Post/Author/DateTime	Post
flashlightbrown 05-23-06, 01:05 PM	Im going to be playing a halfling druid with a riding dog animal companion in an upcoming campaign. Part of the requirements for a back story for this campaign is that my character must have committed a crime and was caught. I dont have to be evil, but I need to have broken the law. I am planning on playing a good character so I plan to atone for my crime, but I cant decide what crime to have committed. The obvious crimes would be murder, assault or theft but I want something a little more unique or at least a unique reason for committing those crimes. Any ideas? Remember Im a generally a good person.
Morka 05-23-06, 01:57 PM	How serious must be the crime, and how strict is the city? Perhaps is it just forbidden to walk in the city with wild animals? Perhaps did you prevent the Service of Protection Against Disease to kill some dire rats caught in the city's park?
flashlightbrown 05-23-06, 02:24 PM	The crime can be as tame or as serious as I want it to be, but it has to be enough to get me put into jail and I have to want to atone for it. So it has to be something I acknowledge as wrong. Stopping people from killing rats or bringing my dog into the city may be lawfully wrong but I wouldnt want or need to atone for that. Sorry I forgot to mention the need for atonement (either that or revenge but Im trying to be good).
Felyndaer 05-23-06, 02:26 PM	Hey, i've got it! Back when you were a little quarterling (haha, get it?) you loved skipping stones as every one of the little wee-folk does. But you got confident... and reckless... And you ended up accidentally skipping a stone into a shelf at an alchemy shop! The weak chain supporting the severely overburdened shelf snapped, and whoever was underneath it was utterly annihilated by acid, alchemist's fire, and the like. Well? What think you?
flashlightbrown 05-23-06, 03:39 PM	Hmmm, Im liking that. I was thinking of the druid and not about the halfling part of me. Now what about I was pulling a prank and somehow it went very wrong (aka the alchemist shop) and killed or maimed a bunch of people (ie in the inn next door) and/or destroyed a lot of property? Any ideas for a sufficently catastrophic and wayward prank? The sillier and more destructive the prank the better. The world in which we are playing is set up similar to the wild west. We dont have guns or anything, but you have major towns with law enforcement and judges and then you have smaller towns with maybe a sherrif at best and a lot of people dealing with their own problems unless a wandering judge comes by and the citizens are able to pay for his services. Maybe my prank can involve a humourless judge? He'll have to survive (humourously) if the rest of the town is totalled.
Tuah 05-23-06, 05:03 PM	You killed a man who uncaringly planned to destroy forests for useless reasons. ;)
geekling 05-23-06, 05:06 PM	Any ideas for a sufficently catastrophic and wayward prank? The sillier and more destructive the prank the better. Setting fire to things is a classic. Just a small one, not malicious. But it'd be a terrible weeze to make your judge think his house was on fire by lighting a small, but very smokey, one under his window. To see them come running out in their small clothes. Then it just went out of hand, a sudden gust of wind, the fire spread beyond your little halfling's control... And before you know the house really is on fire, tatch roof a-blaze. Ripe ground for the fire to spread to engulf a whole neighbourhood.
nihility 05-23-06, 05:57 PM	Other ideas for a prank gone wrong, in addition to fire: Animal-based pranks. Maybe a rat in a shoe that turned out to be rabid, or a regular whistle exchanged for a dog whistle that resulted in a dog maiming the victim. Alternately, there are various animal-based pranks that could be mistaken for attempted theft (particularly fitting if there's an old-west feel), like letting someone's chickens out. Explosives-based pranks. It's pretty obvious how this could go wrong. Water-based pranks. Not dangerous normally, but I bet they are all kinds of alchemical creations that react with water, such as greek fire. Identity-based pranks. Maybe you impersonated the wrong person. Information-based pranks. Maybe a lie that got out of hand, such as a report of danger (raiders! fire!) that cost lives due to panic, or a forged letter that was taken the wrong way.
flashlightbrown 05-24-06, 12:58 AM	Ok, I think I know what Im going to do and the result will be the destruction of the town. But first I need a way to launch a cow so it crashes through the alchemists roof. I was planning on hitting the cow with a sling stone and make it bolt, or something like that. This is going to be truly Goldbergian, but I need to think of a way to get the cow airborn. I was thinking of one of those rope traps where you tie one end of the rope to a big tall tree and the other end is a loop. The prey steps in the loop and gets strung up in the tree. The always worked so well at flinging the prey (although it was usually the preditor after the prey left after eating the bait) a fair distance. The problem is I have no idea how those traps even work. Im not concerned with the logistics of how big the tree or how strong the rope would need to be to literally fling a cow, but if anyone has any other ideas on how to get a cow airborn or on how one of those traps work please let me know. Im thinking of going for a small farming village so chances are they wont have a spare readied catapult laying around so thats out.
Harrow Blade 05-24-06, 09:37 AM	As amusing as the exploding alchemist story line is I thought I would offer an alternative that may sit well with a halfling druid. After a long time in the wilderness you ventured back into civilization for a time. Whilst you were in a shop/inn/building and your dog outside someone tried to steal from the small saddle bags on the saddle still attached to your dog. Being an animal your dog attacks the man and kills him. Hearing the commotion you come out to find a dead man having been savaged by your faithful animal companion. The local watch arrive shortly after and hold you responsible. You can decide if you choose to surrender, flee or defend yourself. Whilst you did not kill him your self it hangs over your head non the less. Hope this helps Harrow Blade
flashlightbrown 05-24-06, 09:48 AM	Thats good, except I need to actually be guilty. Im going to be in jail for something Im guilty of, and I need to choose whether I wish to atone or whether I wish revenge. Im going to try to be good so I need to atone for what I did, which means it will have to be something I know is wrong but it was either an accident or I was forced to do it (the lesser of two evils).
Harrow Blade 05-25-06, 03:39 AM	Whether you are guilty or not is a matter of perception. Is a person who does not secure thier car atop a hill responsible for the damage it causes when it rolls down? Another Idea is that perhaps in response to poachers or some other destructive group or individual you set traps, snares or something of the sort to take care of them but some how killed an innocent.
rhig 05-26-06, 04:58 PM	You could always say that you shaved the beard of the high-cleric dwarf of some town while he was asleep. The dwarf was a bit mentally ill, so he killed himself when he woke up. 3 days afterwards, a plague hits the same town and wipes out 80% of the population in the first week. The only one who could stop this in time was the very high-cleric you pulled the prank on. But wait - there's more! Seeing their weakened opponents, the nearby orcish clan took over the town, enslaving all those who survive the plague and the attack. There was a chance for the town to win, only if you wouldn't have tricked the best fighter in the country to leave the city and go deliver a package to someone called I.C. Winner, who was actually a frozen cave-dwarf (so I stole a joke from TV, who hasn't?!). You had good intentions (chaotic-good is still good!), and that was a really serious crime.