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Elexis the Lady of the Dead
Looking around
(3/14/03 7:57 pm)
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Kefka from FF6 in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil?
I was playing Final Fantasy 6 the other day, which has Kefka the coolist final fantasy villian ever in it and I was thinking how much like many of the Big T cultists he is. Kefka would fit right in with that croud. He's insane, he's whimsicle, he has grandious megalomania, and he does evil psychotic things for no reason other than he's completely bonkers.
I some times like to steal things from movies and games and what not that my players enjoy. This makes things easy for me as DM and my players seem to be amused by the references. I have a few Final Fantasy fans in my group and they would probably think it was cool if I ripped off Kefka and made one of the NPC's in this module like him.
Well I was wondering, if I were to make any one of the major NPC cultists in RTEE "Kefka-esque" that is resemble Kefka in personality, possibly in appearance a bit, which one do you guys think it should be?
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Freethinker
Looking around
(3/14/03 8:03 pm)
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Re: Kefka from FF6 in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
Mmmm....great idea! Don't know who it should be just yet, but I love the idea of using his personality. He even spouts a little of the 'blessed destruction' mantra right at the end!
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errant42
Here for a while
(3/14/03 9:56 pm)
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Re: Kefka from FF6 in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil
I'd say Hedrack. He's the one who most seems to fit the bill: he's not at the top of the ladder, but if the Triad is taken out, he could easily take over and plague the PCs later on. And, since he first served Iuz before being converted to Tharizdun-ism, he seems more likely to try and turn events to his own benefit. I could definitely see him jumping ship when things aren't looking good, only to find some new mad scheme to try and rule the multiverse.
Although, when it comes down to it, very few of the cultists have much personality detailed in the module, so any of them could be adapted. If Dunrat escapes Hommlet before the good guys got him, he could do just as well.
I enjoy dropping in the occasional cameo as well. I don't know how many people ever watched Lexx (a series on the Sci Fi channel), but I was considering using Mantrid (second season villain) as a model for The First... he was crazy as a $#*&house rat, bent on the annihilation of the entire universe, and had a great evil accent and bizarre speech patterns.
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Elexis the Lady of the Dead
Looking around
(3/14/03 10:34 pm)
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Mandrit Rocks
I have seen enough of Lexx to know who Mandrit is. I agree with you he would make a great model for the first. I like Mandrit and I too considered using him as a model for a villian probably in an epic level game some day (what can be more epic than destroying an entire universe). I love the idea of a villian who turns everything and every one he finds into a golem that serves him and than attacking the PC's with swarms of "Mandrit drones". I can definately see Mandrit as a model for the first. They are about the same age too I believe.
Lexx had some great villians, I'm quite fond of Izzenbod Prince (from the last season I believe). I was also fond of Brizen Mandrit's old teacher (the guy with breathing tubes full of gunk, he was in the Mandrit series for 1 episode so you may not know who he is.)
I can see Hendrack as a possible Kefka. I always envisioned him as more of a cold calculating villian like Magneto from X-Men though not a cackling megalomaniac with cool one liners like Kefka. "I will destreoy everything, I will create a monument to non-existence!"
I considered Larith the Beautiful as a possible Kefka
because he makes an appearance early on (much the way Kefka does in FF6) and the PC's have a chance to interact with him more than any other cultist, and most importantly he plays a vital role in the cult's plans for the destruction of the universe. But I'm not sure Larith would fit the bill because he seems like he would work better as an apathetic cynic type, not a Kefka type. I just can't picture Kefka stitting in a boring ghost town not destroying things the way Larith does if you know what I mean.
I never even considered Dunrat for some reason. That's an interesting idea, my only problem with Dunrat would be that he plays more of a secretive cloak and dagger role where as Kefka is a grandious destroyer of everything who I just can't picture keeping his evil whims secret for very long the way Dunrat would have to in Hommlet.
So far I think the Hendrack is in lead for the best possible Kefka candidate. Does anyone have any other ideas for major cultists who can be a Kefka other than Hendrack and Dunrat?
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errant42
Here for a while
(3/15/03 10:02 am)
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Other Insane Villains
While we're on the subject, I've been thinking about the high-level cultists, especially the Doomdreamers. Each and every one of them insane to some degree, and some, with Insanity scores of 5+, are likely pretty unhinged. While I don't plan to write up full psyche profiles for each one, it would be interesting to brainstorm a list possible personality models.
You mentioned Magneto... I'd see him as a good candidate for Varachan. Magneto was a villain, yes, but he also had a conscience-- which brought him to the good side on several occasions. He was brooding and over-serious, and often tortured with the memory of deeds he had committed, which is how I imagine Varachan.
I agree that Lareth seems to be the apathetic, cynical type of villain... "there's nothing worth saving about this world, so why not go ahead and destroy it?"
Another high-level cultist that needs fleshing out is Naquent. She is fairly active in the plot, writing instructional letters to Dunrat and others, so the PCs know about her well before they will ever meet her. Right now, my party thinks that she's the mastermind. From the picture they have on pg. 121, as well as the notes on the spectre in her room, I see her as an imperious, merciless sadist. Call it the drow dominatrix archetype, whatever.
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deafdungeonmasterRIT
Here to stay
(3/15/03 8:00 pm)
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Hmm..
Mandrit.. I read some backgrounds about him.. boy, is he insane! I can really imagine him as being the first except that the First is alot more physically imposing, more wrinkle, pupils nearly take over the eyes, and less crafty like Mandrit.
No way Hedrack can be Kedfka because he would have kill the Traid in order to gain political powers, and Hedrack would never want to do that, period. If anything, good Kedka will be someone with the league of its own, being independent of organization structure. Lareth the Beautiful can be a good candidate, only if you are willing to change his attitudes, effectively fooling people that he is nothing more than a bard.
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Elexis the Lady of the Dead
Looking around
(3/17/03 3:48 pm)
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Hi again
Right now I am leaning towards changing Larith's out look on life a bit to make him the Kefka type in the game if I have a Kefka at all. I'm thinking of making it that he is in Nulb because he is laying low after a failed scheme to destroy a vast region of land for no reason (haven't decided what he tried to destroy yet.) He faked his own death with the skeleton in the moat house and is now hiding out in Nulb. That's why he doesn't attack the PC's right away just for the fun of killing them. I may also change his class to sorcerer/Alienist and rule that alienists have insanity scores. Afterall Kefka did some pretty flashey grandious feats of destruction and that just screams sorcerer.
I see the point made that Hendrack may not make a good Kefka. I was kind of thinking that myself. I'm thinking maybe Hendrack could be a Hans Gruber mastermind type. The Outer Fane does have tight well organized security after all.
I like the idea of Naquent being a drow dominatrix type, I'm a big fan of those myself.
How about Dunrat, how do you guys picture him?
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errant42
Here for a while
(3/18/03 9:34 pm)
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Dunrat and others
Well, Dunrat's already dead in IMC (killed when the PCs stormed the flourmill), so I didn't go into too much detail. Had it come up, I likely would have played him as a big fish in a little pond... he was in charge of the Hommlet/Moathouse project, and likely tripping on his moderate amount of power. To hear him tell it, he's the one in charge, he's the mastermind behind the whole thing. Of course, that's only until one of his superiors is there (i.e. a Doomdreamer, and almost any other cleric of T). Then he's a grovelling, boot-licking lackey.
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