139: Stacking the Gunpowder

I really liked this episode - i loved the potency of the word picture 'stacking the gunpowder' and the simplicity of the rationale - stack it up so its easy for players to set it off.

really good way to give them agency and let them kick off the story threads that appeal to them... one way or another

I wrote an adventure for 3.5E a while ago that had this element built in to it based on in game timers.  At the start of the game (brand new characters and group), there would be multiple beginner quests (Save the farm from rats, clear a goblin cave and get some loot, etc), but all the while I kept track of what date it was in the game world and at specific intervals, things would escalate with the background event the players weren't even aware of yet.

The first sign would come at day 5.  Earthquakes and a noticeable sound from the mountains.  If ignored, a few days later, there would be obvious signs of a visible (with a proper check beating the DC) black disk floating above the mountains.  Over the next few days, the disk would grow... and grow... and grow... whether or not the PCs decided to act.  If they continued to ignore it (the group fell apart before we got really anywhere due to one of the members having a baby and others not having time), then monsters would start appearing outside the city of increasing difficulty.  Eventually, the area would get overrun with demons instead of skeletons.  Then it would reach it's final size after a month or so in game time, at which point the demons would be quite powerful.  At that point, the only way to stop it would be to enter the portal at the source and destroy the orb that was allowing it to stay open, and then escaping back to the real world, at which point the monsters that did escape would be pulled back into their hellish dimension, saving the area/world.  If they fail, then it would mean that the capital city's army, who were already on the way to investigate, would now be in a war with this demon army, which could lead to a whole new campaign in and of itself.

Now, there would have been rumors planted before any of this even started.  "Crazy old necromancer is rumored to live in the mountains, I bet he's up to no good."  And "I heard he has been dabbling in something quite unsavory. Even more so than necromancy!" etc etc. Basically, giving the players every hint that "Hey, this stuff going down at the mountain needs to get taken care of pronto!"  If they head there before monsters start showing up, it'd be an easy trek to get to the cave where the necromancer is hiding and casting his crazy ritual, and it would be a simple boss fight to save the area from future peril.

To summarize, I believe a good in-game clock with intervals of when big escalations happen can be very effective as long as you give the players every opportunity to take care of the issue before it explodes into something unmanageable.  Just make sure that the players are capable of deescalating the situation at any point, even if it will be more challenging the longer it takes to fix the problem.