Mr._Blinky
2008-04-01, 09:27 PM
NOTE: This is extremely long and complicated. I'm working on a way to condense the bloody thing, but it's difficult. If anyone is actually willing to read this, I'd appreciate it, since I put a fair amount of effort into this.
Okay, so for a little while now I've been running a 1 PC PbP game over on RPOL for one of my friends. It's been going a few months now, and everything is going smoothly. I've got a plot I'm very satisfied with, a good world, a cooperative player, etc.
The problem is I've come to a bit of a crossroads plot-wise. I've got two similar ideas I've been kicking around for a while now, but I can't decide which to use. The main issue is that they're mutually exclusive. I've gotten to the point where I can't really put off the decision any longer. So I've come to you fine people on the GitP boards for help deciding where I should take my plot. First though, I'm going to need to give some background, which might be a bit lengthy, so I'll thank anyone in advance who takes the time to read this bloody thing.
The PC is the Second Prince of a large human kingdom in a custom fantasy realm. The kingdom was founded by his ancestor 300 years earlier, who came out of the North with a vast army and conquered the previous kingdom. Little history survives of the period, as it was a time of tremendous upheaval, and much information was lost or destroyed.
On his 19th birthday, the PC is taken out on his Hunt, which is a coming of age ritual where a young man or woman (it's a gender equal society) hunts a creature based on their social class, kills it, and brings it back for a feast in their honor. As royalty, his task was to slay a manticore.
Quick note about deities in this setting: It is far closer to Greek myth and various spirit religions than most D&D. There are no "God of X"s in the setting. Instead, gods are powerful immortal beings who number in the thousands. They can range from vastly powerful beings that can lay waste to whole armies, to small woodland spirits that are the tenders of a particular pond or tree. They are organized (in order of average power) into Tanar (things that are beastlike, especially things that in D&D are Magical Beasts, and also including Dire animals, called Ancients), Fey, Artlan (most common form of mortals-turned-deity, basically superpowered immortals like Heracles), Daemons (basically anything that would count as an outsider in standard D&D), and Dragons.
So anyways, the PC is given the aid of an Ancient wolf (a kind of Tanar) as a Familiar, and is told that the wolf served his ancient conquering ancestor in the same capacity 300 years earlier. They then set off on his Hunt, along with his father the King, his older brother the First Prince, and a few guards. They successfully attack and kill a manticore, and are about to head home, when their party is attacked by a wyvern. The dragon kills all the guards, and then strikes the King a blow that looks mortal. Both Princes continue to attack it, when the wyvern grabs the PC's horse, with him still in the saddle, and carries him off.
He kills the wyvern in mid-flight, and is about to fall to his death when the Ancient wolf jumps out from nowhere and saves him. He's knocked out, wakes up, finds out the dragon isn't dead do to godly toughness, and leave to find home before it can heal and attack. They spend the night wandering in the snow, with the Prince slowly dying, when the wolf finally lead him to a cave, one it clearly knew about. Inside, he finds a ghostly figure wearing black armor. It attacks, the PC barely wins, and energy bursts out of the figure. The PC falls unconscious, and experiences vivid hallucinations of various places in the wilds. He awakens fully healed, naked, and hungry, and feeling somehow more powerful, knowing he must travel North, feeling somehow it will help him gain greater power.
So he leaves the cave, and the wyvern attacks again. This time, the PC suddenly transforms into powerful Daemon with much of his equipment include swords somehow integrated into his new form. He kills the wyvern, and with a sudden urge, eats its heart. He then discovers that this has granted him further power. He then goes off back to his castle, to find out what has happened.[/summary]
Thats as far as we've gotten, and yeah, I know it's a lot to read. But here's what's been happening: his ancient ancestor was given godhood by another deity to the North, out of a pact. In the cave the wolf lead him to, he fought the tortured soul of that ancestor, and killing it gained him some of its power. However, to fully achieve his potential, he must kill and consume the power of deities, such as the wyvern. The wyvern also killed the King, making the PCs brother (who he has a hostile relationship with), the new King.
The way North is the Crimson Path, which he must follow on his way to full godhood. The visions showed the locations of a group of deities he must defeat before he is ready to achieve full divinity. Killing each will give him a new power (such as killing a massive kraken, giving him an extra set of arms). Once he arrives North, he'll be quite powerful, and will be offered the same deal as his ancestor, and two previous ancestors before that, recurring every 300 years. In return, he'll be granted full divinity, and an army with which to conquer his home kingdom and more from his brother, the new King.
It’s the nature of the deal that I’m having trouble with. These are the two options I’ve been bouncing around:
The deity up North has been imprisoned, and can only escape through a mortal vessel as a carrier. In return for a single year’s possession of the PCs body, he’ll be granted the divinity and the army, who carry powerful new weapons such as primitive muskets and cannon with which to conquer to kingdom.
The other option is that it is in fact a group of gods offering the deal. Rather than them designing the new weapons, it is the PCs nation and their allies, especially the PC’s brother. These gods have discovered that these primitive firearms actually possess the power to permanently injure them, something most mortal weapons cannot. This is apparently not a new thing, and occurs roughly every 300 years, once society has advanced enough from the dark ages of the previous war. And so every 300 years, these gods give one person an army, the powers of a god, and aid, in return for destroying the kingdom in order to prevent the development of weapons they fear can overthrow them. I also like this idea, since it allows for the PC to have a better Face-Heel-Turn + Sacrifice at the end, should he choose to turn on his new masters.
I’m still working around a lot of the details to get rid of anything that’s illogical, but those are the two basic ideas. Right now, I really like both, but can't decide which to use. I'd appreciate anyones input on which they think is better, as well as any other advice.
Okay, so for a little while now I've been running a 1 PC PbP game over on RPOL for one of my friends. It's been going a few months now, and everything is going smoothly. I've got a plot I'm very satisfied with, a good world, a cooperative player, etc.
The problem is I've come to a bit of a crossroads plot-wise. I've got two similar ideas I've been kicking around for a while now, but I can't decide which to use. The main issue is that they're mutually exclusive. I've gotten to the point where I can't really put off the decision any longer. So I've come to you fine people on the GitP boards for help deciding where I should take my plot. First though, I'm going to need to give some background, which might be a bit lengthy, so I'll thank anyone in advance who takes the time to read this bloody thing.
The PC is the Second Prince of a large human kingdom in a custom fantasy realm. The kingdom was founded by his ancestor 300 years earlier, who came out of the North with a vast army and conquered the previous kingdom. Little history survives of the period, as it was a time of tremendous upheaval, and much information was lost or destroyed.
On his 19th birthday, the PC is taken out on his Hunt, which is a coming of age ritual where a young man or woman (it's a gender equal society) hunts a creature based on their social class, kills it, and brings it back for a feast in their honor. As royalty, his task was to slay a manticore.
Quick note about deities in this setting: It is far closer to Greek myth and various spirit religions than most D&D. There are no "God of X"s in the setting. Instead, gods are powerful immortal beings who number in the thousands. They can range from vastly powerful beings that can lay waste to whole armies, to small woodland spirits that are the tenders of a particular pond or tree. They are organized (in order of average power) into Tanar (things that are beastlike, especially things that in D&D are Magical Beasts, and also including Dire animals, called Ancients), Fey, Artlan (most common form of mortals-turned-deity, basically superpowered immortals like Heracles), Daemons (basically anything that would count as an outsider in standard D&D), and Dragons.
So anyways, the PC is given the aid of an Ancient wolf (a kind of Tanar) as a Familiar, and is told that the wolf served his ancient conquering ancestor in the same capacity 300 years earlier. They then set off on his Hunt, along with his father the King, his older brother the First Prince, and a few guards. They successfully attack and kill a manticore, and are about to head home, when their party is attacked by a wyvern. The dragon kills all the guards, and then strikes the King a blow that looks mortal. Both Princes continue to attack it, when the wyvern grabs the PC's horse, with him still in the saddle, and carries him off.
He kills the wyvern in mid-flight, and is about to fall to his death when the Ancient wolf jumps out from nowhere and saves him. He's knocked out, wakes up, finds out the dragon isn't dead do to godly toughness, and leave to find home before it can heal and attack. They spend the night wandering in the snow, with the Prince slowly dying, when the wolf finally lead him to a cave, one it clearly knew about. Inside, he finds a ghostly figure wearing black armor. It attacks, the PC barely wins, and energy bursts out of the figure. The PC falls unconscious, and experiences vivid hallucinations of various places in the wilds. He awakens fully healed, naked, and hungry, and feeling somehow more powerful, knowing he must travel North, feeling somehow it will help him gain greater power.
So he leaves the cave, and the wyvern attacks again. This time, the PC suddenly transforms into powerful Daemon with much of his equipment include swords somehow integrated into his new form. He kills the wyvern, and with a sudden urge, eats its heart. He then discovers that this has granted him further power. He then goes off back to his castle, to find out what has happened.[/summary]
Thats as far as we've gotten, and yeah, I know it's a lot to read. But here's what's been happening: his ancient ancestor was given godhood by another deity to the North, out of a pact. In the cave the wolf lead him to, he fought the tortured soul of that ancestor, and killing it gained him some of its power. However, to fully achieve his potential, he must kill and consume the power of deities, such as the wyvern. The wyvern also killed the King, making the PCs brother (who he has a hostile relationship with), the new King.
The way North is the Crimson Path, which he must follow on his way to full godhood. The visions showed the locations of a group of deities he must defeat before he is ready to achieve full divinity. Killing each will give him a new power (such as killing a massive kraken, giving him an extra set of arms). Once he arrives North, he'll be quite powerful, and will be offered the same deal as his ancestor, and two previous ancestors before that, recurring every 300 years. In return, he'll be granted full divinity, and an army with which to conquer his home kingdom and more from his brother, the new King.
It’s the nature of the deal that I’m having trouble with. These are the two options I’ve been bouncing around:
The deity up North has been imprisoned, and can only escape through a mortal vessel as a carrier. In return for a single year’s possession of the PCs body, he’ll be granted the divinity and the army, who carry powerful new weapons such as primitive muskets and cannon with which to conquer to kingdom.
The other option is that it is in fact a group of gods offering the deal. Rather than them designing the new weapons, it is the PCs nation and their allies, especially the PC’s brother. These gods have discovered that these primitive firearms actually possess the power to permanently injure them, something most mortal weapons cannot. This is apparently not a new thing, and occurs roughly every 300 years, once society has advanced enough from the dark ages of the previous war. And so every 300 years, these gods give one person an army, the powers of a god, and aid, in return for destroying the kingdom in order to prevent the development of weapons they fear can overthrow them. I also like this idea, since it allows for the PC to have a better Face-Heel-Turn + Sacrifice at the end, should he choose to turn on his new masters.
I’m still working around a lot of the details to get rid of anything that’s illogical, but those are the two basic ideas. Right now, I really like both, but can't decide which to use. I'd appreciate anyones input on which they think is better, as well as any other advice.