Temporary Player

[Grimmjow]

On thursday my DnD group is going to start playing the last breath of ashen port. My cousin is here for the week so we will have to join us for just one session. First thing that comes to mind to do to his character will be just to kill it....but killing charters just cause the player is leaving seems.....stero-typical. Any idea's on what i could do.

I may have him succumb to the voice of dagon, but that all depends on when we stop playing for the day, and if he is here next time.

Any other ideas?

 

[fba827]

* is there a NPC that is on close terms with the PCs that is the same 'type' that your cousin would want to play? If so, convert the NPC to a PC for a session (giving your cousin the basic concept and maybe a signature move and then letting him/her fll in the details for his/her playstyle) and then back to NPC after your cousin leaves.

* Maybe the PCs are about to go to an area where it is possible that the PCs are about to go somewhere that there could be a prisoner. In that case, put a prisoner in there and it is your cousin. Thus the cousin stays with the PCs for the duration of the adventure until he/she gets to a safe spot (or just a lttle longer if he overheard some information that will help guide the PCs through something) and parts ways never to necessarily come up again.

* let your cousin make a new PC from scratch (or a companion using DMG2 companion rules for something 'faster') and then make it a NPC after your cousin leaves, thus a source of information or someone who stays back to hold down camp while the PCs go off and return every so often

* let the PC get killed though (personally) i don't think the death would have a very big impact because everyone would be thinking "yeah, the player is going, no big deal"

* let the PC get charmed/converted as a bad guy

* maybe the PC joins them but -later- is revealed to have been working with the bad guys all along and was spying on them for the session. thus leading to a confrontation later with the cousin's PC as a NPC on the enemy side of things (though you'd have to know if your other players are good sports for this sort of thing, it could break some implied DM-player trust)

 

[Ryujin]

Every read any of Moorecock's 'Eternal Hero' books? "The Chronicles of Corum"? "The Elric Saga"? In them, he frequently has characters from other dimensions hopping in. The biggest examples are when different aspects of the Eternal Hero appear in the same time, place, and dimension. At those times, the powers of each incarnation are boosted.

Given the otherworldly aspect of Ashenport you could easily write an additional character off as being drawn into that realm, to help defeat an aberrant evil, then get sucked back to his own reality when the battle is over. You could even sneak in the Eternal Champion aspect of it by foreshadowing one of the characters Epic Destiny as something like a 'Glorious Spirit' or 'Undying Warrior', or the like, if one seems to be bound in that direction.

 

[Grimmjow]

both great idea's and i know exactly how to use them! thanks guys!

 

[Scrivener of Doom]

What about a ranger who is simply passing through? Perhaps the PCs save his life and he agrees to join them for a short time before continuing with his own adventure.

(The same thing could be used for any class, I suppose.)