"Among the members of House of Braebant can be found ambitious warlords and simpering court fops, masterful diplomats and calculating lords. But each and every true Braebant is tied to the family in line by this simple fact: In one form or another, every Braebant is irrevocably insane."
I am planning to try my hand in GMing in the spring and wanted to build a game worlds continent from the ground up. I know having a 'mad king' or deranged family is pretty much cliche but, its a fantasy trope for a reason!
The House of Braebant controls a (Grand) Duchy that formed a coalition with three other poweful noble magnates and has broken away from a larger and more powerful Imperium, however after the long wars for independency, they themselves turned against their allies and broke off to be their own nation.
I am looking for quirks, eccentricities, behavior and mania's to pepper the members of the house with. I am looing for any and all suggestions 'on madness'.
Here's a sample of one I am already using:
Eccentricity
The young Grand Duke insists on the freshest grapes and berries on his supper table each night, so pieces of fruit are tied to the legs of messenger pigeons from the fields to be delivered to the Grand Dukes kitchens. The Grand Duke insists on butchering the 'slowest' of these birds and feeds him to his hunting dogs or (at times feels generous) his favored servants. Except since the pigeons all leave the fields at different times its not the slowest of the birds that arrive late to the larder ... and the pigeons can not breed as fast as they are being devoured.
This is the right place. Seems pretty fun!
EDIT:
Derangement: They constantly hear little voices telling them to do different things.
Refer to movies like, 'as good as it gets.' OCD to the max.
But on the other end where this character was harmless, there is also the reverse where some might see certain people as a threat based on nothing. Perhaps a previous foretelling of their doom to a certain race/culture for which that have now waged a secret war.
Or for funny things, quirks of sheldon cooper from the big bang theory.
Im assuming you would like a mix of, strange, funny, and demented. Because it will be a new world, there will be all kinds of people.
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I now have my next Gag-Villain an Archmage with Sheldon Cooper's Personality.
Maybe a couple of lesser nobles based on Abbot & Costello?
You should have a little kid with a goblin on a leash kept as a pet.
You should have a little kid with a goblin on a leash kept as a pet.
Hmm how about a Goblin & a Kobold as pets with the personalities of Abbot & Costello?
I just wanted to point out that there are rules for insanity already.
The Gamemastery Guide deals with madness as an affliction. There is a decent set of mechanics there for it, and also a perfunctory look at how various types of insanity affect characters.
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I think this is more of just Personality Quirks rather than full blown Insanity/Psychosis.
I think this is more of just Personality Quirks rather than full blown Insanity/Psychosis.
Absolutely, I was looking more story and plot diverse quirks and madness rather than straight rules.
Perhaps find a copy/version of the old Castle Amber basic DnD module (probably easy to find out on the net nowadays)... all the D'Amberville family members had different types of crazy going on defined in their stat blocks.
I would love to use that but I am currently in a game (although on a hiatus) that has that adventure as a basis and I don't want to spoil that game but thanks - your on the right track!
"Among the members of House of Braebant can be found ambitious warlords and simpering court fops, masterful diplomats and calculating lords. But each and every true Braebant is tied to the family in line by this simple fact: In one form or another, every Braebant is irrevocably insane."
I am planning to try my hand in GMing in the spring and wanted to build a game worlds continent from the ground up. I know having a 'mad king' or deranged family is pretty much cliche but, its a fantasy trope for a reason!
The House of Braebant controls a (Grand) Duchy that formed a coalition with three other poweful noble magnates and has broken away from a larger and more powerful Imperium, however after the long wars for independency, they themselves turned against their allies and broke off to be their own nation.
I am looking for quirks, eccentricities, behavior and mania's to pepper the members of the house with. I am looing for any and all suggestions 'on madness'.
Here's a sample of one I am already using:
Eccentricity
The young Grand Duke insists on the freshest grapes and berries on his supper table each night, so pieces of fruit are tied to the legs of messenger pigeons from the fields to be delivered to the Grand Dukes kitchens. The Grand Duke insists on butchering the 'slowest' of these birds and feeds him to his hunting dogs or (at times feels generous) his favored servants. Except since the pigeons all leave the fields at different times its not the slowest of the birds that arrive late to the larder ... and the pigeons can not breed as fast as they are being devoured.
I might suggest a penchant for murdering those who are not blood relatives in the courts (although this one should be low-key), paranoia about "foreigners", or an inflated sense of what is "property" for a start.
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I read this post and immediately thought "Arrested Development".
Obsessed with the number 6. Wears six rings. Will not dine unless there are six people at the table. Has a carriage pulled by six horses. Being only 5'8", wears 4" platform boots to be an even six feet tall. When walking up stairs will duplicate steps to make the total number divisible by six. Has six children (how did that happen?). And so on.
Another only speaks in Haiku.
Aversion to the color green. Her garden is "different" to say the least.
Assumes everyone is a servant regardless of their actual rank.
Only casts spells that start with the letter "S".
Believes an imaginary person lives in their finger. (Mr. Bimble from Muppet treasure island.)
Phobias, but to odd things such as facial hair or trees.
@farmboy3400: I prefer to use the number 3. As that is the most common Factor so far in the universal constant.
One of my favorites: a Catfolk pet/servant who constantly licks her hands/paws.
Maybe some deranged traits could be taken from "Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem" for this occasion?
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Hmm, a young prince who thinks he is a dragon?
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Have them have a young daughter that holds a flower with Alzheimer's and all she wants is a friend, so every ten seconds she asks "will you be my friend?" Then jumps for joy when they accept then turns around and does it again, and she does it to everything, lamps, rugs, statues, suits of armor
10-Second Tom!
Hmm, a lesser lord who acts like he is riding a horse with a Patsy running behind clapping 2 coconut halves together. Monty Python and the Holy Grail style.
Hmm, read the original Lewis Carroll Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. It is full of crazy stuff. Heck, most of the original Grimm Fairy Tails can give you inspiration.
Elamdri... Why is it you always come up with the fun things...
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It's somewhat funny, that you post this, and I immediately thought of Lysa Arryn(Tully) from game of thrones.
Constantly uses prestidigitation to soil and unsoil everything.
Keeps a Soul Bound Doll that he refers to as his "Tickleberry".
Wears a spiked codpiece made of Unicorn Horn(stat as an Armored Kilt with Armor Spikes).
^ This is fantastic.
By the way, are you going for strings of various madness, or are you going for the truly twisted and demented?
Lady Selachee has instigated a vast conspiracy to ensure that her nephew's, wife's, second cousin's fiance gets the job of redecorating the third undersecratary's sitting room.
PC's quickly find out no conspiracy is necessary. The job is open for bid. A decent bid will probably get the job. A moderate bribe would ensure it.
However, the fiance doesn't want the job. He is a scribe that knows nothing about redecorating.
You should have a little kid with a goblin on a leash kept as a pet.
The noble house of Braebant (quite controversially) uses a number of humanoid troops in the field (notably Hobgoblins and a variant species wolf headed Gnolls). Their reason for this is two fold, firstly for their inhumman ferocity and shock value against their opponents. Secondly, to keep their own human banner men in reserve and loyal without endangering them in many border skirmishes. There is also the side benefit of having unruly humaniods raid lands outside the the purview of House Braebant. The Dukes of Braebant ensure no humaniod warlord grows in strength to unite the smaller tribes and become a threat to their position.
That being said, a child with goblin seems a little too comical and despite the familial madness in their veins, the members of the House are still functional and capable individuals.
That, and there are no children in the current ruling household.
I might suggest a penchant for murdering those who are not blood relatives in the courts (although this one should be low-key), paranoia about "foreigners", or an inflated sense of what is "property" for a start.
Perfect!
And on the bit about murdering, poisoning is a near 'tradition' between various members of the house both past and present, the females carrying this tradition more so than the men.
Obsessed with the number 6. Wears six rings. Will not dine unless there are six people at the table. Has a carriage pulled by six horses. Being only 5'8", wears 4" platform boots to be an even six feet tall. When walking up stairs will duplicate steps to make the total number divisible by six. Has six children (how did that happen?). And so on.
I have that one actually! Only its the number 8!
The other ideas were great springboards as well, thanks farmboy!
Hmm, a young prince who thinks he is a dragon?
About 300 years previous, the heir to the Ducal throne truly believed not only that he had dragon blood in his veins, but rather he was a Dragon trapped in human form.
After years of scouring the lands for a prospective mate, on his 21st birthday, he presented himself with tribute and cadre of followers to a female great black Wyrm that had just woken up from a decades long slumber, demanding that the female dragon become his noble concubine. It did not end well for the young duke or his retainers, but the dragon had a lovely (if a bit temperamental) breakfast.
A family member who wakes up in the morning as an idiot, but gets progressively more intelligent as the day goes on, but looses his intelligence every time he sleeps, thus becoming a depressed insomniac.
Kinda a reverse Flowers for Algernon.
I like this very much!
By the way, are you going for strings of various madness, or are you going for the truly twisted and demented?
Both actually, there are a few members of the family, and I can pepper the other ideas and place them in the past with family's ancestors.
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Anterograde Amnesia (like from memento.)
He's stalking through the house to catch an "Assasin" but forgets where he already looked. And that he killed the man in question years ago.
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A ghost who is insistent that he's not really dead.
Edit: And was originally killed buy the Amnesia man.
Insisting on useing slippers of Spider Climb at all hours because the floor is "trapped".
An illusionist who keeps "disbelieving" ordinary objects, or people.
(Based on multiple players of mine)
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Might not be a bad idea to go farming for ideas in systems that play with this. White Wolf's World of Darkness did a lot with the concept, as lists like this one illustrate.
Some of those elements are designed to apply to Vampires and the like, so your mileage is likely to vary.
Idea mining aside, one of my favorite takes on this concept is the misleading madness - think Hamlet, who may or may not be mad, but either way, he's not the kind of mad that he presents to the court.
This, of course, is utter BS.
The Countess Braebant knows full well of her lineage's reputation for eccentricity - and so she makes good use of it to indulge in her actual madness - the need to utterly ruin the lives of others. She takes slow steps over time, hiding behind the ruse of the harmlessly mad seeress, while advancing her own cruel games, one chess piece at a time.
Anterograde Amnesia (like from memento.)
He's stalking through the house to catch an "Assasin" but forgets where he already looked. And that he killed the man in question years ago.
That I can work with!
The Grad Duke of course believes he is a God. He does not have advisors and councilors he has high priests and priests.
One of the family member refuses to see the color orange. Will not talk to someone if they are dressed in it, and will not eat anything orange.
Have someone think they are a sorcerer when they are not. Goes through the whole process of pretending to cast spells and nothing happens. These should not be combat spells but divination or the like with little or no visible effects. This character needs high sense motive and sleight of hand as well as other skills. Give him good mental stats and he can have half the people believing he can actually cast spells.
An interesting insanity in a fantasy setting is someone who does not believe in magic. He refuses to admit that it is real and insists it is all trickery and fake. Even when he is hit with a spell he comes up with a rational example. The Fireball was not a spell just thrown oil. This could be the twin brother of the character who thinks he is a sorcerer.
A Halfling who thinks he is a Giant and doesn't realize he is shorter than everyone else.
For the number thing, I would have gone with the number 4, but that's based entirely on the book Artemis Fowl and the Atlantis Complex. Apparently, the number 4 is unlucky in China because it sounds like the word for death, which is a large factor in the Atlantis Complex, which is an illness.
Have a guy that insists on drinking only from full bottles. Once he's taken the first drink, he has to throw it away and open a new one. He doesn't know the servants are simply refilling the bottles and closing them again.
Create a character, but have 6 different sets of mental stats and skill points, each one a separate personality. At a periodic set of time (for example, 10 minutes), roll a D6 and which ever number comes up, is the personality for the next unit of time.
A character that always thinks outloud, and doesn't realize it. Even when sleeping, he verbally narrates his dreams.
If you go with Elamdri's reverse intelligence idea, give that character a twin that is the opposite, intelligent in the morning, and progressively more dumb as night falls. Possibly, when they are intelligent, they know they have a problem, and that it affects their twin too. Whichever twin is the more intelligent at the time, babysits the other twin. Come mid-day, all hell breaks loose as twins with periodic bursts of genius and stupidity are working together to cause hell.
I can't help but think one of your nobles should be a Summoner and do something fun with the Eidolon. Maybe Summoner abilities run strong in the family, with archetypes corresponding with their psychosis.
For instance, one that is constantly imagining new friends to play with, could be a Master Summoner, or Broodmaster.
One that thinks he's a dragon, or a bear, or something, could be a Synthesist.
One could have an Eidolon that does all the interacting for it, as he/she is practically an infant mentally. He/she is always accompanied by his/her Eidolon, and the Eidolon does all the talking, reads books, performs deeds, chores, etc, for the Summoner, while the Summoner waits, or holds the Eidolon's "hand" if possible.
Hmm the one constantly Imagining new friends could be an evolutionist.
How about an elder member of the court who suffers from the disorder where their body ceases growing to where they look like a child for the rest of their life (think Aoi Destruction). Because of their Appearance they must constantly have a guardian with them. When is Summoner talents manifested they created an Eidolon to act as the guardian. unfortunately for them it didn't work and instead the Eidolon is now working with their former guardian as a team.
Make the summoner Stubborn and Rebellious, but harmless. The Eidolon & Guardian, a Paladin/Anti-Paladin/Ninja/Cavalier(or Samurai), are extremely defensive of their master/mistress and will attack most, if not all, unidentified people approaching the master/mistress.
Hmm the one constantly Imagining new friends could be an evolutionist.
How about an elder member of the court who suffers from the disorder where their body ceases growing to where they look like a child for the rest of their life (think Aoi Destruction). Because of their Appearance they must constantly have a guardian with them. When is Summoner talents manifested they created an Eidolon to act as the guardian. unfortunately for them it didn't work and instead the Eidolon is now working with their former guardian as a team.
Make the summoner Stubborn and Rebellious, but harmless. The Eidolon & Guardian, a Paladin/Anti-Paladin/Ninja/Cavalier(or Samurai), are extremely defensive of their master/mistress and will attack most, if not all, unidentified people approaching the master/mistress.
Make it a girl and have everyone refer to her as Little Sister while she calls her Eidolon, Big Daddy.
Make it a girl and have everyone refer to her as Little Sister while she calls her Eidolon, Big Daddy.Hmm the one constantly Imagining new friends could be an evolutionist.
How about an elder member of the court who suffers from the disorder where their body ceases growing to where they look like a child for the rest of their life (think Aoi Destruction). Because of their Appearance they must constantly have a guardian with them. When is Summoner talents manifested they created an Eidolon to act as the guardian. unfortunately for them it didn't work and instead the Eidolon is now working with their former guardian as a team.
Make the summoner Stubborn and Rebellious, but harmless. The Eidolon & Guardian, a Paladin/Anti-Paladin/Ninja/Cavalier(or Samurai), are extremely defensive of their master/mistress and will attack most, if not all, unidentified people approaching the master/mistress.
Thanks! I needed that laugh... Though what of the "Nurse" that took care of her before she got the Eidolon?
Ritualistically blood lets a bull (or some other animal symbilizing strength, or maybe a imprisoned humaniod) every morning, drinking a cup of its blood to gain virility and strength for the day.
A wizard who forgets everything not related to magic almost immediately.
A Lord who thinks everyone is after his "Precious", a simple non-magical wand shaped twig or a scroll that has a nursery rhyme on it, when in reality no one wants it.