Serpentine
2008-01-24, 10:14 AM
So Goff's been bugging me to include a social encounter. Trouble is, I'm no good at them - not at speaking NPC parts, or thinking up suitable responses quickly, or anything like that. It doesn't help that most of the group sort of mills about indecidedly unless or until I say "okay, roll initiative". Anyway, does anyone have any ideas, hints or cheats for me?
For background...
The party: Levels 9-11. Snooty drow wizard of noble blood. Tiefling swashbuckler (shipwrecked pirate captain). Elf rogue/thief acrobat (Goff). Gnome cleric/sorcerer/arcane whatsidoovey, I always forget the name, the divine-arcane combo PrC. Elf knight (formerly a dwarf, now with issues, my character). Human druid.
The situation: We're all stranded on a completely new continent based on the Americas, at the moment mostly South, on which humans - and even the usual humanoids - are a minority. Everyone here speaks whole new languages, so none of us can understand anyone except the gnome who speaks Draconic, as do many of the reptilian races here. We are heading towards an "oracle", who will set us on a side-quest to rescue the non-magical girl I mentioned in another thread a while back, before giving us a couple of options on how to get home
("South.
A bird-man
Sits in his cage.
North.
A cat-man
Seeks out a mage."
Suitably cryptic? I know, pseudo-not-railroading :smallsigh: If they really want to set off, say, east to find a way home, though, they can).
There are cities around these continents, defined by animal type - a bug-city centred on an Abeil hive, a bird-city run by Raptorans, etc - as well as villages, wandering tribes, bandits, warbands, merchants and travellers around the place, and of course plenty of mysterious temples and vine-covered ruins.
The long-running goal of the campaign is to deliver these letters to various hard-to-reach persons. These will include a couple of potentially social encounters: convincing the pharaoh to let us see his confined Favourite; seeking information on high-up officials to bribe, blackmail, threaten, flatter, trick, or otherwise convince them to let us see the dragon ruler... I think they're the main ones. However, Goff is itching for one soon. It doesn't help that I was hoping the language barrier in itself would make an interesting challenge to overcome, but he seems entirely uninterested in doing so, and instead laments the resultant limitations :smallsigh:
So. Help?
For background...
The party: Levels 9-11. Snooty drow wizard of noble blood. Tiefling swashbuckler (shipwrecked pirate captain). Elf rogue/thief acrobat (Goff). Gnome cleric/sorcerer/arcane whatsidoovey, I always forget the name, the divine-arcane combo PrC. Elf knight (formerly a dwarf, now with issues, my character). Human druid.
The situation: We're all stranded on a completely new continent based on the Americas, at the moment mostly South, on which humans - and even the usual humanoids - are a minority. Everyone here speaks whole new languages, so none of us can understand anyone except the gnome who speaks Draconic, as do many of the reptilian races here. We are heading towards an "oracle", who will set us on a side-quest to rescue the non-magical girl I mentioned in another thread a while back, before giving us a couple of options on how to get home
("South.
A bird-man
Sits in his cage.
North.
A cat-man
Seeks out a mage."
Suitably cryptic? I know, pseudo-not-railroading :smallsigh: If they really want to set off, say, east to find a way home, though, they can).
There are cities around these continents, defined by animal type - a bug-city centred on an Abeil hive, a bird-city run by Raptorans, etc - as well as villages, wandering tribes, bandits, warbands, merchants and travellers around the place, and of course plenty of mysterious temples and vine-covered ruins.
The long-running goal of the campaign is to deliver these letters to various hard-to-reach persons. These will include a couple of potentially social encounters: convincing the pharaoh to let us see his confined Favourite; seeking information on high-up officials to bribe, blackmail, threaten, flatter, trick, or otherwise convince them to let us see the dragon ruler... I think they're the main ones. However, Goff is itching for one soon. It doesn't help that I was hoping the language barrier in itself would make an interesting challenge to overcome, but he seems entirely uninterested in doing so, and instead laments the resultant limitations :smallsigh:
So. Help?