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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
 Posted - 23 May 2005 : 18:25:26
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Well met, all!
I would be very interested to hear how you have introduced new characters in exciting ways in your campaigns.
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"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2005 : 18:54:24
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I will tell how my current character (a human fighter) came into our Waterdeep campaign (which has been running for 11 years now) some years ago.
My latest character (half-elven druid/fighter) had been slain by Tanta Hagara (a long story). Some weeks had passed after his demise, and the other players waited anxiously to see what kind of character I had come up with. I had informed them that I was considering a dwarven cleric 
So we gathered for the next session at my friend´s house. The others began the session, while I sat in my friend´s bedroom pouring through various sourcebooks (interrupting gameplay occasionally to juggle some questions at our DM about dwarves).
After an hour or so, our DM described how a noble carriage was approaching the manorhouse (rented from the Thann family by our characters). "A noble carriage - you´re not kidding us?" one of the players confirmed from the DM.
We were playing a quite "low-fantasy" campaign (which was slowly steering towards more "traditional" D&D), so meeting nobles was considered an honor, and we had always been very polite and careful around them.
So, all the characters went into a frenzy. "I will put on my best robes - you know, those with the gold embroidery!" "I will polish my breastplate! Do I have time for that?" etcetera.
A tall, well-dressed nobleman with a regal bearing stepped out of the carriage, his right hand resting on the hilt of a jeweled two-handed sword.
"Looks like someone important..." (I could almost see the other players grinning among themselves)
I was listening to all this in the bedroom (pretending to be creating my new character), and our DM called for me as the nobleman was knocking on the manor´s front doors. I went to the living room and he handed me the character sheet. The others didn´t know that I had been playing a solo campaign for two weeks with my new character, who happened to be this mysterious nobleman.
I sat down, and introduced my character while the other players just stared at me in utter disbelief. Then they started complaining. "Nooo, why did you let him create a nobleman! That´s unfair!" (the other characters came from modest backgrounds as children of cooks, lamplighters, fishermen etc.).
Indeed, for years I demanded (and was given) proper respect as was only fitting due to my noble heritage. They had to address me as "Sir", but eventually most of them were also ennobled by the City for their heroic services, which naturally changed all this... *sigh*
This memory still makes me smile, thinking back on that moment when the realisation slowly dawned on them... that there would be no dwarven cleric in the party  |
"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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Bendal
Seeker
USA
54 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2005 : 22:29:09
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One of my players left the group abruptly, and another joined after the group had already been established. The PC's were engaged in tracking down some bandits who had taken over a ranch for winter quarters, and had taken the residents captive prior to selling them for slaves later. I discussed this with the new player, and introduced her character (a fighter) as one of the captives. He had been a low level fighter whose party had been killed in the Evermoors, and he had decided perhaps a more relaxed career as a farmhand/guard would be a better idea.
Once the PC's freed him and the others, though, they asked him if he would help them in their final battles with the bandits, and he agreed. Finding he still liked the feel of adventure, he decided to join up with the group and remains with them still.
The player liked this origin for him and worked it into his skills as well (riding, ranged combat, etc) that he would have learned on the ranch as well as his prior experience as an adventurer. |
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Fletcher
Learned Scribe
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 23 May 2005 : 23:47:57
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I have introduced characters through many avenues. A few of them are:
Joined them for a specific quest and just hung around.
PC’s rescued a group of prisoners, and one of them demanded/begged/cajoled his way into being able to stick around to protect his savior/s for a year. He just ended up sticking around much longer.
An employer introduced a new person as a part of the employment contract.
In the middle of a fight someone comes to the aid of the party.
In searching for information about a particular topic they run across person xxx who joins.
If you want to make the party feel old, the child of one of the retired adventurers has joined the group equipped with some of the previous party member’s stuff. How must that feel to have a drinking buddies child hanging around....
They just hired the new PC as a mercenary.
Met the other party just after they had achieved the goal ahead of the party.
Heard about the person and asked the new PC to join. “We so need a magic user if we are going to go there!”
‘Cause my god/church/commander says I must bring him!”
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Run faster! The Kobolds are catching up! |
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
Posted - 24 May 2005 : 15:20:12
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quote:
Originally posted by Fletcher
I have introduced characters through many avenues. A few of them are:
Joined them for a specific quest and just hung around.
PC’s rescued a group of prisoners, and one of them demanded/begged/cajoled his way into being able to stick around to protect his savior/s for a year. He just ended up sticking around much longer.
An employer introduced a new person as a part of the employment contract.
In the middle of a fight someone comes to the aid of the party.
In searching for information about a particular topic they run across person xxx who joins.
If you want to make the party feel old, the child of one of the retired adventurers has joined the group equipped with some of the previous party member’s stuff. How must that feel to have a drinking buddies child hanging around....
They just hired the new PC as a mercenary.
Met the other party just after they had achieved the goal ahead of the party.
Heard about the person and asked the new PC to join. “We so need a magic user if we are going to go there!”
‘Cause my god/church/commander says I must bring him!”
Sounds good... indeed there are many ways to bring new PCs into the campaign. I think we have also most of these avenues, though lately our DM has been a bit lazy (="There seems to be a single table available in the taproom" etc.) |
"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
Posted - 24 May 2005 : 15:36:34
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quote:
Originally posted by Bendal
One of my players left the group abruptly, and another joined after the group had already been established. The PC's were engaged in tracking down some bandits who had taken over a ranch for winter quarters, and had taken the residents captive prior to selling them for slaves later. I discussed this with the new player, and introduced her character (a fighter) as one of the captives. He had been a low level fighter whose party had been killed in the Evermoors, and he had decided perhaps a more relaxed career as a farmhand/guard would be a better idea.
Once the PC's freed him and the others, though, they asked him if he would help them in their final battles with the bandits, and he agreed. Finding he still liked the feel of adventure, he decided to join up with the group and remains with them still.
The player liked this origin for him and worked it into his skills as well (riding, ranged combat, etc) that he would have learned on the ranch as well as his prior experience as an adventurer.
This reminds me of the time we were seeking after some important piece of information, and heard about a mad hermit who lived in the fringes of the High Forest. This mad "druid" was originally a respected nobleman of Waterdeep, who finally got tired of the "madness" of civilization, and vanished into the northern woods.
None of us would have guessed that this old "woodsman" was a psionicist, and also the newest addition to our group, as one of our players had grown tired of playing a cleric (and thus had created a new character in secret). Shortly put, we were about as astonished as the others had been when my fighter came along (as I described above)
So we had been searching for a "long-lost", weird old nobleman NPC in the High Forest, whom we naturally assumed to be a druid. Turns out he is a player character, and a psionicist to boot. That was a cool way to bring a new (and exciting) PC into the group, and quite innovative on part of our DM and the player in question  |
"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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KnightErrantJR
Great Reader
USA
5402 Posts |
Posted - 24 May 2005 : 16:12:19
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Since I am the DM in every group I am involved with, its falls to be to form the framing structure for introducing everybody, sometime with input from my PCs, sometimes not.
In the game I run for my kids, when my daughter's paladin entered the group, it was Highharvestide and the other PCs were in the Yawning Portal Inn, and there was no room for her to sit, so she sat at the table with them. I was funny, becuase as soon as food was brought to their table, the paladin made the other PCs say grace. It was a good start to the relationship.
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
Posted - 24 May 2005 : 20:08:29
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quote:
Originally posted by KnightErrantJR
Since I am the DM in every group I am involved with, its falls to be to form the framing structure for introducing everybody, sometime with input from my PCs, sometimes not.
In the game I run for my kids, when my daughter's paladin entered the group, it was Highharvestide and the other PCs were in the Yawning Portal Inn, and there was no room for her to sit, so she sat at the table with them. I was funny, becuase as soon as food was brought to their table, the paladin made the other PCs say grace. It was a good start to the relationship.
Sounds familiar  When I introduce new PCs in my campaign, I try to do it as naturally as possible (depending on the circumstances, of course). Usually it´s the inn, but I try hard to get rid of that method
Once I had a new bard PC whom I wished to be introduced into the party as a petrified statue in an underground cult lair (as related to a story hook in the campaign, petrified and sold to the cult by a Zhentarim wizard). Sadly, the player moved away before he joined the group, but I guess I will have to use that hook in the future... |
"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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Xysma
Master of Realmslore
USA
1089 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2005 : 15:43:44
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The very first time I played 3ed (after a fairly long hiatus from D&D)I joined a group who had recently started a new campaign, and were at around 2nd level. I decided to play a half-orc fighter named Trask. Trask had an intelligence of 6, so we was rather dim. This is the first thing I ever saw or heard in the Realms: "You wake up lying on your back staring at an unfamiliar stone ceiling. You feel stonework beneath you, and your axe lies on the stone next to you. You don't recognize anything as you look around, and you are not certain how you came to this place. As you look around, you see a young human dressed in robes come running your way."
"Help! Please help!" the human cries. "There's a terrible demon chasing me, he's disguised as a halfling!" The human does some prestidigitations, "My magic is useless against it, please, save us, he's right around that corner!"
So, with his 6 intelligence and 20 strength, Trask ran around the corner and sure enough, there was the demon disguised as a halfling. Trask proceeded to kill the demon... in one hit.
I later found out that the human wizard my friend was playing just hated the halfling, saw the dumb orc lying there and decided it would be funny to scare the crap out of the halfling. He didn't really mean for the halfling to be killed, he assumed that the halfling would flee. Unfortunately, he never got a chance. The guy that was playing the halfling got so mad that he got up, made the DM drive him home, and never played with us again. |
War to slay, not to fight long and glorious.
Aermhar of the Tangletrees
Year of the Hooded Falcon
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Guide to the Tomes and Tales of the Realms download from Candlekeep
Anthologies and Tales Overviews
Check out my custom action figures, hand-painted miniatures, gaming products, and other stuff on eBay.
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36804 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2005 : 17:08:02
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quote:
Originally posted by Xysma
The guy that was playing the halfling got so mad that he got up, made the DM drive him home, and never played with us again.
I hate to say it, but I think the DM failed right there. He should not have allowed a character to die like that. |
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Fletcher
Learned Scribe
USA
299 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2005 : 19:42:59
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Xysma
The guy that was playing the halfling got so mad that he got up, made the DM drive him home, and never played with us again.
I hate to say it, but I think the DM failed right there. He should not have allowed a character to die like that.
i agree, I also think that the player who had issues with the hafling should have come up with a less violent way of solving his issues. Perhaps convincing the player to switch characters would be a better choice? Bribery works fairly well in my experience.
"I promise you the first pick of magic items for the firt 5 hauls..."
"OK, OK, you can play a half troll half kobold bard. Sheesh!" |
Run faster! The Kobolds are catching up! |
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Xysma
Master of Realmslore
USA
1089 Posts |
Posted - 25 May 2005 : 20:40:00
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quote:
Originally posted by Fletcher
quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Xysma
The guy that was playing the halfling got so mad that he got up, made the DM drive him home, and never played with us again.
I hate to say it, but I think the DM failed right there. He should not have allowed a character to die like that.
i agree, I also think that the player who had issues with the hafling should have come up with a less violent way of solving his issues. Perhaps convincing the player to switch characters would be a better choice? Bribery works fairly well in my experience.
"I promise you the first pick of magic items for the firt 5 hauls..."
"OK, OK, you can play a half troll half kobold bard. Sheesh!"
Fletcher and Wooly, let me say that I agree with you both, and I would not have allowed it in any of my games; however, the player in question was a real jerk and constantly tried to screw up the game, undermine the DM, get the party killed, steal treasure, etc. and no amount of civilized discussion would make him stop. I think they both wanted him to quit playing, but nobody wanted to be the one to tell him. Personally, I only played with the guy for three or four minutes before my character killed his, and I had never met him before, so I didn't have anything against him personally, I just did what I thought my character would do.
That brings up another question, but I'll make a new thread for it. |
War to slay, not to fight long and glorious.
Aermhar of the Tangletrees
Year of the Hooded Falcon
Xysma's Gallery
Guide to the Tomes and Tales of the Realms download from Candlekeep
Anthologies and Tales Overviews
Check out my custom action figures, hand-painted miniatures, gaming products, and other stuff on eBay.
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Asgetrion
Master of Realmslore
Finland
1564 Posts |
Posted - 28 May 2005 : 21:46:55
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quote:
Originally posted by Wooly Rupert
quote:
Originally posted by Xysma
The guy that was playing the halfling got so mad that he got up, made the DM drive him home, and never played with us again.
I hate to say it, but I think the DM failed right there. He should not have allowed a character to die like that.
I agree. The DM should have talked to the wizard´s player, and asked him if he is aware of possible consequences. Since I am not familiar with the background of the issues between the wizard and the halfling (or their alignments, demeanor etc.), I cannot say if the wizard acted "out of character", but certainly he crossed the line. As a DM I would have stopped the play before the wizard had time to pull that "joke" on the halfling. Or maybe used an unexpected encounter right there...
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"What am I doing today? Ask me tomorrow - I can be sure of giving you the right answer then."
-- Askarran of Selgaunt, Master Sage, speaking to a curious merchant, Year of the Helm |
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Introducing new characters
