FortunatePilgrim
Apprentice
I just walked in to see what condition my condition was in.
Posts: 48
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Post by FortunatePilgrim on Sept 7, 2021 11:08:08 GMT -8
Hey everyone. This is an interest check for a kind of crazy experiment I've been playing with.
I have a story that I wrote for a 3.5 game that I've been updating to 5E. It's a little different, a little experimental.
The story is about a group of high-level adventurers who once actually, genuinely saved the world by helping to slay a seemingly invincible otherworldly creature. But doing so cost them each something, something that was vitally, deeply important to them. After this Great Deed, victorious by deeply wounded, they disbanded and went their separate ways. 15 years pass. The world rebuilds. And then, each member receives a magical alert that someone is messing about with the corpse of the slain creature (which had been hidden by powerful magic).
It's a one-shot, a module of sorts, whereby these legendary world famous heroes get back together to deal with the consequences of their Great Deed and also deal with the on-going grief and pain caused by the sacrifice they made 15 years ago.
The experimental part is that I want to kind of divide the game into two 'modes' - dice mode and story mode. Dice mode will be mostly for fighting. There will be between four and seven big set-piece combats, as complicated and challenging as I can make them, for everyone to all live their high-level-high-powered superhero power fantasies. But in between those will be 'story' mode where we barely use dice at all and instead use a kind of guided narrative system where you earn 'Tokens' for doing cool story-based things, and then spend Tokens to do other cool story-based things. There may be combat in 'story' mode but we wouldn't do much dice rolling for it, and the challenges in story mode would be more of the personal, moral, spiritual kind, rather than physical.
In terms of tone, I'd be aiming for 'high adventure with a dash of tragedy.' The general goal would be to let you build an epic, legendary, world-class hero and then let you BE that hero in the game. But heroes are people too and all the power in the world can't defeat poverty or loneliness or grief. So it's a very particular kind of power fantasy.
This would be a good game for people who like to really dig deep into characters, discussing their motivations and their outlook and their values. And it would be a good game for people who like to write and who like it when they get to participate in world-building as we go along and who like to add to others' stories while others add to their own.
Would this be the sort of thing anyone would be interested in?
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Post by Zero Prime on Sept 7, 2021 13:21:39 GMT -8
Heh, this premise kind of reminds me of Eames 'Kings of Wyld' in which the titualar kings are a mercenary band who put down the big bad a decade or more ago, then one of their members needs help, so they go on one last tour. Band of Mercenaries is a euphemism, as it really is a story dealing with aging heroes, kicking ass and complaining about how that last big axe swing took out their back. It's a fun read, if you are alright with some humor in your fantasy, think Spinal Tap combined with any Fantasy Saga.
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FortunatePilgrim
Apprentice
I just walked in to see what condition my condition was in.
Posts: 48
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Post by FortunatePilgrim on Sept 8, 2021 4:48:44 GMT -8
This seems really interesting O: Do you already have some kind of synopsis of the story? Do you mean do I have the plot of the game written already? Yes and no. A lot of what happens is going to be built around the characters and their stories. But I have the main touchpoints written and the main decision points laid out and the main encounters designed and the Big Bad written and the like. I've played through this 'module' a couple of times now in 3E. But what I can't quite get right is the guided narrative part. Or, did you mean do I have more information about the game itself? Yes! I have a whole giant game ad written, complete with cool dramatic backstory and my version of the ubiquitous 'Big 16' and an Application and everything. I had great time writing it, but it's quite long. I didn't want to post it unless I thought it would get some traction. Heh, this premise kind of reminds me of Eames 'Kings of Wyld' in which the titualar kings are a mercenary band who put down the big bad a decade or more ago, then one of their members needs help, so they go on one last tour. Band of Mercenaries is a euphemism, as it really is a story dealing with aging heroes, kicking ass and complaining about how that last big axe swing took out their back. It's a fun read, if you are alright with some humor in your fantasy, think Spinal Tap combined with any Fantasy Saga. That sounds pretty awesome actually. I have run games with almost that exact premise before and had a blast. And there's certainly room for that kind of energy in this game if that's the direction you wanted to lean, but the tone I was envisioning is closer to the adults in Stephen King's It where they have jobs and marriages and this whole settled life like anyone does, and then they get a call out of nowhere that says they have to drop everything and go and face a bunch of stuff they thought was long over with. I'd be interested. But I should note I have zero experience with high level D&D. I've never had a character stronger than level 4 before. That's 100% fine. Almost better. There's a difference between 'High Powered' and 'High Op' and I much prefer the former, as it tends to stay in genre more readily. The important part, I think, is enthusiasm for the writing part. Almost everyone enjoys making a super tough character every now and again and beating on giant bad guys, but not everyone enjoys an emphasis on the writing. So I'd be hoping for people who really enjoy digging into characters, putting time and effort into discussing concepts and story seeds and themes, and who also enjoy different kinds of freeform role-playing to establish background, and who also enjoy having the ability to add things to the game world as we go (some people love playing mini-DM in a game where they're a player, some people really don't like it). And side note: I'm not looking for any particular level of writing skill. This isn't about finding 'good writers' (if such a thing even exists). Mostly what I want is buy-in, enthusiasm and a general air of optimistic cooperation. Might be worthwhile just posting the ad? |
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FortunatePilgrim
Apprentice
I just walked in to see what condition my condition was in.
Posts: 48
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Post by FortunatePilgrim on Sept 9, 2021 8:43:12 GMT -8
 D&D 5E:
AFTER THE FALL"What if this storm ends And I don't see you As you are Ever again?" -Snow Patrol, Lightning Sounds, "The first hazard for the returning hero is fame." -Babe 2: Pig in the City"Once more unto the breach dear friends, once more." -Henry V, Act 3, Scene 1
What if it cost you everything?
What if it wasn't enough?LORE/BACKSTORYFifteen years ago, in the final desperate act of a decades' long war, the mages of Khresh tore a hole in the sky and called forth a titan of the Outer Realms: a monstrous dragon made of living emerald, older than the stars and so vast she filled the sky. Driven mad by the summoning and too powerful to control, she broke her bonds and set across the Continent destroying everything in her path. For a year and day the Mad Wyrm scoured the known world, from the Dwarfholds of Dwimmerluk to the shores of the Clean Sea, from the high towers of New Haarin to the endless dunes of Godfall. She broke mountains, burned forests and tore the land asunder. She reduced whole kingdoms to rubble. She scattered armies and struck down great warriors like noisome flies. The mere sight of her struck onlookers blind and insane. Everywhere her shadow touched there was chaos and ruin. Madness and murder spread in her wake. No weapon could harm her, no force could stay her. It seemed she would consume every living thing that walked upon the skin of the world and the legacy of all the Speaking People would be ashes and silence. A council was convened, the Alliance of the Last Times, with a desperate plan. There was a statue, an artifact, hidden in the pathless heights of Skyspire Peak, said to be able to force an audience with Tiamat, the six-headed Goddess of all Dragonkind. The council called the world's greatest heroes to form the Company of the Rising Sun and tasked them with luring the Mad Wyrm to Skyspire and hold her long enough to activate the artifact and entreat with the Serpent Queen to intervene. The Company set out, and brought the Wyrm, and held her. Tiamat was contacted and begged to strike down Her greatest, most wayward child. She agreed, but demanded a terrible price from each member of the Company in return: whatever was most precious to them in exchange for what was most precious to Her ("Let us weep together"). The Bargain was struck, sacrifices made, and the Mad Wyrm was no more. Victorious but broken, the Company disbanded, their hearts and the world all in ruins around them. The six heads of the artifact were broken off and hidden away. The location of the Mad Wyrm's body was concealed with powerful magic and a spell woven that would alert the Company should anyone find it. Our story begins with that summons. CHARACTER CONCEPT/APPLICATION{Spoiler}NOTE: Something like 100 to 200 words should be enough do any of these questions. Less is more if it gets the job done (and yes, I'm aware of the irony of me saying that given the self-indulgent length of this post).
A. The "Elevator Pitch."
A quick-sketch, high-concept, high-energy description of who you want to play and what they bring to the table. Some mechanical stuff is fine (class, race, etc), but builds aren't exciting, stories are exciting. So tell me what kind of story this character come with. Imagine you're suddenly in an elevator with a Netflix exec and you have 30 seconds to convince them to greenlight a mini-series about this person. What would you say?
B. Short Answer/Backstory
(I don't need an answer to every little sub-question within each larger question, they're just guideposts)
1. Answer both of these:
-Why were you recruited for the Company of the Rising Sun? What made the Alliance of the Last Times call on you to do battle with an invincible extra-planar being in a desperate bid to save the world when so many others had already failed? How did you feel about getting the call? What did you think of the plan? What special skill or knowledge or asset did you bring to the table?
AND
-What did you give Tiamat in the Bargain? The specific deal was what you love most in exchange for what She loves most ("Let us weep together"). So whatever you sacrificed, it should be something deeply important to your character, something irreplaceable, something without which you are forever less than you were. Tiamat in this setting is a for-realsie-reals Godly God so the sacrifice can be just about anything (your kingdom, your honour, your left foot, your extensive collection of halfling erotica, anything).
2. Answer one of these:
-Tell me about your people! The Continent of the Speaking People is vast and diverse and both widely travelled and largely unmapped, containing all manner of creature doing all manner of society. What are things like where you're from? How are they different from before the Scourge of the Mad Wyrm? How similar/dissamiliar are you to your people? How do they feel about you representing them on the world stage? How do you feel about them representing you?
OR
-Tell me about your colleagues! What guild, school, college, army, family, clan or similar organization controls access to the intricacies of your vocation (your role or your class or however you define your particular collection of mechanical and narrative abilities)? What did you have to do to gain entrance? What values do they stand for that their skills are meant to serve? How closely do you reflect those values? What's your standing with them now?
3. Answer one of these:
-When the six heads of the statue of Tiamat were broken off, they needed to be hidden. If you answer this question, assume you volunteered for this duty. Which head did you wind up with (Black, Blue, Green, Red or White)? Where did you hide it so that it would never, ever, ever be found? For reference, each head is about four feet long, as thick as a young tree, and heavy enough to require a horse or a very strong person to move.
OR
-There were originally more members of the Company than just you guys. Tell me about someone who has not answered the summons, tell me why they haven't come, and tell me what that loss means to you personally. Note: I've noticed over time that most people who answer this question tell me about someone who's died in the 15 years since the Company disbanded. And that's fine if that's your answer, but this someone could have perished during the fight with the Wyrm, or during the audience with Tiamat, or maybe they aren't even dead, but unable/unwilling to answer the summons for some other reason. The important part is: someone's not here, and the absence has some impact on you personally.
4. Answer one of these:
-After the Company disbanded, what then? The world you saved is on fire, there's misery and suffering everywhere and you're a famous, revered Hero with everyone looking to you for guidance. But you're also broken and hurting and maybe you never asked for any of this and maybe you're thinking the world didn't deserve your sacrifice. Tell me what you've been up to for the past 15 years. Is any of it what you wanted to do? In what ways do you feel you've failed (as a person, as a hero, as a leader, etc)? In what ways do you feel you've succeeded?
OR
-When the summons comes, tell me why it's the worst possible time to drop everything and go. What responsibilities do you have that made you consider not even answering the summons? What unstable or volatile or tenuous situation are you abandoning? Who desperately needs you to stay? What terrible thing is sure to happen while you're away?
That's it! THE BIG 16 (BUT CONSOLIDATED){Spoiler}1 ("Big16" #1, 2, 4). What kind of game is this?
-D&D 5E, Semi-Gestalt (see below), high-level, narrative driven epic one-shot, equal parts high adventure and high drama (with a dash of tragedy for flavour). Playing here on this forum in PbP format.
2 ("Big16" #3). How many players?
-3 or 4 or 5.
3 ("Big16" #5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 16). What are the character creation guidelines?
-20th level
-Any official, published WOTC material is allowed. But please do me a favour and give me the source for anything outside of Core, Sword Coast, Xanathar's, Eberron or Wildemont (just to save me the Googling). And give me a heads up before using anything from Tasha's Cauldron of Everything.
-You may use Tasha's Custom Origin rules for attribute bonuses (basically, putting racial attribute bonuses wherever you want). If you do, and your race already gets a bonus to "any attribute," you may designate one "floating" Proficiency which may be changed to any other Proficiency after a Long Rest. If you choose not to use a Custom Origin, you may choose to begin the game with a small narrative benefit.
-UA is considered case-by-case.
-Full HP every level.
-No homebrew.
-Attributes: choose six numbers between 3 and 18. These are your pre-racial attributes.
-Semi-Gestalt: everyone has one class like normal, with normal Proficiencies and Saves and Hit Dice, but when you choose a subclasses you may choose two and gain all the benefits and liabilities of each. If you choose to multiclass, additional class(es) do not gain this benefit.
-Gear: everyone starts with one Artifact which can be kept or 'traded down' 2-for-1 (one Artifact = two Legendary = two Very Rare, etc). You may exchange Rare magic items for Feats, one-for-one. You may give me back one or more magic items of any rarity, and for each I will give you back two random items of the same rarity. Any magic item, at a cost of one bump in rarity, may become a permanent innate ability instead of a physical object (all of this within reason and subject to fiat and veto).
-Not including non-magical treasure (gems, art objects, expensive spell components, etc), you can have whatever mundane possessions you like, so long as it can all fit in a small house and yard.
-Non-tactical wealth will be handled narratively, so if you want to have a castle or a kingdom or an airship or a an army or a spy network made of sentient ferrets, we can probably make it happen. We'll talk about this in more detail once we choose a party, but don't be afraid to swing for the fences in your concept.
-No restrictions on alignment. Even the most Evil person would be motivated to save the world (that's where they keep all their stuff!). Just be sure you can find reasons be a constructive presence, both IC and OC. I generally see alignment as descriptive rather than proscriptive. Which is to say it's a summary of a worldview, not a straightjacket. I support both the 'strong' and 'weak' interpretations of every axis (i.e. neutral can mean 'equally dedicated to both extremes' or 'couldn't care less about either'; evil might mean 'kind of a selfish jerk' or it might mean 'sincerely committed to death and ruin'). If you feel like your character's alignment needs to mean something specific to you or your character or the game, I'm happy to talk about it.
-All of the above will be subject to discussion and hand-balancing and DM veto to make sure we're all occupying the same scope, genre and power level. There's a line where fantasy physics becomes cartoon physics and there's another line where power level starts shutting the story down rather than driving it forward, and I want to make sure we stay well on this side of both lines.
4 ("Big16" #12, 13). Are you gonna fudge the rules or the dice?
-Generally speaking, no and no. The scenario as written is meant to be difficult but not intentionally lethal. I won't be going out of my way to kill anyone but I won't be working hard to keep anyone alive either. Aside from whatever rules tweaks exist in chargen, I tend to stick pretty close to the books by default, but I don't consider us bound by the rules and if we decide something is more fun or more interesting or more sensible in the moment, then that's just fine. The only substantial House Rule is the guided narrative/token system, but that will mostly run parallel to the rules (rather than revise them).
5 ("Big16" #14). Is a character background required? If so, how big? Are you looking for anything in particular (i.e. the backgrounds all ending up with the characters in the same city)?
-Yes and yes. See the Application section below for details, but in brief: I'll want a High Concept/Elevator Pitch, some short answers to short questions.
6 ("Big16" #15). Does your game involve a lot of hack & slash, puzzle solving, roleplaying, or a combination of the above?
-We're mostly going to be doing two kinds of things. One of those things is fighting. The story includes between four and seven large, long, complex, challenging, intense dice-based combat scenarios. In between those combats will be 'story-based' scenes where the rules will be minimized and where the 'challenges' will be primarily personal or emotional or ethical in nature. The story bits might have fights in them, but we'll handle them mostly with words and story rather than dice.
7 (NEW!). Anything else?
Yes, a couple of things:
-As I said in my intro post, this will be a writing-heavy and character-discussion-heavy game. So I'm hoping to get a couple of players excited about that stuff. I'm planning a few different kinds of workshopping and round-storytelling to help refine character ideas and create a communal prologue before the main story even starts. And once we're underway everyone you have structured ways to exert control over the game world (but then also the expectation that they'll do so). I expect the overall experience to be something closer to improvisational theatre than a video game or simulation.
-This game takes place in a world with little-to-no emphasis on gender, gender role, gender presentation, sexual orientation, or other markers of identity. In-world, everyone is happy to accept your stated identity at face value, no one cares at all about who you're attracted to (if anyone), and there's no such thing as women's work or men's work. Broad, identifiable differences between different kinds of people are almost always assumed to be the result of socialization rather than genetics. Your character, of course, is welcome to have whatever opinions you'd like them to have, but any strong feelings counter to the above will be seen as eccentric and irrational. So if the sweaty muscular beer-swilling pirate captain mentions his husband, no one's going to bat an eye. And if you tell someone they fight like a girl and they look at you all confused and say "Which girl?" you'll know why. I don't intend for this to be a major theme of the game, but it will very much inform the background.
-I have a complicated and chaotic RL, and so my posting rate is all over the place. I try to manage two or three posts per week. Sometimes I get a little more, often a little less. I'll always try to keep you updated if I think I'll be away for a few days, but I can't always. No matter what, though, I promise I'll always be back. THE GUIDED NARRATIVE/TOKEN SYSTEM{Spoiler}TOKENS
Tokens are the expendable resource we'll use to guide the story-based part of the game. Tokens can be earned through a short list of narrative-focused actions (generally involving using stuff from your character to make the game or the world more interesting). They can then be spent to exert a discrete measure of control over a discrete fragment of the setting or the story or the game.
As a general guideline, whenever you a thing to earn or spend a Token, try to make sure whatever you're doing both:
-Emerges organically from, and has some direct impact on, the current scene or story; and
-Is in line with your character's themes and concept
Other than that, do what's fun or interesting in the moment. My hope is that I won't need to police the way we interact with the system and we sort of find a rhythm as a group that works for what we're doing.
ASPECTS
The main way we'll know what's 'in line with your character's themes and concept' will be your Aspects. An Aspect is a short, evocative phrase describing something about your character that their stats doesn't cover. Many of the ways to earn or spend Tokens are specifically tied to one or more Aspects. An Aspect can be beneficial or detrimental (the best ones can be both, depending on circumstance), but they should be interesting and should act as guideposts to what kind of experience you want your character to have. What Cool Things you want to do. What conflicts you want to struggle with. What obstacles you want to face. "The best in the world at swords" is okay. "Promised his sister he would never lose a duel" is better. "Haunted by the murder of the sister he wasn't strong enough to save" would be better still.
Everyone will start with seven Aspects: Avatar of [Class (and Race)]; Standing; Resources; Loss; [Free Choice]; Legendarium 1; Legendarium 2. Aspects may change as a result of play.
Avatar of [Class (and Race)]
If you're a Druid, then you're not just a Druid, you're THE Druid. So you get to decide things about Druids in the setting. If you used a Standard Lineage at chargen, you may also add your race to this Aspect if you wish. If more than one character shares a race and/or a class, we'll do some work to make sure they're distinct.
Standing
This is your reputation, rank, popularity, office, or other descriptor of the social/political space you occupy (or don't occupy, or are actively barred from). Examples could be: Beloved Saviour of Alcadia, In Hiding and Presumed Dead, High Admiral of the Donshen Navy, Wanted for Murder West of Godfall.
Resources
This describes the general state (or one very important part) of your assets and/or liabilities. This could include non-tactical wealth, political power, knowledge, followers, favours, or any number of other things (or their lack, or their opposite). Examples could be: Richest Baron in Mercadia, Ear of the Dwarven High Council, Curator of the Lost Library of the Archwizard Olsien, Open Invitation to Halfling Fertility Festivals.
Loss
This describes whatever you offered Tiamat in the Bargain and should include some idea of its on-going impact.
[Free Choice]
Whatever you want. Maybe you want to double up on one of the existing categories, or want something that doesn't fit into them. Maybe you possess a singular physical or mental or spiritual talent or ability. Maybe you possess a magic item so powerful it exists on the narrative plane rather than the mechanical. Maybe you've been touched by some otherworldly force and have a blessing (or a curse) or maybe you have a great destiny awaiting you (or a grim fate).
Legendaria
Everyone will have two stories ("Legends") about their characters assigned to them by other players. Once assigned, you decide how true your Legends are. If you decide both are largely true you begin the game with 2 Tokens. If you decide one is true and one is false (or that both are only a little true), you begin the game with 1 Token. If you decide neither is true, you begin the game with 0 Tokens. True or false, a Legend's existence in the game world is canon (i.e. even if it's false it's still a story that's told about you). Note: while the expectation is that everyone make a good faith attempt to work with what they get, if you really hate what you're given, don't panic, just let me know and we'll work it out.
Special
In addition, your character sheet can be considered an Aspect, in that you it can guide the way your mechanical abilities might manifest in the story-based part of the game. If you've optimized for Stealth, for example, then you don't need to worry about having 'The Sneakiest Sneak who ever Snuck' as an Aspect. Similarly, you can Speak Lore about the things on your sheet should an opportunity arise.
EARNING AND SPENDING TOKENS
Gain 1 Token whenever you:
-Speak Lore about any of your Aspects.
-Tell us about a personal connection you have to a place, person, or group.
-Turn aside from the quest to tend to something small or personal or immediate.
-Bring the impact of your Loss into the current scene or story.
-Accept Lore from another player (see below).
Spend 1 Token to:
-Speak Lore about anything in the game world that isn't covered by any PC's Aspects.
-Offer Lore to another player. The Lore can be about an existing Aspect or it can be a new Aspect (generally a new Legend, but possibly something else). If Accepted, you give the Token to the player. If Rejected, you keep your Token.
-Take the spotlight for one Beat (1 combat action, 1 moment, 1 scene, etc) and do one Cool Thing. Tell us what you do and then tell us how it resolves. As a VERY general rule, each PC may only use this option once during dice-based combat, and even then only if the right moment presents itself.
-Present an effective solution to a current obstacle.
-Offer someone comfort and ease their suffering, if only for a short time.
-"Pick-up" and "hold" an NPC. Picking-up an NPC means assuming authority over them. And so long as you Hold them, they are under your control as though they were your character. Everything that happens to them while you Hold them remains true even after you "Put them Down."
DEFINITIONS
Speaking Lore: when you 'Speak Lore' you say something and it's true the moment you say it. You can Speak Lore IC or OC, as part of the scene or outside of it, you can Speak Lore to add or delete or change something in the setting, declare a commonly held truth as false (or vice versa), or any number of other things. We will generally avoid Speaking Lore that contradicts existing canon (especially if it was established by another player), but sometimes a contradiction reveals a deeper truth.
Offering/Accepting/Rejecting Lore: when you Offer Lore to another player you offer them one of your Tokens and tell them something about one of their Aspects (or offer them a new one). If Accepted, that Lore's existence becomes canon (and the player then decides how true it is). If your Lore is Rejected, you keep your Token and whatever was said either didn't happen or retroactively is not a commonly held belief.
Picking-up/Holding/Putting Down: a slightly more involved version of Speaking Lore. When you 'Pick Up' an NPC, they effectively become your character for as long as you 'Hold' them, which might be just long enough to change their backstory, or to play them for a scene, or maybe they join the party for a time under your control. Like with Speaking Lore, we will generally try to avoid directly contradicting prior established canon. Once you 'Put Down' the NPC, they return to my control, but will remain forever changed by the experience.
FINAL NOTE
I've been tinkering with and using various 'Guided Narrative' systems for years and years and years, with wildly mixed results. Sometimes it's amazing and fun and sometimes it's just tedious accounting. This version uses a couple of influences I've never tried before (specifically, the 'No Dice No Masters Engine' from Belonging Outside Belonging and a couple of things from the PbtA game Fellowship). Like the chargen rules, it'll be an experiment in real time, so please be patient with me and with each other, assume good faith and best intentions on all parts at all times. If you have notes, thoughts, opinions, critiques or problems or concerns, just PM me and we can work it out. |
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Post by HorizonsDream on Sept 9, 2021 15:24:01 GMT -8
I don't actually have a concept for a character yet, but I'm interested in the game. I've never played a character at such a high level (I think the highest I have ever managed to get is 9).
I have a feeling I'm going to be writing like a ten page backstory for this character because it has to include how she first started out, answer all the questions that were provided, describe the relationship she has with each party member (which I think is important because they fought and sacrificed together). Overall, I'm going to get to exercise the writing skills that I don't normally display in my other games. It should be fun....once I come up with a concept.
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Post by Daos on Sept 9, 2021 15:24:47 GMT -8
I had a few questions.
What happened to the thing we sacrificed exactly? For instance, if the thing you valued most was your spouse, did they just vanish into thin air? Drop dead suddenly and couldn't be raised? Or was it more like, they magically fall out of love with you and divorce you--so they still exist, but just aren't your spouse anymore?
Was the sacrifice instantaneous? If the sacrifice was your kid, and they presumably weren't with you at the time, would you just later go home and find they were now gone? Or did we have to actually go home and get our kid, and then bring them to Tiamat to be sacrificed? Or did Tiamat teleport them to her, and then you had to watch as they were sacrificed?
How much knowledge did we have of what would be sacrificed? Is it possible a person thought one thing was being sacrificed but it was actually something else? Like, maybe you assumed it would be your cool infinity+1 sword that would be sacrificed, but instead it was your best friend? Or did Tiamat explicitly spell out to us what was being sacrificed when we were offered the deal?
What if the thing you value most was some kind of nebulous, abstract ideal? Like honor or love or fun?
What if the thing you value most being sacrificed impacted the whole world? Like a cleric who valued their deity above all else? Would the deity disappear or would it just be that particular cleric's connection with their deity? If you were extremely patriotic and the thing you loved most was your nation, would the entire nation fall? Or would you suddenly be exiled instead?
Are there failsafes involved to prevent the party from reversing the sacrifices? At level 20, for instance, we'd have access to all sorts of crazy, world-changing stuff like Wish. If a loved one was sacrificed, could we just raise them again, or would the power of the deal somehow negate this? Or was there some kind of stipulation made by Tiamat, like, if you raise your loved one, then the deal is broken and the Mad Wyrm will return. So we could raise them, but choose not to for the sake of the world.
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FortunatePilgrim
Apprentice
I just walked in to see what condition my condition was in.
Posts: 48
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Post by FortunatePilgrim on Sept 9, 2021 18:33:01 GMT -8
I had a character concept in my mind for a while about a Way of Mercy Monk... Maybe this will be the time I'll finally get to play her story. I know Monk are not the strongest class, but the ideas I had for her fit the theme of the story so well. You don't need to worry too much about how strong a class is. It's only really important that everyone is roughly balanced against each other. Which is mostly my job. So just tell me a story about someone interesting and dramatic and who has lots going on. I'll help with the rest. I don't actually have a concept for a character yet, but I'm interested in the game. I've never played a character at such a high level (I think the highest I have ever managed to get is 9). I have a feeling I'm going to be writing like a ten page backstory for this character because it has to include how she first started out, answer all the questions that were provided, describe the relationship she has with each party member (which I think is important because they fought and sacrificed together). Overall, I'm going to get to exercise the writing skills that I don't normally display in my other games. It should be fun....once I come up with a concept. I would never encourage someone to write less, but I would highly recommend focusing on just the questions in the Application. Those are the main emotional touchpoints that we'll need to enter the story. A lot of the rest (backstory, other characters) is best left until a party is formed and we can talk about some things as a group. All good questions! The short answer to all of them is: you tell me. What I'm looking for is a character who is very skilled, who once stepped up to perform a great deed, and who once made a choice that gave them a grievous wound that will never heal. Everything beyond that is up to you. So pick whatever option generates the most pointed conflict, the most complex consequences, the thorniest relationships. Look for ways to give your story jagged edges and dark pits and lots of room for the story to force your to confront old feelings. So if you sacrificed your spouse, you tell me what form of sacrifice would hurt this character the most. Would they be the most deeply cut by them vanishing? Or watching them die? Or them forgetting you? Same with how instantaneous it was. Would this character be the most wounded by their kid vanishing, or teleporting to them, or did they make a deal with Tiamat that they would go home and kill the kid themselves? The general assumption is that the deal was straight up an transparent. But maybe your experience was different. Maybe instead of making an offer to Her you just said, "Okay, my most beloved thing, deal." And then you found it was something you didn't expect. Or maybe you tried to put one over on her only to find out that it was worse than you thought. As far as the sacrifice impacting the world, if you felt the most compelling story was that your character loved their country most and then when they got home it was different, I'd be up for talking about that. Same same with a deity. If that's the story you want to tell, lay it on me and we'll talk about it. In my experience, having a character's most important thing be something as emotionally simple as 'my country' or 'fun' is less interesting than something more personal and pointed. But I'm open to discussing just about anything. And maybe there are failsafes and maybe there's not. Maybe your character has spent the last 15 years searching for a way to undo the sacrifice, to no avail. Maybe they have the means themselves to undo it, but don't dare do it for fear of what would happen. Maybe Tiamat was explicit with you about what would happen and maybe She wasn't. Maybe your character did use a Wish or Resurrection spell and what they got only seemed like the real thing but they knew it was fake and it just caused them more pain. The only idea I would look askance at is one where you sacrificed something and then just figured out a way to fix it (you love your legs and then you got some magic legs, problem solved!). Just because that's not within the scope of the story we're telling. Does that make sense? |
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