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Siege Tower
2012-07-09, 08:58 PM
I'm currently working on a campaign and I think I am having the usual problem of making it so that the PCs are given special treatment and have influence. I have made the plot go so that one of the players if not the whole party is going to be blessed/cursed by touching a rotting shard of a dying goddess. Just marking them as blessed/cursed physically could work but I'm not sure of a good way for the marking to look. Though if someone knows of a good way to show that the party is special to NPCs aside form an identifying scar, that would be most helpful.

Edit: The NPCs all know that something weird is happening among the gods. So something being "a sign" wouldn't need a lot of explaining.

Morithias
2012-07-09, 09:00 PM
I'm currently working on a campaign and I think I am having the usual problem of making it so that the PCs are given special treatment and have influence. I have made the plot go so that one of the players if not the whole party is going to be blessed/cursed by touching a rotting shard of a dying goddess. Just marking them as blessed/cursed physically could work but I'm not sure of a good way for the marking to look. Though if someone knows of a good way to show that the party is special to NPCs aside form an identifying scar, that would be most helpful.

Have the goddess's holy symbol marked on their body somewhere like their shoulder. Or have their chest glow the holy symbol similar to Iron Man's chest battery.

navar100
2012-07-09, 11:25 PM
Have the party's reputation precede them. They save the village and attend the celebration. Meanwhile, a caravan passing through has heard of the exploits. They travel on to the city and spread the word. When the party goes to the city for whatever reason, the local populace take notice. Merchants and barmen might even offer discounts (10%) so they can boast the Heroes prefer their establishment. If the party needs to see the Mayor, they don't have to go through heavy bureaucracy.

You don't necessarily need to do this upon the first village save, but after a few of them word gets around. At level 5 or 6 roleplay an NPC bard in a tavern telling the tale of great heroics. See how long the players realize you are retelling one of their adventures from levels 1 or 2.

There's nothing wrong giving a PC a "mark" or some fluff/game mechanics extra, but if you want the players to be special, you can do it just by fiat. NPCs take notice of the PCs just because. At mid/high levels, the Duke or even King seeks them out. When you're "heroes", it's not just the BBEGs who take notice.

Emmerask
2012-07-09, 11:37 PM
I personally actually hate being the super special bird from the very beginning of a campaign or being famous for stuff I havenīt actually done.
My suggestion would be to make them special along the way evolved organically based on their decisions.

But then again I might have just weird taste :smallsmile:

Frenth Alunril
2012-07-09, 11:48 PM
I...

I guess this brings up a huge problem I have with most DM's and ... well, games.

I run a real fun show where the players are the aces, but I do that by creating a perfectly normal world where balance has been struck trough random accords the NPCs found beneficial.

Introduce PCs:

They don't like Authority, Powerful NPCs, Oranization, Monsters, Rich people, Rules of any type, and they want to do something crazy to gain fame and treasure. That pretty much throws any system out of whack, and generates quests all on it's own.

The players get to be special when the world reacts to them.

This is the crux of my problem. It sounds like you are scripting an adventure.

Does anyone find that scripting an adventure before the PCs have even demonstrated their character is a good thing to do? My first adventure was nothing more than an aptly place NPC encounter with 2 possible results, The PCs win, or they lose. Either way, the Campaign has begun.

As the players developed their characters, I created hooks that were nothing more than answers to their questions about what they wanted to do. I have developed some story that fits the classic lines, and put some mystery into the game, but that was all just setting stuff that was unlocked when the players threw they world off balance enough.

So, this is a little TL;DR

Do you find scripting adventures work? and Do players feel special when they are included in the story, or when their actions dictate the story?

Rainbownaga
2012-07-10, 05:58 AM
I'm currently working on a campaign and I think I am having the usual problem of making it so that the PCs are given special treatment and have influence.

As some of the above posters have alluded to, you don't actually need the players to have special treatment and influence.

If this is usually an issue you face, it might make an interesting spin to have the group marked, but nobody believe them. Someone else with the judicious use of an improved arcane mark spell has branded themselves with a much more impressive mark and is using it to sway the influence and describe themselves as chosen.

That way they still know they're special and have a plot-line to follow, but they have to work to get the influence and special attention they deserve and have the added perk of exposing the frauds.



Anyway, to answer your question, there are all sorts of signs:
-Small flowers bloom whenver he/she steps on grass or fertile soil; -Alternately, grass dies whenever he/she steps on it.
-His/her reflection is that of the goddess herself.
-When water touches his/her skin it turns red as blood
-Flames angle towards him/her
-The character occasionally coughs up a small dead animal
-The character's eyes have their iris and whites of his/her eyes reversed (e.g. blue eyes with white irises).