ZEITGEIST Alchemical Reborn in Zeitgeist?

[Ambrus]

One of my players is considering making a Reborn character from Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft. His notion is that the character would be an alchemically-created humanoid cooked up in a lab somewhere by some unknown alchemist for mysterious reasons. With such disparate story elements as witchoil, needlewire, duplicants and those NPC who use them involved, it seems that there should be a good way to tie the character's background to the story. Who might have had the means, knowhow and volition to alchemically create a body and imbue it with life and sentience? What, if anything, went wrong in the process and why is the creation now free-willed and the creator nowhere to be found? Any ideas?

 

[Crispy120286]

Wolfgang Von Recklinghausen did something similar prior to the events of the Second Module, Although his didn't involve witchoil, it was more of a Frankenstein thing. Wolfgang did a lot of things, he reattached Bree's severed arm (I think it was a new arm entirely). Perhaps Wolfgang created Twins? Your Player and Andre? Would require a bit of rewriting the plot but it might work. The second module would go from Find the Doctor to Find my father. Perhaps the Doctor sent letters to the Player as well as Lynn Kindleton?

 

[RangerWickett]

Wolfgang Von Recklinghausen did something similar prior to the events of the Second Module, Although his didn't involve witchoil, it was more of a Frankenstein thing. Wolfgang did a lot of things, he reattached Bree's severed arm (I think it was a new arm entirely). Perhaps Wolfgang created Twins? Your Player and Andre? Would require a bit of rewriting the plot but it might work. The second module would go from Find the Doctor to Find my father. Perhaps the Doctor sent letters to the Player as well as Lynn Kindleton?

Oh, it did involve witchoil a bit. There's a reason Andrei (met in adventure 4) drains people's life force with his touch. Wolfgang replaced his creation's blood with an infusion of witchoil.

 

[Andrew Moreton]

1) von recklinghausen creation is a goog idea
2) we know witch oil can trap spirits perhaps a critical mass of spirits in witch oil animates it
3)Eladrin alchemists try to bring back their dead women with alchemy, or deceased eladrin women lives again because of alchemical experiment ongoing at time of great malice

 

[Ambrus]

Wolfgang Von Recklinghausen sounds like a great candidate!

So he created AndreI sometime in the past and has been on the run ever since. Perhaps having come to Flint to lay low, he set up shop and and got back to work and created the PC character as an Andrei V2.0. So how’d the PC come to be separated from the good Doctor before awakening? Why is Wolfgang creating these creatures at all, or is it simply a case of professional curiosity/accomplishment for him? Does he have an alterior motive? How might the existence of the PC change/impact the campaign?