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Benejeseret
2007-11-22, 12:58 PM
Good morning all

I am looking for some suggestions for plots, hooks, NPC character actions to add into my campaign I am writing.

Location: DiscWorld Ankh-Morpork

Storyline: The players are new recruits to the city watch. They will solve crimes, round up warrents and generally keep the peace in a true Commander Vimes fashion. Just because a monster is a monster doesn't mean it's not a citizen with a job to do. And just because a job might be criminal in nature, doesn't mean it is not licenced and allowed under the law.

Players: (In true discworld fashion each has a 'flaw' going against their destiny or striving for a destiny that seems utterly inappropriate)

1) Elven Druid ((note: elves are classic DnD elves and Discworld elves have been replaced with other Fey)) who wants nothing more than to settle in the city and leave her druidic parents...however, animals have just followed her in.

2) Hellbred Favored Soul: this character is a child, a favored and marked pawn/spawn of asmodeus. However, she is a small girl who only wants a friend to play with and so is a dedicated summoner - going towards Malconvoker. Devils answer her summons, only to be sat at a tea party and made to wear bows in their horns. Make her cry however, and a devil will soon appear to "make the bad man go away".......

3) Dwarf Fighter: destiny and quirks not yet set by player

4) Human Bard/Master Inquisitive: destiny and quirks not yet set by player. But is a Miss Marple/Agatha Christie type woman who is oddly adapt to solving crime and finding clues.


I have until around level 4 planned out as the players get used to Ankh-Morpork in a dock district.

I am looking for more plot ideas to wrap the city watch up into. Some politics to bring into it all, and some neat monsters/situations for them to face.

Any suggestions, especially those of a DiscWorld nature or flair, would be welcome.

hewhosaysfish
2007-11-22, 01:32 PM
I know that Vimes has gad a "positive discrimination" hiring policy forced on him by external pressures but...


2) Hellbred Favored Soul: this character is a child, a favored and marked pawn/spawn of asmodeus. However, she is a small girl who only wants a friend to play with and so is a dedicated summoner - going towards Malconvoker. Devils answer her summons, only to be sat at a tea party and made to wear bows in their horns. Make her cry however, and a devil will soon appear to "make the bad man go away".......

A little girl? I don't see it.

Attilargh
2007-11-22, 01:59 PM
Everything's better with Dibbler's sausages. Inna bun. He could be involved in some new scheme of his that is actually - drum roll - completely and utterly legal for a change: Publising literature. Role-playing games, to be specific. In true Jack Chick fashion, religious extremists have taken them as the target of their newest book-burning frenzy that will, of course, probably have Ankh-Morpork in flames by the end of the week. Again. Add some conspiracy against someone, and you're all set for the newest adventure of the city's finest!

VerdugoExplode
2007-11-22, 02:07 PM
Dibbler? Legal? They might as well start the game attempting to kill him, he's obviously been replaced by a doppleganger. Also most holy orders tend to shy away from burning people at the stake since Brutha changed the way the followers of Om operate. Although they might be considering forming a committee to the same effect.

hamstard4ever
2007-11-22, 02:13 PM
Everything's better with Dibbler's sausages. Inna bun. He could be involved in some new scheme of his that is actually - drum roll - completely and utterly legal for a change: Publising literature. Role-playing games, to be specific. In true Jack Chick fashion, religious extremists have taken them as the target of their newest book-burning frenzy that will, of course, probably have Ankh-Morpork in flames by the end of the week. Again. Add some conspiracy against someone, and you're all set for the newest adventure of the city's finest!

I don't think this quite works in its current form. Ankh-Morpork is too diverse, culturally and religiously, for this to really seem very plausible. Particularly since the traditional religion revolves around the worship of gods who implicitly play tabletop RPGs with the lives of mortals. I guess that could be a possible hook, maybe... the priests of Offler, Blind Io, et. al. are up in arms about mortals aping the games of the gods. That doesn't do very well as an allegory for Christian extremism, though.

The analogue to Christianity, Omniasm, is very explicitly watered down and mild-mannered. The Church of Om would certainly disapprove, but they disapprove of practically everything, and these days generally restrict expressions of disapproval to stern but well-meaning pamphlets and circulars.

So... your idea need a conspiracy. And you need a religious group to act in uncharacteristic ways. I think you've got your conspiracy right there: Everyone knows the Omnians don't like the new RPG fad. So when a string of violent hate crimes is committed surrounded by Omnian symbolism, everyone is willing to believe it's the faithful of Om behind it. In fact it's a frame-up job by someone who wants to dislodge the Church of Om's influence from Ankh-Morpork.

Benejeseret
2007-11-22, 03:19 PM
I like Dibbler, and really wanted to include him. Good call.

And I love the RPG book/Om idea...exactly the sort of meta-gaming humour that should be there.

As for the Hellbred Character - posititve discrimination is one possibility, but this game in not 100% directly according to books and I am assuming Vimes is not directly overseeing the new recruits (they need to work their way up the rank with from Nobbs to eventually working directly for Vimes). The girl just starting showing up one day. She is cheery and often brings cookies so the other watch really don't have a problem with her being around. Eventually they made her a Moral Officer, charged with keeping up spirits. And....after they watched her summon a Devil from the depths of Hell to chase down a pickpocket and retrive a little boys lollypop....well.....none of them have found the courage to ask her to leave. Ankh-Morpork citizen are very practical that way.


The comments so far are great! Keep senting them if you have them.

puppyavenger
2007-11-22, 03:32 PM
how much exactly are you changing the universe? more spiecificly where is Amo from?

Tiki Snakes
2007-11-22, 03:39 PM
Note- Vimes is VERY opposed to having magic involved in 'His' Watch.

I mean, you don't have to keep that element if it would derail your idea, but it's worth baring in mind if you want to keep things as close as possible. You could work with it, perhaps, by having the party, or those members who would normally be told to hop it, having been forced on Vimes, quite directly, by Vetinari.

Also, given that Nobby is not actually, as far as i recall, even a sergeant, would he actually be responsible for any new recruits? Usually in the books, Sergeant Detritus whips/bludgeons them into shape. Though, I'm sure by now he isn't the only Sergent who handles new recruits, given the expansion of the Watch.


[edit] Oh, and I get the impression that Vimes DOES vet any 'unusual' or possibly 'Difficult' new recruits personally, which does mean in a general sense that any magic using new recruits or people of unusual race, for example if the DnD-esque Elf was the first of his kind to be recruited, would probably have had a breif 'interview' with the Commander.

WrstDmEvr
2007-11-22, 03:46 PM
Discworld adventure? You rock. I've always wanted to do something like that.

On topic, I would say maybe a troll or two as NPC's, only modify it so that they gain Int. in cold areas(if you are going to put in something oriented to Uberwald as part of the plot). Add in the Guilds, such as Guild of Thieves, and use them to flavour up the plot, such as overly high levels of thieving, Clowns Guild catching on fire, etc. You can find out more detailed things in the books; since it's Discworld, pretty much anything can be fitted into a D&D campaign setting. You might need to make a couple new rules to cover everything, but only if you add certain things(like the History Monks).

hamstard4ever
2007-11-22, 06:45 PM
Note- Vimes is VERY opposed to having magic involved in 'His' Watch.

Mostly it's not so much that he's against magic as it is he's against wizards. Not quite the same thing.


[edit] Oh, and I get the impression that Vimes DOES vet any 'unusual' or possibly 'Difficult' new recruits personally, which does mean in a general sense that any magic using new recruits or people of unusual race, for example if the DnD-esque Elf was the first of his kind to be recruited, would probably have had a breif 'interview' with the Commander.

Actually, Buggy Swires (gnome) and Reg Shoe (zombie) both got hired and Vimes didn't even know about them until a meeting a couple weeks later, after they'd already started patrolling. That was back when the Watch was first starting to really expand, so presumably he's a bit more on top of things now, but there's still precedent there. A large expansion in forces (if the campaign is concurrent with the latest books, perhaps Vetinari pushes for an expanded force in preparation for the Undertaking) would let even very unusual recruits fly in under the radar. This also would provide an "in" for getting Nobby involved... Sgt. Detritus's boot camp is overwhelmed by the recruit load, so Nobby decides to, ahem, "help".

tsuyoshikentsu
2007-11-22, 06:47 PM
Although to be fair, Reg was on the Blockades.

This is a great idea. CMOT Dibbler provides many great plotlines in terms of get-rich-quick schemes. Other things to consider are deep dwarves and serial killers, off the top of my head.

philippos
2007-11-23, 12:33 AM
What is your tone for this? ratio of humor to action to mystery etc?

sounds really fun.


Also how will you keep Vimes from getting involved if anything BIG happens.

herrhauptmann
2007-11-23, 02:40 AM
Kindergarten field trip to pseudopolis for young sam.

Gotta get it fixed before Vimes gets back or 'he'll go spare'.

Nobby has been stuck in charge of various recruits at numerous times solely to his... his... hmm... Well they put him in charge of Carrot in 'guards guards', and look how that one turned out. Though now that him and Colon work for the traffic division in the (what's it called) paddywacker room? Maybe Constable Visit-the-infidel-with-explanatory-pamphlets and and Reg Shoe would be a good choice.

Wraith
2007-11-23, 07:07 AM
Benejeseret, move over a little, would you? I'm coming to live at your house and play in this absolutely awesome campaign of yours... :smallbiggrin:

Alright, maybe not, but I'd like to. Perhaps I can settle for just offering ideas.

One of the best things about Discworld is that most races have SOME representatives of a 'good alignment', with the possible exception of Elves (Fey, in your game). While it may cause a headache, you can also remember that this works both ways - all species have some members that are definitely EVIL as well, even those traditionally thought of as otherwise.

Trolls are hard working and loyal, but they also make up the Breccia. Dwarves are traditional and industrious, but then they spawn the Fanatics who want to have their own authority raised on par with the Patrician.

Etc, etc. The point, is, you can pick any race you like best, and there's always going to be a reason out there somewhere that will prove them as antagonistic to the Watch or the city as a whole. So... pick something that amuses you and roll with it.

Personally, I'd go for a Human Wizard that had been committing murders in the name of research - probably not a Necromancer, but certainly one who is an alumni of Unseen University. Your Players will have to find out who has been killing innocent Orphans/'Seamstresses'/Dwarves/Albatross in gruesome ways, but at every turn find themselves blocked by the UU, who see the Wizard as something to punish under their own authority alone and not the Law in general, as well as trying to keep it quiet so as to save face for producing a bonafide nutter.

Hooks aplenty - does your Druid's magic compare to a mildly insane (even by Discworld Wizard standards) Wizard? What will the Wizard do when he realises that there's a Malconvoker chasing him with Demons on his heels? In the meantime, your 'Miss Marple' character will have a great time looking for clues to his identity and trying to find out what he hopes to achieve in his macabre experiments...
Plus you get the politics thrown in, stretching how much private prerogative UU has against representatives of the City (your Players).

Have the Wizard flee the city at some point, and then you get international politics. I'd be cruel and send him to Llamendos so that your Druid has to 'go home' and deal with everything she was running away from while your Dwarf tries to stop all the badgers and other familiars from humping his beard, but there's no end of options if you'd prefer darker or more chaotic surroundings. Uberwald, the Ramtops (Standing Stone Circles of Power to exploit, Witches to annoy...).
Genua might be another good choice - perhaps the Evil Wizard has been trying to 'copy' VooDoo magic using traditional spells, hence his test subjects keep exploding because he's got entirely the wrong idea about how to do it. Now exposed and on the run, he heads out to see it first hand (and subsequently picks up a few levels of something appropriate, like Blood Magus, along the way).

....Crap. Now I'm going to have to start my own game - so many ideas all overflowling....

shadow_archmagi
2007-11-23, 08:03 AM
Discworld is fun. I've only read one book so far, partway though a second, so I don't know much about the place, but it is good stuff.

Where do I sign up? Can I sign up for this?

Benejeseret
2007-11-23, 10:14 AM
Wow, this is awesome so far.

1) Afraid there is no sign up...it is a face to face game already full.

2) The tone I am going for is more serious than humour (though humour will be there). The reason for this is simply, although as a reader the tales of discwolders are hilarious....to them it is a very real and often grim reality. A troll mobster hooked on slate seems funny.....unless you are the sorry sod of a constable than needs to arrest a 800bl+ troll who's synapses are on fire.

3) I was wondering how to get the UU in there. I think I will avoid murder outright for now (as someone said, Vimes would be involved in big stuff and I want to avoid that for awhile as they start at lvl 3). I am thinking instead that the mad wizard would have created a female golem, originally to practise how to ask a girl out, but fell in love with 'it'. Now he is experimenting how to make the golem human...or at least fleshy and presentable at dinner parties... by kidnapping turnip farmers and applying various golem-grafts to them...along with kidnapping a few free golems and applying flesh grafts...

4) none of the players are actually wizards, so their magic is not governed by the UU....and so I am ruling Vimes would not have as much issue with them. But as stated, he does not even know they exist....or better yet.....he got all the 'reports' from nobby and they are on his desk waiting to be read.

5) I am working out how the players will need to interact with legal thieves and assassins, but for now they will be facing unsanctioned gangs and the like. I suspect they will in fact find the guilds allies in the short term.

6) I see many of the "main" characters are levels 15+. Stibbons can make whole universes with his magic and the patrician is clearly a VERY adept assassin. As such, many of the main characters I will keep in the background or as cameo performances until the players are closer to lvl 10 (they are 3).

7) I would also like to work DEATH into the plotline. I would prefer not to have to kill one of the players..........

8) What is your vote on where to have an international/out of city adventure? I have heard a few ideas already, but would like a place that I could easily work in many of the DnD aberrations and undead.

hewhosaysfish
2007-11-23, 11:22 AM
3) I was wondering how to get the UU in there. I think I will avoid murder outright for now (as someone said, Vimes would be involved in big stuff and I want to avoid that for awhile as they start at lvl 3). I am thinking instead that the mad wizard would have created a female golem, originally to practise how to ask a girl out, but fell in love with 'it'. Now he is experimenting how to make the golem human...or at least fleshy and presentable at dinner parties... by kidnapping turnip farmers and applying various golem-grafts to them...along with kidnapping a few free golems and applying flesh grafts...


How exactly does one kidnap a golem, even using magic? A quick grapple from behind and try to swipe its chem (that is what it's called, right?), perhaps? Or swap it?!
That gives me a great idea! Golem Viruses! Dodgy chems that allow a golem to continue to function normally until some trigger event (preferably a clacks message, for maximum real-world parallels) causes them to go mad: smashing furniture; spouting gibberish; writing screeds and screeds of fliers for canned ham and posting them through peoples doors; maybe even murder....
Before people discover the doctored chems, they may postulate some bizarre disease but most likely they will just denounce all golems as mad and dangerous.
When the truth comes out, who will suspicion fall on for the sabotage? The priesthood that first made the golems? They have the know-how. The priests of other gods? They could know how and they have a motive. The Wizards? Are they presumptuously meddling in matters divine? Nasty trolls? Sneaky dwarves? Dirty foreigners? The government?

This could work as a sub-plot to the mad wizard idea -as they trace the viruses back to his experimentation- or as a follow up - as some bright young thing reads about the case in the Times and is inspired.



5) I am working out how the players will need to interact with legal thieves and assassins, but for now they will be facing unsanctioned gangs and the like. I suspect they will in fact find the guilds allies in the short term.


I am particularly fond of the whole "We don't have enough evidence to charge you so I'll guess we'll have to leave the Thieves Guild to handle this... unless you'd like to make a confession?" thing.



6) I see many of the "main" characters are levels 15+. Stibbons can make whole universes with his magic and the patrician is clearly a VERY adept assassin. As such, many of the main characters I will keep in the background or as cameo performances until the players are closer to lvl 10 (they are 3).


Well the creation of Roundworld was largely accidental, wasn't it? And apart from magic, everything is mostly relative: if the people Vetinari is better than are level 14, then yes he has to be level 15; but if they're only level 9 then he only has to be level 10.



7) I would also like to work DEATH into the plotline. I would prefer not to have to kill one of the players..........

YOUNG MAN, I AM THE FACT

In Theatre of Cruelty, Carrot actually considered arresting Death. Invent some new Watchman with all of Carrots zeal and none of his charm. Have him arrest Death (possibly using the Rite of AshKente? but no magic in the Watch... hm...) and have the party deal with the fall-out (a la Reaper Man) while the higher-ups work through the red tape. The arresting officer would have to very clever, very stupid and have some sort of rank to make this work and that sort off thing doesn't happen in Vimes's Watch ... Perhaps it was ordinary Watchmen who read the Grim Reaper his rights, but it was a politician, lawyer or other such specimen tha twas the driving force.
Will Death be clearer? Given community service, perhaps? Will he at least be out on bail for long enough to stop peoples dinner from spontaneously coming to life and running off down the street? (This may be sillier than you were wanting...)
Also, our clever-stupid authority figure could make a good recurring foil for the party, especially if they have some direct connection to the Watch.



8) What is your vote on where to have an international/out of city adventure? I have heard a few ideas already, but would like a place that I could easily work in many of the DnD aberrations and undead.

Well for undead, its gotta be Uberwald (or at least the "werewolf economies"). Sure there are zombies in Genua but they're not DnD zombies. Could fit a few aberrations in there too but those are a bit trickier.
DnD aberrations could play the part of Discworld Demons or Things but those may be better as outsiders. Some could come from the depths of the sea... But your best bet would be "a wizard did it". With things like the Unreal Estate in AM, the Watch could have illithids in their own backyard. Ooh, aboleths in the Ankh!
At lower levels, just let some dwarves tunneling under the city disturb a brood of rust monsters. Rust monsters in an urban environment.... Heh heh heh.

Epic_Wizard
2007-11-25, 09:55 PM
First I would like to point out that there is at least a core rulebook for a d20 DiscWorld setting.

That said I would also like to point out that the DiscWorld is so mutable and its rules have so many loopholes and twists that their entire history has been broken into little bits and put back together, at least one of these times without using all of the pieces, twice. Not to mention the Wizards creating our universe as a stop gap measure to prevent a thaumic reactor going critical.

If you feel that someone's reason doesn't fit on the DiscWorld itself then have them have come to the DiscWorld from somewhere else by accident. Or even better Hex has been playing around or had and error and something popped out of a corner of the pocket universe or from some alternate universe. Heck with enough magic in one place it has been "proven" that ANYTHING is possible. Points at the events of Sorcery.

Also any rip off of a DiscWorld character is punishable by the same thing used for mimes but the sign now read something like "HAVE YOUR OWN IDEAS", I'll supply the scorpions:smallwink:

Chrismith
2007-11-25, 10:18 PM
As another poster mentioned, there exist a couple of Discworld RPG books -- they're GURPS, not d20, but they have plenty of suggestions for plot hooks as well as information on locales, races, magic, etc. Definitely worth picking up one or both of them if you have the extra cash (or maybe just browsing through them in a bookstore if you can find them).

Wraith
2007-11-26, 06:23 AM
I own both of the GURPs Discworld books, and although they are enjoyable to read and get inspiration from I wouldn't want to run a game from them.

Maybe I'm just being picky, but there's something about them that's just... overly complicated. Everything on Discworld is a hash-job of broken timelines and hurried continuity at best, so having a rule that dictates how to use the 'TALK LOUDLY AND SLOWLY AT FOREIGNERS!' skill seems needless when the Player can just roleplay it for much more fun.

Meh, never mind. I'd say stick with D&D and make up your own tricks. GURPs is fine, but only if you want to know how to do everything from the get-go.

Epic_Wizard
2007-11-26, 12:06 PM
Huh could have sworn it was d20 but it's my dad that owns the book not me so I couldn't swear to it. As he said just make up your own rules and remember by its very nature DiscWorld allows things like plot devices and random changes in the time line that could, say, cause a brick wall to be constructed twenty years ago to prevent the character from going somewhere today that you don't want them to... :smallamused:

Alex12
2007-11-26, 12:58 PM
Depending on how bizarre/far from Discworld canon you want to get, you could introduce some races from D&D "proper" into the campaign. By that, I mean something really strange, like Illithids or Beholders. Oh, dear, an inspiration particle just hit me. Sorry about the following idea if it's not the kind of thing you want. I just have to get it down.
Dwarves (perhaps even Carrot's clan, for even more awesome) accidentally dug straight into a giant cavern, populated by Mind Flayers (but they call themselves Illithids, or some variation on that) and imprisoned hydras (for a food source) These Illithids have been there for centuries (you'd have to tweak their reproductive systems, but that's not exceedingly hard, just say that their larvae are like frogs, slowly growing and developing their bodies and minds while in the brine or something of the sort) and basically had almost no concept of the world outside their cavern aside from, essentially, myths. Now they know there's a world outside, and a few of them are venturing outside. There's all sorts of plot hooks you could have with this: maybe they didn't realize that other species don't eat brains, so they assumed there were hydras already captured and now they're starving. Maybe once you've been in the Watch for a bit, the Illithids are becoming an ethnic minority and one of them joined the Watch. Maybe the wizards want to capture and dissect one, or one of the more powerful religions declares them evil, or they happen to resemble some race's idea of demons.

Tiki Snakes
2007-11-26, 01:36 PM
Mostly it's not so much that he's against magic as it is he's against wizards. Not quite the same thing.

Well, yes he is against Wizards, but mainly in as much as Wizards Use Magic.
Really, as presented especially in Thud, Vimes has a specific and almost philosophical aversion to Magic. To paraphrase, because anything done by magic is inherantly unreliable and untrustworthy, because it was done 'By Magic'. (Admittedly he does later fudge his own rule on "magic in MY watch" in the very same novel.)

As for the "Would Vimes Allow It?" problem, that provokes an Idea for a plot-hook, actually.

Perhaps, through careful manipulation, the Patrician has been put in a position where he cannot avoid Sacking/Retiring/having Vimes arrested. To counter this plot to de-stabilize his city by effectively sabotaging the Watch, he installs the Party in the newly vimes-less Watch, to work towards circumventing the plot, so that he can safely re-instate Vimes, unearth and crush his political opponant, and generally keep his city ticking over like a well made, if slightly chaotic, time-piece.

Obviously, the newly installed Party would know very, very little about this other than the vaguest of hints, merely being installed in the right place, at the right time, to begin their actual mission as Vetinari desires, whilst they would of course, naturally assume that the plan was actually their idea?

[edit] Oh, and the Illithid are absolutely perfect for Discworld. They would of course be almost identical, complete with the dwelling underground, eating brains and being behind various nefarious plots at any given time. But they'd also picket for their inaliable rights (To be allowed to Eat Brains?), probably have an Embassy in Ankh Morpork, and probably even be given a theives/assassin guild style system of legalized, regulated brain eatery, complete with a system of chitties, anti-brain-eaty insurance policies, and quiet arrangements with the Patricians dungeons.

osyluth
2007-11-26, 03:12 PM
There is a big book on roleplaying in the Discworld. Although it uses GURPS rules, there's so much good info in it it's worth the $$. :smallbiggrin:

Epic_Wizard
2007-11-26, 03:39 PM
Tiki Snakes I LOVE that entire post. Seriously that is so awesome it's hilarious.

vegetalss4
2007-11-26, 04:02 PM
will you let us know how this goes.
oh and the mad wizard/female golem plot is really funny. i laughed until i ran out of air. tumps up

Alex12
2007-11-26, 04:04 PM
[edit] Oh, and the Illithid are absolutely perfect for Discworld. They would of course be almost identical, complete with the dwelling underground, eating brains and being behind various nefarious plots at any given time. But they'd also picket for their inaliable rights (To be allowed to Eat Brains?), probably have an Embassy in Ankh Morpork, and probably even be given a theives/assassin guild style system of legalized, regulated brain eatery, complete with a system of chitties, anti-brain-eaty insurance policies, and quiet arrangements with the Patricians dungeons.

Well, maybe not the brain-eatery part, the same way vampires don't have a guild allowing blood-suckery (Aside from the Lawyer's Guild, of course:smallwink: ) but smart as they are they'd probably figure out a way to get nourishment on their own. After a while, I expect to hear something like "Brains onna bun! Get 'em while they're fresh! Would you look at that...uh...prefrontal lobe! Nice and juicy!"

That mental picture alone is priceless.

Epic_Wizard
2007-11-26, 09:18 PM
I would like to point out two things:

1.) this whole thing sounds too awesome for words and I might be asking the same question as Shadow-Archmagi except he already asked it and besides that I am fairly busy at the moment.

2.) DEATH does not kill people things like heights, 'gonn'es, and irate Trolls with siege weapons kill people.

Anyways I love what you said about wanting it to be somewhat serious but not some much because a lot of it isn't funny to the people it happens to. A perfect example is the Ankh-Morpork version of "The Riot Act" that Detritus tried to employ in Jingo. I very much doubt that Vimes was laughing about that at the time even to himself.

Wraith
2007-11-27, 07:46 AM
3) I was wondering how to get the UU in there. I think I will avoid murder outright for now (as someone said, Vimes would be involved in big stuff and I want to avoid that for awhile as they start at lvl 3). I am thinking instead that the mad wizard would have created a female golem, originally to practise how to ask a girl out, but fell in love with 'it'. Now he is experimenting how to make the golem human...or at least fleshy and presentable at dinner parties... by kidnapping turnip farmers and applying various golem-grafts to them...along with kidnapping a few free golems and applying flesh grafts...

Like it. Like it LOTS. :smallbiggrin:

Not wanting the Lowbie players to get involved with a Capital Crime from the get-go is a good point, though it's easily worked around. Start with a theft instead - works nicely in Feet of Clay and Thud! when Corporal Nobbs and... I think Constable Visit or something? Might be Constable Ping. Anyway, THEY get sent to check out a theft in the City, which leads into all sorts of fun and mayhem when they start knocking on doors and questioning witnesses.

They can walk in on all sorts of interesting things as they travel - there's your excuse for random encounters sorted - as well as learning about how your Players will deal with these crimes as they find them. By the book, a bit lenient, heavy handed.... and so on.

If your Wizard BBEG has to steal a large quantity of, say, some kind of chemical or medical supplies for his experiments, or perhaps something simple like clay to make his Golem with, your Recruits can be sent to investigate that and be led around the city a few times before hearing about some shady man in a 'dress' hanging around at the time.

Just a thought :)

Epic_Wizard
2007-11-27, 08:17 AM
The Librarian would also be a good intro to UU. You could maybe have the characters run into something they are unlikely to survive only to have the librarian come along, maybe base him on a Monk class but with reach and like 26 STR, and save them. He then takes them to the Library where they can look up a piece of information that they were looking for. Remember The Librarian is a special constable so this works.