The Rat Bastard’s Club is now recruiting new members!

[Lordnightshade]

The Rat Bastard’s Club is now recruiting new members!

With the tense competition between Dungeon Masters going on in the Iron DM competition I felt this was the perfect time to once again offer a chance for membership in the exclusive Rat Bastard’s Club.

What is the Rat Bastard’s Club?
Founded, September 2001 by Nemmerle and myself because we wanted a place to collaborate away from our players, a place we could develop our campaigns with input from other very creative people to make our games better than they had ever been. We created a club for Rat Bastard Dungeon Masters where we could all practice and reflect on the art of Rat Bastardry.

Rat Bastardry as defined by us is a philosophy that asserts that a role-playing game's capacity for providing enjoyment can be greatly increased by weaving a complex web of psychological challenges, moral or ethical dilemmas, frequent plot twists, and unforeseen consequences to create a gaming environment with verisimilitude that rises above the mundane with the ultimate aim of creating an atmosphere of awed paranoia for the players.

If you are selected for membership you will be joining a group of some of the most brilliant Dungeon Masters out there. We have among our member’s specialists in many creative areas, for example one old member is a master of “bad guy tactics” and he can take any encounter you dream up and make it nightmarish for your PCs. Should you need a prophesy or other such written document for your campaign, one of our members (a published D20 adventure writer, and famous one-legged cat) may just give you a hand, provided you catch him when he’s not super busy. These are just a few of our massively creative members, there are many more.

So what do you have to do to become a member? You have to be chosen by the current members based on several things that I will describe in a moment. Currently we will only be selecting four new members, and they will be people who we think best fit the following criteria.

1. They are active posters.
2. They have shown a good measure of creativity.
3. They have shown that they are able to conduct themselves in an evil and bastardly way and yet still remain civil and not partake in petty flames and name calling.
4. They are eager to provide input to help other people on the message boards with ideas and advice.
5. They may not currently play in a game run by a member of the Rat Bastard's Club.


So if you think you fit these criteria and you want to be a member of the Rat Bastards Club then please answer the following questions:

1. What style of game do you like to run? Any particular setting? High-level? Low-Level? Epic fantasy or 'grim & gritty'?

2. Why do you think you are a Rat-Bastard?

3. Post an Iron DM submission using these ingredients: (Note* we are watching the official Iron DM competition and so will also base our selection on that competition).

There is no limit on length; however, you don’t want to bore us so keep it reasonable.

Pirate Ship
Quaal's Feather Token
Saddened Half-Orc
Windmill
Succubus
Skeleton Key

4. Do you have a story hour? Home Page? Post any links here that you think could help us know you better.

5. Your email address, if you don’t want this part public then email me, but still post your responses to the other questions here as all the members of the RBC will be judging your answers.

Lordnightshade@yahoo.com

We look forward to your replies as we are eager to choose our new members. Good luck to you

Lordnightshade

"I am the Rat Bastard King! I can do anything!"
-Jim Morrison (well sorta!)

 

[Zander]

Re: The Rat Bastard’s Club is now recruiting new members!

...the art of Rat Bastardry.

Rat Bastardry as defined by us

The state of being a bastard is 'bastardy', not 'bastardry'.

Sorry about the pedantry.

 

[Douane]

Should you need a prophesy or other such written document for your campaign, one of our members (a published D20 adventure writer, and famous one-legged cat) may just give you a hand, provided you catch him when he’s not super busy.

Oh my god, what happened to the other two legs?


Folkert

 

[jasper]

squeak squeak

you may what to change some of the color scheme on your shield
Change the white to gold will bring out the skull more.

Can I get in the mouse or mouseatards division? I don't dm enough to be that evil to my players.

Oh you could have divisions like some famous rats/mice
Minne
Mickey
Williard
Ben

 

[Piratecat]

Re: Re: The Rat Bastard’s Club is now recruiting new members!

The state of being a bastard is 'bastardy', not 'bastardry'.

Sorry about the pedantry.

That's 'pedanty.'

I'm a proud member of the rat bastard club, and I can say it's responsible for a wealth of sneaky ideas and inspiration. Nothin' like it, especially if your players read these boards. *grin*

 

[Shallown]

Okay I'll give it a try since my players call be a rat bastard anyway.

1) I tend to run high magic epic fantasy. I think D&D is best suited for the heroes being heroes sort of story.

2) I think I am sweetness and honey my players think I'm a rat bastard.

3) as requested a little overdone on the prose but I tend to get that way when I write.

The Backstory
This is The sad tale of Morath a half-orc pirate. Not The career he originally wished for, at once he just wanted to be accepted and was not as blood thirst as the legends would come to tell. As time passed he became more hated by his crew and himself. He was also known for the feather token tucked into his hat that when thrown to the ground formed into a cruelly barbed whip that howled as it struck draining blood from its target.
Unknown to his crew Morath had fallen in love but felt once again betrayed because his love was trapped by fell magics in an abandoned windmill that sat on a bluff above Morath’s Pirate cove. She had gifted him with the unique token to show her undying love.
Unknown to Morath the fair lady of his heart was instead a Succubus born of power and hate but trapped alone as punishment by her former Lord. She knows there is a key that can free her a simple key that would unlock her cage. She dwelled in writhing fury until poor Morath, the lost, found her now her chance at freedom has arrived..

The adventure –
Morath captures the characters or one of their family/friends/associates and blackmails them into finding the key. Morath is wanted and cannot go where the key is located.
The key can be in one of several places with family who once lived at the windmill, is now part of the local libraries/museums displays (is slightly magic but know one knows what it is for) or any other place the characters may be reluctant to go. , rival thieves guild , or any other rival guild/organization etc.
At some point the characters should realize what is trapped and what they may turn loose on the world.

4) This is my home page unfortunately it is for Amber not D&D but even though the page is not updated the campaigns detailed are still going or only recently defunct. It does give you some idea how I do things. http://www.primechoice.com/misterme/amber/

5) shallown@comcast.net


later

 

[Lordnightshade]

you may what to change some of the color scheme on your shield Change the white to gold will bring out the skull more.

Hmmmm I think I did that way back when I was making the graphic and If I remember correctly I we didn't like it, it was too cheerful or something... plus the gold looked yellow...

The skull stands out fine in the full sized graphic.

http://users.rio.com/nightshade/Hosted/ratbastardlogo1.jpg

course the D20's could perhaps use a different color to help them pop out a bit more.

Maybe gray?

 

[seasong]

I'm not really certain that I'm exactly what you are looking for, but it seemed worth trying. So I'm not going to be terribly hurt if there's a better candidate signing up .

Sorry for the length of the Iron DM-style posting, incidentally. I don't think it's too boring, and I included a summary at the beginning .

1. What style of game do you like to run? Any particular setting? High-level? Low-Level? Epic fantasy or 'grim & gritty'?

If players tell stories about the campaign years later, that's what I like to run. If the stories are good ones, I'm ecstatic . With that as my goal, I enjoy everything from action to romance, gritty to epic, tragedy to comedy. I have a fondness for Hero's Journeys, Quests for Whatsits, and Political Intrigue, preferably all mashed together. I also like any campaign that lets me construct an interesting setting.

My favorite campaign of all time, to date, was a low-magic, low-tech, "peasant children drafted to war" campaign. But my very close second was an epic, high magic, "kill the bad deity for the good of the planet" campaign.

2. Why do you think you are a Rat-Bastard?

Nothing I can point to. My players think I am.

3. Post an Iron DM submission using these ingredients:

Posted after everything else, below.

4. Do you have a story hour? Home Page? Post any links here that you think could help us know you better.

My home page is here. It's not much, nor is it updated regularly - I'm more active here on ENWorlds. No story hour - I'm not a consistent enough writer <-- honesty in action .

5. Your email address.

Sent via e-mail.

Pirates, Pirates Everwhere, And Only Cat's The Fink (level 8-11)

Pirate Ship (Cat's ship, kind of weak )
Quaal's Feather Token (demonic gifts)
Saddened Half-Orc (Cat, a twisted pirate)
Windmill (a marvel of construction, also kind of weak )
Succubus (Li'ri)
Skeleton Key (poke a finger in an eye)

Adventure Summary: Pirates, under the influence of a charismatic demoness (Li'ri), have begun to cause serious problems for the mainland. The PCs must ally with a freedom-loving pirate (Cat) to find the isle the demoness is hiding on, and stop the pirates. Or maybe just take her treasure.

Background

Kalliri Isles may be placed almost anywhere there's poorly explored sea. They are a very small chain of blasted rock and tough plants (mostly lichens, grass and a few stunted trees). The main isle is less than a mile long, but rises up in dramatic, stony cliffs. The remaining isles can all be measured in hundreds of yards, but are numerous, and scattered for a few miles in all directions. The water in the entire area is shallow - the isles are 'hills' on a sea plateau.

The Kalliri Isles are known primarily to pirates, who mostly avoid them, with the exception of an occasional foray to hide (or retrieve) booty, or to deal with the dark denizen of the isle for favors. Avoiding them is relatively easy, as a few miles of islands practically disappears against the vast backdrop of the sea.

The Dark Denizen: Li'ri

Nearly a hundred years ago, a minor wizard was introduced to these isles while aboard a pirate ship. At that time, the isles were a thriving haven for pirates, a place where a villain could take off his blood-stained boots, throw back a bottle of cheap salt whiskey, and laugh with a group of his blood-letting peers. To the wizard, however, it was the perfect locale for a tower.

When he managed to scrape together the funds for raw materials, he hired a number of people to build a small tower, then had them all killed for budgetary purposes. The tower was set at the top of the impressive cliffs, tucked behind a rock rise to protect it from storm winds, with a windmill rising just above the rock rise. The windmill powered a water pump, a bellows and copper piping affair which reached down a cliff wall to the well below. It was a marvel of efficient construction, and has long outlasted its builder.

For the wizard's first act in his brand new tower was to summon a tanar'ri and attempt to bind it to do his bidding. And being a greedy, vain, lustful man, he tried for a succubus. He got Li'ri.

Li'ri is an unusually competent tanar'ri succubus on a very long-term mission. Her masters desire a slow corruption of human values, which they hope will lead to more of their kind being summoned to the Prime Material. As more of them are summoned, they will steadily increase their influence, with the intent of building tanar'ri heaven on earth. When Li'ri was summoned and the binding failed, she took immediate advantage of the situation, killing the poor wizard (lest he attempt to bind her again) and taking his form to walk among the people on the island.

Unfortunately, the pirates were not fooled very long, and she was forced to kill a lot of pirates before they managed to flee for their lives. Upon review with her masters, Li'ri decided to claim the island for her own, and begin trading with the pirates - her services in return for their butchery.

Unfortunately for Li'ri, it took nearly half a century before any pirates would even approach the island. And when they did, they were a suspicious lot. Over the past few decades, she has slowly developed a reputation for being trustworthy, and more and more pirates have begun to seek her out. Or rather, pirate captains have. Li'ri sees herself as nobility, and caters primarily to the barons of the sea.

The Standard Contract

Li'ri offers a number of services, but three in particular are the most common: sleeping with the captain (without draining levels), clairvoyance to spot ripe targets, and the provision of feathers which, when waved a certain way, become vast fans capable of providing a serious speed boost to a pirate ship forced to flee (25 mph is pretty reasonably fast by ship standards). The latter is provided to Li'ri by her masters, and fairly limited in number... she rarely has more than one or two at any given time.

In return, Li'ri has requested any number of things (and has built up something of a war chest over the decades), but she usually prefers to direct the pirates at particular enemies, using her favors much like Spain used letters of marque. Sometimes she'll have highly specific instructions ("There is a young sorceress sailing this ship - I want her tortured for this information, then killed, and the information brought to me"), but more often the usual barbarism of the pirates is sufficient.

Dread Pirate Cat

Cat is a brutish-looking half-orc Rogue/Fighter with his own twisted sense of right and wrong. And recently, he's decided that pirate captains giving their loyalty to anyone but their ship and their men, and serving some half-baked slip of a tanar'ri girl, is wrong. Of course, he's also not stupid, and knows better than to take on a tanar'ri girl directly, even one as half-baked as Li'ri. So he's currently looking for another way to remove her from the life of pirates everywhere and return the seas to their proper freedom-loving brutality.

Regardless of why the PCs decide to approach the island, Cat will be the man to get them there.

Hooks

Hook #1: Over the past few decades, the "pirate problem" of a number of regions near the Kalliri Isles has dramatically worsened. Pirates always seem to know which are the richest, least defended ships, and costs of travel have risen accordingly. Worse, a number of heroes have died at sea while on their way to various quests, and a number of landbound villains have profitted from their loss. If pirates weren't such an independant bunch, it would almost look like a conspiracy. The PCs are hired on their reputation to see if they can find the source of the problem.

Hook #2: Alternately, the PCs could be some of those questing heroes, captured on their way to another quest in the DM's campaign. Li'ri might wish them brought to her for a number of reasons, ranging from questions about their role in the quest to playthings for her amusement (and a few levels to drain - she does get hungry, now and again). Keep in mind that enraged PCs will require a lot of work to capture alive, so mancatchers, lassos and subdual damage will be the way to go.

Hook #3: PCs who are often involved in, shall we say, shadier circles could easily be approached by Cat for help, particularly if they look rough enough (or stupid enough) to take on a tanar'ri.

Hook #4: As a twist on #2, it could be Cat that overtakes their vessel, and when he realizes they're good fighters, will call a halt to the fighting and offer the lives of the innocents in return for their assistance in assaulting the Kalliri Isles.

Hook #5: Tales of hidden pirate treasure inevitably return to the half-truths about the Kalliri Isles. Greedy PCs should be temptable to go there.

Getting to the Island

Cat can be found in almost any tavern, drinking himself into a stupor. He's been out of the pirate circuit for a while, due to a slow depression about the Li'ri problem. Questions being asked in his vicinity will get an immediate reaction from him, and if the PCs don't approach him, he'll approach them. Getting to the island from there is fairly easy... getting off will be the hard part.

Goals

Li'ri: Killing her is the primary goal. Virtually all of the hooks lead to this eventuality, whether the PCs are trying to stop the pirate problem or acquire her war chest. She's a tough opponent (for higher level PCs, give her a few levels of roque) and will have a number of pirates willing to help her. Once she's dead, there will be a lot more pirates after the PCs' heads. Remember that she can summon another tanar'ri if the PCs are really cooking her goose.

Her War Chest: Li'ri has gathered a fairly vast hoard, bit by bit, over the decades. She keeps all of this in an enchanted bone box, made from the skeleton of the wizard who summoned her. It functions like a bag of holding, but is a 2' x 1' by 1' chest instead. The key is made from the wizard's left index finger, and fits into a lock placed in his left eye socket. The key and lock are enchanted to recognize each other, and a trap is set to go off if the lock is opened by any other means (DC 15 to open the lock, DC 25 to fool the lock into thinking it was opened properly).

Treasure should be commensurate with the DM's campaign.

Other Pirate Treasures: Run properly, the PCs shouldn't have time to dawdle around looking for treasure, but a pirate's map or two found during the battles may make a good follow-up adventure.

Claiming Kalliri Isle: Being well off the beaten path, with a wizard's tower already in place (with fresh water, no less), the PCs may decide to make this place their own. There is nothing wrong with that, but they'll have a lot of pirates to scare away first. An alliance with Cat (no commands, though, he'll not stand for that) is a good first start.

Getting Off: Escaping the island after killing Li'ri will be difficult. There are as many pirates available as the DM wants to throw at the PCs, and Cat's ship is hardly the fastest out there. One of Li'ri's feather tokens would definitely help, however.

Passing the Buck: The PCs may wish to simply enlist the proper authorities - tell them where the isle is and let them handle it. Cat will be unhappy with that (they may have to hijack his ship), and Li'ri will likely send as many pirate captains after them along the way as she can.

 

[Ciaran]

Lordnightshade, you forgot one of the key criteria:

5. They may not currently play in a game run by a member of the Rat Bastard's Club.

Otherwise, I'd apply for membership...

- Eric

 

[Lordnightshade]

Ack! Thank you Ciaran I knew I forgot something.

Edited and added.