“Bring forth your brave. They, at least, will die swiftly. Those who cannot fight back are not worthy of my weapons.” The Tiefling known as Anteaphon was born in a slum some centuries ago. He struggled with his heritage and looks through his teenage years, emerging at the head of a gang and fighting against the city guard at the time of his sixteenth birthday. At this time, he was visited by his father, a Balor named Loshnak the Sunbiter, who approved of the chaos he was sowing. He rewarded the young Anteaphon with fiendish power, and the ability to brutally shatter his foes with enhanced strength. Overnight, the scrappy young Tiefling became a lethal threat, haunting the back alleys of the city and murdering all those who opposed his will. When he reached his thirty-third birthday, his schemes peaked in their fiendishness. He set two kingdoms against one another with the murder of the ambassador of one country and the prince of the other. The resulting chaos caused wholesale slaughter of thousands, and ended a line of Kings stretching back six centuries. For this feat, his father raised him to become a true Cambion, his powers vastly enhanced, and with a legion of demons at his beck and call. He is cruel and dismissive, honoring only strength in battle, and the ability to hold what can be claimed. Anteaphon makes a good recurring villain, one who will burn a village at the head of a fiendish army, and sneer at those left in the ruins. By the time he shows up, you can probably have several players hating him already. By the time they meet him a second or third time, they’ll love the opportunity to even the scales. Statistics: Anteaphon is undoubtedly Chaotic Evil. The depths of his brutality have impressed even his father on occasion. He is a half-fiend, and a Fighter of no less than 10th level. He rarely travels anywhere without demonic allies, but often deigns to battle an opponent on his own, relishing the chance to bloody his fists. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash 10 December 2018) Categories All There are an awful lot of violently-orphaned PCs out there, and it doesn’t have to be that way. Having loved ones- a family you’re saving up money for, spouses and children you’re returning to, or even just someone you want to be proud of you- should be a reason to succeed. They can be a good reason to use a particular town or city as a base of operations. And given the number of parentless sociopathic adventurers who exist, in-game reasons to not distrust everyone sounds great. So, when your adventurers return home for a favourite meal, give them a little something. Maybe their parents saved up all their earnings from the farm to buy them a new dagger. Maybe there’s some repairs done on their last set of clothes that got torn fleeing from Bugbears. Maybe their favourite old dog will be waiting at the fence for them. *Reward people* for being in-character. Although these people and places and pets can be threatened, don’t overdo it or just kill them off, because then the players are less likely to be vulnerable with you again. If they’re trying to hold on to not be charmed, or bleed out, give them a +2 bonus, or a reroll or something, if they’re stating that they’re thinking about how much they don’t want to let their family down. It’ll mean a lot down the track. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 9 December 2018) Categories All Assembling a group of exceptional people is far from a new idea, and that can make for an exciting game. This can be good as a starting campaign, or even as one for more experienced players who want to go in at a higher level. Basically, the idea is that someone (an Archmage, a Queen, some religious figure) wants to accomplish a task like forging a kingdom, overcoming an ancient evil, defeating the followers of an evil god, or what have you, and assembles some like-minded folk with a variety of special abilities to help with this task. To do so, they name all of these as Knights of their order, and send them forth on quests to bring peace, restore order, and all of that. Depending on which versions you read, the Knights of Camelot had special super powers, too- Gawain’s strength grew as the sun came overhead and waned when it grew darker; Kay could grow to giant size and hold his breath for nine days; Bedivere was so charming that he could have any woman just by gazing into her eyes (dammit, Bards!); Lancelot was the finest warrior in all the world; Galahad was the only true Paladin, purest of all people and the only one who could sit in a cursed seat, the Siege Perilous; Arthur himself was born to be King over all England, and got two magic swords (Caliburn and Excalibur), plus a magic scabbard that meant he could never bleed (I guess it helps being friends with the GM). So special-powered Knights totally fit a fantasy setting, and starting characters at a higher level (5th, 10th, or even 15th if you want to go nuts) means you can craft each Knight’s background and special abilities a bit before they all meet up. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 7 December 2018) Categories All Not every enemy is one you can, or should, hack down in bloody ruins. Some are even on your side, while it suits them. This can be a hard concept to get across in a tabletop style game- that not everything can or should be killed if it opposes you. Sometimes, the person you hate the most is the one closest to you- they’re your boss in the City Guard, your cruel prince, or a rival in the Adventurers’ Guild. A start to all of this is establishing with your players early on that just killing people doesn’t solve the problem, and probably gets you executed. Having this foil be clever enough to avoid doing anything that makes them an enemy of the state, while undoubtedly being an enemy of the players’ characters, will make them memorable. Having this foil share some goals with your party will also make them hard to come to blows with. An excellent example is Deputy Chief Madeline Wuntch from Brooklyn Nine-Nine. She is a tyrannical boss, given to tormenting the beloved Captain Holt and forcing him to make decisions affecting his staff, pressing him to the point of obedience to his chain of command, furthering her aims. This peaks (spoilers) at the end of Season 2, when Wuntch gives him publicity and a blank cheque for resources on a high-profile claim. Holt and the team assume that she’s trying to make them look wasteful and incompetent, and try their hardest, eventually bringing in the bad guy and throwing it in her face. She responds that she truly wanted to see him succeed- and then promotes him to a different department, away from the team and against his wishes. So, make your foils petty and incredibly powerful. Make them mess with your players’ families and friends- don’t have the villain kill them, have the villain raise their rent, or buy their house and (legally) toss them out. Have your villain untouchable and completely aware of it, willing to flaunt that in people’s faces. Don’t make them kick the PCs’ puppy... make them adopt the puppy and treat it perfectly, but don’t allow the PCs access. Make them an absolute and complete jerk, with very little your players can do about it (but make sure they’re able to do something about it, in the end). I mean, slaying a dragon and gaining millions of gold pieces is okay, I guess, but have you ever been able to bring down a true villain and succeed against all of their plotting? Amazing stuff! (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 6 December 2018) Categories All This curious sheet of vellum seems blank when found. However, it is far more useful than that. Once it has attuned to a particular user, it displays their current location in the centre of the map at all times, and all of their past journeys since attuning to the item. This means that navigating back out of a forest or desert becomes much simpler, unless planar travel or magical interference occurs. In this instance, the map displays a series of runes similar to “IV0VI” flashing in its centre. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 5 December 2018) Categories All On a Friday afternoon when I sit down with my friends for gaming, I don’t need to prove how hardcore a gamer I am, I just want to tell some stories and have fun. It’s a good idea to discuss this in your Session Zero with your players, so people have an idea whether to make characters in a Dark Souls-style campaign (low individual story, high difficulty, a mostly uncaring world), or a some kind of Anime-style game (very high individual story, moderate to high difficulty, a world which panders to characters a little more), or the new Netflix She-Ra (High individual story, lower than moderate difficulty, a world where heroic action is rewarded). You can vary from your difficulty slider a bit (a grim horror episode, a light-hearted interlude, or a fluffy animal that needs capturing), but that stretches your difficulty, rather than resetting it. Some people prefer a “hard Hard” game, whereas others want to experience a story and feel like a superhero. Work out what it is your players (and you) are interested in, reach a compromise, and be okay with that. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 4 December 2018) Categories All “There’s a good reason to stay away from the old ruins out by the forest. Feels like you’re being watched.” Zoetic Vestiges are formed when the angry spirits of a slaughtered people meld with the very stones of the place where they died. The bodies of those who were slaughtered there can still be seen among the ruins, withered and still in exactly the same place where they lay, no matter how many times it has animated. They sit dormant for most of the time, unable to enact their terrible rage. However, when someone threatens their people, their heritage, or does something to upset them, they animate and grind their foes into a gory mess. Statistics: These function as undead and constructs at the same time, and often take up massive amounts of space. When angered, a Zoetic Vestige strikes foes for a truly colossal amount of damage (4d10 per hit), literally crushing its foes beneath a small building. They are resistant to all kinds of physical damage, as the spirits work constantly to restore the structure. The best bet is to flee such a creature, for they return to the site they call home, rarely going out of sight. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 3 December 2018) Categories All This sinister-seeming undead creature is desperately lonely, and has been walled up in a long-forgotten tomb for hundreds of years. As it turns out, that’s not by accident. Polísovaró, you see, is thousands of years old, and he used to be a bard. Cursed with never dying by an ancient sorcerer-King, he has made the most of his lot in life (and death), and floats about, spouting terribly bad jokes in a multitude of languages. He is, however, incredibly knowledgeable about history, having witnessed much of it, and if you can convince him to tell you the (long, self-aggrandizing) story, you’ll likely learn a lot. You’ll just have to suffer through the story. Polísovaró is just a skull, carved with ancient runic inscription. His eyes glow with an inner fire, and he speaks with a slight accent in most languages. He is able to fly at a speed of about 30 feet, but has no spellcasting or combat abilities, except possibly trying to bite someone for 1d2 damage. He doesn’t like to bite Some of his favourites: “Hey lady, would you go to the dance with me? I just... I have no *body* to go with!” “Oh, I’ll only drink tea. But you have to serve it in fine *bone* china! Get it? Bone... because I’m a skull?” “I can’t be held responsible for what you’re about to do. I’m literally a bone head.” “While you’re in the tavern, can you get me a bottle of wine? And make sure it’s a good full-*bodied* one!” (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 2 December 2018) Categories All Noremos is a radical necromancer who deals exclusively with living patients. He has reworked several existing spells and even written several of his own as well, involving transfer of life energy from one patient to the other, transfer of physical injuries from one patient to the other, and a variety of other astounding purposes. Noremos is a calm, taciturn man who is often the last resort for many people. People find his manner cold and his methods strange and worrying- but he gets results. Noremos is credited with single-handedly ending the Brainworm infestation last year by inventing a means of detecting them, and harmlessly removing them from their hosts. He saved Old Farmer Garn’s prize bull when it caught the Red Ague a couple years back, and all the clerics had already tried. ...but he’s a bit wierd, and he keeps all those bottles of... fluids. (Originally posted on Game Masters Stash on 1 December 2018) Categories All |
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