A request for campaign advice

[Kyle Foster]

Personally I'd go with making the unblooded character the one. but the
problem there is that the player doesn't want to play a blooded
character so he might not want to be "the one".

My second thought would be to see what the other players roll up. one
of them might actually roll andurias and then you wouldn't have to worry
about forcing anyone to play that bloodline.

Third you could give a couple of sessions and see how things shake
out. you might see that one player is realy taking the fore fornt in
leadership and and the like making that character the natural choice.

Just my thoughts,
Kyle

[Trankel Al Ker]

At 11:32 AM 26/05/98 -0700, Tim Nutting wrote:
>I am planning a Birthright campaign for a mid sized group and have
>something of a dilemma. The characters will all start as either
>disinherited nobility or extreme fifth cousins to nobility, etc. I
>intended eventually to reveal to the characters that one of them actually
>has the blood of Reole in him, and is destined to be the next Emperor, that
>is if he can earn it. (This is very secret from my players - thankfully
>none of them post to the list)
>
>Now one player says he wants an unblooded character - not a problem really
>- but what who do I choose - a PC with an already established bloodline, or
>this one who apparently does not have one? The others all want established
>bloodlines, and I am less that desirous of forcing one or another to be of
>the Anduiras bloodline, it hints at too much.
>
>Any thoughts on this are welcome.

Well, perphas one of your players of the established bloodlines was the
result of an affair with a stranger, but none has ever talked about it... =)

Just a thought

Trankel Al Ker
Lord of the Brotherhood of the Black Tulipan

[Tim Nutting]

I am planning a Birthright campaign for a mid sized group and have
something of a dilemma. The characters will all start as either
disinherited nobility or extreme fifth cousins to nobility, etc. I
intended eventually to reveal to the characters that one of them actually
has the blood of Reole in him, and is destined to be the next Emperor, that
is if he can earn it. (This is very secret from my players - thankfully
none of them post to the list)

Now one player says he wants an unblooded character - not a problem really
- - but what who do I choose - a PC with an already established bloodline, or
this one who apparently does not have one? The others all want established
bloodlines, and I am less that desirous of forcing one or another to be of
the Anduiras bloodline, it hints at too much.

Any thoughts on this are welcome.

Tim Nutting

[James Ruhland]

Well, unless the person in question absolutely *MUST* be of the Andurias
Bloodline, there is a way out of that delema. Kinda. Now, whether a person
such as I describe would ever be permited to be emperor among the very
bloodline concious Anuireans is another question:
This dude, a decendent of Roele, the Bloodline was deluted and weakend
over the centuries, from whatever semi-ungodly level distaff Roele
relations inherited to something. Then at some point Scion X (MAn; F5, An,
minor, 20) married Scion Y (FAn; T9, Z, major, 30) (where "Z" stands for
the characters BL Derivation), and presto chango, the resulting children
are (?An; ?; Z, major, 25), the BL Derivation of the higher BL (Z) having
overcome the BL derivation of the lower BL. But the person still has the
blood of Roele in their veins.
And, perhaps, at the moment of "truth" or whatever when this dude stands
revealed for all to see, the BL Derivation switches (I.E. especially if you
have some scheme in mind whereby his BL will be increased to a proper
Imperial stature).
>
> I am planning a Birthright campaign for a mid sized group and have
> something of a dilemma. The characters will all start as either
> disinherited nobility or extreme fifth cousins to nobility, etc. I
> intended eventually to reveal to the characters that one of them actually
> has the blood of Reole in him, and is destined to be the next Emperor,
that
> is if he can earn it. (This is very secret from my players - thankfully
> none of them post to the list)
>
> Now one player says he wants an unblooded character - not a problem
really
> - but what who do I choose - a PC with an already established bloodline,
or
> this one who apparently does not have one? The others all want
established
> bloodlines, and I am less that desirous of forcing one or another to be
of
> the Anduiras bloodline, it hints at too much.
>
> Any thoughts on this are welcome.
>
> Tim Nutting
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[Xanguth]

I believe that it would be wise and probably be great roleplay to let the
character who does not want a bloodline to be the one to have Roele's blood. I
say this because of what you stated about you not wanting to push the
bloodline on an already established PC. You could allow the unblooded PC to
kill some monster in the course with a heart blow and then when he is imbued
with the monsters blood he taps into the Roele blood. Or the same can go with
a blooded regent. Same story and what nots and they realize that they have
Roele's blood. I take it you do not have any PC's that are blooded with
Anduiras?

Xanguth Bloodskin

[Eric Dunn]

>Now one player says he wants an unblooded character - not a problem really
>- but what who do I choose - a PC with an already established bloodline, or
>this one who apparently does not have one? The others all want established
>bloodlines, and I am less that desirous of forcing one or another to be of
>the Anduiras bloodline, it hints at too much.
>
>Any thoughts on this are welcome.
>
>Tim Nutting

I'd be VERY hesitant on changing the life of a character THAT much. I
mean, granted things happen and all that, but if the person was desiring a
unblooded character, amongst a bunch of blooded ones--he/she probably had
some idea of what they want to do with it. That person must be looking
forward to the interesting challenges involved. By giving him the blood of
Roele (which in itself would take some explainin to do..heh) it's taking
him to the opposite end of the spectrum.

Of course, this being a fantasy realm ANYTHING is possible. You could do
the proverbial "sword in the stone" trick, and have some cave somewhere,
and there's a fount that one of the characters feels drawn to drink from,
and WHAM! he's got the blood of Roele. The Crown Jewels might be guarded
by some dragon who has some "little magic dust" that grants it.

Personally, I'd find the most "charismatic" player of the group, one who
has become the defacto leader, and have him the one "drawn" to it, or
rewarded with it, or whatever.

If you're really lucky, it won't be a thief or a wizard, since they don't
really fit into the "High Fantasy" role (okay, I can't pass it up) or
Roele, in this case, that you're describing.

E

[Tim Nutting]

I guess I should provide some more information on this issue - I was
pushing the lateness envelope on my way to work when I entered the orig
msg.

The campaign will begin (we're still designing characters) with all of the
PCs being of a reasonably well of status (at least that was my intent - as
all at this time had wanted to be of the blood). No single PC will be of a
direct royal lineage. At best the fifth cousin aspect previously mentioned
is as close as they get. After a few "cementing" adventures to get the
group dynamics settled, I am going to involve them in a plot to unleash one
of the Lost upon the world. (This has been a predominant thread in my
writings to the list - and I'm finally going to use it.)

I intend for some direct confrontation here, with the players //almost//
getting wasted by this very powerful bad guy (Atar from the Viper's Eye
desc. in BoP). As they run (at least as the smart ones run) they suddenly
find this Lost One confronted by an ancient and powerful spirit. In this
massive dungeon they have somehow stumbled onto a temple that was part of
Atar's "prison compound".

It will be after the Lost One leaves off, deciding these 4th-5th level
characters are not really a problem, that the spirits haunting the temple
(dedicated to Anduirias) will reveal to my chosen PC that (s)he is indeed
the lost child of the Reole bloodline, not of Michael, but of a line
divided about three generations previous to the Last Emperor.

At this point I'm not sure what to do. The non-blooded guy wants to
eventually have a bloodline - but his is also the power gamer in my group
and allways trys to be the autocrat. Maybe the role is suited to him. At
the same time I have a far more easygoing player who has been dying for the
chance to try a role of group leader. Its a toss up.

Thanks for the input so far!

Tim Nutting

[DKEvermore]

In a message dated 98-05-26 14:42:15 EDT, you write:

> Now one player says he wants an unblooded character - not a problem really
> - but what who do I choose - a PC with an already established bloodline, or
> this one who apparently does not have one? The others all want established
> bloodlines, and I am less that desirous of forcing one or another to be of
> the Anduiras bloodline, it hints at too much.
>
It is conceivable that when the time is right, the land itself will restore
the bloodline to the hero of its own choosing. This could mean a new
bloodline or change of an existing one some time during game play. Or perhaps
what remains of the Roele bloodline is stored in an artifact the PCs must
discover and recover. Once this is done, they must choose who might fill the
shoes of Emperor and then try to stake a claim to the title.

- -DKEvermore

[James Ruhland]

>
> At this point I'm not sure what to do. The non-blooded guy wants to
> eventually have a bloodline - but his is also the power gamer in my group
> and allways trys to be the autocrat. Maybe the role is suited to him.
At
> the same time I have a far more easygoing player who has been dying for
the
> chance to try a role of group leader. Its a toss up.
>
As far as this goes, it sounds from your brief description like it's time
to really encourage the 2nd player to be the group leader. If one dude
(especially a dictatorial one) always plays the party "leader" then things
have a tendancy to stagnate, IMO, and characters/campaign developments have
a lot of "similarities" do to the dominance of one person's personality.
Of course, what do I know; I could be wrong.

[Andreas Kjeldsen]

> At this point I'm not sure what to do. The non-blooded guy wants to
> eventually have a bloodline - but his is also the power gamer in my group
> and allways trys to be the autocrat. Maybe the role is suited to him. At
> the same time I have a far more easygoing player who has been dying for the
> chance to try a role of group leader. Its a toss up.

Well it would make for a great plot if the unblooded one got the
bloodline, but if I understand your characteristic of him correctly,
he is something like Darien Avan, on a smaller scale. In this case,
it would be difficult for him to become Emperor because of the
Chamberlain (whatever his name is). IIRC the chamberlain wants an
Emperor who is able to heal the wounds of the land and care for the
citizens rather than his own ambition. This is why neither Avar nor
Boeruine have become Emperor yet.

(Pardon my rambling...)

So if he is like them, he would at the very least have to do some
serious roleplaying to convince the chamberlain that he is the
rightful Emperor, since noone becomes Emperor without the Chamberlain
saying so. The other player sounds more likely to be able to do this.
Personally, I would give it to the easygoing player.

Of course, you could just ignore everything I've said and do whatever
you want.

Andreas Kjeldsen
morkitar@dadlnet.dk
ICQ# 12703652

-

[craig@finance.econ.usyd.]

At 01:52 AM 27/5/98 -0700, you wrote:
>I guess I should provide some more information on this issue - I was
>pushing the lateness envelope on my way to work when I entered the orig
>msg.
>
>The campaign will begin (we're still designing characters) with all of the
>PCs being of a reasonably well of status (at least that was my intent - as
>all at this time had wanted to be of the blood). No single PC will be of a
>direct royal lineage. At best the fifth cousin aspect previously mentioned
>is as close as they get. After a few "cementing" adventures to get the
>group dynamics settled, I am going to involve them in a plot to unleash one
>of the Lost upon the world. (This has been a predominant thread in my
>writings to the list - and I'm finally going to use it.)
>
>I intend for some direct confrontation here, with the players //almost//
>getting wasted by this very powerful bad guy (Atar from the Viper's Eye
>desc. in BoP). As they run (at least as the smart ones run) they suddenly
>find this Lost One confronted by an ancient and powerful spirit. In this
>massive dungeon they have somehow stumbled onto a temple that was part of
>Atar's "prison compound".
>
>It will be after the Lost One leaves off, deciding these 4th-5th level
>characters are not really a problem, that the spirits haunting the temple
>(dedicated to Anduirias) will reveal to my chosen PC that (s)he is indeed
>the lost child of the Reole bloodline, not of Michael, but of a line
>divided about three generations previous to the Last Emperor.
>
>At this point I'm not sure what to do. The non-blooded guy wants to
>eventually have a bloodline - but his is also the power gamer in my group
>and allways trys to be the autocrat. Maybe the role is suited to him. At
>the same time I have a far more easygoing player who has been dying for the
>chance to try a role of group leader. Its a toss up.
>
I would have thought that making any character the Emperor of Anuire would
have been dangerous. I say this because I have found that when one
individual reaches a position significantly above the other PC's and the
other players feel useless, more like sidekicks than full flegded party
members. So I would argue that if you did make one PC Emperor that you
firstly find influential positions for the other PC's (particularly if you
want them to interact still) such as Lord Marshal (as well as vassal regent
in his/her own right) for a fighter or Archprelate for a Priest and so on.
This allows other characters to remain powerful enough to act as a balance
against the Emperor, for example the Lord Marshal could prove to be popular
among the troops and officers of the Imperial army and as a consequence the
Emperor must be careful of pushing him around least he find himself facing
a possible coup.
This may also serve to solve you problem of who is the leader by providing
each PC with positions within the Empire that are approximately of equal
influence even if the Emperor is technically senior. Hope this helps.
Craig