4e - The Dragonborn saga

Having just finished a three part series based around my character Azhanti, I thought I would register a few thoughts. What actually happened is well documented on the DM's blog.

Although the story and characterisation did advance I think we have missed an interesting aspect of the story telling. We affect, as PCs, the leaders of the world, we influence them usually at the tip of a sword and get them to ally with us or terminate them. However, we are not considering our legend, our affect on the commoners of the world and it would be nice to see in the flavour text, both by players and the DM, something to that effect. For example, my character's goal at the end of the next tier is to be a god ... possible in 4e. However, at 18th level he doesn't actually have a follower base and this became abundantly clear in the discussions with the Dragonborn emperor. In two levels time, he will be picking up the epic tier pathway, Avatar of the Stormlord, yet has few/no worshippers. Playing up his influence by adding in such things as when we enter a dragonborn city Azhanti's symbol is carved into the walls of some temples (perhaps with signs that others have tried to remove them) or a procession of dragonborn chanting his name. Cut scenes can add to this. Note, none of this has a mechanical effect on the game except perhaps in the justification of the epic tier pathway. I have not been bold enough to push through this agenda nor bold enough to use my player write in to affect the storyline, so I think I will look for further opportunities to tell the growth of the Azhanti cult. As a model I will take on the rise of Christianity in Rome - a minor cult that grew to be a threat, persecuted and perhaps even becoming the state religion!

Azhanti's symbol!

It has to be noted however, that this is a minor issue in a very fun, entertaining and challenging series of adventures. The overall story arc is very interesting and the pace of events is building up the tension to the final mission of gaining the heart of Sopias. I felt my spot light sessions had a good mix of my input with some nice twists to keep us guessing. The battle scenes are more complex, challenging (having only one encounter power left is seriously scary!) Thanks for all the hard work that is going into this and keep the awesome coming.