big teej
2011-06-07, 06:29 PM
greetings, as I've said in another thread, I'm starting a new campaign and it's going to be a sandbox
so I'm here to post up what the players gave me and what I'm thinking about doing with it.
this thread is meant to be a place for me to bounce ideas off of your collective heads
I trust that they will be suitably bouncy.
now, for the record, the quotes below are exactly as they were given to me, minus any real life names I've ommited.
also, before we get started, campaign information is....
summer group
# of players - between 3 and 8 per session (variable)
starting level: 4
op level: .... self explanatory.
any questions so far?
good.
so.
first up,
The Tiefilng Bard
-name ommited- 'sBard
My dude!
He's a tiefling bard, when he was born, he was to be sacrificed and killed so a demon could inhabit his body. It was partially sucessful, he hears whispers on occasion, when near unholy areas. Also he is very sensitive to unholy area's and he also has flashbacks in those areas of events that occurred in that area. Its uncontrollable, but through meditation, my character can bring himself to be more succeptable to the flashbacks.
I digress, he was recued by a abbot priest and a paliden. Who then brought him to a kingdom where he served as a slave and recieved training as a jester for many years till he was in the tiefling equivilent of early 20's. At that time, the priest served as his father and educated him in the religion. At this point the princess is born to the kingdom and my character serves as a butler, nanny, bodygaurd till she is roughly 17. I am her favorite Uncle. However my surrogate father hears that the demon cultists are going to try for my body again, so he sells me to the church for my protection. He forgot to tell me why.
Now having been sold to the church, I was shipped around from department to department helping as a secretary here, a squire there, a herald over there... Till I was moved to the department of demonic investigations. Needless to say, they slapped a collar on me so fast that with a word can cause all sorts of pain or pleasure to control me. Needless to say, after they had been found out the originator was killed. "I may or may not have spiked his drink to let him brag about it." The collar is a simple black leather bealth with a ring for a leash.
Anyway, at this point I am sold one more time to another adventurer, (if we have a character who serves the church, that would be the party member who owns me and knows the passwords). Also the whole Church organization knows my collar passwords as well.
I am currently hoping to buy a wish/miricle spell to get rid of the collar and move back to the kings family whom I love very much.
further notes: the player plans on taking his bard into Red Dragon Disciple.
so what I'm thinking about doing is using this "sensativity" whenever it comes up (which isn't something I'm gonna go out of my way for) and really play up the whole "people are trying to KILL you" thing, to the degree where if the game stalls I can throw a recurring obnoxious and incompetent team of assassins at the party (I'm looking at you Jesse and James)
as for the "password" thing, I dunno if anyone else in the party fits the role he's after, so I'll probably stick an NPC in the group with them temporarily, probably kill him off within 2 sessions.
it'll probably be a healbot cleric nudger.
next.
the Dwarf Knight
He is a dwarf whose father was a blacksmith, and mom was a servant for the king. The king was tyrant of dwarvish lands and oppressed the people. (First person) I grew tired of the King's evil ways and attempted to assassinate him after he hit my mother and hurt my father. I was caught and tortured, branded a traitor of my kingdom and thrown out. I wandered the countryside and picked up odd jobs here and there till I was working in a caravan. We were attacked and saved by Knights. I saw the power, the grace, and the honor they had and wanted to have that purpose.
So I asked them to take me with them to start at the lowest ranks and work my way up through the knighthood. Having just proven myself in battle they accepted. I slowly worked my way up to knighthood, proving myself worthy despite my background and became a knight for my order. I still wish to free my people from the dwarven tyrant, but I also wish to serve my order in the best way that I can for giving me a purpose. The main ruling body for the Knights know about my trechourous background and do not care.
Things to know...
I show signs of Schizophrenia and I see a being who only I can see (if demonic, angelic, the tiefling could meditate and feel the pressence) at random intervals. I dont generally listen to him/her but it has good ideas occasionally. (Whether this is a benevolent being attempting to have Jorden save his lands, a trickster demon to be excorcised, a spirit needing closure is up to the DM.)
I also havent seen the evil king or my people in over 20 years.
They have no idea I am a knight, so if the king ever sees me, I am a proud member of this Knights order and he cant just kill me without pissing off a powerful group of people.
I must say this is likely to be the best one I'm going to get from the newb side of the table, he's helping me worldbuild. I had utterly neglected adding an "evil dwarf hold" to my world, so kudos for him... that may even be worth some XP
but I digress.
the only thing I can really play with (unless the party tracks down this evil hold) is the voices in his head, I'm definitly going to station a powerful fiend as the resident mind-screwer for him. and the fiend will likely manifest in some great climatic battle if I can get the campaign to head that way.
though I must admit, I can't decide/figure out if the "being" is a metagame construct allowing him to use player knowledge, a method of asking the DM for help, or simply a roleplay reason to make certain decisisons.
also, for the record. this may say something about the player (pure conjecture follows)
this player was initially slotted to play a paladin, but I mentioned to the bard player (our host) that I was going to have to talk to him about what that means (after all, the best way to head off problems with a paladin and get everything about his code and what I expect from him up front)
apparently he didn't like the idea of being scrutinized more than other players and the potential for falling. so he swapped to the knight.
oh, quick additional.
I'll probably play up the tension between the 'normal' dwarves and this guy at first, as they're starting in a dwarf trading town.
next... is...
The Skaven Magus
The PC gets exactly what he is after -- "official" clearance to visit the upper world. To get it, the PC fakes a paper trail that implicates a minor grey ("Priest") in forging the documents (making it look like Priest ordered the PC up -- eliminating a rival and gaining a spy). The cost for inserting the document into the official files was helping Priest to off the guy currently holding the job ("Bishop").
With the Bishop dead, the scramble for power begins among the lesser Greys. Some unscrupulous individual passes along the location of the Priest's bolt hole to a rival. Actor 1 in the paper trail is gone and cannot be asked any questions.
The forger gets implicated when a document he is hired to forged gets passed to someone it will upset. He is killed. Actor 2 in the paper trail is gone and cannot be asked any questions.
By the time anyone important discovers the documentation, he will have had enough time to see some of the world and pick up some non-Skaven tricks and perhaps enough intelligence to justify his continued presence in the upper world. He figures he will need these things to advance later.
this guy is quite probably my best player, period. to the point where half the time he does a chunk of my work as a DM for me with his backgrounds and roleplay alone.
however, the only thing I can really pick out to use from here is having the skaven homeland send people after him + people playing off the fact he's a skaven.
bringing us too.....
The Monk
In a land far to the east, Po was left on the steps of the Temple when he was just a baby. He has no idea who his parents are or why he was abandoned. The monks took him in and raised him to be a monk. When he was a young man, the King's nephew came by to visit the temple. The head of the Temple, Master Kang, told the nephew something he did not want to hear (that he should treat people better). The nephew, Khan Yo, became enraged and slew the old man on the spot. Po, enraged, killed the nephew. Po fled the temple and a high bounty was put on his head. Po has no wonders the world, doing good where he can in order to follow the teachings of his master, who was a follower of Pelor.
the only thing I can really draw from here is the fact he has a price on his head, and thus will have a recurring theme of people trying to kill him....
I must pause at this time and make an observation...
I can't help but notice that my party seems to have a recurring theme of "People are out to get me"
interesting.
anyways.
next is...
oh hey whadya know?
only the 4 of them have given me a background.
bollocks for those 2 or 3 players who didn't help me out.
oh well.
final notes before you start bouncing things back at me
the monk player won't make it to the first session, the skaven is a wildcard for attendence.
the knight and the bard are guranteed
we have one commited player* that I haven't heard anything from.
*at least my host continually assures me he's playing.
so...
what do you think?
see anything I missed?
what would you do with these backgrounds?
also, try to only give suggestions that could be implemented in a sand-boxy campaign that is slated to run for... about 8, 4 hour sessions.
(it could potentially be up to 10 sessions, with times varying between 4 hours and 10 hours. but I digress)
forumites activate!
so I'm here to post up what the players gave me and what I'm thinking about doing with it.
this thread is meant to be a place for me to bounce ideas off of your collective heads
I trust that they will be suitably bouncy.
now, for the record, the quotes below are exactly as they were given to me, minus any real life names I've ommited.
also, before we get started, campaign information is....
summer group
# of players - between 3 and 8 per session (variable)
starting level: 4
op level: .... self explanatory.
any questions so far?
good.
so.
first up,
The Tiefilng Bard
-name ommited- 'sBard
My dude!
He's a tiefling bard, when he was born, he was to be sacrificed and killed so a demon could inhabit his body. It was partially sucessful, he hears whispers on occasion, when near unholy areas. Also he is very sensitive to unholy area's and he also has flashbacks in those areas of events that occurred in that area. Its uncontrollable, but through meditation, my character can bring himself to be more succeptable to the flashbacks.
I digress, he was recued by a abbot priest and a paliden. Who then brought him to a kingdom where he served as a slave and recieved training as a jester for many years till he was in the tiefling equivilent of early 20's. At that time, the priest served as his father and educated him in the religion. At this point the princess is born to the kingdom and my character serves as a butler, nanny, bodygaurd till she is roughly 17. I am her favorite Uncle. However my surrogate father hears that the demon cultists are going to try for my body again, so he sells me to the church for my protection. He forgot to tell me why.
Now having been sold to the church, I was shipped around from department to department helping as a secretary here, a squire there, a herald over there... Till I was moved to the department of demonic investigations. Needless to say, they slapped a collar on me so fast that with a word can cause all sorts of pain or pleasure to control me. Needless to say, after they had been found out the originator was killed. "I may or may not have spiked his drink to let him brag about it." The collar is a simple black leather bealth with a ring for a leash.
Anyway, at this point I am sold one more time to another adventurer, (if we have a character who serves the church, that would be the party member who owns me and knows the passwords). Also the whole Church organization knows my collar passwords as well.
I am currently hoping to buy a wish/miricle spell to get rid of the collar and move back to the kings family whom I love very much.
further notes: the player plans on taking his bard into Red Dragon Disciple.
so what I'm thinking about doing is using this "sensativity" whenever it comes up (which isn't something I'm gonna go out of my way for) and really play up the whole "people are trying to KILL you" thing, to the degree where if the game stalls I can throw a recurring obnoxious and incompetent team of assassins at the party (I'm looking at you Jesse and James)
as for the "password" thing, I dunno if anyone else in the party fits the role he's after, so I'll probably stick an NPC in the group with them temporarily, probably kill him off within 2 sessions.
it'll probably be a healbot cleric nudger.
next.
the Dwarf Knight
He is a dwarf whose father was a blacksmith, and mom was a servant for the king. The king was tyrant of dwarvish lands and oppressed the people. (First person) I grew tired of the King's evil ways and attempted to assassinate him after he hit my mother and hurt my father. I was caught and tortured, branded a traitor of my kingdom and thrown out. I wandered the countryside and picked up odd jobs here and there till I was working in a caravan. We were attacked and saved by Knights. I saw the power, the grace, and the honor they had and wanted to have that purpose.
So I asked them to take me with them to start at the lowest ranks and work my way up through the knighthood. Having just proven myself in battle they accepted. I slowly worked my way up to knighthood, proving myself worthy despite my background and became a knight for my order. I still wish to free my people from the dwarven tyrant, but I also wish to serve my order in the best way that I can for giving me a purpose. The main ruling body for the Knights know about my trechourous background and do not care.
Things to know...
I show signs of Schizophrenia and I see a being who only I can see (if demonic, angelic, the tiefling could meditate and feel the pressence) at random intervals. I dont generally listen to him/her but it has good ideas occasionally. (Whether this is a benevolent being attempting to have Jorden save his lands, a trickster demon to be excorcised, a spirit needing closure is up to the DM.)
I also havent seen the evil king or my people in over 20 years.
They have no idea I am a knight, so if the king ever sees me, I am a proud member of this Knights order and he cant just kill me without pissing off a powerful group of people.
I must say this is likely to be the best one I'm going to get from the newb side of the table, he's helping me worldbuild. I had utterly neglected adding an "evil dwarf hold" to my world, so kudos for him... that may even be worth some XP
but I digress.
the only thing I can really play with (unless the party tracks down this evil hold) is the voices in his head, I'm definitly going to station a powerful fiend as the resident mind-screwer for him. and the fiend will likely manifest in some great climatic battle if I can get the campaign to head that way.
though I must admit, I can't decide/figure out if the "being" is a metagame construct allowing him to use player knowledge, a method of asking the DM for help, or simply a roleplay reason to make certain decisisons.
also, for the record. this may say something about the player (pure conjecture follows)
this player was initially slotted to play a paladin, but I mentioned to the bard player (our host) that I was going to have to talk to him about what that means (after all, the best way to head off problems with a paladin and get everything about his code and what I expect from him up front)
apparently he didn't like the idea of being scrutinized more than other players and the potential for falling. so he swapped to the knight.
oh, quick additional.
I'll probably play up the tension between the 'normal' dwarves and this guy at first, as they're starting in a dwarf trading town.
next... is...
The Skaven Magus
The PC gets exactly what he is after -- "official" clearance to visit the upper world. To get it, the PC fakes a paper trail that implicates a minor grey ("Priest") in forging the documents (making it look like Priest ordered the PC up -- eliminating a rival and gaining a spy). The cost for inserting the document into the official files was helping Priest to off the guy currently holding the job ("Bishop").
With the Bishop dead, the scramble for power begins among the lesser Greys. Some unscrupulous individual passes along the location of the Priest's bolt hole to a rival. Actor 1 in the paper trail is gone and cannot be asked any questions.
The forger gets implicated when a document he is hired to forged gets passed to someone it will upset. He is killed. Actor 2 in the paper trail is gone and cannot be asked any questions.
By the time anyone important discovers the documentation, he will have had enough time to see some of the world and pick up some non-Skaven tricks and perhaps enough intelligence to justify his continued presence in the upper world. He figures he will need these things to advance later.
this guy is quite probably my best player, period. to the point where half the time he does a chunk of my work as a DM for me with his backgrounds and roleplay alone.
however, the only thing I can really pick out to use from here is having the skaven homeland send people after him + people playing off the fact he's a skaven.
bringing us too.....
The Monk
In a land far to the east, Po was left on the steps of the Temple when he was just a baby. He has no idea who his parents are or why he was abandoned. The monks took him in and raised him to be a monk. When he was a young man, the King's nephew came by to visit the temple. The head of the Temple, Master Kang, told the nephew something he did not want to hear (that he should treat people better). The nephew, Khan Yo, became enraged and slew the old man on the spot. Po, enraged, killed the nephew. Po fled the temple and a high bounty was put on his head. Po has no wonders the world, doing good where he can in order to follow the teachings of his master, who was a follower of Pelor.
the only thing I can really draw from here is the fact he has a price on his head, and thus will have a recurring theme of people trying to kill him....
I must pause at this time and make an observation...
I can't help but notice that my party seems to have a recurring theme of "People are out to get me"
interesting.
anyways.
next is...
oh hey whadya know?
only the 4 of them have given me a background.
bollocks for those 2 or 3 players who didn't help me out.
oh well.
final notes before you start bouncing things back at me
the monk player won't make it to the first session, the skaven is a wildcard for attendence.
the knight and the bard are guranteed
we have one commited player* that I haven't heard anything from.
*at least my host continually assures me he's playing.
so...
what do you think?
see anything I missed?
what would you do with these backgrounds?
also, try to only give suggestions that could be implemented in a sand-boxy campaign that is slated to run for... about 8, 4 hour sessions.
(it could potentially be up to 10 sessions, with times varying between 4 hours and 10 hours. but I digress)
forumites activate!