Post by Wids on Aug 12, 2017 13:03:14 GMT -5
So I got to wondering who else does this: You come up with a character concept and build a character around it. You take your character adventuring, you find an item in the loot which is practically useless to you, and while it would otherwise be consigned to the next merchant you come across, there's something about this loot item which really resonates with your character and his/her concept, personality and/or backstory. So the item — which would otherwise be considered nothing more than junk or shop food — becomes a permanent part of your character's inventory, simply for the sake of roleplay. Your character keeps it simply because it's something that he or she would have. And if a DM notices your character "*plaintively holding out a bowl while begging for alms,*" checks your character's inventory on a lark and sees that your character does indeed have that bowl in his or her inventory, so much the better!
I've been doing this ever since Prisoners of the Mist, the first NWN Multiplayer server that I joined about nine years ago; my reclusive, mountain-dwelling, Shou-descended Banshee Caliban Monk (Bai Shan Jingshen) kicked and punched her way through a crypt up in the mountains and found a Lamordian Clock. Lamordian clocks were shop food; they had no purpose being in the loot tables other than for PCs to find them, take them and sell them back in town. But as I figured, Bai Shan had been living up in the mountains, avoiding people and civilization for all her life. Suddenly, here's a fascinating little mechanical device representative of all the civilization she's been missing out on. Wouldn't she keep the clock, play with it, maybe make something of a travelling companion out of it, and perhaps even come down from the mountains and start courting the edges of whichever civilization could produce such wonders as that little time-tracking clock, in hopes of finding even more wondrous doodads (though without coming too brazenly close to civilization, as the guards had a "kill on sight" policy regarding calibans)?
So the clock became something more than a clock; it became a part of Bai Shan's character, a subject for her curiosity, a salve for her loneliness and a reason for her to start sneaking into the city of Vallaki and any other settlements she came across.
(Yes, I just had to doodle Bai Shan and her clock too.
)
I've been doing this ever since Prisoners of the Mist, the first NWN Multiplayer server that I joined about nine years ago; my reclusive, mountain-dwelling, Shou-descended Banshee Caliban Monk (Bai Shan Jingshen) kicked and punched her way through a crypt up in the mountains and found a Lamordian Clock. Lamordian clocks were shop food; they had no purpose being in the loot tables other than for PCs to find them, take them and sell them back in town. But as I figured, Bai Shan had been living up in the mountains, avoiding people and civilization for all her life. Suddenly, here's a fascinating little mechanical device representative of all the civilization she's been missing out on. Wouldn't she keep the clock, play with it, maybe make something of a travelling companion out of it, and perhaps even come down from the mountains and start courting the edges of whichever civilization could produce such wonders as that little time-tracking clock, in hopes of finding even more wondrous doodads (though without coming too brazenly close to civilization, as the guards had a "kill on sight" policy regarding calibans)?
So the clock became something more than a clock; it became a part of Bai Shan's character, a subject for her curiosity, a salve for her loneliness and a reason for her to start sneaking into the city of Vallaki and any other settlements she came across.
(Yes, I just had to doodle Bai Shan and her clock too.
)And I've been doing that on pretty much every server since then. Castlevania: Vampire's Kiss? My Transmuter with a Gold Ingot in her inventory, forever trying to change it back into lead and thus complete the alchemy circle. The Way Inn? My insane Rogue conversing with, questioning and arguing with the Child's Doll in her pocket; only in her own mind did the doll talk back. Pirate Isles of the Forgotten Realms? My Cleric of Umberlee who never sold any gemstones she found, instead carrying them around and throwing or dropping a few of them into the sea every time she kneeled in the lapping surf to pray to her goddess. Modern Zombie Survival? My Fighter with three Skill Points in Perform (courtesy of a DM who was kind enough to reassign those Skill Points); I used the server's writing feature to take a few Sheets of Paper from his loot and turn them into flyers for the "Metalgeddon 2023" concert in Savannah, Georgia, which featured a number of bands both real (ie. GWAR, Kataklysm and Malevolent Creation) and fictitious (ie. Visceratika, Papacy of Hades and Thus Falls Caesar), among whom was the (fictitious yet fittingly named) band Pathogenocide, for whom my Fighter used to play as the rhythm guitarist, so those ordinary Sheets of Paper became mementos of the very last concert that he and his death metal band played before "Z Day," the onset of the Zombie Apocalypse. Star Wars: Rise of the Rebellion? My Twi'lek Bounty Hunter and enforcer/Collections agent for the Commerce Guild, carrying around a Holopad which she used to keep a list of profiles on everyone who owed money to any of the Commerce Guild's subsidiaries, so she could hunt them down and "gently" coax them — through any means necessary — into paying up (while hoping and praying that Darth Vader himself would never show up on that list). Thay? My Cleric of Leira carrying around several copies of the Orcish Cookbook; anyone inquiring about her goddess would receive a copy, with the murky explanation that "The wisdom of the Goddess of Truth will never be found herein, unless it can" (and sometimes following through with "Everything that I've ever said — including what I'm saying now — is a lie" if pressed for more answers). Legacy of the North? My Monk, a, Epic-Level Disciple of the White Rod; her Description notes that she always wears a gemstone in her navel, and, thanks to her vanity, it's usually the most valuable gemstone that she can find; at last count, she still has a single Emerald (plundered from a death tyrant's lair in the Upperdark, after she punched and kicked the death tyrant back to death) which never leaves her inventory, since that's the one she stuffs into her belly button some time between waking up and flogging herself during her morning routine.
And now I'm here. Hello, The Savage Frontier! It's nice that so many of the junk items on this server have had their weights reduced, so carrying them around is easier. Have I been keeping up with the little tradition of carrying these little looty roleplay aids? Yes. Yes, I have.
Ashanti M'bao
• Two Large Cat Skulls, eight Animal Bones, a Gargoyle Skull and a Bear's Claw (Ashanti's Description says that she decorates her longbow, her melee weapons and her body with the bones, teeth, claws, feathers and other trophy pieces harvested from her past kills, and she has indeed taken down a Cougar and a Brown Bear (among other beasts) in her hunts. So the animal parts back up the Description quite nicely.)
Barleigh Stoughfarrow
• A Spatula, two Skillets and a Frying Pan (because, being a Paladin of Chauntea, she loves to cook. How many of y'all have seen Barleigh hovering over the cooking pot with spatula and pan in hand?)
• A Clay Bowl (for eating her daily bread and other repasts on the road)
• A Ceramic Mug (because she enjoys a good cup of mead too. Chauntea gives people grain, which becomes booze, so pour a tall glass in the Harvest Mother's name before prayer time!)
• A Brass Chalice (for ceremonial use with Chauntean Highharvestide rites and such)
• Harvested Barley, Rye and (sometimes) Wheat (which Barleigh typically leaves at the altar when she goes to pray; that's Chauntea's share of the harvest, and She will do with the grain as She sees fit.)
Orna Siltelis
• A Magnifying Glass (so she can closely examine any merchandise that someone's trying to trade or sell to her, checking it for flaws, stamps of authenticity and so on.)
• A Small Mirror (because she cares about her appearance, and the mirror helps her primp and groom herself several times a day.)
Lilibeza Hillington
• A Neck Pouch of various Rune Stones (eleven and counting. They're used for fortune telling as well as wizardry and witchcraft in general.)
• A Gold Pentagram with Carbuncle (another focus for her command over magic.)
• A Religious Scroll (because if one would work with the Shadow Weave, then one must first learn a few things about the goddess Shar.)
• Two Scrolls with Lists of Reagents (recipes which Lilibeza can use for casting spells, scribing scrolls, enchanting wands and — coming soon — brewing potions.)
• A Porcelain Mug (because Lilibeza comes from an Upper Class background, and drinking wine out of pewter or clay is for smallfolk!)
Rubella Thrusher
• A Clay Mug (because Rubella is one of those aforementioned smallfolk. Plus, it's her begging cup, and shabby appearances are crucial if one wishes to evoke sympathy and make money from panhandling.)
• A Dried Butterfly (her personal reminder that beauty eventually fades, whether from age, death, trauma or pestilence.)
• Two Human Skulls (the lightweight ones, not the five-pounders. Rubella left the Vast with these after surviving Procampur's Featherlung epidemic. More than that? She's not saying.)
So...what otherwise useless loot bits are in your character's backpack?
And now I'm here. Hello, The Savage Frontier! It's nice that so many of the junk items on this server have had their weights reduced, so carrying them around is easier. Have I been keeping up with the little tradition of carrying these little looty roleplay aids? Yes. Yes, I have.
Ashanti M'bao
• Two Large Cat Skulls, eight Animal Bones, a Gargoyle Skull and a Bear's Claw (Ashanti's Description says that she decorates her longbow, her melee weapons and her body with the bones, teeth, claws, feathers and other trophy pieces harvested from her past kills, and she has indeed taken down a Cougar and a Brown Bear (among other beasts) in her hunts. So the animal parts back up the Description quite nicely.)
Barleigh Stoughfarrow
• A Spatula, two Skillets and a Frying Pan (because, being a Paladin of Chauntea, she loves to cook. How many of y'all have seen Barleigh hovering over the cooking pot with spatula and pan in hand?)
• A Clay Bowl (for eating her daily bread and other repasts on the road)
• A Ceramic Mug (because she enjoys a good cup of mead too. Chauntea gives people grain, which becomes booze, so pour a tall glass in the Harvest Mother's name before prayer time!)
• A Brass Chalice (for ceremonial use with Chauntean Highharvestide rites and such)
• Harvested Barley, Rye and (sometimes) Wheat (which Barleigh typically leaves at the altar when she goes to pray; that's Chauntea's share of the harvest, and She will do with the grain as She sees fit.)
Orna Siltelis
• A Magnifying Glass (so she can closely examine any merchandise that someone's trying to trade or sell to her, checking it for flaws, stamps of authenticity and so on.)
• A Small Mirror (because she cares about her appearance, and the mirror helps her primp and groom herself several times a day.)
Lilibeza Hillington
• A Neck Pouch of various Rune Stones (eleven and counting. They're used for fortune telling as well as wizardry and witchcraft in general.)
• A Gold Pentagram with Carbuncle (another focus for her command over magic.)
• A Religious Scroll (because if one would work with the Shadow Weave, then one must first learn a few things about the goddess Shar.)
• Two Scrolls with Lists of Reagents (recipes which Lilibeza can use for casting spells, scribing scrolls, enchanting wands and — coming soon — brewing potions.)
• A Porcelain Mug (because Lilibeza comes from an Upper Class background, and drinking wine out of pewter or clay is for smallfolk!)
Rubella Thrusher
• A Clay Mug (because Rubella is one of those aforementioned smallfolk. Plus, it's her begging cup, and shabby appearances are crucial if one wishes to evoke sympathy and make money from panhandling.)
• A Dried Butterfly (her personal reminder that beauty eventually fades, whether from age, death, trauma or pestilence.)
• Two Human Skulls (the lightweight ones, not the five-pounders. Rubella left the Vast with these after surviving Procampur's Featherlung epidemic. More than that? She's not saying.)
So...what otherwise useless loot bits are in your character's backpack?
)
