Tests of Character, Looking for Roleplaying ideas

[MooCow]

It sounds like you would want to tailor these to the individual characters a bit, so I think I'd need a little background on the characters before I could come up with anything really good

Well yes, that is my intention. I'm not looking for you all to write my adventures for me. I'm looking for your stories of similar things you've done in your campaigns, that have been done to your characters, generic ideas, etc etc. I've found that other peoples adventures are often just the spring board I need to get the creative juices flowing. I buy lots of adventures, but rarely use them in any fashion that the authors would recognize.

For some idea of what I'm running, I'm running an Al-Qadim game. I have a Desert Nomad (Monk/Sorcerer, fashioned after the dessert people in Wheel of Time), a barely average intelligence priest who has spent all his life in a monastery in the middle of the dessert, a "Paladin" (chaotic good holy warrior), an amnesiac Dessert Ranger, and a street rat thief who dreams of being a Holy Assasin.

Thanks for all the suggestions so far!

MooCow
The dessert cow

 

[Tonguez]

I had a situation in which the only way for the PCs to finish their quest (to recover the Heart of the Land artifact) was for one of their number to die (as a sacriifce).

The option was either for one of them to volunteer or for them to seize the NPC with them and sacrifice him.
The twist being that the Spirit of the one sacrificed would merge with the Artifact and become an Outsider - a Celestial 'Guardian' if a PC volunteered or a vengeful Feind if they murdered the NPC.

 

[Darraketh]

I'm running an Al-Qadim game. I have a Desert Nomad (Monk/Sorcerer, fashioned after the dessert people in Wheel of Time), a barely average intelligence priest who has spent all his life in a monastery in the middle of the dessert, a "Paladin" (chaotic good holy warrior), an amnesiac Dessert Ranger, and a street rat thief who dreams of being a Holy Assasin.

I like the sound of that.

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

Well yes, that is my intention. I'm not looking for you all to write my adventures for me. I'm looking for your stories of similar things you've done in your campaigns, that have been done to your characters, generic ideas, etc etc. I've found that other peoples adventures are often just the spring board I need to get the creative juices flowing. I buy lots of adventures, but rarely use them in any fashion that the authors would recognize.

Sorry, I'm just a bit of a detail freak (and a busybody, sometimes). I'll try to be more generic here. btw- I have to agree with Darraketh. It sounds like a very interesting campaign.

I like tests of trust. For a character that's unsure of himself or of the world around him, you can easily challenge what they know. I'm sure you've come across it in books or movies, but a character can be given evidence (either false or real, depending on your needs) that the world is a very different place than he thinks (like happened to the Aiel in Wheel of Time), or that his friends intend to betray him, or that the king he has sworn to is actually evil, etc... It's a test of either trust or conviction, depending on your needs.

To go in another direction entirely, have you considered a variation on the "choose the correct grail" bit from Indiana Jones? You would just have to make sure there were enough clues to lead in the right direction without being TOO obvious. If you don't want to nail it down too much, there could be multiple "right" choices, but a couple that are DEFINITELY wrong. (Defensive items are right choices, and weapons are wrong. OR weapons that slay mercifully are correct, weapons that inflict pain are out.) Of course, rather than dying when the character chooses incorrectly, he could just be cursed until he performs a quest. Saw something like that used once to make someone in the group who was a bit of a loner rely on the others more in order to get his powers back. It worked pretty well, and the DM was smug as hell about it.

Alternatively, you could test the whole group by revealing something unpleasant and previously unknown about one of them to the group. Of course, playing with someone's history can induce mutiny, but it can be worth the risk if it works.

 

[Sodalis]

have a times test where there are four doors (or however many players you have) and each player must choose a door (and make it obvious that if they all go into one, there will not be enough time. This can be done through fortune telling or having them see a gypsie before hand which predicts that they each will be presented with a test that they alone must face. On each door is a symbol of their god.

As they walk through the doors, they wander into a place of complete darkness. Remove them one at a time into a separate room to continue the quest.

After walking for a while, they come upon a scenario which tests a specific moral or personality character. If they fail, then they must return to their mundane life and strive harder until the God once again feels they are worthy of another test. If they pass, then they are whisked back to the front with Their special item.

test can be:
1) the light shines on a man that is leaning up against the wall. upon closer inspection, you see the man is near death. He has a vile marked with a skull- but he claims it was the healing potion that his enemy gave him after taking his legendary weapon for losing a duel. He has been contemplating whether or not to take the potion. Will you taste it for him? (not for clerics)

2)a man drops his bag of gold and continues walking. do you return it?

3)do you share your pie?

 

[Yuan-Ti]

A couple ideas:

1. A fighter's god brings him to a cavemouth and tells him that there is something in the cave he needs. The fighter must go in and fetch it from the dragon that guards it... In other words, something that the PC has no hope of defeating alone. If he argues that he can't do it, the god should seem disappointed and tell him it must be so. If he continues to argue, he fails the test, which is one of loyalty and courage. If the fighter does enter and fight the dragon, play it normally, but when it seems the fighter will lose you can stop the fight and the god says "well done" and the fighter is returned to where he was.

2. A cleric's god brings him to a trail in a dark wood and tell him a traveler is coming who has something the god needs. The cleric must get it for him and then call his name and he will reappear. The god then disappears. Some time thereafter a drow merchant and his bodyguard (troll, ogre or another drow, as appropriate) come down the trail. This should be a fight the PC believes he can win, though it should also appear dangerous to him. The point is, however, that as DM you should have the god say the PC should "acquire" the item for him and you should describe the drow in such a way that you can say, "he appears to be a merchant." The test is whether the cleric will recognize that this is a dangerous situation, that he needs only acquire the item and forego combat in favor of bargaining for the item. The drow should initially decline to give up the item, but if the cleric tries to bargain for it, the drow will ask for some visible magic item the player possesses. If the player chooses to fight, he should lose, his god will return and tell him he has failed and send him back to where he was. If the player uses wisdom (avoiding combat when it is unnecessary and possibly dangerous), the god will return him to where he was (he will also still have any item he used in trade returned to him).

3. The avatar of the PC's god appears and tells him that it has been decided he is not worthy to take on the challenge. The god thanks him for all he has done, but tells him there are others who must take on the burden. If possible, think of a couple of things the PC has done that the god may not entirely approve of. The test is to see if the player is willing to stand up for himself and make *good* arguments about why s/he is up to the challenge. Gods don't like quitters.


In terms of failure ending the campaign... I don't see that that is necessary. Instead of the gods saying, "you failed, goodbye" they could tell PCs who fail "you still have much to learn" and when the PCs are returned to where they were about to reclaim their legacy (the armor or weapon), it will be gone and they will have to seek it again. Or do without it.

 

[Yuan-Ti]

I just felt like sneezing.

 

[Voadam]

ABRAHAM, I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD. TAKE YOUR ONLY SON ISAAC TO THE TOP OF THIS MOUNTAIN AND SACRIFICE HIM TO ME. I AM THE LORD YOUR GOD.

 

[Voadam]

You go into darkness. You smell the overpowering aroma of a sweet home-made pie. It is mouthwateringly delicious. You enter a cavern where you see there is an orc sitting at a table. The orc is huddled over something. The orc has the pie! He does not look like he wants to share. He has not touched the pie, but is protectively keeping it from you. What do you do?

 

[Voadam]

Arrerrerah, you wish to dice with the rabbit of death for the safety of your people? Fine I will wager against your ears. I have won.

[Screams from Arrerrerah]

Arrerrerah, you wish to dice with me again for the safety of your people? Fine I will wager against your tail. I have won again.

[Screams from Arrerrerah]

Arrerrerah, you wish to dice with me again for the safety of your people? Fine I will wager against your eyes. I have won again.

[Screams from Arrerrerah]