Re: Keeper help: need a good god
Posted: Fri Mar 14, 2014 10:52 am
Sound like you've got things well under control and worked out. The idea that Von Smitt is is testing himself agains clever people is certainly an interesting option.
I don't think I'd advise this as a general tactic: the problem with Super-Geniuses are that the Keeper needs to be pretty bright too (and I'm not that good...). I'm reminded of the observation, when, in dramas, the super villain asks, "Why am I aways surround by incompetents?" the unspoken answer is, "Because you're not smart enough to employ competent staff."
Also, having a problem with historians because you are forward-looking is quite an obscure motivation. While alien motivations mostly should be inexplicable (beyond wanting the Earth back), I find players can identify better with human villains if their motivations are understandable: so an Indian who what's to bring down the British Empire and free India from its rule is understandable; a woman trying to scam her family's fortune after being disinherited for her independent ways is understandable; or a man unwilling transformed by the Old Ones trying to get back to his childhood sweetheart and scare-off her new suitor is understandable. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't have an adventure where blind, malignant Fate dumps on the players, or that Super-Geniuses can't play chess with the players, but most trouble in this world is cause by people who think they are doing the right thing, and if the plan is a long running campaign, then mixing it up will help its longevity.
I suspect you have things all worked out, so I'll not comment further on your specific plotline.
I don't think I'd advise this as a general tactic: the problem with Super-Geniuses are that the Keeper needs to be pretty bright too (and I'm not that good...). I'm reminded of the observation, when, in dramas, the super villain asks, "Why am I aways surround by incompetents?" the unspoken answer is, "Because you're not smart enough to employ competent staff."
Also, having a problem with historians because you are forward-looking is quite an obscure motivation. While alien motivations mostly should be inexplicable (beyond wanting the Earth back), I find players can identify better with human villains if their motivations are understandable: so an Indian who what's to bring down the British Empire and free India from its rule is understandable; a woman trying to scam her family's fortune after being disinherited for her independent ways is understandable; or a man unwilling transformed by the Old Ones trying to get back to his childhood sweetheart and scare-off her new suitor is understandable. Of course, that doesn't mean you can't have an adventure where blind, malignant Fate dumps on the players, or that Super-Geniuses can't play chess with the players, but most trouble in this world is cause by people who think they are doing the right thing, and if the plan is a long running campaign, then mixing it up will help its longevity.
I suspect you have things all worked out, so I'll not comment further on your specific plotline.