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I can think of a few WATE adventures where being a secret Masked Lord of Waterdeep would make a huge difference.

That, plus the specific reference to one of the themes breaking canon, makes me think that we'd be better off not using these themes in LFR.

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Pauper

I'd point out the following:
Masked Lord - just because you're a Masked Lord doesn't mean you're an important Masked Lord. One of the options that the theme talks about is that there are potentially hundreds of Masked Lords. It may be that there are 9 important Lords and a few hundred 'assemblylords' who are just happy to do whatever the 1st 9 say they want for fear of losing their safehouses - when a Waterdeep mod refers to a Masked Lord, they mean one of the 9(I believe it is 9, but not sure)

Clone of Halaster - just because you think you're a clone of Halaster, doesn't mean that you can prove it to anyone or perhaps doesn't mean you're one at all.

Blackstaff Apprentice - seems fine to me.

Mar 21, 2012 -- 10:34AM, Pauper wrote:

Mar 21, 2012 -- 9:59AM, Istaran wrote:

It's kind of horribly ironic that FR based themes would be unusable in LFR because they are -too- tightly tied to the story. :P
(I think you're probably right though.) 

Exactly.

I'm not saying these are 'bad' themes -- I could easily see an awesome campaign starting out of any of them. I mean, seriously:

- Every member of the party is actually a clone of Halaster Blackcloak, transformed by the Spellplague. Weird visions, voices in the head, and end up having to go through Undermountain to figure out how to 'fix' the problem? Awesome.

- One member of the party is a Masked Lord of Waterdeep, and that connection drags the rest into political intrigue and the seamy underbelly of Waterdhavian high society. Awesome.

These would be great campaigns. They're just not *this* campaign.

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Pauper

Most of the Neverwinter themes have similarly strong possibilities for campaigns being strongly involved in a way that is simply not how LFR works. That doesn't prevent the themes from working reasonably well - the players need to be aware that just because they're a Masked Lord of Waterdeep, that doesn't have inherent bonuses to their abilities past what the theme describes, even if the adventure actually involves a Masked Lord of Waterdeep.

And a Goliath Fighter claiming to be a clone of Halaster? What do you think the typical reaction from an NPC is going to be, well at least once they recover from laughing? Heck, if I were playing a PC clone of halaster and some other clone told me that, I'd be laughing very nervously too, sure that there was some plot hatched to find me out and have me killed...

Mar 21, 2012 -- 1:36PM, gomeztoo wrote:

The clone is not problematic for LFR play.
The Masked Lord and Blackstaff Apprentice are  - unless you reduce it to something that means nothing at all, in which case it simply is merely a set of powers.
Masked Lord and Blackstaff Apprentice should, imo, mean you wield political power (or influence at least) in Waterdeep - and that doesn't work in the LFR campaign (or, possibly, most campaigns).

They're no worse than the following themes:
Neverwinter Noble - last scion of Neverwinter's ruling family. We're basically talking that this character should have the option of talking to most kings he runs into.
Noble who has a home region of Waterdeep(or any other mod area where nobles have a lot more rights than anyone else)
Knight Hospitaler - request food & lodging from any noble household.
Harper

Masked Lord actually should be very easy in LFR play - because he can't reveal that he is one to the PCs(or for that matter, NPCs), because then he's no longer really a Masked Lord...

As mentioned in some of the LFR Waterdeep adventures, Waterdeep has (about) 20 Masked Lords. That is not the exact, official number, but I am covered by a NDA for that.

As stated by some, the themes for a home campaign where the DM and player could discuss the roles and weave adventures around their presence would indeed be very workable.  In my past home campaigns, I like PCs with a tie to the events and society.  In LFR, wow, what a headache.

I dislike the ploy of saying You are not a "real" Masked Lord, apprentice, etc., not like the real NPCs...as Gomez says, what is the point of even having the title/role then.  Just call it theme X and give them game mechanics.

I made my recommendations to the Global Admins and so the final decision rests with them.


Keith

ps...being a mundane noble in Waterdeep would actually be a LOT less of a problem.  Nobles get lots of attention, suckup, etc., but have very little real power beyond how rich they may be (or not) and what they own.  There is not even a "Council of Lords," such as in other states or in most RL type history.  They have a title.

If I had written the article, my themes would have been:

Guild Enforcer

Heir to a Noble House (mostly broke)

Agent of the Lords of Waterdeep (collectively)

Merchant Factor


Keith