Ironside

Jason recently brought his legendary paladin Sir Roberts back to The Druid Cycle. As part of his return, I wrote a little scene to introduce Sir Roberts to the arrogant dragon-in-human-form named Ironside, a character he had never met. As I started thinking about the history of this villain-turned-hero, I came to the conclusion that I've badly mishandled his characterization.

Ironside first appeared around 2002 in the original "Castellan's Journal" story arc, which took place on the distant and now-destroyed continent of Sarras. Ironside was a stern, power-hungry warlord whose great secret was that he was a dragon masquerading as a human. I portrayed Ironside as a villain, but at least a reasonable villain -- though he opposed the heroes and their allies, he was not especially cruel or malicious, and he operated according to a strict code of honor. (I later used Ironside in much the same capacity during a long-running but non-canonical Druid Cycle campaign with my graduate school friends.) The Sarras-based campaign ended in 2004, and over the next few years I used Ironside as a "guest star" in a few adventures. Then, during the quintessence rifts storyline (2009-2010), Ironside came to First Home (the main continent of the Druid Cycle world) and I upgraded him into a major recurring character.

It was at this point that his characterization started to change. When faced with a common enemy (evil dragons, the cult of the Old Ones, Ekhis, etc.), Ironside and the heroes often worked together. Slowly but surely, Ironside became increasingly associated with the heroes. That part was intentional. What was not intentional was the effect this change had on his personality. The original Ironside of 2002 was a character whom the players took seriously. He was arrogant and dangerous. Now he's arrogant and...well...just kind of a blowhard. In a party full of serious characters (PCs and NPCs alike), he often provides the comic relief.

I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but I'm a little disappointed by this change in personality. I liked the stern Ironside better than the bombastic one. Players, what do you think? Did you notice (or care about) the change?