Where’s the Love?

Emotion in RPGs

by John S.R. Schutt

While the world RPGs is filled with abstractions and simplifications, from the hit point system to the alignment system, one thing that remains constant, at least while sitting at the table with other people: the emotion that goes into a session.

There’s anxiety, joy, sadness, anger and even surprise when the unthinkable happens at the right (oftentimes wrong) time. The players experience a myriad of emotions in the course of a game, adventure, campaign, whatever, and it should follow that their characters do as well. I mean, they wouldn’t be roleplaying games if the emotion given out by a player didn’t come through in the character.

What’s always bugged me, however, is the seeming lack of emotion from the world at any given moment. One can make the case that the overworld reacts to the actions of the PCs, and good GM’s make sure that it does. Indeed, a static world of stock characters who care nothing for the living, breathing landscape around them would be subject to a constant yawning from the players. I think what needs to happen is that the adventurer, and perhaps even the adventure, should take less from the roleplay and the combat and dig into the emotion of life.

Allow me to set the scene. An entire town is massacred, torched and salted by a roving band of…something bad, let’s say. The adventuring crew, our PCs, are outraged, perhaps because they grew up there, or they had friends or companions or mentors who are now naught but scorched bones and withered clothes. In a fit of righteous (or malevolent) fury, the band sets off in search of revenge, justice and good old fashioned loot. They adventure across many lands and find the end boss who orchestrated the whole thing. They defeat him and take his stuff, avenging their fallen comrades or what have you, set out to restore the lost location to its former glory. The adventure ends with the doling out of XP and a sincere feeling of accomplishment for the characters and, by extension, their players. From there the PCs perhaps spend a few in game months to years making sure the town remains strong and that they know their loved ones did not die without memory. They then set off for the next big adventure.

Perhaps that scene is exaggerated, but my point is this: adventures and those that undertake them are creatures of moment, where emotion takes a backseat to action. The best adventures try to meld them and some even succeed.

In my eyes, the emotion needs to drive the action.

Players, and the NPCs and world around them, should act not because of the metagame, or out of a single set of negative emotions, but in response to a full gamut of feelings and emotions. A tall order? Perhaps. But I’m going to share a little secret with you, and hope that our friends in the editorial department don’t mind (if you’re reading this, they didn’t).

We here at Nevermet Press are attempting something quite akin to that. You may have heard of our newest project, the Dead Queens of Morvena. In it, we’re tackling horror, and I myself am spearheading a graphic novella project to truly give the feeling not just in words but in pictures and thought and feeling. In the Dead Queens, one of the prime ways we’re tackling the problem of emotion is the idea of helplessness. Certainly the setting might be played as an action packed undead hunt using the Pathfinder or 4^th Edition rules, but it might be better served played by PCs without all that power. The world around them collapses, wracked constantly by supernatural forces and evils beyond imagining. The darkness of the night is something to dread with one’s own soul, and every step might mean a fate worse than death. What I want, and I hope the others do as well, is that glimmer of hope in the distance. The best horror does one of two things: first, it shatters the perceptions and leaves one powerless; or two (and my personal preference), it shows one his own insignificance while allowing him the opportunity to understand himself on a deeper, more powerful level than before.

What I’m really trying to get at here is that life, real life, is a conflicted set of chaotic occurrences that make no sense even after countless explanations and wherein hope might be the only path to sanity. In RPGs, something like this is hard to find. There’s a really bad thing going down and as the party grows in power and influence through a set of carefully crafted circumstances, they learn about this very bad thing. Because they’re adventurers, they instinctively seek it out and end it in some way. What I want, and what I hope Nevermet Press can deliver to you, our readers, is an adventure setting that defies this conception and allows for situations of the darkest sort, while still allowing for little bits of joy to shine through. I don’t want a real life simulator. We get enough of that through living and The Sims. What I want is an adventure where life intrudes and breathes energy into the action. Where helplessness gives way to empowerment, and where, if you’ll indulge me in the cliché, the little guy saves the day.

More Than Reskinning the Horse

by John Payne

Sometimes I want the players to feel like they are in a place that is different. I don’t mean different in a disturbing way, but in a way that can make them say to themselves that they are not in your “typical” fantasy world anymore.

In literature, an overused trope is simply reskinning a familiar creature in different looking flesh[1]. For example, a book may feature a race of short, stocky fellows with beards, that like caves and axes, are generally grumpy and have an eye for stone masonry. They are not dwarves. No, they are Fjordians or Schenectadians, but whatever you think, they are not dwarves.

Having said that, they should be a way to just tweak something without having to invent a set of mechanics, skills, feats, edges, or some other aspect your system of choice of employs. It should look different and be different, at least a little. Here’s one idea for a different set of beasts of burden. Why beasts of burden? They are probably one of the first things the characters will see when they approach town.

The inspiration for these creatures comes from my son. He recently purchased a bag of plastic bugs from the zoo. Each bug is about four inches long and pretty detailed. I thought that the lack of anatomical correctness would be a problem. For my son, however, it was the source of a set of new creatures. He picked up the ant-like creature and began describing the ettl and what it could do.

So, in order to give proper credit, my son’s contributions to these creatures are:

One kind has eight legs instead of six. The name, ettl. One kind flies in the air. One kind carries very heavy things. Ettls are the good bugs.

Taking those elements and tweaking three common work animals will give you this:

Ettls

Ettls comprise one of several types of creatures that are similar to ants in appearance. They can live just about anywhere except arctic and cold climates. They prefer to live in large grasslands, where wild ettls are frequently spotted. Domesticated ettl are usually seen in tropical areas where their tremendous strength is employed in the building of massive stone structures.

Ettls are vegetarian – they eat grasses and flowers. Domesticated ettl will eat small fruit that is slightly overripe. Even wild ettls rarely attack. They flee whenever possible and will fight only to protect their young. Female ettl are typically 25% larger than the males and will lay four to six eggs per litter.

Socially, ettls do not exhibit many of the traits characteristic of ants. They do not form social groups amongst themselves and do not build nests. It is rare to see more than four adults together in the wild. Ettls are very easy to domesticate and do not appear to fatigue despite working several hours at a time. Ettl ranchers claim that these creatures like the hard work and need a strong figure to provide the structure and order. They say the need for a stong figure is analogus to an ant colony’s need for a queen ant directing the workers. Although believed to be a superstition by scholars, many believe that women make the best ettl ranchers.

Ettl Cahin

These eight-legged creatures are the predominant type of domesticated ettl. Although slow moving, an individual ettl can drag loads close to ten tons. These gentle brutes are often used to take large stones from the quarry to a building site.

Ettl Chasan

These six-legged creatures more closely resemble ants that any of their kin. Using specially crafted harnesses and plows, Chasan are used for plowing new fields. With their strength, they are able drag the plow through even the rockiest of areas.

Ettl Tuey

These two-legged ettl are known for their running speed. They are built more like ostriches with large, powerful legs. Although they eat a very large amount of food in comparison to horses, they are faster and can run for very long stretches. They are the preferred mounts of messengers who ride them all night to reach far-flung destinations.

What about the ones that can fly?

Here’s where a little imagination can give you something that is different.

Ettl T’at’Ti

These four-legged creatures are used as flying mounts by the royal military. These creatures do not appear in the wild, but appear to result from selective breeding and magic.

Suggestions for using the ettl

Ettl are designed to be beast of burden by a temple-building civilization. They are a distinctly non-magical means to transport huge stones from the quarry to the temple building site. It would be common to see thirty or forty ettl cahin in a single line carrying large stones behind them.

They can, however, be used as a replacement for beasts of burden in any society. Using the superstition that women are better ettl ranchers provides many social plot hooks where ettl are used.

Before signing off, let’s add one more little thing to make these creatures interesting: they are immune to psionics. With that little fact, outsiders may have a reason to attack these creatures in an attempt to harvest their exoskeletons.

I’ll give Swords & Wizardry type stats for all four later this week. But now it’s your turn. What can you come up with? How would you improve the ettl? Are there other creative twists that would make them interesting?

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[1] Editors Note: This is sometimes refered to as “shemping”, or “Fake Shemp“. There’s an excellent couple of articles on shemping in RPGs over at Uncle Bear that are worth checking out.

Interview with Felix Sundown (Part 1)

I am not really sure why I have agreed to do this interview. Perhaps I’m worried that, once I do eventually die, there will not otherwise be anyone else to tell my story. Or, perhaps its because, given the recent discovery of the Feywyrd, I am now finally able to speak about things that I’ve been forced to be quiet about for over four hundred years. Whatever the reason, consider yourself fortunate to be the one to hear it first, before things get twisted by history’s lens. There is so much to tell though, I guess I might as well get started at the beginning. You asked me to introduce myself? Fair enough.

My name is Felix Sundown. In a children’s book, I might be called a gnome or perhaps a troll, but these terms are in truth derogatory names that have replaced the proper name for my kind: Fey. I have lived for more than six hundred years, with the last four centuries confined within the walls of Loaerth, the city of my captor and once teacher, The Archivist. Recently, I finally managed to escape the cursed bonds that have kept me silent for so long. How? I can only guess, but I suspect that it is because someone else discovered the fate of the Feywyrd, and thus unwittingly released me from my bonds. Allow me to explain…

When I first arrived in Loaerth the world was a place full of colorful and fantastical creatures of all sorts. Mythic demihumans, fey beasts and strange magic were commonplace. It was a world of abundance and diversity, where imagination was the only limit on possibility. I was a student of this magic, a Steward of Aram Court in fact. I had come to Loaerth to further my training under the tutelage of the Archivist Eurig Talfrun. He accepted me as his last student and bonded me into service. The bond was one from the Old Ways, a curse really. At the time I felt it was worth the sacrifice: a little of my freedom to be the sole pupil of one of the most influential archivists in all the realms. Little did I know of Talfrun’s ambitions, and it took decades before I eventually regarded my bond to him as a curse.

You may have heard a story of something the Helfay that happened an eon ago. It is often used as the reason humankind can lay claim to all the world and why Loaerth can expand the boundaries of its empire unopposed. But the Helfay is not a myth – it happened. The whole world was as I described it: a fantastical place full of strange and magical things. Then, in an instant, poof! On one mid-winter night all the world’s strange and mythical creatures, the Feywyrd as they were called, vanished in a silent icy moment. From wizards and students sleeping in Aram Court, to dwarves deep in Forgeholme. From dragons sailing on the winds of the Faertwins, to myrmidons a thousand leagues under the Degra Sea. Their lights just went out as they vanished like fireflies in the twilight. Whole kingdoms vanished in fact. I expect all the world’s Feywyrd vanished, save for one: me. You see, the Helfay was not an act of the gods, but an act of greed and hubris by a man, my master Eurig. It was the result of an ancient ritual he believed would return the Feywyrd the world he believed they came from. But he failed, and the failure carried with it the instant annihilation of not just the Feywyrd, but every other creature beyond the horizons of Loaerth.

Since I unknowingly participated in this ritual, I was fortunately protected by it, and soon found myself to be the last of the Fey. Eurig also allowed me to live on as his assistant and pupil. I was now a curiosity to him. He was the last of the Archivists, the only remaining practitioner of the Old Ways, and having the last of the Fey as his personal thrall was too great a prize to ignore. He bonded me to him again, only this time his bond would last until the Feywyrd returned, something he believed would never happen.

It was no coincidence that, after the Helfay, the people of Loaerth soon discovered the King and the royal family had vanished as well. They soon appointed Eurig Talfrun as Regent of Loaerth, and in time he became the leader of the world’s only remaining civilization: the Empire of Loaerth.

What else would you like to know?

Encounter: Le Danse Périlleux

Written by Michael Brewer Illustrated by Matthew Lichtenwalner

Difficulty: Medium Magic: Medium Keywords: ball, disguised, hostages, masquerade Terrain: Interior – Ballroom Treasure: Minor

A grand ballroom packed with revelers dressed to the nines stretches out below the balcony. Two sweeping sets of stairs extend from the sides of the balcony to the floor of a ballroom large enough to dock a small ship. The marble arches supporting ceiling of this massive hall reach skyward another story above the balcony

Exquisite tapestries that depict debauch revelries line the interiors of several alcoves along the length of the walls leading to the magnificent view at the end of the ballroom. Five huge chandeliers of polished bronze hang suspended above the ballroom by chains anchored along the western wall between the alcoves. Four tables laden with refreshments and hors d’oeuvres have been set near the foot of the stairs.

The far end of the ballroom terminates in a half circle enclosed in a wall of glass; dozens of large windows honeycomb the exterior wall at the end of the hall giving guests a magnificent view of the city below from the room’s precarious perch upon the cliff.

Background

The ballroom is 60 feet wide and 100 feet in length and is part of a larger estate built by the prostitution and brothel madam known as The Desire from decades worth of extortion and exploitation. Desirae Turpis is the madam’s birth name and most people believe her to just be a wealthy heiress. The ballroom extends out from the chateau proper along a narrow cliff that juts perilously away from the bluff the chateau is built upon.

This masquerade is being held in celebration of some minor stellar event and is hosted by The Desire. These balls are the current rage among the aristocracy and the majority of them have turned out for the occasion. No doubt many discrete (and indiscreet) trysts will be taking place either by direction of The Desire or just out of naturally occurring lust.

The Desire has ulterior motives for holding the ball. One objective is to grow the network of aristocrats that have fallen victim to her schemes, but an even more sinister object is at hand: assassination. The Desire brokered a deal between a local lord and the assassin guild to have a rival nobleman eliminated. Since this rival nobleman has also interfered with her prostitution operations, it serves The Desire’s interests as well.

The PCs have been tipped off that there will be an assassination attempt, but do not know who the target is or who the assassins are (or how many there may be).  Even if they did, the costumes would hinder their ability to identify either party involved.

Objective

The PCs must prevent the assassination and capture at least one of the assailants for questioning.

Adversaries & Tactics

Assassins Number: 4-8 Equipment: Light Crossbows, Short Swords, & Poisoned Daggers Attributes: Stealthy, Dexterous, Quick

• There are four to eight (depending on how difficult the Game Master wishes to make this encounter) assassins disguised as revelers at the ball.  They are spread throughout the ballroom, but there is only one tasked with the duty to murder the nobleman.  The remaining assassins are for support.
• Once the PCs engage the first assassin, three more close and flank.  If the Game Master has chosen to insert additional assassins, they are on the balcony and begin peppering the PCs with light crossbow bolts.  Once combat has begun, the guests begin to panic, scream, run and general chaos ensues.  The assassins will attempt to use guests as cover and may take one or two hostage using them as human shields.
• If a PC is injured with a poisoned dagger and fails to defend against the poison, he is immediately weakened and will die within 24 hours if the antidote is not administered. Retrieving the antidote should provide the PCs with another short quest.  Once half of the assassins are neutralized, the remaining antagonists escape by pretending to be terrified guests and fleeing with the other revelers towards the city.

Environmental Effects

1. Chandeliers: There are five chandeliers hanging above the ballroom.  Creative PCs may be able to maneuver their enemies below the chandeliers and have one of the characters release the anchors sending one crashing down upon the assassins.  If the assassins fail to react quickly, the chandelier knocks them unconscious and pins them to the floor.  A chandelier is large enough to pin four assassins standing in tight formation. An extremely agile and creative PC may be able to use the chain anchoring the chandelier closest to the balcony to swing up to the balcony by releasing the locking mechanism.  It may provide the quickest route to engage any assassins there.
2. Guests: Fleeing and cowering guests will hinder movement, reducing a PC’s movement by half.  Guests may also hinder a PC from being able to adequately engage an assassin by providing cover and concealment.  An assassin who is still disguised as a guest will gain a surprise attack on unsuspecting PCs.
3. Refreshment Tables: The refreshment tables are very sturdy and may be used for cover from the assassins with crossbows upon the balcony.  However, a combatant standing upon a table and is in melee with an enemy who is on the floor gains combat advantages for being on higher ground.
4. Stairs: A combatant standing on the stairs and is in melee with an enemy who is at a lower position on the stairs or is on the floor gains combat advantages for being on higher ground.
5. Windows: A combatant may rush an enemy and push them through a window.  If the attack is successful and the target fails to react quickly, he is thrown from the window and falls down the cliff face to his death.

Development

The encounter begins when a guest screams as the assassin brandishes his dagger and attempts to stab the nobleman (who may or may not avoid the attack).  Once the guest screams the PCs are able to close with the initial assassin within seconds and combat begins.  The guests begin to panic and flee or cower as the ballroom erupts into chaos.

Awards, Findings, & Treasure

If the PCs are able to kill or capture the assassins they may recover their equipment.  Whether or not these are magical or otherwise worth more than ordinary versions is left to the Game Master.  If the PCs manage to capture an assassin alive, then they may be able to discover who hired them and why.

The nobleman awards the PCs with monetary rewards as well as free room and board at a tavern he owns in the city.

Join the forum discussion on this series

Le Danse Perilleux by Nevermet Press is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.nevermetpress.com/contact.

Portraits of a Villain: The Desire

Written by Michael Brewer Illustrated by James Keegan

Concept/Archetype: Predator of Noble Men Keywords: Fantasy, Succubus Race: Human Profession: Madam Harlot

Do you know what rules this kingdom?  It is not the people, the aristocracy, nor even the king who pretends to dote upon that self-righteous bitch of a queen.  No!  I’ll tell you what rules this kingdom.  Lust!  Men and women breathe heavy with desire for that which they cannot have.  It occupies their every thought and controls their actions.  And, no one but I can provide relief for their burning hearts!!

Background

Known by the social elite simply as The Desire, this woman is a stunning beauty to behold. The Desire’s beauty is easily matched by her cunning, but exceeded only by her ruthlessness.  Her influence is legendary, and recognized throughout the entire kingdom as no tavern, inn, merchant house or brothel survives long without paying tribute to her.

The Desire was born Desirae Turpis. She was raised a peasant girl among the families bonded to serfdom on the King’s personal estate. It was a difficult life, but one not without love – now just a fading memory. Shortly after her fourteenth birthday, after turning down multiple advances by a noble’s son, Desirae was accused of stealing wheat from the King’s grain-holds.  Her family was banished from the farms, and she was thrown into the stockade without term. Therein, she endured months of humiliation, assault, and worse.  Many a night she would be taken and placed into a deep cell, where her accuser and several guards would have their way with her. Imagine the worst.

Then one night she had a vision. The ghostly apparition offered to help her find a way out of her imprisonment. In exchange for her freedom, Diserae opened her heart to the apparition and promised to take it with her into the world. With the oath made, the apparition vanished and Diserae’s heart felt suddenly full and satisfied. She also found that her thoughts were consumed with seeking revenge on all those who had harmed her in the past.

Soon after the vision, she became pregnant and this discovery prompted her jailers to quickly cast her out into the freedom of the streets. Having no place to go, and no family to turn to, the filthy urban streets became her home. To survive,  she resorted to begging, thievery, prostitution, and smuggling. Soon the child within her was ready for birth and she sought aid at a local church. The infant died during childbirth and the presiding priest reprimanded her fiercely for having a child out of wedlock, declaring her lust the cause for the child’s death.  Having nowhere else to go, Desirae returned to the streets, and a life of selling her body to survive. Now, her heart truly burned with an icy hatred and revenge, and it is said that this was the day her skin turned to the color of chalk.

With her renewed determination, she quickly grew wise to the ways of the streets and know that first she must wrest control of them. Her handler was her first victim, but many others followed suite. She drew power from her inner demon, and in time took the name The Desire to rid herself of all the trappings of her past. Once remade, The Desire continued on her path to conquering the underbelly of society. Her harem grew, as did her reputation. Eventually, through murder, trade, trickery, and deal brokering, The Desire controlled the most extensive network of flesh of any kingdom.

Motivations & Goals

Being abused at the hands of a noble is obviously The Desire’s primary motivation for all her endeavors.  While she has obtained a life of extravagance peddling to the fleshly needs of both the aristocracy and common men, luxuries are not important to The Desire.

She uses the riches of gold and flesh as a means to destroy and control men of power.  Once The Desire has finished extorting someone, she usually enjoys making a public mockery of them while watching their power, rank, and privilege stripped from their name.

She exists only to inflict pain and humiliation upon the rich and powerful.  Indeed, many men under her thumb have willingly submitted themselves to cruel and violent tortures overseen by The Desire.  These tortures are usually some form of ritual performed for the goddess of lust and wrath.

The current target of The Desire is the king himself.  After failing several times to seduce the king with her courtesans during popular masquerade balls, The Desire has decided she needs to take a more active approach with inducing the king’s fall into temptation.

Organization

The Desire’s organization consists of practically every prostitute and brothel in the kingdom.  The women and men in her service are very well taken care of and protected from harm.  They are perhaps the one group of people The Desire shows compassion for, though she does not tolerate open defiance. She employs a number of mercenary bodyguards that serve as protectors for members in the organization as well as muscle to deal with clients that owe money or favors.  The Desire also has several arrangements with the various assassin and thieves guilds, ensuring members of her organization do not become targets while furnishing opportunities for members of the guilds to ply their trade. While residing in a well protected chateau located on the bluffs outside the city walls, The Desire enjoys a commanding view of the city. And, despite her fearsome reputation, she hosts one the many masquerade balls that are the current rage among the social elite.

Adventure Hooks

• A young street girl asks for aid escaping the city and the clutches of an angered Desire.
• The PCs are invited to a masquerade ball and are mistakenly handed documents containing highly sensitive information on a local lord.
• A PC finds himself framed for the murder of a working girl, earning the attention of law enforcement as well as The Desire.

Combat Tactics

The Desire avoids direct confrontation at all costs, preferring her hired mercenaries to dispose of dangerous aggressors.  However, if cornered, The Desire relies on her innate charms to compel men to be more understanding.  If that fails, she resorts to sorcery to confuse and delay opponents until help arrives or so she can escape.  It is well known by those close to her that The Desire is an accomplished enchantress.

Distributed Workshops: Nevermet Press does not work out the system specific stats for any of our online content. However, in the spirit of crowd sourcing, we do encourage the online community to do so via their own personal gaming blogs, online forums, or other venues. If you are interested in creating stats for any of our content using your favorite game system, please do! If you link to us, we’ll return the favor as well!

The independently developed statblocks and other mechanics for The Desire are available from these other sites:

1. The Spirits of Eden (4E D&D)

The Desire by Nevermet Press is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License. Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.nevermetpress.com/contact.