limit you to one RNG Domain in your build, or it could more like be the cards you have on hand to start that you can trade during negotiations, with those leftover not drawn being neutrally up for grabs. In the later case, a player that likes their three drawn Domains could be totally within their rights to just stubbornly refuse to concede any other those cards and keep those three domains until the end of that phase (unless maybe enough other gods allying to take one of them could force their hand?).
All kinds of other ideas and details I could probably think up, but I'm unlikely to need to plan a campaign this way or have someone else run a campaign for me this way anytime soon, since my current goal for at least the summer is just trying to get around to putting together a more typical style of campaign for some new players that don't need any additional wrinkles added into the mix that way.
P.S. The fact one of the players ended up with the deity of Death and Taxes in your experiment here was the neatest thing in the video for me. So simple, yet so evocative.
You have some amazing ideas there, thank you for the writeup!
I agree with all of your ideas, but what I do like about the random pairings is the tradition of random "chargen" I do think that there should be some allowance in the randomness for two gods to share a domain - much like Athena and Ares share War. So perhaps the domains can be returned to the deck? Narratively, if there are dupes, the first player to have drawn a domain gets to define their Sphere of Influence first, and the subsequent Gods must work off that.
Perhaps we should just call them Wesley style games? The man deserves the credit and recognition as the first dungeon master (technically).
I like Wesley-Braunstein as a moniker.
As a moorcock fan (or just general ideas) a god of both chaos and order represents Balance, the god that intervenes when one side is too powerful, like the G-man putting the right man in the wrong place
“My game only plays 5e” my condolences… “my group also plays Twilight Imperium “ unimaginably based
I really like this concept. I don't think my current table could do it. Two of the guys will skip out on one-shots because they can't make a character in less than two weeks.
When I've done my own campaigns, it's always built from the bones of something else. Usually just heaps of homebrew and tweaks to the modules.
As a writer, it's very appealing to go ham on creating a world and it combines the shared storytelling that I love about TTRPGs. I can't wait to see how it all works out!
This is super bizarre timing. My counterpart GM and I in our five player group are developing our own ttrpg game system from the ground up based on D10. We are making our own world setting as well to accompany our game system to set up the in world logic for some of our game mechanics. We are also taking the route of players helping to make the world. I found this quite enlightening.
Hi Harmony - an online friend recommended this video, I enjoyed watching it, so thank you for sharing!
I've been playing D&D since the 90s and I had never heard of a Braunstein game, so thank you for introducing me to a new way of playing :)
+1 for the god of Death and Taxes... I hope you gave this player extra XP for that.
this sounds like a great way to set up the starting world and get players involved from the beginning.
I said the same thing.
It reminds me about Dawn of Worlds, a board game/ttrpg about gods creating a world and populating it with races. Its pretty simple and easy to pick up, and can be used with any system (in theory). I ran it a few times. Sadly, not once our collective creation went further than this.
I guess the most important thing you did is carefully choosing players for this kind of game. I will be looking forward to your next videos.
Thanks to your efforts with the Divine Battle aspect, I've taken inspiration for something I'm tinkering with.
This is a cool concept.
I once made a world for D&D by playing the Smallworld board game. I recorded each turn of the game as a historical age for the D&D world.
Small World would be a decent ruleset for this
This is insanely creative, very well thought out, and right up my alley of cooperative worldbuilding. I saw that you linked the file in another comment, you might want to throw the link to it in the description box as well for others. Subscribed, I look forward to hearing more about you and your group!
Thank you!
I've long wanted to play in or run a game about world creation for potential later use, excited to see where this goes!
I've never heard of this before and I absolutely love it. Very glad to have stumbled on your channel looking forward to more!
Wow thank you!
Never run this collaborative system before, but will look into it now. Great video
Played braunstein with Wesley at Gary Con. Cool guy. Fun game. Beginning of the game he pulls out a Brown Stein and puts it on the table and said this is how he gets folks to remember the pronunciation. "Brown Stein"
Great video! This is an extremely interesting way to create your campaign's world.
Looking forward to the next video. You did great.
Thank you!
Immediately intrigued. Linked this to my play group instantly.
I just did the same thing. This sounds like a ton of fun.
Great video- this was well organized and had good pacing and length. You’re very easy to listen to and while I’ve only played in PF2 and 5e campaigns the whole game you describe piques my interest. I look forward to hearing more of the adventures!
Thank you!
I am eager to see what comes next! You are doing a great job!
Well done Harmony! And thank you for what looks to be actual research rather than theory crafting and boldly going where turds fear to tread
This sounds fabulous. I want to try it for Fabula Ultima or some other Non D& D rule set, but I'm fascinated with the idea now.
Your players are lucky to have you as their DM. Way to get them involved. Way to stay organized.
Great video. Keep up the good work! 💚👽🛸
Hello Harmony. Good luck with your Channel. I have never heard of the Braunstein Game myself. Looking forward to learning about new gaming content.
Incredible video, amazing idea. Love your players and their commitment!!
Great concept and an excellent way to get player buy in for the campaign.
Nifty concept!
Such an interesting thing to learn about!!! I hadn't heard about Braunstein so I'll be expanding that for sure. I'll need to watch again to absorb the ideas better, as I was a bit distracted watching. So hopefully I'll get some ideas to implement and maybe even add something to the conversation. For sure will be around to watch the next parts. Many thanks for sharing!!! 😁
This was really great, I look forward to hearing more
Check out Ben Robbins' games, *Microscope* and *Kingdom* in particular, for systems designed to do precisely what you're talking about here.
I would love to see a ruleset for this type of setup/gameplay
Great video. Really cool idea, and i especially love draw three gods and pick two.
You have earned the top spot in my playlist. Your debut was magnificent. I am very much looking forward to more.
Thank you so much!
I have a god in my campaign that's the God of "Home and Hearth" and "War" - It oddly works once I began thinking about it more.
Love the idea. Going to share this.
Oh neat, welcome to youtube! I've been following this from a distance on Twitter but didn't know about any of the details here
Goblins sees ideas to steal. Goblin subscribes.
If something works for your game then it's the right way.
Cool idea. Any possibility you could post that campaign document you gave to your players for download somewhere?
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17
That's what I gave them, it wasn't meant for public release so it may be a little specific to the players. I don't remember.
@@harmony_ginger Thanks!
Ironically, Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere does have a god of both chaos and order, (essentially) and his name happens to be Harmony!
Feel like you missed 2 domains from that list, earth and water. An interesting thing to try if you ever do this again is to make the gods in stages. Start with primordial ones like time, light, dark then move on to the elementals and nature gods as the world is formed then end with the civilisation gods like war and peace.
Aah, this makes a lot of sense!
I think it would help if you could include the document you and your group worked out of as a link in the video description. Being able to follow along with some of the parts would make it more clear, and it could work as a foundation for people wanting to try this!
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17
I probably should have. It isn't really set up for public release, so it may be specific to my group
@@harmony_ginger Thank you so much!
@@harmony_ginger I pulled it up just fine from your link!
I'll take this advice for my Savage Worlds campaigns
Nice one!
Super cool idea! I am looking forward to part-2. Any chance you would be willing to share the rules manual you created for your game?
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17
That's what I gave them, it wasn't meant for public release so it may be a little specific to the players. I don't remember.
Interesting that you decided to do a setting creation game with Braunstein as a basis, rather than a game made for co-op world-building like Microscope or Dawn of Worlds. But those are map-making and storytelling games that don't have a wargaming component, and don't require the players to take on the role of one specific god. I'm interested to see how the wargame and LARP elements of Braunstein affected the setting you ended up with.
My group is full of wargamers!
I like your pantheon creation process. My Fabula Ultima campaign has no known gods at the moment, the only real gods I have is the "mother nature" force that caused the fall of an ancient civilization and the 9 Arcanum that the game comes with for the Arcanist Class.
Great video!
I started in AD&D (1e) in the 80's. The DMG is worth reading (as is the PHB) no matter what system you play. BUT... I always found it janky, even tho I preferred it to the other rpg's we tried. Then I played 3e, and I knew what the future was. The d20 system resolved so many problems, and 3e introduced so many needed elements. For people used to 5e, who like it, AD&D is unnecessary. If you want to try it out on its own merit, go ahead. But don't get into it unprepared. It's a big shift. You may even love it. But personally, I never want to go back, and I don't want to play any clones. Not even Hackmaster. (which came from the best comic about OS gaming ever)
btw, your video was very good. Keep at it.
This looks like a lot of work and one could end up with a campaign world that feels not right for the GM. But if the campaign is not too lengthy or you have a realy good group of people this might work 😁 but I would rather use „microscope“ for the worldbuilding. My group is very familiar with microscope, so that would be an autowin
Comment for the algo!
Please start naming these something that makes them easy to find like “divine Braunstein”
Group worldbuilding can be a lot of fun, though I certainly haven't gone to such lengths of playing the gods and the creation myth etc. Not sure if I would find going to this length necessary, instead preferring something like FATE (spark of fate product I believe it was called), or Microscope.
Is it possible to get the document you were using to build this? the phases and domains would be really helpful.
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17
I probably should have put it in the description. It isn't really set up for public release, so it may be specific to my group
It's like when a body builder poops his pants. It's brawn stain
why have you done this
@@harmony_gingerYou curse me with this campaign building premise. I curse you with a third, worse pronunciation. It is only fair
Love it! Did you post your world building rules set anywhere?
I LOVE this. Thank you for having thick skin and making videos. I love your content. (I don't care how you pronounce things =) )
I personally would have used First Light from BlueLightGames to run the godstien portion
I love this idea! Are the docs you shared in the video available for purchase or download?
In the description of part 2 or I replied with a link to it in several comments.
@@harmony_ginger thank you
Or if you want to go hard, then Aria: Canticle of the Monomyth vol. 1 Worlds
If you all are interested in a more gaming oriented approach, check out Dawn of Worlds.
You say you're new to youtube -- are there other platforms you're not new to that we can find you on, or are you new to "content creation" in general (funny term given that you obviously create content for your D&D games, but I just mean making videos or streaming or whatever).
I am @gingerblast on twitter. I will remember to link this next time- I just assumed everyone who saw this would be following me from there!
So, why would the cultures of the world worship a god of of time, light, or chaos? Did the players rationalize their place in the mortal world? Or are they just base elemental forces that go without need of worship?
They created their own races of people that worshipped them. I will talk about that in part 2!
This was a great first half of a video, but it lacks a natural conclusion like the end of a chapter or an episode.
Is there somewhere we can get your set up documents?
Gah! Nevermind! I just watched your second video and found it in the description! Great videos!
Ayo
Hello. Is it alright if you share the document to us?
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17
I probably should have put it in the description. It isn't really set up for public release, so it may be specific to my group.
When next video
Can you link the rules doc that you created? I want to shamelessly rip off of it for my campaign
homebrewery.naturalcrit.com/share/t6u6Zaugmw17
There you go. It wasn't really set up for public release and may be a bit specific to my group.
@@harmony_ginger Thanks. Just needed something to get the ideas flowing. I’ve always been a fan of outsourcing world building work.
If you go by German pronunciation, I believe it would be pronounced Brown-shtine (like those sounds would be pronounced in English)
You should publish the rules for this, somehow.
/add to cart
Last
please give these a name that unifies them all and makes them easy to look up
This is a good idea!
@@harmony_ginger Yeah its super hard to find this video when i wanna reference it due to its long title which wont show up in search results unless you get it PERFECT
@@GOARGOSGOARGOSGOARGOS Thanks for the feedback! I will change them when I upload part 3 this week!
A God of Chaos and Order, would be a "true-neutral" god, eh? Its worshipers would be true-neutral only.
4th player
Hi Harmony. I left a comment, but it's not here. Maybe you don't allow certain words to be used? I've heard of Braunstein, but don't know anything about it, other than Arneson and his Blackmoor campaign, which I know just a little about. If only Arneson and Gygax had remained friends, maybe TSR would still exist today. Oh well.
I don't know if this will interest you, but I've written two D&D novels, and narrated them. Hope you check them out, as I'd love to hear your thoughts. ttyl maybe : )
Weird. I don't think I put an automod on and I didn't remove anything! Sorry about that!
I will look into it and see if it is something I would be interested in reading, thanks
@@harmony_ginger Yeah, yt is weird. Sometimes my comment doesn't remain, and I don't know why. Other times it remains after trying like 2 or 3 times. Again though, no clue why. By the way, you can read it, or listen to it, or both. ttyl
@@harmony_ginger in case you have any trouble finding it, the book is called Forestera's Fate and both books are in their own Playlist.
German: BrAOOnstAAIn. California: Brannsteeen