A group of secondary characters?

[BSF]

As I mentioned in the What is best in life thread, Russ brought up the possibility of using secondary characters. It's definitely an idea worthy of discussion.

Would we want to play a group of secondaries? One of the things that Russ liked about it was when the two groups would sometimes work together. To make that reasonable, the groups would need to be similar enough in motivations to want to work together, and they would need to have an opportunity to meet. If you guys just want a change of pace through the secondaries, it would not be as important to have them ideaologically similar.

Another thing to consider is how much of a framework would you like me to impose? The last game, the secondaries were basically in the role of special forces. You would get your orders on what you needed to do and within those orders, you could choose your best course. But rejecting the mission really wasn't an option in that situation. Obviously some of the poll choices imply restrictions on the characters as well. I mean a group fo Durgon & Thurgon fighting the giants limits your race choices severly.

I have a lot of ideas at any given moment and many of them would be easy to integrate into the game world as it stands. So let's discuss secondaries and what kind of adventures you might want to undertake with them. Make a choice in the poll, elaborate with discussion.

Sage, you need to put in your opinion as well. If we decide to integrate secondaries into the game, they will be a sometimes diversion from the primary characters. Secondaries would allow us to keep the game going someplace without leaving Deigh behind and that is a great immediate benefit. But down the road, there will likely be times when you would be playing with the secondaries as well.

EDIT: If you want a little more information on some of the choices, please post. I might not tell you everything, but if you have some expectations on what you want to do, it is better to get those out for discussion now.

 

[Tormal]

My... My there are some appealing choices there. I'm not to sure If I can just choose one option. It's obvious right now that I choose to go for the thieves guild. I already have an idea for a character that could potentially fit into this. The thieves guild option seems the best IMO because we are within the same area that our other group is and may have that opportunity to bring them together later on. It appleals to me as a player because I want a taste of the politics element in this game. I feel this would be a great opportunity to explore that aspect.

HOWEVER!

I have to say that a Seperent folk campaign with our secondaries would be EXTREMELY fun. This too could allow us to bring our characters together but not for quite some time. I feel the background on my backup fits this choice much better. On top of that we get exposed to a part of this world we have never had a chance to explore and an entirely different set of priorities and dangers too. Who knows...

Finally, I have to say my other choice would be an evil group somewhere else. This would be an obvious change and quite interesting. Again my chracter idea could easily be changed to fit this route too. (Makes you all wonder huh?) In any case my only issue with going this route is that it would be hard to transition between playing with the two groups.

I want to hear what everyone else has to say though... my options could change.

 

[Macbeth]

Okay, I voted for my choice: a hroup of 'merchnats' (coughpiratescough) exploring the world. Especially since I have seen less of the world, it would be fun to see some of the places I may not se ein the main game. Plus, I like pirates, and can make an idea for pretty much every setting. Looking at my schedule for the summer, I may be able to make it up for one or two weekends, especially if somebody would let me sleep on their couch for a night. Some of my firends will be in Socorro, so I might leave Las Cruces early, game in Albuquerque, spend he night up there, then spend the rest of the weekend in Socorro. Thats a lot of driving for one weekend, so it would only happen maybe once or twice, but it would give me a chance to bring in a couple of one shot characters, or just see how things are going. If nothing else, it would be cool to take a break with some secondary characters every once in a while.

Really, anything works for me as far as secondaries are concerned. I'm flexible. Yuan-ti would be fun to fight in Li's memory (maybe a relative of Li's? Pure Psychic? Hmmm...) Piartes would be cool (maybe a Warlock character? Or spell-thief?) really anything works.

If you guys decide to play secondary characters over the summer it would be great, but I don't mind if the main game goes on. I had to make a tough choice to work in Cruces over the summer, wich means missing out on our game, but I made that choice, and if you guys go on without me it won't be a problem. But if you do play secondaries, it would be great.

 

[russ01]

I would kinda like to be part of a group that is in it for the money. Doing good deeds is fun and all but it's time to start profiting from these adventures. I don't have any particular choice for how the party goes about it. Whether as pirates or mercenaries or legit sailors or merchant explorers. I don't think that I want them to be evil as such cause I would kind of like to get the 2 groups fighting together occasionally and not opposing each other. Being able to swap personality types for the different characters gives a little more range to playing without having to die and create a new guy. Exploring other continents and seeing more of this world would be cool. We've never seen more than this continent and not much of it either

 

[injuredwyvern]

I think secondary characters would be a great idea! I have been very torn over the last couple of days on whether or not I want to switch out Ceru for a new character. Secondary characters would mean I could keep Ceru and try out the other character I had in mind as well! I have spent a fair amount of time the last to nights generating this character and have a pretty in-depth background in mind for him already. With that said, his background has him as a former member of a Stormhaven thieves guild. The key word there is former, allowing him to travel around and adventure, but also allowing for interesting storylines while in Stormhaven. For the poll I went with the basic mercenary/money option, but it's kind of a tie between that and the thieves guild one obviously. Also, I like the idea of having the two parties able to mix and match and even team up every now and then, which pretty much eliminates the evil idea for me.

 

[BSF]

Hmm, four people have responded, but only three have voted. We are missing a vote somewhere.

Chris,
don't get too excited with a background yet. You have absolutely no idea what Thieve's Guilds are like in Stormhaven and you might not like the baggage that comes with being a member of a former guild. As well, you guys have no idea what kind of parameters are going to be in place for the PCs. Your background might work, or it might not.

 

[Kultar]

I am for either the "merchants" option or the thieves guild option. Not sure which one im leaning towards more so no vote yet for me.

*edit*

ok after thinking about it I have decided to go with the merchants option

 

[BSF]

Four votes with Pirates leading the pack.

But that still leaves two people to vote. Who is missing?

 

[injuredwyvern]

While the background for my backup/secondary character won't so much affect the character generation, I am now a bit curious as to the workings of the theives guilds in Stormhaven. Is there anyway you could post that? Would guilds in other cities work the same way?

 

[BSF]

Not that any of your PCs have the frame of reference to really know at this time...

Stormhaven averages about 13 thieves guilds at any given time. Less or more depending on a variety of circumstances. At one point in the not-so-distant past, there was a large guild that encompassed most of the city. That guild was shattered when the Stormhaven government came crashing down on it. Theft is illegal. Organized crime gets stomped on whenever the authorities can do so. As a result, thieves guilds come and go and rarely get very large.

In other cities, it really depends. But in almost all cases it is very difficult to leave a guild once you have joined. There is too much at stake for the rest of the guild to let you walk away. Sometimes it is enough to simply leave the city and never return. Other times you are viewed as a traitor and a price is put on your head. Still, in a city with a licensed guild, you are afforded a certain degree of protection. Unless you are caught in the act, you get away with licensed thievery. You paid your cut to the guild and the guild paid their cut to the city, so a victim has few legal options to pursue.

Of course, not all thieves like the idea of paying a portion of their profits to people that didn't do any of the work. These are rogue thieves and when they operate in a city with a licensed guild, the authorities and the guild have incentive to hunt you down.

In some regards, leaving a guild in Stormhaven is easier. In all likelihood, you just weren't there when it was broken. But if your identity were known it could be challenging to return to the city. The authorities might come down on you or any other survivors might think you sold them out. It might be esier to be a rogue in Stormhaven, but that holds it's own challenges as well. Namely you have to do all the work yourself. There are no safehouses unless you create them. There are no fences unless you create the relationship yourself. Those types of things.