Exirtadorri
2012-05-23, 01:36 PM
OK guys, here it goes...
I'm the dm for my group. The three people I play with aren't very good but they are passionate. We have a ranger who uses a crossbow, a infernal sorcerer that is super prissy (and therefore causes huge problems in the group and in towns) and a cleric that wants to lead but never has a decent idea. None of them are power gamers or optimizers (which I am) and i'm trying to come up with a way to balance combat, investigation, and roleplaying. The problem that seems to be coming up is that when I present them with a chance to investigate or give them free reign in a town with literally EVERYTHING that is needed for any possible situation...they basically lube up their thumbs and put them in the holiest of holes. I'll lay the current scene and an example of what I mean.
The game starts with all of them in a pretty decent sized town. They have a festival that is the equivalent of 4th of july meets thanksgiving. While the day of the parade and feast, a caravan bearing the symbol of asmodeus shows up. Long story short the temple says the festival needs more muscle. The mayor of the town says no thanks and the party all hears the exchange of heated words about not being bullied OR paying "protection" money. Later that night the town comes under attack and the pc's are knocked out and have visions and flashes of the town burning and the mayor being strung up by the cleric of asmodeus. They track the caravan after they awake and are discoverd by a local sergeant in a roaming patrol of the nations army. They find out that the caravan comes from a temple in a town.
This is where it gets a little...infuriating....
They start investigation the town (which actually surprised me) and the sorcerer went to the brewery. In there they are talking about how much they hate the local nobles cause of their lack of work ethic and how much money they waste. I told him, before he opened his mouth, there are 7 people in here, all gruff and pretty drunk. They all look like they would kill their mother for enough to drink for a few more days. The sorcerer then laughs and says, and I quote (I wrote it down it was such a huge blunder ) "The nobles here are a joke. I have more money invested in my platinum spliced shoe laces then those <insert vulgar word> have in their families vaults" Needless to say they tried to roll him for his kicks. He ended up burning them all down and most of the explosive liquor. The party then screams at him and tells him to get his huggies cause he is now going to be baby sat. later that same night the party kicks in a building, kills three people without legal cause and flee town. Now they watch (from a distance) as the caravan starts clear cutting a near by forest. Three in game days later ( two hours irl) they finally decide to rob the leaders tent while he sleeps and gets their hands on his spell book (he is a 5/5 cleric of asmodeus with the magic and law domains and a wizard conjurer) now here is where I want some help.
So he is going tobe able to find them (who doesn't keep a spare spell book) He is going to track them and kill the npc fighter with them. He is also going to use his one free "You owe me" from a devil. He is after all a cleric from cheliax. I want them sent to a desert setting. I do NOT want them to end up in dark sun. I want a similar type setting, but without the amazingly powerful monsters. Frankly they just aren't smart enough to conquer those level of monsters. The party is level 6 all the way around and I want some interesting monsters and ideas for a few sessions worth of roleplaying and about 5 decent sized combat encounters. I want them to be about level 9 by the time they leave. So...ideas for what to have them do while they are there, a few good monsters and a little bit of "OH god you are such a douche". Any help at all would be appreciated. The only real book I have access to is the bestiary 1 and anything online for free. so links and anything else you guys can supply would be amazing. PM's are welcome if you dont want to show anything incase your players read these forums...sadly mine are way to dim for that.
I'm the dm for my group. The three people I play with aren't very good but they are passionate. We have a ranger who uses a crossbow, a infernal sorcerer that is super prissy (and therefore causes huge problems in the group and in towns) and a cleric that wants to lead but never has a decent idea. None of them are power gamers or optimizers (which I am) and i'm trying to come up with a way to balance combat, investigation, and roleplaying. The problem that seems to be coming up is that when I present them with a chance to investigate or give them free reign in a town with literally EVERYTHING that is needed for any possible situation...they basically lube up their thumbs and put them in the holiest of holes. I'll lay the current scene and an example of what I mean.
The game starts with all of them in a pretty decent sized town. They have a festival that is the equivalent of 4th of july meets thanksgiving. While the day of the parade and feast, a caravan bearing the symbol of asmodeus shows up. Long story short the temple says the festival needs more muscle. The mayor of the town says no thanks and the party all hears the exchange of heated words about not being bullied OR paying "protection" money. Later that night the town comes under attack and the pc's are knocked out and have visions and flashes of the town burning and the mayor being strung up by the cleric of asmodeus. They track the caravan after they awake and are discoverd by a local sergeant in a roaming patrol of the nations army. They find out that the caravan comes from a temple in a town.
This is where it gets a little...infuriating....
They start investigation the town (which actually surprised me) and the sorcerer went to the brewery. In there they are talking about how much they hate the local nobles cause of their lack of work ethic and how much money they waste. I told him, before he opened his mouth, there are 7 people in here, all gruff and pretty drunk. They all look like they would kill their mother for enough to drink for a few more days. The sorcerer then laughs and says, and I quote (I wrote it down it was such a huge blunder ) "The nobles here are a joke. I have more money invested in my platinum spliced shoe laces then those <insert vulgar word> have in their families vaults" Needless to say they tried to roll him for his kicks. He ended up burning them all down and most of the explosive liquor. The party then screams at him and tells him to get his huggies cause he is now going to be baby sat. later that same night the party kicks in a building, kills three people without legal cause and flee town. Now they watch (from a distance) as the caravan starts clear cutting a near by forest. Three in game days later ( two hours irl) they finally decide to rob the leaders tent while he sleeps and gets their hands on his spell book (he is a 5/5 cleric of asmodeus with the magic and law domains and a wizard conjurer) now here is where I want some help.
So he is going tobe able to find them (who doesn't keep a spare spell book) He is going to track them and kill the npc fighter with them. He is also going to use his one free "You owe me" from a devil. He is after all a cleric from cheliax. I want them sent to a desert setting. I do NOT want them to end up in dark sun. I want a similar type setting, but without the amazingly powerful monsters. Frankly they just aren't smart enough to conquer those level of monsters. The party is level 6 all the way around and I want some interesting monsters and ideas for a few sessions worth of roleplaying and about 5 decent sized combat encounters. I want them to be about level 9 by the time they leave. So...ideas for what to have them do while they are there, a few good monsters and a little bit of "OH god you are such a douche". Any help at all would be appreciated. The only real book I have access to is the bestiary 1 and anything online for free. so links and anything else you guys can supply would be amazing. PM's are welcome if you dont want to show anything incase your players read these forums...sadly mine are way to dim for that.