Character motivations
Today I finally got around to printing out I6 - Ravenloft, since its gained such a nice reputation to spawn a board game, and an entire campaign setting, and after reading part of it, I am just blown away. It is a deliciously gothic module with some really great descriptions throughout Castle Ravenloft, and it's surroundings, but what really got me, was Count Strahd, the owner of Castle Ravenloft, and the Antagonist for the story, and how well crafted his motivations were. It really felt like a villain who had a reason for doing what he was doing, not simply because he was trying to take over the world, or because he was evil, but there was a human aspect to him. Unfortunately I can't speak specifics of Count Strahd until after I run the module, so, instead I shall talk more generally about how important character motivations are with Angatonists and NPCs, and I shall use a recent example, using I3 - Pharaoh, as it is written by the same husband and wife combo (That's a pretty badass wife there, even if she did go on to write a bunch of Dragonlance stuff).
Pharaoh starts with the premise of your party being wrongfully accused of a crime, and being forced into scouring the Desert of Desolation for some raiders, who were most likely the true culprits. After wandering around the desert, and doing some minor plot points, the characters come across the spirit of Amun-Re, a pharaoh over the land now known as the Desert of Desolation, and he spins the tale of how he was selfish, and greedy, and created a giant pyramid so that once he died, he would have an impenitrable tomb, and would be gifted the afterlife. After the pyramid was completed, the people revolted, and tried to kill Amun-Re, but he cursed them in the name of Osiris, saying that if his blood dries, so should the waters of Aethis (which is the only source of water in this particular desert, just btw). He was killed, and so the waters dried up. Amun-Re was all "Heh, ah well, it's all wine, and women in the afterlife for me now", but Osiris stopped him, and said "Just as you looked onto death in life, you shall look onto life in death", and he was cursed to wander the desert, until his two symbols of office were removed from his 'theft proof' tomb. He then propositions the characters to put his spirit to rest, by doing some badass grave robbing.
Now, this is a decently solid storyline, and when reading the module, that hooked me, but what really made the module sparkle, was when I found near the end of the module, the rules for a research book, able to be found in a few places in the module, either being seeded with a group of Thune researchers like I did, or placed inside the temple or pyramid. There are two parts to the book, one is a first person account from Amun-Re, and the second is an account of a researcher summing up history, and culture of the place. Will summarise below:
The tale of Amun-Re is a touching story of Amun-Re's childhood, where after his father's death, he heard of his tomb being plundered. The young Amun-Re snuck out one night, and made it to his tomb, where he found that indeed, his father had been prevented from entering the afterlife. He then swore that this would not happen to him when it was his turn to face Osiris.
The second part, isn't so much about Amun-Re specifically, but details things about how the temple rituals and such were conducted, and adds a nice flavour, as well as dropping a few hints about the arcane secrets of the place.
I very much enjoy the fact that Amun-Re wasn't simply a quest giver, he wasn't simply an antagonist, a reason for the story to unfold. He felt like a real person, with a real problem, and while the characters at first may have been "Ooh, quest.", within a short space of time, they were able to connect with Amun-Re on a more personal level, and engage in the story of I3 - Pharaoh, not because of XP, or loot, but because they sympathised with a man locked between life and death, and I think that is the grounds on why my players found Pharaoh to be one of the most enjoyable adventures that I've run.
Pharaoh starts with the premise of your party being wrongfully accused of a crime, and being forced into scouring the Desert of Desolation for some raiders, who were most likely the true culprits. After wandering around the desert, and doing some minor plot points, the characters come across the spirit of Amun-Re, a pharaoh over the land now known as the Desert of Desolation, and he spins the tale of how he was selfish, and greedy, and created a giant pyramid so that once he died, he would have an impenitrable tomb, and would be gifted the afterlife. After the pyramid was completed, the people revolted, and tried to kill Amun-Re, but he cursed them in the name of Osiris, saying that if his blood dries, so should the waters of Aethis (which is the only source of water in this particular desert, just btw). He was killed, and so the waters dried up. Amun-Re was all "Heh, ah well, it's all wine, and women in the afterlife for me now", but Osiris stopped him, and said "Just as you looked onto death in life, you shall look onto life in death", and he was cursed to wander the desert, until his two symbols of office were removed from his 'theft proof' tomb. He then propositions the characters to put his spirit to rest, by doing some badass grave robbing.
Now, this is a decently solid storyline, and when reading the module, that hooked me, but what really made the module sparkle, was when I found near the end of the module, the rules for a research book, able to be found in a few places in the module, either being seeded with a group of Thune researchers like I did, or placed inside the temple or pyramid. There are two parts to the book, one is a first person account from Amun-Re, and the second is an account of a researcher summing up history, and culture of the place. Will summarise below:
The tale of Amun-Re is a touching story of Amun-Re's childhood, where after his father's death, he heard of his tomb being plundered. The young Amun-Re snuck out one night, and made it to his tomb, where he found that indeed, his father had been prevented from entering the afterlife. He then swore that this would not happen to him when it was his turn to face Osiris.
The second part, isn't so much about Amun-Re specifically, but details things about how the temple rituals and such were conducted, and adds a nice flavour, as well as dropping a few hints about the arcane secrets of the place.
I very much enjoy the fact that Amun-Re wasn't simply a quest giver, he wasn't simply an antagonist, a reason for the story to unfold. He felt like a real person, with a real problem, and while the characters at first may have been "Ooh, quest.", within a short space of time, they were able to connect with Amun-Re on a more personal level, and engage in the story of I3 - Pharaoh, not because of XP, or loot, but because they sympathised with a man locked between life and death, and I think that is the grounds on why my players found Pharaoh to be one of the most enjoyable adventures that I've run.