Avisarr 98 - Players And Characters
The players of a campaign are really what makes or breaks a good campaign. If the players aren't enthusiastic about the game, then the whole thing fails. It doesn't matter how good the DM is or how wonderful a story he has prepared. So much depends on the players. Avisarr 98 owed its existence to Mark Price. I met Mark in college, just as the original campaign was coming to a close. By a twist of fate, years later, we both ended up in Seattle. Always feeling a bit left out for not being able to play in the original campaign, he knew exactly what he wanted me to run the moment it became obvious we'd be gaming together again. He pushed and begged and pleaded until I finally gave in and agreed to do Avisarr again. Once I had, he immediately began running around Seattle gathering up players. The result was by far the largest, most complex and arguably best campaign I have ever run. It included props, power-point session summaries and maps, and the privilage of using the latter half of the campaign to playtest for TSR. Most gratifying of all, the scope of Khoras nearly doubled in size due to its tenure. So, for those of you who don't know me, I'd like to introduce you to the players that I ran through Avisarr 98.
In Avisarr 98, Mark ran the infamous Callister Draabyn, a human mariner who was cursed by the gods (improbable events and impossible coincidences happened to him with alarming frequency). Many entertaining situations issued forth from this premise, including an elaborate and comically violent ship crash sequence in which Callister narrowly survived, but only after being thrown against a rockface, impaled by a small tree, and set afire by burning oil. We all had a good laugh at the sailor's expense that evening.
Nathan works for Wizards of the Coast and I'm glad to know him. Through him, I learn about new products and happenings at the Game Center. Nathan ran Kramtha, a phellysian warrior with a streak of morality. He had a life-mission to overthrow the Drakkelian Slaver's Guild, and a phellysian henchman who redefined loyalty. And one time, Kramtha had the occasion to develop a taste for Battle Spice (a powerful plant derived narcotic that turns a warrior into a raging beast)...
Dana was Nathan's girlfriend at the time and also worked with Mark. She was new to gaming, but we had fun showing her the ropes. And I think she enjoyed it, too. Dana ran a human female thief named Stryfal who hailed from the Drakkellian Alliance. While good at picking locks, climbing walls and seducing unwary mercenaries, she disliked the less pleasant side of adventuring (getting dirty, being chased, etc.) and seemed to find herself falling (literally) into icky situations almost daily.
Eric works as a bartender and is an experienced gamer. Eric was playing Shr'lee (pronounced like "Shirley") who, despite the handicap of a cruel name, was a skilled and respected mage. Shr'lee was a baenite sorcerer and hoped to, one day, study under the Archmage Morlokk. That dream, unfortunately, died with Shr'lee, who suffered a grisly death at the hands of a minor demon during one of the early sessions (session six, I think it was). Eric switched to playing a human mage/assassin named Martin, and through this character brought forth some truly great roleplaying moments.
With much fanfare, Beth relocated from Michigan to Seattle about halfway through the campaign, to take a job for Wizards of the Coast. She was one of the players in the original Avisarr campaign and has seen Khoras grow over the years. She played a monk of sorts this time around, a member of an elite warrior sisterhood who use martial arts extensively. Her biggest challenge was keeping quiet for the benefit of the other players when she thought a certain plot situation seemed familiar. Luckily, I anticipated this and, except for the most basic structures, gave this new campaign some different twists. Having her around kept me on my toes, and I appreciated it.
New to the group, Jared joined up around session 14 with an interesting character... Asgarr was a half merman/half human fighter. He joined the group after having hijacked his own employer's ship with help from the party.