THE HELAECA

The Helaeca is based upon a creature I created as a teenager playing Advanced Dungeons and Dragons. It existed in my homebrew World/Campaign Adamae and originated from the ruined High Eleven Kingdom of Pesh. At that time I did not name it, or think of it as a “type” of monster, it was an entirely unique creature. A single and lone thing, an oddity. Up until it decided to leave and become “normal” again it had lived in the middle of a desert in Pesh’s partially buried library. One day it had read all of the volumes that had survived the destruction of Pesh or had not yet crumbled to dust. After reading all the extant volumes it decided to leave and that it no longer wished to be a lich. It had already existed as a lich for nearly two millennia.

It thereafter crossed the “uncrossable desert” made its way into one of the bordering desert kingdoms and took in 3 unique “enforcers” that it helped to partially create, one of whom was his “familiar” and another was an Anti-Paladin, or “Ruined Paladin.” These it used to seek a Cure for lichdom, yet still remain immortal, and this is how it was brought into conflict with my player characters, through the Anti-Paladin (who assassinated the party’s Paladin at night). The lich later tried to recruit the party for his own ends but because they discovered the Anti-Paladin worked for him they went to war against the lich and his party, and lost, and had to flee for their lives.

Otherwise this lich is as described below. The other day I was thinking back on this and decided to turn this unique lich into a type of Lich, still exceedingly rare but now not unique, which I call the Helaeca. The name can mean either, “one skilled at the workings of hell (necromancer),” or “grave-ghost.”

THE HELAECA OR HALAECA

Helaeca (sometimes Halaeca or Laekhel or Sinlaecae – from Anglo-Saxon terms for those “skillful in working Hell” or “Hell’s curse” or “grave-ghost”)

The Helaeca a Lich/former lich with very peculiar and specific properties or traits. Sometimes a lich either regrets their decision to become a lich or grows tired of living as a lich. These liches, a small number of their kind, then seek out magical and physical disguises by which to camouflage themselves or to deceive others, leave their lairs, hide their souls in ordinary objects they keep upon themselves at all times, gain henchmen and hirelings, and move back out into the world seeking a Cure for their lichdom. Most however never seek a cure for their relative immortality. However, most shift over time from an evil alignment to one of True Neutral. This almost never, however, makes them any less dangerous.

Most Helaeca are natural allies of ghosts, spectres vampires, wraiths, and wights, yet ironically enough are opposed to undead such as mummies and zombies. Halaeca are also natural foes of Ilithid and Beholders and will attack both on sight if they feel it safe to do so.

As Halaeca disguise themselves and move back out into the world (in disguise) they come into frequent contact with others and this has the peculiar side effect of triggering latent psionic powers in them which may then, within a few years, become nearly as potent as those of an Ilithid.

Halaeca retain all of their other previous powers of a lich except their souls tend to now be stored in more mobile and vulnerable objects or creatures for easy transport. Although in some cases it would be safer to leave their souls in their original receptacles, those receptacles being unlikely to be discovered or known for what they are, the natural paranoia of the Helaeca and the fact that they desire to reunite with their soul in their own bodies once a cure is found causes them to transport their soul’s with them.

Halaeca tend to be hostile to most other living creatures but not in an obvious way preferring to maintain their disguises. Because of this hostility even if they become Neutral in alignment they still tend to attract evil companions and followers such as Anti-Paladins and Blackguard.

Helaeca, because of their unique nature will also be in possession of 3 entirely unique spells or 1 entirely unique magical item (of the DM/GMs creation) and usually these magics assist the Helaeca in their search to be free of lichdom.

An Helaeca can also have a familiar, either living or undead, which it usually also employs as a spy and to help it seek out a cure for lichdom.

Another power the Halaeca develops over time is the ability to project its soul out of its receptacle in the form of a Spectre or Ghost (his choice) with the same powers of a Spectre or Ghost. This projection can occur anywhere the Halaeca has preciously travelled and can even appear up to a decade in the past.

In these forms the projection can appear either visibly or invisibly but if the projection is killed then so is the Halaeca so often this projection is made invisibly for spying purposes. If the projection appears in the past it always appears invisibly but may be detected either magically or psionically by some.

Finally the Helaeca can create a “mulashar” which is a semi-real or proto-lifeform composed of the Helaeca’s own thoughts and magic which is then transferred into a homunculus or small simulacrum and is also used for spying and to seek a cure for lichdom. A mulashar can be sent on extended missions on its own and unsupervised and is extremely clever but can be relatively easily killed. However the creation of a mulashar and transferring it into another body is extremely taxing for the Helaeca, and so this ritual can only be conducted once every century, and even then the ritual may fail…

#gaming #roleplay #monster

11 BETTER

11 ways to be a better roleplayer, the Safe for Work version

This is the “safe” version of the 11 ways text with all the rude bits removed if you want to share it with someone who’s upset by profanity.The original rude version, complete with swear words, is available here.

ONE. Do stuff.
Job One for you as a player is to do stuff; you should be thinking, at all times – “What are my goals? And what can I do to achieve them?” You are the stars of a very personal universe, and you are not going to get anywhere by sitting on your butt and waiting for adventure to come and knock on your door.
Investigate stuff. Ask questions. Follow leads. No-one needs you to point out that this is an obvious plot thread while you do it. Mix up scenes, talk to people, get up in their grill. If you’re not playing the sort of character that would do such a thing, find something you can affect, and affect it.
If you keep finding yourself pushed to the back of scenes and twiddling your thumbs – why is such a boring character hanging around with the sort of people that Get Stuff Done?
Be active, not passive. If you learn nothing else from this article, bloody learn this.

TWO. Realise that your character does not exist outside of the things you have said.
You can write as many pages of backstory as you like, mate, but they don’t factor in one bit to the game unless you show them happening. Are you a shrewd businessman? Cool. Do some business, shrewdly, in front of everyone else. Are you a hot jazz saxophonist? Play the saxophone. Are you a wild elf struggling through social interactions with civilised people? Struggle through those interactions! Don’t go off and sit in a tree!
This ties back into the first point, really; you only exist through your actions. It is not the responsibility of other players to read your backstory, and their characters cannot read minds. Well. Some of them can, but you know what I mean. They shouldn’t have to.
So display your talents, your traits, your weaknesses, your connections. Take every opportunity to show, and not tell, the other people at the table what your character is about.

THREE. Don’t try to stop things.
Negating another player’s actions is fairly useless play; it takes two possible story-changing elements and whacks them against each other so hard that neither of them works. For example, your fighter wants to punch some jerk, but your monk’s against it, so he grabs the fighter’s hand. In game terms, nothing’s happened. All you’ve done is waste time, and we don’t have infinite supplies of that.
Instead, go with the flow. Build. If the fighter wants to break someone’s nose, what happens after that? Does your monk rush to help the jerk up? To admonish the fighter? To apologise to the jerk’s friends, before shit really kicks off? To save the fighter in the big brawl that ensues, even though he was going against your will? Or to throw the biggest guy in the tavern right at him, to really teach him a lesson? Those are all examples of interesting stories. Stopping him from doing anything whatsoever isn’t.
Don’t negate, extrapolate. (See, that rhymes, so it’s easier to remember)

FOUR. Take full control of your character.
“My character wouldn’t do that” is a boring excuse, a massive NO to the game’s story on a fundamental level. It’s a point-blank refusal to participate.
Instead of being bound by pre-conceived notions of what your character would and would not do, embrace complications and do it, but try to work out why. Why is your Rogue doing this mission for the church? Does he have ulterior motives? Is it out of a sense of companionship with the rest of the party? Characters in uncomfortable situations are the meat and drink of drama.
(Do you remember that great story about that hobbit who told Gandalf to go away, and sat at home picking his hairy toes all day before his entire village was swallowed up by the armies of darkness? No. No you bloody don’t. So put on your backpack and get out there, Frodo)
If you keep finding yourself having to explain your actions, or not wanting to go along with group decisions because of your character’s motives… well, maybe your character’s motives are wrong. They’re not written in stone. The group’s the thing, not your snowflake character, and if they’re not working, drop them off at the next village and maybe try playing someone more open to new ideas. Maybe work with the group to build a character that fits in.
Your character is part of the story; this is not your character’s story.

FIVE. Don’t harm other players.
Oh ho, here’s a jolly thief that nicks stuff from the other party members! And their Sleight of Hand roll is so high that no-one will ever notice! Gosh, what a jape.
No-one likes that guy. (That guy generally plays Kender, and I am fully of the opinion that Kender should be promptly genocided out of all RPGs. I don’t think genocide is a crime if we’re talking about Kender.) If you steal from other players, you are exerting power over them in a really messy, underhanded sort of way. If they find out, what are they going to do? Are you going to force them to escalate? Is it fair if they kill you for it? Is that fun for them?
Similarly, attacking other players is awful, too. I’m okay with this where systems fully support and encourage this, of course – something like Paranoia or Dogs in the Vineyard – but, hey, give it a rest. I am hard-pressed to think of a way where such a thing improves the game; if your group is fine with it, discuss it beforehand. But keep me out of it.
There are a whole load of things out there to steal from and beat up and kill that won’t get offended when you do it to them, so go bother them first.

SIX. Know the system, don’t be a jerk about it.
If you know a system, you are easier to GM for, because you know your character’s limitations. You can calculate the rough odds of a particular action succeeding or failing, just like in real life. You can make prompt assessments of situations and act accordingly, because you understand the rules of the world.
(New players, of course, get a free pass on this one. But do make an effort to learn the rules, obviously, if you’re keen on sticking around in the hobby.)
But for the love of God, don’t rules-lawyer. Do not do that. It is not hard to work out, because here is a simple guide – if you are arguing over a rule for more than twenty seconds, you are a rules lawyer. You are the Health and Safety Inspector of roleplaying games, and you need to stop talking, because you are sucking the fun out of the game.
There are times when the rules are wrong, and that’s fine, but I’m hard-pressed to think of that time the guy remembered the rule and we all laughed and had a great time because he made the GM change it.

SEVEN. Give the game your attention. If you can’t give your full attention, step away from the table.

Hey! What’s that you’re playing, on your phone there? Oh, is it Candy Crush Saga? That’s funny, all these dice and character sheets gave me the impression that we were playing Dungeons and Bloody Dragons, I must be terribly mistaken.
It is hard to think of a way to be more dismissive of someone’s game than playing a different game during it. If you find yourself getting so bored by what’s going on you’re resorting to playing a game on your phone, or reading a book, or checking Facebook, then step away from the game. You are draining the group with your very presence. I would rather have an empty chair than someone who wasn’t paying attention, because I don’t have to entertain an empty chair.
And of course, it’s up to the GM to offer an entertaining game. This is not one-sided. But going back to point one, act whenever you can. Give them something to work with. Unless you’re paying them money to do this, they are under no obligation to dance like a monkey for you just because they’re behind the screen.

EIGHT. If you make someone uncomfortable, apologise and talk to them about it.
I have a rule in my games, and that rule is: “Nothing has sex with anything else.” Simple. Clean. Elegant. No sexual conduct; it’s weird, often. I’ve had seduction attempts, obviously, and that’s fine. I’ve had characters deeply affected by sexual assault. But, and this is the crucial thing here, nothing had sex with anything else “onscreen.”
In situations like the ones we find ourselves in on a weekly basis, it’s easy to make people feel uncomfortable. Maybe it’s as blatant as discussing dead babies; maybe it’s something much more benign, like being rude or chatting them up in-character.
If you think you might have upset someone, then ask ‘em, quietly. And if you have, apologise, and stop talking about that particular thing. It’s not rocket science; that’s how existing as a functioning social human being works, and somehow because we’re pretending to be a halfling for a bit, we often forget how to do it.

So, you know, be nice. Be extra nice. No-one’s going to think any less of you for it.

NINE. Be a Storyteller.

The World of Darkness books call their GM a Storyteller, because they are very obviously unable to call a spade a spade. But they have a point; a GM is telling stories. It’s easy to forget that the players are doing that too.
So put some effort in, eh? Say some words. Develop a character voice and stance. Describe your actions. Work out a level of agency with the GM so you can chip into wider descriptions, or just make assumptions and describe it and see if it sticks. A good GM should go with what you’re saying, anyway, unless it really goes against their plan.
Similarly, brevity = soul of wit, and all that. A good GM doesn’t monologue, or have their NPCs have long discussions, or make players sit back and watch while their world plays out. So know when to shut up, and to keep your descriptions short – unless you’re an incredible storyteller, of course. But short and punchy is always better than long and flowery.

TEN. Embrace failure.
Failure can be embarrassing. I know that I get pretty het up when the dice don’t favour me – when I’ve spent ages waiting to have my turn in a large game, say, or when I’m using some special power, or when I’ve been talking a big talk for a while or described some fancy action – and I use some pretty bad language, too. And not “fun” bad language, like we all do when we’re gaming. Like threatening “is this guy okay” bad.
And that’s not cool. I need to learn to treat failure as a story branch, not a block. Why did I miss? Why didn’t my intimidation roll work? Why didn’t I pick the lock? Why was I seen? Who worked out that I’m the traitor? What other options can I explore?
Some systems build this in by default – Apocalypse World, for example – and they give you the ability to somehow affect the world whenever you roll the dice, not just fail to affect someone’s Hit Points. That’s great! We need to get ourselves into that mindset by default. We need to view failures as setbacks and explain why our character didn’t achieve their goal, and we need to understand that failure is not the end of the world.

ELEVEN. Play the game.
This is a game. This is not a challenge that exists solely in the head of your GM. This is not your character’s personal story arc. This is not your blog. This is not an excuse to chat up one of the other players. This is not a table to sit at in silence. This is a game.
We have signed up to play a game together. We are all telling a story with each other, to each other, and the story comes first. Step back from the heat of combat; step back from your character’s difficult relationship with their half-Drow mother; step back from the way that the Paladin’s player keeps stealing your dice.
This is a game. Respect the other players. Respect the story, and act in service of it. Respect that you will not always get your way, and that not getting your way can be interesting.
Do what is best for the game. Do what is best for the story. Be active! Be positive! Be interesting! Change things! If you can’t walk away at the end of the night with a good memory, with something that you could talk about in the pub in years to come, then everyone at the table has failed.