Age Of Dragons: Legacies
Age Of Dragons: Main Page -> Legacies
Contents
Death and The Legacy
The nature of an Age of Dragons chronicle is such that it is unlikely that any one player will play the same character throughout. Death is the one true inevitable, be it from old age, from war or the dangers inherent in draconic existence.
However, when a dragon dies he does not die without leaving his mark on history. He has a Legacy, which is passed on to his Successor.
The player can then choose to start playing the successor as a new player character. The breed and age of this successor should already be known, and this will effect the character generation process accordingly.
Resource Legacies
First, any Resources that the Dragon may have acquired will likely remain after he has gone on. A Dragon is presumed to have made some provision as to what happens to his resources after he is dead, usually by naming a beneficiary of his possessions and estates.
His Successor may gain some or all of the deceased Dragon's resources as an inheritance. Some Lifepath Resources are harder to hand on than others - for example, a successor would not gain any knowledge of languages his benefactor had, but could definitely inherit a draconic hoard of gold and jewels, or a fine magical weapon.
How easy it is for the Successor to retain these resources is another matter altogether, of course. Dealing with an inheritance should almost certainly be the subject of at least one story!
Legacies of Reputation
Second, the actions of the deceased dragon will reflect upon his chosen successor. If a dragon was a bloodthirsty soldier of the Ascendancy in life, it is not unreasonable for others to expect that his successor will be the same.
There are no in-game rules for inherited reputations, but players should consider that their actions will have impact down the generations.
Legacies of Agenda
Third and finally, a dragon may pass on certain motivations to his successor.
It is up to the player whether the successor carries on these motivations or not.
Successors
A player's successor character can either be his offspring, or his protégé. It is entirely possible that a player character might have multiple successors at the time of his death. If this is the case then he selects one to be his ongoing character.
Note that successors themselves are not an inherited resource. Unused and unselected successors immediately become ordinary NPCs, and are not treated as successors to the new player character.
Offspring
If a player character has children, then they are automatically assumed to be valid successors. However, thanks to the nature of the Birthing Sickness it is extremely likely that these dragons will be mere neonates when the player takes them on.
Refer to the sections below for more on this:
Protégés
Certain lifepaths allow the opportunity for characters to establish protégés. These are dragons who look up to the player character dragon but aren't his offspring.
Protégés are assumed to be valid successors to the character.
Starting Afresh: No Successors
It is possible, especially if a character dies young, that there will be no suitable successor. In this case, the player must start afresh, making a new character from scratch as per the normal rules in the Hatchery chapter.
His legacy is not passed on to this character, though at the GM's discretion he can have arranged for his Resources to be passed on to other player characters, or to non-player characters.
