balistafreak
2012-02-08, 12:38 AM
So in an upcoming Kingmaker game I'm running, I'm considering throwing in some NPC adventurers.
Those of you who know Kingmaker already know that there's a @#$!-ton of places to explore and sidequests to do. But if players take the time to do EVERY single one, they'll not only take forever to advance the plot, but also... just take forever in general.
The main party is six players: I want to throw in soloers, duos, and the occasional trio of NPCs who go out and clear out the occasional unexplored hex, or finish that forlorn sidequest to slay some boar that the party got way overleveled for and would feel stupid searching out and slaying. At the same time, they'll also be knocking out maybe one uncompleted sidequest every party "excursion" in which they do several/explore lots of hexes, to give a sense of "if you want an award for something, you can't just pick it up when convenient".
In addition, it'll let the players feel like they have "100% completion" without actually having to grind out every hex and sidequest - if you don't get it, someone else does, and you can worry more about the sidequests that interest you and the main plot, which can only be tackled by the PCs (being the largest, most powerful adventuring party in action).
However, it's been brought up that this could foster bad vibes between the PC party and these adventurers, as these NPCs would be "stealing" the PC's time in the spotlight, and "scavenging" their loot as well.
As a general question, what do you guys feel about "friendly competition" in a sandbox campaign?
Those of you who know Kingmaker already know that there's a @#$!-ton of places to explore and sidequests to do. But if players take the time to do EVERY single one, they'll not only take forever to advance the plot, but also... just take forever in general.
The main party is six players: I want to throw in soloers, duos, and the occasional trio of NPCs who go out and clear out the occasional unexplored hex, or finish that forlorn sidequest to slay some boar that the party got way overleveled for and would feel stupid searching out and slaying. At the same time, they'll also be knocking out maybe one uncompleted sidequest every party "excursion" in which they do several/explore lots of hexes, to give a sense of "if you want an award for something, you can't just pick it up when convenient".
In addition, it'll let the players feel like they have "100% completion" without actually having to grind out every hex and sidequest - if you don't get it, someone else does, and you can worry more about the sidequests that interest you and the main plot, which can only be tackled by the PCs (being the largest, most powerful adventuring party in action).
However, it's been brought up that this could foster bad vibes between the PC party and these adventurers, as these NPCs would be "stealing" the PC's time in the spotlight, and "scavenging" their loot as well.
As a general question, what do you guys feel about "friendly competition" in a sandbox campaign?