Rampant Sects
(This is a repost. This article was originally posted on November 24, 2008.)
In my last post, I talked a little bit about how religions are rarely monolithic in reality — how they splinter into a network of related sects, some of which can believe very different things. Today I offer a brief illustration: three sects I’ve developed for my game, all based on my interpretation of the Raven Queen, the fourth edition’s new and ever-intriguing goddess of death.
The Most Ancient and Honorable Order of Deathspeakers is a militarized splinter faction of the church, whose warrior monks seek to destroy the undead and oppose the machinations of Orcus and his minions. Many of these are fanatical in their beliefs, and enough are reckless in battle that the common folk often call them the “Deathseekers” (but not to their faces).
The M.A.H.O. is actually not very ancient, having been established within the past century — it claims the adjective through a dubious philosophical connection with an earlier sect of a similar name, which was eradicated centuries ago by a combination of Orcus cultists and their own infighting. It isn’t terribly honorable, either, for that matter, although its activities are largely confined to crusading against the undead and related enemies (necromancers, Orcus cultists, etc.).
The Deathspeakers have only one large monastery devoted to their order — in the wilderness north of the kingdoms of Tir Eselyn and south of Ravenspire. Few rulers are willing to support a large independent army of religious fanatics on their soil. Smaller chapterhouses of perhaps 20-50 members are scattered throughout the region, though, and itinerant crusader groups of 3-7 warrior monks and acolytes are a reasonably common sight throughout the north.
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Character Development: Flashbacks
(This is a repost. This article was originally posted on August 9, 2008.)
We’re all familiar with the use of the flashback in literature, film, and television: The “current” narration fades out, showing us a sequence that establishes some event or events that took place in the past of the story. This device is used to provide important backstory (and, sometimes, to retcon, changing “what really happened” in the past).
I’ve seen relatively few people use the device in roleplaying games, but it can be an excellent method of character development. It makes a good break between the wrap-up of one major quest or story arc and the initiation of the next. It also makes a great filler on a night when one or two members of your group can’t make the game, but the rest want to play something.
At the beginning of the typical campaign, the player characters either already know each other, or they’re being brought together for the first time by a plot thread or through sheer coincidence. Hopefully each player already has in mind at least a basic backstory for his character, and sharing parts of these backstories may be a major aspect of the first few sessions, especially if the characters are just getting to know each other. Meanwhile, the game master has at least a rough idea of the recent past history of the various locations from which the characters originally hail.
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Gencon in Review
I was treated to a short adventure of my own on my way home from Gencon: my return flight was evidently booked for September 16, instead of August 16. Of course, with a hundred thousand gamers leaving Indianapolis on Sunday, all of the flights out were fully booked. Fortunately, a ticketing agent for Continental went beyond the call of duty and managed to get me on a flight out on standby. I regret to say that I didn’t get his name. I can only say that I was a bit stressed at the time. Still, I’m very grateful and will definitely keep Continental in mind for next year. I’ll also keep a certain ticket-brokering website in mind, in a less favorable light.
Enough about me, though. I’ve got a couple of impressions about the convention to report about. Some of them might merit further discussion later on, but best to get the bullet points down now, while it’s fresh.
This post is part of August’s RPG Blog Carnival, hosted by Chgowiz.
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What are the Best 4e Ability Score Arrays?
I’ve been following an interesting thread about 4e ability score arrays at ENWorld. Poster 77IM calculated all of the possible arrays on a 22-point buy, and posted the list. Turns out there are 121 unique arrays, in case you were wondering.
Then the analysis began.
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Review: Divine Power
Divine Power
I was previously pretty happy with Martial Power and Arcane Power, and based on my initial reading, Divine Power
As I mentioned in earlier reviews of the Power series, this sort of class-focused supplement has been pretty common in D&D’s history, with varying levels of quality showing in the finished products — but the Power books tend to fall toward the top of the quality scale. This is still true of Divine Power.
I should mention, perhaps, that I’ve had a long-standing fondness for the cleric class, and that I’ve found avengers and invokers equally attractive since their introduction to 4e D&D. So maybe I’m a little biased. After looking through the book, though, I’d have to say even paladins come off pretty well now. This might be my favorite Power book yet.
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