About elven players

[penley@omen.net.a]

At 11:39 17/10/97 -0400, you wrote:
>Hey,
>
> I have a DM problem that needs to be answered. All of the people I play
>with want to be Elves because they are immortal. How do I stop this? I's
>getting out of hand. They are always Elven fighter/mages. It's getting
>old. What do I do?
> Me
>
>************************************************* **************************
>>'unsubscribe birthright' as the body of the message.
>
>
Find a way to kill them and do so ruthlessly

[James Ruhland]

> >
> >
> Find a way to kill them and do so ruthlessly
>
>
No, no no! I have to disagree strenuously. The game is supposed to be fun
for the players, not just the DM. If you start killing them arbitrarily,
then you'll find yourself without players. Let 'em play whoever they want;
just enforce the rules (as I said before). Killing them for making
decisions you don't like is, IMO, bad DMing. Killing them because they make
stupid choices, on the other hand, is ok. Eventually, I'd hope, they'd want
to play something different. Make other options attractive to 'em (good way
is through NPCs at first, perhaps. NPCs who they'd like to emulate 'cause
of particular skills, getting along better with the human inhabitants that
are always insulting their elves, or whatever). But if you try to FORCE 'em
to do anything, your game will either 1) stop being fun for anyone, at
which point they'll quit or 2) they'll become resigned and passive in the
face of your awesome power (since you decide everything, why should they
bother?) eventually they'll quit here, too.

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[James Ruhland]

> >
> > I have a DM problem that needs to be answered. All of the people I play
> >with want to be Elves because they are immortal. How do I stop this? I's
> >getting out of hand. They are always Elven fighter/mages. It's getting
> >old. What do I do?
> > Me
> >
>
> >
> Find a way to kill them and do so ruthlessly
>
Oh wait; I might have been confused. When you said that, I thought you
meant the characters. If that is true, then what I just said will suffice.
If you meant the PLAYERS, well, then that might be a good solution. 8-)

[Robert Harper]

At 05:44 PM 10/18/97 -0300, you wrote:
>>> I have a DM problem that needs to be answered. All of the people I play
>>>with want to be Elves because they are immortal. How do I stop this? I's
>>>getting out of hand. They are always Elven fighter/mages. It's getting
>>>old. What do I do?
>>
>>Find a way to kill them and do so ruthlessly

Also never forget a rule for elves in human lands in any D&D campaign which
uses the suggestion that elven blood is an ingredient of longevity potions
(I make it lifesblood, not just a 'donation', that's required). Any
unscrupulous mage views an elf as a chance to get a few years younger or a
few gp's wealthier.

Another reason for elven distrust of humans.

__________________________________________________ _________________
| |
| We ask ourselves if there is a God, how can this happen? |
| Better to ask, if there is a God, must it be sane? |
| |
| Lucien LaCroix |
|_________________________________________________ __________________|

[Bryan Ruther]

Alexander wrote:

> Hey,
>
> I have a DM problem that needs to be answered. All of the people I play
> with want to be Elves because they are immortal. How do I stop this? I's
> getting out of hand. They are always Elven fighter/mages. It's getting
> old. What do I do?
> Me

Keep in mind that in Cerilia, humans tend to be at least distrustful of elves, and
inmany cases outright hostile. One elf walking into town with a group of humans as

chaperones won't attract too much attention, but a group of well armed elves sure
will. Make sure to make them feel unwelcome in any human lands. Adventures
where priests and or thieves are needed will help too.

Bryan

>
>
> ************************************************** *************************
> >

- --
Mankind being originally equals in the order of creation,
the equality could only be destroyed by some subsequent
circumstance...
Thomas Paine, Common Sense

[voelkman]

>Hey,
>
> I have a DM problem that needs to be answered. All of the people I play
>with want to be Elves because they are immortal. How do I stop this? I's
>getting out of hand. They are always Elven fighter/mages. It's getting
>old. What do I do?
> Me

Hi there

I believe there will be no problems, if U tell Ur players to think of the
disadvantages of an elven campaign. Elves tend to be isolated. Nearly all
elven domains are surrounded by nasty neighbours, which might cause
serious troubles if the regent starts quarreling around.
Remind them, that U know Cerilia and explain (without revealing too much)
that Ur players would miss a lot of fun when choosing too many elven PCs.

BTW, I have one elven PC, being regent of the temple holdings (!) of
Berhagen. All my players went to Cerilia with their old characters, as
they got used to them. In our old world, the elf was trained to be a
templar, and certainly did not loose his profession by going to Cerilia.
So I got an elven cleric; I think U can imagine what that means for elven
regents?
Lots of fun...

CU

Manni

[wiliam bokey]

> At 11:39 AM 10/17/97 -0400, you wrote:
> >Hey,
> >
> > I have a DM problem that needs to be answered. All of the people I play
> >with want to be Elves because they are immortal. How do I stop this? I's
> >getting out of hand. They are always Elven fighter/mages. It's getting
> >old. What do I do?
>

Here is a rather quirky way to solve your problem which I have stumbled on accidently:

My character is a "priestess" of the god Erik, so she is out in the wild alot much like elves. On one particular expedition, I encountered what I thought was a wolf. It turned out to be a rabid wolf that was a carrier of the lycanthropy disease. Of course with my luck, I mananged to contract the dreaded disease. Although this is alot of fun to play as a human, lycanthropy is deadly to elves. Thus, if they encounter a group of lycanthropes and a couple of them manage to contract the disease and die, maybe they will start playing other races of characters. If they do not take the hint, you could have them start a 'war' with a powerful lycanthrope, thus making every battle possibly their last. Eventually they will give up and play humans, where they can cross over to the dark side.

Curt