All memorable
roleplaying stories need unforgettable antagonists. The characters will be
nothing but hack n’ slashers if they
aren’t opposed by vivid, convincing, multidimensional non-player characters.
Every single RPG book highlights the importance of recurring villains, and how
much flavor they can add to a story if their goals are a little more inventive
than simply “I’m evil and I want to destroy everything for no specific reason”.
Having the deceiving antagonist moving in the shadows, using his minions to
thwart the characters’ actions, allowing him to escape a direct assault, to
return later with additional power, is paramount in most long running games.
But what if the
antagonist dies before the game master planned? We can simply shrug and make
the next villain enter the scene, or we can grasp the opportunity to give birth
to an enduring legacy.
Esra Nacros Logos was
the name of a dwarf wizard. Notice how the phrase mentions was. Esra was killed in a mid-campaign battle with the heroes in a
rather spectacular way. He had first encountered the group in the beginning of
the campaign, when he was part of an invading force that had conquered the
heroes’ city. When the players liberated the city they had a brief battle with
Esra, from which both he and another dwarf escaped when defeat was obvious. The
other dwarf was the typical brutish “I destroy everything with flames while
spitting and cursing”. He wasn’t particularly impressive. Regarding Esra, he was
a mage specialized in the school of Enchantment. Very polite, easily excitable
when placed before new things or recent discoveries, and actually admiring some
of the heroes despite their differences.
When Esra and the heroes
met in battle again, thirteen game sessions later, he surprised them. Protected
by an invisibility spell, he approached the group’s magician and tried to
perform a feeblemind in him (a potent
spell that reduces a character’s intelligence and charisma scores to the
minimum, thus making spellcasters unable to cast spells). Esra actually
whispered to his opponent “I deeply apologize for using such malevolent
techniques in an esteemed arcane colleague”. But the hand of fate decided that such was not to be the flow of
events. The hero saved against the spell, and having that exact same spell
memorized, made Esra taste his own venom. At that exact same moment, having his
invisibility compromised, and unable to communicate coherently, the dwarf mage
was struck by a charging paladin, mounted in his pegasus. Completely helpless,
Esra’s death arrived swiftly.
Now, I could simply say
“That isn’t much of a problem. In a world with access to magic I can easily
resurrect him.” Well, I did so once, and the players almost severed my head.
Players hate to be deprived of their ultimate victories. I was disappointed
with Esra’s premature death, but his fate was sealed.
Then, lightning struck!
Although the character was dead, his name need not be discarded into the pile
of “victims of the heroes’ cleaver”. Esra was a cherished hero for his people.
Why not put his corpse to rest in a mausoleum? In ancient times, monuments like
mausoleums would take years, sometimes a lifetime, to be built. But in an
adventuring world with access to magic, they can be constructed in a matter of
hours. And the mausoleum can be a point of interest for countless things. It
can be a landmark, a place of holy pilgrimage, a future dungeon filled with the
undead to be explored by a new party of adventurers in a generation to come.
What about Esra’s
spellbook? It was taken by the party magician when the enchanter died. Can it
be understood as a kind of Holy Grail
from the dwarves’ perspective? Will it draw countless hordes of young
adventuring dwarves willing to go on a crusade to recover the artifact?
Let us not forget about
Esra’s family. They will most likely want revenge. He may be dead, but his
siblings, apprentices, kinsmen, live on.
Names in a story play a
larger-than-life role. They can be the foundation of lore and legends. The most
rewarding aspect in a roleplaying game is the continuing collective story
building. It falls in the hands of each group member (both game master and
players) to give meaning to the key elements. Won’t it be astonishingly
breathtaking if some years from now a new player looks to the map and asks:
“What is this Esra’s Mausoleum signaled in the map?” And suddenly the other
players’ eyes start glimmering…
Note: the image above is
a portrayal of Drizzt Do’Urden and his black panther by artist Jeff Easley. It
depicts one of the most iconic names/characters in fantasy roleplaying games,
created by author R. A. Salvatore for a series of novels in the “Forgotten
Realms” setting (part of Dungeons & Dragons).
