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View Full Version : Motivations for a new PC



Darwin
2012-09-05, 10:00 AM
Hey Playgrounders

I've been running a Hârnmaster campaign (a very low-magic, high-realism medieval fantasy system) for ~sessions. The PCs have managed to tangle themselves into a plot where they have to fake an assault on a sleepy village while a local knight rides in to save the day.

The PCs have made their final preparations for the assault and are ready to ride.

We have been on hiatus for a few months, but are ready to start up tomorrow again. In the meantime another player has joined the campaign and I'm having trouble fitting him into the scenario. His character is the son of a fisherman, and built like a medium-weight boxer. He's been raised by loving parents in a riverside village and has a terrible fear of rats and mice (characters in Hârn have no specific classes or roles from the get-go).

Here's where you guys come in. I need both a scene where I can introduce him in a manner relevant to the plot, and motivation for him to join the PCs as they make their escape from the village this session.

Craft (Cheese)
2012-09-05, 10:41 AM
It's hard to know what's appropriate without having all the information, so here's three ideas for you:

- The fisherman's son (let's call him Dave) falls madly in love with one of the PCs (male or female, doesn't matter) and follows them after they escape the village so he can profess his love to them. Regardless of how the PC reacts, Dave stays with the adventuring party (either to be with his newfound girl/boyfriend, or in the hopes of making them eventually change their mind).

- The party (either accidentally or intentionally) makes off with one of Dave's most precious possessions, so he chases them down to get it back. But after he catches up with them they all get caught up in some other zany scheme, and now he's in just as much **** as they are.

- Dave's been paid off so he can be "kidnapped" during the fake raid, so the local knight can have another "quest" after the village scene is over. After hanging out with the other PCs for a while he decides he likes the adventuring life better and refuses to be "rescued."

Darwin
2012-09-05, 11:08 AM
I like the ideas, especially number two and three. I would really like to go with the third idea as it is definitely in the spirit of the campaign. I do however have plans for the knight to ask the PCs for another favor or two and tension between them from a plan gone wrong can possibly mess that up. I'll try and see if I can work something out, otherwise the second idea can make do in a pinch. :smallsmile:

NikitaDarkstar
2012-09-05, 04:26 PM
Could the knight possibly have hired the "new guy" to go with the party? Sort of an insurance that they will do what he wanted them to, and perhaps he decided he wanted to boost their numbers a bit to make himself look even better?