Well, I think I have enough information from my players to begin develloping a relationship map for my new HeroQuest campaign.

So far I have six players, four of which have presented me with character concepts. All of them have quite a bit of dramatic potential, and I will summarize them below.

This is the information I gave them:

"City of 10,000 Magicians (small) 4,000
This ancient city was built during the height of EWF power in the region as a centre of magical research, facilitated by its location on the head of a deeply buried true dragon and the magical energies from its slumbering mind give any magics performed in the city both a boost in power as well as a potentially curved result that can lead to breakthroughs and interesting research options.

However, the Dragon is only slumbering, and the magicians in the city long ago determined that the dragon would surface to "snack" should a large enough magical concentration arouse its hunger, something that is closely monitored. Through extensive research they determined that the magical energy of 10000 ordinary magicians (ie around 5w in power) when focussed in the city would be enough to cause the dragon to rise and eat the city. Unfortunately many of the magicians in the city are significantly stronger than 5w and this has to be taken into account, as has the magical energy of any bound spirits, daimons, magical items etc when determining the number of magicians in the city. Therefore the only way into the city, is to either have no magic or to replace an existing occupant. In addition the would be entrant can only replace a person who dies who is of a comparable energy level to them. Those with sufficient wealth can literally buy their way in because there are always magicians in the city who would leave given sufficient enducement. There are always those who have finished their studies for the most part and would move on. Others get thrown out due to running short of funds - everything in the city is extremely expensive, rent, food and entertainment - or scholarly indiscretions.

Within an old hillfort outside but within sight of the towering city walls there is a town built to house the many scholars, often from distant lands, who patiently wait their turn to enter the city. The town is called Veyerm in Old Wyrmish, meaning "Expectation".

The city council, known as the Keepers of the Muse supports the city through the revenues gained from the scholars who come to the city. Food and other sundries enter the city thanks to a special caste of locals called the Nulled, men and women with no magical power who wear a collar that both donates their status and stops them learning any magic while wearing it.

The Lunar College of Magic has a strong presence in the city that increases every year, meaning less and less spaces for other expectant scholars. This has caused some scuffles in Veyerm due to the very strong passions among those awaiting entry who see their places filled by Lunar potentates.

The city is heavily defended with potent magics, Wyvern riders, who form the elite Muse Guard 200 strong, and walls built at the height of EWF power and knowledge."

I also told them I needed three things from them in their characters.
1. They had to have some sort of past life which was having a definite affect on their modern day life.
2. They had to have some reason for wanting to get into the City of 10,000 Magicians
3. They have to have some sort of relationship with at least one of the other characters in the group.


Of those three things, #1 is the least important one, and I already have two characters who probably will not have it.

So far I have recieved four character concepts:
Scott (who played the Esrolian Scholar in my winter campaign) is playing a Lunar Wizard (member of the Cerise Church). He came up with the idea that he would have been so heavily Lunarized that he isn't really a member of any of the Empire's component cultures. He grew up in Glamour, etc. so we will be coming up with a City of Glamour keyword to represent this.
His character's goal is centered around the conflict between the Lunars and the Orlanthi. He wants to prove that Orlanth, which is the only entity thus far that has failed to achieve this distinction, is part of the Lunar Way. He is seeking to gain entrance into the City of 10,000 Magicians as a means to work towards the first part of this goal. He believes that by entering the city he will be able to gain access to the city's collected knowledge including some sort of HeroQuest which will allow him to accomplish what he wishes.
Potential conflicts regarding this goal arise from the fact that the Lunar Empire, for the most part, doesn't want for this to happen. They would much rather have it so Orlanth is cast down, bound, or destroyed. So he will have to resolve conflicts between the traditonal view of the Lunar Way and Orlanth, and how to deal with the Orlanthi, and his own views of how to handle the situation.

Chris is playing a Darjiini Warrior with Dragon Magic. He sees his character as being a dragonnewt who got reincarnated into an alternative, "wrong" path resulting in him becoming a human. He now wishes to reunite with his draconic heritage and take a short cut through the traditional Dragonnewt proccess to become a dragon. He wishes to become a dragon in this one lifetime.
I am handling his Dragon Magic by giving him initial access to five of the abilities lister under the Scout and Warrior Dragonnewt and the potential to purchase more just like you purchase abilities from other magic types. In order to get the Dragonnewt Noble abilities he will have to increase his Reincranated Dragonnewt, Dragonnewt Philosophy, and Dragon Magic abilities to 10w. In order to get access to the Dragonnewt Ruler abilities he will have to get those three abilities up to 1w2 and perform an appropriate HeroQuest. I haven't yet decided on how he would become a dragon but I think that its going to involve him willingly performing utumu on himself. I am not sure whether I am going to make him buy up each of these draconic abilities as seperate abilities or make it so he can just increase Dragon Magic. I am thinking of just letting him improve dragon magic, but not let him use dragon magic itself as an improvised ability.
Also at some point I am going to reveal that in order to get access to the higher level abilities he is going to need to start buying down his personality traits (and stop using his magic. ::cackles::). Otherwise he is too deeply ingrained in the world and thus unable to truly understand and use higher level draconic magic.

Conflicts arise between this goals and the ties to his culture. How far is he willing to go in order to become a dragon? Is rejecting his humanity and his people really worth the power that comes from being a dragon?
He wishes to enter the City of 10,000 Magicians in order to gain access to its storehouse of draconic lore. (Maybe this would be a good avenue for him to find out his need to overcome his personality traits AND his use of magic)

Mary (who played the Calandran Devotee of Babeester Gor in the winter campaign) is playing a Lunar Sylilian Scholar Initiate of Zaytenera (the White Moon).

Her character is the reincarnation of an ancient Saird demigod who was herself an incarnation of the Red Woman, an aspect of Vinga and one of the martial protecters of Saird. Her incarnation was around when Saird fell and now the memories of that past life are rising again as well as a rising destiny for her to recreate the old realm. An old divine companion, in the form of a dog (which was sacred to the Sairdites), has even showed up as an active manifestation of this, encouraging her to embrace her destiny. She doesn't want to do this. She wants a normal life and has taken to the worship of Zaytenera and Lunarization in an attempt to refute the hold of destiny on her and eventually be able to transcend it.

Obvious conflicts exist there. :P
She is seeking to gain entrance to the city at the behest of her patron (and sponsor into Lunar citizenship), a Dara Happan noble who knows of her previous incarnation past and wishes to cause the rise of Saird for his own reasons.

Lisa (who played the Puma Person Hunter in the winter campaign) is playing a young Lunar Dara Happan Petty Noble Devotee of Selven Hara. She is very much following the archtype of the unhappy, repressed noble girl who wants to go out and travel and adventure. She is going to have to deal with conflicts relating between her own personal desires and the duties required of her as a Lunar citizen and an adult? Will she grow up in the face of adversity or will she always continue as a petty, air-headed rich little girl?

She knows Mary's character and is in fact the daughter of the same noble that is sponsoring Mary's character. Her reason for being in the City of 10,000 Magicians is that she has fled her home city to follow Mary's character and go on the "big adventure" with her.

As far as the relationship map goes, currently I have one and only one character. The Imperial Lunar College magician who is responsible for determining who is allowed to enter into the City of 10,000 Magicians.

The Noble who is sponsoring Mary's character and has fathered Lisa's character would also be appropriate for this map but I am not sure if he is going to be present or not. The main plausible reason I could have for him being here is that he came in order to use his influence in order to make sure that Mary's character gets into the city. This could also lead to all kinds of fun situations as Lisa interacts with "daddy" and Lisa's character gets caught in the middle...

So maybe I will include him.

I have a few other, less formed ideas, but I will save them for my next post. Any suggestions, comments or ideas based on this?

Does it appear I am heading in the right direction?

Jesse Dean

Sounds great so far.

How did the two linked characters get linked? Who's idea was that? Just curious because it sounds like group creation. Did you have a session for that, or a mailing list or something?

Mike

At the beginning of the last AU session I brought it up and introduced each character's character concept. Lisa suggested that as a link between their two characters, and I saw it as reasonable.

Why? Is that a good or bad thing?

Good thing. It means that the players are thinking in terms of making for a more interesting story. They understand that by linking the characters that they'll have more character intersection.

The thing is that, waaay back at the beginning of the last thread, you may remember that I lamented that you had them make up their characters in isolation. I will now lament again. If they had made them in a group situation, then there would have been more of this stuff. What happens is that everybody grooves off each other, and the result is a set of characters that everyone can appreciate. One of the problems with your last game, I'd hazard, is that I don't think the players cared much about what happened to the other player's characters. Making it hard to keep their attention and entertain them when their characters weren't active. Hence why they all wanted to be "on screen" all the time.

If you make an ensemble that everyone enjoys, I think it goes a long way to ensuring that this problem doesn't occur as much.

Still, good news that they're working these things out anyhow.

Mike

Yeah, well we are making basic concepts at this point (so I can get started making the relationship map). I am going to have them do actual character creation on Tuesday before my AU game. Hopefully this will allow them to start establishing relationships with each other's characters.

Hi Jesse,

It seems like a great beginning for a great campaign. I do have a couple of ideas, but it is late, so most will have to wait until tomorrow. One thing though:

You most definitely want to buy the upcoming Masters of Luck and Death.

Servants of the Almighty Dragons is a perfect match for your campaign. It is a hero band (written by *ahem* me), dedicated to everything draconic. They also have a secret goal that youfs seamlessly with the Darjiini Warrior. You will also find a little extra information about Auld Wyrmish (unless it has been cut in the editing process). I also think that many of the other bands in that book may be inspiring.

I know it sounds ridiculous to recomend a product that is not out yet, but I do think you will find it useful.

Cheers,

/Peter N

Cool, I was interested in it but I thought all of the hero bands were going to be Dragon Pass-focused.

Anything else you think I might find useful in there? ;)

I look forward to your further ideas. :)


Jesse Dean

Well, I met with my players tonight and my final two players made their characters.

Brian is playing a Tarshite Merchant Worshipper of the Provincial Church of the Seven Mothers. He is part of a larger Tarshite organization of gemstone traders and has come to the City of 10,000 Magicians for two reasons. One is to pursue information about the dreams of a woman who is beckoning to him, haunting his sleep and waking thoughts alike. He also wishes to try to extend his family's gemstone trade into the city. Much to my lack of surprise he doesn't have a particularly complex character. He will probably be the most difficult to create bangs for.

Sam is playing a Carmanian (Spolite) Thief (Tomb Robber Specialization) Initiate of Teelo Norri. For those of you who do not feel like looking it up, here is a brief description of her...

"Teelo Norri
Young Life

An innocent orphan from the streets of Blessed Torang, she is now the cupbearer to the Red Goddess. Her cult maintains the Fund for the Poor Movement, and performs many charitable works, providing a corn dole to the destitute and running poorhouses and orphanages throughout the Empire."

So you can see tons of potential conflicts right there. He is coming to the City of 10K Magicians because of a curse inflicted upon him in a past (Pelandan) life by Daak after he abandoned Daak and refused to murder and pillage at an orphanage of Teelo Norri. Upon his old incarnations death he escaped the curse but, while robbing a Spolite tomb, he reactivated it, resulting in the old daimon who haunted him to find him again. He is now cursed to become sick if he ever lives in one are for too long (or returns to the Western Reaches). Another conflict is between the fact that he looks down on Pelandans but was a Pelandan in a past life...
He knows the Lunar Wizard because after he first became cursed he saught him out in order to get the curse removed. The Lunar Wizard didn't know how to remove it but suggested that perhaps the magicians of the City of 10K Magicians might be able to help. So they traveled there together.

So those are the final two characters. We have a pretty interesting cast so far and I can see quite a few interesting conflicts arising from it.

Some trends I have noticed is that this group seems to be built for wandering all over the Empire.
We have one character who follows a travel goddess, one who is cursed so he can't stay in one place, a merchant, and someone who is looking for old draconic lore.

I have also had several players express in an interest in them forging a coherent group. So I need to find some way to help them move in that direction. I am sure that they will find some excuses to do it IC, but I would like to built some NPCs that will help to facilitate this.

I also need to come up with some information on the keyword of Teelo Norri. I have the Scott working out the details of the crunchy bits of his Wizard Order, but Sam isn't nearly as familiar with rules as Scott, so I am hesitant to have him do it. Maybe affinities for Protection, Innocence, and Youth? Any other suggestions? He is definitely a non-traditional member of the cult. Interestingly enough, despite being an anti-social thief, he is the person in the group with the most relationships.

After some further discussion with Sam, (and me pointing out the fact that Teelo Norri was a goddess for children) Sam switched his veneration to Rufelza. He still has the Teelo Norri connection, but he is no longer a worshipper of her.

Howdy,

I have been informed by the hidden masters that the info about Auld Wyrmish is still in the MoLaD book. The book will be shipping to distributors next week, and available in stores and at www.warehouse23.com by the end of the month.

doubtofbuddha wrote: Cool, I was interested in it but I thought all of the hero bands were going to be Dragon Pass-focused.

doubtofbuddha wrote: Anything else you think I might find useful in there? ;)

And the non-plugging related items you mentioned? ;)


Jesse

doubtofbuddha wrote: After some further discussion with Sam, (and me pointing out the fact that Teelo Norri was a goddess for children) Sam switched his veneration to Rufelza. He still has the Teelo Norri connection, but he is no longer a worshipper of her.

From what I could gather from the information on the web it seems that Teelo Norri's worshippers of that type are basically nuns. They have to be virgins and swear a vow of chastity, etc.

Besides, he can still have the sort of relationship with the priesthood and orphanages you suggested without being an actual cultist.

Oh and from his description it seems to be more of a protective and helpful role. He was cursed by Daak in a past life because of the fact that he refused to perform vile deeds on the orphans. The curse has extended into this life and is now a principle motivating for his character. He wants to have the curse removed. His connection with the orphans also still affects him, and has led to his embracing the Lunar Way. Apparently its not enough for him to cast off his profession as a thief though.

Alright, so I now have my 6 players with their player character concepts (and two with actually completed characters), so I can begin working on the basis of the Relationship Map.

Thus far I have three characters which I will have serve as the basis for the relationship map. From these three I will expand until I have an entire map ready for the first session.

I see Veyerm, the town in which the game is going to be starting as a very transitory place. People are constantly coming, in order to try to get into the City of 10K Magicians or trade with it, and leaving, after having finished their studies or grown tired of waiting to get in.

The relationship map should hilight this. Though the characters present will have the blood, sex, and featly ties discussed in the previous thread, there should be fewer ties connecting the characters. Only a few individuals, who are here because of the town, rather than because of the City of 10K Magicians, will have any sort of extensive network.

The first character is Ordandavesh, a Lunar Dara Happan Wizard of the Makabean Order (and member of the Imperial College of Magicians). He is the individual responsible for determining who gets in and out of the city. Supposedly this is based on the length of time a particular scholar has been waiting and the "importance of the research to the Empire" but in reality it depends alot on how influential a scholar (or his friends) are, or how much the scholar is willing to pay Ordandavesh to get into the city. The PCs will be interacting with him in order to gain access to the city, and will probably meet each other first as they meet with him.

The second character is Yrsa Sevendaughter, a Provincial (Aggarite) Warrior Devotee of Vinga (aspect undetermined yet). She is a rebel, but a smart rebel, in that rather than simply rise up and strike at Lunar military units or raid the steads of Lunar-allied clans, she is going for a much bigger goal. She is aware of the City of 10,000 Magicians secret and figures that by awakening the dragon (and thus destroying the city) she will be able to strike a significant blow against the Lunar Empire. The only problem is getting into the city incognito. She will thus be visiting Ordandavesh in order to achieve this.

The third character is Khorkenus, a Lunar Dara Happan Noble Initiate of Natha. This is Lisa's character's father and Mary's character's patron. His goal is to get Mary's character into the city. Why? Because he wishes for Mary's character to follow through with her destiny and recreate the kingdom of Saird, only as a province of the Empire. I am not sure exactly what exactly he is going to want her to do within the confines of the city, but I am leaning towards having her deliver a correspondence to a scholar friend of his and do some of her own research on what the City's records say about Saird. His presence is complicated by the fact that his adventerous daughter came out to follow her father and her friend. I am thinking that the first scene of the adventure will be her being spotted by them with Khorkenus attempting to convince his daughter that she should go home. This really doesn't seem likely to be a bang though, as there aren't any choices here. If she has her character go home she will be out of the game.

Next up, I will try to expand the relationship map by building a few more major members of the relationship map and beginning to forge connections between them, so it actually seems like a relationship map rather than a set of unrelated characters.

Thoughts?

Looks good so far. You won't really be able to nail things down until you have a better handle on the PCs (like more followers to include, and issues to exploit).

Mike

Well, after last night, most of the characters, with one exception are pretty much done.

I am just waiting for the final paragraph for Lisa's character. I am awaiting alot of stuff from Scott's character, but thats because he is making his own homeland and magical keywords.

This is Chris's: http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/91617.html

This is Brian's:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/91244.html

This is Sam's: http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/91002.html

I will have Mary post her character sheet ASAP and will fill out my thoughts on each character's conflicts and how to include followers tonight..

OK, looking at the characters, one thing that you'll find is that "goals" don't equate to character issues neccessarily. That is, they often are one sided tellings of the story. Like you said, for the guy who wants to be a dragon, the issue is what he has to give up. So the purpose of NPCs it seems to me is to be a means to becoming a dragon, or to be something that he'd have to give up. The first is easy, the second is hard. Basically, since the character has set a goal, it's harder to grab him on the side of remaining a character. So the real hard part is figuring out how to make him become attached to the folks who need him. That is for the NPCs who grab him, how do they become something that will be hard to let go of?

For Bavastaros, I don't see any issue clearly shouting out for NPCs to attack, but there's a couple that seem possible. For example, he seems very concerned with his position and such. You could make NPCs all about wanting him to be normal and in his place with others having information about the Dream Woman. So it then becomes a conflict between his drive to find this person, and maintaining his normal position in life.

For the thief, I'm seeing draws on his greed as distracting him from his goal of getting rid of the curse. Some NPCs should grrab him in terms of tracking down that goal, and others should work against those people appealing to his greed.

Make sense?

Mike

Have been horribly busy, but got player #4 to post her character:
http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/92723.html?view=528435#t528435

I will post more later.

Fated?

I that as broad as it sounds, or is there some Glorantha reference which would narrow it?

Mike

Well, basically I was going with the idea that her character has a specific Fate which I have yet to decide. Her main conflict is going to be between her character and the fate that is being thrust upon her.

Its not a happy sort of ability and its mostly something I will be using. (Though I will be using it both for and against her).

So the intent is to narrow it down via play? That's cool. I assume that you allowed this as a flaw for free? If not, I'd do so immediately. Which means that the player is allowed to boost it up to whatever level they like. I think it'd be more fun at a nice fat jucy level. At 13 it looks just tacked on.

"Oh, and I'm slightly Fated." ;-)

I've really started to enjoy egging players on into taking really large Flaw levels.

Mike

Oh yeah its free. I let her take it as one of her flaws.

Hmmm.....I honestly did not realize that it was only at a 13.

I will instruct her to increase it though. :)

Actually I have a rough idea of what the Fate is going to be (I have discussed it with the player), I am just uncertain as to the specifics.

Basically its going to be focused on her incarnational ties to Saird and the Red Woman cult and her sidekick's desire to recreate Saird, carving it out from the Empire.

Her patron wants Saird to be recreated, but as part of the Empire. If he can bring it about he could probably use his influence to gain control over it bringing himself, and his allies, the mystical power that would come with a recreated Saird.

So it will be something based on her taking a role in the recreation of Saird and her previous mythic role. Its just the specifics that we have not worked out. :)

Mike Holmes wrote: OK, looking at the characters, one thing that you'll find is that "goals" don't equate to character issues neccessarily. That is, they often are one sided tellings of the story. Like you said, for the guy who wants to be a dragon, the issue is what he has to give up. So the purpose of NPCs it seems to me is to be a means to becoming a dragon, or to be something that he'd have to give up. The first is easy, the second is hard. Basically, since the character has set a goal, it's harder to grab him on the side of remaining a character. So the real hard part is figuring out how to make him become attached to the folks who need him. That is for the NPCs who grab him, how do they become something that will be hard to let go of?

For Bavastaros, I don't see any issue clearly shouting out for NPCs to attack, but there's a couple that seem possible. For example, he seems very concerned with his position and such. You could make NPCs all about wanting him to be normal and in his place with others having information about the Dream Woman. So it then becomes a conflict between his drive to find this person, and maintaining his normal position in life.

For the thief, I'm seeing draws on his greed as distracting him from his goal of getting rid of the curse. Some NPCs should grrab him in terms of tracking down that goal, and others should work against those people appealing to his greed.

doubtofbuddha wrote: Oh, I am aware of the fact that goals do not equate to character issues.
I saw goals merely as being things that can cause conflict for the characters as they collide with their belief systems.

A potential conflict is that the use of draconic magic pollute the dragon soul, tying them more closely to the world. So I could put him in situations where the use of his draconic magic would help him achieve short-term goals, but at the cost of slowing down his eventual ascension. This will cause him to question what is more important, his ties to the world or his own, draconic soul? Does that sound appropriate? Do you have any other ideas?

Yes, though most of the people he has ties to position-wise aren't in the vicinity.

As sort of a variation on that, I could create conflicts between his desire to further the interests of his family or further his own interests. He has come to the City of 10K Magicians partially to see if he can have his family establish themselves in the city, creating a conduit for the gem stone trade. (Hmmm, I could add a local mercantile type or influential noble to the map fo rthis purpose) I could make it so that he is able to do this but at the cost of losing out on the potential of losing or hindering his chance to find information about his dream woman.

Yeah that should work fine.
Though he is trying to conceal the fact that he is a thief, it will be difficult for me to tie him into potential chances to work on his greed. Any suggestions?

Due to the events I noted in my other thread the composition of the group has changed slightly.


Now we have...

Calla (played by Lisa), a young Lunar Dara Happan Petty Noble Devotee of Selven Hara who wishes to get out from under the thumb of her family (though she dearly loves her "daddy" she fears her mother) and explore the world and truly live life. She has followed her father and her friend Ashaetili to the City of 10,000 Magicians. http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/93363.html?#cutid1

Ashaetili is a Lunar Sylilian Scholar Intitiate of Zaytenera (the Truth aspect of the Red Moon) who has Calla's father, Khorkenus, as her patron. She is a reincarnated tactician from the lands of Talastar who is currently struggling with the fate that includes her being instrumental in causing the reunification of the tribes and clans of said land as a companion of Talastar's reincarnated hero. She fears this fate, and would rather live her own life rather than one that is forced upon her by destiny. Her companion, a daimon cat by the name of Scarlet, sees otherwise, and wishes to see her new mistress take up the same role of her old mistress (the tactician). http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/92723.html?#cutid1
She is currently going to the City of 10,000 Magicians with her patron to get more information on Talastar. He wishes to use her connection in order to be able to seize Talastar and its resources for the Empire.

This reincarnated hero currently lacks a name or a character sheet. :P His people have been divided for a long time, fighting against each other while being preyed upon by the malignant forced of Chaos emerging from Dorastor. He has come to see that he needs to bring unity to his people if they are to survive and so seeks to prove that he is the ancient hero reborn to lead his people. He has gone to the hag-priestesses of the mountains who have instructed him to recover the ancient regalia of the hero and perform the heroquests that correspond to the actions the hero completed. He has come to the City of 10,000 Magicians in order to gain a piece of the regalia from a member of his people who lives here, and to gain more information about certain heroquests he needs to complete.


The fourth is a Lunar Wizard, recently graduated from the Imperial College of Magic and still working on his civil service. His mission is to co-opt the myths of the Talastarians in order to facilitate their eventual acquisition by the Empire. He considers this to be a good chance to practice his myth-shaping skills in order to eventually achieve his true goal, bringing the Orlanthi into the Lunar fold by proving that Orlanth is indeed part of the Lunar Way. Of course, standard Lunar dogma states otherwise, so he will face opposition to this not only from the Orlanthi, but from his own people. He is very focused on the Lunar religon and the idea, "We Are All Us"

The fifth is a Lunar Carmanian Grave Robber Initiate of Rufelza, Okamar. Okamar travels to the City of 10,000 Magicians in order to find a means to remove Daak's curse from himself. In a past life he was a Palandan thief who refused to massacre the inhabitants of an orphanage of Teelo Norri in Daak's name and so was cursed to never return to his homeland or to stay in any one place long enough to call it home. He knows the Lunar Wizard from consulting him to get information about his curse, and it is from him that he knows the potential of the City of 10,000 Magicians. http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/91617.html?#cutid2


Honestly, though I am having difficulty relationship mapping beyond the three primary focal points listed above. I am going to have to mull over this some more.

Alright we have....


A Provincial Merchant Initiate of Etryies who is the mercantile representative for the city. He is friends with Ordandavesh and supplies his lotus habit. He is very ambitious and would like to get out of this (in his opinion) one horse town and go somewhere with more potential, like Furthest or Mirin's Crossing.

Bangs:
He is interested in Barastaros's product and is willing to make a deal, but this will end up taking a week or two of contract negotiation, thus making him lose this window of oppurtunity in getting into the city.

A Kostaddi Priest Devotee of Rufelza that runs the town's Lunar Temple. It has shrines to most of the various aspects of Sedenya, as well as the Seven Mothers. He is a government appointee, but he enjoys his position. He has influence (being one of the advisors to the leader of the town) and he is bringing the word of Rufelza to the poor misguided Orlanthi of Aggar.

Bangs:
When he sees the tomb robber's curse (Soul Vision) offers to see if he can help the tomb robber out. He also offers to let him stay in the temple while he is in town. The outer perimiter of the temple is defended and has an appropriate daimon to guard it. The priests trust in this guardian (and the tomb robber's cultic connections) and leaves him in the presence of valuable holy objects. What does the tomb robber do?

Plus the ones from before:

Ordandavesh, a Lunar Dara Happan Wizard of the Makabean Order (and member of the Imperial College of Magicians). He is the individual responsible for determining who gets in and out of the city. Supposedly this is based on the length of time a particular scholar has been waiting and the "importance of the research to the Empire" but in reality it depends alot on how influential a scholar (or his friends) are, or how much the scholar is willing to pay Ordandavesh to get into the city. He has a lotus addiction and gets most of his "goods" from his good friend, the Etryies Merchant.

Bangs:
In order to get into the city (legally) they are going to need Ordandavesh's persmission. What are they willing to do to get it? He is going to be naturally inclined towards either Ashaetili (because of her backing) or the Lunar Wizard (because of his government job and the fact that they both are alumni of the Imperial Lunar College of Magic). But that doesn't mean someone else might not succeed at getting in with suitable.... "persuasion."

Yrsa Sevendaughter, a Provincial (Aggarite) Warrior Devotee of Vinga the Thief. She is a rebel, but a smart rebel, in that rather than simply rise up and strike at Lunar military units or raid the steads of Lunar-allied clans, she is going for a much bigger goal. She is aware of the City of 10,000 Magicians secret and figures that by awakening the dragon (and thus destroying the city) she will be able to strike a significant blow against the Lunar Empire. The only problem is getting into the city incognito. She will thus be visiting Ordandavesh in order to achieve this.

Potential bangs and connections:

Okamar:
She is going to be hooking up with the local Aggarite underworld as soon as she arrives to see if she can find a way to sneak into the city or get information to implicate Ordandavesh. If Okamar hooks up with the underworld she could come looking for him and suggest that the two of them team up to find a way into the city.
What will he do? Will he increase his chances to get into the city and remove the curse or will he go with his religion and his homeland and turn against her? If he does turn against her, will he risk angering the local underworld by turning her in or will he keep silent?


Khorkenus, a Lunar Dara Happan Noble Initiate of Natha. This is Lisa's character's father and Mary's character's patron. His goal is to get Mary's character into the city. Why? Because he wishes to take advantage of Ashaetili's mythic ties in some way that will allow him to incorporate the Talastari into the Empire in order to gain influence and power. He has instructed her to research the myths of the Talastari for this express purpose and has directed her to a scholar in the city specializin in such things.

Bangs:
Khorkenus flips out over Calla secretly following him here from the family home. He orders her to return home immediately. Does she follow through with her "Daddy's" orders or does she go through with her desire to live life and travel?

Scott just posted this for his Lunar Wizard character...


http://wayofman.org:8080/~nleseul/heroquest/earth_and_moon_order.pdf

I am impressed.

I seem to have reached a stumbling block in constructing the relationship map; as in I am having difficulty filling it out enough and making it connected enough to actually seem like a "map"

Is there anything that you can see that I am missing from my technique so far?

Any suggestions on how to flesh it out further (not neccessarily characters, but just how I would go about building it)?

The only thing I can think of that I may be doing wrong is that I haven't been setting up the relationship map based on a "situation" that the NPCs in the town are established at in this particular point of time.

Is this something I need to do?

Think relatives and lovers. That is, look at the characters you have, and who their relationship abilties would be with. Where are these folks? Can they be interesting at all?

Mike

See, the thing is noone is from this particular area. They have all traveled from somewhere far away. And in typical RPG fashion Only a few really have anything beyond vague relationships with their parents.

I am playing those relationships for all they are worth with Calla (her father is present and is a sponsor of one PC, I am also thinking he could be pretty useful for perhaps a bang with the reincarnated hero, as he can offer him aid but only in exchange for concessions after he comes to power in Talastar).

Okamar's parents are dead.

Actually now that I think about it, the merchant has an apprentice merchant sidekick. Perhaps I can try to convince him to make the apprentic his kid brother or something.

I think next time I am going to be a bit more focused on character creation specifications, insisting that they all come from one culture/region so that I can have them be a bit more tightly integrated into the local community.

doubtofbuddha wrote: See, the thing is noone is from this particular area. They have all traveled from somewhere far away. And in typical RPG fashion Only a few really have anything beyond vague relationships with their parents.

::facepalms::

D'uh.

Sorry :)

I imagine this is the whole blood and sex maxim that Ron espoused in the previous thread.

I will work on expanding the map that way.

Before Ron comes in to correct, it's not a maxim, it's just that these are good places to start (and what get solid lines on his diagrams). After you do the relatives think about other relationships. Like I said, what "would" be on the character sheet under Relationships. Because those are going to be telling in terms of the original character's motives.

And remember grabby. To add a character you have to know why they want something from the PCs.

Oh, BTW, in play smack the players around a bit for not taking more relationships. That is, throw contests and challenges at them that require friends to deal with. Start with them having to find a place to stay. See, the inn is full because of a convention, so their money is no good...

Mike

As an aside both the Lunar Wizard and the Talastari Warrior posted their character information
http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/96328.html (Wizard)

http://www.livejournal.com/community/worldsoftuerny/96243.html (Warrior)


Relationship Map

Nathos Youngblood, A Provincial (Tarshite) Merchant Initiate of Etryies who is the mercantile representative for the City of 10,000 Magicians. He is friends with Ordandavesh and supplies his lotus habit. He is very ambitious and would like to get out of this (in his opinion) one horse town and go somewhere with more potential, like Furthest or Mirin's Crossing. He despises Edasul for stealing the woman that he wanted to claim as his wife, and if he could find a way to bring him down he would.

Abiliites: Bargain 8w, Wealthy 10w
Relationships: Friends with Ordandavesh 17, Lotus Dealer Contacts 5w, Mercantile Representative for City of 10,000 Magicians 3w
Personality: Cynical 17, Despises Edasul the Scarlet 1w, Loves Morrig 1w

Edasul the Scarlet, Lunar Rinliddi Priest Initiate of Rufelza and Initiate of Myathatch that runs the town's Lunar Temple. It has shrines to most of the various aspects of Sedenya, as well as the Seven Mothers. He is a government appointee, but he enjoys his position. He has influence (being one of the advisors to the leader of the town) and he is bringing the word of Rufelza to the poor misguided Orlanthi of Aggar. He is secretly involved with the Blood's Heart that is using blood sacrifices to the Light Demon, Myathatch, as a way to shore up his magical abilities outside of the glowline. He would like nothing more than to have a temple of the Reaching Moon be built within proximity to the city as this would allow him to spend his time in other ways, like paying more attention to his wife.

Abilities: Spread Word of Rufelza 5w,
Relationships: Devotee of Rufelza 12w, Lunar Citizen 2w, Master of Veyerm Temple of the Lunar Way 10w, Member of the Blood's Heart 18
Personality: Loves Morrig 17, Passionate about Lunar Way 6w
Magic: Madness 3w, Light 1w, Blood's Heart Secret 8w
Followers: Initiate of Natha 17, 2 Initiates of Rufelza 17


Morrig, Provincial (Aggar) Healer Initiatie of Rufelza is a local woman who found her pursued by two men of influence in the city, but eventually chose Edasul, the more devoted and passionate of the two. She has regreted it ever since then, realizing too late that his passion was for Rufelza and the Lunar Way alone. He loves her but not in the same way that he loves his faith. Now she is trapped in a marriage that she can't escape to a man who, while not being repungent, is not the person she thought he was. She has thrown herself into an affair with a young Aggarite hunter as a result, getting out of him the passion that she can't get out of her husband. She has since decided that she wants out of her marriage, and that Bran is the best means to that end...

Abilities: Appear Innocent 18, Beautiful 6w, Seduction 2w
Relationships: Influence Over Bran Seven-Strength 5w, Wife of Edasul the Scarlet 20
Personality: Selfish 3w
Magic: Maddening Caress (feat) 19

Bran Seven-Strength, Provincial (Aggarite) Hunter Initiate of Odayla the Bear has been favored through much of his young life, gaining success in finding magical secrets, the best hunting grounds, and the amorous attention of women. Now though, he may be starting a run of bad luck. He has fallen madly in love with a married woman, Morrig the wife of Veyerm's chief priest. While he isn't particulary opposed to being invovled with a married man's wife, he has been having a conflict of concious as she has recently been hinting that she wants him to kill her husband. He has killed men before, but never in cold blood. To deal with this situation he has been spending a great deal of time in Veyerm's only bar, drowning his quandry in alcohol.

Abilities: Archery 1w, Axe and Shield Fighting 5w, Bow Hunting 4w, Seduce Women 19
Relationships: Loves Morrig 10w
Personality: Brave 19, Code of Honor 7w
Magic: The Seven Strengths 4w (feat)

Ordandavesh, a Lunar Dara Happan Wizard of the Makabean Order (and member of the Imperial College of Magicians). He is the individual responsible for determining who gets in and out of the city. Supposedly this is based on the length of time a particular scholar has been waiting and the "importance of the research to the Empire" but in reality it depends alot on how influential a scholar (or his friends) are, or how much the scholar is willing to pay Ordandavesh to get into the city. He has a lotus addiction and gets most of his "goods" from his good friend, the Etryies Merchant. He is slightly suspicious of his younger brother, and believes he is too interested in local superstiouns and beliefs, but he has held his tongue thus far, not wanting to cause unneccessary conflict.

Abilities: Identify Social Status 17, Identify Wealth 2w, Wealthy 20
Relationships: Friends with Nathos Youngblood 19, Lunar Citizen 8w, Member of Imperial College of Magicians 4w, Older Brother of Laboradach 15, Gatekeeper of City of 10,000 Magicians 10w
Personality: Addicted to Lotus Flowers 10w, Corrupt 19
Magic: Tome of Grim Vengeance 2w, Curse of Frail Iron 1w, Suck Soul Strength 6w, Enhance Understanding 2w


Laboradach, a Dara Happan Petty Noble Devotee of Myathatch found his forced relocation to Veyerm to be the latest in a long line of injustices forced upon him by his domineering older brother and father. He would have rather be rich, practices his poetry or wooed ladies but neither of his older male relatives would permit that, instead forcing him into a series of situations where he was forced to accede to their desires rather than his own. Veyerm was a turning point for him. Hidden in the recesses of the old hill fort that serves as the center of Veyerm he found a tool to regain the sense of power he had lost. Worship of Myathatch has proven to be useful for Laboradach, giving him the influence and power he desires. Soon he will be ready to take this new-found power to his family, gaining the respect he feels he deserves.
Abilities: Identify Potential Convert 3w, Poetry 20, Mythology of Myathatch 6w, Spiked Club Fighting 3w
Relationships: Devotee of Myathatch 1w, Younger Brother of Ordandavesh 14
Personality: Ambitious 19, Lustful 17, Resentful 1w
Magic: Blood (Drain Blood, Eat Heart, Power From Blood ritual, Sniff Out Blood) 5w, Light (Blinding Ray, Burning Radiance, Enchant Gold, Reflect Light, Whip of Light ) 4w
Followers: Three bodyguards 17

Yrsa Sevendaughter, a Provincial (Aggarite) Warrior Devotee of Vinga the Thief. She is a rebel, but a smart rebel, in that rather than simply rise up and strike at Lunar military units or raid the steads of Lunar-allied clans, she is going for a much bigger goal. She is aware of the City of 10,000 Magicians secret and figures that by awakening the dragon (and thus destroying the city) she will be able to strike a significant blow against the Lunar Empire. The only problem is getting into the city incognito. She will thus be visiting Ordandavesh in order to achieve this.

Abilities: Lie 3w, Move Quietly 5w, Spear Fighting 11w,
Relationships: Devotee of Vinga the Thief 3w, Member of Clan 2w, Underworld Contacts 4w
Personality: Loyal 19, Hate Lunars 20, Patient 2w, Smart 1w
Magic: Combat (Deadly Spear Throw, Leaping Shield, Mile Javelin Throw, Spear Help) 19, Movement (Burst of Speed, Dodge Missles, Leap Over Water, Run on Treetop, Run on Snow, Squeeze Throw Gap, Walk Without Footprints) 19, Stealth (Avoid Trap, Invisible Hand, No Scent, Silent in Darkness, Stand Unseen +3) 2w; Awaken Dragon Amulet 1w2
Followers: 2 Warriors 17

Khorkenus, a Lunar Dara Happan Noble Initiate of Natha. This is Lisa's character's father and Mary's character's patron. His goal is to get Mary's character into the city. Why? Because he wishes to take advantage of Ashaetili's mythic ties in some way that will allow him to incorporate the Talastari into the Empire in order to gain influence and power, perhaps even a position as Satrap. He has instructed her to research the myths of the Talastari for this express purpose and has directed her to a scholar in the city specializin in such things.

Abilities: Argue 3w, Hide Emotions 3w, Recognize Big Picture 12w, Scimitar Fighting 3w, Mythology of Talastar 5w
Relationships: Father of Calla 5w, Initiate of Natha 19, Lunar Citizen 15w, Patron of Ashaetili 17, Thubana Nobleman 2w2
Personality: Ambitous 5w, Dignified 1w, Commanding 19
Magic: Otherworld 3w
Followers: 4 Bodyguards 17

Bangs

The City Fair...
In order to get into the city (legally) they are going to need Ordandavesh's persmission. What are they willing to do to get it? He is going to be naturally inclined towards either Ashaetili (because of her backing) or the Lunar Wizard (because of his government job and the fact that they both are alumni of the Imperial Lunar College of Magic). But that doesn't mean someone else might not succeed at getting in with suitable.... "persuasion." (all)

The First Temptations
Yrsa Sevensdaughter is going to be hooking up with the local Aggarite underworld as soon as she arrives to see if she can find a way to sneak into the city or get information to implicate Ordandavesh. If Okamar hooks up with the underworld she could come looking for him and suggest that the two of them team up to find a way into the city. What will he do? Will he increase his chances to get into the city and remove the curse or will he go with his religion and his homeland and turn against her? If he does turn against her, will he risk angering the local underworld by turning her in or will he keep silent? (Okamar)

The Second Temptation
When Edasul the Scarlet sees the tomb robber's curse (Soul Vision) offers to see if he can help the tomb robber out. He also offers to let him stay in the temple while he is in town. The outer perimiter of the temple is defended and has an appropriate daimon to guard it. The priests trust in this guardian (and the tomb robber's cultic connections) and leaves him in the presence of valuable holy objects. What does the tomb robber do? (Okamar)

Father Knows Best
Khorkenus flips out over Calla secretly following him here from the family home. He orders her to return home immediately. Does she follow through with her "Daddy's" orders or does she go through with her desire to live life and travel? (Calla)

Family or Fate?
Natho Youngblood is interested in Barastaros's product and is willing to make a deal, but this will end up taking a week or two of contract negotiation, thus making him lose this window of oppurtunity in getting into the city. (Barastaros)

.... the Devil You Don't
Khorkenus finds out that Eronith is the reincarnation of Ranhar, and thus of even greater mythological resonance then his patron, Ashaeltili. He offers to use his (considerable) influence in order to help Eronith gain the position of King of Talastar. Does Eronith takes this and risk the dangers that come from allying with a powerful and influential Lunar nobleman? (Eronith)

Cult of Power
Ashaeltili has been having headaches ever since she passed beyond the Glowline. Without the full power of Zatrayana’s influence here past life is becoming increasingly dominant, to the point where she is finding it difficult to concentrate on anything. Laboradach notices and approaches her, seeking to bring her into his cult. Does she take his offer and find a new way to resist her Fate despite the fact it involves initiating herself into the secret rites of a demon or does she let the headaches overwhelm her? (Ashaeltili)

In addition we will have the expected confrontation between Eronith and Ashaeltili once he recognizes her for who she is and insists she come with him.

I am still not quite sure what to do about the wizard for bangs. But I will hopefully have something by my game tonight. There are a few more bangs I could write for the relationship map based on what I have defined above but for tonight, at least, those bangs should suffice.

How does it look?

Well, I ran the first session of the campaign.

It went reasonably well despite one of my players mysteriously deciding to walk out before we started playing.

I went through a few of the "bangs" but for one reason or another they failed to really grab at the PCs. They had fun but they didn't really seem to have any difficult decisions.

Oh well.

Hopefully, I will improve my design of bangs as play goes on and I begin to understand the player's characters a bit more.

As it stands it seems that I am mostly posting to myself now, so I am going to bring this thread to a close.