Curtain Call

Game Master Super Zero

1. HOW DID YOU MEET?
The classic answer here is that you all first met in a tavern, but other locations might help to build your group’s unique history from the outset.
You might have met after...
• ...being shipwrecked on a dangerous shore far from home.
• ...being captured by enemies and escaping prison into a mysterious ruin.
• ...you all enrolled in school and decided to investigate a strange local legend.
• ...the ship or caravan you were traveling with was attacked, leaving you as the sole survivors.
• ...one of you inherited or discovered an old deed or treasure map, so you gathered friends to investigate.
• ...deciding that since you all grew up together, why not form an adventuring group?

2. WHERE WAS YOUR FIRST ADVENTURE?
Every story starts somewhere. You should decide what part of the world your adventures began in, as this decision can help you answer several questions to come. But perhaps more importantly, what about your first adventure was so memorable that it was an unforgettable experience?
Your first adventure’s memorable location might have been a...
• ...haunted house perched on the edge of a crumbling cliff.
• ...mysterious shipwreck lodged on the rocks below a long-abandoned lighthouse.
• ...long-forgotten alchemist’s or occultist’s laboratory under the town mayor’s home.
• ...notorious ghost town in the wilderness whose mysteries could no longer be resisted.
• ...confusing underground network of rope bridges, mine carts, and twisting caverns accessed by the town well that recently went dry.
• ...strange temple that suddenly appeared in the nearby swamp when no such structure was there before.

3. HOW DID THIS SET YOU ON YOUR PATH?
From small beginnings, the greatest stories emerge. Your first adventure may have seemed like a little thing when you started, but something you uncovered during it drew you into a complex and dangerous series of events that put you in the immediate path of dangerous foe.
The unexpected plot twist you discovered in that first adventure could have been a...
• ...sinister conspiracy of cultists or criminals who were using the adventure site as a secret headquarters and who have hidden agents in your hometown.
• ...trap set by someone you thought was an ally, and who in fact was working for a dangerous enemy who no one knew was active.
• ...place with a hidden room that revealed information that, upon researching further, pointed toward an imminent threat to the area.
• ...battleground where you had to negotiate between bickering factions, one of which served a much more powerful creature whose plans for the region must be thwarted.
• ...dying prisoner or hapless soul whom you rescued from a terrible fate and who, as they perished, set your group up as the agents to finish their quest.
• ...mysterious map or poem that leads the way to a great treasure or powerful weapon that, if you don’t find it first, will fall into enemy hands.

4. WHO WAS YOUR NEMESIS?
Your Nemesis was a powerful foe who served as the leader and primary instigator of all the dangers and perils that your party soon faced. When coming up with a Nemesis, consider having them be something humanoid in shape and size—larger, more monstrous foes might result in additional complications in portraying them on a stage, but at the same time, your group might be intrigued by the additional complexity of having something like a dragon or a giant as your nemesis.
Your Nemesis might have been a...
• ...sinister undead spellcaster or general from a long-forgotten conflict who was eager to reclaim lost glory or lands.
• ...shapechanging manipulator of society and member of a truly alien ancestry bent on twisting your hometown into something awful.
• ...cruel and sadistic cultist in thrall to a fiendish demigod, perhaps seeking a way to call their god to this world to bring ruin to their enemies.
• ...mischievous fey prankster whose sense of fun led to destruction, or whose pursuit of nonsensical whimsies enabled unexpected devastation.
• ...bitter and misunderstood antihero who became corrupted by a need for revenge.
• ...person in a minor position of power who seeks to gain greater control over society to sate their own personal desires or obsessions.

5. WHAT WAS YOUR NEMESIS’S PLAN?
Your Nemesis had to be defeated before a nefarious plan came to fruition.
That plan was to...
• ...seek revenge against your party or your allies for crimes (perceived or imagined) committed against them or their ancestors in the past.
• ...sate the cruel hunger of a more powerful creature or supernatural force to whom they owed their faith or allegiance.
• ...escape from a powerful prison that they had been trapped within and from which they were forced to manipulate foes from afar.
• ...capture the attention of a capricious monster or potential paramour by doing something deadly and destructive that would appeal to their obsession’s nature.
• ...recover or discover a powerful magical weapon or gain access to a source of great wealth, all to increase their own power.
• ...become the ruler of your hometown or some place they hold dear in order to ravage it of its resources or simply to see it burn.

6. WHAT MINIONS DID YOUR NEMESIS EMPLOY?
Your Nemesis used a specific type of creature as a favored agent, foes that when you encountered them confirmed to you that you were on the right trail in tracking down your foe.
Choose a specific category of monster (such as demons, the Dominion of the Black, elementals, ghouls, or werecreatures--something that has a fair variety of options to choose from among creatures of 7th or lower level) or villainous role (such as evil cultists, warmongering soldiers, murderous criminals, corrupted officials, or mind-controlled proxies).

7. WHAT TREASURES DID YOUR GROUP DISCOVER?
In your quest to defeat your Nemesis’s plan, you may have sought out a powerful treasure or resource that would give you an advantage against your foe. Alternately, your Nemesis might be the one in control of this treasure or resource, and you had to engineer a way to deny your Nemesis this advantage before finally confronting them.
The greatest treasure or resource your group discovered was a...
• ...magical and intelligent item whose knowledge of the Nemesis was key to their defeat.
• ...rare and fabulous material that plays a key role in undermining the Nemesis’s power.
• ...long-forgotten ritual that, when properly performed, granted you the advantage you needed to prevail.
• ...strange crystal or other device that contained your own stolen memories and that, when reclaimed, granted you strange powers against your foe.
• ...promise of support from a powerful enemy of your enemy, or the attention of a divine being eager to see your Nemesis fail.
• ...complicated agreement with a rival faction or group whose resources and members promised to aid you in your fight.

8. WHERE DID YOU CONFRONT YOUR NEMESIS?
In the end, you managed to track down your Nemesis and confronted them in their own lair.
Your Nemesis dwelt...
• ...on the bottom level of a dangerous megadungeon.
• ...in a sprawling structure at the heart of a city.
• ...aboard a vast vessel capable of some strange form of locomotion.
• ...within an extradimensional space or demiplane built to cater to their whims and desires.
• ...in a hidden site accessed by a room or tunnel secret door found in the very first adventure site you explored.
• ...in a fortress found on a remote mountainside or deep within a dangerous woodland that was surrounded by perilous terrain.

9. WHAT WAS THE FATE OF YOUR NEMESIS?
Whether you confronted your Nemesis in personal combat, on the field of battle with factions aiding at your side, or in a complicated bit of trickery or political outmaneuvering, in the end, you won. But what happened to your Nemesis?
Your Nemesis...
• ...was slain in battle, but their body was lost or destroyed (either as a direct result of that final fight, or at some point after that fight).
• ...was imprisoned, either by the local law or a supernatural force.
• ...managed to escape but lost everything when they had to leave behind so much of what they’d built up.
• ...was defeated, and then a supernatural force to which they had made unwise promises arrived to take them away for punishment.
• ...was transformed into something harmless, such as a statue or a gibbering wreck.
• ...surrendered when all hope was lost but then managed to somehow escape from justice at the last minute at some point after you left them to their fate.

10. WHAT WERE YOUR HEROIC DEEDS?
Each player should think back over the answers to the previous nine questions and single out one specific heroic deed they accomplished in the face of impossible odds. Think of these as unexpected glories you might have attained with a perfectly timed natural 20 on a die roll, or a point where a complex plan you came up with finally paid off, or simply a bit of luck where your PC happened to be in the right place at the right time. Each of these deeds should be events that led up to your final confrontation with your Nemesis, and not something that happened in that final conflict.

11. HOW DO YOU THINK OF YOUR GROUP?
Finally, after considering the answers you’ve come up with for the previous 10 questions, you should consider what operatic theme your group and adventurers most closely match. Choosing your opera’s theme will become important later on. Though you won’t be bound by any choices you make here, by thinking about these three themes from the start, you’ll find it easier to make that choice during play as a group when the time comes.
Comedic: If your adventures had a light-hearted tone, were small in scale and didn’t involve lots of travel, included elements of humor or romance, saw you facing a whimsical or mischievous nemesis, and ended, overall, on an upbeat and happy note, then they would work well as the story for a comedic opera.
Dramatic: If your adventures had a somber or serious tone, involved interactions with many other characters with complex personalities and plots of their own, included elements of tragedy or horror, saw you facing a sadistic or frightening nemesis, and ended, overall, on a dour or grim note, then they would work well as the story for a dramatic opera.
Spectacular: If your adventures had an epic flair to them; were large in scale and involved travel to foreign, famous, or infamous sites; included elements of action and significant regional threats; saw you facing a strange or enormous nemesis; and ended, overall, in a grand battle in a sprawling site, then they would work well as the story for a spectacular opera.