Character lineages in Tony's Apocalypse D&D

[kscott]

I played in Tony Dowler's SAT-01 Apocalypse D&D game—but this post isn't really about that game.

Tony gave us all nameless pregens, and at the end took the pregens back—names and new levels and all—to re-use in later games. I played and named Nevitt Redhand, the half-elf thief. Then for the rest of the con I kept seeing Nevitt Redhand quotes on the quotes board, which pleased me unreasonably!

So this is what the thread is about: those pregen's stories. There's something about sharing a character that makes you really want to hear their war stories. For those of you who shared in the fates of those characters, tell us the highlights of your time with them!

[kscott]

Game setup background: Tony asked us all why our characters were on this adventure. Nevitt's first incarnation was as a sneak-thief who crossed the wrong lover's father and had to make himself scarce. Seeking out the Purple Worm Graveyard seemed like a good idea at the time.

Career: Nevitt started out as a pretty cautious character. (I think my experience with old-school delving mismatched the Apocalypse World mechanics a bit.) He checked the doors, found the traps, read thieves' signs on tunnels, and scouted the other tunnel when the party found the graveyard. He was a pretty solid character in performance, but the interesting stuff about his development never had much of a chance to get out of my head and into play. He was just about ready to open his mind to the Worm God when he found the etched symbols in the passageway, but the game concluded shortly after.

(If it sounds like that was dull, it surprised me a bit too. In actual play I greatly enjoyed myself. Nevitt just didn't have any stand-out moments apart from a few very good rolls.)

Fate: Nevitt made it out of the Graveyard with his sanity intact, nary a wound, and having hit 2nd level. His portion of the haul was enough for him to retire comfortably for a short while.

So how did Nevitt (and other characters) fare in their alternate histories?

[rafial]

I was the first player of the Dwarf, Blarney Graveltongue. He adventured, having been ejected from Dwarven society for the unforgivable sins of curiosity and talking too much. As I played him, Blarney was aggressive and garrulous, charging ahead in combat and always having something to say on every subject. He played soccer with beetles, willingly sat down to eat at the Banquet Mimic, and tricked two zombies into tearing another of their fellows limb from limb. He made it back from his first delve with fat sacks of purple ivory and some candlesticks.

I don't know what became of him after that.

[sage]

I played Sertan (I think that was the spelling, I just grabbed a name from a spell in the PHB), human Wizard. He was the typical haughty wizard who treated every 'bug' as a feature. Failed spells were, of course, intentional. And when the other party wizard died, Sertan morned that he would no longer have anyone to mock for their ineptitude (right before he took his spell book). After opening his mind to the Purple Wyrm God (the first of many times) he ended up eating dirt, a random result that many other people got. So he was kind of a trend setter, in the department of dirt eating.

I got him past second level, well on his way to third, thanks to having Intelligence as a highlighted stat.

[tonydowler]

The character lineages in the Apocalypse D&D game were epic, as was the final chapter!

Bignose the Wizard died young, going aggro on a feast mimic. Little more is recorded.

Fong the Monk managed to remain penniless throughout the entire trio of adventures. At one point he ordered a hireling to take a particularly nasty risk. The hireling balked and demanded more pay, at which point Fong politely handed over his one and only gold piece. He died in a miscast fireball.

Serten the wizard leveled like a madman and forged a strong connection with the worm god. He spent adventure three, The Old Crypt, going aggro on people in a desperate attempt to gain enough XP for fifth level so he could cast fireball. His one and only fireball miscast with snakeyes, killing him and most of the party in the final room.

Mallon the Cleric had a pretty workhorse life. He turned many undead. He cast spiritual hammer to good effect. He died in a massive explosion.

Blarney the Dwarf was played as a bit of misfit through two games (maybe because he carries a sword rather than an axe). He acquitted himself well in the epic fight with the Malevolent Jelly of Eyes and Mouths and later Sgt. Kerrick the Bone Wraith in the Pits and Chains adventure. In The Old Crypt, Brandon filled in his empty alignment line as "evil", raised Sgt. Kerrick the Wraith to renewed un-life and then killed him again. When Serten announced he was casting fireball, Blarney went off to loot the previous room, making him one of only two survivors. He is currently living it up in Westport in the company of a certain vivacious vampire slayer.

Nevik Redhand the thief fled from a fateful encounter by running in the wrong direction. There he found a wraith who offered him eternal un-life, which he accepted. He was later torched to a skeleton by the party in the same Wall of Fire that killed the vile wraith. In the Old Crypt, he rejoined the party as a lesser wraith and won some skeleton followers but split up (again!) when a vampire slayer joined the party. He crept through the tomb, past the iron golem, found the remains of the saint, restored him to un-life, and they went off together to found an undead religion.