Rogue Mages

By Matthew M. Colville.

The Royal College of Sorcery: For the purposes of justifying the existence of other NPC groups (see below) the Royal College of Sorcery is, in my campaign, *extremely* insular in nature. No faculty members, and no students of less than graduate level, are allowed outside the walls of the College, and on those rare occasions when they do venture out, they are under strict restrictions not to practice magic. The Royal College also enforces a ban on the use of magic of any significant level in the Imperial City.

Most of the research done by the College centers around extra-planar exploration.

The Rogue Mages. There are three Rogue Mages. They operate in the Imperial City in defiance of the Royal College's Ban on High Level magic.

Norvien: Norvien is the Rogue Mage in charge of dealing with the Imperial City. The Royal College tends to turn a blind eye toward anything wierd happening in the Imperial City, and - as a result - Norvien has taken it upon himself to act as caretaker to the City.

Calien: Calien has adopted the responsibility of the whole of Cerilia. He keeps tabs on all magicians of high enough level, and usually knows something about any events occurring in Cerilia that employ high level magic use. Calien would, for instance, know that something strange was happening beneath the surface of Cerilia if the PCs were going through Night Below.

Elemein: Elemein is Cerilia's version of Elminster. He represents Cerilia in the multiverse. He would, for instance, be likley to know about ancient artifacts in other Prime Material Planes, how to get there, and probably have met some of the more powerful mages there.

A Rogue Mage as a PC. Allowing one of your players to be a Rogue Mage can be extremely rewarding for both the GM and the Player. The level of magic involved is extremely high, but an experienced GM can easily deal with it.

First, pick the Rogue Mage you think would work best as a PC in your campaign. Tell your player he has been an apprentice to a Mage in the Imperial City for the past few years. The Player should not yet know about the existence of the Rogue Mages, or the Royal College's outlook on life.

Portray the Rogue Mage as a doddering old fool. Absent minded, sometimes stern, never silly. After impressing upon the Player how frumpy his Master is, how small the house in which they live is (maybe three stories. Tall, but not wide,), and how meager their living is, have the Rogue Mage abruptly leave, investing the Player. Don't give any explanation regarding where the Mage is going. This will allow you to re-introduce the Mage much later in the campaign, once the Player has gained some appreciation of the scope of power of their former master.

After investing the PC, impress upon him how disorganized the house is. There is an expensive and extensive alchemical laboratory, thousands of pieces of paper scattered all over the place, piles of books, and many potions.

If the player decides to clean the place up, tell him it will likely take a month or two to organize and categorize everything. An opportunity for a role-playing session exists here. Something should happen to the PC before they get everything sorted out.

The Player should discover the will of their former master. It is specifically worded such that the extended absence of the mage is sufficient, not necessarily his actual death. Also found should be a ledger, indicating (falsely) that the PC owes about 6,000 gp to Region & Steile Investments and Securities.

R&S, I&S is an extremely exclusive bank used by only the extremely rich. It is small, understated and lacking any opulence. R&S is impressive because of who banks there, and their offices are very quiet, tasteful, and it's employees are extremely well trained, helpful, professional. Not obsequious.

The person in charge of the PC's Former Master's account will inform the PC that the will is in order, and he now inherits the income and debts of his former master. This should slightly worry the Player. He should then be informed that the 6,000 gp is not a debt owed, but rather the amount accrued monthly in interest on the bank account, investments, and real estate owned by his former master. The PC has something over a million gold in the bank. This will, of course, be more money than any 1st level PC has ever had before. Don't worry about this. What can the PC spend it on? Just say "sure" to anything non-magical. Most things are only 'neat' to own, not functional.

When the month has gone by, inform the PC that the total magical cache of his former master amounts to over 100 magical potions and 250 scrolls. Use any method you wish for determining the contends of these potions and scrolls. For potions, I used the Encyclopedia Magica's list and just kept rolling, ignoring duplicates. For scrolls, I used the list of 'every spell, ever' that TSR posted as the contents of the upcoming Wizard's Spell Compendium. A friend wrote a Pascal program to generate the number of spells, thier level, and what they actually are, using the WSC contents as a text file.

This gives the PC access to *extremely* powerful magic. The Player in my campaign with this power has hoarded it and used it only when desperate. He has a Wish on a scroll - he hasn't used it. He's got two Permanencies - he hasn't used them. He has some extremely potent stuff, 9th level spells like Juggernaut, than he still hasn't used and the character is 9th level now. Your mileage may vary.

While all this is going on, people will be coming to the PC, presuming that either that his former master is still in business or that the PC has assumed his master's mantle. In either case, the PC should slowly learn what his master actually did, and his relationship with the other two Rogue Mages. This can easily be achieved by couriers showing up with messages for the PC's master, from the other Rogue Mages. References for problems out of their ballywick. "Thought this was more up your alley. Let me know if you're too busy. . ." that sort of thing.

It will eventually become natural for the PC to visit the other Rogue Mages. They should have much more extensive offices. Huge mansions doubling as businesses. The attitude of the other Rogue Mages may be one of encouragement, or skeptical distance. Its up to you. I recommend Skeptical Distance. The Rogue Mages hope the PC can take up his former master's portfolio, and will help with any problems should the PC show promise, but they will keep a safe distance in case the new Rogue Mage is a bonehead.

Mind you, the Rogue Mages will suspend other important meetings to talk to the PC, and usually grant him immediate audience as a *peer*. This should be a great honor to the PC. Do not be too patronizing, however. Peers don't tend to look down their noses at each other.

There were more NPC organizations that I was going to cover, but this ended up being pretty long. More later. . .

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