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View Full Version : So ‘Nerull’ has become a verb in my group....[Need Unusual Ideas]



MlleRouge
2011-10-10, 12:31 PM
Anyone playing in HARVEST SEASON needs to turn around and head back out of the thread. Thank you.


All righty, so technically this is 3.5, but the mechanics are largely irrelevant. I hope this is the right place; the question itself isn't exactly game related, but the background information very much is.



So this all started back at the beginning of my newest campaign. It’s a great game so far; everyone is heavily immersed and we’ve had some amazing role play, as well as some pretty epic battles with clever baddies and recurring villains. Everyone is enjoying themselves. I’m actually keeping a very detailed campaign journal of it, which I may post here one day if I get the moxie to do so.

The basic plot revolves around Nerull. In the cosmology for my campaign setting, Nerull has typically been his usual flesh-hating self, but I’ve decided to revise it a bit and make him more like Kelemvor. I think a neutral god of death compliments the setting better.

Rather than retconing all the stories about crazy, evil Nerullian death cultists, I’m saying that for the last thousand years or so, Nerull (who is a little bit emo anyhow) has been depressed and letting his advisors/subordinates take care of his position while he takes a bit of a break…Problem is, those advisors are people like Orcus, Falazure, and Vecna. And they haven’t been doing a good job.

Hence the crazy death cultists and Nerull’s terrible reputation.

Well, he feels like a fool now and is about to do some purging. Some asses are going to be kicked, including those of the lesser death deities and the actual Nerullian followers who don’t want to play by the new rules. So that’s what the plot revolves around…a civil war between chaotic evil ‘muaha, flesh is weak, undeath is ideal!’ scythe-swinging cultists and the new sect of calm, reverent Nerullians who respect the god of death for what he actually is…true neutral and highly upset about what has happened while he took his nap.

Now on to the verb part. One of my players in a priest of Pelor and has, through prophetic mojo, figured out the truth. He’s still a bit wary though, since he was raised to think of Nerull as this terrible evil entity. One night, after having a vision, he was feeling a little spooked and looked under his bed before going to sleep.

Then, with a sarcastic smirk, one of the other players broke character and said “You look under your bed…Nerull!”

Everyone laughed and it quickly became a running joke. Any time someone looked under, inside or around something in character, someone would jokingly say “Nerull!”.

Now, about a month later, it’s spread to OOC as well. I got bored at work and printed/laminated some little miniature grim reapers and hid them throughout the house where we play, so people were literally looking in their textbooks, the microwave, etc and finding that they’d been ‘Nerulled’.

Now it’s escalated to a full on prank war. I’ve hung a halloween grim reaper decoration in someone’s closet, one of the girls who comes to watch the game (but isn’t actually a player) dressed her dog up as a grim reaper and had him ‘attack’ (aka lick) one of the players while the game was going on, and one of the others has scrawled ‘Nerull was here’ on the back window of my car.



TL;DR My group has a running joke about finding grim reapers in unexpected places.

So here’s the advice I need, friends: What is the logical next step? I don't need to point out safety, I don't think. We're not a rowdy group, so benevolent ideas only!

But man, I really need to get that guy back after writing on my car :smallbiggrin: In-character applications are welcome as well.

I considered trying to get pizza hut to draw a grim reaper on a pizza box and send it to their house, but I’m not sure if they’ll humor me.

Quietus
2011-10-10, 01:44 PM
I considered trying to get pizza hut to draw a grim reaper on a pizza box and send it to their house, but I’m not sure if they’ll humor me.

If you walk into the pizza hut, pay the cost up front, including delivery fee and tip for the driver, and hand them one of the laminated ones with a note ("Nerull! c/o MlleRouge") with directions to put it in the box, and explain it's for a practical joke.. that might go over better. Alternatively, have them deliver it to the game itself, and get someone other than you to answer the door, with some kind of excuse about "Just want to finish up <situation> really quickly."

Morghen
2011-10-10, 01:53 PM
Do you have any skill with video editing?

You could Rick NeRoll them.

MlleRouge
2011-10-10, 02:24 PM
Quietus - That's a good idea. I used to know someone who worked at pizza hut, but sadly, he isn't there anymore. I rather like the first idea because I'd love for the pizza to arrive when I'm not actually at their house XD


Morghen - Oh, I sure wish I could do that. Perhaps my fiance could do it, as he's edited a few AMVs. I'm envisioning editing a 'reaper chop' from Shinigami-sama into the middle of something completely unrelated.

Thanks for the ideas!

For what its worth, as soon as I finished posting the OP and walked outside, I saw that they'd done my car again :smallamused:

Arbane
2011-10-10, 05:38 PM
For what its worth, as soon as I finished posting the OP and walked outside, I saw that they'd done my car again :smallamused:

Hope it washes off...

Quietus
2011-10-10, 09:44 PM
Quietus - That's a good idea. I used to know someone who worked at pizza hut, but sadly, he isn't there anymore. I rather like the first idea because I'd love for the pizza to arrive when I'm not actually at their house XD

Yeah. Main thing here is to ensure that the place is paid up in full so they aren't taking any serious risk. If whoever you talk to has a sense of humor, that'd help, of course.

Inkpencil
2011-10-11, 09:13 AM
It seems like it should be worked back into the game, to me. Nerull contacts them himself, suddenly appearing behind a closet door opened by a PC or something like that. I think you could do it in a way that keeps the tone (mostly) intact, but a cool little nod to the running gag.

In fact, throw in some well-established death omens beforehand, so you get that mix of horror and humor together. It's a running gag, but it's still Nerull.

Forum Explorer
2011-10-11, 11:39 AM
Make some popcorn and bury a nerull reaper in it. You can't eat any popcorn though just in case you accidently reveal it.

MlleRouge
2011-10-11, 01:28 PM
Hope it washes off...

It did :)



Inkpencil - I agree. I'd wanted a way to incorporate it into the game without shattering the tone, though so far we're doing pretty good bouncing in between. The players are very respectful of the plot and have a good sense of when it's appropriate to be silly and when it isn't.

This has already happened once, in a small way. I've been hinting that Nerull has been watching the party closely, which explains some of the weird things they've been encountering. A couple sessions ago, he appeared in mortal form and waved at the Pelorite priest from a coffee shop patio. The priest wasn't sure what he'd just seen, but it still gave him nightmares.

I was planning on him appearing again, eventually to the whole party. Having him step out from somewhere like behind a door should be pretty amusing, since I trust the PCs not to completely break character.

I'm also planning to have him appear in the event of a PC death. Not sure on delivery yet, though.

jguy
2011-10-11, 03:14 PM
You need him to act like Death from Supernatural when he meets the players. Very, very old and annoyed at young, upstart gods/demons ruining his good name.

Fayd
2011-10-11, 03:22 PM
I don't know what company it is, but some allow you to SERIOUSLY customize your pizza. Assuming that it isn't barred for various reasons (dietary restrictions, taste restrictions, etc) have them spell Nerull with the peperoni for a pizza you order for the game.

MlleRouge
2011-10-11, 04:21 PM
He's pretty miffed at Falazure in particular, and that has some throwback to the story of a game I ran a few years ago.

I've never seen Supernatural, but that sounds close. I'm characterizing him as tired and emotional, easily depressed and resentful towards the other gods for making him be Death. He didn't want to be Death, but the others all agreed that he was best suited for the job and forced it on him.

Randomguy
2011-10-11, 05:56 PM
Some pizza delivery companies let the customer give special instructions. (Which some people use for lolz, like writing "draw a giraffe on the box".) You could ask the delivery guy to come dressed up as the grim reaper, or to draw a grim reaper on the inside of the lid. I don't know which companies do this though, only that some of them do.

QuidEst
2011-10-11, 07:01 PM
Heh, draw/Photoshop/find pics of him with a weed-wacker or ride-on mower and use that somehow.

As for ways to Nerull them, I really like the pizza idea. Another thing you could do is paste one onto a white helium balloon and let it up to the ceiling somewhere high up. Even if they don't notice, it'll sink down in a few days until they do. (Added bonus- the Nerull side is pretty much guaranteed to be looking down because it's heavier, so they'll have Nerull watching them.)