TAG Talk Tuesdays – Kyle/Sir Deadward
And I, Mat, am back again to continue talking with Kyle and about his character Sir Deadward – The Undead Knight!
So Kyle, how about we get right into it! Like Doug’s Turret from my last interview, you are playing a very unique character concept. How about we start with a bit more of a deep dive into Deadward? So please tell me a bit more about Deadward. Maybe some details of how you came up with him and a small bit of his backstory.
Absolutely, sounds great! So the very earliest origins of my desires to play someone like Deadward were pretty commonplace. I just enjoyed knights! Ever since I was a child I was always enamored with the ideals and tales of chivalry and bravery. So playing Deadward gave me an opportunity to live out my childhood dream, however at the same time I wanted him to be a bit more unique than just another knight. This is the original inspiration for also wanting to be undead.
Deadward’s original human name was Edward Therrien; a name inspired by English and French knights while the rest of his visual design was inspired by other European knights. He comes from humble beginnings as a farmer, thus the name Therrien, however his deeds defending his town slowly elevated him to the position of knighthood. One time while fighting off a force of undead in Turiand, he fell into a Rift that had spawned on the battlefield. Unfortunately, for unknown reasons the Rift affected him differently than most and his body died while traversing it, but the Aether energy within the Rift allowed his soul to carry on. And thus the undead knight Deadward was killed… or reborn?
Haha. The humble beginnings of wanting to simply live out the childhood dream of being a knight actually reminds me of the simple beginnings of one of my former LARP characters, Tonest. I had the same early childhood inspirations, so I understand your interest!
You mentioned Turiand. So is Deadward originally from Arkrath? I know of a few other characters that have appeared through a Rift, but I think you are pretty unique as to both falling through a Rift and originally being from Arkrath! So is Deadward a Riftborn?
No, I actually designed Deadward as a Human! It is possible that in the future I may try and develop an Undead Heritage Kit, but for now he is a simple human. But this has worked out great so far.
So that explains most of how Deadward was developed, but what about his healing? How did the doctor side of him develop? You mentioned he was a farmer previously.
I admit my original concept of Deadward did not include the doctor persona and that was developed later. And why did I add it? Because it’s freaking cool!!
I originally got interested in the healing side while at Drachenfest, a yearly festival LARP held locally with a few hundred participants. While there, you could take classes to enhance your skills within the game, but also learn some role-playing techniques. The other players I saw healing caught my interest and I thought it would be worthwhile learning the skill myself. So I took the class and I was immediately hooked. I quickly decided how I could incorporate it into my character’s backstory and become an Undead Doctor Knight. The story goes that while living I took to saving my fellow combatants from grievous wounds on the battlefield as I never wanted to watch one fall and see them rise again as an undead.
I do see the irony in the entire situation. I was a human who spent his entire life trying to fight the undead. Who eventually becomes undead himself. And now I spend my life undead, trying to heal others so they themselves do not die and themselves become undead. At which point I would have to kill them for being undead!
Wow that really is pretty ironic and quite the funny perspective!
You mention some of the healing role-play techniques you learned while at Drachenfest, and I think back on the elaborate ritual and surgery that was performed with all of town, was this also inspired by Drachenfest? How did the entire idea come to fruition?
While at Drachenfest, I learned about how to work off the energy of other players to help create compelling stories. Working together to create the best story is very important at Drachenfest and now is also very important to my role-playing experiences going forward. While at the Drachenfest event, Roy, who plays Braddok, took a cannon shot to the leg during our final battle. While we could have healed it there, he came up with the original idea of using it to introduce his character back into Odyssey. So we sat down together and came up with the idea of the ritual and the surgery so all of town could participate. We knew we had to use smoke to set the stage as smoke was often used at Drachenfest to highlight important events. And I wanted to show off some of the healing role-play skills I developed. After some deliberation, we came up with this basic blueprint of how the situation would proceed. I would come through the Rift first and then would lead the town in a ritualistic chant to call forth Braddock. At which point his leg would come flying through the smoke and then him. I would then get him onto a secure table. We would find a way to secure him and knock him out. I would then reattach his leg. And then finally, I would stitch him up. We knew we could get the town involved in this entire scenario and play off their energy and ideas. And it went over even better than we had planned! It was awesome seeing how all the different players worked together to put on the full experience. I remember Steve ‘Gambit’ using cards to help tempt fate to ensure everything worked. I remember you as Dr. Cyrus and Jacob ‘Nero’ taking notes on how the procedure was done. I remember someone smacking Braddock in the head to knock him out. Multiple others chanting and holding down Braddock. I could not be more proud of how everything turned out!
So you don’t have to be too specific, but do you expect we will see more of this town involved role-play again this year? It was such an engaging moment that I have hopes we will see more!
While neither I nor Braddock have anything written in stone, we are certainly more than willing to help with any sort of production if anyone has any ideas! And if we come up with anything, we will be sure to involve as much as town as possible again!
Well I really hope we get to see more of those scenarios again! That was a lasting memory from our first official season!
Lastly, Kyle, you have been on the Plot Team from the onset of Odyssey. I asked Doug a bit about unique races, but as you are on the Plot Team so I figure you may also have some additional insight about the unique races found in Arkrath.
The idea of unique races really was a hope of ours since Brian Rooker first made mention of wanting to allow all players the opportunity to play whatever they want. The concept of Rifts afforded us this opportunity and I am pleased with how it has worked out. Challenging normal race conventions, such as undead not necessarily having to be evil and being a playable race, was a goal from the beginning and I am happy it is coming to fruition. We are here together to create great stories and lasting memories, and our characters help facilitate that. Being allowed to play whatever we want and feel comfortable doing so affords us this exciting opportunity!
And there you have it everyone! I hope everyone has enjoyed the opportunity to learn a bit more about Kyle’s role-playing experience and about Sir Deadward! I also hope everyone likes the little preview regarding the Plot Team’s inspirations as over the next two weeks we talk with the head of the Plot Team, Sean!
This interview was held over Discord. Questions and Responses, while true to their initial nature, may have been edited to best invoke the feelings of the participants and allow for better flow.
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