An optional subplot recommendation for your Player Character, by WeArePaladin.
Any Highlander fan who got that reference immediately? Join me my fellow ancient, this is for you as well as any newcomer who is looking for a plot line that is engaging and adaptable for myriad settings that I wished we got to see more and so I’m going to try to encourage to bring back.
Now, let us get to the heart of the matter. Have you ever wanted your character to have an interesting subplot that allowed for characters with multiple goals, beliefs, and backgrounds contesting against each other in a life or death struggle, but rather than be limited by the middle men of armies, assassins and other forces slowing down the personal confrontation between these two titans? Wouldn’t you rather settle things in a duel, strength to strength, skill vs skill, or even might vs right, concluding with winner take all?
My friends, I give you The Game, a potent ritualistic contest where two figures duel until one is slain by the other, concluding with the surviving winner one step closer to ultimate power, until only one contestant remains. For…
That said, I am obviously referencing the cult classic Highlander, which is one of my original fandoms. I was introduced to the cartoon first (yep, they made a cartoon from this concept as well), but there are several films and shows of varying quality out there, all about the eternal contest between immortals and the prize, a mysterious power that shall be granted to the last of their kind.
I am preferential for the first film, introducing me to the lonely immortal Connor Macleod, the charming ancient Ramirez, and the villainous Kurgan, showing me the range of people involved in this contest of power.
That’s one of the series greatest strengths, in my opinion. Pick a culture and time period, and you can have a survivor of a world far from our own time, with the motivations of centuries at their back. Plus, for those of us who love a contest of skill and unlikely clashes, you could have a Samurai fighting a Knight, a Viking against a Medjai, a Highlander vs Centurion, warriors from across the ages, fighting in our modern time or elsewhere in the most unlikely spots of history. In a contest where any speaker from across history can add their voice and weapon to the race, you have a range of protagonists and antagonists. And who’s to say you couldn’t alter this to fit any setting with a rich history?
That said, this contest needn’t be a remake of what I described. Other stories have their own versions I’ve found interesting, and you two can likewise tweak it to fulfill your needs. Let me cite two other examples and then give more ideas on how to apply them your character or game.
The One starring Jet Li as both hero and villain, is an interesting take on this for a Science Fiction approach. In a setting where the multiverse is an explorable phenomenon, a rogue traveler begins to kill off his alternate selves, becoming stronger through every slaying, unknowingly strengthening his moral opposite among his alternates until the two clash to determine who will be The One.
While the premise is arguable from any notion of science, I find the notion of facing the other versions of yourself, the living consequence of every decision, culminating in a final fight against the dark mirror of every choice you’ve refused. When you face that mirror, are you so sure that you’re the one who should be left, after seeing the range of people you could have been? Do you still wish to fight for who you are in the face of that? For a player or DM, this can range in a fun cast of NPC’s, or, if your character dies, another version of themself can take their place, only, who are they now? How different are they from whose shoe they’re filling? And if the Prize is being the singular version of yourself in existence, does that bring you comfort, or do you bear a burden you would have never sought if not to prevent your shadow from taking it?
Alternatively, the original Baldur’s Gate games and the Dark Urge plot in BG3 might be my favorite of these bloody contests, because there is a range of ways to utilize them. The Bhaalspawn saga and its newest iteration in the form of the Dark Urge all culminate from Bhaal, the Lord of Murder’s desire to use his children as tools to either ressurect or ascend his designs. But though they have his essence within them, all Bhaalspawn have the capacity to be anywhere on the moral spectrum, and have their own motivations outside of being weapons or sacrifices in their father’s game. Some, such as Imoen, ever even exhibit symptoms of that legacy, and yet, that essence remains. Even the most good aligned protagonist will inevitably conflict against Sarevok, the Five, or Orin the Red in a battle to the death because they, flush with the echo Bhaal’s murderous will, would never be content to let you live. Even for those who would find Bhaal’s legacy abhorrent, no Bhaalspawn can avoid confronting it because A: it will come for them regardless. B: it will either culminate in empowering Bhaal or someone wanting to take that power for themselves. And that, I think, strikes the heart of the matter.
At some point or other, I think we all must confront a legacy we’d rather leave in the dark. Be it personal, familial, or historical, the world is full of things we can tie ourselves to that we know were either done with evil as a result. Go back single generation or more, the past thrives with shadows. The question is, whether you accept that legacy or reject it, someone else not only will reach for it, but use it to empower themselves. Dare you let them decide what the truth is, or are you willing to fight for what you believe, contest their truth against your own? Because sometimes being silent only allows other voices to smother yours.
So, whether the prize is mysterious, being singular, or the freedom to accept or reject the legacy that forced us into this contest, or whatever you think is compelling for your character into this contest, I hope this idea intrigues you enough to play with it. Maybe tell me how it goes.
