How to make PCs heroes!

[Klaus]

Erect things in their honour.

[Much Ado About Nothing]

There's a double meaning in that.

[/Much Ado About Nothing]


In my 3.0 game Heirs the the Adventure, adventurers were the rock stars of the setting. Parents hated them, kids wanted to be them.

Around the area the PCs hail from, even a lower level (say, 5th) character might get recognition, etc. Widespread fame, though, only came to my PCs at 8th level, when they saved an entire elven village whose inhabitants had been phased into the Ethereal plane. After that they went to the Elf Queen and she threw a feats in their honor. I specifically said at the table "everyone of you who wants to get lucky got lucky".

 

[kigmatzomat]

IMC (3.0 @ 21st level @ 6.5 years) the party has gone full bore into heroic Leadership and property ownership. But I pushed them there.

I wanted to make them feel heroic and the way I did that was to make them realize what it was to be common. Towns charged taxes at the gates, guards looked askance at heavily armed travelers lacking livery, and there was quite a bit of time spent cooling their heels before they got to see anyone of any importance.

After scoring their first real pile of loot and routing a few bandits, they acquired documents that declared them to be held in good standing with the merchants at a smallish town. Nothing really spectacular, but enough that guards stopped giving them the stink eye at most of the cities in the region.

Around 5th level I used the AEG module "Kuroshin's garden" (sp?). The party escorted the freed peasants to the nearest fortified town, which IMC was a fairly sizable city. The city fathers gave them some relatively minor cash reward, granted the PCs documents exempting them from the city's entry tax and the guards now knew them by sight as do-gooders.

A few months later, ~6th level, they went through the "Servants of the Blood moon" module. By the time the militia arrived the party had cleaned up the worst of the baddies, though there were few survivors this time. The party was given military rank (captains, retired) which entitled them to a military trial instead of civilian law if they chose, let them use the King's Highways without toll, and gave them a smattering of authority if they ran into more weirdness but not so much that they could cause much trouble. Various minor nobles expressed a debt of gratitude and the players finally glommed onto the fact that rewards are not always golden.

After that they did their best to keep their more questionable adventures quiet and to find ways to play up the good things to the powers that be. Kill a bullette? Get the head mounted and present it to the local lord as a gift. They began offering their services as compared to asking for work. The rewards were a bit less tangible at first (introductions to more powerful people) but led to opportunities for investment (more adventure hooks), grants of land, and more authority. (The PCs hold the rank of colonel in the King's Company; enough to outrank a baron, argue with a count or get a duke to take you seriously.) They could draw on the militia's resources, didn't pay any entry taxes or tolls, and could demand lodging from any noble or town. With the exceptions of dukes and royalty they almost never spend time waiting for someone to see them. When traveling to other countries they are given healthy respect (if sometimes tinged with fear or mistrust) as their documents, dress, and livery marks them to be dangerous people, both from what they can do and who they know.

(cross posted from the stronghold thread but seemed appropriate)

 

[Bagpuss]

This is incredibly cool, but aren't you giving the characters immunity from death by writing about them as much more important personages? Far better to 'write' of them as they are, and still work in the foreshadowing, I'd suggest.

D&D effectively has immunity from death built in with Raise Dead anyway. (Un)fortunately death is just a bump in D&D.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

This is incredibly cool, but aren't you giving the characters immunity from death by writing about them as much more important personages? Far better to 'write' of them as they are, and still work in the foreshadowing, I'd suggest.

Actually, done right it wouldn't. If you have a quote from a future 'historical' text talking about so-and-so's tactical brilliance at the Battle of Foozle's Keep, end the quote with 'However, said tactical insight was to prove of little use later that year...'. You not only get to make the characters feel important, you get to scare them, too!

 

[joela]

Heroes

So, what do you do in your campaign to achieve that? And when you do start (I mean levels)? And how do you start?

My players' PCs start as heroes in my upcoming Eberron game. Drawing upon inspiration like Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Xena: Warrior Princess, and from the DnD variant E6, the PCs, at 6th level, are the James Bond, Conans, Legolas, Strider, etc. from their countries. Some of the way this is acknowledge include:

No less than the King of Breland will be speaking to them about their next mission(s).

Their housing in Sharn, plus most miscellenous expensives, is covered by the government.

They walk into an Adventurers Guild, guard station, etc., and almost everyone knows them and their exploits. (I'll be using flashbacks to fill out the latter.)

Newspapers and journals cover their adventures.

Fans of both sexes want to sleep with them. (This must be fantasy...!)

Foes actually back down when the PCs tell them.

When I say, "...after defeating the 20 heavily armed guards," and no one rolled dice, cast a spell, or lost a hitpoint.

 

[Griffith Dragonlake]

Everyone once in a while, the party encounters a large number of low-level opponents (mercanaries, goblinoids, etc.). This gives them a chance to trash-talk their opponents and back it up with great cleave, fireballs, lightning bolts, cloudkills, etc. Sometimes it is a sheer joy to just wholesale slaughter your opponents. Although the grognards among us (myself included) miss the fighter's # of attacks = fighter level versus 0-level opponents. Killing 10+ goblins and/or kobolds per round was a blast.

“To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women.” Yes, Conan that is indeed what is Good in Life™