Character Issue

[Dan_Dare74]

Hi All

First post - so a big hello from sunny England :)

Its my turn in the DM's chair shortly and I'll be running rise of the Runelords, I've sent the players guide out and have had some response back for characters, and there is one that is a little problematic.

He wants to play a Barbarian that has been raised by Wolves in the wilderness, and he hates civilization and will not enter towns, which is a big problem for the beginning Swallowtail festival. I'm going to try and work with the player and hopefully he'll tone the will not enter towns bit down, however I wondered if you guys had any ideas as to how to accommodate the character without compromising the concept too much?

Cheers

[Orfamay Quest]

daniel scothorne wrote:

Hi All

First post - so a big hello from sunny England :)

Its my turn in the DM's chair shortly and I'll be running rise of the Runelords, I've sent the players guide out and have had some response back for characters, and there is one that is a little problematic.

He wants to play a Barbarian that has been raised by Wolves in the wilderness, and he hates civilization and will not enter towns, which is a big problem for the beginning Swallowtail festival. I'm going to try and work with the player and hopefully he'll tone the will not enter towns bit down, however I wondered if you guys had any ideas as to how to accommodate the character without compromising the concept too much?

Any time you have a character who "won't" do something, you have a problem.

Any time you have a character who "doesn't like" doing something, you have a character quirk.

There was an old TV show, called "The A-Team," where part of the comedy relief every episode was distracting this scary black guy long enough to sedate him and put him on the plane. This turns his fear of flying into something that's part of the plot instead of a show-stopper.

[Wheldrake]

It would be all right if the player says his wolf-raised barbarian "hates cities because he doesn't understand them, and because there are too many people crowded together."

But Sandpoint is a little frontier settlement, not a "city". Maybe he could simply play as being extremely uncomfortable entering the village gates. Remember that the Swallowtail festival takes place at an open square that is scarcely a few yards inside the north gate.

His hatred of cities is something he'll soon have to overcome. The episodes in Magnimar beckon...

Framing his hatred of cities as a personal obstacle to be overcome could be a cool RP situation for him. Spin it that way, and be sure he's on board.

Also don't forget to make him choose an ethnicity. Is he Shoanti, as most Varisian barbarians are? Sherriff Belor is also a Shoanti. That could give him an "in". Is he a native Varisian? Other NPCs like Madame Mvashti could play a similar role.

[Andy Brown]

You may want to inform your player that a lot of the action takes place in town, so if the character really won't enter any town for any reason, they're going to miss out on a lot of stuff.

Remind them that this is a published adventure, not something you're making up, so expecting you to change it all to accommodate their character is asking you to do a stupid amount of work.

So yeah, suggest they ease off to "Don't want to be in town, but will if I have to"

My character for the AP was a ranger who previously was only in town long enough to restock supplies (and have a few drinks) before going off hunting again. The festival was a good chance to get some different stuff (fancy drinks, for one thing), which meant he was in the right place for a fight. After that he got kind of caught up in events, and gradually got more interested in what was going on, but for the first half of the AP he was always the first to suggest going off somewhere else to do things instead of waiting for things to happen.

[Grumpus]

In my opinion, anytime you run an Adventure Path, the players need to make some sacrifices. One of those sacrifices is to make a character that would actually want to participate in the adventure.
My advice is to Have him save this character concept for a homebrew game where the Dm can tailor things better.

[Misroi]

Echoing the general sentiment here. A great deal of Runelords is selling the PCs on Sandpoint, and making them feel like they are the ones responsible for keeping that town (and by extension, all of Varisia) safe. If one character isn't interested in civilized lands, then you've got a problem. It's the same idea as running Skull & Shackles, and finding someone who isn't interested in turning pirate. It's sort of the central conceit, and if you better have a good answer when the DM rightly asks you why your character would be involved.