Theme Parties #4 The Seven Delvers

A little Delving Deep, a little Dwarf Fortress and a little Hobbit minus Bilbo.The Delvers is a 7 person, all Dwarf mercenary group ready for most anything. They specilize in "Dungeoneering" but are certainly open to most other jobs. Like all Hire-Dwarves they are very expensive, about twice what human mercs would charge. Most consider them well worth the cost

The Party consists of

Rimbold -- Axe for Hire, Party Leader. Fighter

Gart -- Crossbowman, Fighter/Crossbowman Variant

Nordilbor --Spell Master -- Sorcerer, Boreal Bloodline

Genkan -- The Trapsmith, Rogue/Trapsmith variant

Drozdt -- The Shield-Dwarf, Fighter

Sabrosh -- The Alchemist, Alchemist

Branlor -- Artificer and Healer, Artificer

Theme Parties #3 Tark Hunters

Tark is my local campaign name for the D&D Troll, you know the Green Warty Kind. These nasty things started showing up about a century ago near the City State of Tarakon and have spread across Midrea ever since.

Wizard. Not a fire specialist but a crafty and clever Wizard with an arsenal of spells. Being obsessed with revenge for the death of loved ones dies not means suicidal or reckless. After all, you can't kill Tark if you are dead,

Fighter/Flame Steward. These Tark are an abomination that needs to be destroyed. You Sacred Flame powers and combat prowess make you uniquely suited to the task and its one you fill with glee. Your powers also let you heal which balances out you wrath.

Druid. You may not agree with the Flame Stewards faith but you are allies in this mission. You second job is of course to protect nature from your own parties actions. Fireballs do not go well with dry grasslands.

Monster Hunter/Ranger. Half Elf with a little Demon thrown in but still far more human than not, you take equally well to two related crafts. A little magic, a little stealth and a lot of sneaky mean many dead Tarks.

Rogue . Ending up with these loons was hardly the plan but it beats hanging.It helps that you have more than a little talent for Alchemy. Acid and Alchemists Fire are most handy when facing Tarks.

Theme Parties #2 The Hand

A group of mid level Church Soldiers tasked with dealing with the serious Evil that afflicts their communities

Paladin-- The Church was your redemption and you love her with all you heart. Having being a bad person in your youth gives you greater understanding and perspective than some of the other Paladins. It also makes you a good leader. Now if only you could stay away from the women.

Ranger-- You know better than most there are real monsters out there and what they can do to innocents like your own family. Fortunately you have the skills to fight them.

Rogue/Wizard -- You are a good person deep down inside but someone has to do the ugly work and that falls on you. You also possess a few nasty artillery spells too and are happy to use them on the real bad guys.

Inquisitor -- Other than defeating actual Evil, there is nothing you would like more than leading but The Church has not seen fit to grant that wish. Maybe thats a good thing, being a church raised orphan makes you a bit intolerant to day to day foibles.

Cleric -- You are happy not be the leader. Honestly.You are aware of limits and frankly,planning is not your strong suite.

Theme Parties #1 Exiles of the House of Brass

Exiles of the House of Brass (themed 3.5/Pathfinder)

A group of young adventurers whose parents were exiled from House Brass in the Dragon Empire have chosen voluntary exile and seeking adventure among friends to protect themselves from political enemies.

Special Note: Assume the PC's have some kind of Scry Ward cast on them, probably by the parent of the Sorcerer. This renders them immune to scry spells , crystal balls and the like. In such cases, assume that the spell and any other non epic ones, simply fail. If you like, the spell can wear off as the characters level up or its time for more trouble...

Alchemist -- The apprentice of a House employee, now out a job. Ah well the best way to get better at alchemy (and to afford expensive reagents) is adventuring . Plus you get to blow stuff up.

Dragonfire Adept -- One of a pair of siblings, Chosen by the House but nothing is more important than friendship and besides being Chosen is boring. Better to Burn Bright than Fade Away.

Dragon Shaman -- The other half of the pair. Where my sibling goes I go.

Brass Dragon Blooded Sorcerer (or Battle Sorcerer) -- Your parents are the exiled ones, putting some space between them and you at least till you grow in power is a good way to stay alive

Artificer - Another unemployed House employee now out a job. You also have feelings (protective or romantic) for one of the other party members. Ah complications...

Gun Mage -- A rebel prince/princess. This may not be a lark but who wants to be couped up all the time?

Something to Help get Players into the Game: Theme Parties

One of the classic tropes of D&D is of course "We all meet at the tavern and go tackle the challenges of the dungeon and wilderness together" . There is nothing wrong with this of course and for a game where char-gen might take all of a minute and the game is about exploration as much as anything else it actually makes sense.

But there is another way. In the initial session it can be very productive to have the players sit down at decide on a theme for the party. Who this group of misfits, is and why they are adventuring together and such.

Taking a few minutes to do this can really help in more roleplaying oriented games and help get the players more immersed into the game world.

In the next posts I'll give you a few ideas on such groups. Its just class and a vague Midrea oriented background but its enough to get you inspired for you own games.

The Accent Toolbox

Funny enough the only accents I lack are good upper class ones. This rarely matters much in game,as the P.C's don't usually move in those circles. Still having a wide range of accents can improve RP fun, if you know when to use them and the other players don't mind or have real world issues with them.
I'd be curious as to what accents you can do well enough to get away with in game?

My list includes

Canadian (Toronto-ish)
Highland Scots via Groundskeeper Willie (like most gamers)
Generic Eastender/Chav
Bad Eighties Russian
"Bushie" Aussie complete with outdated strine.
Generic Native American (something like Graham Greene)
Northern Irish (I sound like Gerry Adams from Sein Fein )
Mexico City (learned in Spanish Class)
a kind of German via the Pulps
"Gangster" Italian
80's style Street Hood
L.A. Gangsta (this is more slang than accent)
Evil Southern Sheriff
Arkansas Regional via Slingblade
Boomhauer (from King of the Hill if you call that an accent. I use it for a Ghoul Clan)
and Generic Cowboy