Seeking sagely DM plot advice [HotDQ / LMoP spoilers]
Oct 4, 2015 13:55:47 GMT
joatmoniac likes this
Post by emiz on Oct 4, 2015 13:55:47 GMT
Hey guys,
Have a question about the game I'm currently running that I'd like to get some insights on from more experienced DMs, but I'm having difficulties articulating it, so here it goes...
How do you guys respond to when PCs trip up in RP situations? Things like making their RP too convoluted and getting lost in the details, blowing their cover, angering a key NPC (i.e. accidentally destroying his most valued possession), or saying wrong things because they weren't prepared or made too many assumptions? How can you have it affect one player without it impacting the rest of the party too severely?
To clarify with an example...
I ran LMoP with my group without much trouble a few months ago - they (A drow rogue, high-elf wizard, and half-elf cleric) cleared through everything and had a good time doing it, with the odd other PC joining in and departing here and there (people giving the game a 'test drive' but not being able to commit to weekly play). During their playthrough, they spared the life of Glasstaff (the PC wizard took his staff) and sent him away with Sildar to be punished by the Lord's Alliance in Neverwinter. They chose not to accompany Sildar, who took Glasstaff back alone... Consequently, I wrote Glasstaff back into HotDQ as having overpowered Sildar and escaped, joining the Dragon Cult and eventually becoming a key figure in the lower hierarchy of the cult.
At the end of LMoP, we segwayed into HotDQ rather seamlessly... 3 new PCs joined as Nundro the Barbarian1, a fighter and bard - so now we are 6 PCs.
Since starting the new story, the cleric has decided to multi-class as a sorcerer with draconic lineage (smart strategy, I thought) to help the party deal with the Dragon Cult. Things have been going pretty well, but 2 of the newcomers and the cleric are often causing problems with strange RP strategies to deal with the cultists. There have already been several situations where the cleric has blown the group's cover (or at least his own) while they are trying to infiltrate the cult or made a major NPC angry with him to the point of near-violence. We are currently now at the caravan section - a point in the story where the party is to presume a role as a caravan guard, following the cultists to their final destination. Here I have re-introduced Iarno as a leader of the cultists' wagons, and the party has presumed false identities to conceal themselves. The cleric is posing as a pirate together with the bard and fighter, who joined the cultist's wagons as guards. Their disguises were a bit to elaborate, and they kind of forgot to keep up appearances so to say. The other three bought their own wagon, having one person claim to be a sage from Amn and the other two be his guards.
Unfortunately, the cleric has already slipped up and given away his identity several times not even a week into the caravan's journey, but I decided the cultists wouldn't act openly against him while the caravan is so far from their destination, and with his allies around. Things got more complicated when he tried to trick a member of the caravan into buying a funky potion, which she figured out wasn't what he said, and she threatened him with justice in the next town. She was killed in one of the later encounters, which some members of the caravan blamed on the cleric, and he wasn't really able to convince thtem otherwise. Their case was completely destroyed last night when a "golden stag" appeared (a modified encounter from the book), which the fighter killed and skinned. A wood elf came forth from the woods crying that they had killed the most beautiful animal in the forest, and he would report them to the druids. The fighter decided action was better than words, and tried to tackle the wood elf. He rolled a natural 1, and the wood elf started to sprint away. The fighter then decided to take the "no witnesses" approach, and shot the wood elf in the back. We stopped there for the night.
So, yeah. Now the entire caravan is all but convinced that the "pirate crew" are a bunch of murderers. The non-pirate half of the party is certain that the pirates will be killed next time (and are tired of being put in these situations by the other players), while the pirates don't want to die, but they are floating further and further down ****'s creek, and they left their paddles in Greenest.
How would you deal with this situation? I'm not going to lie I kind of think the pirates should be attacked by the other members of the caravan, but I don't want to ruin the player's fun by killing their characters or locking them up. I'm also concerned that if they do attack the pirates, if the pirates win and end up killing off the cultists, failing their mission for the others and de-railing this part of the story. Is there another way the PCs can be punished for blowing their cover and murdering an innocent?
Hope this makes sense and curious to hear the thoughts of other more experienced DMs!
1Long story short: Nundro, the only surviving rockseeker brother found the Gauntlets of Ogre strength in the abandoned mine, which the party missed, and also the boots from his brother, which the party didn't feel comfortable taking. Enraged about his brother's deaths, Nundro decided to embrace his savagery, thus Nundro the Barbarian was born. The player who RPs him has a really thick Turkish accent and says the best things... during his interrogations he often goes straight to "Tell me what I want or I cut off the balls".
Have a question about the game I'm currently running that I'd like to get some insights on from more experienced DMs, but I'm having difficulties articulating it, so here it goes...
How do you guys respond to when PCs trip up in RP situations? Things like making their RP too convoluted and getting lost in the details, blowing their cover, angering a key NPC (i.e. accidentally destroying his most valued possession), or saying wrong things because they weren't prepared or made too many assumptions? How can you have it affect one player without it impacting the rest of the party too severely?
To clarify with an example...
I ran LMoP with my group without much trouble a few months ago - they (A drow rogue, high-elf wizard, and half-elf cleric) cleared through everything and had a good time doing it, with the odd other PC joining in and departing here and there (people giving the game a 'test drive' but not being able to commit to weekly play). During their playthrough, they spared the life of Glasstaff (the PC wizard took his staff) and sent him away with Sildar to be punished by the Lord's Alliance in Neverwinter. They chose not to accompany Sildar, who took Glasstaff back alone... Consequently, I wrote Glasstaff back into HotDQ as having overpowered Sildar and escaped, joining the Dragon Cult and eventually becoming a key figure in the lower hierarchy of the cult.
At the end of LMoP, we segwayed into HotDQ rather seamlessly... 3 new PCs joined as Nundro the Barbarian1, a fighter and bard - so now we are 6 PCs.
Since starting the new story, the cleric has decided to multi-class as a sorcerer with draconic lineage (smart strategy, I thought) to help the party deal with the Dragon Cult. Things have been going pretty well, but 2 of the newcomers and the cleric are often causing problems with strange RP strategies to deal with the cultists. There have already been several situations where the cleric has blown the group's cover (or at least his own) while they are trying to infiltrate the cult or made a major NPC angry with him to the point of near-violence. We are currently now at the caravan section - a point in the story where the party is to presume a role as a caravan guard, following the cultists to their final destination. Here I have re-introduced Iarno as a leader of the cultists' wagons, and the party has presumed false identities to conceal themselves. The cleric is posing as a pirate together with the bard and fighter, who joined the cultist's wagons as guards. Their disguises were a bit to elaborate, and they kind of forgot to keep up appearances so to say. The other three bought their own wagon, having one person claim to be a sage from Amn and the other two be his guards.
Unfortunately, the cleric has already slipped up and given away his identity several times not even a week into the caravan's journey, but I decided the cultists wouldn't act openly against him while the caravan is so far from their destination, and with his allies around. Things got more complicated when he tried to trick a member of the caravan into buying a funky potion, which she figured out wasn't what he said, and she threatened him with justice in the next town. She was killed in one of the later encounters, which some members of the caravan blamed on the cleric, and he wasn't really able to convince thtem otherwise. Their case was completely destroyed last night when a "golden stag" appeared (a modified encounter from the book), which the fighter killed and skinned. A wood elf came forth from the woods crying that they had killed the most beautiful animal in the forest, and he would report them to the druids. The fighter decided action was better than words, and tried to tackle the wood elf. He rolled a natural 1, and the wood elf started to sprint away. The fighter then decided to take the "no witnesses" approach, and shot the wood elf in the back. We stopped there for the night.
So, yeah. Now the entire caravan is all but convinced that the "pirate crew" are a bunch of murderers. The non-pirate half of the party is certain that the pirates will be killed next time (and are tired of being put in these situations by the other players), while the pirates don't want to die, but they are floating further and further down ****'s creek, and they left their paddles in Greenest.
How would you deal with this situation? I'm not going to lie I kind of think the pirates should be attacked by the other members of the caravan, but I don't want to ruin the player's fun by killing their characters or locking them up. I'm also concerned that if they do attack the pirates, if the pirates win and end up killing off the cultists, failing their mission for the others and de-railing this part of the story. Is there another way the PCs can be punished for blowing their cover and murdering an innocent?
Hope this makes sense and curious to hear the thoughts of other more experienced DMs!
1Long story short: Nundro, the only surviving rockseeker brother found the Gauntlets of Ogre strength in the abandoned mine, which the party missed, and also the boots from his brother, which the party didn't feel comfortable taking. Enraged about his brother's deaths, Nundro decided to embrace his savagery, thus Nundro the Barbarian was born. The player who RPs him has a really thick Turkish accent and says the best things... during his interrogations he often goes straight to "Tell me what I want or I cut off the balls".
