thicker than blood?

funkysnunkulator · Aug 29, 2007

do your characters have families? if so, do the characters regularly interact with family members? do the families wield influence in characters lives? do dm's use family as a plot hook to good effect? in what ways?

in our game, nearly every character has family to one degree or another, and upbringing, status, culture can play a massive part in the game. we have even had characters systematically eliminate "bothersome" family members (with all the expected and unexpected results you might imagine).

our game challenges a lot of the notion "family first" (even our samurai types).

Gilladian · Aug 30, 2007

One of my PCs has a mercantile background - he has sent things to his family to be sold, and has received funding for a purchase of a home and business from them. He's also used them as a cover for his actions in one situation.

He's also had to worry about damaging their reputation, and protect their business investment.

Another player's mother hates that she is an adventurer. She has had to avoid her home town for a while, but was able to rely on an uncle for a needed task once.

At some point soon, both characters will find their family ties are as much burden as help. The mercantile PC is about to be burdened with a nephew to care for, while the other character will be called home by Mother for a family wedding. Hers. Ooops...

DrunkonDuty · Aug 30, 2007

Most of my campaigns conveniently ignore families unless a player really wants to have one.

But my current campaign has a big emphasis on family. It's a Dwarves-only campaign and the Dwarves are classically clannish and law abiding types. I've worked hard at getting the players to involve themselves with the social setting. And to their credit they have become deeply invloved in it all. Not necessarily politics, although there's a bit of that, but more that they have emotional investment in the good of the community.

And of course that means family. Only one PC's family has much involvement in day to day game stuff. But this family has had some impact. In fact the PC has been having to make difficult choices between doing the open and honest thing and standing by their clan (which has been being a little, um, dishonest of late.)

All this community involvement is leading somewhere. Basically I intend to destroy the community. There's a great war coming. The enemy are slowly building up outside and there is going to be betrayal and dissension within the here-to-fore solid Dwarven kingdom. And I figure the players will have that much more of a gut-wrenching watching something they care for slowly ground down over a decade or more of siege.

All of which sort of circles the topic without actually getting down to it. Sorry about that.

funkysnunkulator · Aug 31, 2007

Gilladian said:
One of my PCs has a mercantile background - he has sent things to his family to be sold, and has received funding for a purchase of a home and business from them. He's also used them as a cover for his actions in one situation.

He's also had to worry about damaging their reputation, and protect their business investment.

Another player's mother hates that she is an adventurer. She has had to avoid her home town for a while, but was able to rely on an uncle for a needed task once.

At some point soon, both characters will find their family ties are as much burden as help. The mercantile PC is about to be burdened with a nephew to care for, while the other character will be called home by Mother for a family wedding. Hers. Ooops...

nephew as cohort or party member or just junior liability? arranged marriage? to a demon lord? hahahahahaha!!

funkysnunkulator · Aug 31, 2007

DrunkonDuty said:
Most of my campaigns conveniently ignore families unless a player really wants to have one.

But my current campaign has a big emphasis on family. It's a Dwarves-only campaign and the Dwarves are classically clannish and law abiding types. I've worked hard at getting the players to involve themselves with the social setting. And to their credit they have become deeply invloved in it all. Not necessarily politics, although there's a bit of that, but more that they have emotional investment in the good of the community.

And of course that means family. Only one PC's family has much involvement in day to day game stuff. But this family has had some impact. In fact the PC has been having to make difficult choices between doing the open and honest thing and standing by their clan (which has been being a little, um, dishonest of late.)

All this community involvement is leading somewhere. Basically I intend to destroy the community. There's a great war coming. The enemy are slowly building up outside and there is going to be betrayal and dissension within the here-to-fore solid Dwarven kingdom. And I figure the players will have that much more of a gut-wrenching watching something they care for slowly ground down over a decade or more of siege.

All of which sort of circles the topic without actually getting down to it. Sorry about that.

no no this is good stuff. just wondering if gamers had turned family/community ties into a lost art. sounds like it still lives (wipes a tear from eye... snif) yay!!!

DrunkonDuty · Aug 31, 2007

I'm happy to find a few like minded gamers out there too. There's just so much emphasis on the numbers and the newest prestige class blah blah. Actually ENworld is a good forum for role playing types!! Cookies to ENWorld.

Gilladian · Aug 31, 2007

funkysnunkulator said:
nephew as cohort or party member or just junior liability? arranged marriage? to a demon lord? hahahahahaha!!

Nephew as junior liability. The PCs have just finished having their house built, and the shop set up, to be run by a cousin of the family. The nephew gets sent out because he did something naughty back in the big city and is in disgrace. He's resentful, lazy, spoiled punk who doesn't want to be where he is.

Arranged marriage to a local well-to-do farmer type who will want her to stay home and have babies, not roam the countryside worshipping bushes (she's a druid). She's gonna have to do some fancy footwork to convince somebody the marriage is a poor idea... Then again, maybe if she shows up with her pet kobolds in tow...

funkysnunkulator · Aug 31, 2007

DrunkonDuty said:
I'm happy to find a few like minded gamers out there too. There's just so much emphasis on the numbers and the newest prestige class blah blah. Actually ENworld is a good forum for role playing types!! Cookies to ENWorld.

agreed. we end up with some numbers and prestige blah blah blah in our campaigns but not without THE GAME first. character, story, world... without that you could spout stats till you are blue in the... wherever you get blue... but it won't happen. not without GAME.

funkysnunkulator · Aug 31, 2007

Gilladian said:
Nephew as junior liability. The PCs have just finished having their house built, and the shop set up, to be run by a cousin of the family. The nephew gets sent out because he did something naughty back in the big city and is in disgrace. He's resentful, lazy, spoiled punk who doesn't want to be where he is.

Arranged marriage to a local well-to-do farmer type who will want her to stay home and have babies, not roam the countryside worshipping bushes (she's a druid). She's gonna have to do some fancy footwork to convince somebody the marriage is a poor idea... Then again, maybe if she shows up with her pet kobolds in tow...

hahahahahaha!!! funny and convincing. sounds like a game worth playing. keep us posted. sounds interesting.

Graybeard · Aug 31, 2007

I use families in my games. Sometimes the family is useful to the PC and sometimes it is a burden. One of my players is playing a cleric of Athena. Her family owns a bakery in the city the PCs are in. Her mother keeps trying to get her to stay home, give up this cleric nonsense, and get married. The mother has even tried to hook her up with other party members. Another PC's family has been useful as a cover for activities and a place for the group to hide out at.

I've had other groups and players that didn't want families. The typical "all my family is dead, killed by orcs, etc.". I usually surprise them with a long lost cousin, uncle, aunt, etc.

In one of the games I'm playing in, my PC had a grown daughter show up once. My PC was an Elf and the daughter was a half-elf. That was fun and interesting for awhile.

thicker than blood?

funkysnunkulator

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Gilladian

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DrunkonDuty

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funkysnunkulator

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funkysnunkulator

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DrunkonDuty

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Gilladian

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funkysnunkulator

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funkysnunkulator

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Graybeard

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