Subject: MYSTARA-L Digest - 28 Apr 2011 to 1 May 2011 (#2011-34) From: MYSTARA-L automatic digest system Date: 02/05/2011, 17:00 To: MYSTARA-L@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM Reply-to: Mystara RPG Discussion There are 5 messages totalling 220 lines in this issue. Topics of the day: 1. The Missing Adventures: Goals 2. Missing Adventure: Connections To Society (2) 3. Demon Blade: The Pawn Shop 4. Started to read PC4 Night Howlers, Not Impressed ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 09:26:57 -0700 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: The Missing Adventures: Goals In real life, we chase after mates, partners, power, wealth, knowledge, and a variety of goals. Life is about relationships and connections. But in typical DnD, it's all about experience points, and maybe gold. Ocassionally there's one that wants to build a castle. I was thinking though, what motivates your characters in a game? Ambitions are good, run a theives guild? rid the land of evil? barony? knowledge and secrets? trading empire? military campaigns? exploration? love? These can be developed, but this most be done with some parameters, and a way to measure that success against others. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 09:35:14 -0700 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Missing Adventure: Connections To Society >From day one, you should role-play benefactors to the party. Upon successful completion of a quest, society should reward the heroes, with a home cook meal, pie, free services, passing affection of a woman, or a hug from a little girl. Maybe a little girl draws a cute child picture with the heroes. The inn keeper reserves a special spot for the heroes, other people give discounts, guards look the other way, or let the heroes go shoudl their be any scuffle. The players need to feel rewarded and connected to society. Every single villager should have a map of connections. This can lead to all kinds of adventures. A girl spurns the affection of a childhood friend, as she is infatuated with the heroes living a life of danger. That childhood friend could mix up with the wrong crowd, such as cultists, theives' guild, or worse. Heroes could be called to save an ungreatful victim, or maybe the childhood friend grows in the ranks of some evil force and vows vengence on the hero that wronged him or her. The best thing though, is that with these "connections", all sorts of authentic feeling adventures pop-up, such as a kidnapping by bugbears that like to torture loved ones to make them feel fear. Players can develop a solid hatred against enemy forces, making their defeat, especially from a villian leader of the hated group, all that more rewarding. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 09:48:56 -0700 From: Joaquin Menchaca Subject: Demon Blade: The Pawn Shop Fruffle Pendlewink, a wealthy plump hin (halfling) runs a local pawn shop in Kelvin, and seeks to hire players to guard it as he embarks on a mission of uptmost importance to Castellan. He has come across a dagger of unknown magical properties and has secured a buyer in Castellan. He owes money to a crime syndicate: the Iron Ring, and this dagger can be the pay off he needs to pay to the syndicate. The party will run into a few potential encounters while guarding the pawn shop. A local run in with the Iron Ring demanding payment, and also an adventuring party that wants the dagger they pawned to the shop. Unknown the party, there are many intrested in the dagger. A group of cultists that running a ritual in the Caves of Chaos. A wealthy and secretative wizard that lives in a manor in Darokin (north of Threshold), bugbear hunters, and a few lone individuals that are not all that they seem (doppleganger agent from Sind, vampire from an ancient society, a lycanthrope tribe, nomadic gypsies, an angel, and a demon). ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 11:47:25 -0700 From: Emperor Xan Subject: Re: Started to read PC4 Night Howlers, Not Impressed I know this topic is nearly two years old, but a claim was made that lycanthropes, especially werewolves were evil in literature. This is categorically false. I would have said something sooner had it not been for school and life getting in the way, so here goes... There is a 12th century lai (or lay) written by Marie de France called "Bisclavret." In it, the title character suffers from lycanthropy. When he undergoes the change, he hides his clothing as to be unable to dress in his former attire would keep him in wolf form. He confides in his wife the truth of his monthly trips, she gets scared, follows him, and steals his clothes. As a knight/lord of a domain, he still tries to honor his oath to the king by serving as an unseen guard in the forest when the king is about since no one would expect a wolf to be a royal servant, etc. etc. When the truth is known, the wife is attacked by her husband, loses her nose, and it's judged a just punishment for her betrayal. Bisclavret continues to serve the king, and the story ends. The point? Everyone knows by the end that this guy's a werewolf. He's not evil, he's still allowed to retain his title and lands. He serves his king in both forms, comports himself in the manner befitting his station, ad nauseum, and it's okay. So, there are grounds for a campaign with lycanthropes openly serving in royal courts. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 1 May 2011 20:54:40 -0500 From: "Erol K. Bayburt" Subject: Re: Missing Adventure: Connections To Society It happens that I really like the style of play where my character is "woven in" the game world, with connections, a reputation, and a place in the social & political power-structure. But I have to admit that that style isn't for everyone. Some people like to play the Mysterious Stranger, some people want to see the whole world and not get tied down with roots anywhere, and some people are just in it for the sacks (of treasure) and violence. Nothing wrong with that, as long as the players and DM are on the same page about the type of game being played. (And there are few things worse than a DM who feels he has a duty - no, a capitalized Duty - to train the players to perform a "better" style of roleplaying.) But if the players do want their characters to become woven into the gameworld, some of my thoughts are: o The authorities should be willing to accept the PCs as valuable allies. One common mistake is for the DM to have the local authorities demand respect without either deserving respect or giving respect in return - especially if the "authorities" can't even meet the basic duty of keeping the nuisance encounters down. The authorities then become just another enemy - or worse, just another nuisance encounter for the PCs. o Of course, the PCs may *become* the authorities of an area, either officially or unofficially. o The official authorities and the actual authorities might not be the same. It might be a "Rebel Alliance vs the Evil Empire" setup, or on a smaller scale, "The merry men of Sherwood Forest vs the Sheriff of Nottingham." If ordinary people turn to the outlaws, when they have problems, then the outlaws effectively become the Law. o Having craftsmen & tradesmen giving gifts of free stuff & services to the PCs strikes me as out-of-place, unless the scenario is one where the NPCs owe, or morally ought to owe, taxes & tithes to the PCs. What works better is for the PCs to pay the going rate and get a little extra care & attention for it, or for the PCs to choose to pay extra and get a lot of extra care & attention. o An additional thought: The "free stuff" might be a sort of informal, unspoken credit arrangement. This works if the PCs pay extra-well for stuff when they're flush with treasure, and get free stuff when they're strapped. But it requires an understanding that the PCs do pay extra-well when they have the coin to do so. o It helps if the various NPCs have connections with the whole party, rather than just with one PC in the party. o Let the connections between PCs and NPCs grow organically, rather than trying to fiat them into being, or force them too hard into place. Also, it's better to avoid "PC Glow" effects - have the NPCs react to the PCs the same way they'd react to important NPCs. At best, have the NPCs give the PCs the benefit of the doubt, rather than having them react to the PCs in ways they would never react to NPCs. o On the other hand, the DM will need to cue the players in on various social expectations that the character should know about even if the players don't. In fact, it's better for the DM to err on the side of telling the players too much about such things rather than too little. Even if the DM has to be explicit about it. "Tom, Bornor wouldn't know about this because he's a barbarian from the Western Hills, but..." It gets information to the rest of the players, too, and also to Tom for when he plays Yvonne the Sorceress rather than Bornor the Barbarian. Erol K. Bayburt ErolB1@aol.com On 5/1/2011 11:35 AM, Joaquin Menchaca wrote: > > From day one, you should role-play benefactors to the party. Upon > > successful completion of a quest, society should reward the heroes, > > with a home cook meal, pie, free services, passing affection of a > > woman, or a hug from a little girl. Maybe a little girl draws a cute > > child picture with the heroes. The inn keeper reserves a special > > spot for the heroes, other people give discounts, guards look the > > other way, or let the heroes go shoudl their be any scuffle. > > > > The players need to feel rewarded and connected to society. Every > > single villager should have a map of connections. This can lead to > > all kinds of adventures. > > > > A girl spurns the affection of a childhood friend, as she is > > infatuated with the heroes living a life of danger. That childhood > > friend could mix up with the wrong crowd, such as cultists, theives' > > guild, or worse. Heroes could be called to save an ungreatful > > victim, or maybe the childhood friend grows in the ranks of some evil > > force and vows vengence on the hero that wronged him or her. > > > > The best thing though, is that with these "connections", all sorts of > > authentic feeling adventures pop-up, such as a kidnapping by bugbears > > that like to torture loved ones to make them feel fear. Players can > > develop a solid hatred against enemy forces, making their defeat, > > especially from a villian leader of the hated group, all that more > > rewarding. > > > > ******************************************************************** > > The Other Worlds Homepage: > > http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: > > http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to > > LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the > > message. ******************************************************************** The Other Worlds Homepage: http://www.wizards.com/dnd/OtherWorlds.asp The Mystara Homepage: http://www.pandius.com To unsubscribe, send email to LISTSERV@ORACLE.WIZARDS.COM with UNSUB MYSTARA-L in the body of the message. ------------------------------ End of MYSTARA-L Digest - 28 Apr 2011 to 1 May 2011 (#2011-34) **************************************************************