Musings on dwarves (Staff and player input wanted)

[lordcooper]

1. What happens if a dwarf fails their focus?

It's definitely got to be possible if they had a very specific focus such as Kill Amos (who dies of natural causes) or Craft The Best Mug In The World Before I'm Twenty, or even Mate With A Kank (oh shit, they just went extinct...)

Would they go mad?  Refuse to accept the facts and keep trying anyway?  Or would they just shrug it off and take on a new focus?

2. What about baby dwarves?

Are they born with a focus, or does it come to them at a certain age?  Would it be something really mundane like Learn To Walk or Eat My First Meal?  Perhaps a dwarf is born needing to Become The Dragon And Eat Luirs?

EDIT:

3.

Dwarves, whose origins are unknown, typically attempt to find one single goal (called a Focus) to which they adhere, and they will never abandon that goal for as long as they live (or until it is completed, when a dwarf feels the need to set himself or herself to a new, more difficult task than the last).

Does this mean that dwarves can be temporarily without a focus?

What do y'all think?

[Nana]

I think all of those ideas are pretty much possible..
As to "when" dwarves got their focus, I'd say that's something players are left to decide on their own... That's how I'd play it.

[Schrodingers Cat]

1. What happens if a dwarf fails their focus?

If they can't complete their focus because of no fault of their own (your example of Amos dying of Natural causes, or mating with a Kank), I would think a dwarf would just modify their focus while trying to keep the original spirit of the focus.  In the case of Amos dying, maybe the dwarf would look for someone else to kill (using the same reasons as the original focus).  If the purpose behind the original focus is now moot (lets say Amos was the last survivor of an ancient enemy of the dwarf's clan) and there is no to say kill someone else.  Maybe the dwarf would move on to something else.  After all this shows no fault of the dwarf.

But if you turn it around some and so that their focus is to protect Amos from harm.  Now if the dwarf fails to protect Amos from an attack of some kind, and Amos dies.  I think that then the dwarf might become depressed/mad/suicidal.  But if the dwarf somehow manages to pull through, I think they might try to redeem themselves somehow (maybe by protecting Amos' family or something Amos cared for), dedicating their lives to that (or sacrificing their lives).

In darksun dwarves that had died while trying to complete their focus would become banshees (miserable, sorrowful, creatures).  They would haunt others, trying doing anything in their power to stop them from doing what they could not.

2. What about baby dwarves?

To me the dwarven focus is primary to a dwarf's identity.  I don't think a baby dwarf would have what would be considered a real focus until they matured.

3.
Quote
Dwarves, whose origins are unknown, typically attempt to find one single goal (called a Focus) to which they adhere, and they will never abandon that goal for as long as they live (or until it is completed, when a dwarf feels the need to set himself or herself to a new, more difficult task than the last).


Does this mean that dwarves can be temporarily without a focus?

Yes, until they find another one.  I would think that the foci in a dwarves life would follow common theme.  For example, if a dwarf has the focus to create the finest painting of Lord Templar Malik, and they do.  They might decide to take things to the next level (make a statue, tapestry, poem, museum).  It would depends on the particular identity/personality/purpose of the dwarf to determine what sort of common thread each focus would be.

[Wolfsong]

As the documentation states, dwarves are never without a foci. If they lack a specific one, that doesn't mean they are completely adrift - their focus is to find a new focius.

http://www.armageddon.org/rp/racial/focus.html
http://www.armageddon.org/rp/racial/morefocus.html

[creepyguy]

I know that Arm is not Dark Sun, but just for discussion's sake, in Dark Sun, when a dwarf dies before fulfilling their focus, they become a specific sort of undead ghost, an Oath Wight in the 4E rules. I know this would be impossible to code, but it would be cool to see undead be more common.

[Aaron Goulet]

I know that Arm is not Dark Sun, but just for discussion's sake, in Dark Sun, when a dwarf dies before fulfilling their focus, they become a specific sort of undead ghost, an Oath Wight in the 4E rules. I know this would be impossible to code, but it would be cool to see undead be more common.

No way.  The more uncommon something is, the more shocking it becomes when you encounter it.

[Reiteration]

If my focus was to kill Amos, I'd find the next prick named Amos and take him out or modify my focus to take out Amos' family.

[lordcooper]

I'd find the next prick named Amos and take him out.

Good answer.

shout Amos is dead??!!!!11!!
contact amos
psi I don't know you, but get your ass to the Gaj NOW!  Free monies...

[Reiteration]

I'd find the next prick named Amos and take him out.

Good answer.

shout Amos is dead??!!!!11!!
contact amos
psi I don't know you, but get your ass to the Gaj NOW!  Free monies...

Worked before, it'll work again.

[Qzzrbl]

If my focus was to kill Amos, I'd find the next prick named Amos and take him out or modify my focus to take out Amos' family.

Or find Amos' corpse and do stuff to it.

New focus, "Fill a pocket with Amos' teeth and the last digit of every finger and toe!"

That's how I'd do it....

But then again, I've never played a dwarf, and probably won't.

[Wolfsong]

Focus: Kill Amos.

Amos dies.

Focus: Find proof that Amos is dead.

Proof found.

Q: Why was I killing Amos?

A: He killed my brother.
Focus: Kill all relatives of Amos, male relations highest priority.

OR

A: He wronged me on a business deal, which was my previous focus. I will not be satisfied until Amos is dead by my hands.
Focus: Acquire corpse.

Corpse acquired.

Focus: Bring Amos back from the dead.

Done and done.

Focus: Kill undead Amos.

Failed foci, IMO, are pathways to madness - and, as a result, foci that branch off these failed focus attempts are notoriously unstable. They don't have to make complete and utter sense - in fact, they shouldn't.

[boog]

As you can tell, Wolfsong is a pro at outlines.