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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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 Posted: 07-Aug-2004 11:06 Post subject: Character arcs in D&D games. |
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As I am still relatively new to D&D, I would like to get some of the older players' opinion on this.
I am currently involved in a DnD game set on the same planet as Forgotten Realms, but not necessarilly near it. It is a DM created land with a lot of history and many notable NPCs. Anyways...on to the good stuff...
The few other DMs I have played with have been usually less than helpful when allowing character arcs. Generally the characters have taken a back seat to the campaign, and I never actually ever care what happens to my people.
In this particular game, however, the characters take more than center stage, the stories of the characters are driving the campaign it seems. In the main case, a fellow player and I are half-sibling half dragons. What originally was intended as a joke has been woven into what the DM has divulged to us about the campaign. The three of us have worked out a large sweeping arc for our two PCs, and 3 seperate NPCs, as well as all the world's response to whats going on. What was woven by the other player and I fit very well right into the campaign setting and campaign arc, and the DM welcomed it with open arms.
Now, at times, it almost seems like we have taken over a lot of the story in the DM's game, but the characters we are writing are actually characters we created in our backstory, then individually brought into the game with the DM's permission. The plots and arcs have all been gone over with the DM and he very much enjoys what we have devised, and is working the changes these characters will bring into his game.
Now, the question is...
Is such a high level of player created change common? Do you who have DMed allowed stuff like this? I know whenever I have DMed I always encourage stuff like this, but never see it in action. This is really the first time I have played D&D outside of my old group, which was very stale and full of old blood (they had been playing foe years, and I was new to it), so I am not too sure how these kinds of things are usually looked upon.
SO far the DM loves it, we love it, and the players not in on the story love it. Everyone seems to be winning....
_________________
"Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well." - Leto II
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chihawk
Clan Blood Spirit
Master Bartender
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 8081
Location: United States
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| Posted: 07-Aug-2004 11:37 Post subject: RE: Character arcs in D&D games. |
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Quote:
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On 2004-08-07 11:06, Talen wrote:
SO far the DM loves it, we love it, and the players not in on the story love it. Everyone seems to be winning....
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And that's the whole idea....
Im my campaigns the players are ALWAYS the "center of the universe"...even at very low levels their exploits effect the "universe".
If the PCs aren't "heroic" in stature then why bother playing? 
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www.210sportsblog.com
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Seraph
Blighted Sun Battalion
2nd Company
"Seraph's Slaughter"
Major
Joined: 11-Mar-2004 00:00
Posts: 1744
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| Posted: 08-Aug-2004 06:22 Post subject: RE: Character arcs in D&D games. |
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I agree chihawk. When I run D&D games I make the characters of the players a large part of what goes on in their part of the world. That's what great adventures are all about. After the adventure you shopuld be able to travel a far distance to some port city halfway aropund the globe and listen to tales told in a tavern about some great adventure that happened in a far away land and recognize it as what happened.
On another note, I have also GMed games where the players took a side seat to the spotlighted characters. (Was an interesting adventure where a dragon in human guise hired the player's party plus henchmen to hunt down and find a powerful artifact that could control dragons. A couple of double crosses later and our main cleric was destroying the globe with the help of some divine intervention.)
It sounds as if you have blown new enthusiasm into your gaming group. That's one good thing about new blood. While your older players have the "been there, done that" attitude, the new guy is like" hey let's try that!" It rekindles the flames of adventure and excitement in those who think there's nothing left to do except on grand scales.
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If ignorance is bliss, then why are you so miserable?
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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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| Posted: 08-Aug-2004 13:42 Post subject: RE: Character arcs in D&D games. |
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Unfortuneatly its not my usual group, but a different set all together. If it were my usual group, then I would be terribly happy of such...
_________________
"Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well." - Leto II
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-Mud
ex-Jade Falcon
Bounty Hunter
Joined: 04-Nov-2003 00:00
Posts: 1082
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| Posted: 08-Aug-2004 14:34 Post subject: RE: Character arcs in D&D games. |
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This game sounds like a rare gem.
Characters should always be center stage. Why bother playing at all if the GM dictates all of the action. You might as well just write a story.
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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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| Posted: 08-Aug-2004 14:59 Post subject: The Story so far |
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Just cause You'll think its neat...
Lucertola Dell'ombra is a half shadow dragon. His half sister is a half-prismatic dragon. They share the same mother, a malicious bitch of a bard, Alaria.
Luca (Lucertola's short name) was born much earlier, when Alaria moved to a town called Blythewater. The town, though part of the Kingdom of Sylvania, was under the protection of an extortionist shadow dragon, Cacciorte who lived below the city in a large cave complex. He heard of a new bard that had moved into town, and wished her to play for him. She obliged, and the dragon was impressed, and decided to hire her on for his personal audience chamber. After some time, the two became good friends, but Alaria became quite close to the dragon, impressed by his power and his well thought maliciousnes. Years passed, and Alaria became more and more capeable in her performances, specializing in songs that would calm the often irratable dragon down. Slowly her own mind began to twist, however, a side effect of being near the dragon for so long. She began to envision plans that could bring the city to its knees, and possibly more. She approached Cacciorte, whom she had began to love passionatly, with an ambitious plan that was very hard to pass up. Using the blood of Cacciorte, Alaria planned on turning the city above into a festering bowl of greed and despair. Alaria would be able to control the population once the city's true officials were powerless to do anything. Cacciorte ammused by the idea at first, told the human that there would be no profit in destroying the population of the town, and that he forbade her from it. Alaria was deeply hurt, and still began to plot behind her love's back. Alaria knew she couldn't convince the dragon directly, so she seduced the beast, bringing all the knowledge of her past years in service to render the dragon into what would seem like a drunken stupor. Alaria knew she couldnt ever convince the dragon to follow her plan willingly, so she made sure to strike at him somewhere that it would hurt, a child of his. She concieved and gave birth to Luca with no other intention but to use him as a puppet against his father. As she expected, Cacciorte was deeply in love with the child, and spent as much time as he could teaching and playing with him, even though he was only a half-breed.
Alaria grew impatient, her mind had began to warp ever since she had merged with the dragon. Her fits of meglomania would last for days, and she would abuse Lucertola when Cacciorte wasnt around to see it. And of he was, Alaria would only keep him at bay with threats to the young son. One day, she finally snapped. A heated discussion between Alaria and Cacciorte raged on, and Cacciorte gloated that he had never actually been affected by her feeble magic, and that he never loved her, like Alaria convinced herself. Alaria stormed out of the cave and sought her underworld friends. Within hours, a mob was formed and they confronted Cacciorte. Dozens of would be heroes and warriors faced the wyrm, and all were killed for the defiance, but not until a terrible toll was exacted. Cacciorte was mortally wounded, and no one could save him. Luca, only being about 2 or 3 in human years at this time, was too small to be any help. With his last energy, Cacciorte removed his largest tooth and presented it to Lucertola, who was very confused. Then, with his dying breaths, Cacciorte passed on what knowledge he could to the half dragon, using sorcery to make the young child understand what had transpired.
A few weeks later, an ally of Cacciorte's came to visit, and found the dragon dead and a very frightened Lucertola still clutching to his father. The ally took Luca to Northold Moor, a utopia for dragons, where the boy was raised with full knowledge of the attrocities his mother commited, and the others she intended to carry out against the world.
Alaria was far from finished. Within months of Cacciorte's fall, the town began to plummit into poverty. A plague was moving through the population. It was slow acting, and no one knew where it was coming from. Alaria delighted in what she was surrounded by, the entire population would soon be weakened and ready to be controlled by her iron fist. Her plan had succeeded, Cacciorte's blood had seeped into the water and was slowing going to destroy the town.
During this time, Alaria needed a new ally and puppet, and she found a rather unlikely candidate. The kind hearted prismatic dragon, Alberth. Like with Cacciorte, Alberth quickly fell under her charm. Alaria knew she couldnt keep this dragon under control forever, so she made quick work with him, forced him to make love to her, then abandoned him, fleeing back to the town of Blythewater, which at this time was as bad as any city in the kingdom. Only the constant payment under the table to officials kept it a secret from the King. Within a few months, Alaria gave birth to Alexandren, a half prismatic dragon abomination. Alaria knew no love for her, but knew she needed the child in order to perpetuate her crime against Blythewater. For years she used and bused the child, until through some luck, Alexandren left Blythewater, and somehow made her way and was found by her father. He quickly wisked her away to his cave, and for years he kept her there, attempting to protect her from the horrors of the world.
In what can only be described as fate Luca, having full gown by now, was on a mission from Northold Moor in a nerby city, almost fell victim to a pick pocket, a half-prismatic dragon. Luca was deeply angered by the insolence of the young half-dragon, but felt compassion in his heart. He took her to Northold Moor, where the elders questioned her, then summoned Alberth. It was then divulged by one of the elders that Alexandren and Luca were siblings. Luca was shocked and Alexandren immediately clung to him. Alexandren was ordered by the dragon elders to "grow up" (living alone with her father pampering her like her nickname "Princess" had left her naive), and was assigned to the wise and watchful eyes of her brother, Lucertola.
Lucertola began to guide her like a good brither would, and protected his unknowing little sister from the evils of the world, teaching her what it meant to be a half dragon in a world of sceptics and racists.
Thats the pre-game story....
Here is where the game begins...
After about 2 years with her brother, Luca was ordered to visit the capital of Sylvania as a formal dignatry to the wedding of the King to his 2nd wife. Luca and Princess traveled to the city, and were caught in the middle of a plot against the Queen. Some malicious force had poisoned the Queen, and the King was furious. As his orders wrre to serve the King in any way possible, Lucertola made he and his sister available for the King to command. Something was happening to Lucertola though. The last 2 years with his sister were begining to take a terrible toll on Luca. For some reason he was starting to lose control of himself, and during the crisis with the King, he fell into a sort of fit, and even acted violently against his majesty. It quickly passed, however, and the King noted it, but did nothing. Along with some other friends of the King, Luca and Princess embarked on a mission to find a cure for the Queen, and when they came back they discovered something sinister, a rival of the Kings could be behind it...but something else was wrong. The King, after at least 16 years of the mess, had just heard of Blythewater. He asked those who had just helped him find a cure for his Queen;s poison to investigate, as he could trust no one within his own court to do it properly. Luca and Princess reluctantly agreed to go there, and made their way with the party to Blythewater.
Along the way, they were attacked. Lucertola easily defeated the foes, but he soon dropped into a state of insanity, attacking his sister and those around him. It too passed, and in a few seconds, he was unconcious on the ground. The next day, Luca was completely confused as to what had happened the night before, but Princess didnt tell him, and asked the others not to speak of it again. They reached Blythewater, and after some investigation, were confronted by Alaria. Lucertola completely snapped upon seeing her again, and attacked his mother with no warning. Alaria escaped, and Lucertola witht he rest of the party retreated out of the vile town for a few days. They returned to their doctor and cleric ally who had been working on a cure for the plauge that had consumed the city, and one had been found. The cure was tested on Princess, and then was created in masse, and dumped into the towns water supply so that it would eventually spread to the population.
Upon completion of their assignmentm Lucertola began to track down where his mother had fled to. After some months, he found her in a small town outside a large lake. He once again confronted her, but she could not escape this time. Luca was about to kill her, but Princess begged him not to harm her anymore. Lucertola was broken in two, and grudingly let his mother live.
That is where the game sessions end...
This is the future.
Luca will feel so betrayed by Princess that he will abandon her and leave. Alaria too will escape from the watchful eyes of Princess and the King, and move on to wage her war against the world as she has always intended.
After leaving the group, Lucertola will be arrested by the King he has been helping. Lucertola is infected by what the King's foreign visitors from Rokugan explain is something called the taint, a malicious psychological and mental illness that consumes everything. Lucertola must be destroyed in order to keep the taint from spreading. The king banishes Lucetola, as exectution is not permitted by his own law. He is turned over to the Rokugani, and destroyed on their island...
The Rokugan diplomats travel to find Princess and the party, to see if they too have become corrupted by the taint. Upon their arrival they discover something terrible. Lucertola has come back from the dead, reincarnated through his long time companion and familiar, the little black cat, Keronekosama. The Rokugani arrive just in time to save the party from a massacre, and Lucertola is driven off.
Later, Lucertola confronts Princess. He has become a monster to her now. Out of a bag he produces the head of her father, who he has recently slain. Princess goes into a lapse, and the two fight, ending in Princess being severly wounded and Lucertola is driven off by the rest of the party...
Lucertola is found by his mother, who is able to weave her magic on him finally...and bring him under her control. She uses him and his power of death and undeath to ressurect Cacciorte as his slave, and therefore, her slave. Cacciorte is ressurected, but under the control of his own son now. Alaria begins to plan the demise of the entire kingdom now, and uses the reborn Cacciorte as her means of spreading a plague like no other. Lucertola also retrieves the head of Alberth and ressurects the platinum dragon as yet another slave. Alaria, Lucertola, Cacciorte and Alberth could threaten the kingdom of Sylvania from the inside, where the King is least likely to be able to control it. Princess is forced to face off against her entire family, and only her newfound studies of the way of the Samurai with the diplomats from Rokugan can prepare her for the confrontation about to occur...
Anyways...thats the character arc for Luca and Princess. Luca will become an NPC soon. This, by the way, is in addition to whatever the DM has in store for us. Cool no?
_________________
"Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well." - Leto II
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Sir Henry
Team Bansai
Senior Tech Specialist
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4899
Location: United States
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| Posted: 09-Aug-2004 06:45 Post subject: RE: The Story so far |
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The story should be the guiding force of the adventure but not the driving force. That should come from the Characters. It's not fun to sit and wait to see what happens. It's much better to go and make things happen...
IF the everyone is enjoying it, then it's all good...
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Sir Henry
A Dragon in the disguise of a bunny, is still a Dragon.
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SaberDance
Federated Suns
Colonel
Joined: 07-May-2004 00:00
Posts: 837
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| Posted: 17-Aug-2004 18:48 Post subject: RE: The Story so far |
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I would have to say that this is a good way to run a game, but it is probably the most difficult. For one thing, it requires a lot of time outside the actual game to bring all these past events out into the universe.
That said, I have always tried, with more or less success, to play off the characters and bring out enemies they will want to face over and over again. With Twilight and Star Wars, I floppeed miserably, but I had great success with sending them to the historic battles of Post Clone-Wars - Pre-Empire. Even though their characters were kind of shanghaied into it, they really enjoyed fighting the Battle of Mon Calamari, and you can never go wrong with a car chase in a crowded city involving a 36-wheeler hauling a bulk freighter at 90 miles per hour. Helvetica (it's a font! Matt! It's a $*%&ing Font!) will never be the same.
Character driven stories are great, so are the grand climactic ones. If you can get both, you're golden.
So yeah, that's a good game you ended up with. Enjoy every minute of it.
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"Politics is the Art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, misdiagnosing the problem, and applying the wrong solution."
-Groucho Marx
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Sir Henry
Team Bansai
Senior Tech Specialist
Joined: 04-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 4899
Location: United States
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| Posted: 18-Aug-2004 06:48 Post subject: RE: The Story so far |
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On a SuperHeroes Unlimited scenario, I spent about 3 weeks prep.
On a D&D Campaign, I spent about 6 weeks prep. The Story, The Dungeon, the Sounds and Music, The NPCs, the random encounters....
It was fun....
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Sir Henry
A Dragon in the disguise of a bunny, is still a Dragon.
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Oafman
Draconis Combine
Tai-sho
Joined: 18-Nov-2003 00:00
Posts: 1657
Location: United States
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| Posted: 18-Aug-2004 15:07 Post subject: RE: The Story so far |
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You cannot forget the music. The background music or lack thereof can really set the mood for a roleplaying session.
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Festina Lente!
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Ronin
ComStar
Colonel
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 908
Location: United States
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| Posted: 19-Aug-2004 09:56 Post subject: RE: The Story so far |
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Music really does make the moment. I remember playing the part of the Empire Strike Back soundtrack where Luke is getting his butt whooped by Vader, to introduce an encouter for the PCs with a bad guy and his group that were way beyond the abilities of the PCs. They got the hint: run like hell! 
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SaberDance
Federated Suns
Colonel
Joined: 07-May-2004 00:00
Posts: 837
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| Posted: 19-Aug-2004 11:12 Post subject: RE: The Story so far |
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I wouldn't call this the most fun I ever gad in a game, but a friend of mine ran a "Quentin Tarentino meets Underworld" game.
He stuck a CD of Kill Bill music in the player on shuffle-loop and whatever music came up was the scenario we played. So, chase music=lots more cad guys than you can kill so RUN!!!, katana fight music=Kill as many Yakuza as you can before the music changes. You get the idea.
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"Politics is the Art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, misdiagnosing the problem, and applying the wrong solution."
-Groucho Marx
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drfunk
Draconis Combine
Kashira
Joined: 14-Mar-2004 00:00
Posts: 156
Location: Canada
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| Posted: 20-Aug-2004 21:53 Post subject: RE: The Story so far |
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this might be a little off topic but i'll add it in anyways I geuss.
I played d&d for about 6 or 7 years perhaps. I started reading these messages about d&d and realized how much i missed playing the game. I had a 4th level half ogre named gannon and a 4th level kensai.
I would really like to be able to play d&d again, it was a such a blast. the first module we played was the temple of elemental evil. that was awesome. on one level my half ogre gannon found a bottle of speed potion, and i think if i remember right I think he was berserk at the time, he had himself a little fun with some of the bad guys. he crashed into one room killing some guards and loppchopped a Minotaur's head off and used it as a helmet. he came out of the temple feeling like a very rich half ogre. he made enough to buy himself a suite of full plate armor.
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A wise man speaks because he has something to say. A fool speaks because he must say something.
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Talen
Capellan Confederation
Sang-shao
Joined: 05-Feb-2002 00:00
Posts: 1269
Location: United States
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| Posted: 23-Aug-2004 14:42 Post subject: RE: The Story so far |
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So far the soundtrack to the game is 2 cds long, and we have made the one game into a story series which starts 5000 years before the current game, and ends 50 years after it.
Its become a Dynasty!!! Lol.
_________________
"Historians exercise great power and some of them know it. They recreate the past, changing it to fit their own interpretations. Thus, they change the future as well." - Leto II
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