|
Before anyone starts explaining the plot to Rise of the Runelords, I know what it's about: it starts with goblins crashing the local festival and then one thing leads to another and you discover an ancient evil wizard is starting to wake up after millenia imprisoned.
What I really want is an analysis of the campaign's literary themes and ideas. In my opinion, when you play in an Adventure Path your character should tie in to those themes and ideas so the overall story that's created makes sense. In Council of Thieves, for instance, there's a lot of tieflings that act as antagonists, so a heroic tiefling makes for great contrast and an exploration of the nature-vs.-nurture concept.
I know one thing that gets hammered repeatedly in Rise of the Runelords itself is Greed, at least because that's what the villain, Karzoug, represents, but other than that I don't know how else greed manifests in the campaign.
Basically, what kind of a character works well with the narrative Rise of the Runelords is trying to tell?
|
RotR is a pretty classic style adventure path, with some re-imagining of classic monsters in the style of old D&D modules like G1, G2 and G3 (Against the Giants).
Probably the overarching theme (rather than the issue of Greed, which props up but can be fairly secondary from the player's point of view) is something like Unearthing the past. Varisia is dotted with ancient monuments from a long forgotten civilization and these end up being locations where things happen.
In that vein, I would think that a character with an archaeological bent would fit that part of the narrative best. If you want to play to the sin theme, have it be a conflicted character of some kind who has his own devils to deal with.
The other main way to see the path is more reactionary. There are events and scheming at a high level that affects simple, local people in a tangible way. The nature and direction behind that scheming doesn't become apparent to the players until well into the path but the effects on the locals does, so there is room for simple heroes to rise up, see what is going on and stop it before more damage is done.
|
|
RotR is a pretty classic style adventure path, with some re-imagining of classic monsters in the style of old D&D modules like G1, G2 and G3 (Against the Giants).
Probably the overarching theme (rather than the issue of Greed, which props up but can be fairly secondary from the player's point of view) is something like Unearthing the past. Varisia is dotted with ancient monuments from a long forgotten civilization and these end up being locations where things happen.
In that vein, I would think that a character with an archaeological bent would fit that part of the narrative best. If you want to play to the sin theme, have it be a conflicted character of some kind who has his own devils to deal with.
The other main way to see the path is more reactionary. There are events and scheming at a high level that affects simple, local people in a tangible way. The nature and direction behind that scheming doesn't become apparent to the players until well into the path but the effects on the locals does, so there is room for simple heroes to rise up, see what is going on and stop it before more damage is done.
I see. That's a big help, thank you!
RotR is a pretty classic style adventure path, with some re-imagining of classic monsters in the style of old D&D modules like G1, G2 and G3 (Against the Giants).
Graycloak is spot on with those points. There's a reason "Fortress of the Stone Giants" is named the way it is after all, and goblins, cultists, dragons, a small town in need of saving, and a wizard baddie were all very deliberately included. Nearly any hero's hero folks were playing 20 years ago should feel at home in a Runelords campaign.
That all said, hang tight another couple of weeks as we'll be releasing a new Rise of the Runelords Player's Guide right before PaizoCon. With the Rise of the Runelords Anniversary Edition debuting at the convention, a new player's guide is in order to support the updated campaign. And one topic specifically focused on is what types of characters are perfect for this series. It should be a big help and answer a lot of the questions you have here.
Good luck!
When is PaizoCon?