The Undead (was:A Roleplaying thread? Surely fucking not!)

[Caesar Slaad]

Once ran a game where the undead were the servants of everyone else, cause everyone else was a necromancer.  There were laws about who you could raise (only family members) and so on with stiff fines

:haw:

[TonyLB]

Isn't that how Cobra made Serpentor?

I ... I ... I don't know!

God, I'm so ashamed.

[James McMurray]

Never fear! Wikipedia to the rescue with some spot on knowledge (or at least convincing-sounding lies).

[TonyLB]

But the shame is because I should know these things by heart.  I have failed.

[James McMurray]

You haven't failed completely. Knowing is only half the battle.

[Brantai]

The other half is violence.

[TonyLB]

Ah ... cool then!  I'm good.

[beeber]

Howzabout an undead that is born out of self-loathing?  In life, the person hated himself so much that he won't allow himself to rest easy in death.  He lashes out at the whole world because of his rage, but it's really himself he's angry with.

some sort of emo-undead?  :confused:  the tour:  "and here we have the most sedentary of the unliving. . . . "

[Gunslinger]

I use my undead as a counterpoint of my redefinition of clerics using the RC.  Undead are souls trapped in dead bodies, so they have all of the character and personality they had while they were living, similar to Pirates of the Caribbean.  I'll use them as mercenary units or guardians bound to something unknown from the past.  Of course humans are transplants in my campaign so the undead are actually other sorts of creatures that did battle against the wyrms to their extinction on the worlds of the dragons.

The Nemesai (clerics) are a class of characters that ritually kill themselves with blades in order to explore the realm of death.  Their understanding of death is what grants them their abilities.  Use of blades causes their scars to reopen.  They are the unliving.

[One Horse Town]

Tell us more!

[beeber]

gunslinger, do you allow some sort of save for recognition of the familiar?  a way to overthrow the curse, so to speak?  or are they bound?

[Gunslinger]

gunslinger, do you allow some sort of save for recognition of the familiar?  a way to overthrow the curse, so to speak?  or are they bound?

Depends on what I'd be using the undead for in a particular scenario.  In one instance they may have been a military unit that willingly became undead as a last ditch effort to guard a certain area or they could be a colorful group of times past where the ritual keeps them alive (Halloween or Mardi Gras for example) and they don't realize the repercussions of their actions on the living.  A cleric's ability to "turn" would have different interpretations based on how the undead are bound.  So to answer your question directly, yes & no depending on the nature of the undead per scenario.  I could even see circumstances where the PC's ally themselves with the undead to end their curse or unbind them.  I think a static definition of undead makes them less interesting as opposition to the PCs.  

Tell us more!

 I don't want to bore anyone to tears talking about a campaign I've developed that no one is interested in playing because of the system.

[Sigmund]

 I don't want to bore anyone to tears talking about a campaign I've developed that no one is interested in playing because of the system.

Damn dude, that system sucks! Why the hell are ya using it, you're so brain damaged.



Ok, that's outa the way, so tell us about the damn campaign already.  

[beeber]

indeed, what's the system?  i noticed you mentioned RC previously.  not Rules Cyclopedia, surely?

details, man!

[Gunslinger]

The system is Rules Cyclopedia.  I could post a new thread if people are interested.