I love my players sometimes.

[Stumblewyk]

My monthly gaming group, which has been together in one form or another for about 6 years now, makes me so happy to DM for them sometimes.

We've got a 4e Dark Sun game starting up in April. This group of players has presented me with what I can only call the most interesting group of PCs I've ever had to run a game for, and I'm so excited to do it. The current PC roster:

Half-Giant Fighter: Basajaun inadvertently trampled and killed his young noble master, and was sentenced to the arena to pay for his crime. Due to a mixture of sadness over the death of his (rather brutal master) and a challenged intellect, he's decided he will not kill again. He only survives the arenas because he's been chained to the...

Halfling Monk/Barbarian: Paw'k was born into a fighting clan of near-feral gladiator halflings, he is the last surviving member of his family. Due to his feral, uncontrollable nature, he has been chained to a disappointing Half-Giant gladiator in the hopes that Paw'k feral nature will help "savage"-up the Half-Giant. They fight as a matched pair, and have come to a strange understanding between each other.

Changeling Bard: Kaliph is a dangerous poisoner and assassin, formerly in the employ of House Tsalaxa. When Kaliph's older brother discovered Kaliph shared in his strange ability to shift his form, Kaliph fled Tyr and disguised himself as a Thri-kreen, before being captured by a Nibenese noble in an assassination attempt and given a choice between death and pits. He chose the pits.

Genasi Hexblade: Blackeyes is not really a Genasi. He is a fragment of the soul of Imix, torn away from the whole, and forced into the body of an unwilling human slave by Nibenay in the hopes of creating a living weapon of pure fire. The experiment worked, to a point. Now, Blackeyes is driven mad by his dual nature, and anything that was still human about him is nearly burnt away.

Human Swordmage: [Currently Unnamed] is a former Templar of Kalak. In the chaos surrounding Kalak's assassination, she fled Tyr and tried to hide in Nibenay. She managed for a time, before being captured by the Nibenay's Templar-Wives and charged as a spy and infiltrator.

Wilden Druid: [Currently Unnamed] is the very living embodiment of Athas' Primal Spirits. Created in a hidden grove, deep in the deserts and wates, he is the culmination of the Primal Spirits long-dormant hatred of the Defilers and Sorcerer-Kings who brought about the world's destruction. For many years, he wandered the wastes, learning and witnessing the desolate state of the world, protected by the very Spirits who sprouted him. Now, that time of protection has ended, and the time has come for him to begin his mission of reclaiming the wastes.

Soooo many plot hooks, so much possibility, such a diverse group of PCs. I am so excited to start plotting and writing, and then to have them submarine all the that plotting and writing. I don't even care. I just want to let them loose on Athas, themselves, and see what the hell comes out of it.

Okay. Done bragging about my players. What have yours done recently (or in long-ago gaming history) that made you happy to GM for them?

 

[wedgeski]

Wow, yeah they've done the business for you there. I love the psycho halfling chained to the pacifist half-giant, brilliant!

 

[invokethehojo]

There was a time when I would have loved this kind of thing myself, but unless you plan on writing the campaign from the ground up based on these backstories, you have almost no room to write anything of your own ideas without stepping on their toes.

I mean who makes a fighter that won't kill anyone for a campaign that starts in the arena?

I'm glad you're into it though, it sounds like the players will have a blast. I prefer simple backgrounds that the characters flesh out as the campaign progresses, like how the 1st season of a TV show does.

 

[Scott DeWar]

in answer to the question above about the half giant pacifist:

A pugislit. non letheal combat only. In a Pathfinder game i am in here, we have a half orc rogue who won't kill and is always trying to turn the victum of the party to a peaceful being. It is a challenge to him( the player) and to the party, a mercneary band.

It is making for some very interesting RP oppertunities.

Invoke, I am with you on the whole idea of making such a character race-class combo, As I woould most cirtainly not have him as a pacifist. But, there are those who like that sort of thing.

 

[invokethehojo]

I do love the idea of a halfling barbarian. I tried to play one in 3.5, he used claw gauntlets or some such, my though was he would jump on a guy and stab him real fast a bunch of times, like a little hobbit version of joe pesci. but alas, my DM would not allow it. Kudos for you for going with it.

 

[Stumblewyk]

Wow, yeah they've done the business for you there. I love the psycho halfling chained to the pacifist half-giant, brilliant!

That was totally the players' idea too. They came to me and basically said "We think this would be cool." They even worked with me on the mechanics of it - basically, the halfling can't get more than 6 squares away from the half-giant. If they want to do that, they'll have to cut the tether that ties them together. And the halfling appreciates the half-giants calming effect on him, while the half-giant appreciates having his tiny protector nearby, so they're going to be loathe to do that.

Which reminds me. I totally need to commission an artist to draw this duo - with the halfling perched up on the half-giants shoulder like an insane pet killer.

There was a time when I would have loved this kind of thing myself, but unless you plan on writing the campaign from the ground up based on these backstories, you have almost no room to write anything of your own ideas without stepping on their toes.

I mean who makes a fighter that won't kill anyone for a campaign that starts in the arena?

To the first part - I'm going nearly 100% sandbox on this campaign. I've scripted out the start - I'm going to get the party together in the gladiator pits, but once the game moves beyond that, it's up to them what they want to accomplish.

To the second - he won't *kill*. That doesn't mean he won't knock enemies unconscious.

I do love the idea of a halfling barbarian. I tried to play one in 3.5, he used claw gauntlets or some such, my though was he would jump on a guy and stab him real fast a bunch of times, like a little hobbit version of joe pesci. but alas, my DM would not allow it. Kudos for you for going with it.

As soon as I mentioned Dark Sun to this group over a year ago, the player in question emailed me with his character concept. Apparently he built a similar character years ago for a Dark Sun game that never happened or something and he was dying to play the concept. Who was I to shut down that kind of enthusiasm?

 

[wedgeski]

That was totally the players' idea too. They came to me and basically said "We think this would be cool." They even worked with me on the mechanics of it - basically, the halfling can't get more than 6 squares away from the half-giant. If they want to do that, they'll have to cut the tether that ties them together. And the halfling appreciates the half-giants calming effect on him, while the half-giant appreciates having his tiny protector nearby, so they're going to be loathe to do that.

You guys should totally improv some rules for co-operative attacks as well (clothes-lining enemies and so forth), and of course watch out for those times when they can't pass either side of an obstacle without getting yoinked back. Not to mention the RP possibilities when they *do* get separated, plus magical bonds that allow them to share actions or read each-other's thoughts, etc. etc. Tons of possibilities!

 

[Stumblewyk]

I pitched something like that - making the squares between the two in a straight line be difficult terrain, or something similar. They didn't want to go that crazy, and frankly, I'm okay with that. It's less for me and for them to keep track of in battle, but I do intend on tying their minis together with a six-square long piece of thread.

All that being said, if something comes up where the tether can be used creatively, and they want to go for it, I'm open to improvising some ruling on the spot for it. It definitely has enough of a drawback that they can squeeze a "plus" or two out of it every once in a while.

 

[Mallus]

This is my group...

Bodrin "Lizzy" Lüzmütler, dwarf, avenger: a Communist revolutionary, whose avenger powered derive from a force called "dialectical materialism". Currently involved in fomenting a revolution in the exploited goblin working class. His battle cries include "Property is Theft!" and "Universal Heath Care!".

Comrade Pogsley, goblin, rogue: Pogsely is Lizzie's protege. The best way to describe him is as a "short, green, gay, Communist Chuck Norris" (as we did last session when he knocked a giant Koa-Toa out with one punch). He will lead the Army of the Glorious Revolution, once Lizzie assembles it. His weapons of choice are the dagger and the lever. Pogsley began life as a NPC.

Gepetto Jack Fagin Tielfing, warlock: an aged, arcana-wielding shyster who controls a gang of partially-clockwork orphans which he uses for a variety of dangerous tasks, like trap-springing (imagine a mix of Dickens, China Meiville, and Borat). Fagin recently married into Hell's nobility. Fagin belongs to the Temple Bank of the G-LD, an Infernal religion which venerates the root of all evil. He's been known to ride around on Tenser's Floating Shekel.

Roxy Hurrah, Goliath, warden: a M-t-F transsexual warrior woman topping 8'2 in platform heels. She is like a "mountain made of fabulous". Exiled by her barbarian tribe, she made a home in the big city where she won respect for both her fighting prowess and fashion sense. A tireless champion of self-expression, she channels a mystical energy source called "cosmopolitan" instead of "primal".

Vox Cadeveris, Shadar-Kai, assassin: Vox is a half-dead operative of the Eternal Bureaucracy, the metaphysical governmental institution responsible from processing the souls of the dead. He's a cross between hard-bitten P.I and a beleaguered civil servant. Vox has an undead familiar; a a disembodied hand named Dexter with remarkable penmanship and proofreading ability.

Sir Yatagan Fracas, Dragonborn, paladin: an overweight holy warrior and poet/playwright, known for his good cheer, rhetorical skills, the ability to rationalize, and stupidity. Yatagan is currently trying to hatch a stolen magical egg that was worshiped as a a god by the Eladrin. He believes the egg contains his future ascendant self. He's also involved in trying to raise an ancient buried Dragonborn city containing scientific marvels, including many baroque and dangerous weapons such as laser-armed robots and "volcano bombs".

Those are just the active characters. The inactive roster of former PC', retired PCs, and alternates include the likes of Captain Artichoke, Pætros Paranova the Porcophant (of the Pig Church), Mr. Odanais Dare, Odanais 2 (his parallel universe twin), Chakram Khan, Artur Rambo, Heyoka-Jumps-Off-Mountains, and the dreaded Black Burqa.

What have they done recently? Well, they attended a wedding in Hell, rescued a cranky pig-god from being sacrificed, and shot a magically-greased goblin into several meters of unbreakable obsidian in order to retrieve a powerful magical ritual. Now they're back home, about to fight off the might of an Eladrin church they robbed blind (though with the best of intentions).

(BTW, I love these guys, their imagination and humor is without peeer -- ie like mine!)

 

[Stumblewyk]

This is my group...

Wow. That game sounds like it has a flair for the absurd that I don't know I'd have the guts to try in my own game, but it certainly sounds like the characters have free reign to try something a little less-than-boilerplate, which is always cool.