Post by Karamica on Jul 17, 2017 11:12:07 GMT
I'm running a very small group of two people. I'm a first time DM and they're first time players, so we are just trying to get a feel of the game and settling into our respective roles. One of the issues that's becoming more and more apparent is that my players have absolutely no interest in doing things for the sake of adventure or the pursuit of the common good and just want the loot. Which is fine! y'know? So I try to incentify them, tell them there's some treasure or reward...
I'll give you an example.
The group is making their way on horseback through a forest highway on their way to a side-quest when they begin to notice the trees are dying around them. Before long they are stood among a dead forest with night falling. Through the trees they a flickering light.
"Nope." says the Bard.
Fair enough.
Now, this was the indicator of a story that I'd spent the day writing, so I didn't want it to pass as easily as that. A shift in the shadows around them spook their mounts. A failed animal handling check and dexterity check later and my party is face down in the dust as their mounts beat their feet out of sight. In the middle of nowhere and with no transport they sigh and make their way towards the light.
A bit of a heavy-handed way to railroad my party, I'll grant you, but I figured that as soon as the story begins to unravel, they'll be invested enough to carry it the rest of the way...
So, anyway, they work their way through the dying trees and I tell them that the closer they get to this light the worse the state of decay surrounding them becomes until they find themselves in a large circular clearing of blackened earth in which is situated an apparently abandoned town. The only sign of life is a burning torch outside what appears to be an inn.
Now, from here, the idea was they would enter the inn and be attacked by a very scared villager who mistakes them for whatever entity that has destroyed the village. After the first round of combat, he would realize his mistake, drop his makeshift weapon, make his apologies and start unraveling the threads which would take them the rest of the way through the story. Creatures wreathed in shadows have been draining the life from the surrounding area, the old and weak died instantly and only the strongest were able to survive, left in a state of emaciation with no strength left in them to make the long journey to the next safe area by themselves.
That was the idea.
"I use firebolt and burn the building to the ground" says my sorceress before they even get close to the door.
Sure. The wooden building is a pyre in a matter of moments. The single inhabitant staggers out the doorway, coughing and blinded by the smoke, swinging a shovel which misses the pair of them by scant inches. As planned he realizes his mistake, drops the weapon and stammers an apology between lungfulls of smoke.
I begin to start his diatribe...
"I stab him" my bard says. I paint a picture of the bard drawing his blade and advancing on the old man who is clearly in no shape to defend himself. "W-wait! Please, I need your help!"
"**** that! He tried to hit me!"
Now. Even though this is a new and low-level party, I've seen enough of their character interaction to have an inkling that it might have turned this way. They had just come from a quest which had ended with them killing a half dozen innocent miners because the treasure that was promised to them by the quest-giver had been stolen by a necromancer. Even though they had already killed the necromancer and retrieved the treasure, they still felt they were due a reward from the miners themselves. As they're in a platinum mine, my bard demands that they go dig him out a reward. After their ordeal, one of the miners throws his pick at my bard's feet and tell him to do it himself. My bard kills all the miners he'd just rescued ("**** that! No one talks to me like that!"), charms the quest giver who had taken the side of the miners in the fight, has the quest-giver mine platinum for them while under their thrall. After is all said and done, my party makes their way back to the town where the quest-giver's house is, put it to the torch, pour salt over his farmland, and spreads a rumor around the town that he's a peadophile. (Really, that's exactly how it went down).
Needless to say, this quest ends with them stabbing the man to death, waiting long enough for the inn to burn itself out, playing run and hide when I decide there's nothing for it but to bring out the big-bad, since they won't get there through the story. They take what scant loot there is to find in the ruins of the inn and leave. Leaving the entirety of the story untouched.
So... Y'know, there's that.
I'll give you an example.
The group is making their way on horseback through a forest highway on their way to a side-quest when they begin to notice the trees are dying around them. Before long they are stood among a dead forest with night falling. Through the trees they a flickering light.
"Nope." says the Bard.
Fair enough.
Now, this was the indicator of a story that I'd spent the day writing, so I didn't want it to pass as easily as that. A shift in the shadows around them spook their mounts. A failed animal handling check and dexterity check later and my party is face down in the dust as their mounts beat their feet out of sight. In the middle of nowhere and with no transport they sigh and make their way towards the light.
A bit of a heavy-handed way to railroad my party, I'll grant you, but I figured that as soon as the story begins to unravel, they'll be invested enough to carry it the rest of the way...
So, anyway, they work their way through the dying trees and I tell them that the closer they get to this light the worse the state of decay surrounding them becomes until they find themselves in a large circular clearing of blackened earth in which is situated an apparently abandoned town. The only sign of life is a burning torch outside what appears to be an inn.
Now, from here, the idea was they would enter the inn and be attacked by a very scared villager who mistakes them for whatever entity that has destroyed the village. After the first round of combat, he would realize his mistake, drop his makeshift weapon, make his apologies and start unraveling the threads which would take them the rest of the way through the story. Creatures wreathed in shadows have been draining the life from the surrounding area, the old and weak died instantly and only the strongest were able to survive, left in a state of emaciation with no strength left in them to make the long journey to the next safe area by themselves.
That was the idea.
"I use firebolt and burn the building to the ground" says my sorceress before they even get close to the door.
Sure. The wooden building is a pyre in a matter of moments. The single inhabitant staggers out the doorway, coughing and blinded by the smoke, swinging a shovel which misses the pair of them by scant inches. As planned he realizes his mistake, drops the weapon and stammers an apology between lungfulls of smoke.
I begin to start his diatribe...
"I stab him" my bard says. I paint a picture of the bard drawing his blade and advancing on the old man who is clearly in no shape to defend himself. "W-wait! Please, I need your help!"
"**** that! He tried to hit me!"
Now. Even though this is a new and low-level party, I've seen enough of their character interaction to have an inkling that it might have turned this way. They had just come from a quest which had ended with them killing a half dozen innocent miners because the treasure that was promised to them by the quest-giver had been stolen by a necromancer. Even though they had already killed the necromancer and retrieved the treasure, they still felt they were due a reward from the miners themselves. As they're in a platinum mine, my bard demands that they go dig him out a reward. After their ordeal, one of the miners throws his pick at my bard's feet and tell him to do it himself. My bard kills all the miners he'd just rescued ("**** that! No one talks to me like that!"), charms the quest giver who had taken the side of the miners in the fight, has the quest-giver mine platinum for them while under their thrall. After is all said and done, my party makes their way back to the town where the quest-giver's house is, put it to the torch, pour salt over his farmland, and spreads a rumor around the town that he's a peadophile. (Really, that's exactly how it went down).
Needless to say, this quest ends with them stabbing the man to death, waiting long enough for the inn to burn itself out, playing run and hide when I decide there's nothing for it but to bring out the big-bad, since they won't get there through the story. They take what scant loot there is to find in the ruins of the inn and leave. Leaving the entirety of the story untouched.
So... Y'know, there's that.
