Very Old Man with Enormous Wings - Downloaded from the Wizards Community, all coding removed by Solauren

Very Old Man with Enormous Wings

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
sildatorak
Jun 28, 2004 0:56:28 I was just curious if anyone else on this board has seen that play? (It's okay to admit you have recently seen children's theater; I won't laugh at you.) I was thinking that it has the seeds of a really good adventure, but I want to bang some ideas around about how adventurers could fit in. Here's a brutally short synopsis of the show.

In an isolated village, a brother and sister find a very old man with enormous wings. He has forgotten everything he knows (including his name), can't fly, and is very sickly. They end up letting him stay in their barn; their father begins exploiting him as a peepshow and by selling off wing feathers and such as miracle cures. The kids keep trying to convince their dad that its not right. Eventually a circus comes through town, and they have a spider-woman in their freakshow; the new freak is bad for business and people don't want to see the angel anymore because he is old news. Father comes around, helps nurse the old man back to health and he flies away.

One nifty thing is that the very old man with enormous wings has no lines in the entire play. The only people he communicates with are the children, and that is by "speaking through his eyes." They never confirm that he is an angel, the kids might be making the whole thing up about the telepathy type thing.

How would you turn this into a planescape worthy adventure? Don't be afraid to depart; the ideas I have so far are building on some parts and leaving out others.
#2
zombiegleemax
Jun 28, 2004 13:29:50 Sounds like a play I'd like to watch! Anyways, this berk here thinks that the kids and there dad are Primes. The old man, could be a Celestial or even an avatar of Bahamut, who's been known to pose as an old man, and may be testing the children for powers know what reason. Kids may ask adventurers to help the old man! Or, the spider woman is none other than a servant or even an avatar of Lolth!

I'll come up with better ideas if I can.
#3
gray_richardson
Jun 28, 2004 19:31:13 I have never seen the play version, but it is based off a great little short story by nobel-prize-winning, magical-realist author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, same guy who wrote the classic One Hundred Years of Solitude. You can read a translation of the short story at the following link here:

http://www.angeltowns.com/members/shortstories/garciamarquezoldman.html

I have heard tell it was made into a film as well with screenplay by Marquez himself, although I have never seen it.
#4
sildatorak
Jun 29, 2004 18:03:19
Originally posted by Fringe Fartale
Sounds like a play I'd like to watch! Anyways, this berk here thinks that the kids and there dad are Primes. The old man, could be a Celestial or even an avatar of Bahamut, who's been known to pose as an old man, and may be testing the children for powers know what reason. Kids may ask adventurers to help the old man! Or, the spider woman is none other than a servant or even an avatar of Lolth!

I'll come up with better ideas if I can.

Thanks for the ideas, Fringe. I was actually thinking of having the family being in some backring place on the Beastlands or something. I'm thinking that the man may be an assimon (maybe a fallen one) of some type or maybe just some mortal berk with wings. I won't tell the players, and I might even have it depend on what the PC's end up believing. I don't think that I'm going to bring in the part with the spiderwoman, I think I'll probably leave it up to the PC's to disuade the father from exploiting the old man.

The main block I'm running into is a motivation for the PC's to be in such an isolated village other than just passing through. If they are just passing through I need a reason that is compelling enough to get them to stay.
#5
ripvanwormer
Jun 29, 2004 21:30:15 He could be an experiment: an attempt by a group of celestials (avorals, perhaps) to make humans more like them. But something went wrong: the human was not satisfactory. As he aged, he became less and less interested in emulating the celestials.

And one day, he escaped.
#6
MephitJames
Jul 06, 2004 16:44:53
Originally posted by Sildatorak
The main block I'm running into is a motivation for the PC's to be in such an isolated village other than just passing through. If they are just passing through I need a reason that is compelling enough to get them to stay.

Luckily in Planescape, celestials can be just NPCs part of a bigger story instead of huge parts of it! Maybe the PCs need information and are told to find an ancient deva servant of a Power of knowledge. They follow divination spells to a Prime town (I think any planar locales would be too jaded to be impressed with a winged man) where they find a withered and battered deva sitting in some berk's barn. According to spells, this is the deva they need to talk to, but what in the Hells happened to him? If he can't talk how can they find out the information? They may tumble to the idea that some planar being can help, but that requires getting the deva away from the Prime berk who has made too much money from pilgrims already to let the celestial go. Of course the farmer won't be all that powerful, so this can just be a start of a campaign, or else perhaps the farmer has used his money to buy the services of a powerful guard for his prized winged man. There could also be some planar group or being who wants the deva too, so the PCs now have to steal the deva, avoid the farmer, and foil the competitor(s).
#7
sildatorak
Jul 06, 2004 20:04:07
Originally posted by Mephit James
I think any planar locales would be too jaded to be impressed with a winged man

Hmm…I was looking at Planes of Chaos today and was thinking that Barnstable (the halfling village in Limbo) might be Prime-like enough that it could work.
#8
MephitJames
Jul 06, 2004 23:41:29
Originally posted by Sildatorak
Hmm…I was looking at Planes of Chaos today and was thinking that Barnstable (the halfling village in Limbo) might be Prime-like enough that it could work.

Once again, I've underestimated the staggering naivete of those bite-sized little morsels. They might just be empty-boxed enough to fork over jink to see a real, live deva. I was thinking, though, that the real interest in the adventure would be using people that didn't even know what they had. Sure it'd be neat to travel to Limbo to see an old deva, but why bother when you can travel to Mount Celestia and see a million young ones? Even backwater snacks like those halflings can understand that there are a bunch of devas flitting around.
How much more intriguing to go to a Prime where people find this creature and think him a freak of nature! Or at least some magical accident. The PCs show up and tell this greedy primeling that he's got an honest-to-Elysium angel on his hands and they might be able to get him to stop laughing in half-an-hour. Maybe these primes don't really believe in that hocus-pocus, maybe they think (rightly, I'd have to admit) that angels are beautiful, noble creatures and to suggest that this starry berk is an angel is boder-line heresy, or maybe they realize that such well-traveled berks may have the right of things and decide it's better to put the angel out of his misery and send him back to Heaven to be reincarnated (a sodding problem for the PCs who need information). As much as I'm against the know-nothing Prime, I think it's the best place for a very old, enormous man with wings. I mean a man with very old, enormous wings. Pike it: a starry berk with some sodding feathers.
#9
wyvern76
Jul 08, 2004 1:17:46
Originally posted by Mephit James
or maybe they realize that such well-traveled berks may have the right of things and decide it's better to put the angel out of his misery and send him back to Heaven to be reincarnated (a sodding problem for the PCs who need information).

Or maybe they'd charge folks even *more* to see an real-life angel.

Wyvern
#10
zombiegleemax
Jul 08, 2004 12:44:50 Ahh you can all sod-off! I know the Prime is a backwater but let's face it, it is a rather interesting vacation spot provided that they AREN'T AFTER TO SKIN YER HIDE! (note Fringe is a tiefling) Ahem, tumbling along, I'm going with the drow on this one, it makes better questions to ask why an Upper blood with some feathers would land himself in the Prime exne glory glory halleluiah!

As much of a fiend I am, I got this damnable thing in my head (blame me mortal side for it) that maybe the deva's out to test some berk's morality bit, found out how BAD the berk and the general population did, and called it quits and aged and got "frazzed" as a consequence.

At this rate, maybe I'll have to smack some since into the blood and I'll probably get sent to the dead book for it!

At least then my wife can't try to chain to the bed so I can't go Planehopping!
#11
MephitJames
Jul 08, 2004 13:18:25 I hope that there is a drow around here that Fringe is talking about, because this mephit doesn't take kindly to being called names. Those pointy spider-people are some of the craziest primes I've ever met, and that's saying something. And if you think some horns are tough to get by with on the Prime, try being a pure elemental being. Whenever I'm on the Prime I can expect some addle-brained moron swinging a sword at me faster than you can say "get the torches."
#12
zombiegleemax
Jul 08, 2004 13:31:12 Sorry about dat mephit, I'm seeing things cause my wife's a blood of a half-drow! And don't go thinking that every tiefer has horns. My ears maybe barbed but they ain't horns. As for those brain lacking brain-box carrying Primes.....

Hows about you and me get up, head over to that portal over there, rough the local leatherhead paladins up a bit, and teach them what happens when you swing a sword at planetouched?
#13
MephitJames
Jul 08, 2004 13:36:41 I usually don't have anything against paladins but I'm always up for roughing up primes. They are a bit stiff-necked, come to that, they can use some education... and I happen to have a very eloquent rapier.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 sildatorak Jun 28, 2004 0:56:28	I was just curious if anyone else on this board has seen that play? (It's okay to admit you have recently seen children's theater; I won't laugh at you.) I was thinking that it has the seeds of a really good adventure, but I want to bang some ideas around about how adventurers could fit in. Here's a brutally short synopsis of the show. In an isolated village, a brother and sister find a very old man with enormous wings. He has forgotten everything he knows (including his name), can't fly, and is very sickly. They end up letting him stay in their barn; their father begins exploiting him as a peepshow and by selling off wing feathers and such as miracle cures. The kids keep trying to convince their dad that its not right. Eventually a circus comes through town, and they have a spider-woman in their freakshow; the new freak is bad for business and people don't want to see the angel anymore because he is old news. Father comes around, helps nurse the old man back to health and he flies away. One nifty thing is that the very old man with enormous wings has no lines in the entire play. The only people he communicates with are the children, and that is by "speaking through his eyes." They never confirm that he is an angel, the kids might be making the whole thing up about the telepathy type thing. How would you turn this into a planescape worthy adventure? Don't be afraid to depart; the ideas I have so far are building on some parts and leaving out others.
#2 zombiegleemax Jun 28, 2004 13:29:50	Sounds like a play I'd like to watch! Anyways, this berk here thinks that the kids and there dad are Primes. The old man, could be a Celestial or even an avatar of Bahamut, who's been known to pose as an old man, and may be testing the children for powers know what reason. Kids may ask adventurers to help the old man! Or, the spider woman is none other than a servant or even an avatar of Lolth! I'll come up with better ideas if I can.
#3 gray_richardson Jun 28, 2004 19:31:13	I have never seen the play version, but it is based off a great little short story by nobel-prize-winning, magical-realist author Gabriel Garcia Marquez, same guy who wrote the classic One Hundred Years of Solitude. You can read a translation of the short story at the following link here: http://www.angeltowns.com/members/shortstories/garciamarquezoldman.html I have heard tell it was made into a film as well with screenplay by Marquez himself, although I have never seen it.
#4 sildatorak Jun 29, 2004 18:03:19	Originally posted by Fringe Fartale Sounds like a play I'd like to watch! Anyways, this berk here thinks that the kids and there dad are Primes. The old man, could be a Celestial or even an avatar of Bahamut, who's been known to pose as an old man, and may be testing the children for powers know what reason. Kids may ask adventurers to help the old man! Or, the spider woman is none other than a servant or even an avatar of Lolth! I'll come up with better ideas if I can. Thanks for the ideas, Fringe. I was actually thinking of having the family being in some backring place on the Beastlands or something. I'm thinking that the man may be an assimon (maybe a fallen one) of some type or maybe just some mortal berk with wings. I won't tell the players, and I might even have it depend on what the PC's end up believing. I don't think that I'm going to bring in the part with the spiderwoman, I think I'll probably leave it up to the PC's to disuade the father from exploiting the old man. The main block I'm running into is a motivation for the PC's to be in such an isolated village other than just passing through. If they are just passing through I need a reason that is compelling enough to get them to stay.
#5 ripvanwormer Jun 29, 2004 21:30:15	He could be an experiment: an attempt by a group of celestials (avorals, perhaps) to make humans more like them. But something went wrong: the human was not satisfactory. As he aged, he became less and less interested in emulating the celestials. And one day, he escaped.
#6 MephitJames Jul 06, 2004 16:44:53	Originally posted by Sildatorak The main block I'm running into is a motivation for the PC's to be in such an isolated village other than just passing through. If they are just passing through I need a reason that is compelling enough to get them to stay. Luckily in Planescape, celestials can be just NPCs part of a bigger story instead of huge parts of it! Maybe the PCs need information and are told to find an ancient deva servant of a Power of knowledge. They follow divination spells to a Prime town (I think any planar locales would be too jaded to be impressed with a winged man) where they find a withered and battered deva sitting in some berk's barn. According to spells, this is the deva they need to talk to, but what in the Hells happened to him? If he can't talk how can they find out the information? They may tumble to the idea that some planar being can help, but that requires getting the deva away from the Prime berk who has made too much money from pilgrims already to let the celestial go. Of course the farmer won't be all that powerful, so this can just be a start of a campaign, or else perhaps the farmer has used his money to buy the services of a powerful guard for his prized winged man. There could also be some planar group or being who wants the deva too, so the PCs now have to steal the deva, avoid the farmer, and foil the competitor(s).
#7 sildatorak Jul 06, 2004 20:04:07	Originally posted by Mephit James I think any planar locales would be too jaded to be impressed with a winged man Hmm…I was looking at Planes of Chaos today and was thinking that Barnstable (the halfling village in Limbo) might be Prime-like enough that it could work.
#8 MephitJames Jul 06, 2004 23:41:29	Originally posted by Sildatorak *Hmm…I was looking at Planes of Chaos* today and was thinking that Barnstable (the halfling village in Limbo) might be Prime-like enough that it could work.** Once again, I've underestimated the staggering naivete of those bite-sized little morsels. They might just be empty-boxed enough to fork over jink to see a real, live deva. I was thinking, though, that the real interest in the adventure would be using people that didn't even know what they had. Sure it'd be neat to travel to Limbo to see an old deva, but why bother when you can travel to Mount Celestia and see a million young ones? Even backwater snacks like those halflings can understand that there are a bunch of devas flitting around. How much more intriguing to go to a Prime where people find this creature and think him a freak of nature! Or at least some magical accident. The PCs show up and tell this greedy primeling that he's got an honest-to-Elysium angel on his hands and they might be able to get him to stop laughing in half-an-hour. Maybe these primes don't really believe in that hocus-pocus, maybe they think (rightly, I'd have to admit) that angels are beautiful, noble creatures and to suggest that this starry berk is an angel is boder-line heresy, or maybe they realize that such well-traveled berks may have the right of things and decide it's better to put the angel out of his misery and send him back to Heaven to be reincarnated (a sodding problem for the PCs who need information). As much as I'm against the know-nothing Prime, I think it's the best place for a very old, enormous man with wings. I mean a man with very old, enormous wings. Pike it: a starry berk with some sodding feathers.
#9 wyvern76 Jul 08, 2004 1:17:46	Originally posted by Mephit James or maybe they realize that such well-traveled berks may have the right of things and decide it's better to put the angel out of his misery and send him back to Heaven to be reincarnated (a sodding problem for the PCs who need information). Or maybe they'd charge folks even more to see an real-life angel. Wyvern
#10 zombiegleemax Jul 08, 2004 12:44:50	Ahh you can all sod-off! I know the Prime is a backwater but let's face it, it is a rather interesting vacation spot provided that they AREN'T AFTER TO SKIN YER HIDE! (note Fringe is a tiefling) Ahem, tumbling along, I'm going with the drow on this one, it makes better questions to ask why an Upper blood with some feathers would land himself in the Prime exne glory glory halleluiah! As much of a fiend I am, I got this damnable thing in my head (blame me mortal side for it) that maybe the deva's out to test some berk's morality bit, found out how BAD the berk and the general population did, and called it quits and aged and got "frazzed" as a consequence. At this rate, maybe I'll have to smack some since into the blood and I'll probably get sent to the dead book for it! At least then my wife can't try to chain to the bed so I can't go Planehopping!
#11 MephitJames Jul 08, 2004 13:18:25	I hope that there is a drow around here that Fringe is talking about, because this mephit doesn't take kindly to being called names. Those pointy spider-people are some of the craziest primes I've ever met, and that's saying something. And if you think some horns are tough to get by with on the Prime, try being a pure elemental being. Whenever I'm on the Prime I can expect some addle-brained moron swinging a sword at me faster than you can say "get the torches."
#12 zombiegleemax Jul 08, 2004 13:31:12	Sorry about dat mephit, I'm seeing things cause my wife's a blood of a half-drow! And don't go thinking that every tiefer has horns. My ears maybe barbed but they ain't horns. As for those brain lacking brain-box carrying Primes..... Hows about you and me get up, head over to that portal over there, rough the local leatherhead paladins up a bit, and teach them what happens when you swing a sword at planetouched?
#13 MephitJames Jul 08, 2004 13:36:41	I usually don't have anything against paladins but I'm always up for roughing up primes. They are a bit stiff-necked, come to that, they can use some education... and I happen to have a very eloquent rapier.