In Burnt Offerings, during the Boar Hunt, it says that Aldern has an endless cache of tales on the high life in Magnimar. Have most people hit on this aspect of his fixation or just stuck with the hero worship/love interest aspect to get the pc's annoyed with him? Just how well connected is Aldern in Magnimar society? What kind of tales would he have to tell? Would they be true or are they just made up? He does have levels of Rogue after all.
I'm running it for my son, and he just didn't find him annoying. I think he was digging the hero worship aspect of it, and he may have gotten into the stories as well had I gone there. That's ok though, as he'll really be offended at Aldern's transformation and betrayal in The Skinsaw Murders.
I do plan to run this for my friends in the near future though, so maybe I won't have to go with the braggadocio to get them annoyed. They may just get sick of the hero worship before it gets that far. I'll go hero worship aspect because none of my friends will play a female character, so the love interest won't be a factor.
Just in case they don't get annoyed early enough, I'm interested in what others have done.
Indeed. We wound up with the lust aspect because one of our players is playing a femme fatale cleric of Desna, but I think that (for story purposes) all Aldern needs to be is memorable.
For Aldern's stories, I would say make your own call. The fun of being a GM is making the material your own, and if that means improvising or tweaking it, then I encourage you to do so. So, would Aldern tell only stories that are true, or would he attempt to further impress/cow his attachment by inventing stories?
I definitely think that given pride and lust Aldern would probably make up (or maybe just fluff-up) some stories in an attempt to impress the PCs, or not to seem outdone.
For the actual story, I'd say just wing it. Aldern's well off (as you can see in Skinsaw Murders), but he's not necessarily connected. He's part of a minor noble house that is wealthy enough to live in Magnimar by choice, so he must at least socialize with the upper crust. Maybe he knows the Lord Mayor, or a prominent Justice?
I made up a story and put it in the spoiler tags below (to save space). Since Aldern's personality is never really fleshed out beyond his relationship with the heroes, he can tell any sort of story. In this case, it's sort of an anecdote about his relationship with a Justice.
Well, unbeknown to me, there was a contingent of guards on one street corner who were investigating some attack- I think a woman was beaten or something. So I come stumbling along, drunker than Cayden, and I stumble up and start bothering the guards about what happened.
Well, I guess that was just about all the guard captain could take that night, as quicker than a blink I was in cuffs and being hauled off to the Hall of Justice for "Interruption of Official Business" and "Severe Public Drunkenness."
So I get tossed in a cell and told that I'd see a justice first thing in the morning. So I sleep off the night in the cell, but I'm still feeling a little drunk the next morning. Anyway, it comes time for my trial and I'm hauled before the judge, still drunk and filthy-looking and who is it other than my good friend Gaz.
Well, good ol' Gaz takes one good look at me as asks 'Aldern, Aldern Foxglove is that you?'
'Yes sir, Justice Gaz sir,' I manage through my stupor.
'Aldern,' Gaz says, 'I've very disappointed in you.' 'I thought you would have known better than to do something like this. Such unwholesome acts cannot be taken so lightly. Unfortunately, I'm going to have to sentence you to a month in the dungeons for this one."
Well, my face dropped. I thought if anyone could get me out of here, it would be Gaz. But he was about to throw me in the dungeons for a month.
However, just as it had time to sink in, he burst out laughing. 'You should have seen the look on your face,' he blurts through the tears, 'no, just consider this a warning boy, you're free to go.' Old Gaz was always one for a good laugh, this one just happened to be at my expense."
Reckon I'm not a terribly inventive GM but I largely used narrative to describe Aldern's personality. We had some direct interaction directly after the PCs rescued him, during the boar hunt, and then afterwards back at the Rusty Dragon. I had his obsession be the party's fighter (played by none other than Valeros) and, during the interactions, he mostly ignored everyone else (politely) and asked questions about the fighter...even had him go outside to show him a little sword technique.
Actually, I found the obsession thing a little difficult to pull off in-game. The players have not much insight into what's going on with Aldern personally so don't know why he has latched onto one of theirs. The fighter (character and player) actually liked the guy while the others didn't much. Their suspicion instantly fell on him as they looked into the murders while the fighter was pretty much giving him the benefit of the doubt until they had to put poor Aldern down in tonight's session. It was a little strange...but I guess maybe it had the desired effect. I think the fighter was a little shaken as Aldern pulled on the Stalker's Mask and took on his appearance. And then there was later, when they looked at his "artwork"...
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It was a little strange...but I guess maybe it had the desired effect. I think the fighter was a little shaken as Aldern pulled on the Stalker's Mask and took on his appearance. And then there was later, when they looked at his "artwork"...
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I think what happened right here is the ideal situation. It affected the players and the characters. The fighter's like of Aldern can be a driving factor in both hunting the Wanton and, perhaps, seeking revenge against the greater conspiracy at play here (if not for the man who gave the Wanton her orders, would Aldern not still be alive and unghouled?)
Well, it's a good point. The fighter felt that Aldern wasn't the Skinsaw Man but was proven wrong and experienced disappointment because of it...then they found the letter and realized that he was just a dupe of the "wonton" (can't help but think Chinese food here)and a victim of the spirit of his grandfather, Vorel. They're rocked and ready to go to Magnimar - a quest I figured I'd have to push them into a little bit. So, you're right, it worked out very well.
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Not for the stories and such, but about his transformation, I had him being held captive by the Justice for a long time while his place was taken by an undead in an altered skin-mask that took his form and performed all the evil that was attributed to Aldern, including the familicidal instances. I really thought he was too valuable as an NPC and a link to Magnimarian society to off him. Of course when the party found him he was an emancipated shell of himself and quite insane, needing clerical help to regain some semblance of his former self and will bear the scars of his captivity for some time.