Colin Dowling – STUFFER SHACK

Dresden Files: Reno Reborn

“It is the nature of the universe that things remain. Nothing ever disappears completely. The very sound of Creation still echoes throughout the vast darkness: The universe remembers.” Ghost Story

In The Dresden Files RPG, the world of the Dresedenverse is a magical place. You may live in Chicago, Baltimore, Edenburg, Scotland, Mexico City; or Your Home Town, but no matter where you live, the supernatural world co-exists with yours. Mortals have been around for a long time, but there are much longer-lived things out there…

Being a game powered by FATE, players have much higher control of story and setting than in many other games. The greatest demonstration of this is in the default assumption of The Dresden Files that your group will create the setting “city” you are playing in before creating your characters. In “Chapter 3 – City Creation”, players work with the GM to develop themes and threats of the setting. From the start, this collaborative approach helps inform the GM what expectations the players have for this game.

Normally, the first choice the group makes is to decide in which city the campaign will take place. If you read my last article, you know I have taken GM license in saying that I want the game to take place in Reno, with my players playing themselves as PCs being introduced to the mysteries of the Dresdenverse. From there, we will decide as a group some themes we might want to see in the setting.

As an example, I am going to throw out a couple of potential Themes to get us started… Let’s say that we want to see some corrupt politicians and gangsters lining their pockets, but in a Reno way (as opposed to “the Chicago Way” or as it’s done in the Big Apple). We may want to emphasize our connection to the Wild West or how mining and gambling have influenced the local scene. This may lead us to historical connections to the silver mining industry of the mid-to-late 1800’s or to the mob bringing legalized gambling into the state or any number of other perceptions we want to have of our fictionalized home town.

Playing with this theme we talk about potential Aspects and get the following:

Power is Good, but Politics is Better
It’s Not What You Know, It’s Who you Know
Good Old Boys

I particularly like the last two, but want to tweak them to be more engaging for our setting. The second might be shortened and therefore more useful: It’s Not What You Know… This now makes it broader and more sinister feeling. I can still use it for its original purpose, but the dangling ending can be used in other ways (i.e. …It’s What You Don’t That Can Kill You, or …It’s What Knows You). This change might also lead to certain implications, maybe that the politically powerful in Reno are clued in to the supernatural players and activities in their town. Maybe it just means that there is a lot going on in Reno that the PCs are unaware of.

The last aspect really speaks to me, especially with a very minor change. Good “Old” Boys. This still evokes the feel of connections equals power, but also suggests many possibilities for me to look at as a GM. Does “Old” refer to vampires, wizards, decrepit Mafiosos, ancient Native American spirits, the Civil War, or all of the above? Are the “Old” in Reno attempting to maintain the status quo because “that’s the way it’s always been” and can’t break the cycle, or to some other villainous end? Are they trying to destroy the status quo?

Thanks for tuning in, next time I’ll show our finalized theme aspects and maybe a Threat as well. We will also discuss the importance of Locations and Faces and how they will help breath life into our setting.

Dresden Files: The FATE of Reno

My group is getting ready to wrap up our Warhammer Fantasy game, and embark on a brave new endeavor of John Lewis’: playing Warhammer 40K: Rogue Trader using a homebrew rules set. John has always used published rules sets, published settings and homebrew settings. This experience will truly be a first for me, but one that I am looking forward to (I’ll tell you more later…). However, we want to invite another player that we miss playing with. The Catch: he can only game every other session due to work.

There’s been a lot said already about how to manage the loss of players for a given session – play without them, don’t play at all, have the GM run their character, have another player run their character, etc. I personally hate all of these options, both as a GM and as a player, due to the immersive storytelling my group likes to engage in. Fortunately, because of the regularity of the scheduled absences, I’m proposing an alternative. I’m going to run a Dresden Files RPG game on the off weeks for the remainder of the group.

For our group, this should accomplish a bit:

We get to keep gaming weekly, without leaving our buddy behind.
This gives John more time between sessions to tweak the rules as needed.
We get more experience with another incarnation of the FATE system.
I get to introduce the rest of my group to the Dresden Files setting.

Because of the group’s lack of familiarity with this setting, there will be a pretty steep learning curve for them to fully appreciate the distinctions between the different character templates. Also, the setting itself has a lot of nuance for some of the more powerful templates. As I mentioned in my last article, there are plenty of ways to help bring your players into a setting like this one (400 pages in the player’s book alone). My favorite was to have the players familiarize themselves with the setting. However, they will be doing this with the even more complex Warhammer 40K setting at the same time. I know they can do it, but I don’t want them to be forced to.

I was looking at different ways to approach the campaign: do we play in Chicago (which I happen to have access to some play aids for from a different game we never got around to…), do we play in the Baltimore setting from the player’s guide, or do we play in our (current) hometown of Reno, Nevada? The appeal of this last choice jumped out at me for a variety of reasons, the strongest being the fantastic time we had playing Zombie Cataclysm run by our very own Chris Stevens.

In this game he GM’d, we played ourselves showing up to my house for game night. From that point on, we were in character. We all had done a great job of modeling ourselves using the mechanics of that setting and had a very realistic, yet insanely fun, session. Why couldn’t we repeat that experience in a different game? I think this would be a great approach to introduce my friends to the Dresden Files, at least as it’s seen through the lens of 4 not-yet-clued-in mortals living in Reno.

In the weeks to come, I plan on showcasing some of our campaign/character/plot designs – specifically the use of Fate aspects to help breathe life and importance into the setting and characters.

See you then!

“Read This or Die!” Immersing Your Players in a Rich Campaign Setting

You’re getting ready to run a game for your favorite gaming group. The setting you want to use is one of the richest published settings you’ve ever used (Star Wars, Eberron, Dresden Files, Warhammer 40k, etc.). You’ve got an idea for an epic story that is going to touch on many themes of the setting, and hopefully culminate into an “Oh, wow… that was incredible!!” moment for those that are familiar with the setting. You want to reward your long-time friends and fellow gamers, some of whom are also fans of this setting.

But what of your friends who have never read, seen or heard of any aspect of this setting? You know that until they have a much deeper understanding of this setting, they might not fully understand or appreciate the elements you’re using, and thus may respond inappropriately to the situations you’re roleplaying. At best, this may cause a disconnect between them and the story that your group is crafting, keeping players (who have much to contribute) from contributing as constructively as you know they can. At worst, this may cause irritation or a disruption of enjoyment for those at the table who are such fans of the setting.

In my experience there are several ways of tackling this bugbear (for me and some in my current DM’s group, it’s a bugbear; your group might only consider it a gnat, in which case this article should not apply – cheerfully ignore the rest!!). Choosing the method will depend heavily on the player(s) involved, how important the sanctity of the setting is to your group, and the level of immersion and verisimilitude your group is looking for. I’ve listed them in order from my least favorite to most favorite:

Exclude the player from this particular game. “If I don’t have to teach this setting from scratch, I can wrap it in 10 weeks or less.” You may justify this harsh choice with thoughts along these lines, and this may even be a valid choice depending on your group’s schedule, membership and other factors. We’ve made this choice in the past. Some players may even excuse themselves if they don’t like or want to learn this new setting. However, if you do exclude the player(s), you may be hurting feelings (duh), but as importantly, you are costing a friend the opportunity to become familiar with a setting that you love. This can also be a tough, if not impossible, choice for smaller groups to make.

Change your campaign approach to slowly familiarize the players with the important elements that you want to cover. This method seems to me to work the best for introducing players to the game from your point-of-view. The reason it ranks lower for me is because there is still a large lag time for players to get up to speed with understanding the setting well enough to make logical contributions that are consistent with the norms of the setting. Also, you are limiting them to your point of view, disallowing them the opportunity to make contrasting contributions that are still in keeping with the greater setting, enriching everyone’s experience. Finally, you are compromising the game and experience you want to deliver. You might be forced to expand the length of your campaign to the point where you or the players burn out before getting to the big finish.

Teach the setting beforehand. This method definitely has its pros and cons. Learning a bit about the setting beforehand allows players to decide if the setting is right for them. Spending too much time on this approach wastes the time of those who are ready (or think they’re ready) to dive in (which is usually everybody!!). Every minute at the table lecturing or seminaring is a minute that is not being spent gaming! Some groups may like this approach, but we tend to limit it to nights where we wrap earlier than expected, times when too many players can’t make it so we can start prepping for the next campaign.

Have the player manage this from his character’s point of view. You could suggest the player have some reason for his character not understanding the norms of the setting (amnesia, being a foreigner, being a man out of his era and unfamiliar with this new world, etc.). The understanding between you and the player might be that they become more familiar with the setting as their character becomes more familiar with the setting, or something similar. However, be wary that the player is not just being lazy to use this as an excuse for not learning the setting/system or worse, for justifying disruptive roleplaying choices and then whining about the consequences (“Why are you having my god take away my powers??” “What do you mean that’s against the law in this setting, that makes no sense?!?!”). This has had huge, game-disrupting ramifications for our group in the past that ultimately showcased how disruptive one player was, and resulted in him being ejected by our DM.

Task the player with familiarizing himself with the setting. This is my ideal choice and works best the more motivated the player is to learn the setting anyway. The player spends his time away from the table learning about the setting, giving him the frame of reference to minimize distractions at the table. However, not everyone has the same amount of free time. Family, school, work and hobbies all differ in importance from player to player. You can ease the burden on your players by preparing players’ aids emphasizing the aspects that will be important to this particular campaign. This can be especially helpful during character/party creation, especially if you are limiting the scope to certain elements of the game. For players who can’t or won’t use personal time to expand their knowledge away from the table, ask them to be mindful of the group’s experience, efforts, and desires, and endeavor to allocate a minimum amount of effort to identify with at least some small part of the setting. This can increase their understanding and everyone’s enjoyment.

Well, that’s my two cents. Just remember that this article does not apply to everyone. It does apply to the immersive roleplayer who wants to see everyone’s character come to life for a very memorable campaign. It applies to the player who wants to make meaningful choices that have impact that resonates because of a setting, not just in spite of it. It applies to those players who constantly bring their A-game and want the same consideration from their fellow players. In short, it applies to those seeking the experience we at the Shack refer to as Next Level Gaming.

Warhammer 40K – Making Combats Fast and Furious

“In the grim darkness of the far future, there is only war.”

This quote paints the far-future setting of Warhammer 40k as a bleak and dismal world. The fate of mankind is a constant struggle for survival in a perilous universe that only cares to see you killed. Combats are fast and furious, and those who do not act, die.

It is with this humbling and gothic sentiment that we present:

THE NEW WARHAMMER 40K COMBAT ROUND

Phase 1: Declare Actions

In initiative order, players and GM declare what actions their characters will take. You will get to see other PCs (and opponents) intentions before making your choice. However, you will not know how successful their actions will be until later…

Phase 2: Resolve Actions – Success or Failure

After declaring your action, the GM will give you any relevant information for your action (modifiers, armor, toughness, wounds, etc.). The GM will then move on to the next person. You will make any required rolls and determine the initial outcome of your action while the GM is talking with the other players about their intended actions (determining degrees of Success or Failure, determining hit locations, etc.). Put out markers indicating success + extra degrees (or failure + extra degrees) to facilitate the next phase.

Phase 3: Declare Initial Results

The GM will then receive everyone’s results in initiative order, and make any responses (dodge, parry, forgotten modifiers, etc) to the actions.

Phase 4: Finalize Results

After the GM has responded to your action, make any last rolls (damage, etc.) and give the GM your final results.

This may seem clunky at first, but after an initial learning curve, it will expedite your combats, making them fast and furious!

Strands of Eberron (or “How I Learned to Stop Fearing and Start Loving Fate”)

In Chris’s articles, he describes the path our group is currently on. We’ve been playing in Eberron using 4^th edition D&D. Although our game has started well, and everyone has been relatively happy with the experience, there are enough of us that think Fate can give us more. I was a big proponent for this change until it hit me, “Oh crap, I have to DM this for everyone!!!”

Classically, I have taken the stance that the DM should know the game the best. He has to make rulings. He should be able to answer rules questions as they come up. He should be in a position to help players get the characters they want to play. I picked up the Strands of Fate book and did what I always do – I started reading from cover to cover. Now that I have a wife, a 9-year old, a 1-year old, pets, and a mortgage, it’s a bit harder to find the time to do that…

In order to hide my shortcomings, I made a deception roll against my group – 4 plusses!! (That’s right; in Fate, you roll a different set of dice than the traditional polys or 6-siders. The “dF” (as it’s known) is a d6, but instead of 1-6, you have 2 blanks, 2 ‘+’s, and 2 ‘-’s.)

I used the character creation method suggested by Strands. We all sat down as a group and went around the table describing the characters with their Defining Aspect. With everyone in the group chipping in and helping each other flesh out their aspects, everyone ended up with beautiful Defining Aspects that fit their character. For example:

Amearus – Resurrected Valenar Warlord of Legend
Malic – Mercurial Tiefling Scoundrel
Ashen – Savage Shifter Shaman
Ulgarzi Bearsoul – Dragonmarked Gatekeeper Druid of House Tharashk
Shalondra – Eladrin Warrior Guided by Fate

This is the start of our 4E conversion, and thanks to the group doing the heavy lifting, my DM tension is at an all-time low. So far, so good. The rest of aspect generation went smoothly and we spent the rest of our first session making some of the best looking / sounding characters I’ve had the pleasure to share a table with. We then entered into the transition adventure.

I kept the encounter mapping as simple as possible so we could focus more on aspects and the abstractions of the game. Going into the first area, Ashen’s player makes a declaration by throwing a fate point and shouting, “It’s a trap!!” Perfect; the unadorned, unfilled, undecided 3-chamber crypt that was going to be full of horrid to-be-decided aberrations became instead a trap gauntlet that I was able to on-the-fly adjudicate by using the PC’s aspects against them. The players enjoyed it immensely, and not a lot of prep work was needed by me – fantastic!!

I plan on going into the next adventure fairly free-form and leave more openings for my players to make more declarations and assessments and grow the scenes as we describe them to make the game a little more theirs, and the burden a little less mine. That’s what makes the game so fun to run, everyone at the table is involved in the rewarding and enjoyable endeavor.

Crafting Your Origin Story, Part 2

Thanks for joining us! In the last installment, we discussed why an origin story is important for every soon-to-be-memorable character to have. It can be two sentences or ten pages, that’s up to you. It defines the character in a way that guides the player through all manner of difficult choices. Some people believe that that is best handled on-screen / in game. If you don’t have the time you want in game to do this (or if you aren’t comfortable doing this on the fly), a little preparation before the game can go a long way.

Before, I mentioned several iconic heroes as examples. My examples were all fine indicators of solo-heroes that are usually the only protagonist in their individual stories. However, you are likely to be starring in an ensemble cast numbering from three to seven or more. If that is the case, you are likely to be sharing a lot of screen time with your fellow players. While there is always room for character development on screen, a little bit of preparation can help inform you of your character’s personality enough to springboard those really awesome quotes, stunts or shenanigans…

If this sounds like too much work for your monthly “I just gotta kill me some zombies/goblins/Necrons” game, it probably is, and I wouldn’t want to see you waste your time. If, however, you are planning on participating in a long running campaign and want to get the most out of your character, he has to be interesting enough to stand the test of time.

Speaking of time, I wanted to show an example of building an origin story between a player and DM for an upcoming super hero game. The DM hasn’t decided on a setting or antagonists yet, he’s waiting to see what his players want from the game… (By the way, working closely with your DM allows you to make sure your character is connected to the group’s story (and that he connects that story to your character), something that our group believes is very important.

John: “Colin, I want to play a guy that can move through time and space. He can time-travel, teleport and freeze time.”

Colin: “Okay, why?”

John: “Well, he’s actually acquired it because of his fixation on time and specifically how his time is being wasted in a place he doesn’t want to be. He feels out of control, like someone else is spending his time for him.”

Colin: “Okay, why doesn’t he just leave the situation and do something else?”

John: “Hhhmm… Oh, that’s it. It’s the family business and he feels like he’s destined for more.”

Colin: “Again, what is keeping him from leaving, it’s just family – why?”

John: “Family… family pride… family honor… Ah ha, he’s a Japanese sarariman working at his father’s corporation. He’s a cubicle wage slave who feels stuck in this dead-end job as the seconds tick by. His father has decided his fate for him.”

Colin: “That’s good… So he just develops these powers through his will alone. With that kind of willpower, why didn’t he just stand up to his father?”

John: “He never knew he had it in him. To this hero, his father was always this domineering figure – stopping time would be easier than defying Father. It was always easier for him to wish that something would happen to him to make him special – a freak lab accident, a radioactive meteor, a hidden genetic potential. Only if he became special would he have the power to decide his own destiny. He focused on time and space to get back what his father took without having to ever confront him.”

Colin: “Very nice. Why is he a hero and not a villain?”

John: “Even though he is 22 years old, he has a child-like innocence to him. An intense belief in right versus wrong fostered by years of love/obsession with comic book super heroes. After developing his powers, he quickly develops a strict ‘Hero’s Code’ that’s similar to a paladin’s or a samurai’s code. Wait a minute, I like that. It’s Hiro’s Code; that’s his name, Hiro…”

Colin: “Great. His youthful innocence and code of ethics is definitely something that I can have fun with…”

Now at this point, we haven’t yet said why Hiro joins the ensemble (adventuring party) or why he’s ended up in the group’s story. What we have done is helped the player start with a foundation to help inform those decisions and have a personality to conform to or deviate from. To me, seeing Hiro face tough decisions is interesting. Knowing about Hiro’s Code and seeing him put in situations where he has to break from his code and the ensuing struggles of conscious is EPIC. I want to see how this cubicle-dwelling, humble sarariman becomes master of Kensei’s sword (not to mention time and space…) That only means something if I know about his beginnings…

Crafting Your Origin Story, Part 1

A wall-crawling superhero with the proportionate strength of a spider…
A former Vietnam vet who has become a vigilante after his family was killed in a mob shootout…
A drow ranger who fights for approval from the surface world, although some cannot see beyond the sins of his race…
An alien, sent to our world by his parents before they were killed as their planet crumbled around them…
A boy whose initial experiences with magic cause him to live with a disapproving aunt and uncle in a cupboard under the stairs…
The only wizard in the Chicago yellow pages who can’t stand seeing a damsel in distress or some supernatural baddie making life miserable for mortals…

Chances are you can name at least one character from this list. They are iconic heroes and anti-heroes that have identifiable traits, quirks, mannerisms, abilities, etc. What brings them to life for people is their daily struggle, their “trouble” as it were. For most characters, you need look no further than their origin story to see how that defining moment forever imprinted itself on their personality and shapes their decisions.

Many of us role players relish the opportunity to create and breathe life into a character and would love to create one as iconic as a popular super hero or character with his own line of novels. There’s plenty of advice out there for adopting quirks and mannerisms, different accents, one-liners, etc. for your character. We even have articles related to backgrounds to help inspire you. What I want to encourage is to have you answer the Whys.

Why can the character do the things he does? (superpowers, 4E powers, exceptional skills)

Why does the character choose this profession (adventurer, soldier, superhero, etc.)?

Why will this character continue to follow this path?

Answering the whys behind your question will allow you to always have a grasp on your character’s motivations and make changing those motivations (if necessary) have more impact and meaning. You will know when to stay in-character (and more importantly what it means to be “in-character” for this character) and when to break from that. If you can break from the character established with everyone at the table while being true to the character’s origin, you’ve added another dimension to the character and to your storytelling.

For instance, in the first half of the movie Spider-Man, we see Peter Parker’s origin story. His trials and troubles that help shape him into accepting the mantle of hero and why he feels he has to be the one to deal with criminals. Even after several defeats at the hands of the Green Goblin, he still returns for more. Why? It‘s not for kewl lewt, or experience points, or because “this is the GM’s story and I’m doing my part to be a part of it.” Spidey does these things because of who he is. This is why 37 years after he first hit comics, he is still an interesting and compelling character that feels like he has some freshness left in him, yet has never had to change his core archetype. Instances of Peter Parker breaking from his expected behavior drove the plot of movies 2 and 3. Regardless of how you feel about those movies, they are still good examples of character-driven story.

For maximum impact at the table, you should discuss your origin with your fellow players. If you want to leave that cloaked in mystery, at least discuss it with your GM. At the very least, it will allow him/her to help you defend any choices that fit your character if the party objects, and will ultimately help advance the story. At best, it will give the DM inspiration and hooks to directly involve your character in the greater story.

Come back next time for an example of one Hiro’s rise to character greatness…

Dayereth Eveningstar, the Warlord – Steal this Background

Dayereth Eveningstar is an Eladrin male in his early forties (42 years old). He has pale golden hair and pupiless green eyes with flecks of gold that catch the light in an enchanting manner. He is nearly 6 feet tall and weighs 170 lbs. For an Eladrin, he is broad-chested and bulging with muscle. He is well-toned and in shape, and spends a lot of his free time exercising and reading (a minimum of 3 hours a day).

Dayereth has lived in Cornerstone for much of his life. His mother, Mairya Eveningstar was sent by the Feydari Council of Elders to be a Watcher in the Seven Bridges Valley. As a Watcher, she was to be vigilant for threats to the Eladrin city of Cael Morynaris. Cael Morynaris rests entirely in the Feywild, but is otherwise located in the Seven Bridges Valley. Dayereth’s father, Haderai Quinlonest, is a respected wizard and adviser to the Feydari. He spends his time in the Eladrin city of Cael Morynaris and has little interest in the mortal realm, aside from a perceived threat to the Eladrin way of life. His marriage to Mairya is a typical arranged marriage, a practice not uncommon to the Eladrin.

Mairya quickly grew to respect the younger mortal races and their constant struggle against the tide of darkness that they were only dimly aware of. Thanks to her work in the city of Cornerstone and her love of the community, she is a member of the Cornerstone Council. She uses her position both to benefit her original duty and to work tirelessly on various public works projects. She has passed on her sense of civic duty and responsibility to her son. She is a busy woman who spends very little time and effort pursuing her own happiness.

Haderai spends a lot of time traveling the planes at the behest of the Feydari. Mairya would not allow her son to grow up in this dangerous pursuit and brought Dayereth with her. Growing up with her example, when Dayereth came of age, he chose to stay in Cornerstone and serve the community rather than return to Cael Morynaris and study with his father. This created a rift between son and father that has never healed.

Dayereth grew up reading in the library and working around the community, apprenticing to a blacksmith one month, a fletcher the next, helping gather food and firewood and working for the money exchanger, Garm Erikson. Garm was a retired Valley Warden who sometimes helped the Sentinels train. Watching the guards train reminded Dayereth of his brother. He vowed to become one of the Cornerstone Sentinels and became more interested in his mother’s pet projects. Specifically, how they would help brighten and defend this growing point of light.

Dayereth joined the guard as soon as he was able and quickly rose to join the Sentinels. He became fast friends with a fellow sentinel Valen Mair. The two constantly challenged each other to improve and excel. Valen became a sergeant first, Dayereth following at the age of 23 (19 years ago).

Around this time, one of Garm’s many business ventures came to fruition. He had been planning and organizing a group interested in re-settling the near-forgotten community of Shadowdale. The village had been settled in the past and some believed it to be cursed. The last settlement happened in the year XXXX. No one knows what happened except that all of the villagers supposedly disappeared mysteriously one winter, never heard from or seen again. Even with this frightening old wives’ tale, Garm was able to interest several dozen families in joining the new effort. Although his “financial” services were vital to the community, he was able to leave that business in the hands of his longtime partner, Vennessio Von.

Garm approached Dayereth and asked him to come and help as the community would need someone to help keep order and to help defend the community while it grew. Dayereth saw this as a chance to distinguish himself and to help civilize the valley. Mairya tried to convince him not to go, there were some mysteries better left alone. She enlisted Valen’s aid in trying to change Dayereth’s mind. Valen tried to tell Dayereth that attending to the needs of Cornerstone was more important than a suicide quest for fame and glory. After a heated argument, they parted ways. Valen still has not forgiven Dayereth for abandoning the Sentinels and Cornerstone.

When they arrived in Shadowdale that spring, the new settlers found decrepit buildings, long since crumbled from disuse. An old teleportation circle was found in the town center, a large crack running through the stone it was etched in. The sigils that were carved in to the stone contained an inlaid purple metal that Dayereth had never seen before. As they explored the settlement, they found no signs of battle or struggle. It was as though the former inhabitants decided to drop whatever they were in the process of doing and walk out of town.

The new townsfolk busied themselves with collecting materials and repairing what structures they could. That summer, they began constructing a new town hall/jail and a market center. Later that fall, kobolds attacked. Dayereth was able to rally some locals and repel the “invasion” (it was a raiding party of 5 starving kobolds). Garm sent word back to the Assembly of Advisors and petitioned for them to accept Dayereth as an Initiate. They accepted, and he was invited to the next initiation ceremony to be held on the solstice…

When the Solstice arrived, Garm took Dayereth back to Cornerstone. As Dayereth’s sponsor, it was expected that Garm would be there to speak on his behalf. The ceremony went much as ceremonies do, and much celebration there was. Garm and Dayereth returned to Shadowdale.

They approached town as dusk fell. No hails from any guards, no lights/fires seen through windows; the town was eerily silent. They reached Garm’s house and went inside. There was no sound from his wife or two kids, and a smoky, charcoal smell filled the air. They entered the kitchen to an odd sight; the table was set for five as on any night when Dayereth dined with Garm’s family. The spices and condiments were out on the table and over the cooking hearth was a pot that clearly had been cooking a roast. The water was all gone and wisps of smoke were still rising from the charred meat. The two men gathered their weapons and searched through the town. Not a soul, or body, was found. There was no sign of attack or struggle. Like the ghost stories, it was as though the whole town just decided to leave.

Garm broke down and starting running through the village, screaming for his family, hollering each name: “Belissa!! Marek!! Holly!!!” Dayereth was concerned that if there was some evil present, it would hear Garm and hunt him down. He tried to quiet the man who had been a mentor, almost a father to him. Garm just became more hysterical, to the point where Dayereth had to knock him out for his own safety. Dayereth dragged him to the watch tower and hid there, vigilant through the night for any sign of the townsfolk or intruders. He saw nothing.

When morning broke, Garm woke up and realized where he was. He raced down the tower and to his house. Dayereth followed him, tired from his lack of trance and for some reason unable to access the Feywild, which would have allowed him to catch up to his crazed friend. As he reached the house, Garm stumbled out sobbing, “This is your fault, Dayereth!! If I’d been here instead of babysitting you, I could have done something!!”

“You can’t mean that! If you had stayed, you would be gone, too. Can’t you see that?”

“You kept me from my family when they needed me! You were supposed to protect this town, Sergeant! And you kept me from finding them last night! You’re a curse I wish I was never saddled with!” Garm ran into the forest calling his family’s names. Dayereth has never seen him, but has recently heard tales of a crazy old hermit, about Garm’s age, that periodically visits the towns of the Valley…

Dayereth returned to Cornerstone, determined to solve the mystery of Shadowdale and try to bring resolution to his ailing friend. He has spent the 18 years since in search of answers, which has brought him to the attention of Quinn Thorlin, the Assembly’s Librarian. Quinn has watched Dayereth continue to grow and has taken him under his wing. He has helped the young Eladrin explore the Assembly’s library and introduced him to the worship of Ioun, goddess of knowledge, skill, and prophecy. In addition to his personal quest for understanding, he has served as a tactical advisor to the Assembly and the Cornerstone Guard.

With what Dayereth has learned, he knows that he needs to gain in skill, knowledge and wisdom if he hopes to solve the mystery of Shadowdale. Not only that, he will also need to assemble a capable team that will help him discover the answers he seeks. It is to this end that he has agreed to take on the mantle of Shepherd and guide some of this year’s Initiates on their adventures.

Nym, the Assassin – Steal this Eberron Background

“Kartak, please close the windows, I’m freezing…” the elven woman wheezed to the half-orc sitting by her side as she bunched the blankets tighter about her face. A slight watering of her delicate green eyes betrayed her discomfort to the half-orc who knew her better than any other, including her long-lived clan members. He looked at the windows, already knowing them to be shut tight against the summer heat. The tusks that jutted from his lips turned upward as he gently smiled down at the woman he cared for so much.

“I’ll see to it.” The man she called Kartak rose from the bed and grabbed a wand from the dresser top. He waved it gently over her while he sang (in elven) an old song he knew the Valenar woman was fond of:

In days long gone, our fathers came
And made this land their own.
With the Dhakanni chiefs, they lived in peace,
Until trade turned to war.

Through the years, our warriors blood
Was spilled upon the land.
The Dhakanni horde poured to the shore
And drove our warriors home.

And then some time until mankind
Won it from our foes;
The Dhakanni blood dried and died;
Mankind laid their claim.

Through the years, man did spread,
And settled all the land
But like us, their blood did boil
And their tribes went to war.

Back and forth, forth and back
Allies changed and changed
Cyrans feared other men and
Looked to us for aid.

Our warriors came and sold their skills
Pure Cyran gold was earned.
Our warriors fought across the land,
And their souls remembered…

This land was ours ‘fore any man
Stood upon the sand.
But Cyran men, stood in the way
Of our ancestral claim

Until the day our king did say,
‘This is our land and it has been
Bought and paid with blood,
Bought and paid… with blood’

While he sang, the tip of his wand glowed warmly with a soft red light. Her grip on the blanket relaxed and her breathing slowed as he eased the symptoms of her slow gradual poisoning. “There you go, Tarkita. Is that better, my love?”

“Of course, Kartak. My family never understood our bond. If only they had been more patient… they might have seen the same brave, beautiful soul I always knew lie hidden in you.” Her eyes began to darken as her breathing began to shallow. “It is time my warrior-poet. I go to join my ancestors. I hope I have brought them honor…”

“If not, you have shown it to me. I will always remember your courage in the face of battles. Think on your battle with the harpies so that that be fresh in the memory of Limel, your grandmother. It is your ferocity that makes Berre Stonefist, Captain of Bones sleep uneasy during the night. I will sing your song so your deeds are known and all will know of the enchanting dewdrops you call your eyes. Rest easy so that I may enjoy your beauty and allow it to become a part of me so I may remember you forever…”

Tarkita’s breathing slowed even more, until it came to a rattling halt. The closed lids of her eyes kept her from seeing the features on her lover’s half-orc face melt and shift. The brown eyes gradually lightened to a dark hazel and then subtly more until they were the same chartreuse hue as those of the dying elven woman. They had become the same almond shape. The large stony cheekbones of the half-orc had melted away and now matched the delicate curved arches on her lithe face.

He looked down at her fingertips that had always been strong, yet knew how to trace pleasure across his neck. He held his hand close to hers and watched as it began to shrink, The skin color changing to match her perfect olive complexion. Something was not right. Oh, of course. The delicate mole inside the web of her right hand sprang forth upon his, the latter perfectly matching the former.

Crossing the small bedroom, he gazed upon himself in the mirror. Tarkita’s strong, yet utterly feminine gaze looked back. He watched, focusing on the eyes and cheekbones as he placed his right hand upon the mirror. Staring into her eyes, he allowed all her features (save her perfect cheekbones, and of course the mole) to melt away to the formless stark white features that were his true face.

He uttered the litany spoken many times before. Although it had become rote, it was no less important, no less meaningful for his latest kill. “Forgive me Tarkita, it had to be done. If not by me, then by some other, who would never honor your memory as I will. All that is unique and special of you will live on in me. May the lessons you taught me allow me to reach my goal and serve us all.”

He made one last pass of the room ensuring no artifact remained. Looking under the bed, he found no lost sock, no stray vial of the poison that in doses through the weeks brought her life to a close. As he circled the room, he crumbled the token that allowed his words to be carried on the wind. “My Queen, it is done. I return to you for payment. I will wear Prospero.”

Nym allowed the magic to activate and deliver his message. As he felt the threads of arcane unravel (signifying the end of this little ritual) he pulled out a scroll. Knowing that Kendall was ever seeking his spoor had made this investment necessary. It was a small boon given him by a previous employer that would hide his involvement from arcane eyes. Of course the slow-acting poison (made from the finely ground talileth root found only in Xen’drik) was undetectable to most methods the Watch had at their disposal. Even the agents of the Citadel were likely to overlook this poison known only to very few who had access to the lost knowledge held by the Umbragen.

It had cost Nym much to filch this secret from the clutches of the dark elves of Xendrik and more still to procure the root. A small price to pay for the edge it had given him in his chosen profession. Secrets want to be found; the living work hard to hide them. Often, the warm embrace of death allows fists to unclench and lips to part, revealing a bit of lore that the dying want to share with a loved one or trusted compatriot.

Nym took a last look at the delicate elven features he still wore, allowing them to flare in his memory one last time. He turned to the door.

As Tarkita’s door opened onto the bustling Highwater thoroughfare, The Stupendous Salazar – the master illusionist, stepped into the sunlight. His brown eyes squinted against the bright rays of the afternoon sun as they shone on his human face. He whistled a jaunty tune as he flagged down a passing skycab, eager to meet his employer and obtain his reward. As he lifted his right hand to shield his eyes from the sun, the persistent mole in the web between his thumb and index finger caught his gaze.

“Tarkita, may you always remind me of your undying spirit,” he muttered as he gently shook his hand at his side. He looked again at the now empty web and opened the door to the cab.

Artwork by Robert Stenberg.

Thorn and Whisper, Eberron Shifters: Steal These Backgrounds

Thorn and Whisper are Razorclaw shifter twins from the Tiger clan, which lives in the foothills west of Wolf’s Paw. If in Eberron, this is in the Eldeen Reaches, otherwise anyplace else you like.

Thorn is one of the tribe’s hunters (a barbarian) who has always concerned himself with proving his worth as a warrior by feeding his tribe and winning every game of sportsmanship his tribe cares for. When hunting his prey, he relies on his claws and natural cunning, while giving himself over to his primal bloodrage. When fighting against marauders for the safety of his village, he wields his warpick; a two-handed weapon with a heavy head, one side blunted for crushing blows, the other pointed for piercing through the best of armors.

Whisper is quiet and introspective, keeping to herself and doing the tasks the tribe requires of her. But when she is not working with her deft fingers (rogue or assassin), where is it that she sneaks off to? It can’t be to the forbidden ruins rumored to harbor fey spirits; the ones that contain relics and mementos of a bygone goblinoid culture? Between the rumors of malicious fey creatures and deadly traps of ancient and mysterious design, if Whisper was retrieving her trinkets from there, she would need some very impressive skills…

One day, when a scared teenaged human girl and her protector, a warforged follower of something he calls “the Spark” come to their little village, Grandfather Larm tells the twins that their destiny lies outside the village and he sends them off to help the newcomers.

Development: By the time their travels take them to Sharn, Thorn has developed a healthy test for extreme sports with boots that enhance his natural athletic abilities to leap over wide chasms and up to out-of-reach ledges, and soarsleds for flying through the City of Towers. Whisper has honed her skills to be able to enter any location, open any lock, and escape from any threat. Together they are nigh-unstoppable.