Life and Death in RPG – March 2011 RPG Blog Carnival
This month’s RPG blog carnival theme covers life and death in RPGs.
When thinking about what I’d write for the carnival my attention wandered to my Riddleport campaign. There, I spotted how death was a theme in at least two plots. Then another plot. And then another. Soon, I was seeing death everywhere.
It makes me wonder – could death be a surprising yet unknown theme in your campaign too? Realizing this could give you a stronger sense of what your campaign is about and offer you new inspiration for your plots and designs. If you realize a theme has been lurking in your campaign, you can now take steps to ripen that theme and bring it closer to the surface to enhance its flavour.
Here are three examples of how death plays a big part in my campaign right now.
Raising The Dead in Riddleport – Many Sinister Plots
First, a request. If you are a player in my campaign, please stop reading now. The spoilers below are big ones for the campaign. They reveal some deep plots of the villains you hate. Knowing the information below will ruin parts of the campaign for you because of the core secrets I am about to reveal.
The Body Monks
A group of monks in the city offers a 5gp reward for bodies. Under the auspices of study and “learning how people work so as to better heal them in the future,” this group sends carts around the streets to collect those who have passed on. They also collect the bodies laid before their front gate in the middle of the night, a practice the monks encourage.
The order truly does study physiology and has built a massive library of research: charts, monographs and books concerning the body parts of all races. Most information relates to observations such as measurements, colours and consistencies and is not useful to most.
A few monks do analysis. They look for commonalities and outliers. It is all manual work though, and they have to create charts, books and monographs about the observations, and then collate more information about the observations of the observations.
Meantime, the order must feed it members, pay the promised finder fees and pay taxes to the Overarch. The first way it generates monies is by selling bodies through back channels to necromancers and dark priests outside the city. Lots of those in the world of Golarion, and Riddleport is a busy port city, so business is good.
In addition, they have a great little side business of extortion. They cast Speak With Dead on any bodies that fit certain criteria. Subtle inquiries by agents throughout the city also help them decide which dead to interrogate and what questions to ask. Information gleaned gets brought back to those who would pay for that information to disappear.
The monks are smart and do not overdo this. They also have agents conduct the transactions to protect the information source. Usually some clue or false evidence is shown to deflect suspicion away from the monks as to how the agents figured the crimes out.
Lastly, good specimens are sold off-plane to the highest bidder. There are many uses for a fresh body to those who know how to control or season the dead.
Rictus’s Undead Army
The PCs’ patron is a vampire crime lord who owns the city’s only gladiatorial arena.
He has a lich, wights, ghasts and ghouls serving him as lieutenants, street bosses and minions. He keep discipline and control like an evil commander: fear and greed. He coerces those he can into obedience. The rest, he bribes. It would not be good form to have all these creatures running amok.
Fortunately, the arena is the pinnacle of the city’s popular pit fighting league. All fighters dream of an arena match, and the purse that goes along with it. While Rictus makes great money at the gates and from fighter fees, he makes a killing by gambling. He can fix almost any fast without problem, so the House always comes out ahead after each day of arena battles.
Add to this protection money, smuggling and vice, and Rictus can afford to keep his minions in check.
However, his plans go beyond ruling a city district and incredible wealth. In secret, below the arena, he builds an army of undead creatures. Using corpses from vanquished arena foes, he slowly fills a massive cavern complex with new troops each week. His lich necromancer general oversees this aspect of the vampire lord’s operations, and one day soon the army will be large enough to capture the city with.
Astrinus’s Gentleman’s Club
Living beside the characters is a stately man known as Astrinus. He recently bought the building and introduced himself the the PCs as quiet person of philosophy. He hosts an exclusive club for gentleman to drink fine liquor and discuss the nature of life. The gods are just powerful beings with magic the city’s paltry mages have failed to understand. As such, it is up each person to carve their own life according to their own will. Destiny is but a tool used by cunning priests to manipulate the masses.
Or so Astrinus believes, and he invites smart and thoughtful folk to his club to discuss and prove him wrong.
Meantime, he offers a free Raise Dead or Resurrection to folk if they agree to sign a contract. In my version of Golarion, souls are currency, and high level souls are worth more than low level. Those who sign the contract basically sign their souls over to Astrinus’s secret lord, who shall not be named for fear that doing so would summon him and he’d stop me from posting this blog.
The cost of the spell is outweighed by the fact that, on average, signees go on to gain an average of three to six more levels before dying again. That’s a marked increase in the value of the soul that finally reaches his lord. A long term strategy that has paid off for the three hundred years Astrinus has been running his branch of the organization this way.
Some PCs have signed the contract.
Aroden’s Heart
Here is the central plot of my campaign. While the PCs are directly involved, this plot is meant to be a background catalyst for the crazy stuff going on right now in Riddleport.
I’m sure my players think I have just taken my favourite monsters of all time and thrown them into Riddleport for the characters to fight. However, I have actually created a sinister plot that lets me take my favourite monsters of all time and throw them into Riddleport for the characters to fight. A win/win, no?
100 years ago, according to Golarian canon, Aroden died. In my version of the history, Aroden was attacked in a war on a plane of Hell. Accompanied by Ragathiel and other key minions, Aroden lead an army of justice through various battles that finally put his army in hell against an evil alliance of Asmodeus, Lloth and others.
Aroden was ambushed by Astrinus. They found hand-to-hand, and Astrinus won. Before he could deal the killing blow, help for Aroden arrived. That brought Astrinus’s allies immediately forward. A short standoff ensued while Aroden slowly bled out.
It was apparent, on that small mound covered in blood in the center of a waging war, that a greater prize than just winning the conflict was to be had. With Aroden’s death there was an empty seat to be filled at the Divine Table, a seat any of the lords and generals present to could fill and become a god.
The negotiation fast became a conspiracy. They agreed to put Aroden in stasis and hide him away. They tasked the angel Ragathiel to do this, which he immediately did before Aroden’s last life left him. The status would last 100 years, which would give all sides time to plan and plot and be ready when it came time for the Greater Deities to select Aroden’s replacement.
Then they would bring Aroden out of stasis and kill him on the Cypher Gate. That would summon the Greater Deities to pick Aroden’s successor.
Each party to this heinous crime secretly plotted to become the ideal candidate for the gods to choose for Ascendance. They plotted to gain person power and to hamper if not outright kill opposing rivals. They had 100 years to plot, and now the time has come.
This year in the campaign is the 100th year of Aroden’s stasis. All the sides aware of this now gather in Riddleport, prepared to be the Chosen One for Ascendence. Minions fight each other in the streets or through indirect means. And the PCs are caught in the middle.
I Heart Death
As I thought about my campaign through the lens of this month’s RPG blog carnival, I realized how central death was to this campaign. Knowing this now, I will be fleshing out my death related plots and antagonists better so they feature more prominently to champion this theme to the PCs better. That should tighten the campaign design up a bit.
I will keep the date of Aroden’s status a secret for as long as possible. I do not intend for the PCs to “solve” this campaign or become gods. I prefer the Aroden’s Heart plot involving a Race For Ascendancy to just be a cool backdrop for adventure in Golarion’s meanest pirate city. As a sandbox campaign, I’m not about structuring a story around fixed outcomes. That also might mean the campaign does become a Race For Ascendancy if the PCs latch onto that thread with their teeth and refuse to let go.
How does life and death figure in your RPG?
Write a blog post and post the link below. March’s RPG blog carnival has officially begun!
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March 1st, 2011 at 8:13 pm
We’ll definitely be tackling this one! Nice one!
jonathan recently posted..Worldbuilding
March 1st, 2011 at 8:13 pm
I am developing a historical D&D setting: hence, there is no Raise Dead unless you happen to be God’s only begotten son.
I’m waiting to get this thing running to see how it impacts play. I also don’t plan on making that fact widely known beforehand to players (unless they happen to read my blog). It is interesting to think of all the conventions we take for granted…
March 2nd, 2011 at 4:43 am
Life and Death isn’t really something that is covered specifically in D-Jumpers, but we do have a number of Issues which pay on these themes in unique ways.
In D-Jumpers Issue #4: Sacrifice (http://www.dvoidsystems.com/products/d-jumpers-volume-1-the-gate-to-adventure/d-jumpers-issue-4/), we’ve provided a fairly interesting means to allow PCs to go out with a bang, as they must face up against the long-forgotten God of Sacrifice. The only way to defeat him, however, is for a hero – naturally one of the PCs – to wilfully sacrifice themselves to him in battle. There is a twist however, in that should the PC then be raised or become undead, the God of Sacrifice returns with a vengeance, and can only be defeated by the wilful sacrifice of another hero. For those who know about the God of Sacrifice, he can be a devastating weapon of mass destruction, thus great pains are often taken to protect the bodies of the sacrificial heroes from the powers of necromancy and those that seek to reclaim the hero or raise the God of Sacrifice once more. In essence, this Issue is provided as a means for PCs to be given a final send-off and become a meaningful part of the campaign, while the player is free to take on the reins of newer characters.
In D-Jumpers Issue #5: Recuperation Lounge (http://www.dvoidsystems.com/products/d-jumpers-volume-2/d-jumpers-issue-5/), we deal with life and death in another way. As well as bringing character generation into the story, the background of the Recuperation Lounge serves well as a sort of alternative to death when parties are defeated in combat – a sort on unique vision on an afterlife. Given the many psychological themes in the Recuperation Lounge, whether this is an actual after life, the result of an intervention, or a form of group psychosis as the players recover after their defeat remains up to the GM, but it serves as an ideal ground for bringing new characters into the party. The amnesia and metagaming elements help this immensely.
With D-Jumpers itself being a multi-genre trans-dimensional campaign, virtually every take on life and death can be incorporated and experienced within the campaign itself. As Anthony said – there’s a lot of conventions we take for granted, depending upon the games we play, and due to both the multi-genre structure and the systemless nature of D-Jumpers, they are all applicable, and can very easily be mixed and matched as the players see fit. Nothing is more compelling than seeing characters adapt to new circumstances within each storyline and world.
Da’ Vane recently posted..Coming Up Next…
March 2nd, 2011 at 8:56 am
[…] Mastery that the RPG Blog Carnival theme for March was an open one covering the breadth of Life and Death in RPGs, my first thought was to wonder how many of the posts will focus on the latter half of the theme. […]
March 2nd, 2011 at 9:17 am
I will probably write more posts on this topic as the month passes, but – to start things off:
To Live and Die in Roleplay
I look forward to reading more on this topic~
March 2nd, 2011 at 2:11 pm
Excellent topic this month Johnn! What better way for the RandomDM to celebrate death then with a table of Death Rites? But I like Runeslingers suggestion that we are all about Death, so I’ll make my next post about birth.
Burial Rites of the RandomDM
Ashon recently posted..Burial Customs of the RandomDM
March 4th, 2011 at 9:48 am
[…] The latest RPG Blog Carnival has begun, hosted by Campaign Mastery. This month it’s a discussion of Life and Death in RPGs… Heady topics! Check out the root post here. […]
March 4th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
[…] feed. Thanks for visiting!This month’s RPG Blog Carnival topic is Life and Death in RPGs (see here for the kickoff article) and shockingly enough in the insanity of my last few weeks, I have some […]
March 4th, 2011 at 1:15 pm
Great topic. One that actually inspired me to contribute to the carnival this go-round! My first post offers some thoughts about Life in RPGs here. And my next post will deal with Death in RPGs next week.
March 4th, 2011 at 4:04 pm
Good Topic!
http://towerofthearchmage.blogspot.com/2011/03/life-and-death-in-rpgs.html
March 7th, 2011 at 1:36 am
[…] contribution to the March RPG Blog Carnival is really nothing more than a small suggestion which tries to suggest a means of bringing a healthy […]
March 7th, 2011 at 9:50 am
Nice theme!
I just posted my entry for Life and Death. In this case:
The Joys of Reincarnation
And what it can mean in your campaign.
http://www.darkdungeon2.com/2011/03/rpg-blog-carnival-joys-of-reincarnation.html
March 10th, 2011 at 6:12 am
[…] March 10, 2011 in Gaming, Inspiration, NPCs, blogs by Fitz | No comments If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!So last time I focused on life and using a character’s childhood and key events to shape their skills and backgrounds. This time, I want to focus on death from a few angles. (You can read part 1 here and see the RPG Blog Carnival collection on Life and Death in RPGs here.) […]
March 10th, 2011 at 8:53 am
And here’s the second installment:
The Shock of Reincarnation
To retain your skills or not, once you’re in a new body?
http://www.darkdungeon2.com/2011/03/rpg-blog-carnival-shock-of.html
Cheers
March 10th, 2011 at 8:55 am
Here’s my second installment about different aspects of death in RPGs:
http://blog2.moebiusadventures.com/2011/03/10/rpg-blog-carnival-life-and-death-in-rpgs-pt-2-death/
March 11th, 2011 at 3:57 am
Body monks – nice. that’ll get a laugh from my players.
Also, I really like your idea of Aroden’s heart. That will provide an excellent base for a follow up campaign, once my current Council of Thieves Campaign is finished. I can start dropping subtle hints once we finish the current adventure. I’ll name a couple of villains after you. thanks!
March 12th, 2011 at 3:18 pm
[…] was really excited by Johnn’s post announcing the March carnival because: 1) life and death in RPGs offers a lot to play around with, […]
March 12th, 2011 at 3:21 pm
Here’s my entry. I loved your post on this—very inspiring!
http://creativelyanomalous.com/2011/03/12/rpg-blog-carnival-death-and-undeath-in-my-games/
Will recently posted..RPG Blog Carnival- Death and Undeath in my games
March 13th, 2011 at 6:19 am
And a third installment, wrapping up the text. Maybe I’ll add a few pics later, if you read it at some later date ;-)
The Secret of Reincarnation
What Reincarnation could do for your Fantasy Society.
http://www.darkdungeon2.com/2011/03/rpg-blog-carnival-secret-of.html
March 13th, 2011 at 11:01 am
I like your idea of the monks extorting folks using information from bodies via speak with dead. Nice. I just wonder if a bad guy that doesn’t want to be discovered, caught on to what the monks are doing, how would that person prevent the dead from talking to the monks?
Jon recently posted..Inner Sea World Guide for Pathfinder RPG
March 14th, 2011 at 1:47 am
Just posted an answer to that in your blog comments, Jon! In a nutshell: reverse Speak With Dead, extended with metamagics or even a more advanced (higher spell level) version of the spell.
March 13th, 2011 at 12:24 pm
[…] parishioners wealth in the end. I could see a group of Yol priests doing what the people over at Campaign Mastery described, as way to actually generate leads for their church and improve their […]
March 14th, 2011 at 4:19 am
[…] time for the RPG Blog Carnival, as hosted on Campaign Mastery, and the topic is Life and Death in RPGs. I first heard about it and posted this lovely little […]
March 14th, 2011 at 10:53 am
[…] topic for this month’s RPG Blog Carnival is Life & Death in RPGs, hosted by one of my all-time favorite blogs, Campaign Mastery. Nevermet Press has been kind enough […]
March 14th, 2011 at 11:31 am
As you can see from the link, DVOID Systems has jumped on the bandwagon as the carnival passes through town!
Da’ Vane recently posted..Life and Death in D-Jumpers
March 14th, 2011 at 1:09 pm
Great topic and meriting more than one post.
A lot of people going for death, I thought I’d go the other way and look at how birth can affect a game in the carnival of life.
satyre recently posted..the carnival of life
March 22nd, 2011 at 2:56 pm
The topic itself has got me wondering: are there any RPG systems or settings that take place primarily in the afterlife?
lindevi recently posted..Writing and Role-playing in the Spotlight
March 22nd, 2011 at 5:43 pm
Not that I’ve ever heard of, Lindevi.
March 22nd, 2011 at 5:58 pm
@ lindevi
One large-scale example is White Wolf’s Wraith line and the related release of Mummy. These were focused almost exclusively on the afterlife, as were their chain of x-files-like releases geared for mortals interacting with the dead et al.
March 22nd, 2011 at 6:25 pm
@lindevi – Ghostwalk by WotC is a D&D 3.5 afterlife supplement. Never played it, but it seemed to have potential.
March 24th, 2011 at 9:55 pm
[…] topic for this month’s RPG Blog Carnival is Life & Death in RPGs. I was inspired to jump in by an excellent post over at The Action Point. For more details about […]
March 24th, 2011 at 10:11 pm
I decided to try and write and article on the rich topic you gave us. Sorry it’s so late in the month!
The death and life of a PC – March 2011 RPG Blog Carnival
http://wp.me/p1flGZ-4e
Thanks!
4649matt recently posted..The death and life of a PC – March 2011 RPG Blog Carnival
March 25th, 2011 at 9:26 am
The RandomDM turns from Death Rites to Life Events, at the end of the Carnival!
Ashon recently posted..Rites of Passage of the RandomDM
March 25th, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Here is my late contribution. Its a little less hands on than the others, but I hope its an ok read for y’all:
http://latetotheparty.ca/?p=411
March 26th, 2011 at 2:19 pm
The lovely and talented lindevi just turned me on to the RPG Blog Carnival this time around. Great to join you guys!
Here’s my entry for this month:
http://platinumwarlock.blogspot.com/2011/03/in-which-warlock-mourns-death-of-plane.html
PlatinumWarlock recently posted..In Which The Warlock Mourns the Death of a Plane
March 27th, 2011 at 6:15 am
Another one for the carnival. This time looking at what comes to nearly everyone at the carnival of death.
March 27th, 2011 at 12:41 pm
For those of you who answered when I asked about the afterlife campaign, it turns out we were all overlooking the World of Darkness settings for Geists and Wraiths! A little rules-heavy for my tastes, but a wealth of ideas for playing in the afterlife.
lindevi recently posted..It’s Written in the Stars
March 27th, 2011 at 6:08 pm
@lindevi~
Have I, like the wraiths themselves, been rendered silent?
(See the second response to your question~ ;) )
Runeslinger recently posted..Saturday Seed 44 HEX
March 28th, 2011 at 6:31 am
@Runeslinger
I saw your suggestion. I had the book on hand so I dropped a mention of it in my post with a link to additional resources from the author.
This was a fun topic!
4649matt recently posted..The death and life of a PC – March 2011 RPG Blog Carnival
March 28th, 2011 at 12:15 pm
@runeslinger
Apologies! What with my low Wis mod I have terrible perception rolls. Critical fumble!
Anyhow, thanks again to everyone for the recommendations! See you next month?
lindevi recently posted..It’s Written in the Stars
March 28th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
Good to know, 4649matt and lindevi~
I was worried that I would have to seek out Whoopie Goldberg’s help. ;)
Runeslinger recently posted..Serial Setting 1- Week 18 Ubiquity
March 29th, 2011 at 7:32 am
[…] month the RPG Blog Carnival is hosted by Campaign Mastery and the focus is on Life and Death in RPGs. At Dungeon’s Master our contribution to this […]
March 29th, 2011 at 7:55 am
Great topic. Here is the link for Dungeon’s Masters submission.
http://dungeonsmaster.com/2011/03/rpg-blog-carnival-casting-raise-dead/.
Wimwick recently posted..RPG Blog Carnival- Casting Raise Dead
March 30th, 2011 at 7:32 am
[…] as part of the RPG Blog Carnival hosted by Campaign Mastery we took a look at what it means to Cast the Raise Dead Ritual. Today I wanted to follow up on that […]
March 30th, 2011 at 10:35 am
One more from Dungeon’s Master. If I can say it again, great topic. I had a lot of fun writing our two submissions.
http://dungeonsmaster.com/2011/03/rpg-blog-carnival-negotiating-for-souls/.
Wimwick recently posted..RPG Blog Carnival- Negotiating For Souls
March 30th, 2011 at 3:40 pm
[…] of this month’s Blog Carnival – Life and Death in RPGs hosted by Campaign […]
March 30th, 2011 at 3:41 pm
Getting this in just under the wire. It was a great theme and I wish I would have had more time this month to write on it:
http://seaofstarsrpg.wordpress.com/2011/03/30/death-and-the-underworld-in-the-sea-of-stars/
Sean Holland recently posted..Death and the Underworld in the Sea of Stars
April 3rd, 2011 at 12:20 pm
@Jon – another answer:
http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/how-to-cast-a-spell-on-your-campaign-and-make-it-sparkle-like-gold-dust/
April 3rd, 2011 at 12:36 pm
@Westcrown Action Front – Having villains named after me would be an honour!
April 4th, 2011 at 9:03 am
[…] month the RPG Blog Carnival is hosted by Campaign Mastery and the focus is on Life and Death in RPGs. Below are the two Dungeon’s Master […]
March 29th, 2014 at 12:00 am
[…] month (March 2011) the RPG Blog Carnival is hosted by Campaign Mastery and the focus is on Life and Death in RPGs. At Dungeon’s Master our contribution to this […]
January 15th, 2016 at 10:11 am
[…] The latest RPG Blog Carnival has begun, hosted by Campaign Mastery. This month it’s a discussion of Life and Death in RPGs… Heady topics! Check out the root post here. […]