Steps of The Dark Tower: A Stephen King Campaign

Every person that has gotten bit by the GMing bug has had at least one idea for a campaign that feels like a white whale. Either it's too big for them to realistically make it happen, they can't find players enthusiastic enough to see it through to the end, or it's just so bizarre that it would take a huge amount of brain juice and willpower to convert all the ideas and options into math and stats so the game could actually be played.

For me, this campaign is something I'm calling Steps of The Dark Tower: Chasing The Black Rainbow, and I thought that since this is Monday I'd share some of my thoughts, and see if this is something someone out there would like to try if they're a madder lad or lass than I am.

Did someone call for a ka-tet?

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All Things Serve The Beam...

The basic idea behind this campaign is that the PCs are among the hundreds (if not thousands) of small events taking place in the background of the central quest of Stephen King's Dark Tower universe. Roland and his ka-tet seek the room at the top of the tower, and they are being opposed by the Crimson King and his servants. They walk through realities the way you or I might step through puddles, and there are a thousand times a thousand reverberations that fill the worlds. Ancient wizards and corrupt technologies seek to stop them, as do common thugs, vampires, orders of mystic bugs, rad mutants, invisible men, shapeshifting monsters, and so, so much more!

And that's just a sample of some of the nonsense that exists!

When I originally conceived this idea, it was inspired by some of the plot of the novel Black House, where our protagonists' actions set the scene for the gunslinger and his companions to complete their own quest. In Chasing The Black Rainbow, our protagonists are drawn to the last remnants of Gilead. Consumed by civil war and death, the place is a smoldering ruin, much of which has been destroyed or abandoned. There are things left there, however, to test the mettle of those who have the spirit, if not the blood, of the Eld. Once our protagonists fight past the shades of the old order, besting the undead remains of Cort, they find themselves before the shattered throne. The last vestiges of the old king sits there, refusing to move on, using the last of its strength to assign a quest to those worthy. The remnants of Maerlyn's Rainbow have been scattered across the various levels and worlds of the tower, and for reasons beyond his understanding, the party are the ones who have been selected by ka to track it down.

The characters could be drawn from any world attached to King's Dark Tower series, with the exception of 2. Characters could not be from Keystone Earth, where Sai King writes all these books, and they could not be from Roland's world. Any other world, no matter how mundane or how absolutely terrifying, was fair game as long as there was a definite connection to the Dark Tower from that story and world.

And depending on which stories and worlds the players picked for their characters, the Game Master should distribute the remaining spheres of Maerlyn's Rainbow so that at least a few of them were found back in the PCs' home worlds.

For example, if a PC wanted to be from the world of Salem's Lot, then they might find the Crimson orb in possession of a vampire like Barlow. Alternatively, they might have to hunt through the wreckage of the world of The Stand in search of the Pink ball, as that was where Randall Flagg had it last. Is the Yellow ball in possession of the strange government entities that may be coralling psychics in Hearts in Atlantis (separate from the Low Men and the Beam Breakers, as Ted revealed himself to the U.S. government before his mysterious disappearance)? Is the Green ball lurking in the burnt out ruins of the world of Cell, and the players have to find it while avoiding the bizarre zombies and irrational humans who still wander that world? Is the Pearl Gray ball somehow connected to the bizarre gunk in the story Gray Matter found in Night Shift?

All of these are options, and that doesn't even touch things like time travel, killer clowns, evil hotels, aliens putting domes over towns, and all the other bizarre stuff that takes place in King's sprawling Dark Tower setting! The key is to decide which balls are still around, with a low number of 6, and a high number of all 13. And since so many of the balls' powers are left undefined and vague, the Game Master could use each of them to give the party some kind of boon, and to point the way to the next piece of the quest.

No matter which version of the quest one does, however, the end goal is always Black 13, and it's always located in the same place... the hellish darkness of the world we see in The Mist. Maybe it was messing with the ball that split the barriers between worlds, letting in the monstrous things from the outside to run rampant over earth. Maybe the event was manipulated by servants of the Crimson King. However, whatever the case is, the PCs need to get to that last ball before the Crimson King uses it for his own ends.

Now, we all know that Sai King receives a lot of crap for his terrible endings. So the thought I had for the end of the campaign (though I don't actually recommend anyone do this as it is deliberately anticlimactic) is the following.

As you all close the bowling bag over the shimmering, malignant surface of Black 13, you breathe a sign of relief. You have it, now. Your quest is done, but for the epilogue. Five shots ring out, a deadly salute that sprays blood, bone, and brain matter everywhere. Bad luck manifests as a single set of footsteps approaches the circle of corpses. As he lifts the bag in the hand not holding a smoking gun, the Man in Black smiles, and speaks a phrase as simple as it is nonsensical.

"Bool, the end," he says.

My Recommendation For Running This

Now, if this absolute madness is the sort of thing that fires your imagination, and gets you interested in giving it a whirl, far be it from me to stop you. However, I've had a lot of thoughts about this game over the years, and there's a recommendation I'd make for turning this thing into a reality.

Namely that you should really consider using the Savage Worlds system for it.

Versatile, powerful, and user-friendly.

I don't make this recommendation lightly, either. Because while it's true that this RPG system is flexible enough that you could make all of the things the universe of the Dark Tower might boast, there's also enough existing content that you can fold into the game with a few little changes here and there that you don't have to do all of the work yourself.

As an example, if you have someone who wants to bring a character from the world of The Eyes of The Dragon, you have the Savage Worlds Fantasy Companion to help you. If you need to drag in threats from stories like The Little Sisters of Eluria or The Wind Through The Keyhole, then you have Deadlands you can pull creatures, magic, and even fear level rules from. There's even stuff you can grab out of the Savage Worlds RIFTS game, or even the basic Savage Worlds Horror Companion.

No matter which part of the Dark Tower your party ventures to, or what decisions they make, this is the game I'd say is flexible enough to provide you all the options you could want, while making sure the playing field is level enough that you won't have all your players choosing to be from the same part of the King-verse.

So go forth, and may ka be with you should you attempt to walk this path!

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