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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kkoie" data-source="post: 446539" data-attributes="member: 1160">If you don't mind, I have a some questions regarding the philosophy and intent of the Rat Bastard DM club.1.  From the requirements you've listed, it sounds like you only want experienced rat bastard DMs, true? 2.  In order to promote an increase in good rat bastard DMs, would you broaden your membership requirements to include those DMs who have the desire to be rat bastards, but are so far unsuccessful?I was just curious, anyway I wouldn't mind being a member of the club (it sounds like an excellent resource), so here are the answers to your questions.1 - The style of game I run is usually mid to high magic.  I enjoy epic campaigns, but that is not nessessarily the type I always run.2 - I don't know how I could really answer this question.  Really, its a matter of opinion if I really am a rat bastard DM.  I think I am because I've been DMing for a long time and have had a while to perfect my skill at causing my players to 'quake in their boots' over the years.  I've finally gotten my DMing skills down to the point where I spend most of my time coming up with additional plots and political agenda's to keep my players on their toes.  As for just pure ratbastardness, well, in my current campaign I've caused my PCs to have the following done to them a) they are wanted criminals, b) they just found out they are responcible for killing one of the lesser Lords of Waterdeep (a merchant), thus they have a lot of people who want them dead.  c) the whole group has no memory of the last 3 years of their life (the memory lapse ending just when the campaign started).  d) the local shadow theives guildmaster knows they killed a lord of waterdeep and is using this to blackmail them into doing his dirty work.  I didn't force them to do any of this stuff, but I didn't dissuade them either.  This is just some things I've thrown at them the last 3 sessions as a result of their actions (except for the memory lapse of course).3 - Background: Grix, a half-orc pirate, has caused terror and suffering across the oceans for the last several months.  The last known raid was off the coast of a major port (such as waterdeep) where he raided a merchant houses cargoship.  There were no survivors.  That was 3 weeks ago.  Since that time the merchant house has hired adventurers to track down the location of Grix's ship, or hideout.  Unknown to Grix or to the adventurers, the cargo on the merchant ship also contained some illegal merchandice that was being smuggled in by an Assassins Guild.  The guild has also organized a party to track down and destroy the pesky pirate Grix, and anyone else that gets in the way.  The leader of this group is one of the guilds top agents, a Sucubus who has disguised herself as a lady adventurer.Grix maintains a hideout on a small island approximately 3 days sail off the coast.  The island is rather baren, except for a lone windmill that sits just off the beach.  In reality, the windmill is but a lookout tower for the underground headquarters that the pirates keep.  1 day before the players arrive, the pirates will have started a fight amongst each other.  The lucritive haul has sparked some greed among the pirates, and two particularly crafty individuals have made claims to be the new leaders of the band and have started a fight.  Because Grix is the only half orc among the pirates (the rest are human), he has maintained his leadership strickly by force.  But a bad wound to the arm has weakened him somewhat and the other two self proclaimed leaders see this as an opportunity.Parissa the sucubus leads a group of assassins.  Early in the adventure she will come across the party as the Merchant House is making its public announcement.  She employs magic to disguise her alignment, thus if checked, it will read as True Neutral.  She will initially offer to ally with the PCs, claiming she has some inside information as to the possible location of Grix and his crew.  If the PC's accept, she, and her 3 cohorts, will 'join' the party, and provide information about the pirate island.  The Assassins guild had just recently recieved this information.If Parissa's offer to join is refused, she will immediately set off to the island, and more than likely, the PC's will run into her and her band at approximately the same time they arrive at the island.Finding the island.  The PCs can find the island in a few ways.- the most obvious is to ally with Parissa, otherwise they can attempt to follow her.- if they do a little digging, there are some people in the docks who know of Grix's location.  One is Berloze, who acts as Grix's fence.  He is also a major fence for most of the city, and any thief can point the party to him, for the right motivation.  The other contact is Verbang, a suspected pirate with a reputation almost as big as Grix.  He will gladly give the players what ever information he knows, in hopes that the players will rid him of competition.the pirates.  The pirates are located in an underground facility that is capable of housing 30 pirates (at the time the PCs arrive, 1/3rd to 1/4th of the pirates will be dead from infighting).  This facility can be entered via the windmill.  Grix is currently holding up within his secret vault.  There are only 2 keys that open the vault, Grix has one, the other is a skeleton key located in the refuse pit, that is currently occupied by an Otyoge(sp?) (or similar monster.)When the PCs arrive, if they are not allied to Parissa, she will and her band will be on the other side of the island, moored in their boat.  They had scouted the island, and found signs of the pirates fighting each other, thus are waiting for them to kill themselves before proceeding onward.  However they watch the island constantly (most of the island can be seen from any direction) and once they find a rival ship, or signs of others on the island, they will proceed into the hideout.  If they can help it, they will stay behind the PCs, allowing them to 'clear' the hideout, and enter at the appropriate time, when the PC's have killed off Grix and are checking the loot.If the PCs are allied with Parissa, she and her band will aid the PCs til they find and kill Grix, at that point she and her cohorts will turn on the PCs and attempt to kill them.When the PCs encounter Grix, the first thing he will do, is activate his Quall's Feather Token (the Whip), and order his guards to attack (he has 5 companions who have remained loyal to him).  At that point, he will attempt to escape the PCs while they are busy fighting his whip and his guards.If the PCs are successful, they will find the missing cargo, as well as the treasure trove Grix has stored away in the vault.4 - I've been asked to do one, but I don't have the time in my day to write a story hour, so I don't have one.5 - my email is <a href="mailto:kkoie@yahoo.com">kkoie@yahoo.com</a></blockquote>

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