Campaign idea (deceiving the players)

[Gnaritas]

In the next campaign i want to try to deceive the players into helping an evil person.

They are hired by the Baron of the Southern Province.
I have the following tasks planned (i only started working on this today).

- They need to kill the Orc Chieftain of the greatest Orc clan in the mountains south of them. I haven't really thought of a good reason, but the Baron knows someone in the party can challenge him to a 1-on-1 fight and he will not refuse. They still need to get to the Chieftain in one piece first.
Possible reasons to kill the chieftain: The Baron wants the axe the chieftain is using for his collection.....the chieftain has insulted him in some way......
Real reason: The Orc who will take over as Chieftain has pledged himself to the Baron if he manages to get rid of the Chieftain. The Orcs will join the Baron in his revolt to take over the kingdom.

- A province next to the Southern Province is having trouble with some Goblin Town nearby that has raided some villages. The party will join up with some forces from that Province to attack the Goblins. The party will receive minor items in the colors of that province, just for that encounter (a Shield +1, a Cloak of Resistance,....)
Real Reason to attack the Goblins: The Goblins are "innocent", but the Baron want to create a grudge between the Goblins and that specific province so they will join them in the Revolt, for he would treat the Goblins better. The soldiers from the other province are in fact mercenaries/his own soldiers.

- The party needs to retrieve a certain item from a dungeon/forbidden temple/..... which will cause another group to join the Baron. I haven't figured this one out.

- I want another quest, but haven't thought of one yet.

- The next quest will somehow relate to the assassination of the king. I haven't worked out how to do this yet. Maybe they are told to prevent an assassination but are in fact helping the assassination. I am not sure yet.

Anyway, after that final quest, it becomes clear something has went terribly wrong. They might still need to figure out themselves that they are set-up, depending how deceiving i can be in the final quest.
But perhaps the players start questioning the motives of the Baron earlier. I am willing to give some small hints, like the "Soldiers" of the second quest acting undisciplined, not calling out ranks, .....

Anyway, after the assassination of the King, the Baron will be claiming the throne, when refused, he will call his newly made friends to arms and the party will (if they decide to do that) start fighting the Baron, or join him, who knows....

Anyway, i could use some help on the quests and tips on how to deceive the players.....

Any help is appreciated

[Illarion]

What you have outlined so far looks good, but here is something to think on. You could either go straight forward and have the party helping the Baron with subtle hints that there is something wrong, then at the end unveil that they have been helping out the villain the whole time and now they must find a way to fix it. Or, you could pose increasing more difficult moral dilemmas to the party as the campaign continues. I believe BoED has a good section on this type of thing. You would have to plan out more contingencies and really know your players to bait them into following the path you need for them to continue, but I think something like that would be worth it.

[rot42]

- The party needs to retrieve a certain item from a dungeon/forbidden temple/..... which will cause another group to join the Baron. I haven't figured this one out.


The Baron knows that the PCs know too much and plans to get rid of his patsies by promising to supply the chthonics with their heads. Maybe they are stealing a holy artifact of some sort - the Baron uses the PCs to get access, uses the artifact to fuel his ambition, then uses the original guardians to cover his tracks and make sure no one else has access to the artifact. Best if he can use the artifact quickly (maybe his agreement with the PCs includes first pick of the treasure or some other way of holding onto it overnight) then let the PCs wander around with it until retribution descends upon them. Try to time it so that over the space of one extended encounter the party (1) thinks that their plan to foil the assassination has succeeded, (2) realizes that they have unwittingly made more likely the very thing they sought to prevent, (3) the guardians they fought a few sessions ago are here for their heads, but this time they are prepared, and (4) they are the only ones in a position to stop the real assassination attempt *right now*. Throw in a diplomatic conference with a neighboring kingdom just to add to the confusion (the Baron can blame them to help rally the grieving kingdom, or use them as cover if the attempt fails).

For the assassination attempt itself, have the Baron tell the PCs that he has information that someone near the throne is planning to assassinate the king (nothing helps a lie like a little bit of truth). The target is actually a loyal spy type meant to operate from the shadows and ferret out covert threats while not being visibly part of the security forces. Such a person would make plenty of suspicious moves in the course of performing their duties, and might even initiate sting operations. Consider suborning at least part of the Kingsguard - they know that the spy exists but not who, and will act immediately when they are eliminated.

[Zanthy1]

In the next campaign i want to try to deceive the players into helping an evil person.

They are hired by the Baron of the Southern Province.
I have the following tasks planned (i only started working on this today).

- They need to kill the Orc Chieftain of the greatest Orc clan in the mountains south of them. I haven't really thought of a good reason, but the Baron knows someone in the party can challenge him to a 1-on-1 fight and he will not refuse. They still need to get to the Chieftain in one piece first.
Possible reasons to kill the chieftain: The Baron wants the axe the chieftain is using for his collection.....the chieftain has insulted him in some way......
Real reason: The Orc who will take over as Chieftain has pledged himself to the Baron if he manages to get rid of the Chieftain. The Orcs will join the Baron in his revolt to take over the kingdom.

- A province next to the Southern Province is having trouble with some Goblin Town nearby that has raided some villages. The party will join up with some forces from that Province to attack the Goblins. The party will receive minor items in the colors of that province, just for that encounter (a Shield +1, a Cloak of Resistance,....)
Real Reason to attack the Goblins: The Goblins are "innocent", but the Baron want to create a grudge between the Goblins and that specific province so they will join them in the Revolt, for he would treat the Goblins better. The soldiers from the other province are in fact mercenaries/his own soldiers.

- The party needs to retrieve a certain item from a dungeon/forbidden temple/..... which will cause another group to join the Baron. I haven't figured this one out.

- I want another quest, but haven't thought of one yet.

- The next quest will somehow relate to the assassination of the king. I haven't worked out how to do this yet. Maybe they are told to prevent an assassination but are in fact helping the assassination. I am not sure yet.

Anyway, after that final quest, it becomes clear something has went terribly wrong. They might still need to figure out themselves that they are set-up, depending how deceiving i can be in the final quest.
But perhaps the players start questioning the motives of the Baron earlier. I am willing to give some small hints, like the "Soldiers" of the second quest acting undisciplined, not calling out ranks, .....

Anyway, after the assassination of the King, the Baron will be claiming the throne, when refused, he will call his newly made friends to arms and the party will (if they decide to do that) start fighting the Baron, or join him, who knows....

Anyway, i could use some help on the quests and tips on how to deceive the players.....

Any help is appreciated

A reason to get rid of the Orc Chieftain? He is the chief of an orc tribe and very dangerous. The Baron tells PCs that if they kill him, the Orc tribe will no longer be a threat.

Maybe the item they steal is from a drow temple, and they use the same trick as the goblins, but with different uniforms? repetitive, maybe, but effective.

One piece of advice I would give, do not underestimate the PCs. I had a simple campaign where the PCs guild leader sent them on missions to gather 5 magic items. These items, when combined summoned a Demonlord which the guild leader was going to use to take over the metropolis. After the second item, they immediately grew suspicious and started trying to get the items, hide them, and bring back copies, pretending that they did not know the difference. PCs are always tricksy, which is not a bad thing, but be prepared