So last night I read through The Skinsaw Murders. I cannot wait to run this scene in a game! I like to have at least one NPC a session that I get up out of my chair for and really put on a show. I already have a pretty good idea of how I want to RP his different personalities and the slow buildup from whimpering coward begging to help to Batman villain level theatrical psychopath. I am even planning on making a mask up with a picture of the player of the obsession's face on it. So what has everyone else done for this scene?
I am even planning on making a mask up with a picture of the player of the obsession's face on it. So what has everyone else done for this scene?
Yoink!
I already have a pretty good idea of how I want to RP his different personalities and the slow buildup from whimpering coward begging to help to Batman villain level theatrical psychopath.
Huzzah!
Don't forget to tell us how it goes:)
Rich
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If you want to see in detail how I did it, you can check my campaign log.
Scroll down to the entry from march 3rd.
I'm not a terribly theatrical DM, unfortunately. I can't really give you advice on that sort of thing. However, I've just finished this adventure with my group, and I can give you one piece of advice that I wish someone had given me before running the encounter with the Skinsaw Man. Beef him up. I tried to make him creepy, and it worked pretty well, but then my players killed him in 2 rounds. You might consider giving him a template, or some extra levels in Rogue or some buffing potions to drink because it's pretty embarrassing when this villain that you've been building anticipation for gets knocked down in 12 seconds. My players thought it must have been some kind of elaborate trick after all the foreshadowing and buildup.
I skipped the mean-nice-mean combo; it worked perfectly on paper, but I knew that my players would just keep pounding him, thus ruining the joy. So I had him start as His Lordship, fawning over his chosen obsession and begging them not to let "The Hurter" back. As they talked to him, he got increasingly Skinsaw Man, before he leaped to the assault. I'm pretty good with voices, so I made sure that each personality got a different inflection and intonation. I also made sure there was a callback to the boar hunt; the entire party thought he was an Upper Class Twit, especially when he started the hunt with a "tally ho!"... which was repeated, in a much more sinister and sarcastic air, when he began to hunt the PCs.
I agree with the call to boost him a bit, especially since I had a party of six players. So I maxed his HP (a trick I pulled often in a six player group) and gave him a buddy--a sanguinous drinker from Monster Manual 5. This hideous undead thing was once his butler, and was the source of all of the blood splashing around in his den. Sanguinous drinkers suck blood with their claw attacks, then can deal damage to themselves to release it in a radius like a grease spell. The idea was that the party would be slipping around flat-footed, thus allowing Aldern to get some sneak attacks in and make his rogue levels worth something. If you want to keep Aldern a solo opponent but use a similar trick, give him ranks in UMD and a wand of grease.
I like the idea of making sure he can flank, I'll probably do that. I also like the idea of making sure there is some kind of catch phrase that is silly early in the relationship and creepy at the end.
I also made sure there was a callback to the boar hunt; the entire party thought he was an Upper Class Twit, especially when he started the hunt with a "tally ho!"... which was repeated, in a much more sinister and sarcastic air, when he began to hunt the PCs.
Genius.
In order to make sure that Aldern could monologue without getting torn apart immediately, I gave him a few ghoul "servants" as prospective "flank buddies". Unfortunately, the ghouls went down like tenpins in the initial assault. If I were doing it again, I'd probably make them dread ghouls and max out their hit points.
My group kicked in the door and attacked before I could be mean, so at the first hit, he started whimpering and pleading "Why did you hurt me! I'm your friend!" That brought the group up short, and I got the chance to roleplay His Lordship's spilling the beans about, well, everything. Right up to when they started pushing about the Brothers of the Seven, and then the Skinsaw Man came out. With a group of six, I too maxed his HP, and I think I got 5 rounds out of him, and almost took out two pc's. All in all, a very satisfying fight.
I really liked this villain. When my players finally encountered His Lordship they were already terrified of who/what they might be facing. I couldn't have started the encounter off with the Hurter or Skinsaw personality because my group would have gone for broke and smashed his face in before I got to have any fun.
So when they found Aldern he was in His Lordship's guise and he had his mask on with his old face the PC's remembered and due to his opulent clothing was able to pull off (with a rocking charisma like that) his disguise. Now, detect undead and detect evil still gave him away as a rotten horrid thing...but when they encountered His Lordship sobbing in his armchair they were slightly disarmed and thought perhaps they could help Aldern in some way.
For inspiration on the Hurter and The Skinsaw Man I drew from the book Black House by Peter Straub and Stephen King. The twisted murderer The Fisherman aka Burney in that book was just the thing for me to add some depth and personality to our rotten super zombie.
For voices I used something like the Joker from the 90's batman cartoon for the Hurter. I then pulled the phoenetic pronounciation stylings of Mr Munshun from Black House for the Skinsaw Man.
A very fun encounter and villain to run for sure.