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1 year ago ::
Apr 23, 2012 - 12:49AM
#101
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I wish we had thought of that with the race for Ashes of Athas... and maybe we'll still steal that idea. Dark Sun has some obvious rare races, which we have been releasing through Death Certificates. That keeps the ratio of iconic races to rare races right. Letting DMs choose, regardless of certs, would be a cool reason to judge and we could add to the list as the Death Certs are released. Hmm...
But a lot less PCs die than players DM. Fact is that you either require so much DMing to gain access that it does not become much of a benefit (especially in a campaing like Ashes), and once received, the DM will actually want to play that PC, or it is becomes so easy to earn that virtually everybody can play that race and all of a sudden it is not rare anymore  In AoA you also try to highlight the fact that it is one storyline, so you would want people to play the same PC throughout the whole story. If you are going to reward DMs by offering the less common races as PC options, you will favor DMs switching characters (assuming the even want to).
In the end, it is certainly a way to reward DMing, but it is not a method that would keep those races rare amongst PCs.
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1 year ago ::
Apr 23, 2012 - 10:24AM
#102
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- Dragon Slayer
- If only he would apply himself
- Dammit Jim, this is Star Trek, not D&D!
Date Joined:
Jan 31, 2006
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AoA racial rarity is increased in that your current PC has to die to get the rare race. Normally, you have to die in a specific mod. If AOA10-10 were to provide access to the Desert Flumph, only players with PCs that die in that mod end up having a Desert Flumph PC. Or, we might grant access via story award, and then PCs can find a way to change into a Desert Flumph (or play it if their PC dies in the future). That's still pretty rare and we see that rarity working at the conventions (none of the races released this way are common at tables).
For DMs, the DM would either be making a new PC or would have to also wait until their PC dies (or kill them off). That won't be too common. This is especially useful when races should be balanced. There should not be too much cheese involved - it should be a story decision.
My point is that just judging once could, for a small campaign like AoA, be a possible reward that would promote some DMing. Potentially, we could tier it, so DMing a particular Chapter gets that Chapter and the ones before. It would be an ongoing reward - if you DM Chapter 3 you get all the races in that chapter and before. You may then be more inspired to DM Chapter 6 to get some more options. Potentially DMs could just switch, via a story device we provide (Veiled Alliance ritual, your old PC is hunted down by your new PC, etc.).
Follow my blog and Twitter feed with Dark Sun campaign design and DM tips! Dark Sun's Ashes of Athas Campaign is now available for home play (PM me with your e-mail to order the campaign adventures).
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