Seeking DMs:Help to Become Scarred Lands Rat Bastard

[Protean]

Well I'm heading off to college at the end of this month for a summer program to get my entry level Calc class finished, and thought it would be a good chance to find a new group and try to run a game. Being avid lurker and reader of the story hours here, it seems to be the best of the bunch here belong to the Rat Bastard classification, espicially Rune, Nightfall, Wulf Ratebane, and notable others whose works I've enjoyed.
Having taken Nightfall up on buying into the Scarred Lands I'm thinking of starting a campaign there, probably involving the Slitherin to a great extent and would like any advice you have to offer on setting up game atmosphere, how to be an effective rat bastard without being a genuine hardass, how to integrate psionics, and general SL advice.

 

[Protean]

Hate to do this, but ba-bump.

 

[Nightfall]

Firstly be smart. Don't show your hand. My advice, have the Slitheren use other races in ways that show off their intelligence. By that I mean use coal goblins, belsamug and other gobliniod races to weaken places and then have the Ratman/Slitheren infiltrate higher ranks of society. Then slowly convert over the populace and/or enslave them. Red Witches make for the best in this instance. Another way weaken the populace with plagues and send out undead to help either feed on corpses and/or create more. In that instance have the Diseased involved. Finally for just good ole fashioned bruaha, send in the Foamers and the Brown Gorgers with some back up of various dire rats and other vermin to aid them. Hope that helps.

 

[Necrobeer]

And remember to keep your Creature Collections close at hand. The lovely beasties in that keep players off guard. Some of my players thought that the ratmen were wererats. I laughed in the car after I left.

 

[Norfleet]

And above all, remember that the ignorant shall fall to the squirrels.

 

[Schmackboy]

One of the most effective weapons you have is the setting's tone. It's the opposite of the Forgotten Realms -- Scarn is dark, grim, gritty, dangerous. Most every race is racist. Extraordinarily scary things roam the countryside. Lots of people live in fear.

And the PCs should, too.

Add lots of detail. Bring up the creep factor. Descriptions are a powerful weapon, don't forget to sprinkle in all the little details when they encounter fangy, repulsive Slitheren, or discover what the bad guys are REALLY up to.

Use as many creatures from the CC and CC2 as you can -- I've seen a tangible effect with this because most players are so familiar with the Monster Manual that they're jaded about the threats they're facing. Slap some templates on a CC creature and watch 'em scramble around, terrified to attack the beastie because they might fail a save.

With that goal alone, you'll totally change the attitude of your game from a "smash-n-grab the loot" kinda affair to a world where most of the PCs are reacting to their surroundings, taken aback by what they're tripping across.

Scare 'em with a little grime and unpredictability, and you'll be on your way.

 

[Kareyev]

First of all, give a few of the Slitherin they are fighting class levels. First time my players went into a rat den it was of the Red Witches. With a 7-8 level party I had 20 1st level illusionists, 2 3rd lvl wizards, and 4 6th level rouges. The rouges would make ranged sniping attacks and then fall back out of the range of the parties light sources and behind the illusion of a wall. They used this hit and run tatic so well and the party was so afaird to be split up that I ended up scaling it back to only 2 rouges. In the end the party only managed to kill one rat man in the entire complex before retreating.

As for the Scarred Lands in general I think the best thing to do is to create an assumption and then challenge it. The players in my game are finally starting to trust that followers of Madriel, the Mother of Mercy, are good people that can be trusted. In the next game they are going to encounter the Order of the Morning Sky who has a blockade around a villiage the Order believes to be infested with the morgaunt plague. In case you do not know, this is a militant order of Madriel who are known to burn entire villages to the ground, villagers included, to make sure the plague does not spread.

I also second Necrobeer's suggestion to keep you CC's handy. Not only do they have some great monstors, several of them have enough background to create adventure ideas with a strong SL flavor.

Good luck at college.

 

[SpiderMonkey]

hey protean, are you going to college in houghton (tech)? i'm at nmu, if you're heading this way

good luck on the game, man.

 

[Protean]

Indeed I am. Hoping their Computer Science department proves true to the good stuff i've heard about it.

 

[Protean]

For a specific question: How can I use Slacerian ruins without falling into the stereotypical elder race portrayals?