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I want this adventure path to be one of those experiences that the players will look back on with fond memories years or even decades from now. The best way to accomplish this I think is to make sure the characters and their players are as involved in and as much a part of the story as possible. I already have a few ideas of how I will make this happen, and I thought I would plumb the depths of knowledge and experience here for additional ideas.
There are three characters, here are two of their backgrounds:
Jormund Moorindal
Jormund is a child of little importance determined to rise above his station. Born to Mashem and Elana Moorindal, a mage of little power and lesser known instructor at the Thenalar Academy, Jormund seemed destined for a life as the servant of a noble or at best an assistant to his father. At the age of 4 Jormund began to display the innate magical abilities of a sorcerer, much to the delight of his magically minded father. At the age of 10 Jormond was enrolled in the schools and arcane institutes of the noble district where he quickly began to develop his natural skill. Jormund’s low social standing and natural skill set him apart from the other children, who taunted him for both. Having few friends and feeling insecure about his skill, Jormund threw himself into the study of magic, its origins and its deeper workings, quickly becoming a skilled wizard as well as a talented sorcerer. When Jormund was 16, he decided to take part in Sasserine’s annual city festival. Ignoring his parent’s advice and his instructor’s misgivings, he decided to venture out of the noble district in order to give an arcane display in the Cudgel district. After a successful and gainful show, he was accosted by two thieves looking to make an easy days pay. Deciding that discretion is the better part of valor, Jormund promptly made a run for it. During the resulting chase Jormund’s pursuers managed to catch the ire of an elven woman, causing her to join in the frantic chase after the young mage. Jormund quickly fond himself out of breath and trapped in the alley beside a shrine by the two thieves, he was saved solely by the intervention of the elven woman and the dwarven caretaker of the shrine, and that was how Jormund Moorindal made his first friends, Ragnor Flamingbeard and Merka Cartel. In the following years Jormund spent more time outside of the noble district with his new friends and slowly cultivated a desire to leave the city and explore the world in an attempt to expand his education and his understanding of the ways of the arcane.
Ragnor Flamingbeard
Though Ragnor is not an official resident of Sasserine, he has spent a great deal of his life there. He was raised among his clansmen in the mountains close to the city, but from an early age he knew that his life was not in the Temples or the mines. His father, Rurik Flamingbeard, was a priest in the clan's Temple of Moradin and an influential member of their monastic order, the Hammerfists. His mother, Megthala, also served in the temple along with most of his siblings. Ragnor grew up in the temple and, at the urgings of his father, joined the priesthood of Moradin and the Hammerfists, where he excelled at both. He enjoys the discipline of the Hammerfists, and is a devout believer in Moradin, but he feels something calling him away from his home. When he became of age, he was given the option to take the responsiblity of a Shrine of Moradin in the Cudgel district in Sasserine, which he accepted more out of a need to leave than of any pious desire. He has been doing this for the past several decades, but now he has new acolytes there to run the more mundane aspects of maintaining the shrine, giving him more time to do what he really desires, adventure. Though he carries the favored weapon of Moradin, he feels much more comfortable using his ancestral waraxe, used by his father and his father's father before him, and his own two fists. He keeps in contact with his family, though it has been months since he has sent or recieved any word from home. He lives close to the shrine, and one night while leaving the Shrine to go home, he was astounded to see two thugs mugging a human male. He rushed in to help the man, and was even more surprised when an elven woman swooped down from a low canopy to join in the fray. With the help of Merka Cartel, the elven woman and the man, Jormund Moorindal, they beat back the would be thieves and have developed a friendship. He gets up every morning and does his prayers, which consists of a combination of meditation and a physical workout.
I will post the third character background for your perusal as soon as I receive it.
The characters are gestalt as there will only be three of them and I already have a few NPCs to toss in here and there.
Thanks in advance.
Tam
Completely agree, two of my characters are female nobles so I had them grow up with Lavinia and Vanthus. They went to the same Academy and were also involved in the prank that got her sent there. They attended the funeral of her parents.
Another was an orphan raised by a friendly middle-aged madam from one of the Shadowshore brothels and I intend the prostitute to travel to Farshore to seek a new life and maybe a husband. Be "interesting" for a character to have his mother coming along for the ride.
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The third character is:
Merka
Born and raised in the Azure district of Sasserine, Merka was bred to be at sea. Her father was captain of a ship, the Rose, and she crewed on it as soon as she was old enough to be a help instead of a hindrance. Her mother, Asiltrai, tried to teach her to be a lady, but the constant influence of her father Elion erased all efforts that she put into it. Her name means "wild rose" and she lives up to it in any way that she can. When her father's ship was destroyed by a storm, and he was lost at sea, she was devastated. She tried crewing on a couple of other ships, but found she had lost her heart for sailing. She began doing as her mother asked and acting a lady, but she knew she couldn't do it for long. Fortune came her way when a rich, but lesser noble, promised her anything if she would allow him to court her. She used him to get enough funds for a ship and a crew. She captained her ship, Elion's Pride, for many months until her crew turned on her and mutinied. They left her to die on an island and there she stayed for over a year. She was finally able to leave the island by crafting a raft from some debris and sailing out to sea where she was rescued by a passing merchant ship. She has just recently returned home, hoping to find her mutinous crew, but they have not returned since she last left. Whether they are merely steering clear of Sasserine or something has happened to them is unclear, though not a single person she has talked to has any recent news of them. She has lost most of the contacts she forged in the Noble District, as her "benefactor" spread the word that she was a lowly adventurer instead of a lady to be, but she feels no real loss as she was using them only for the money for the ship. One night while walking home, she was startled as a young human bolted straight past her. She was then bowled over by a halfling and an orc, and when she looked at them, she thought that they were people from her ship so she took off after them. She found them as they corned the young man by a shrine in the Cudgel. She climbed atop a nearby canopy to watch them and see if they were indeed men from her ship. Suddenly a dwarf rushed in and she swooped down from her perch to join in. They beat back the two thugs, and she found they were not from her ship. She has enjoyed the company of Ragnor and Jormund up until now, but again she is feeling that she cannot stay much longer. She needs some excitement in her life and is waiting for that chance.