Need Realistic Barbarian Village

[Iron_Chef]

Will do. I'm glad you like the ideas so far (and can use at least one of them). I might have missed it in your post from earlier, but how will the PCs be interacting with the barbarians? Are they barbarians themselves? Crusaders from the south? A party aligned with neither the barbarians nor the evil civilization to the south?

Chad

Oh, they are southerners betrayed by their allies and handed over to the barbarians "never to be seen again." Only the allies were betrayed by the barbarians and the alliance is off... The allies will come seeking revenge eventually, but that's small comfort to those captured. They would be probably be killed or worse if "rescued." It's only because the party are all young women and deemed non-threatening by their enemies that they were not killed outright, plus they had escaped the clutches of the barbarian chief earlier, humilating him in the process, and he needs to bring them back alive to his village to prove his manhood and fitness to lead his tribe.

The party consists of a rural, newlywed baroness, her female bodyguard and her lady-in-waiting (actually a psionic "witch" in league with a splinter group of the death god's cult who has made herself invaluable so far to her mistress). They all hate barbarians--especially after their barbarian slave betrayed them. Because they are women in a fiercely patriarchal society, they are being underestimated, and due to some other peculiarities of the situation, have generously been offered a "place" in the tribe (not as slaves) which they must earn... They are free to choose their own mates (as is his tribe's custom) but can never leave the tribe.

This is a grim & gritty type setting and rules set, where combat is a last resort--most sessions go by with no combat whatsoever, just a whole lotta scheming and NPC interactions. The only party member with any combat skills beyond a dagger is the bodyguard but even she's not that great, LOL. The witch can knock people out with her mental bolt, but it takes 3 rounds to focus with only a 35% chance to succeed and even then, the target could shrug it off about 45% of the time, and using it causes fatigue, successful nor not. Otherwise, her powers consist of short-range clairvoyance and medium (communicating with spirits).

The witch spent a lot of time getting her mistress wed (to gain power) and is upset at this turn of events. She believes that it was preordained by her god that this happened. She was sent to the barbarian camp as a test, for some great purpose. She is convinced her mentor knew her plan (the one that led her to trust her allies) was doomed and did nothing to prevent this, but not out of malice--merely to "help" her gain wisdom from the folly of youth and to some inscrutable end that benefits him. Her mentor gave her a bone pendant and told her if she was ever captured to bury the bone in the ground (or flesh) at night, pray over it 13 times, and a servant of her god would spring forth to do her bidding. That's about the only thing giving her any hope of escape right now, but she's waiting to use it until they get to the camp and see what's what. She hopes to kill the troublesome barbarian chief with it, or taint their holy ground, or something extra-special nasty. If it works, LOL.

Also, the chief mentioned the old bailiff of her mistress' manor is a slave at his camp and he knows where a substantial treasure is hidden that he embezzled from his cousin, the king. Everyone's looking for it...

Perhaps she can somehow corrupt/convert/manipulate some of the tribe and use them to gain revenge on those who betrayed her, leading them back to the manor to kill and pillage--particularly the baron, who is a roadblock to her mistress gaining absolute authority. However, she spent a lot of time converting villagers to the worship of her god and restoring them to productivity/high morale, and numbers some of them as "friends." She'd never be able to control the activities of the horde, so some would invariably die or be dragged off as slaves or bloodsport victims, but at least their souls would go to her god...

The witch can't return to the baron's manor without her mistress or she will be blamed and killed for her mistress' kidnap. Plus, the baroness is her ticket to power and steady coin (she likes her too, of course). The bodyguard is her bloodsister and only trustworthy friend, so she won't abandon her if she can help it. However, she's taken her (possibly undead) mentor's advice to heart and will use and sacrifice her allies to her best advantage, run from every fight, and seek revenge later when she has the advantage (in numbers and at night). The strategy has worked well so far. The last time she ignored it she was impaled on a spear and nearly died...

Anyway, one last note--the chief is aware the witch is psychic but not to what extent. He wants his shamans to look her over. She has some knowledge of the tribal gods and is planning to use it, to "convert" to their religion if it will aid her in her quest to destroy them and escape. So some kind of religious initiations/tests would be cool to have...

 

[exile]

I'm not certain what you should do in regards to religious rituals, but given that the tribe tatoos themselves, the characters should definitely be put in the position of being tatooed themselves.

It also sounds like one of the characters could be put in the position of becoming the new wife of the chieftain's son- a turn of events that might well put her at odds with his old wife (now his slave, i.e. the NPC from above).

Chad

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

You could take a look at goliaths in Races of Stone. They are a good reflection of fantasy barbarians.

 

[Iron_Chef]

I'm not certain what you should do in regards to religious rituals, but given that the tribe tatoos themselves, the characters should definitely be put in the position of being tatooed themselves.

It also sounds like one of the characters could be put in the position of becoming the new wife of the chieftain's son- a turn of events that might well put her at odds with his old wife (now his slave, i.e. the NPC from above).

Chad

Yeah, I agree that the threat of tattooing should come up and be very real. But facial tattooing can't happen to the party because if it does, there is no way they will ever be accepted into civilized society ever again. For some reason, the chief himself has no tattoos, but was raised from a very young age in the south as a gladiatorial slave. Not exactly sure if he won his freedom or escaped or why he never got tattooed upon returning to his tribe. Slaves aren't to my knowledge tattooed, so that's one way out of it, LOL--refusing to accept his offer.

The tattoos represent the history of the individual within the tribe and are unique. They must be earned by creating some sort of history, so there will be doubtless be some arduous initiation rituals/tests to pass first that will buy them some time.

As to marriage, the chief doesn't seem interested in killing the baron and marrying the captive baroness (not that the king would probably recognize the wedding). He does want to get the bailiff's embezzled treasure hidden in the baron's manor house, however, and he's been unable to do that so far because of the men-at-arms and knights and defenses. Plus the treasure is hidden inside some magical portal or something that makes it impossible to find unless you know where to look and what to do.

The witch thinks she may parlay her psychic powers into manipulating the chief to do her bidding without realizing it--offering to use her powers to help him attain his goals of conquest and getting the treasure in return for certain considerations... Of course, she'll betray and abandon him at her earliest convenience. It may take some time to gain his trust. If worse comes to worse, she's prepared to abandon her mistress and bodyguard/friend and start all over again somewhere else, with or without her (undead) mentor in the cult. After all, you can always find new friends... Ah, the joys of Chaotic Evil! Not that we're using an alignment system, mind you.

 

[Iron_Chef]

Chad--or anyone else: Any new NPCs for me?

As to the motivations of the other two captives... The baroness was kidnapped on her wedding night--right after her marriage was consummated, luckily. The marriage should hold up in court. She is young, naive and sheltered but well-educated. She is afraid of displeasing and dishonoring her father. She looks down on the bodyguard a lot (calling her stupid and useless behind her back to the witch) and looks down on the witch a little but believes the witch was "sent by the gods" to her in her hour of need. She worships a goddess of fortune and coin (one the witch claims to share). The baroness has some good ideas from time to time, but most of the ideas and 99% of the implementation are provided by her lady-in-waiting (the witch). She has started adopting some haughty mannerisms lately that grate on the witch's nerves, but the witch has said nothing and merely smiled, curtseyed and kissed her ring as requested. "Yes, Milady. Ye be a fine mistress, ye are!" She is scared and furious at being betrayed and kidnapped and faced with such an unpleasant fate.

The bodyguard (like the witch) had a hard life, but hers was spent in the Arena, fighting for her life. She was sold to pay her father's gambling debts. She is a bit too tall, too muscled, and heavily scarred to be pleasing to the eye. She says little but has a "good heart." She finds joy only in battle and in protecting her friends and employer. She has found out she has some psionic powers as well (clairvoyance, object reading and healing). This has created a bond between her and the witch. The bodyguard thinks being a "witch" makes her even more of a freak, but the witch is trying to convince her that her mind is a weapon as good as any sword--aye, even better, for tis invisible and cannot be disarmed!

The bodyguard is aware of the witch's affiliation with the death cult but has remained neutral and silent on the matter. She has always followed the fire god herself, but their religions are not completely opposed. She would probably choose her friendship with the witch over loyalty to her employer although whether she'd convert to the witch's religion is anybody's guess. The witch says it's up to the bodyguard to decide which god to follow and has encouraged her to "keep her eyes open" in case the death cult and/or her mentor (or even herself!) might be getting her into trouble. That's partially because the witch has a number of mental illnesses to varying degrees (megalomania, phobias, etc.) and doesn't trust herself completely, AND she is justifiably paranoid that her own mentor/religion might be setting her up for some unpleasant fate in the future... but the temptation for power and fellowship is usually too strong to resist.

The witch and bodyguard are "bloodsisters" (meaning they shared each other's blood in a solemn friendship ritual)--this, combined with their shared clairvoyance, means they are especially adept at knowing the location of the other and if they are in danger or not (which has saved the witch's life on two separate occassions in the past week!).

The witch is motivated by her greed and ambition/lust for power (behind the scenes, since it's unlikely she'll ever sit a throne being a baseborn bastard daughter in a patriarchal world), and a thrilling but frightening sense of destiny based on scraps of prophecy she's has seen in her visions or others have confirmed. However, love and acceptance are extremely important to her, not having grown up with any. And she never knew her father, so she's got that whole issue to deal with. She obsessively latches on to just about anyone who expresses any interest in her--which led to two spectacularly failed romances with older gentlemen who used and betrayed her (coincidentally, neither believed in her psychic powers). But her greed, ambition and destiny tend to get in the way of her friendships sooner or later, making them short-lived (or at least her stay in any one place). On the one hand, she craves peace and love and stability and on the other, something inside her drives her away from these things. A dark, complicated character, but not beyond redemption. She does do good deeds (though often for selfish or "evil" ends) and justifies it by saying her motives don't matter, the ends justify the means, look how happy I made these people-you don't see them complaining, now do you?, etc. She does seem incapable of long-term loyalty, particularly as she comes more and more under the influence of the death cult, and as some she thought were her friends betray her. Her biggest fantasy is giving up her destiny for love and running off to live a normal life somewhere far away from her troubled past (and present). There's probably no way this is ever going to happen for her, LOL, and deluding herself that she has free will only gets her into more trouble, as she's learning (painfully).

BTW: The psionics aren't described in character as psionics but as "Powers," "Voices," and "Visions." Due to the flexible game mechanics, the player states their intentions, then rolls for success (and the level of success or failure, critical or moderate) combined with the GM's desires to advance the plot. These three factors determine the result with the "standard" description (rules) serving as the creative starting point for what might happen. Use of the psionics are only limited by the amount of fatigue the invoker cxan withstand before passing out. Each use gives 1 Fatigue level, successful or not, and the witch isn't that sturdy (average), meaning she can only use her psionics maybe 3-5 times before knocking herself out. Critical failures on psiunics skill rolls may result in all kinds of bad side effects for her and those around her (like headaches), including loss of all psionics to her for up to 24 hours. Passing out or taking on too much fatigue (which penalizes combat and physical skills like running or sneaking away) is bad. All this combined with the fact that while using it, you're more vulnerable to attack, and how long it takes to power it up and fire it off, makes psionics more of a "wild card" you use once or twice if you're lucky per battle--providing you are hidden or have allies in the fray keeping enemies from getting to you. You have to succeed on a skill check to use it, and if it targets another, they get a mental conflict roll (save) to resist. Psionics start off with a low chance of success and are hard to increase except through actual use which means putting yourself at risk. The psionics, plus the death cult bone pendant are the party's only aces up their sleeve. The baroness is unaware of either, BTW.

 

[Thunderfoot]

Possible Party hireling/patsy

Takal - Takal is a young barbarian male (12ish) that dreams of his day in the sun. Not yet considered old enough to become a warrior he is constantly buggin the elders to let him undergo the naming ceremony. The wiseman/shaman has held off to see if the boy will learn patience. However, poor Takal has only tried to (unsuccessfully) go it alone. The tribe continues to pull his young little butt out of the fire, as it were. If a group a PCs wanders through this village, Takal will most likely befriend them and offer to be a guide if he can beat the tribe to assigning them one. If the party leaves there is a very good chance that the party will discover the boy in trouble as he will silently tail them looking for adventure, this will only lead to trouble as he is attacked after two or three nights, waiting for "the right time" to make his presence known (the watch will hear the boy's plaintiff cries for help). He will "run-away" if the party tries to take hime back to the tribe, and will continue to tail them once again showing-up in the middle of trouble, but to far away from home to escort him back.

 

[Iron_Chef]

*Monday morning bump* Not too late to write up an interesting barbarian tribe member!

 

[exile]

Unfortunately, I haven't been stricken with any creative sparks of late. Here are some random thoughts though.

1.) Pick a single naming convention and stick with it (i.e. give everyone in the tribe names from the same real world culture. I have a book called Baby Names from Around the World that is great for this). If someone has a name that breaks convention, have a good reason why. Maybe one of the barbarians spent time working as a mercenary in southern lands. While there he took up the practice of a non-barbarian faith (and was given a non-barbarian name). I think there might be an NPC in there if you can figure out how he is re-integrating into barbarian society- maybe he isn't re-integrating well at all. Perhaps he has mastered the southern mens' fighting styles (i.e. he is a high level fighter), but it has come at the expense of his connection to nature/the spirits/his ancestors/whatever (i.e. he is a very low level barbarian compared to men who used to consider him an equal/like him, but who now view him as weak or with suspicion).

2.) In addition to the select few "special" barbarian NPCs you come up with, you need others that are as much seeting as character. There was a post early on in this thread that gave a great many roles that would need to be filled in barbarian society. Use these.

2a.) There have to be flirtatious young barbarian men who go out of their way to prove their manhood to the female PCs.

2b.) There have to be jealous young barbarian women.

2c.) There should probably be cute barbarian children. They will almost certainly become obsessed with some mundane item carried by the PCs.

That's it for now. I hope it helps at least a little.

Chad

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Charaka The Midwife
Charaka is married to Jolnara, son of Golnar and Rasma. She tends to all those that are in labor and assists in child birth, making the process of it bearable. She has two daughters, Saera and Falva. She also has a son, Garak, but he was caught pilfering from the tribes treasury and was exiled.

Treat Charaka as a Brb 1/Clr 3/Exp 3 with max ranks in Survival, Heal, Knowledge (Nature).

 

[Iron_Chef]

Thanks guys. Good stuff!