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[ZEITGEIST] The Continuing Adventures of Korrigan & Co.
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<blockquote data-quote="gideonpepys" data-source="post: 6288163" data-attributes="member: 79141"><p>When it became clear that the Zeitgeist adventure path was not going to be published at a faster rate I decided to create a secondary campaign featuring a roster of unusual characters that set out to exploit the rules in a way which I don’t allow in a regular campaign. (Feat and power choices usually have to be developed along with the story unless they are of the most dull and passive variety.) Most of the players are more interested in roleplaying than character creation, so with only one exception they simply outlined a concept and I created their new dude for them.</p><p></p><p>Having gamed with the same players for a very long time I decided to try something new: introducing the characters one at a time <em>Seven Samurai</em> style. I have done this before, but only in a single session, not spread over several sessions with each newcomer getting in the chance to shine in their debut encounter. This was particularly important because these are level 11 fourth edition characters and it would be overwhelming and confusing to have all five of them explore their raft of new powers at once. The players were all very patient and enjoyed watching the others flesh out their characters for the first time. In any case they were all sworn to secrecy so no-one had any idea who/what the others were playing.</p><p></p><p>So, you’ve read the sessions in which the party was gathered, now here’s the roster:</p><p></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"><strong>Leon – </strong>Okay, so he’s not new. For those who don’t know or can’t remember, Leon is a resourceful tiefling Unseen Warlock. He was once a Danoran General – a war criminal, in fact – but ended up in the body of the very tiefling who tried to assassinate him. He was also a member of the Obscurati, but this side-quest has little or nothing to do with the main campaign, so his newly reacquired Ob ring does not weigh so heavy on his finger right now. Leon is at the centre of some very strange occurrences, not least of which is the fact that he will be taking part in two strands of the campaign at the same time.</span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"></span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"><strong>Ascodel</strong> – a pompous bralani shielding swordmage and Herald of the Great Hunt. Ascodel is two levels higher than the others. He’s over a thousand years old, after all. He has the windrider paragon path, the windlord theme, <em>mark of storm</em>, resounding thunder, and a lightning blade. He’s also a reskinned stormsoul genasi. Ascodel has numerous flight powers and the ability to use <em>mass flight</em> as a ritual outside combat. So his verbal bluster is matched by the <em>sturm und drang</em> of his powers.</span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"></span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"><strong>Redcoat </strong>– a bad-tempered, foul-mouthed talking bear with a taste for mead. He’s a reskinned bugbear barbarian with the ‘bear warrior’ paragon path. (One of the features of this path says ‘you look like a bear when raging’. Ho ho.) When I told the group we’d be generating fey-oriented characters, one of them said straight away, “Can I be that talking bear we met in the Dreaming?” How could I refuse? Redcoat is dangerous but swingy, with lots of damage dice to roll. All of his magic items are reskinned so <em>horned helm</em> becomes <em>bear rush</em> and <em>iron armbands of power</em> become <em>ursine ferocity.</em> Just for fun.</span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"></span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"><strong>Nbed</strong> – a satyr blackguard vampire noble. Yes, you read that right. This guy is ridiculous. Always the epitome of satyrhood, embracing the lusty and bestial nature of his kind, Nbed was (well, is) a brutal warrior and lord of all satyrs. Arrogant and cocksure, he was easily seduced by the bad guys and ended up in thrall to black fey vampires, so he started out as a villain. Of all the crazy builds in this party this is probably the most consistently dangerous: the blackguard’s <em>dark menace</em>, coupled with the vampire lord’s <em>beguiler</em> feature and a <em>subtle blade</em> mean that this guy does d10+29 damage if he has combat advantage and THP. “That’s optimization, not roleplaying!” I hear you cry. But this guy is roleplaying being a very, very dangerous son-of-a-bitch. Worked out very nicely when he killed Redcoat in their first brush.</span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"></span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"><strong>The Huldregarl</strong> – a deranged forest spirit, afflicted by the blight, the Huldregarl can only be kept in check by its tiny friend Etiotek. The Huldregarl manifests as a huge swarm of oily black beetles, but when calm takes the form of a treelike humanoid with feminine traits. (‘Reskinned wilden swarm druid’ just doesn’t do this thing justice.) The Huldregarl has difficulty distinguishing between friend and foe, but has time goes by the party will discover it to be a repository of healing lore capable, even, of bringing the dead back to life. (<em>Raise</em> <em>dead</em> is houseruled out of the game in my campaign. Here, it is houseruled back in.) The Huldregarl is represented by a Dreamblade miniature called a <em>beetleback mass</em>. I bet when they were producing that no one ever thought it would be used for a PC. The Huldregarl was the most fun to develop. Its INT and CHA are only 6 and it cannot speak. It communicates through scents which only Etiotek can interpret.</span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"></span></p><p><span style="color: #a52a2a"><strong>Etiotek Ekiokiet</strong> – is a reskinned pixie cunning bard, which again does no justice to the concept. Though roughly humanoid, Etiotek is bright green, and could easily be confused with either an insect or a plant. His wings are like bee’s wings and unfold from two plates on his back and he communicates in staccato noises and scents. Despite rarely having left the deep forest home of his people, Etiotek is nevertheless a repository for all of the lore they have gathered over the centuries. He is only two years old and will probably only live for two or three more. He fights with barbed stingers projected from an array of quills on his forearms and legs.</span><span style="color: #00ffff"></span></p><p> <span style="color: #00ffff"></span></p><p><span style="color: #00ffff"></span>The sequential introduction took three sessions and went very well indeed. The players made the most of their dramatic entrances and roleplayed to the hilt: Ascodel barked his demands at the riverking; Redcoat spluttered obscene oaths at his tormentors; Nbed stroked the faces of the other players before he attacked them; the Huldregarl did not speak at all and when Etiotek spoke one of the other players produced the bizarre chittering sound (a talent he revealed when Etiotek’s mode of speech was described). The dice also helped: having Nbed actually <em>kill</em> Redcoat - who could then be raised by the Huldregarl (an ability I expected would not see play for months, if at all) added to the melodrama and provides some roleplaying hooks for all three.</p><p></p><p>Having gathered the group together, we’re putting them ice for a few weeks and heading back to the <em>Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan</em> to see what Unit B are getting up to.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="gideonpepys, post: 6288163, member: 79141"] When it became clear that the Zeitgeist adventure path was not going to be published at a faster rate I decided to create a secondary campaign featuring a roster of unusual characters that set out to exploit the rules in a way which I don’t allow in a regular campaign. (Feat and power choices usually have to be developed along with the story unless they are of the most dull and passive variety.) Most of the players are more interested in roleplaying than character creation, so with only one exception they simply outlined a concept and I created their new dude for them. Having gamed with the same players for a very long time I decided to try something new: introducing the characters one at a time [I]Seven Samurai[/I] style. I have done this before, but only in a single session, not spread over several sessions with each newcomer getting in the chance to shine in their debut encounter. This was particularly important because these are level 11 fourth edition characters and it would be overwhelming and confusing to have all five of them explore their raft of new powers at once. The players were all very patient and enjoyed watching the others flesh out their characters for the first time. In any case they were all sworn to secrecy so no-one had any idea who/what the others were playing. So, you’ve read the sessions in which the party was gathered, now here’s the roster: [COLOR=#00ffff][/COLOR][COLOR=#a52a2a][B]Leon – [/B]Okay, so he’s not new. For those who don’t know or can’t remember, Leon is a resourceful tiefling Unseen Warlock. He was once a Danoran General – a war criminal, in fact – but ended up in the body of the very tiefling who tried to assassinate him. He was also a member of the Obscurati, but this side-quest has little or nothing to do with the main campaign, so his newly reacquired Ob ring does not weigh so heavy on his finger right now. Leon is at the centre of some very strange occurrences, not least of which is the fact that he will be taking part in two strands of the campaign at the same time. [B]Ascodel[/B] – a pompous bralani shielding swordmage and Herald of the Great Hunt. Ascodel is two levels higher than the others. He’s over a thousand years old, after all. He has the windrider paragon path, the windlord theme, [I]mark of storm[/I], resounding thunder, and a lightning blade. He’s also a reskinned stormsoul genasi. Ascodel has numerous flight powers and the ability to use [I]mass flight[/I] as a ritual outside combat. So his verbal bluster is matched by the [I]sturm und drang[/I] of his powers. [B]Redcoat [/B]– a bad-tempered, foul-mouthed talking bear with a taste for mead. He’s a reskinned bugbear barbarian with the ‘bear warrior’ paragon path. (One of the features of this path says ‘you look like a bear when raging’. Ho ho.) When I told the group we’d be generating fey-oriented characters, one of them said straight away, “Can I be that talking bear we met in the Dreaming?” How could I refuse? Redcoat is dangerous but swingy, with lots of damage dice to roll. All of his magic items are reskinned so [I]horned helm[/I] becomes [I]bear rush[/I] and [I]iron armbands of power[/I] become [I]ursine ferocity.[/I] Just for fun. [B]Nbed[/B] – a satyr blackguard vampire noble. Yes, you read that right. This guy is ridiculous. Always the epitome of satyrhood, embracing the lusty and bestial nature of his kind, Nbed was (well, is) a brutal warrior and lord of all satyrs. Arrogant and cocksure, he was easily seduced by the bad guys and ended up in thrall to black fey vampires, so he started out as a villain. Of all the crazy builds in this party this is probably the most consistently dangerous: the blackguard’s [I]dark menace[/I], coupled with the vampire lord’s [I]beguiler[/I] feature and a [I]subtle blade[/I] mean that this guy does d10+29 damage if he has combat advantage and THP. “That’s optimization, not roleplaying!” I hear you cry. But this guy is roleplaying being a very, very dangerous son-of-a-bitch. Worked out very nicely when he killed Redcoat in their first brush. [B]The Huldregarl[/B] – a deranged forest spirit, afflicted by the blight, the Huldregarl can only be kept in check by its tiny friend Etiotek. The Huldregarl manifests as a huge swarm of oily black beetles, but when calm takes the form of a treelike humanoid with feminine traits. (‘Reskinned wilden swarm druid’ just doesn’t do this thing justice.) The Huldregarl has difficulty distinguishing between friend and foe, but has time goes by the party will discover it to be a repository of healing lore capable, even, of bringing the dead back to life. ([I]Raise[/I] [I]dead[/I] is houseruled out of the game in my campaign. Here, it is houseruled back in.) The Huldregarl is represented by a Dreamblade miniature called a [I]beetleback mass[/I]. I bet when they were producing that no one ever thought it would be used for a PC. The Huldregarl was the most fun to develop. Its INT and CHA are only 6 and it cannot speak. It communicates through scents which only Etiotek can interpret. [B]Etiotek Ekiokiet[/B] – is a reskinned pixie cunning bard, which again does no justice to the concept. Though roughly humanoid, Etiotek is bright green, and could easily be confused with either an insect or a plant. His wings are like bee’s wings and unfold from two plates on his back and he communicates in staccato noises and scents. Despite rarely having left the deep forest home of his people, Etiotek is nevertheless a repository for all of the lore they have gathered over the centuries. He is only two years old and will probably only live for two or three more. He fights with barbed stingers projected from an array of quills on his forearms and legs.[/COLOR][COLOR=#00ffff] [/COLOR]The sequential introduction took three sessions and went very well indeed. The players made the most of their dramatic entrances and roleplayed to the hilt: Ascodel barked his demands at the riverking; Redcoat spluttered obscene oaths at his tormentors; Nbed stroked the faces of the other players before he attacked them; the Huldregarl did not speak at all and when Etiotek spoke one of the other players produced the bizarre chittering sound (a talent he revealed when Etiotek’s mode of speech was described). The dice also helped: having Nbed actually [I]kill[/I] Redcoat - who could then be raised by the Huldregarl (an ability I expected would not see play for months, if at all) added to the melodrama and provides some roleplaying hooks for all three. Having gathered the group together, we’re putting them ice for a few weeks and heading back to the [I]Hidden Shrine of Tamoachan[/I] to see what Unit B are getting up to. [/QUOTE]
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