TallerSpine
2022-12-11, 11:04 PM
I am part of a campaign taking place in Sigil. The idea was, none of the players had time to be the full-time DM. So, we wanted a rotating DM, but a single story-line to tie everything together. So, the backstory for the campaign setting:
The Fraternity of Order has discovered a new type of portal. It is a mix between a permanent portal and a shifting portal in that its location is always fixed, but the destination is keyed to the specific token held while passing through it. Different tokens take you to different locations throughout the planes. Passing through without a token is just walking through a door to the room beyond. But, if you possess the right token, you have a two-way portal to and from the destination keyed to it.
The Fraternity of Order immediately began recording all information about this portal. But, they recognized the danger. Sure, there is the metaphysical danger of investigating a portal with unknown properties. But, there are also legal concerns. How would the Lady of Pain see this new portal? Is this her doing? Or possibly a resurgence of Aoskar? And the Order is very aware that attempts to take complete control over a new type of portal would likely incite the other factions. So, the most logical solution is to research the portal while pushing all of the risk to someone else. Who better but an Indep?
So, they convinced an Indep to purchase the Perfect Adventure Inn. An ironclad contract ensures they gain all the research benefits. The innkeeper is given strict guidelines for assigning different tokens to adventuring parties. In turn, the adventuring parties are promised the "Perfect Adventure". The other factions believe it is simply an Indep scam. And if any other faction tries to investigate, the Indep will be the one who has to deal with it.
And this is working well. Every session, we either continue the previous DM's one-shot or return to Sigil and the next DM begins their unrelated one-shot. The entire story has guaranteed continuity. But, the only repeat characters are those they meet in Sigil.
And this is why I want the most Boring, Mundane, and Cliched adventuring party! The Fraternity of Order needed a control group, so they hired the most common adventuring party they could to go on Perfect Adventures.
The actual party is anything but boring, mundane, and cliched. They are a party of Sigil goblins whose tribe in the Hive learned of the Perfect Adventure Inn. The tribe gathered enough gold to fund their best to make an expedition to the Inn. These intrepid goblins will go on perfect adventures to raise money to elevate the entire tribe all the way to the Lady's Ward!!!
Here is my attempt at the most Boring, Mundane, and Cliched adventuring party:
George Strongfist, Human Fighter 5 - Standard array for a fighter, and he has a scarred face and a beard. Primary weapon: longsword
Timothy Grimshaw, Human Wizard 5 - Standard array for a wizard (but aged to Old), and he wears a blue wizard hat.
Kyle Truman, Human Cleric 5 - Stardard array for a cleric, maintains a slight air of importance, with a standard holy symbol embedded in the center of his chest.
Nicolas Swiftfoot, Human Rogue 5 - Stardard array for a rogue, short and nimble, and sticks to the shadows.
Can anyone help me improve this party with more tropes, or additional homogeneity? I can't go too homogeneous. I briefly thought about having four identical clones that the Order had created, separated at birth and trained in the four classic adventuring party jobs. So, there is a large supply of Fighter, the fighter, Mage, the wizard, Cleric, the cleric, and Rogue, the rogue, all sharing identical faces and stats. But, I thought that could be too interesting for the goblin party, and they might start investigating who this group is, and learn the truth too quickly.
The Fraternity of Order has discovered a new type of portal. It is a mix between a permanent portal and a shifting portal in that its location is always fixed, but the destination is keyed to the specific token held while passing through it. Different tokens take you to different locations throughout the planes. Passing through without a token is just walking through a door to the room beyond. But, if you possess the right token, you have a two-way portal to and from the destination keyed to it.
The Fraternity of Order immediately began recording all information about this portal. But, they recognized the danger. Sure, there is the metaphysical danger of investigating a portal with unknown properties. But, there are also legal concerns. How would the Lady of Pain see this new portal? Is this her doing? Or possibly a resurgence of Aoskar? And the Order is very aware that attempts to take complete control over a new type of portal would likely incite the other factions. So, the most logical solution is to research the portal while pushing all of the risk to someone else. Who better but an Indep?
So, they convinced an Indep to purchase the Perfect Adventure Inn. An ironclad contract ensures they gain all the research benefits. The innkeeper is given strict guidelines for assigning different tokens to adventuring parties. In turn, the adventuring parties are promised the "Perfect Adventure". The other factions believe it is simply an Indep scam. And if any other faction tries to investigate, the Indep will be the one who has to deal with it.
And this is working well. Every session, we either continue the previous DM's one-shot or return to Sigil and the next DM begins their unrelated one-shot. The entire story has guaranteed continuity. But, the only repeat characters are those they meet in Sigil.
And this is why I want the most Boring, Mundane, and Cliched adventuring party! The Fraternity of Order needed a control group, so they hired the most common adventuring party they could to go on Perfect Adventures.
The actual party is anything but boring, mundane, and cliched. They are a party of Sigil goblins whose tribe in the Hive learned of the Perfect Adventure Inn. The tribe gathered enough gold to fund their best to make an expedition to the Inn. These intrepid goblins will go on perfect adventures to raise money to elevate the entire tribe all the way to the Lady's Ward!!!
Here is my attempt at the most Boring, Mundane, and Cliched adventuring party:
George Strongfist, Human Fighter 5 - Standard array for a fighter, and he has a scarred face and a beard. Primary weapon: longsword
Timothy Grimshaw, Human Wizard 5 - Standard array for a wizard (but aged to Old), and he wears a blue wizard hat.
Kyle Truman, Human Cleric 5 - Stardard array for a cleric, maintains a slight air of importance, with a standard holy symbol embedded in the center of his chest.
Nicolas Swiftfoot, Human Rogue 5 - Stardard array for a rogue, short and nimble, and sticks to the shadows.
Can anyone help me improve this party with more tropes, or additional homogeneity? I can't go too homogeneous. I briefly thought about having four identical clones that the Order had created, separated at birth and trained in the four classic adventuring party jobs. So, there is a large supply of Fighter, the fighter, Mage, the wizard, Cleric, the cleric, and Rogue, the rogue, all sharing identical faces and stats. But, I thought that could be too interesting for the goblin party, and they might start investigating who this group is, and learn the truth too quickly.