A quick preface before I dive into this incredible recommendation; I did receive my copy of the entire Luminous Campaign Engine, Radiance Adventure Engine, and Shine Storytelling Engine complimentary from publisher OddFish Games. I will not receive (or ask for) any sort of affiliate payment program, and OddFish did not seek me out, but I believe in this system whole heartedly enough that I asked to do this.
The Pitch, (Thank you Steven)
The world knows we’re at the largest gaming convention in North America, and we are completely enamored by our storytelling roots. This is why as both storytellers, game masters, and writers, we look for ways to improve our craft and build our skills. Sometimes this means looking for ways to make our job’s of entertaining our players easier on ourselves, so when a seminar titled “Illuminated Campaigns and Adventures,” I was curious. As described from the event page’s short description:
Use the patterns of human storytelling to collectively design a sweeping campaign and immersive adventure in just one hour, using two card-based tools.
Hosted by Steven, a self described fan of the system and volunteer with OddFish (as well as particpant in the Epic Adventure Podcast), we were treated to an incredibly delightful system that to be honest, wasn’t sold on the premise until I saw it in action. I’m an old school world builder; paper, pens, thoughts, connecting dots, hours and hours of time, the whole drill to create locations, factions, hooks, the works. But in a period of 1 hour we fabricated a completed whole idea about pirates, superstitions, fantastical elements, an important NPC, complications, and how to integrate it into the larger piece.
In one hour we had more of a complete functioning story (as a collective group THAT AGREED ON ELEMENTS) than most times I sit in front of my computer to write something cohesive. Steven’s excitement about this, his engaging attitude, and familiarity with system shows his expertise by the way. He was able to leave no stone unturned, and explained how things worked in real time. Anyone knows that if you leave something to be mistaken, confused, or misunderstood, you’re making it a hard sell, and this wasn’t it.
A Bit About The Luminance Engine’s History
I did stop by OddFish Game’s booth as soon as I could and had an opportunity to speak with the creator Mike Howlett who explained that along with his horrendous 60-hour work week in a day job, this took 25 years to move from an idea to fruition. And realistically if you’re working that much and still deciding to play games, you need a way to solve a time problem that is directly related to world building.
The Luminous Campaign Engine – First Solo Impressions
It’s no doubt that I was incredibly awestruck by Steve’s delivery of the campaign engine, especially when considering the use to build a world (the engine isn’t designed to world build but is more than capable). However, due to my lack of familiarity with the setup, it was actually a hard sell to Mike (Host of SideQuests!) at first, but he is more than willing to check it out. I’m rambling though, so lets get into it!
The Presentation
The Luminous Campaign Engine, as well as the Shine Storytelling Engine, and Radiance Adventure Engine (Including Radiance Advance, which doubles the number of cards from the initial engine) are packaged in appropriately sized boxes, meaning minimal wasted space; this is a great thing by the way, because while they are smaller than most boxed games and larger than a standard deck of cards, I don’t need to repackage them to sit on my shelf.
While we won’t be covering the Radiance Adventure Engine in this particular review, it does include a few other items in the box.
Luminous includes 34 two sided cards that are organized in a four-act structure, plus a setup phase. Now, I’m not sure if this was just how things worked out or not, but the cards weren’t organized in their vacuum sealed packages meaning I had to flip through each one and put them in order. While not a huge deal, it does mean that I couldn’t quite jump right in and figure this out until after I did a bit of housekeeping. But it isn’t a card game with a complicated setup, it’s a system designed to walk you through step by step.
The box also contained 60 small detail cards, which roughly are 1″ x 2″, two sided. One side has a feature and a few descriptive words, and the flip side is just an image; both sides are designed to provide inspiration in a way that helps fill in…. details. Because the size of the two types of cards is wildly different, I wish there was a way to organize the two because they will inevitably get thrown around the box and rather disheveled, but this is a personal gripe, and shouldn’t reflect the performance of the product.
And lastly, there is a set of instructions.
The Instructions
The Luminous Campaign Engine instruction booklet is a small four-page quad-fold document that starts off relatively strong in how to use the engine. It states the purpose of system first and foremost as well as provides the Platinum Rule of Luminous:
When writing adventures and campaigns for tabletop role-playing games, remember that the gamemaster is only one small part of the storytelling equation. The adventures we enjoy often stem less from pre-written content and more from the decisions, actions, and interactions of all the players.
The core Principle behind the Luminous Campaign Engine is not to plan an entire Campaign and fill it with fully realized adventures. It is to develop a creative toolbox of building blocks which you will use every game session to stimulate your players. Then, react to their choices in a consistent way that builds a larger narrative.
What I really appreciate about the instructions is that they feel organic by taking a page from popular role playing games such as Dungeons and Dragons by including two methods of use. The first described is “Your Way,” which means if something doesn’t quite make sense to what you’ve already got established, throw it out. And the second being the Luminous Method, which we’re going to absolutely focus on, and the rules (as stated by the instruction booklet) uses the Luminous Method.
One thing I didn’t see on the packaging or within the instructions is what’s included (the number of act cards and the number of details cards). This isn’t a deal breaker, but it will also help to know what’s included if you accidently lose a card somewhere.
Building Blocks
Immediately jumping in, we talk about the best way to use this method is a more modular approach – using wiki’s, mindmaps, journals, index cards, etc. You’ll maintain a list of NPC’s, locations, hooks, events, and other details. You’ll only really utilize the big details, not the granular bits (this is actually super important to point out, because granular bits often result in needing to railroad your players in ways that feel like they strip player agency.)
The instructions then work you through the next portion, which is understanding the four act campaign step cards, and then give a bit of explanation of how the card contents should be used. I don’t want to go into too much detail here, because the beauty is in the system and cards themselves.
The Engine Cards
The Engine cards are a thick cardstock, with nice matte finish, soft to the touch, and feel good to hold. The tactile impression is that thought went into the manufacturing process, and while I didn’t actually tear any one of them, I did bend and pull on the corner of one to see if it would rip or deform in a way that would be detrimental and I am happy to say that it withstood my light abuse. Even if these aren’t traditional playing cards, or in the realm of trading card games, the quality is high enough to withstand plenty of use.
The cards are two sided, with lots of text. After looking closely at the cards, it appears that the front of the card is printed text landscape, and the back of the card has printed text in portrait orientation. I’d like to say that this felt incredibly obvious, but in all honesty I took way too long to figure it out – again most likely a me thing than anything else.
For the review, I’ve been pulling cards randomly from the stack of cards to give you an idea of the content and purpose, some may feel a bit more difficult to understand than others when they’re pulled out of order like this, but the instructions state that if it doesn’t make sense throw it out (I am taking some heavy liberties here).
The Threshold Guardian: Act One, Step Four
I pulled a random card from the stack, and it happened be Act One: Step Four, Threshold Guardian. This particular card reminds me of the adventures and build blocks that encourage players to prove worthiness to proceed with this campaign they have committed to and develop goals and plans based on motivations. The card help with some prompts in the most general sense;
Outline a few groups and social forces which affect this step. What prominent NPCs and locations are essential to this group? What adventure opportunities could involve them?
A Manual on How to Write Campaigns
There are a hundreds of how to world build, story tell, and write campaign books available. So, what makes the Luminous Campaign Engine actually worth picking up? First and foremost, it is designed with role playing games in mind. Most material must be adapted to the needs of a game master, leaving it our job to sift through all things that aren’t necessary or rather useless. However, what Mike and OddFish games have done here, is design a campaign building system that is well aware of how role playing games work and what makes a good one.
Unlike some of the other assist tools out there, is that this requires an idea and does not provide one. This asks important questions to keep things relevant, and of course you can shoehorn your campaign into your world, but over all this is a narrative assisting tool to help tell a story.
What are role playing games other than stories?
I highly recommend the Luminous Campaign Engine to anyone who is running a game, regardless of your experience as a game master or system used. This system agnostic material will help you build cohesive stories, by asking the right next question, and allow you to be flexible enough to really adapt to whatever your players throw your way.
If you’re interested in hearing the seminar that Steven hosted during GenCon about the Luminous Campaign Engine, and falling in love with it for the same reason I did, you can check that out below.
