(Go read Kildar by John Ringo)

since that's spot on what you're going for.

One thing still bugs me

so "I want to be a duke. In order to be a duke, I must be acknowledged as a power. In order be acknowledged as a power, I need to contain a BBEG in the region."

sure

Why did my character chose to claim ownership of that peculiar stripe of land? (I also need to check if it's doable or if it's under someone's control)

Well, happily, any given stripe will do.

And let's steal from kildar.

hrmmm

no, can't, since D&D is too effective

Let's go to the pragmatic perspective. "Yeah, I think I can take them on."

WWKhavedone?

Completely rational decision of "Hey, I want to be a duke, I need to find a lawless place to project power onto"

what?

What would Kildar have done?

oh. Heh. yes.

fun book.

but that's a very pragmatic objective

(very neutral)

> The objectives of the Spirits of the Woods concern the conservation and protection of forests and wild places of the North (in particular the Lurkwood). Their members put forth their abilities, whatever they may be, in order to prevent and, where necessary, to eradicate disasters that could undermine the balance, according to the guidelines set out just below.

> Members also undertake to protect and monitor all those dangerous places, sources of dark powers, dungeons and abandoned lost ruins, in order to snatch and keep secrets. - Custody Protection, Memory, Balance.

Sure. You want to forge an alliance with them

this is the PC organization

... ::sigh::

then set yourself up as an inedependent duke, and then anticipate conflict with them

conflict?

yeah

you want power

By anticipate you mean "it might be possible, be psychologically prepared"?

they have power

yes

And if I just wanted to join them you say I should not set this as a possibility because it's in the hands of other people?

well, that it's boring

You want to be a duke.

not just some slummy adventurer "preserving balance"

you've done that

You want your fortress. You want your respect.

You want to be someone, not just a walking sword.

So yeah. These spirits of the woods. Likely great people, probably want to appease them, but you're not one of them

You don't want to drop a city in the woods, but you want your keep

and you want control over a region

to know who is going in or out, and to forbid that passage if you desire.

You want the respect of nearby rulers

And you start this process by getting everyone's attention by containing a wizard who is so powerful that he doesnt' care that he's dumping toxic monsters on the countryside

do you see how once you have your goal, all else follows?

I don't think I want all of those things.

okay, but do you see the pattern?

Yes, I see it and I'm scared by it. It looks like what I'm looking for (integration) is the opposite of being interesting/having a goal/whatever we're looking for here (conflict)

Yes :)

because conflict, overcome, will get you integegration

because you will have established, through adversity, your authority

instead of being doled out scraps

In the duke's example, should I let people convince me that there's another solution other than building my no-trespass-zone?

remember, it's "no tresspass without permission"

the first thing to do is to be aware of all movements through the zone

then figure out how to interdict the movements of people you don't like.

not "giant wall of doom"

ok, ok

but let's say I sttart playing today. I walk in, with the only aim to "**** you people, I'm tired of this **** I want to control my life. I'll get some respect by doing something great and useful, which I believe to be building this control area"

so, it's midnight thirty. Now you have your narrative requirements.

yep

(remember, area of control is a metaphor)

it's not a thing

but yes, that seems to be quite appropriate

and then what? I'm alone against everyone, needing money, allies, and probably nobody will be ok with my idea

sorry, against?

what is this against?

conflict.

So, "you want to be aware of all movement"

there's no authority there

interaction

yes :)

you're alone, no superiors

you need allies, money, and to convince people that going along with your idea is easier than opposing you

this is Drama.

The success or failure of your dutchy is entirely in your hands

now you're not an NPC

start off small, start with a mile of "I know what's going on"

then expand it until you reach your natural borders of people you don't want to piss off

I see this character more paying people and making politics games to gain funds than go outside adventuring

until there's a problem that he must solve

but yeah its first goal would be gain money

So, that's why we establish the wizard

and understand the politics of the area

so that's there's something simple to oppose

and that's how you frame it.

"I want to contain this wizard, because that will get me respect."

@BrianBallsun-Stanton which I'm not sue I can estabilish, but I'm sure the Dms can tell me what I can use instead

sure.

Just be sure they're clear that you shouldn't be able to easily kill it

Like, if you step into its sanctum with an adventuring party, you should be a greasy smear on the floor.

I'm not yet sure they will engineer an enemy to my specifications but asking costs almost nothing

The trick is that it's much like Cthulhu. It simply doesn't care about its environment.

so it's spawning all this shit as a by-product of its environment

so it's spawning all this shit as a by-product of its research

and you need to be able to contain the shit, then figure out a way of politely asking it to dispose of it this way

(and the existing enemy in the zone isn't one that can be beaten because they don't really want us to be able to change the setting this much. But maybe a part of that could do)

which will require quests for it

do you see the pattern?

I'm so glad that the DMs are against changing the setting. It's almost like they forget that it's not a computer game.

idiots.

It needs to stay recognizable for new people willing to play in the setting

yep

usually threats new to the setting get introduced and the players can change the setting... back

Or, when some setting change is in the storyline, they could ultimately discover that a certain quest line makes them the authors of the change

I mean, my last character killed a setting NPC that had to die someway between two other events.

ugh.

anyways. is this sufficient?

How that happened and if it would have been us was obviously not spoilered by the setting story or it wouldn't have been interesting

I might need tinkering around the concept a bit, with the DM's help. Luckily the only thing I need to chose by today is the first level class

For I need to create the character today but I then have 1 month of time to change everything but class, name and IIRC which region he comes from

yep

and the mechanics are simple

don't worry about min-maxing

I think the need to have a land of his own could work with some Waterdivian. Overpopulated metropolis.

just choose the archetype that best allows you to know who's going through a zone and be able to interdict the people he doesn't like

divination/teleport

I'm not sure such a large divination alarm exists

it's not a single, solvable thing.

it's lots of little problems

go read Kildar

Ok I asked and the admin tells me I'm trying to do it all by myself and he fears people won't be interested in my story or won't find it compelling. He suggests me to start from one of the existing PC guilds instead.

room topic changed to The Statblock Forge: Zachiel's PC and NPC building place [dnd-3.5e] [dnd-4e] [statblocks]

Hello @JoshuaAslanSmith