Setting the Hook

[Shadowbit]

I am currently in the process of creating an adventure for a group I play with. The trick is I haven't been playing with this group for very long, and am trying to find an appropriate hook to draw the characters into the adventure I'm planning.

I've come up with three ideas, but have rejected one because in a discussion with one of the other players, it was something he was planning to introduce but events swung wildly away from being able to do that. Even so, I've decided to leave that aside as something he may do in the future.

What I am trying to do is draw the characters to a place, and unfortunately don't quite know them well enough to draw them in. But, I do know enough to give me a few options.

One of the characters has a goal of ascending to godhood, and that is one of the angles I'm investigating. Unfortunately, I don't have any of my books with me, and I don't believe any of the books I do have talk about characters becoming gods.

Ideally, it would need to be through an object or location. Something like a book, bauble, elixir or what-have-you. At least, as I'm thinking of it right now.

Does anyone have any thoughts on how a character would be able to rapidly advance toward deification?

I do think it is important to mention to anyone offering advice that this is a Maguffin. In actuality, this is a very small part of the adventure I'm planning, but I need a convincing hook to draw everyone into the action.

While I've probably given too much away if any of the other players in the game lurk about here, I don't want to give away much more than this.

Thanks in advance.

SB

 

[Peni Griffin]

I personally wouldn't enjoy playing with someone who wanted deification, so my advice may not be any good...

Con man. Deification guy gets felt out by someone who needs to unload something worthless, but impressive-looking. A really ugly vase, perhaps. The con man convinces (give him massive Bluff skills, something your deity-guy can't combat) the PC that the object is a major artifact that only needs to be activated by worthy deeds and a ritual in a place very, very far away from where the con-man expects to be, but very near where you want the PCs to go. The "worthy deeds" requirement means a) that the PC is motivated to be active on the way to the ritual place, and therefore ripe for any and all hooks on the road, and b) that there's a handy excuse why the ritual doesn't work.

You can always have a god grant him dietihood based on sufficiently impressive worthy deeds, which really need to involve interdimensional problems, not mere heroism.

 

[Shadowbit]

I have no intention of granting any character godhood, but that is one of the character's long term goals. Which, in this particular case, means that it provides a great hook. The carrot to lure the party into some adventure.

My preference is to use character goals and desires as a hook, rather than to have someome present them with a quest.

I guess my main concern is the manner in which a character can ascend. If an object can be a conduit to becoming a god, that would work for my needs.

 

[Peni Griffin]

Mortals became gods more often in the Greek pantheon than in others, so read the Greek myths. Also, many American tribal stories which to modern readers from a European background start out sounding like straightforward adventure stories or fairy tales end with the discovery that a character is an important tribal figure who, in the European tradition, would be classified as a god - e.g. White Buffalo Calf Woman.

Folklore and literature - your best source for RPG material, bar none.

 

[Byrons_Ghost]

Try to track down the old, gold-covered D&D Immortals set. It had rules on playing a god and, more importantly, how to become one. In plain D&D there were four different paths to immortality, and as characters raised in level their adventures were supposed to focus more and more on how they achieved these goals.

The path of the Dynast, for example, was for those characters who achieved immortality by founding a long-standing empire and ruling dynasty. Possibly they would then be deified by the people, possibly not. It was the Immortals for whom they performed these tasks, as tests, and the Immortals who ultimately decided whether or not someone would ascend.

The path of the Dynast required that:

The PC create or conquer a kindgom, empire, or some sort of nation.
The PC found a dynasty by having children and assuring succession to the throne.
The PC quest for an artifact which allows time travel.
The PC use said artifact to travel to three different future points and help his descendants preserve the kingdom in a crisis where it otherwise would have fallen.

Obviously these are all long term goals. The first step on the path was usually discovering that it was, in fact, even possible for a mortal to become a god. This was then followed by trying to contact the gods, petition for the trials of immortality, and find someone who was willing to sponsor the PC.