Frenchman
Sep 28th, '04, 08:42 PM
***DISCLAIMER*** THIS THREAD CONTAINS POSSIBLY GRUESOME AND DISTURBING TOPICS AND IMAGERY!!!
Currently in my group us GMs (we each have characters and we're taking turns with a plot line) are trying to come up with a spooky series of adventures loosely modeled after 13 Ghosts. Basically theres this uber-necromancer or demon lord or something (I'm not really sure, I'm not GMing the conclusion) who is trying to collect 13 souls to open the gates of hell or somesuch thing which will totally screw up the world. These souls need to be freed/captured, and to do this they must be convinced to give up their soul (with our players, that probly means killing/destroying them, but we're going to try to have some of them come less reluctantly). So each of us GMs is going to GM the adventure with four of these 'ghosts' (so far, only one is actually a ghost, though most are tending to be undead), and while all the GMs will know some basic knowledge of the ghosts, its up to us to surprise eachother. We want to give each ghost a 'title' that will be somewhat obvious and hint at their powers/weaknesses or whatever.
The main point of these beings is not to challenge the players in combat, but to challenge their roleplaying abilities and, lets face it, to be downright creepy. Heres what we've got so far:
The Fallen Angel: A priest of our god of Knowledge became obsessed with anatomy. He dissected animals, monsters, and Orcs (in our world noone bats an eye no matter how bestial you are to an Orc). Eventually he progressed to human and demi-human cadavers. His findings caused a revolution in medicine and healing magic practices, but he became more and more obsessed with finding out more about the anatomy of different creatures. Eventually he had to magically ward his room so that his more depraved methods wouldn't be discovered, and then he began using once dead subjects, and eventually living ones. One day he summons a powerful angel, and since he is the priest of a good god and has a great reputation as a healer, he coerces the angel into his room and places into magical shackles which render it powerless. He then proceeds to dissect the angel alive. The angel (name suggestions appreciated) tries to escape to heaven, but all escape is blocked by the wards put up around the room. Looking around and seeing previous victims of the deranged priest (paladins, elves, dwarves, and other good creatures) he decides that heaven must have deemed him expendable for the furthering of this mans research, and has abandoned him. The angel turns to darker powers and thoughts, and his soul refuses to leave his body. Now he seeks only to do evil to the world.
The Torn Prince: A prince of a major royal family (to which two of our PCs belong) was captured by Orcs (long story, essentially this family has a major, unreasoning hatred of anything Orcish, and it is most definitly mutual). Hi is put into a cage and a magic ring is put on his finger, his fist then bound so that it cannot come off. The Orcs abuse the young prince in every fashion imaginable, but the most heinous is that they periodically tear or bite chunks of his flesh and eat it. The ring of regeneration which he wears prevents him from ever dying, and so he lives in this pitiful condition for an untold amount of time (years, at least). A group of adventurers, led by a member of this royal family, massacre the Orcs. Seeing the boy is virtually dead or believing that he is (doesn't really matter, this family is pretty arrogent and uncaring as a rule) they discard him and his cage, tossing it on top of the pile of rotting Orcs. Later, our party comes by the scene, and the magical ring is picked up on the caster's Loot-Dar. The poor boy's distant relative cuts the ring from his hand and leaves. After being horrendously abused and betrayed by his own blood, this child's soul refuses to leave, and now he hungers for the flesh of his royal kin. We were going to have him start hunting the party, and build him with tons of regeneration, and possibly healing or an aid body linked to his bite. Nasty Nasty Nasty.
The Faithful Defender: A loyal guard, he was defended the retreat of his lord, fighting against unimaginable odds. He was eventually overwhelmed, but he bought his lord enough time to escape. When his lord returned, he paused to look at his battered corpse, lying in a pool of blood and his dented and torn armor. His lord then continued on as before, ignoring his great sacrifice, and his body was burned in a mass pyre along with the bodies of his foes. His spirit now animates his blackened and torn armor, invincible but for the still beating and bleeding heart within it. This guy is most likely a pure combat monster, but being night invincible may cause the PCs to seek other routes. Convincing his lord to honor him with a proper funeral and the accolades of a hero would probly do it.
The BoneSmith: The son of a peasant, he took on his father's duty of tending graves at night, but during the day he pursued his passions. First, his passion was blacksmithing and the creation of armor, but soon passion boiled for the Blacksmith's daughter. Being an apprentice, tending the graveyard and digging graves, and attempting to woo a young lady takes it's toll on a person body and mind. Unable to keep up with it, he approaced a nearby wizard rightly suspected of dealing with dark necromancy. He made him a deal. If the necromancer would give him the ability to pursue both his jobs and win the girls heart, he would supply him with fresh corpses from the graveyard when he needed them. The necromancer agreed, and cast a spell granting him great stamina and a powerful charm among women. In return he delivered the necromancer the bodies of those who had just died. He had great success, quickly becoming a master armorsmith and winning his love's hand in marriage. But soon, this wasn't enough. The necromancer learned of his skill at fashioning armor, and convinced him to create a suit of mail out of the bones of the dead. He did this, but the armor didn't work. He couldn't get it to stay together, or the bones were too old and brittle. The necromancer used his magic to divine what the missing ingredient was. Love. He placed a powerful spell over the young man, and so the young man killed his new wife and fashioned a suit of armor from her bones. He was not caught, but instead when the girls butchered corpse was found, the necromancer was blamed. His new armor wasn't enough to protect him from the wrath of the entire town. Needless to say, the young man was driven over the brink. He fashioned yet another suit of armor out of the bones of his parents, and as his insanity grew, he gained powers over the bones with which he worked. Now he is two people. The broken and pitiful young man who spends his time in solitude or at the forge, and the homicidal terror who stalks the night, murdering those he comes across. The town is terrified, and they hire a party of adventurers to help...
The Broken Samurai: Just as a note, I should mention that while our campaign world has a pretty 'standard' western feel, there is a somewhat distant oriental culture from where ninjas and samurais come (and Casey's characters). Having been dishonoured by failing to protect the shogun to whom he had sworn alliegence, this samurai falls upon his family blade. But so cursed is he that his katana breaks upon his armor, and he cannot kill himself with it. Driven by grief and madness, he travels as far as he can from his past, a tortured soul. Personally I think this one needs to be developed a bit more, but all we've been able to come up with is that he tore out his eyes for coveting his lords wife or something.
We're trying to come up with at least 12 of these, and it's pretty darned difficult (so far, anyways) to come up with ones that are sufficiently interesting, tragic, and disturbing.
Currently in my group us GMs (we each have characters and we're taking turns with a plot line) are trying to come up with a spooky series of adventures loosely modeled after 13 Ghosts. Basically theres this uber-necromancer or demon lord or something (I'm not really sure, I'm not GMing the conclusion) who is trying to collect 13 souls to open the gates of hell or somesuch thing which will totally screw up the world. These souls need to be freed/captured, and to do this they must be convinced to give up their soul (with our players, that probly means killing/destroying them, but we're going to try to have some of them come less reluctantly). So each of us GMs is going to GM the adventure with four of these 'ghosts' (so far, only one is actually a ghost, though most are tending to be undead), and while all the GMs will know some basic knowledge of the ghosts, its up to us to surprise eachother. We want to give each ghost a 'title' that will be somewhat obvious and hint at their powers/weaknesses or whatever.
The main point of these beings is not to challenge the players in combat, but to challenge their roleplaying abilities and, lets face it, to be downright creepy. Heres what we've got so far:
The Fallen Angel: A priest of our god of Knowledge became obsessed with anatomy. He dissected animals, monsters, and Orcs (in our world noone bats an eye no matter how bestial you are to an Orc). Eventually he progressed to human and demi-human cadavers. His findings caused a revolution in medicine and healing magic practices, but he became more and more obsessed with finding out more about the anatomy of different creatures. Eventually he had to magically ward his room so that his more depraved methods wouldn't be discovered, and then he began using once dead subjects, and eventually living ones. One day he summons a powerful angel, and since he is the priest of a good god and has a great reputation as a healer, he coerces the angel into his room and places into magical shackles which render it powerless. He then proceeds to dissect the angel alive. The angel (name suggestions appreciated) tries to escape to heaven, but all escape is blocked by the wards put up around the room. Looking around and seeing previous victims of the deranged priest (paladins, elves, dwarves, and other good creatures) he decides that heaven must have deemed him expendable for the furthering of this mans research, and has abandoned him. The angel turns to darker powers and thoughts, and his soul refuses to leave his body. Now he seeks only to do evil to the world.
The Torn Prince: A prince of a major royal family (to which two of our PCs belong) was captured by Orcs (long story, essentially this family has a major, unreasoning hatred of anything Orcish, and it is most definitly mutual). Hi is put into a cage and a magic ring is put on his finger, his fist then bound so that it cannot come off. The Orcs abuse the young prince in every fashion imaginable, but the most heinous is that they periodically tear or bite chunks of his flesh and eat it. The ring of regeneration which he wears prevents him from ever dying, and so he lives in this pitiful condition for an untold amount of time (years, at least). A group of adventurers, led by a member of this royal family, massacre the Orcs. Seeing the boy is virtually dead or believing that he is (doesn't really matter, this family is pretty arrogent and uncaring as a rule) they discard him and his cage, tossing it on top of the pile of rotting Orcs. Later, our party comes by the scene, and the magical ring is picked up on the caster's Loot-Dar. The poor boy's distant relative cuts the ring from his hand and leaves. After being horrendously abused and betrayed by his own blood, this child's soul refuses to leave, and now he hungers for the flesh of his royal kin. We were going to have him start hunting the party, and build him with tons of regeneration, and possibly healing or an aid body linked to his bite. Nasty Nasty Nasty.
The Faithful Defender: A loyal guard, he was defended the retreat of his lord, fighting against unimaginable odds. He was eventually overwhelmed, but he bought his lord enough time to escape. When his lord returned, he paused to look at his battered corpse, lying in a pool of blood and his dented and torn armor. His lord then continued on as before, ignoring his great sacrifice, and his body was burned in a mass pyre along with the bodies of his foes. His spirit now animates his blackened and torn armor, invincible but for the still beating and bleeding heart within it. This guy is most likely a pure combat monster, but being night invincible may cause the PCs to seek other routes. Convincing his lord to honor him with a proper funeral and the accolades of a hero would probly do it.
The BoneSmith: The son of a peasant, he took on his father's duty of tending graves at night, but during the day he pursued his passions. First, his passion was blacksmithing and the creation of armor, but soon passion boiled for the Blacksmith's daughter. Being an apprentice, tending the graveyard and digging graves, and attempting to woo a young lady takes it's toll on a person body and mind. Unable to keep up with it, he approaced a nearby wizard rightly suspected of dealing with dark necromancy. He made him a deal. If the necromancer would give him the ability to pursue both his jobs and win the girls heart, he would supply him with fresh corpses from the graveyard when he needed them. The necromancer agreed, and cast a spell granting him great stamina and a powerful charm among women. In return he delivered the necromancer the bodies of those who had just died. He had great success, quickly becoming a master armorsmith and winning his love's hand in marriage. But soon, this wasn't enough. The necromancer learned of his skill at fashioning armor, and convinced him to create a suit of mail out of the bones of the dead. He did this, but the armor didn't work. He couldn't get it to stay together, or the bones were too old and brittle. The necromancer used his magic to divine what the missing ingredient was. Love. He placed a powerful spell over the young man, and so the young man killed his new wife and fashioned a suit of armor from her bones. He was not caught, but instead when the girls butchered corpse was found, the necromancer was blamed. His new armor wasn't enough to protect him from the wrath of the entire town. Needless to say, the young man was driven over the brink. He fashioned yet another suit of armor out of the bones of his parents, and as his insanity grew, he gained powers over the bones with which he worked. Now he is two people. The broken and pitiful young man who spends his time in solitude or at the forge, and the homicidal terror who stalks the night, murdering those he comes across. The town is terrified, and they hire a party of adventurers to help...
The Broken Samurai: Just as a note, I should mention that while our campaign world has a pretty 'standard' western feel, there is a somewhat distant oriental culture from where ninjas and samurais come (and Casey's characters). Having been dishonoured by failing to protect the shogun to whom he had sworn alliegence, this samurai falls upon his family blade. But so cursed is he that his katana breaks upon his armor, and he cannot kill himself with it. Driven by grief and madness, he travels as far as he can from his past, a tortured soul. Personally I think this one needs to be developed a bit more, but all we've been able to come up with is that he tore out his eyes for coveting his lords wife or something.
We're trying to come up with at least 12 of these, and it's pretty darned difficult (so far, anyways) to come up with ones that are sufficiently interesting, tragic, and disturbing.