bokodasu
2012-03-06, 02:06 PM
My players: please find a different thread to read.
I'm running a game that's more on the wilderness-sandboxy side, although not entirely freeform. There are a few factions with different goals, and the characters have discovered (and made enemies of) one of these factions. Which is great! Everyone seems to be having fun - except that the players have indicated that they'd be having even MORE fun fighting a slightly different type of enemy, which is actually all statted up and ready to go, and the mortal enemy of the faction they've already discovered.
Problem 1: I can't really figure out a way to introduce the other faction without being all "And then you are attacked by a new enemy!". Instead of figuring out where their enemies are going (which would lead them to the new enemies), they're trying to find out where they're coming from, to destroy them at their source. Which is entirely logical and also what I would do, if I were playing. Their current enemies aren't literate, so having a note saying "Meet us here to fight our enemy!" won't work. And most of the spoils of war that they might have from the other enemy would have been stolen by that enemy in the first place, so won't really lead back to them. (I tried adding a clue of that style, but it was too subtle.)
Problem 2 (which might cancel out Problem 1): If the first faction is really weakened, the second faction will be free to attack the characters' home base. Now, this is a totally legit outcome that I think will lead to entertaining play for all - *IF* I can figure out how to make it clear that that is what just happened, and not that some random bad guys appeared out of thin air to ruin everything for no reason. I also don't want it to look like I'm punishing the characters for going after the first faction, because that's also totally legit and they're doing it for good reasons (in addition to Taking Their Stuff and Selling It For Half Value).
I'm running a game that's more on the wilderness-sandboxy side, although not entirely freeform. There are a few factions with different goals, and the characters have discovered (and made enemies of) one of these factions. Which is great! Everyone seems to be having fun - except that the players have indicated that they'd be having even MORE fun fighting a slightly different type of enemy, which is actually all statted up and ready to go, and the mortal enemy of the faction they've already discovered.
Problem 1: I can't really figure out a way to introduce the other faction without being all "And then you are attacked by a new enemy!". Instead of figuring out where their enemies are going (which would lead them to the new enemies), they're trying to find out where they're coming from, to destroy them at their source. Which is entirely logical and also what I would do, if I were playing. Their current enemies aren't literate, so having a note saying "Meet us here to fight our enemy!" won't work. And most of the spoils of war that they might have from the other enemy would have been stolen by that enemy in the first place, so won't really lead back to them. (I tried adding a clue of that style, but it was too subtle.)
Problem 2 (which might cancel out Problem 1): If the first faction is really weakened, the second faction will be free to attack the characters' home base. Now, this is a totally legit outcome that I think will lead to entertaining play for all - *IF* I can figure out how to make it clear that that is what just happened, and not that some random bad guys appeared out of thin air to ruin everything for no reason. I also don't want it to look like I'm punishing the characters for going after the first faction, because that's also totally legit and they're doing it for good reasons (in addition to Taking Their Stuff and Selling It For Half Value).