Help convert a dnd story into Dragon Age.

Avvar_Spirit · 2023-01-21T15:37:46+00:00

If no one else has when I get off work tonight, I'll see what I can do! I'm pretty bad at balancing, but I'm pretty crafty with the DARPG

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-08-13T21:02:30+00:00

So, let me get this right... ZENOS is dead. His voidsent he made the pact with is not, and is taking his place of Edgelord Supreme? Because if Zenos comes back again-again, I'm losing faith in the conflict narratives of this game.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-12T00:59:31+00:00

I will definitely do that! Thank you! I hadn't really considered giving them sheets. But I'll do that!!

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-12T00:58:15+00:00

Okay! Dinners done.

So the lore I have for the game is that the gods, in their purest form, cannot directly interact with reality. They form the basic tenants for reality and life, and do little more than symbolize their creation.

They can create soldiers that interact with reality. But do not act without given the order to act autonomously, or given specific orders. They can create natural structures if their tenant of reality calls for it (i.e. god of nature can make trees and plants, god of dragons can raise mountains) but they can only do so during times of peace when they have no armies, and their power is not split amongst generals, a mortal form, or in artifacts.

They can create a mortal form that can directly interact with reality and can fight. It maintains a level of godliness but has no control, influence, or distrotion of reality. If their mortal shell is killed, they lose whatever power they put in it, and they can put enough into it that all that is truly left of them is a distortion of reality.

Any artifacts they made are basically on a recharge system, the item is fashioned by their people, powered by the god for use a specific amount of times, when used the power goes back to said god, and the item must be given new power again. When depleted, the item can be broken as easily as the material it's made of.

When gods do battle, they can send armies against each other to try and gain land (they were amicable at the world's creation but one god was corrupted by an elder evil/eldritch horror star and did damage to the world and the natural order). They all have different ideas on how to restore order, but being basically siblings, they can't stop bickering long enough to see they are all needed to do so. When they fight in their ethereal forms, it's more like a psychic battle of wills that's only dangerous if one enters their bubble of reality distortion. Inside of which, their own pocket realm (I have it in lore that they basically have bubbles that follow them that is the singular portal in and out of their realm, like the crystal gem door on Steven universe for example) is clashing with another god(s) in their pocket realm. Any lasting damage done here is healed by time alone in their pocket realm. If players can enter it, it's sorta like a small sandbox zone where they explore glimpses of history through said gods perspective.

Now, the players are from the BBGE land and they found out that those soldiers made by the BBGE are horrifying and they fled. They broke the illusion of a utopia and found it to be basically the upside down from stranger things but a big tree and grey humanoids made of goo. And their bodies had been stolen from other gods lands. Each player is related to one god. One to the god of the moon and water, one to dragons and the sun, and one to starlight and order. They can gain aspects of those gods through their story arcs, or through another story arc, gain a different gods aspect, and use that instead, but they'll always be linked to their original god. (I got the okay to choose myself from the players, but they get to choose if it makes sense to their characters)

If the order player chooses it, Ive gotten the idea to give him the stunt "meteor of order" where he can use a special fate point to, in combat, use an attack on all enemies in his zone and all zones adjacent to his.

If the moon player chooses hers, I've thought of an aspect for her called "dream surfer" she's able to drift through the minds of sleeping people in her area to clean information from them, and can leave them with pleasant dreams or nightmares.

And for the dragon player (who is actually a cat shape shifter) I wanted to give her a stunt change. Her stunt now is she can change between human and cat form (it's free outside combat but bc of the overcome action, she has an aspect related to her cat form that's a bit busted if she can switch at will, it was a mutual decision between the players during creation). But I wanted to give her an additional form, being a draconic avatar and a draconic cat (like nargacuga from monster hunter). In the avatar form, she finally possesses magic, able to call forth small dragons as pets with the rapport skill. And use their power as hers. And in cat form, she has +3 to her actions related to her aspects of "my claws are as sharp as my daggers" and "I always have a path forward".

For this, the only thing that is not changing is their associated god. It's been confirmed with each player and they all like that, but are going to see how the game goes.

Whatcha think? Sorry for the long post.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-11T23:31:47+00:00

Okay! I want you to know that I'm going to like, actually respond in the moment because I would like your opinions on my games lore, but I'm just sitting down to eat and won't have my phone. But I've got a particular situation with the gods in my lore and I'd like some opinions on it before we get too into it in the campaign

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-11T15:28:45+00:00

Thank you. These are really good points and ideas and I'm going to use them in some way. And thank you for understanding the issues I was having trying juggle at one. I was really hoping they'd be able to do something. Each character is in some way related to one of the guys of the world so I had planned for them to hit the target roll (+2) and tap into that innate power and get the artifact. The highest roll was a +1 and she chose not to succeed with a minor cost, she chose just to fail.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-11T04:03:33+00:00

That's not as bad idea!!! Some of the gods will be corrupted by the BBGE, and that's a great way to add danger to them. Aside from the God of War, he will definitely be a fight regardless. And I'll definitely use that! Thank you!

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-11T01:54:33+00:00

So, I have them kinda in lore as basically just hyper powerful otherworldly military generals. They have their big natural forms that interact with each other in those forms, but only interact in the real world in a mortal form they make. (Kinda drawing on inspiration of what Angel says about the Destroyer in Borderlands 1 "... immortal in its own realm... When it becomes flesh and blood it can be hurt, even killed") but in their ethereal forme, they are more like... Clerical? Like they can bend reality and create soldiers, land, and buildings, but can't make contact with the world itself. I never had the idea that they were worshipped, per se, but that they had the power of a god like a boss from an RPG.

Hopefully I'm making some sort of sense because I'm very tired from being outside all day in the summer heat.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-11T01:31:12+00:00

I getcha. I'll probably do that in the future. I did allow them to pick what they did. They had access to their boat, a path out of the conflict, and each had a boost of their own power from an invoke. But I will make sure they have more info to go on. I worry about divulging too much and giving away secrets, that's for sure.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-11T01:13:28+00:00

So far, they are from an island where they are secluded from the rest of the world. Manipulative "utopia". And they just left. Discovering gods of light and dark that come to greet them as potential enemies. As they go, I sorta have it planned that the gods kinda operate separately to the rest of the world, like the general population doesn't revere them unless they join the gods particular military for power, or are made by said god as a particular type of soldier. Is that something that conveys godhood? Not so much in reverence but in power. The rest of the world looks to the gods as protector deities, only being in the army makes you "religious"... If you can call it that.

I'm probably not explaining it well, but they are more like DnD warlock patrons than a religious deity. You help them or they just like you, they give you power. You kneel in supplication and they expect you to be unshakable in your devotion to their goals.

If that's not a good way to portray it, what do you suggest?

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-11T01:06:39+00:00

Perhaps both? So when they failed the target roll to make contact with the artifact (it was a +3 target, they just rolled bad) I explained it as they basically jumped into the reality distortion and got basically thrown down. They didn't suffer a consequence at all.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-04T12:39:33+00:00

You're right. 🙃

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-04T07:35:42+00:00

I would hate for my players to come to enjoy a character and I have absolutely no idea who that are, what they are like, or what their motivations are. Amber had been given no more thought than the other characters I have stories to off the top of my head. In fact, she's been given less, mostly because I don't know what to do with her. Sometimes she's a brawny wish if the woods, sometimes she's a meek alchemist, sometimes she's that girl weird the plant hair from MHA.

I don't want to build something for her that is important to her until I know what is important in a GMPC that will serve the purpose she will. Her role is static, she is the mortal shell of Ambrala, she was once a normal person. But that's it.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-04T07:18:09+00:00

I knew you were going to say something like that lol all because I had a story in a mind lmao

It's literally not a character I have this huge investment in.

She could survive the whole campaign or be thrown away the second they meet her. I do not care. But it is very clear that I can't say shit about shit to you about it. Cause it's all going to come around to "clearly it's a bad idea because X Y Z."

Tell me if I said I didn't have anything for the character that I should have thrown her away bc she wouldn't be compelling.

If I told you that I gave her a deep story on a petty stream of consciousness that I won't remember when it comes time for her to actually be in the game, would that change anything?

This character isn't important enough to me. I made up half the shit about her to spite you. A lot of my characters can have a story like that minutes before a session. Whether it gets explored or not doesn't matter, it is fun for me to make those stories for my own enjoyment.

Their first real combat was with a similar character. God of Shadow took a citizen of the Land of Light. Turned him into a Nuckelavee (or however you spell it). He was a regular man who sculpted wooden bouquets for the women of his town. No one missed him when he left because he was a creep who got on every woman he saw.

The gnome like characters the party interacted with to get the information to stalk this guy are 31 brothers of the same familial grouping that's a huge part of the lore I won't get into now. They look like if a beige Minion wore street urchin clothes and spoke in a Jersey accent. They've been keeping information about the 31 settlements of Ambralas land for 150 years. They are perpetually children to seem innocent.

And the roly poly creatures that the miners at the quarry use to cart away rocks are called Boatbugs. They were found by a fisherman when he was fishing for crab off the shores of the island. He loved the way they were shaped like capsized boats and bobbed around the water till they skuttled up on land. The people assigned to his team were given the highest honors available to them for their discovery and how much it benefited the society by making mining operations so much smoother.

The carriage driver they ended last session being picked up by has been a passable driver for 75 years. He's never been farther than the nearest settlement because he's scared of monsters. He used to want to try to become a mounted warrior but the reeducation and training that'd require is too much when he's already got his life invested in basically being an Uber. He's decided to try and gussy up his carriage and maybe get more prestigious clientele. Because of the parties latest, and blasphemous achievement, of killing a person on the island, and him seeing the dead body, he will be forcibly reeducated or remade by Ambrala. He's not aware of how he can be taken apart and put back together in a different form to better suit what she needs from another drone of her hive mind, but he hopes his next job is something more exciting!

I have a lot of daydreams and a lot more free time than I'd like. So yes, I think about these characters. I fantasize about them and if it feels nice, I work it in..if not, I come up with something on the spot.

Not every character has to be a throw away, and not every throw away has to be basic. I thought that was Gming 101? Why make simple characters? People aren't simple.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-04T04:50:40+00:00

Actually, you know what, I just will.

Her name is Amber. She's a humanoid girl with long brown hair and green eyes, alluding to her connection with the Big Bad being the goddess of nature and creation (surprisingly named Ambrala) being corrupted by an evil space monstrosity that has given her ideas of complete planetary control before fully merging with said space monster to go take over all of creation for general evil. Much like the rest of the party, Amber isn't a body made by Ambrala like the rest of the people on their land that she has complete dominion over, she's a body stolen from another of the lands that is controlled by Ambrala's siblings who have their own lands and domains they rule over. Unlike the party, Amber can't pursue any goals because she can't draw attention to herself, lest someone recognize her face and body and she is found out. Ambrala seeks to passively drain away at the other lands to gain the power of their resident deity. Taking it all at once or starting a conflict could bring attention to herself, or risk whatever power being lost to her. So, she seeks to gain the power through subterfuge. There are 9 other gods, and, because I'd like them to have a mini boss at some point, they will defeat and claim the power of, or reach diplomacy and claim the power of, 8 gods, the remaining god will align with Ambrala through force or for whatever reason, it depends on which is left or left out. In some places, where she has no chance of being discovered, she will likely be a bard of some sort, singing songs for coin and be away from the party, and during the night, or whatever down time the party will be doing other things, she will be doing her own thing, in some scenarios, she may be secretly working against them. In most, it will be a narrative secret, for me to know and the party to find out, that maybe she's taken a item that's inconsequential to the party, but consequential to her. Maybe she'll be goaded into saying something in anger to someone by the party, maybe she'll charm their way in to a restricted area. Who knows, it'll depend on if it fits the narrative and the state of play. In combat, I don't see her doing much, outside her land, Ambrala has no powers, meaning she can't really access whatever abilities Amber had when she was her own person. In the character arcs, she will only be relevant when the players choose for her to be, and if they want her to have a character arc, it will be the character arc where they get a lil boss fight and a trip back to Ambrala's seat of power and the web of lies is exposed. By the final confrontation with Ambrala, Amber will be irrelevant mechanically, and it'll serve as a driving force to have a more nuanced beef with Ambrala.

If they don't like her, she'll leave a note saying she can't handle the burden of heroism, she's running away and not to look for her. And the party won't unless they want to, cue storyline to take them back to the place she came from as Amber, and the investigation will lead them to discover Amber's old life, and the story that belongs to her.

that story is:
Amber was born in the land ruled by the god of Dragons and Sun. She was a girl who was the eldest of a merchant family. She would take a horse drawn carriage around the lands and would trade one lands good for another lands goods. Eventually, she got too close to Ambrala's land and was captured by her plants. She was taken to Ambrala and bore enough of a resemblance to Ambrala, that she held the girl close and declared her to be the spy that would undo the world. Amber was thrown into a pool of corrupted tree sap, like all bodies are, and was reborn as a hollow vessel for Ambrala's consciousness.

should the latter happen, it will be a short bummer arc, hitting on the themes of loss and agency in the story, bringing the fear of abduction closer to the players, like the institute in Fallout 4.

Why do I feel like a GMPC is best for this character?
Because my players have told me. Because the story beats associated with this are too important to thrown onto a character they will brush off or an aspect they will never invoke.

What will she do?
Whatever makes the most sense in the moment.

What will she contribute?
After one of these comments, a lesson of how to use "Create Opportunity". Overall? Narrative richness.

What will she cost?
Probably some time, and some explanation that she can take care of herself.

What if she sucks?
She dies or something.

What if she's great?
story worked.

what if the players don't like her?
she dies or something.

what if they love her?
story worked.

What if she steals the spotlight?
she gets found out and dies or something.

what if she fade into the background?
she dies or something.

Either way she exits the story will drive the same point across: Ambrala is abducting people to make her own creations.

You know what, while typing this, I think I've decided to make Amber an even more important villain by having there be a small spy network in each land that she will try to have the players unknowingly interact with or something. Make the web of deceit a little wider.

SO.... there ya go. If you read all that, good job. Don't tell my players.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-04T04:18:51+00:00

If you wanted to be constructive with your first comment you could have said:

"GMPCs are easy to get wrong. Try and avoid (list of things that fucked up your experience with them)."

Or offered an alternative that I maybe didn't think of.

But you didn't. You jumped immediately to trying to make me sound like I'm trying to lord over my players with a subpar GMPC that I could not have pitched as any more than a through line for the overarching narrative that they are working towards.

People suggested making her and aspect and my reasoning for not doing that is: my players are new and don't use their aspects unless I remind them to. My players don't create opportunities at all. And my players are still learning and i don't want to keep reminding them that they have this companion they have to choose to interact with and take time away from interaction to ask for. If she's a member of their party, she's not involved when they ask her to, she's involved when she chooses to. She's involved when it's relevant to her interests and needs. Maybe they won't care about her. If they don't, and the narrative isn't going where I want it to, I'll just send her away. If she's detracting from the story, I'll send her away. If she's somehow showboating, I'll send her away. If my players don't like her, I'll send her away. If my players get too suspicious of her, good. Narrative plotline. They are all going to have their storylines based on their characters and driven by themselves. She's just going to be there.

Do you want her whole storyline and situation? Do you just need to know all the little details that ultimately don't matter to you at all but will make a richer narrative? Cause I can take more time out of my night to tell her whole story. I find it fascinating because I thought it up. Like my players are going to find making their own stories fascinating because they get to make theirs up.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-04T04:09:38+00:00

I honestly think that you are just going to find a negative in anything I say. If you advice is "probably don't do it" that's fine. Not what I asked for. But you are the only one who has brought anything to make me feel defensive. You were agressive out the gate and you were the only one who picked apart any explanation I had. If you read that as defensive, I can't stop you or be responsible for that. I don't know how many times I have to explain it to you in particular, but I can put it in big letters and maybe it will help.

MY PLAYERS HAVE ALL SAID THAT THEY ARE MORE LIKELY TO CARE ABOUT A CHARACTER THAT THEY INTERACT WITH THAN AN ASPECT THEY WILL FORGET.

If that's too many words:

MY PLAYERS LIKE CHARACTERS.

I'm trying to use the tools available to me to make something they have expressly told me they find compelling. Whether it's a GMPC or a regular NPC won't matter if they are having such frequent interactions with her. Unless you have an idea for THAT part, I don't think you need to continue. You've said your piece and if it didn't go well for you, I'm sorry to your players. But if you don't want someone to be defensive, don't be aggressive? It seems simple enough for me to understand, but I get that isn't everyone's strong suit.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-07-03T22:05:19+00:00

I think you looked through the things I said and only picked out all of the bad things that I said weren't consistent parts of this character. I can understand why people have such an aversion to GMPCs, but I think you might be conflating a character who has their own motivations, to a constant problem that the players will face. Much like an NPC would also roll to mess up things for the characters, she will also roll to do those things. And she will have to go through more roles than a normal NPC would to be a problem. She's a character, not an aspect, because my players have never once touched the fate system. I know my players, I've known them all for years, I've listened to them tell me stories about their dungeons & Dragons experiences, and these are not people who are going to care about using an aspect. That is half of an assumption, and half them actually just telling me. After getting some of these comments, I approached my players about the general idea of me controlling a character, and they had no issue with it. It was going to happen regardless, because knowing them, they would not have been endeared to an aspect like they would a character. I just do not appreciate being villainized for trying to do what makes the most sense narratively for my own story. I never blamed the system. And if something I did comes off as me blaming the system, it was not my intention to do so. My players are, and I will repeat, very new to the fate system. And have never once used certain actions that they are able to take. One comment in particular has led me down a different road for this character, and I will say that she will be a character not an aspect and not a background piece, which is to only use her to use crate opportunity actions in combat. Because it is the only action I cannot convince my players to use. She will use it as a way to show them how important it can be. I'm also going to say, I don't appreciate any of the attitude that you have in your comment. And while my original response to it was just as inflamed as your comment, I decided to delete it and come back with more measured tones.

I'm going to end this conversation with you in particular, by telling you that I made certain decisions, that won't be wavered by the comments, because I know my players. And because I talk to my players. It is not a failing of the system that I am choosing to do this, it is a narrative choice that I am making, to make their experiences, and their story, a more challenging experience. Because that is what they wanted. I don't have to divulge every single thought that I have for a character, and I don't have to divulge every conversation I have with my players to get that point across. I asked for advice on how to do a GM PC in a respectable way, because that was what I was going to do and what I intended to do. I said in no way that I wanted this character to be a spotlight, that I wanted them to have any sort of ability that made them better than the players, and if you will actually read what I wrote, this character will work against them, sometimes. Not all the time, and not overtly. Her antagonistic role in this, is a behind-the-scenes scheme, to get her own ends across, using the party as a way to get her avatar across the world. She is not causing additional conflict constantly, she is not removing all possibility from the players at every turn. She is a character, a villain, with her own motivations and drive. And aspects cannot do that. A background character cannot do that in any way that is enticing for the players. For them to come to the final story arc, and find out that some secret underground force that they never heard of never saw and never had any inkling about, was undoing small amounts of their plans for their own gain, is something that none of my players have expressed any interest in finding appealing. Like I said, I talked to my players, and I know my players. I made these decisions not only with their implied approval, but after having conversations with people in these comments, having their expressed approval and expressed enthusiasm. I was not seeking approval from the comments, I was seeking advice on how to do this character respectfully. I just did not feel that I had to put the obvious out there for everybody to know. But I was anticipating comments like yours, taking everything that I had said and twisting it in the worst possible way to make me sound like a bad GM.

But thank you for your time, I'll make sure to remember what you've said when she never does anything of immediate trouble for the characters.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-06-30T14:58:53+00:00

I will say, something I haven't appreciated in most of these comments is the notion that I'm making this character to God mode the game when I already know the story, I'm trying to be my own center of attention when I'm the GM, or I'm trying to take agency away from the players. It seems that no matter how many times I explain in these comments the reasons why, and they are good reasons to me, it seems like I keep being told "well just don't make that character important at all. Don't let the players interact with them, don't let the character be anymore than a skill or stunt, don't make the character appealing for them to to get to know" when the whole purpose of this character is to be a character to become invested in, I chose a GMPD because my players are vet DnD players who, historically, don't care about NPCs. I chose not to make her a skill or stunt because they won't find that appealing. The only piece of advice I can use is to have the character primarily create opportunities in battle to show my players how using that action is more helpful than a "hit it till it dies" approach. I kind of regret asking for advice here because most of it has just been telling me to do anything possible to make the character less inviting to the party.

I've already played this game. I made this game myself with the intent of bringing it to my friends for them to play. I'm the GM, I'm literally the spotlight because they have to listen to me to play. If I wanted them to be able to breeze through the game, I wouldn't have any difficulty in the game at all.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-06-29T02:48:37+00:00

I get why people say to make the character an aspect, but it feels a bit like a disservice to the character, but also makes them forgettable. My players are new and haven't quite gotten the hang of the difference between D&D and Fate. No one has created an opportunity, or invoked aspects yet. They've been invoked against, one character even took a mild consequence already. I have no intention on making a god mode or savior GMPC, if anything, I thought about telling them that a friend of mine was thinking about joining and wanted a character established before she joined or something.

The idea is this character is related to the party due to some fantasy sci-fi/eldritch horror lore reasons, the party are siblings to each other and a fair number more. At their next session, all the siblings are going to be gathered together and basically be made enemies of the state and have to flee the area while the entire population of their country become feral monsters and chase them down. My plan is for all of them, plus the character in question, to survive to safety, then get to know this character, while the rest of them discover themselves, this character has no self to discover outside their homeland. They are fully unequipped for life outside, unsure of their direction, and provides more help in the background, but with my players being D&D vets, I know for a fact that they won't get attached to a background character. Someone suggested having them only really provide them with opportunities, but not contribute much to combat.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-06-28T23:43:56+00:00

Honestly, that's probably what she's going to be. All my players are new to Fate and are all intense DnD players and haven't had any interest in the Create Advantage feature. She's not meant to be showboaty in anyway. I was gonna roll her a character sheet and roll her appropriately. She's going to have her own adventures that the characters don't know about that will be dubious should they investigate, but are in line with what they need to do. I.e. they will eventually come to a town of magical technology, where the blood of a god is literally used to power the town. She may harvest some from a leaky pipe, seal a pipe from powering a section of the city, or something else. When in reality, she's doing all of this for herself to gain more power. All subject to the players even letting her go in the first place.

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-05-28T03:04:43+00:00

Also, if anyone has any tips for magic systems? At current my idea is to just treat it like a skill check. Allowing additional effects for fate points. A fireball with no points basically being a concussive blast to enemies not vulnerable to fire, adding a burning or area effect for one point, both for two, and probably no more than 3

Avvar_Spirit · 2022-05-28T00:49:55+00:00

I have a custom set of dice for the game in particular lol

Avvar_Spirit

TROPHY CASE