Running the Game: The Yellow Book of Brechewold

 I’m kind of surprised more people aren’t talking about The Yellow Book of Brechewold. Ben Milton of Questing Beast turned me onto the book. I recommend giving his review a watch. When I saw it was available at my LGS I decided to pick up a copy and I’m glad I did. The campaign has a great premise, “What if Jack Vance wrote Harry Potter as a sequel to The Once and Future King.” If that doesn’t get your attention, I don’t know what will. The Yellow Book of Brechewold details seven dungeon levels beneath the school, with a few additional sublevels, as well as a hexcrawl map consisting of twenty five regions to explore. Random encounter tables covering the dungeon are really interesting. Basically the deeper you go, the more likely a random encounter will occur. Different random encounter tables are provided for the hexcrawl based on the season the players decide to explore the surrounding area with encounters more likely to occur if the players decide to head off road and explore the wilderness.

The set up for the campaign is pretty brilliant. I’m running the game using OSE. It fits nicely with the stats provided in the book. The PCs had to pick a class with magic abilities, such as magic-user, cleric, illusionist, necromancer. The backstory is they’re new to the school, are making their way to the castle, and participate in an introductory initiation after which they become first level spellcasters. Every semester each PC picks two classes. Every class provides the PC with a secret related to the setting or the dungeon below the school. Each professor's collection of secrets has a theme or area of interest associated with them.The book suggests you don’t roleplay test taking or course exams cause that’s not what the campaign is about. I’ve kept time in the classroom brief, considering how best to convey the secret to the players. Sometimes it comes from the professor, sometimes a fellow student. But really the information conveyed from the secret is what’s important. Knowing what’s out there to be explored drives the decisions your players will make. 

I’ve added a couple of personal touches based on the chosen courses. For instance, one of the players took a course on tracking. I figured if you take a course on tracking, why not allow the player to be able to track afterward. So now one of the magic-users tracks like a ranger of equal level. The player loved it and it’s not providing that bonus breaks the game or anything. Sometimes the title of the course suggests knowledge in a particular area. We’ll play that out depending on what’s discovered during exploration. For instance, I might be able to provide additional information or insights because they took a class related to a particular discovery. This has got the players really thinking about which course to pick because they know they might be able to get something useful or important out of it now or later on. It’s making for more meaningful choices related to course selection. I’m also using the optional rule for advanced spell book rules. I figure the PCs are attending a magical school so once per semester they can research a spell with a chance of adding it to their spellbook. Depending on the intelligence of the PC this is no sure thing. They’ve failed the roll almost as often as they’ve succeeded but it still provides an opportunity to expand on their spell repertoire. 

The Yellow Book of Brechewold provides a number of factions and conflicts but discourages the GM from plotting a story in advance, instead encouraging an emergent approach which I wholeheartedly agree with. Once a semester the PCs will explore either the dungeon or the surrounding area. What they do, who they meet, how those interactions play out becomes the story. The random encounters are integral to that emerging narrative. It’s not just wandering monsters. In the upper levels of the dungeon it’s often meant meeting random professors in odd locations where the players have to explain why they are there and what it is they’re doing. The professors have their own personalities and agendas that should be taken into consideration during these interactions. In a couple of instances those chance meetings have led to the players picking that professor's course the following semester. 

We’re currently in the first semester of year two. I thought they’d maybe explore a particular set of rumors related to a witch hiding in an abbey but instead they headed back into the dungeon. This particular venture was the result of a new secret from one of the PCs classes related to a holy shrine located on the first level they’d yet to find. I’ve got to hand it to my group, they’re really starting to dig in. They’re taking copious notes, looking for threads they find interesting to tug on. It took them a bit of time to wrap their heads around this play style. They’re used to long form D&D campaigns where the framework is largely predetermined based on whichever module I’m running. Sure they have the agency to proceed how they choose but largely the thing that needs doing will always need doing, no matter the approach until they reach the endgame. That’s not the case with The Yellow Book of Brechewold. There is no plot, no endgame. Sure the campaign will be over after the final exploration of semester two, year four. But it’s only at that point will we be able to look back and see what this story was all about. I find that wonderfully refreshing. I also have no idea where this journey is going. But I’m sure going to enjoy the ride.