Hirudo as PC's

[Lyle H Janney <lhjanney@adpc.purdue.edu>]

Okay, time for me to toss my cookies, uh, er, (sorry 'bout that, just got done
stuffing myself with lunch)...  uh, ahem... toss in my two cent's worth on the
subject of Hirudo as player characters.

First off, kudos to you Steve for the very well produced write-up on Hirudo.
Whether we ultimately allow player character Hirudo or not, I would love to
see this write up in the standard AQ:Jaern manual (or some mixture between
it and what currently exists.  I must admit, however, that it has been quite
some time since I've read the original text (nor do I have it here at work with
me), so please forgive me any errors I make as regards the original).

Okay, here we go.  Many years ago (I think only Dan and myself still remain
here from those days), the Fantasy Club had two primary adventuring groups.
One was referred to as the 'Good' group, the other was referred to as the 'Evil'
group.  Except for the few very exciting, engaging, and, very nearly, world-
shattering occasions, both groups _always_ adventured separately.  The main
reason for this was to enhance everyone's gaming fun by removing at least
one primary cause for inter-party strife.  What I'm getting at with this little
recounting of history is a possible solution to my only remaining reservation
regarding Hirudo as PC's (assuming they get redefined as Steve suggests,
i.e., no EXP for draining other Hirudo, etc.).

Now in those days, we had the equivalent of AD&D alignments, not motivations.
So it was easy to split people up.  Truly neutral characters chose a group and
generally stuck with it (loyalties were built up, etc.).  Doing something like this
these days would be much more difficult, but I've been thinking on the usefulness
of this for quite some time (the Hirudo issue just serves to drive the idea home).

There are certain players/characters whose goals are generally towards doing
'Good' (saving the princess/village/caravan/etc., usually just for the sake of doing
it; the reward is usually less important).  And there are many other players/char-
acters whose goals are, shall we say, less pure (i.e., more mercenary; they'd
sell out their employer if the pay was better or if it suited them or what have you).
In many cases, the ones whose goals tend towards serving others often wind
up at odds with the ones whose goals tend towards serving themselves.  Hence
massive amounts of inter-party strife are generated.  Having Hirudo characters
will tend to only exacerbate this situation.  Quoting from the text: "They'll go to any
lengths to further the causes of change, adversity and chaos."

In defense of the idea, if the Hirudo player character found a party whose goals
were more in line with its own, then it would be fine to have in play.  However,
what of the rest of the player characters in the campaign?  Personally, I would
think that given the general view of adventurers on Jaern, only a green newbie
adventurer would be foolish enough to adventure with a bunch of strangers
(but you gotta start somewhere, eh?).  As an adventurer with a few battle scars,
I'd only want to go out with a party where most of my companions are known to
me and at least one of them and I are word-bonded to watching each other's
back.  Those seen to be a disruption to the mission at hand are immediately
flagged as trouble makers and are to be watched very closely.  That type of
behavior just makes good sense to any adventurer who has any value for their
own life (as opposed to those who are used to dying on a regular basis and then
getting brought back to life; a practice that I personally disapprove of as it takes
away the real challenge of survival in a harsh fantasy world).

So, if we, as a club, were to move towards more cohesive adventuring groups
(centered around our characters, not the players themselves) so that we could
somewhat segregate the self-servers from the public-servers, I can easily see
how Hirudo PC's (defined per Steve's write-up with various discussed refinements)
could fit into the campaign without disrupting game play.  If we don't look at doing
something like that, then I am against the idea.  Usually, even the self-servers
can be sated by a hefty reward for doing good, but Hirudo must, by definition,
further the cause of Chaos, Adversity, and Change.  This, I think, would result
in many players who primarily play public-servers getting fed up with the game
because it would cease being fun for them (they would have to watch others in
their own party as hard as they watch outside of the party).  If you do not feel
my opinion is in order, I have at least one very good example of a mission gone
all wrong due to the existence of Hirudo in the party (and the resulting hiatus of
several of the players involved did the club no good).

Just my thoughts.

Lyle