How do you portray Van Richten, Watermay-Foxgrove, And VRS?
Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2017 7:08 am
As title says, i'm gonna introduce my player to VRS. They will meet Van Richten soon, and even though i read a lot about him, i dont really know how to portray/introduce him when I roleplay.
I thought he should be a grim and gritty old man, that always seem to keep some disgraceful and sinister secret for himself. But I thought he could also be played as a kind old man, always willing to help (but in what extent? How much he would help the players?), since he's a renown hero.
Actually we are playing the Touch of Death, and i think i'll (re)introduce VR after this adventure ends (when the party will go back to Core).
At the beginning of the campaign they received a letter inviting them to meet W.F. (Watermay-Foxgrove) of VRS. Honestly i want my player to get involved in VR adventures, so I will introduce Watermay-Foxgrove but they will not be the central mentor for the player. I'd rather prefer if VR himself will be a mentor for the party, but i'm not sure how much help should he give to the players. What do you think? How do you handle mentors in general? I dont want mentors to be the "panic button" of the party, that they press when they are in troubles. Last time they met VR (during our previous campaign) they deliberately asked his help to catch a great werebear. I was unsure about what to do. VR is a good man, always looking for help others and fight evil, so Role-wise he should've accepted that request, although I did not want to have VR do all the job and steal the scene from the party, so i just had him injured (level drained) and I had him giving some advice on how to hunt down the beast and cater the party with some herbs and traps for the occasion. I did not like how it went out cause my players did not put much trust into VR (since i portrayed him badly, they did not trust him as the hero they heard about). I really wanted them to see him as the hero he is, but i did not want to have him do all the job.
I would like to let them know how strong and prepared VR(and other important NPC in general) is, without giving them the chance to abuse the thing to overcome their own challenges.
I dont like the "You see an old man fighting a giant monster and he slay the monster like a hot knife cut a fresh butter", because it's not ravenloft (And VR usually beats his enemies with intellect rather than brute force). In ravenloft AFAIK monsters are terrible creatures that threatens everyone including the most expert of monster hunters. I dont want to make monster resemble other High fantasy settings, where heroes look out to fight dragons just for their own honor, but at the same time I dont want to make Mentors and other powerful characters look like a random farmer with a magic sword trying to survive that monster. I hope you get what I mean.
How do you introduce those character in your campaigns? what role did you give them and how did they interact with the party?
TL;DR
I need some advice on how to present and portray mentors and important character in a way that the player will understand they are powerful and famous (so that the party will look for them and they will be engaged with those characters and their quest-line) but they will not ask for their active help and/or try to abuse the fact they know the hero.
To me it's pretty logic, if I meet Elminster in faerun i will not ask him to help me fight those kobolds in the woods, but i may ask him some advices. But obviously that's just me, other people sometime try to make their challenge easier.
I was thinking I could pre-introduce VR from the next session with a bard or something similar telling a story aout one of his advernture. This will lead to a "mini-WOAH" when they will meet the man from that story later on. What do you think?
Feel free to give me any impression on how to introduce and tie those character to the plot and to the party.
Thanks in advance
I thought he should be a grim and gritty old man, that always seem to keep some disgraceful and sinister secret for himself. But I thought he could also be played as a kind old man, always willing to help (but in what extent? How much he would help the players?), since he's a renown hero.
Actually we are playing the Touch of Death, and i think i'll (re)introduce VR after this adventure ends (when the party will go back to Core).
At the beginning of the campaign they received a letter inviting them to meet W.F. (Watermay-Foxgrove) of VRS. Honestly i want my player to get involved in VR adventures, so I will introduce Watermay-Foxgrove but they will not be the central mentor for the player. I'd rather prefer if VR himself will be a mentor for the party, but i'm not sure how much help should he give to the players. What do you think? How do you handle mentors in general? I dont want mentors to be the "panic button" of the party, that they press when they are in troubles. Last time they met VR (during our previous campaign) they deliberately asked his help to catch a great werebear. I was unsure about what to do. VR is a good man, always looking for help others and fight evil, so Role-wise he should've accepted that request, although I did not want to have VR do all the job and steal the scene from the party, so i just had him injured (level drained) and I had him giving some advice on how to hunt down the beast and cater the party with some herbs and traps for the occasion. I did not like how it went out cause my players did not put much trust into VR (since i portrayed him badly, they did not trust him as the hero they heard about). I really wanted them to see him as the hero he is, but i did not want to have him do all the job.
I would like to let them know how strong and prepared VR(and other important NPC in general) is, without giving them the chance to abuse the thing to overcome their own challenges.
I dont like the "You see an old man fighting a giant monster and he slay the monster like a hot knife cut a fresh butter", because it's not ravenloft (And VR usually beats his enemies with intellect rather than brute force). In ravenloft AFAIK monsters are terrible creatures that threatens everyone including the most expert of monster hunters. I dont want to make monster resemble other High fantasy settings, where heroes look out to fight dragons just for their own honor, but at the same time I dont want to make Mentors and other powerful characters look like a random farmer with a magic sword trying to survive that monster. I hope you get what I mean.
How do you introduce those character in your campaigns? what role did you give them and how did they interact with the party?
TL;DR
I need some advice on how to present and portray mentors and important character in a way that the player will understand they are powerful and famous (so that the party will look for them and they will be engaged with those characters and their quest-line) but they will not ask for their active help and/or try to abuse the fact they know the hero.
To me it's pretty logic, if I meet Elminster in faerun i will not ask him to help me fight those kobolds in the woods, but i may ask him some advices. But obviously that's just me, other people sometime try to make their challenge easier.
I was thinking I could pre-introduce VR from the next session with a bard or something similar telling a story aout one of his advernture. This will lead to a "mini-WOAH" when they will meet the man from that story later on. What do you think?
Feel free to give me any impression on how to introduce and tie those character to the plot and to the party.
Thanks in advance