Warning. This will have Rise of the Runelords spoilers.
I'm a GM of a RotRL game which we are running in 1e. I've seriously been considering a switch to 2e, but the logistics of switching to a whole new system at level 14 are difficult to say the least. However, I'd like to eventually switch to 2e, and I want to do some little side stories in 2e to get my group adjusted.
I've often done this in the past, running little quests where the players make low level characters or are given the characters. The stories occur in the same world as the main story, but from the eyes of the little people. They typically get eaten by ghouls or smashed by giants or something, but it gives the Players some more info about the world, what is plaguing the citizenry, etc.
There's less opportunity for this in Runeforge, but one aspect of the Runeforge's awesome powers that doesn't get much time in the limelight during the AP is that it allows people to glimpse flickers of the past and the future within the pools.
What I was thinking of doing was to have the Runeforge give glimpses of Karzoug's rise to power through a series of small 2e adventures. Possibly split up as the party conquers wings of Runeforge.
The main goal is that it'd give the players some more context of what Thassilon was like at the height of it's power. Really compare the majesty of it all to the relative backwater that Varisia is today. Demonstrate the opulence but also the tyranny.
However, it'd be through the eyes of Karzoug before he was Karzoug - in fact he'd go by a different name at this point. I would either GM PC him, or have one of the players act as him, but only they would be privy to the knowledge that they're eventually Karzoug.
We'd see snippets of his life, hopefully to make him a little more relatable before the reveal of his eventual identity.
What I'm hoping to get from the community is suggestions for quick one shots that could be run at various levels as Karzoug goes from slave to Runelord. What story points have already been laid out for Karzoug's life that could be used, and how would you use them?
Also, any ideas for flavorful scene pieces to give insights into the culture and general "feel" of Thassilon would be awesome.
|
Do not tell the player that their character is Karzoug. Just tell everyone beforehand that you will from time to time tell them to do something specific for the story's greater good.
And do so with every player, even if only Karzoug's actions have a lasting impact.
This way you will benefit from the player's undiluted creativity without breaking the timeline.
|
Karzoug is one of those nice characters in that he has a loooooooot of backstory both in Rise of the Runelords and Return of the Runelords.
But yeah since you have access to his backstory from Returns and I would presume its fresh on your mind, here is recap of his backstory from Rise:
With gold teeth plucked from the head of his last master, Karzoug was able to buy an apprenticeship with a traveling demon binder named Thurbel. For 7 years he followed Thurbel, serving as both a lure for summoned fiends and a slave to the wizard. He died more than once during these years at the overzealous claws and fangs of demons, but each time his master— who had grown wealthy through the sale of his demonic services—saw fit to have Karzoug resurrected. Karzoug’s suffering was perhaps as great during this time as it had been in Malistoke, but during these years he rose in magical power, learning the finer points of rulership and exercise of power at the hands of amoral demon tutors.
Thus, when Karzoug heard of Runelord Haphrama’s call for new apprentices, he scuffed a summoning circle during one of Thurbel’s conjurations and idly looted his master’s belongings as the freed daemon devoured the wizard’s body. With several potent magic items in tow and enough gold to impress even a Runelord of Greed, Karzoug was easily selected to serve as one of Haphrama’s new devotees.
At the feet of the runelord, Karzoug learned much of the art of transmutation and the magic of greed. He found himself enthralled by the thinning of reality that occurred near the slopes of Mhar Massif. With secret alliances between himself and denizens from Leng, Karzoug began to master strange, eldritch powers in secret. His pacts promised a twisting of reality, providing his inscrutable tutors greater access to the lands of men. When, in the 206th year of his reign, Haphrama finally
caught wind of Karzoug’s plotting, he was too late to stop his upstart apprentice. A virulent spell provided to Karzoug by new allies from Leng consumed both Haphrama and his other apprentice, Vhage, stripping their souls from their bodies and hurling them into the void between the planes.
Karzoug took up the burning glaive—the Runelord of Greed’s symbol of rule—at the age of 77 and began his reign as Runelord of Greed. His reign" aaand rest isn't really story about his rise anymore :p
Edit: Woops realized you were talking about Rise and not Returns, so you likely already know what his rise backstory is x'D So here is what Returns added to it:
The main thing Return adds to his backstory was that he was born as slave to lich Zinlun and he managed to convince Zinlun to sell him to wizard cannibal with adamantine teeth(guess writers figured out gold tooth can't be worth that much money in Thassilon ;D)
But yeah, most unknown part of his life is what Zinlun did to him during 27 first years of his life before he learned magic and got sold to cannibal wizard he managed to murder, but it was his formative years and instilled him strong hatred and fear of Zinlun (strong enough that he destroyed Malistoke and tried to erase every existence of Zinlun having existed in first place)
"While Zinlun was never the formal ruler of the ancient Thassilonian city of Malistoke, the powerful transmuter was unequaled among the purveyors of the city’s flesh pits and virtually ruled the city from behind the scenes. By the time of Karzoug’s birth into slavery under Zinlun, the wizard had already become a lich.
Zinlun’s cruel attentions to the young slave defied description, but eventually Karzoug managed to manipulate Zinlun into selling him to a known cannibal wizard in a fit of pique. Karzoug soon turned the tables on his new master, murdering him and using the cannibal’s adamantine teeth to buy an apprenticeship with the conjurer Thurbel, a path that ultimately led him to rulership over all of Shalast as the Runelord of Greed."
Sooo yeah. Zinlun is pretty much key factor in how Karzoug ended up as what he did
That's great info, and a great point about having one be Big K and just instructing them each to do things as part of the story.
Does anything ever explain what the Fleshpits are? Are they related to fleshwarping, or is that just a term they're using for where slaves are sold?
Did anything else give specific information about Zinlun? Or just "life in Thassilon" info?
|
|
Fleshpit is term that shows up multiple time in pathfinder oddly enough. Dunno who came up with, but it seems to be basically just grosser way to say "slave pit".
|
|
Ah right, ye also wanted deets on Thassilon culture
Well Paizo rarely writers lot of examples of "everyday normal citizen's experience in the given culture" but there are lot of things you can read between lines from Lost Kingdoms campaign setting book and lot more in Return of the Runelords, such as the City Out of Time book.(aka book five of returns. Its one I would recommend most to insight of what Thassilon was like)
One detail you can observe in both Return book 5 and 6 are two separate Thassilonian half-elves who want their master to turn them into full blooded azlanti with powerful magic. Aka we can confirm that Thassilonians were supremacists
|
Yeah, I've been doing this kinda stuff for years -- using the published Varisai/Thassilon/RuneLord stuff for Homebrew game -- and my advice is exactly what Corvus Mask is indicating: Read Shattered Star and Return of the RuneLords, and the PFS Scenarios that deal with Krune, and other published adventures set in Varisia. It will give you tons of material for inspiration and ideas.