Post/Author/DateTime

Post

#1 zombiegleemax Jul 18, 2004 8:32:02

The Ties That Bind Family and friends play an important role in most people's lives and yet many campaigns ignore this simple fact. Childhood, adolescence and early adulthood are very impressionable times not spent alone. Rather, many people have come and gone to mold the PC's life and way of thinking. Many characters should have a definitive past and have an idea of who the people were who shared this time with them. These people formed and can continue to form an important support network for the character. They serve notice to the PCs that their actions do not take place in a vacuum and that they have a real sense of responsibility to themselves and others. Most PCs begin their adventuring careers at an age where their parents should still be alive. The influence of the parental unit cannot be overemphasized. They help mold the PC's way of thinking. Nurturing and supportive parents provide the PC with the confidence and assurance with which to pursue life. Ambivalent, self-interested or abusive parents can provide PCs with the motivation to excel and never look back. The weight of parental expectation and participation in a young PC's life should be something tangibly felt. No matter how old or powerful a PC gets, one should always feel answerable to one's parents. Siblings or lack thereof complete the immediate family picture. The placement of birth among one's siblings should play a role in relations among them and one's parents. Elder children tend to be regarded more critically by their parents while the raising of younger children tends to be a reaction to 'correct' earlier perceived mistakes. Growing up with brothers and sisters is an education in cooperation, diplomacy, patience and (at times) the use of force. Siblings can serve as a reinforcement of positive familial feelings or strike at insecurities. An interesting twist to relationships is the addition of a spouse and child to the mix. The PC's must weigh the need to adventure and provide for the family against the potential of a fatality which shatters that family. The stress of having to juggle one's adventuring life and private life should be very challenging. Adventuring is not really a job, it is a way of life. It is possible to bring the 'job's' stress home and have it effect people who don't really care that you impressively slew a dozen foemen but that you are still happy, healthy and emotionally available to them. Arguably one's childhood friends are as important in one's maturation as an adult as one's parents. Pre-adventuring friends know and are known by the PC to an elemental degree and can include teachers, mentors and those who have shown kindness to the PC. A PC's adventuring career allows friends to vicariously share their earliest childhood fantasies together. In this way, friends can hear of stories and anecdotes, ranging from glamorous to tedious, and feel as though, in some way, they were all there together. Complications and Adventure Hooks: With family and friends as party members every battle or potentially dangerous situation takes on a greater immediacy where the PC must consider the relation's life, his or her own life and the survival of the party as a whole. Impaired judgments may arise in an effort to shield loved ones from the worst of a battle or exact retribution after one. PCs may feel the need to live up to the expectations of their family and friends. They undertake the most dangerous and high profile missions which may conflict with a party whose agenda and expectations are more modest. Payback is due to foes who have killed, injured, stolen or otherwise molested loved ones and PCs may not be clearheaded in the planning and execution of such endeavors which may violate alignment and party ethics. The situation becomes even more complicated if family and friends are directly involved against each other, forcing the PC into the role of peacemaker or resigned vengeance seeker. Every family and circle of friends has closely guarded confidences and secrets. Friends and families must be prevented from accidentally or deliberately divulging these secrets. Success guarantees attention and attention from family and friends may manifest in requests of monetary assistance, physical labour and status boosting. A single death to a de-sensitized PC may seem trivial. It most definitely should not, especially in the cases of the passing of one's parents, best friend, spouse or only child. Powerful grief-stricken PCs may try to cheat death of the deceased through revivification magic or a Gilgamesh-like quest to the Underworld. The inclusion of family and pre-adventuring relationships into the campaign enriches it. Potential adventures exist through that background of relationships. PCs are like other people in that they are heavily influenced by those around them at a young age. Successful adventurers too often forget their humble roots and concentrate solely on their next conquest. The past need not remain in the background but can influence the present as well as shape the future.