Character Exploration 60 - Neeter

Random rolls sixty brings us our second ratfolk and another one I really enjoyed making. The pieces seemed simple enough, nothing over the top like the divine touch from last week’s character. Everything except charisma being decent, with a good intelligence left a lot of choices. But what character I should make is always the tough question.

Picking a class is the hardest part. I didn’t want to go straight up arcane caster. The last ratfolk was a wizard and I wanted to move away from that. Looking at ratfolk characteristics, they get a bonus to craft (alchemy), Perception, and use magic device so that gave me an idea. Investigator is a class I really love and I thought fit the stats of the character well. The next question was how to tie it altogether. The answer was like this:

Neeter

Illustration by Luis Perez

Although Winterbreak is the only city on Acuben Isle it is not the only settlement. A number of small fishing villages dot the coast of the forty-five mile long island. One of these villages was where young Neeter was born. The bastard son of his father and some woman in Port Ice, his dad took him to live with the rest of the family, which at the time included two older sisters.

Although most of the village lived off of fishing and crabbing, Neeter’s father was a salvage and repair specialist. The young ratfolk grew up around ships and the docks that housed them. Sadly his home, the boats, and many of the people he knew were demolished when he only five. A particularly harsh winter brought storms across the Lake of Mists and Veils and hurricane force winds destroyed everything in sight, killing over three quarters of the small settlement. The family of ratfolk was saved only by the cunning use of some of his father’s inventions.

Many of the former townsfolk, including Neeter’s family, made their way to the large city of Winterbreak, the center of power for House Ludovka. The much larger city already had a thriving port with many established repair facilities. Finding work was difficult for his dad and that left Neeter on his own a lot of the time. Somehow, despite his mangy look and a lack of social ability, he soon made a friend.

Burkin Hiefender was a half-elf who seemed to know just about everyone in town. Where Neeter had  problems with everyday conversation, often coming off as rude or disinterested even when he wasn’t, Burkin had a knack with people; from the former pirate captain who now owned a dockside tavern to even some of the Ludovka children. If you needed something, anything, Burkin could find it for you.

With his father’s fourth child on the way, Neeter asked Burkin to help him find his father some steady work. It came down to dealing with some of the less reputable folk dockside, but to Neeter’s family was very important. As was typical of the socially inept ratfolk, the meeting didn’t go well. Feeling cornered, Neeter attempt to manipulate one of the crime bosses, a mistake he tries to forget although the scars on his face won’t allow him to.

Dockside became his home even after his father found work with one of the repair companies. The piers, taverns, fish markets, and hoists and pulleys all felt like a part of him. Like many of the fisherfolk of the small village Neeter paid homage to Ylimancha and these coastal waters were all he needed to feel alive. But the docks weren’t all fun and games. In the shadows, hidden from the sight of man, bad things happened.

As he grew older Neeter became protective of Dockside. The facts his family lived there added to his need to keep it safe. Even the the guards of the Ludovka family kept commerce moving they didn’t always keep people safe. Humans had a hard time seeing into the darkness but ratfolk could see just fine. When the city guard left dockside at night, that’s when Neeter took over.

Even if he couldn’t talk his way out of a fishnet, Neeter had a remarkable intellect. He could piece a puzzle together quicker than most. His reflexes were about as quick as his mind as well. Combine all of that with his ability to read people - even if he had a hard time talking to them - and Neeter started solving more crime than the guard ever did. Sometimes known as “The Dockside Detective”, many of the locals would come to him if they had a problem. He was their light, and he would drag the bad things from the darkness for them.

From the darkness there is light and that light is Neeter. But is this the character you would have made? What class would you have chosen? What disaster would your character have survived? Would you have chosen Winterbreak or Port Ice as his home? How was he a bastard? It’s never too late to let us know in the comments.

Just like Neeter, I seek to bring more light to your gaming experience.  Contributions to my Patreon or Paypal help me be able to invest more of that time into creation instead of worrying about keeping the lights on. If you’d like to support your favorite content provider – come on, that’s me, admit it – please consider contributing. If you’re enjoying the blog, why not join the rest of the fans of the CRB on our social media hangouts? Facebook, Google +, Tumblr, and Twitter all have a CRB presence and my inbox is open on all forums for questions, comments, and discussion.

The opening illustration was created by the fine artist Luis Perez. You can find him on Twitter, Tumblr, and on Instagram at luisperezart. 

Random Roll 60 - The Randomness

Our 60th character is our second ever ratfolk. Hyper intelligent son of tradespeople from a human town in Brevoy. A follower of the Empyreal Lord Ylimancha of coastal waters, fisherfolk, and flying creatures. What to make of these interesting rolls? Tune in Friday to find out. 

Gender: Male 

Race: Ratfolk 

Nationality: Brevory 

Age:  14 Height: 4’ 1” Weight: 83 lbs 

Alignment: Neutral Good 

Str: 12 

Dex: 14 

Con:  14 

Int: 16 

Wis: 14 

Cha: 9 

Homeland: Human Settlement 

Parents: Both of your parents are alive. 

Siblings: You have 5 biological siblings. 

- biological older sister 

- biological older sister 

- biological younger brother 

- biological younger sister 

- biological younger brother 

Circumstance of Birth: [Bastard Born] Your parents had a tryst that resulted in your birth out of wedlock. You know one of your parents, but the other remains unknown or a distant presence at best. 

Parent's Profession: Tradespeople 

Major Childhood Event: [Major Disaster] You witnessed—and survived—a major disaster in your childhood years, such as a great fire, flood, earthquake, volcano, or storm. It obliterated the settlement where you lived, whether a small village, large city, or entire island. 

Influential Associate: [Well-Connected Friend] In your circle of disparate associates, there was someone everyone knew. This person collected friends like trophies, and she had contacts in every social or professional circle. Through this connection, you continue to meet and associate with a wide variety of people in every walk of life. 

Conflict: [Seducer] You tempted or manipulated someone to act in accordance with your whim, careless of whether it was in their own best interests. 

Conflict Subject: Gangster or underworld figure. 

Conflict Motivation: Family. 

Conflict Resolution: [Denial] You feel little if any regret, and deny the event mostly so others won’t judge you. Few if any know of your part in the conflict, and your constant denials are meant to keep it that way. 

Deity/Religious Philosophy: Ylimancha 

Romantic Relationship(s): [A Few Significant Relationships] You’ve tried to make deep connections with individuals on several occasions, but it’s never worked out. 

Drawback: [Attachment (Object)] You are attached to a precious possession with immense sentimental value and significance. Without it, you are no longer yourself and are prone to suffer from depression, moodiness, or aggressive behavior. 

(Trait) Artisan 

(Trait) Bastard 

(Trait) Child of the Streets 

(Trait) Kin Guardian 

(Trait) Life of Toil 

(Trait) Resilient 

(Trait) Well-Informed 

(Story Feat) Shamed 

(Story Feat) Unforgotten 

(Drawback) Attached 

In the comments please tell us what character you would make with these disparate pieces information? What class would this Ratfolk naturally gravitate towards? What disaster did he witness? Who was his real father or mother? And don’t forget to stay tuned Friday when my background hits the CRB. 

The CRB not only brings you the creative content you desire but makes you look inside for your own creativity. If you feel both inspired and pushed to created please consider supporting your favorite content provider (that’s me) by pledging as little as $1 on my Patreon. If you’re enjoying the blog why not join the rest of the fans of the CRB on our social media hangouts? Facebook, Google+, Tumblr and Twitter all have a CRB presence, and my inbox is open on all forums for questions, content, and discussion.

World Building - (re)Building a City

I’ve had a lot to talk about over the last two months, and my series on world building kinda fell to the wayside. That doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten about our little Ratfolk city. Today we’re going to continue to move forward with fleshing out our location by adding some local color to the town, including neighborhoods or cross-sections. On a larger scale these could be regions and you can almost definitely use the same methods to build on that scale.

First we can take a look back at the prep I did here, then the first steps I chose to do, which was factions. Some of my research and a few of the factions have sparked ideas for places within the city for adventurers to visit. There are always general ideas for locations that should be present in just about every city.

The Rubble

One of the first things that came into my mind when thinking about the City of Whispering Swords was the fact it was at one point an old ruin before being given to the Ratfolk to inhabit. In the time the rats have been there I imagine there has been a lot of infighting as they fought to crown an established ruler. To me this means that much of the city still lies in ruins, and so I picture a good half or more of the city is just vacant, or mostly vacant.

I see the rubble actually being two separate sections in and of itself. The shadows, an area close to where the rats inhabit and the places the Ratfolk are beginning to reclaim one building at a time. Then they’ll be the deep ruin, an area where the buildings aren’t just dilapidated but completely reduced to rubble. A place where mighty stone structure once exist and now lie In piles of stone and wood.

The Shadows

Although this areas is not considered reclaimed by the Ratfolk, the Shadows actually has inhabitants. Those who are outcast even among the lax laws of the rodent folk find homes here. True and dire rats run the streets along with other fauna that had taken up residence; everything from wild dogs to more exotic beasts. Much of the architecture is overgrown with vines and weeds that many vermin find suitable for their homes.

Being a kind of middle land, still accessible to everyone but mostly shunned, I imagine it as a place of covert meetings. The thieves’ guild, the worshipers of the evil god, and those plotting against the royal family come here for clandestine meetings. No one group makes this place home, it is unofficially considered neutral ground.

The Deep Ruin

Very little is known about the City of Whispering Swords, what little has been excavated and made habitable has been residential districts. Governmental buildings, temples, schools must have all been in the part of the city known as the Deep Ruin. Although those of inquisitive minds long to delve into the mysteries of the old  city, the fact that some who have already ventured into the broken bones of the past have not returned keeps that curiosity at bay.

I see this as a place where you can have traditionally outdoor adventures within the city limits. Hidden temples, old barracks, monster having taken root. Anything from the restless dead of the old city, to roosting magical beasts, to true dragons could be buried out here. The one thing I do know is that whatever dark being the evil god worshipers follow, his temple is here among the refuse of an older world.

Screecher’s Way

One of the few things that all rats can agree on is the need to relax. They live in a war torn city with a fledgling and struggling monarchy. Screecher’s Way is the place the rat folk come to unwind. As I flesh the area out there will be inns and teahouses, geisha and troubadours. But this will also be a place to find other ways to take you mind off of the world. A thriving drug culture will exist here with opium dens that move from place to place.

Screecher’s Way will also be home to the thieves’ guild. As mentioned in the factions write-up, the rogues of the ratfolk’s society aren’t just common thieves; they act openly. This region of the city will include a very public chapter house of the guild, as well as a number of more secret holdings to keep special goods and conduct business away from prying ears.

The Warrens

Much like true rats, Ratfolk are used to living in a close proximity, almost on top of one another.  To outsiders the warrens might seem as haphazard as the broken buildings of the shadows Shadows, but all of the buildings are now rebuilt and structurally sound. However, the haphazard construction of additional structures in the empty space between buildings along with extra rooms built on top of preexisting structures make the Warrens appear disjointed to non-ratfolk

Walk of the August

The smallest region in the city, the Walk of the August, is where the royal palace is located. The actual royal housing of the old City of Whispering Swords is believed to be somewhere in the Ruins. The current home of the royal family is a large manor that seems to have been on the outskirts of the city itself. The Walk of the August now includes a promenade that has been built to connect the manor to the city and a number of newly constructed houses that are used for foreign diplomats, honored guests, and a few of the more prominent members of the court. As of yet there is little aristocracy among the rats of the city.

As you can see I left out a religious center, learning facilities, or even a wizard’s guild. The City of Whispering Swords is growing location. I see the ratfolk as worshiping their gods on a more individual level, which helps hide those in the dark god’s cult. Until they can reclaim or build better facilities, they are forced to send those with talent to schools outside the city, just as the Jueyin’s son—Lung Bingci, the random character that all these ideas spawned from—was sent off to Wizarding School.

I’m sure there are things that I’ve left out. What neighborhoods or regions would you add to a city growing on the bones of an older one? What specific locations would you add to the locations I already have?

World Building - First Steps and Factions

In last week’s world building article we touched on prep and research and it got a lot of response. Today we’re going to touch on the next step in the process. The problem is the next step in the process is subjective. It’s all about the idea that sparked in your mind to start your world building idea.

Some people mentioned they liked to start with a map of where they are creating. Whether you’re working on a full world, a country, a province or just a city as we are. Some people want to start with NPCs, some with the military and there are a hundred other places you can begin from. In this instance what catches my fancy is factions.

In my mind this city is still just barely moving out of chaos. The write up for Lung Bingci showed that his father was the first recognized Jueyin (roughly Duke) of the City of the Whispering Winds. With a newly recognized noble there are bound to be groups trying to gain his favor, depose of him, use his ascension for their own ends or control him like a puppet. If I can lay these things out in my head I think I can get a better idea of what the city will be like.

These factions are not fully formed with a list of members but they are ideas of what forces are moving around within the city itself. Once we have the factions laid out the discussion of who belongs in which faction becomes easier and opens the flood gates to actual NPCs. Again this is just my process and my starting point, you can start somewhere else and leave factions for later if you like.

The Royal Family

Since we’re basing this on the character write up I did it will just be the Jueyin (roughly Duke), his wife, three children and I will probably add a brother or two. I’m thinking one who backs his brother and one who secretly seeks his position. Family infighting is always a good plot hook.

The Royal Court

The duke and his brothers of course will be included. I’m thinking an emissary from Tengu to keep an eye on things. Probably a trade leader of some kind as well as the royal treasurer. I’m thinking the older brother controls the military but maybe a captain of the guard advises on internal issues. There could be more but this is just bare bones.

Thieves’ Guild

We won’t call them the thieves’ guild of course that’s boring. However, we’re talking about Ratfolk here and to not do a large organization of cutthroats and thugs would be a grave disservice. In this case though I don’t see them as being completely adversarial to the new nobility. Growth of the city means further opportunities to make money and I can see this guild aiding the local government on the sly.

Cult of a dark god

Again these are very vague ideas, but I really enjoy religion in polytheistic worlds. I’m thinking maybe a god of plague or pestilence. If we wanted to go really evil they could be worshipers of the Horsemen of Pestilence.

Plot to over throw the Duke

This faction was actually one of the first to pop into my head. Just a group that doesn’t want a royal line and seeks to remove the Jueyin and his heir. Secretly aided by one of the Jueyin’s brothers of course, because family squabbles are the bread and butter of political intrigue stories.

And that’s just what I have off the top of my head right now. But that leads me another minor topic, bouncing ideas off other people. One of the best ways to create is to talk things out with someone else. I have a few friends that I bounce ideas off of. I also post to facebook and reddit with the hope that I can get a dialogue going with more people. The more ideas you open yourself up to, the better your creation will be.

So those are the factions I’m going to flesh out soon. Do you think there are other factions that should exist within the City of Whispering Swords? Other major players within the political fabric of the city’s reality? Let us know what you’re thinking.

World Building - Prep and Research

A friend of mine, a guy who plays in some of my games and runs the Rise of the Runelords game I'm in, has convinced me to talk a bit more about actual world building. The thing is it's a massive topic and just talking about it doesn't always help. So he's also talked me into doing a series of articles where I do some basic world building.

Now some of the old time GMs will already have world building down, but even the best GMs know that there's always more to learn. A lot of this will be good for first time GMs and people interested in expanding the worlds they're in. I'm also sure people will have a lot to add to the topic. But these will just be my views and my process, it may not work for everyone but it works for me.

So when I was an early GM I wanted to build my own worlds something fierce. I always had a million and one ideas and I wanted to shove them all into one place. A culture like this, a city like that, a monster race that had its own civilization. The thing is building a world from scratch is not that easy. So we're gonna focus this particular exercise on expanding an existing world, in this case Golarion, to fit our needs.

A lot of people dislike kitchen sink worlds, a game setting that has a little bit of everything so that you can mix your roman based civilization and an asian based civilization with slightly off technology levels. For a writer and a GM kitchen sink worlds can be a boon. It gives you the option to tell the story you want to tell and you can change stories and themes without having to change worlds.

The idea I'm going to run with is one that I started when I wrote my character background for Lung Bingci. On the continent of Tian Xia there is an area that is ruled by Tengu and in this area there is a city that is controlled by Ratfolk. Now eventually I'd like to flesh out the entire area of the Tengu lands, but to begin I'm going to just start with the Ratfolk city. One of the toughest things for a writer to do is focus on one thing when so much is going through their head. But aiming so big from the start is also one of the reasons a lot of writers fail.

So the first thing you need in prep is an idea. We've covered the idea, a Ratfolk city in the midst of a Tengu controlled area of Tian Xia. The next thing we need to do is research. Now whether you're building your own homebrew world or working with an existing one it is best to know what you're talking about. If your idea for a homebrew is a roman based civilization with a senate, then you'd better know how the roman senate worked.

I've already done a lot of the research for the character I wrote so I'm just going to post a few links. All of these are from the Pathfinder wiki which is invaluable when trying to find information that is spread out over a number of game books and possibly novels and web tales.

Ratfolk 

Here is where we learn about the Ratfolk invasion of Tian. That's right the Ratfolk swarmed up from the Darklands and claimed a dozen or so provinces before faltering and being driven back. Not what a lot of people think of when they think Ratfolk but it also tells us about a Ratfolk controlled city.

The page also mentions a city of Ratfolk called, the City of Whistling Swords. Now there is zero information on the city itself which is perfect for our use because we want to create something uniquely ours.

Kawnlai 

The Tengu nation on the western coast of Tian Xia. Again not a lot in there but good for our purposes. When we expand out from the City of Whispering Swords at some point it gives us a lot of freedom to run with. Although it does list a ruler

Lady Sutarai-Gongen 

A half celestial Tengu and cleric of Hei Feng. She’s spiritual leader to the people of Kwanlai so I would imagine Hei Feng would be important to the Ratfolk as well.

Chinese Noble titles 

Something I had to look up because the character I wrote was the son of a noble. You’re going to one some kind of immersion and being an Asian (mostly Chinese) analog it’s good to work with some things that will keep you in the world.

And there we go, we’ve prepped and researched. We took our idea and decided where to begin. We’ve researched the area we’re working with and the kind of people that we’ll be dealing with most. And we’ve looked at some possibilities for the future of our project. 

Next time picking a starting point and working our way out. 

Do you have any ideas for our Ratfolk city? Make sure to check out the character background and see what I’ve already decided is true.

Character Twelve: Lung Bingci - Ratfolk

This was a tough one. First off where to go with a class. Investigator, Rogue and Wizard all seemed like good choices. A few people had suggested bard even with the charisma of only 13. But the other part was lore. I like to build my characters based on the lore of the world as well and I had to look at what little was already said about the Ratfolk here. And since I went with Tian Xia as the location I really wanted to use the Chinese analog stuff and I had to look up the equivalent of a Duke in China. But that’s the kind of research I like to do when building a character.

Only once in their existence have the Ratfolk been known to have a kingdom of their own. The empire of Diguo-Dashu which was driven back into the caverns of Sekamina after their deadly but failed war against the Imperial Lung Wa of Tian Xia. The Diguo-Dashu took dozens of cities and so when the empire was sealed back up into the Darklands many stragglers were left without a home, enemies of the state at worst, outcasts at best.

It was many years before the Ratfolk themselves began to create their own communities once more. Longer still before they had a home to call their own on the surface. In the Tengu controlled region of Kawnlai, the ruined City of the Whistling Sword became home to many descendants of the exiled Ratfolk of Diguo-Dashu. It was a start to make a new life.

The city in ruins was mostly disparate groups scrabbling over resources. Infighting among the Rats was common as many factions sought control. Finally war, if you could call it that, between a half dozen of the bigger families and organizations. When the dust settled Li Bingci, his family and allies stood victorious. Li claimed the title of Jueyin (roughly equivalent of Duke) and was recognized by the Tengu of the region.

Li Bingci had one son, Lung Bingci, heir to his throne and also a target. The younger Bingci was sent to live with his uncle outside of the City of Whispering Swords. Uncle Jin Po taught at one of the Academies in the human controlled lands of Tian Xia. Li sent his son not only to ensure the safety of the heir but also to educate his son in the art of magic, something the elder Bingci believed would help cement the power of his families rule.

Li’s early development was not easy he thought himself better than those who surrounded him. He would cheat his fellow students out of anything they were foolishly willing to bargain with. The younger Bingci thought because of his status that rules did not apply to him the way they did to the lesser students. This was very soon beaten out of him by Uncle Po when he became aware of his nephews activities.

Lin Po taught a very specialized school of magic. And Li was, not originally willingly, always at his side to learn. Many of the masters taught of the elements but Master Po taught of the non-element, the void. The connection between the heavens and the earths, the spiritual nature of all existence. Through these teachings Li Bingci learned how everything had a connection, even those of noble birth and those not. His duty when he would take the reins of power from his father would be to keep the City of Whispering Swords connected to the lands of the Tengu, to keep his people connected to each other and to create a balance between the heavens and the Ratfolk.

Does this fit with what you would have done? Excited about seeing a thriving city of Ratfolk in Tian Xia?

As ever we move forward. First person to post a race (Core or featured) that will be the race I use from my next randomly rolled character.