Then we return to my last question to you. What kind of tale do you wish to run? The Grimm Lands are vast. We cannot help you create heroes without, at the very least, knowing where they will come from and where they are going, for example. A crew of pirates will not help you if you do not want a pirate story, and an order of questing knights is no good if you do not want it.

The Alchemist said:

Have no idea how I was being rude but....Okay whatever...

You could play an "awakened" character ... someone who, by chance and the fickle nature of faerie, became self aware one day and took their destiny into their own hands. Imagine that boy who cries wolf ... every day he runs to town and cries the wolf is coming and eventually it does and the boy is eaten ... these things happen all the time, but this once when the wolf comes the boy doesn't run, but instead picks up a rock and - when the wolf reaches him, following its "script" he bashes in its head. Suddenly empowered by a sense of "self" or "free will" the boy begins to see the other things he can change ... and where that leads him is down one grand adventure ...

Any ideas for potential "awakened" characters that might correspond to different archetypes? (That is, the Bully, the Dreamer, the Jock, the Nerd, the Normal... Thing, the Outcast, and the Popular... Thing?)

Now we are talking. I really like the whole "Awakened" concept!

The Bully would be a heroic knight who slayes evil doers and has recently started to doubt the virtue of his causes.

The Popular is a spoiled princess who is just bored with her royal life.

The Outcast is a minor outlaw who is just incredibly sick of alwayes failing comically at the end of the story.

The Dreamer is a pathetically talentless wizard's apprentice who decides one day that maybe everything would be better if he just ran away.

The Nerd is a genius but eccentric inventor who is depressed about never managing to create anything truly scientific(The laws DON'T WORK!)

The Jock is a wild, violent pirate who has started to rethink his goals in life.

And the Normal... He is just a worthless, not-special-in-any-way peasent boy. He wants to be a Hero.

Do they have names? If you can think of any, please tell me. Also, what is the peasant's destiny? Also, what are the events that made them awaken? And are any of them talking animals and the like, and how do they meet?

CaptainSparrow said:

That is, how do all these characters meet?

The Alchemist said:

Also, what are their personalities each like, and what skills, traits, and feats do they have?

Finally, what do they look like?

The Alchemist said:

Maybe the "Bully" character might be called Sir Taurus, the "Popular Kid" character Lady Fantastica, the "Outcast" Dampierre, the "Dreamer" Nigel Planter (or something), the "Nerd" Morgan, the "Jock" Robert Bones, and the "Normal Kid" named John.

CaptainSparrow said:

If you don't like these names, then could you please give me some names you might have, among other things?

I also think that the creatures of the Grimm Lands might be immune to Estrangement.

All the characters' names should reflect something about them: If the knight is a loud and demanding person he might be "Sir William the Driving Thunder" if he is a quiet, petty man he might be "Sir William the Grim" ... if he is heroic yet a bully he might be "Sir William the Bull" or something similar.

The popular kid should be recognized by what makes her popular: "Diana the Angel Eyed"; "Lady Rebecca the Kind"

The outcast might not even be known by his name ... he might be called "Rodent" or "Whisper"

Nigel Planter is a fine name, as are Abigail Limner, Nathaniel Potter, etc.

The important thing is their names say something about them ... these people have risen above the average blank faced character and their names need to be a sort which will sit well in tales and song - but names which could be realistic ... even (or especially) in real faerie tales you won't run into "Princess Fantasica" very often ... if ever. Indeed, a Princess type character might just be called Princess, or Maiden by most people.

All of these characters have been Awakened by their great discomfort and anger over their "natural" part in the tales. Maybe Sir Bull does not want to go kill the dragon who is clearly so much more powerful then him? Maybe Rodent is sick of alwayes being the comic relif butt monkey? Maybe John really really wants, just once in his pathetic life, to NOT be an extra? To be a major character?

As for the talking animals idea... Well I can sort of imagin an outlaw named "Rodent" as a walking, talking rat, or a bully knight being some kind of minotaur thing... But I think all of those characters need to be human. It would make it easier to sympathise with their anguish.

As for John's destiny... Who know? The wonderful thing about the "Unusual Heritage" ability is that it's kind of a Schrodinger's thingy. It does not ACTUALLY exist in any one true form until you decide what the true form is. It could be anything!

Appearence and states are less important right now. We will deal with those later.