The player totally designed the character from scratch, I won't tell her no if she changes her mind in the future
The story so far: She left her farm home with blessings from her father (who taught her to be a druid) and her mother packing her an explorer's pack with 2 broken kamas to be repaired
She took the kama to the blacksmith, finished an errand in town for her father to get her a bit more gold, and then took up a quest to go get a cloak from an adventurer that was supposed to have delivered the cape already but hasn't been heard from.
@NautArch Yes
As she entered the cave she saw another group ahead of her that noticed her and bailed into the cave, at the end of the session she was discovered just after entering the cave
@NautArch Not yet, her mother was a famous hunter, so she's playing with her inspiration for it, but we're both aware of a need for a storied reason for rogue
So I've pitched around a few ideas in my head for her character's inspiration for it:
1) I'm giving her a chance to just roll her character like she wants and describing the more roguey-acrobatics-stealthy stuff into something that maybe she didn't know she could do, and doing it feels natural and good
Honestly @kviiri I'm going to be taking a few liberties and I know 5e pretty well so I just felt more comfortable playing to my strengths rather than learning a new system
For instance, though the world isn't necessarily high-magic, I asked for a list of interesting and cool magic items that she'd want, several of them require attunement, but for the most part I don't think I'm going to really acknowledge the attunement limit of one person, I'm just going to try to not give her a ton of them
Cloak of Displacement is terrific for defense. Amulet of Health for 'em tasty HPs and CON saves. Bag of Holding if you don't have one already. Everybody needs a Bag of Holding. Glamoured Studded Leather, 13AC + DEX, looks like any clothes you want. Hat of Disguise. "Yes, Sir Guard, the assassin ran thataway -->."
^ Her list
Okay so Storyline wise I don't really know how to make this great, she wants to explore and adventure, her want from the game is: "Explore dungeons and ruins, find out histories of the lands, take the cool shit and sell it."
My usual go-to in such instances is that she finds something that draws a lot of unwanted attention and provides both the incentive to research the item's history and ample trouble. Eg. a ritual implement that a murder-crazy cult desperately wants, The One Ring, or something like that.
I mean, probably not everyone likes their characters being hunted down relentlessly by the villains, but I'm sure I haven't met anyone who didn't yet :)
@DForck42 There was a DawnforgedCast about it a few weeks back, I think that may be where she got the inspiration to go druid she usually goes Assassin
@GreySage yeah, but I pointed out that in order for it to be maximized like that, you'd have to STAY in wild shape, so you'd miss out on any real rp opportunities cause you can't talk (unless you somehow have something to fix that)
@kviiri @NautArch So what I'm looking for is maybe some suggestions for full campaign arcs, then maybe some suggestions for relics/items that she could go after that would be interesting and valuable but not game breaking
@GreySage yeah, and that's fine. I was merely pointing out that yes, it's doable, but it's going to cause you limitations. ie, it's not as OP as people were making it out to be, imho
@Skathix Lich Phylacteries are a classic of "items that attract unwanted attraction". Have her discover an item that contains a fragment of a powerful lich's soul. The lich will dispatch minions to assassinate the PC and retrieve the item. Upon thwarting or evading the first wave of attackers, the player and the PC will know the item is Serious Business.
For extra points, it's indestructible by mundane means, so it segues neatly into a research quest on how to get rid of the phylactery safely.
I'd like to unpack it a bit, how does a Lich Phylactery work, how are they made, and what happens if the cult gets it back, more importantly, what happens if the Lich gets it back?
@kviiri one time, when I was playing with a dm that wasn't great at dming (different from the one I had been playing with recently), he had a lich that was protecting the thing. we killed him and took the thing, AND his phylactery. we didn't know what to do with it at the time, so we stuck it ina bag of holding, hoping that'd contain it until we could sort it out. we then ended up derailing his entire plans for the campaign because of a single choice we made. we never met again after that
@Skathix Well, by the book they're most commonly boxes bound with tape-like parchment containing runes, but can be any item (usually one that held significance to the Lich during their mortal life). If the Lich is slain, they can recover after a short time (a day, iirc) near their phylactery. In 5e monster lore they also need to periodically feed souls to the phylactery to stay sane.
If they don't, they degenerate into a powerful but barely sentient Demilich.
But the idea of the Lich is about as old as time itself, so you're pretty safe toying around with the concept and the stats of the phylactery. They're primarily plot elements rather than mechanical.
@Skathix By the book, they are said to simply receive a new body in 1d10 days. But again, it's more of a plot element than a mechanic thing and should be pretty safe to tweak.
@Skathix Regarding the alignment, they're usually considered to be evil and the Monster Manual has them as "any evil alignment", but it's not unprecedented to have good liches too.
@Skathix I can't for the life of me remember the name, but it was a web-comic based on DnD. In their world, wizards had found a way to become liches without destroying any one elses souls, so most of them did it. They called it 'early retirement'
@Skathix Typically in DnD lore, becoming a lich is so hard you have to deal with the Demon Prince of Undeath Orcus to attain the magic to pull it off. In 4e, the idea of the Archlich is that they were potent students of the arcane enough to become liches without help from Orcus, allowing them to preserve their moral integrity.
@Skathix Tune the phylactery idea to whatever suits you. Everyone has their liches slightly different. Some liches have multiple phylacteries (eg. Voldemort, who is basically a lich despite never having been described as such in the Harry Potter books) and some can be controlled to a degree by possessing their phylactery (can't recall any particular examples off the top of my head but I've used this a few times)
Everything the PCs do is automatically more interesting and engaging than what a character in a book or film would do, because of the "I'm making these choices not just observing them" quality of the RPG.
Many fantasy stories have boring heroes and interesting villains, because the villain tends to be more proactive and the hero just reacts to the villain's schemes.
RPGs don't have that problem.
Or at least, they don't have to unless you bring that trope to them.
The story is about the PC, not the villain. There won't be much in the way of "meanwhile, back at the evil castle" cutscenes.
It's easy to make a world that's imbalanced, or precariously balanced, and the PC's actions push things toward justice or injustice.
What I'm saying is, don't start with a villain and work out how the PC can get involved. Start with the PC and work out who or what makes a good foil for the PC.
@Skathix Do it. It took 4 months to work in my wife's character's flaw of "Sour things" into the game, but when it happened it was the greatest thing ever.
For example, I had a campaign about a group of people who used magic and mad science to keep magic and mad science from running amok: Using Weird stuff so Weird stuff doesn't use you!
One of their antagonists was Elon Musk, who uses tried and proven (albeit innovative) normal science to fight back against all magic and mad science, which he perceives as inherently a threat to humanity.
Both parties want to keep the world safe from magic and mad science, but one uses those things to achieve that goal while the other opposes those things in the name of the same goal.
This automatically creates philosophical challenges to the party's default assumptions about whether their means justify the ends.
Another game I ran, the party just liked making friends with enemies instead of fighting them.
So I gave them a lonely wizard antagonist who "made friends" using mind control and necromancy.
Indiana Jones style character, one-on-one game for a podcast so more story driven and need to focus on the player's strengths She's a level 2 druid, and wants to multiclass into Rogue for the rest of it
@nitsua60 just recapping, there's a lot up in the older messages from like 1h ago
@Skathix Still 5e? Because my answer will vary by system, and for 5e it is along the lines of "start with something really simple to the point of caricature"
@Skathix Start with a 5-room dungeon; in the back of your head keep in mind that this'll just be Act I of your eventual structure, so spend lots of time taking notes about things that she says, that catch her interest, &c. Those'll be the things that make their appearances in Acts II-V.
Yes--Hero of a Thousand Faces is the book from which the hero's journey is distilled.
Act II is RP/puzzle/investigation-heavy; Campbell calls for meeting the mentor or guide or crone or helper. Let's meet the new cast of characters that's beyond the edge of the world we've known so far.
Act III is trap/setback; Campbell wants for death and rebirth. [redacted's] going to get metaphysical up in here. I cannot guarantee we will remain constrained to this plane; perhaps Campbell's World Navel will make an appearance in one of its many incarnations. (Hall of mirrors, infinite bazaar, city of doors, world-tree, abyssal well, 40 days in the desert, &c.)
Act IV is big-bad; I've vaguely sketched in that both temptation and atonement should feature.
Act V is reveal/twist; Campbell has us bringing back the gift of the Goddess. It's going to be a victory/successful resolution of sorts, but something's off.... (stranger things (S1) spoiler)
@KorvinStarmast I was just thinking about that two nights ago. I think it may happen. It'd likely be some pre-meeting/discussion during December, then starting up after the new year. (I'm a wily enough veteran to know not to start a campaign in November in the US.) So stay tuned--at some point in the next few weeks I'll probably drop a "LFP" post.
I'll probably be in here a lot looking for guidance while I get my bearings on story writing, this isn't my first time but I love hitting you guys up with my plans and having you tear them down
@Skathix I then take those ideas/elements and then organize them into fronts/threats Dungeon World-style. So they're there, and they're doing things, but it's not a linear layout.
My school's library is having a contest/promotion tomorrow:
write a six-word horror story
I'll challenge the room, too. Last year's candy corn to the one that gets the most stars!
@Yuuki Yeah it's definitely debatable, I feel like at some point I'm going to have to torture her/put her in prison and force her to eat cabbage soup and bread
I stumbled across an incredibly vicious trap. (Seriously, whoever came up with this, they need help)
In the bottom of a well contains water 20 feet deep. At the very bottom of the well, a sword sticks out of a pile of debris, hilt up. Scattered across the floor of the well are piles of bones...
Well it's an interesting concept, because dracoliches or liches in general are evil, so it's interesting to think that though these two might be evil they are bonded so tightly it transcends that
Final Boss Battle: After the Lich frees his Dracolich friend, they battle the main character, the lich or Dracolich dies, they merge to become the final form Demidracolich
@Skathix You asked about how we do campaign prep earlier. I had a successful run with a party to which I simply told "you'll be playing heroes, in a heroes' guild, doing heroics for gold, fame and common good". Worked like a charm!
We've been creating the world on a "on-demand fashion", except for some bits of exposition I post in our after-session reading that's styled like a newsletter.
It should be noted the party was mostly first-timers, and a lot of the simplicity was deliberately aimed at making a focused game with clear principles. It has stayed remarkably close to what we agreed to: fantasy adventure. A lot of the campaigns I've been in have deviated towards all kinds of other stuff like business administration, politics or fishing because of players aggressively pushing against the rails
Part of it is that the consideration would have to be different as to whether the player uses/crafts the poison within one session, or from one session to another.
Quandary of the day: I'm getting notices that a KS campaign (3rd by the company) is about to end. But: why? Have I bought from them before? Did I like what I got? Did I tell KS to keep me informed with the idea that I'd decide buy/no later?
I stumbled across an incredibly vicious trap. (Seriously, whoever came up with this, they need help)
In the bottom of a well contains water 20 feet deep. At the very bottom of the well, a sword sticks out of a pile of debris, hilt up. Scattered across the floor of the well are piles of bones...
