Thanks for the suggestions thus far - keep them coming!
LostSoul said:
I think you need to get more information from the players. "We're a band of wandering gypsies!" doesn't tell you much about what they are looking for in the game.
My gut instinct would be to go with a character-focused game. But you'll need to get character information from the players, and they didn't give it to you, so I don't know if that's what they want.
Yeah, I have been given character background for at least two.
The halfling:
[sblock]Name: Kipsaryn Lightfoot
Nickname: Kipsa
Age: 26 years old
Familiar: A ferret named Mischief
Background:
Kipsa's parents were part of a halfling town, having settled down to raise children. She is the middle of five siblings - three brothers and one sister. They were all troublemakers to some extent, but she was the most fascinated by adventure. She listened to her parents tales, and to the tales of travellers, and itched to start her own travelling.
When she was 19, the band of travelling gypsies came through - and Kipsa was absolutely enthralled. They were so shiny, and so bright, and seemed to have so much fun ... she couldn't resist following after them. She got her parents blessing, as they knew they couldn't keep her in the town - and she packed a few belongings and joined up.
At first she did more grunt work, but after awhile she began to mesh in with the group, and they started teaching her trickier things - pick pocketing, scamming, that type of stuff. Being a halfling, she did have a knack with it.
After awhile, she began to test it out on actual people. While she was good, she wasn't perfect... and she got caught. The man was angry, and looked like he was about to hurt her. She panicked, and the next thing she knew he dropped to the ground... and began to snore.
One of the elderly gypsies, a woman with true magic experience, helped her realize that she was a sorceror, with inborn talent. The elderly gypsy began to teach her how to control it, though it was a hard things for her to grasp at first.
At one village, she decided to summon a familiar - and got her Mischief. The ferret has lived up to its name, as it has developed a quirk for hoarding shiny objects, regardless of whether the original owner wanted to part with the item. [/sblock]
The half-orc (Warning, Long)
[sblock]Born U'rhar Lightfoot (fortune in the language of the tribe), the half orc was raised by his human mother and raised by her human tribe. In his youth he had a happy life filled with the music of the night rituals and the games children play. He slept soundly to his mother's singing, using the old language of the tribe that only few knew.
Travellers would pass through the village and one such traveller was Rorhgar, a tradesman also of half-orc descent. When he saw U'rhar being raised by the human's he took it upon himself to teach him the ways of his orcish ancesters. He came to be called Yebba-Pai (a father ... of sorts) and U'rhar was his Pai's "Pau Oras" (Little bear).
U'rhar grew up to be shy because of his differences, and like most boys of the village he was smitten by the chief's daughter. He would regularly venture off into the wild to kill bears and elks,to bring back a crudley carved piece of bone or an animal pelt to lay at her tent before sunrise. As was the custom with most of the 'shy boys' in the village.
Once a year the adults of the tribe would take all the children who had reached of fighting age (15) and make a pilgrimage to the barren gorge three leagues away The year of U'rhar's pilgrimage had finally come, and he was hoping for a chance to make a name for himself at the ritual site. As with most things in life, his first pilgrimage was accompanied by his mother, singing her lullaby song in the front of the caravan.
The night of the ritual U'rhar's mother came into their tent and sat U'rhar down. "U'rhar, these are the words my father passed down to me; to be handed down to my children so that it can take root in our sons and all of our line. Courage is not a man with a sword fighting, it's knowing that you will be beaten before you begin ... but you have to see it through no matter what. Live as a brave man; and if fortune is adverse, confront it with a brave heart".
He didn't know that those lullabies he was sung were the songs of the ritual, a song the tribe will sing to his mother as she descends into the ravine to marry their deity. Her name was given to her at birth, she was Pai d'Chancen (bearer/father of the ritual) the one who would save the village from drought and appease the desert god. He didn't know that those words will be the last U'rhar would hear his mother say.
He was now alone, a son without parents, an orphan with no family name ... that died with his mother. As was the tradition with his new caste he was made to be a servant to the tribe, living outside of the village listening in on the songs of the ritual which he now understands their meaning. No possibility of attaining the recognition he needed or a place in the tribe to be proud of.
Rorhgar traveled back to the village in the first days of Spring. He did not see his Pau Oras, and none in the village would reply to his questions. To know the name of a low caste was to be tainted by his status.
Rorhgar eventually found U'rhar, his face badly swollen as the other people of his caste took out their misfortune on the one who was different. U'rhar lived his life as his mother had asked him to, by her last words ... but U'rhar seemed to take a different meaning to it. That he should punish himself by always fighting a losing battle. As rorhgar stared into him he realized that half of his face no longer moved. A grin that normally would bring joy to his
Yebba-Pai was now just a mockery of the emotion. Seeing his lifestyle he took the young lightfoot and said to him "Live as a brave man; and if fortune is adverse front it's blows with a brave heart, but do not seek misfortune, that is not a brave man, that is a man who has turned his back on life and that is a man of fear". U'rhar cried, he was now 16 and his Yebba-Pai wanted to do something for him, but he could not take him on the journey's he rode upon, that was not the life he wanted for his Little Bear. Nonetheless he took U'rhar and never rode back to the village. He taught him all that he could in the ways of hunting, surviving in the wild, and U'rhar learned eagerly, for a season they enjoyed each other's company as they travelled from city to city. U'rhar didn't know that Rorhgar was looking for something that would put a twinkle back in his eye, some place that would make U'rhar happy. Then it happened that during a trip through the desert the winds carried the songs of a caravan, not songs of ritual, but songs that raised his spirits and reminded U'rhar of his loneliness. Rorhgar saw this change in U'rhar and went down to meet the caravan.
Many hours passed and Rorhgar came back. He told the young boy that the caravan would take him, and that he could not for much longer. A violent fit saw to it that U'rhar was no lying on the ground with Rorhgar sitting atop him. "Listen well, for I love you like my own son and I would speak to you as best I can". He somehow made his Little Bear understand – as was Rorhgar's gft - that he must make his own path in life ... and then word for word told him his mother's last words. "Make a name for yourself, but make sure you know who you are before you name yourself", a chuckle left Rorhgar's lips as if reminiscing on his own life. U'rhar packed up his belongings and strode out towards the red sunset towards the caravan. Stepping no farther than 10 yards he turned around and stood. Rorhgar was afraid he might have to sit on the 16 year old U'rhar again, but U'rhar forced him to do no such thing. He said "I know who I am Yebba-Pai, I am Uthgardt", and then turned around towards the caravan. Rorhgar was stunned. A smile on his face formed as he pondered U'rhar ... Uthgardt's new name "Blessed" [fortune found, a small play on words, with his original name meaning future tense, and his new name meaning present tense]. [/sblock]
DM's note: It is PURELY by coincidence that both are named Lightfoot.
And, I'm pretty sure that the Elf is also just a guy who got wanderlust and left his elven homeland. So, I'm not really dealing with characters who have a strong heritage tied with the gypsies.
Thusfar, the only goal I've been given is "Find our missing troupe". Which, I think having the troupe disappear/cursed/frame them works well.
One thing I definitely intend to do is have them get way in over their heads. Steal from a wizard and him know about it. Or, someone manages to con
them; intentionally allowing them to steal something of his, for some nefarious reason. Also, cursed money/items. Yes. Finally, I can see them getting dragged to jail, and then offered a "way out" by being given a task to do (either under the table by someone in the jail, or an official situation; likely the former).
I had wanted to run Curse of the Crimson Throne, but because it comes out in February, and the group wants to play NOW, I am just hoping I can somehow work them into the AP without a whole hell of a lot of hassle, but oh well.
So, part of my challenge is coming up with plots that suit the party, and partly those that suit the campaign. I don't want to take a standard situation and try and shoehorn them in.
But as I said, part of what I want is some sort of over-arching story, or something that builds over time. Something moving in the background, rather than continual string of unrelated events. Most of it would be unrelated, yes, but something that keeps drifting into view would be nice.
