08/16/2008 15:03:30

Something simple would be better. The dwarf tried to kill his father, one of the dwarven kings (or some other higher up), to inherit. While that would merit a death sentence, the father was loathe kill his own son, so sold him into slavery instead.

 

As far as encounters, what do you need ideas for? Random stuff or "main" encounters?

08/14/2008 07:25:08

I ran a campaign a year ago that had some similarities, each player played out a small set of quests that created a nice backdrop for the player, and the rest of the players understood this as a result of 'finding out' through character interaction, that would normally take place when your camped out, travelling from quest into tavern to dungeon of monsters.... hope this helps:

A dwarven fortress, mining and smithing industry, with 5 main factions, each has their own church, heirarchy etc, and in house rivalries. Our players come from one house, and one family, playing the story of 4 brothers and one sister. The first two or three basic campaigns were designed to get them to understand the layout of the fortress, and the localised problems, dealing with the goblins in the main mining shaft, and some localised giant spiders. Then the main plot hook, The Priest character, returned to find that his NC brother was having an affair with another faction, to avoid being found out, he escorted the lady back to her house (being a priest, no-one suspected), but it was somehow revealed that she had been dallying, The church found out, and he was banished. 

This was the Intro plot for why our dwarven priest had left his fort, and joined our group.

The Main Idea, I get the impression, is that Honour, Faction, Fort rules, Shaft/Mining rules, forging ettiquette, and other such things, become the main point of dwarven life, breaking honour, like Japanese samuri honour, is what ostracises the dwarven chcracter.  

08/13/2008 12:03:48

Or it could be as simple as the one wanting the others forge, and willing to go to any lenghths to get it. Who knows, the forge itself could be a family artifact, and is forced to function for the new possessor. Sending weak dream-like messages to a long lost family member.

08/13/2008 10:24:56

Well, if collaborating with goblins is too "out there", there's the whole "feuding clans" thing...where one clan thinks one of its number has betrayed them to the other, or some such. Considering dwarven clan loyalties, that could be grave enough without being a capital offense, esp if one or both of the clans are influential and powerful in the dwarven community as a whole.

"It's, like, 'Romeo and Juliet'.... but with dwarves!"

08/13/2008 03:00:14

Seems to me that collaborating with Goblins would be more of a death sentence than banishment.  I think a better story might be that during a civil war, where 2 brothers both had support for the newly opened throne, 1 for being the eldest although somewhat cowardly in nature, the other for being a fair, honorable warrior, but not first born.  When the eldest son won due to an unexplained death (poisoning? goblin invasion of the other side?  Etc?) of the brother, the staunchest supporters of the loser are banished to prevent future uprisings.  If, however, the family leader offered his eldest daughter to the king (a sort of ransom), they weren't banished, they would just lose any political clout they had in addition to some amount of wealth/land.  The Dwarf in the Gladiator arena refused to pay the bribe, and accepted banishment. 

Of course, years later, that banishment was undone as the King was found out for what he really was.  But not before this dwarf suffered a combat loss to some Ogres who worked for a Slaver that searched out potential Gladiator combatants.  The slavery wasn't a punishment (no Dwarf would do that), it was just some bad-luck during being banished.

08/12/2008 18:55:49

StupidSmurf wrote: A dwarf crime, eh? How about something unthinkable like collaborating with their hated racial enemy, a.k.a. goblins?  Perhaps the dwarf was accused of spilling secrets about a dwarven treasure hoard or mine, or possibly even the defenses/traps for a dwarven stronghold? Perhaps the dwarf was framed, and everyone thinks he was bribed in return for spilling secrets to :::shudder::: goblins!?!

 Thank you, StupidSmurf! That could work . . . hmmmm. And then, later, the goblins did actually attack, using knowledge they couldn't possibly have known otherwise. There was great loss of life and the most outspoken accuser of our poor dwarf pointed fingers and said, "I told you so" in a loud voice. Strangely, he later seemed to enjoy a better standard of living that was neatly explained away by the convenient death of a wealthy relative in another town . . . I can work with this.

Still welcoming other ideas!

08/12/2008 16:56:24

A dwarf crime, eh? How about something unthinkable like collaborating with their hated racial enemy, a.k.a. goblins?  Perhaps the dwarf was accused of spilling secrets about a dwarven treasure hoard or mine, or possibly even the defenses/traps for a dwarven stronghold? Perhaps the dwarf was framed, and everyone thinks he was bribed in return for spilling secrets to :::shudder::: goblins!?!