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Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
An interesting story option cropped up in the latest game I'm running,
and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I usually trust my
sense of what's "on" and what's not, but I'm just not sure here. So
y'all are gonna help me. 
There are three level 6 PCs. Long story short, they awoke an ancient
evil, now they gotta stop it blah blah *snore*. They're not yet aware
of the magnitude of harm they've caused. They will be. *grin*
Anyway, one of the PCs got himself killed with some astonishingly
stupid tactics. He wants to come back as a mage. The problem is that
the party is quite literally in the middle of _nowhere_ right now
(well, a semi-abandoned city in the middle of a large desert,
surrounded by an impassable jungle), so it's kinda tough to introduce
new PCs.
Hence my idea. I'm planning to have the PCs meet up with the big bad
nasties they awakened (and their respective armies). Big bad nasties
cause general havoc, nearly kill PCs. Suddenly, an epic archmage
appears, nukes the armies with some Quickened Meteor Storms and such,
turns to the party with anger flashing in his eyes, and asks them "what
have you DONE?"
Which is when the big nasties appear. Magical battle begins. End
result: big nasties are driven off temporarily, archmage falls
unconscious.
This is when I'd call in the third player. He'd be playing the
archmage, though the character won't remember anything (and
accordingly, the player won't be told anything), and will only have the
other characters' descriptions to help figure out who he is (answer:
the mage who originally sealed the Ancient Evil [tm]). He'd also be
severely weakened, to the tune of Level 6. Items too, naturally.
This would certainly be dramatic, and would give me a lot of room for
plot exposition (have some memories selectively return to the player at
opportune times). It also makes level-ups kinda cool, again, more of a
"slowly returning to your former power" thing.
The problem: is this fun for the other players? The mage PC would kind
of be the center of attention, he'd be recognized by NPCs (for good or
ill), have cool premonitions and dreams, etc. I just don't want him to
completely steal the show.
Again, I'm not interested in whether any of this is _plausible_. I gave
you guys the short version of the story; the details make a whole lot
more sense in the long version. I'm just interested in whether it'll
make the game _fun_.
So, what do you all think? If you were another character in this game
(NOT the mage), would you enjoy this, or would you feel upstaged by the
mage? How can I avoid this?
Ta,
Laszlo
Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
laszlo_spamhole wrote
> An interesting story option cropped up in the latest game I'm running,
> and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I usually trust my
> sense of what's "on" and what's not, but I'm just not sure here. So
> y'all are gonna help me.
>
> There are three level 6 PCs. Long story short, they awoke an ancient
> evil, now they gotta stop it blah blah *snore*. They're not yet aware
> of the magnitude of harm they've caused. They will be. *grin*
>
> Anyway, one of the PCs got himself killed with some astonishingly
> stupid tactics. He wants to come back as a mage. The problem is that
> the party is quite literally in the middle of _nowhere_ right now
> (well, a semi-abandoned city in the middle of a large desert,
> surrounded by an impassable jungle), so it's kinda tough to introduce
> new PCs.
>
> Hence my idea. I'm planning to have the PCs meet up with the big bad
> nasties they awakened (and their respective armies). Big bad nasties
> cause general havoc, nearly kill PCs. Suddenly, an epic archmage
> appears, nukes the armies with some Quickened Meteor Storms and such,
> turns to the party with anger flashing in his eyes, and asks them "what
> have you DONE?"
>
> Which is when the big nasties appear. Magical battle begins. End
> result: big nasties are driven off temporarily, archmage falls
> unconscious.
>
> This is when I'd call in the third player. He'd be playing the
> archmage, though the character won't remember anything (and
> accordingly, the player won't be told anything), and will only have the
> other characters' descriptions to help figure out who he is (answer:
> the mage who originally sealed the Ancient Evil [tm]). He'd also be
> severely weakened, to the tune of Level 6. Items too, naturally.
<snip>
> So, what do you all think? If you were another character in this game
> (NOT the mage), would you enjoy this, or would you feel upstaged by the
> mage? How can I avoid this?
How about letting the Epic Mage die or disappear in the battle, and have the
new PC be his apprentice who tagged along but stayed out of the fight.
John
Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
Are you the one with the Necropolis? Did you check out my suggestion
about the Quarophons?
- Ron ^*^
laszlo_spamhole@freemail.hu wrote:
> An interesting story option cropped up in the latest game I'm running,
> and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I usually trust my
> sense of what's "on" and what's not, but I'm just not sure here. So
> y'all are gonna help me.
>
> There are three level 6 PCs. Long story short, they awoke an ancient
> evil, now they gotta stop it blah blah *snore*. They're not yet aware
> of the magnitude of harm they've caused. They will be. *grin*
>
> Anyway, one of the PCs got himself killed with some astonishingly
> stupid tactics. He wants to come back as a mage. The problem is that
> the party is quite literally in the middle of _nowhere_ right now
> (well, a semi-abandoned city in the middle of a large desert,
> surrounded by an impassable jungle), so it's kinda tough to introduce
> new PCs.
>
> Hence my idea. I'm planning to have the PCs meet up with the big bad
> nasties they awakened (and their respective armies). Big bad nasties
> cause general havoc, nearly kill PCs. Suddenly, an epic archmage
> appears, nukes the armies with some Quickened Meteor Storms and such,
> turns to the party with anger flashing in his eyes, and asks them "what
> have you DONE?"
>
> Which is when the big nasties appear. Magical battle begins. End
> result: big nasties are driven off temporarily, archmage falls
> unconscious.
>
> This is when I'd call in the third player. He'd be playing the
> archmage, though the character won't remember anything (and
> accordingly, the player won't be told anything), and will only have the
> other characters' descriptions to help figure out who he is (answer:
> the mage who originally sealed the Ancient Evil [tm]). He'd also be
> severely weakened, to the tune of Level 6. Items too, naturally.
>
> This would certainly be dramatic, and would give me a lot of room for
> plot exposition (have some memories selectively return to the player at
> opportune times). It also makes level-ups kinda cool, again, more of a
> "slowly returning to your former power" thing.
>
> The problem: is this fun for the other players? The mage PC would kind
> of be the center of attention, he'd be recognized by NPCs (for good or
> ill), have cool premonitions and dreams, etc. I just don't want him to
> completely steal the show.
>
> Again, I'm not interested in whether any of this is _plausible_. I gave
> you guys the short version of the story; the details make a whole lot
> more sense in the long version. I'm just interested in whether it'll
> make the game _fun_.
>
> So, what do you all think? If you were another character in this game
> (NOT the mage), would you enjoy this, or would you feel upstaged by the
> mage? How can I avoid this?
>
> Ta,
>
> Laszlo
>
Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
"John Phillips" <jsphillips1@worldnet.att.net> wrote in message
news:zDXae.111250$cg1.96045@bgtnsc04-news.ops.worldnet.att.net...
>
> laszlo_spamhole wrote
>
> > An interesting story option cropped up in the latest game I'm running,
> > and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I usually trust my
> > sense of what's "on" and what's not, but I'm just not sure here. So
> > y'all are gonna help me.
> >
> > There are three level 6 PCs. Long story short, they awoke an ancient
> > evil, now they gotta stop it blah blah *snore*. They're not yet aware
> > of the magnitude of harm they've caused. They will be. *grin*
> >
> > Anyway, one of the PCs got himself killed with some astonishingly
> > stupid tactics. He wants to come back as a mage. The problem is that
> > the party is quite literally in the middle of _nowhere_ right now
> > (well, a semi-abandoned city in the middle of a large desert,
> > surrounded by an impassable jungle), so it's kinda tough to introduce
> > new PCs.
> >
> > Hence my idea. I'm planning to have the PCs meet up with the big bad
> > nasties they awakened (and their respective armies). Big bad nasties
> > cause general havoc, nearly kill PCs. Suddenly, an epic archmage
> > appears, nukes the armies with some Quickened Meteor Storms and such,
> > turns to the party with anger flashing in his eyes, and asks them "what
> > have you DONE?"
> >
> > Which is when the big nasties appear. Magical battle begins. End
> > result: big nasties are driven off temporarily, archmage falls
> > unconscious.
> >
> > This is when I'd call in the third player. He'd be playing the
> > archmage, though the character won't remember anything (and
> > accordingly, the player won't be told anything), and will only have the
> > other characters' descriptions to help figure out who he is (answer:
> > the mage who originally sealed the Ancient Evil [tm]). He'd also be
> > severely weakened, to the tune of Level 6. Items too, naturally.
> <snip>
>
> > So, what do you all think? If you were another character in this game
> > (NOT the mage), would you enjoy this, or would you feel upstaged by the
> > mage? How can I avoid this?
>
> How about letting the Epic Mage die or disappear in the battle, and have
the
> new PC be his apprentice who tagged along but stayed out of the fight.
>
>
I like John's idea here. This keeps the attention from being focused on the
new PC so much. This is the way I would do it.
DM
Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
laszlo_spamhole@freemail.hu wrote:
> An interesting story option cropped up in the latest game I'm running,
> and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I usually trust my
> sense of what's "on" and what's not, but I'm just not sure here. So
> y'all are gonna help me.
>
> There are three level 6 PCs. Long story short, they awoke an ancient
> evil, now they gotta stop it blah blah *snore*. They're not yet aware
> of the magnitude of harm they've caused. They will be. *grin*
>
<snip>
>
> Hence my idea. I'm planning to have the PCs meet up with the big bad
> nasties they awakened (and their respective armies). Big bad nasties
> cause general havoc, nearly kill PCs. Suddenly, an epic archmage
> appears, nukes the armies with some Quickened Meteor Storms and such,
> turns to the party with anger flashing in his eyes, and asks them "what
> have you DONE?"
>
> Which is when the big nasties appear. Magical battle begins. End
> result: big nasties are driven off temporarily, archmage falls
> unconscious.
>
> This is when I'd call in the third player. He'd be playing the
> archmage, though the character won't remember anything (and
> accordingly, the player won't be told anything), and will only have the
> other characters' descriptions to help figure out who he is (answer:
> the mage who originally sealed the Ancient Evil [tm]). He'd also be
> severely weakened, to the tune of Level 6. Items too, naturally.
>
<snip>
>
> So, what do you all think? If you were another character in this game
> (NOT the mage), would you enjoy this, or would you feel upstaged by the
> mage? How can I avoid this?
Actually reminds me of a similar campaign idea I had once- back in the
days of 2e. It was going to feature a psionicist that had a total wipe
of memory in a duel with a rival. But I never implemented the idea.
Of course, that idea was for that to be the driving force behind a
campaign rather than for it to be introduced into a campaign already in
progress. So anyone playing in such a campaign would have had fair warning.
In your case, I'd say bounce it off the players. Although one player
becomes a driving force for the plot line of the adventure, it doesn't
appear he would overshadow them anywhere else. The potential player of
the mage definitely needs input, as you'd be defining a large part of
his character for him.
Just remember that although the mage would be the pivotal character,
everyone else still has a role to play. Find ways to make it so that
the mage needs everyone else as much as they need the mage. And not
just in the "Fighters protect me, Clerics heal me, and rogues act as my
eyes and ears," sense. As a bare minimum, since the PCs released the
evil, perhaps the mage needs them to re-seal it.
And for the flip side, make sure there's a way for them to reseal the
evil without the mage. You know, in case the wizard is incapacitated...
or worse. <evil grin>
-Tialan
Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
<laszlo_spamhole@freemail.hu> wrote in message
news:1114389857.892495.229910@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com...
> An interesting story option cropped up in the latest game I'm running,
> and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I usually trust my
> sense of what's "on" and what's not, but I'm just not sure here. So
> y'all are gonna help me.
>
> There are three level 6 PCs. Long story short, they awoke an ancient
> evil, now they gotta stop it blah blah *snore*. They're not yet aware
> of the magnitude of harm they've caused. They will be. *grin*
>
> Anyway, one of the PCs got himself killed with some astonishingly
> stupid tactics. He wants to come back as a mage. The problem is that
> the party is quite literally in the middle of _nowhere_ right now
> (well, a semi-abandoned city in the middle of a large desert,
> surrounded by an impassable jungle), so it's kinda tough to introduce
> new PCs.
>
> Hence my idea. I'm planning to have the PCs meet up with the big bad
> nasties they awakened (and their respective armies). Big bad nasties
> cause general havoc, nearly kill PCs. Suddenly, an epic archmage
> appears, nukes the armies with some Quickened Meteor Storms and such,
> turns to the party with anger flashing in his eyes, and asks them "what
> have you DONE?"
>
> Which is when the big nasties appear. Magical battle begins. End
> result: big nasties are driven off temporarily, archmage falls
> unconscious.
So the PCs will just watch as the Deus-ex-Machina saves them.
Boring, especially if you play it out at all.
>
> This is when I'd call in the third player. He'd be playing the
> archmage, though the character won't remember anything (and
> accordingly, the player won't be told anything), and will only have the
> other characters' descriptions to help figure out who he is (answer:
> the mage who originally sealed the Ancient Evil [tm]). He'd also be
> severely weakened, to the tune of Level 6. Items too, naturally.
>
> This would certainly be dramatic, and would give me a lot of room for
> plot exposition (have some memories selectively return to the player at
> opportune times). It also makes level-ups kinda cool, again, more of a
> "slowly returning to your former power" thing.
>
> The problem: is this fun for the other players? The mage PC would kind
> of be the center of attention, he'd be recognized by NPCs (for good or
> ill), have cool premonitions and dreams, etc. I just don't want him to
> completely steal the show.
Why should the new guy be the center of attention?
Is that fair to the other players who weren't astonishly stupid?
>
> Again, I'm not interested in whether any of this is _plausible_. I gave
> you guys the short version of the story; the details make a whole lot
> more sense in the long version. I'm just interested in whether it'll
> make the game _fun_.
>
> So, what do you all think? If you were another character in this game
> (NOT the mage), would you enjoy this, or would you feel upstaged by the
> mage? How can I avoid this?
>
I wouldn't like it that much.
Why wouldn't the mage try to have his memory restored?
Why wouldn't he have high-power items/etc?
Ask the players for ideas on how the new PC can join them.
They'll be better at coming up with ideas than us, since they
know the campaign setting, and what's plausible to them.
Geoff.
Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
laszlo_spamhole@freemail.hu wrote in
news:1114389857.892495.229910@l41g2000cwc.googlegroups.com:
> An interesting story option cropped up in the latest game I'm
> running, and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I
> usually trust my sense of what's "on" and what's not, but I'm
> just not sure here. So y'all are gonna help me.
<snip>
Have the Archmage appear with his apprentices and their
apprentices. The PC is an apprentice of an apprentice. This is so
that the PC doesn't know too much. Have all be destroyed except
for the PC (clever PCs may search and find a few magical
trinkets). The PCs then face the question of tackling the evil
directly, now it's weakened, or finding the Archmage's Clone to
take care of it. In the latter case, they have to journey to the
tower of the PC's old master, find the clues to where the
Archmage's tower is located, journey there, defeat the defenses,
find that the Archmage's Clone has been destroyed, read the lore
on how to defeat the evil, then go back and do the job properly.
And they have adventures along the way.
Just for laughs, you may consider having the new PC be from such a
foreign land that there is no language in common, so instead of
having the new PC at level 5, have him at just under level 5, so
he levels up after 1 or 2 sessions and spends a skill point on his
new language. Discuss with the player beforehand, though.
Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
laszlo_spamhole@freemail.hu wrote:
> An interesting story option cropped up in the latest game I'm
running,
> and I was wondering what you guys think about it. I usually trust my
> sense of what's "on" and what's not, but I'm just not sure here. So
> y'all are gonna help me.
<snip>
Thanks for all the input. The apprentice idea is interesting, and I may
go with that... thing is, while it doesn't come with the problems of my
original idea, it also doesn't come with a lot of the fun drama and RP
opportunities.
Hm. Still undecided. I guess I'll talk to my players, go with my gut,
and see what happens.
Laszlo
Archived from groups: rec.games.frp.dnd (More info?)
Quentin Stephens wrote:
> "decalod85" <decalod85@comcast.net> wrote in
>>Perhaps the only reason this new PC survives is because he
>>cowers at the rear while the Archmage and his apprentices are
>>fighting the evil. Cowardice is always an interesting character
>>trait in a hero.
> Possibly - or gets hit with a Fear effect.
Sure, that's what _he_ says.
--
"... respect, all good works are not done by only good folk ..."
--till next time, Jameson Stalanthas Yu -x- <<poetry.dolphins-cove.com>>
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