[Glorantha] Re: interesting issaries character needs a sidekick

[Simon Phipp]

Todd L. Thompson describes an interesting character.
   
  > She said she wanted a beautiful woman named Onyx who can talk to
> animals. She wanted to heal the world but also steal stuff (indirectly
> through animals) and be a good liar. Other things that got added where
> "resist cold like a polar bear", "hold breath like a fish", "command
> animals", and "see through an animals eyes". She wanted her character
> to sing and dance.

  One thing about HeroQuest I have found is that you can describe a really intersting character and then get bogged down in the "Bargain 19, Fast Talk 17" stage. Lots of keywords, that's the ticket.
  
> After some discussion she settled in the idea of being a traveling
> merchant, she didn't want to do the healing herself per se but to help
> the world heal itself and I was reminded of the Issaries heroquest as
> portrayed in the KoDP game. Initially I was inclined to have her
> abilities be common talents and have her concentrate her magic there but
> then it would preclude her use of divine which I felt would be the
> critical part of the healing the world part. So now I'm thinking I'll
> just make a new subcult of Issaries that is centered around
> trade/negotiating between humans and animals; still drawing some
> inspiration from the aforementioned heroquest where Issaries negotiated
> between the long nose and sharp tooth clans and my desire to make her
> character work. I'm thinking most of what she wants is doable except
> the "command animals" which I would change to "bargin with animals" to
> make it more interesting.

  Do you need a subcult? If the ability with animals is a personal thing, that is unusual, it should be a special ability, perhaps a keyword, of her own. Perhaps "Talk With Animals" would allow her to use things like Bargain and Fast Talk to get the animals to do what she wants.
   
  Also, if she uses her animal abilities to get things that she wants, she need not necessarily actually steal things. She could say things like "I am so hungry, if only I could have a piece of pie ...." and her monkey would listen and run off and bring her some pie. Saying things like "If only I had a diamond and ruby necklace with matching earings and tiara" would probably be pushing it a bit, though. OK, so it is the player who controls the sidekicks, not the hero, so although the hero doesn't know about them the player does.
   
  > After deciding on the merchant she added painting to list of skills and
> she said she wanted to sell her paintings and artifacts (which I think
> makes her need to have animals steal food for her more apparent). I
> suggested maybe she would a magical item and she said she wanted a magic
> staff and named it and that it was one of five and went into such detail
> on it that I asked, "Is this from a video game?" but she said she was
> just making it all up and I said, "Bravo!" Now I suggested that maybe
> she would like some animals as followers and one as a sidekick and she
> said she wanted a unicorn, a monkey, and a bat. I said that the unicorn
> was unlikely but that I would think on it.
> 
> I'm nixing the unicorn as I don't want to diminish the power, magic, and
> magnificence of a unicorn but also didn't want to give her that powerful
> of a sidekick. Maybe someday she will have her unicorn but not right
> away. I was trying to come up with some other suggestions and figured I
> would appeal to the astute members of this mailing list for some ideas
> and just to share the idea of her character?
   
  Unicorns don't all have to be big and powerful. What if she found a unicorn colt, just after it had been born. It would be young, and so less powerful, need help, and justify the relationship, and could grow more powerful as the game went on.
   
  > I have something of a campaign idea that stems from her "heal the world"
> goal that I will share and get some discussion and feedback on in a
> later email.

  And that is the best thing about strong and interesting characters - they provide inspiration and direction to the game.
   
  Jane Williams:
  > Stealing - Issaries. The concepts don't go together
> too well. I can see a couple of ways of handling that.
   
  Issaries merchants don't steal? Ho, ho, ho.
   
  Seriously, though, the animals could just bring her back presents every now and again. She need never know where they came from (my brother's cat used to bring back toy mice and trinkets every day, so he had to go around the neighbouring streets asking if they had a cat or dog and, if so, did these belong to them). There are loads of films that have stealing animals in, from racoons to monkeys. They didn't make the owners thieves.
  
> Shared sub-cult of Issaries and Trickster. Make those
> animals the Trickster related ones - magpie, hare, and
> so on. Not sure this fits the "heal the world" idea,
> though.
   
  That might be a bit of a sledgehammer to crack this nut, though. You could just give her some kind of Animal Friendship keyword and let it develop from there.

> Any time the animals steal, they leave something in
> exchange. Think of the stories of the Little People
> who do housework if you leave them a saucer of milk.
> So it's never stealing, it's a fair trade, and she
> prides herself on making sure it *is* fair.
   
  Sure, if she decides to send the animals out stealing, then she could leave things in return, perhaps some drawings.
   
  See Ya
   
  Simon