My campaign is too predictable, help me shake it up.

[genderlich]

(Anyone to whom the phrases "Solar Conspiracy" or "The Red Queen" mean anything should really get out of this thread right now.)

I've been running this Pathfinder Eberron game for right around six months now, and I think there's about two months of it left. It's been pretty straightforward, a "collect all the pieces of the MacGuffin before the bad guys do" style plot. There have been some various twists and turns to mix things up, but it's largely formulaic, and while I was happy with that near the start, recently I've been feeling like I'm just going through the motions of a generic plot. I'm just not really all that creative when it comes to large-scale story; I usually don't even plan much for a given session, I tend to prefer to improvise most things.

Everyone knows that in this kind of game, the MacGuffin gets stolen by the bad guys right after you finish collecting the whole thing, which leads to a climactic final battle to save the world, la de da. That was my plan, but I don't want to do that anymore. I want a different twist that the players really won't see coming. Where we are now: pretty close to obtaining all the MacGuffin pieces, only a couple unclaimed ones left. So, any ideas for something mindblowing and out of left field? (Sorry about the lack of actual campaign details, can't risk the chance that one of my players disregarded the spoiler warning.)

[GPuzzle]

Make it so the bad guys do not get the MacGuffin, but rather accomplish their objectives (or almost) while the MacGuffin is in possession of the PCs.
Since there isn't anything close to a war, you could try gambit pileup, but it needs an entire political plot behind it.

[TheThan]

(Anyone to whom the phrases "Solar Conspiracy" or "The Red Queen" mean anything should really get out of this thread right now.)

I've been running this Pathfinder Eberron game for right around six months now, and I think there's about two months of it left. It's been pretty straightforward, a "collect all the pieces of the MacGuffin before the bad guys do" style plot. There have been some various twists and turns to mix things up, but it's largely formulaic, and while I was happy with that near the start, recently I've been feeling like I'm just going through the motions of a generic plot. I'm just not really all that creative when it comes to large-scale story; I usually don't even plan much for a given session, I tend to prefer to improvise most things.

Everyone knows that in this kind of game, the MacGuffin gets stolen by the bad guys right after you finish collecting the whole thing, which leads to a climactic final battle to save the world, la de da. That was my plan, but I don't want to do that anymore. I want a different twist that the players really won't see coming. Where we are now: pretty close to obtaining all the MacGuffin pieces, only a couple unclaimed ones left. So, any ideas for something mindblowing and out of left field? (Sorry about the lack of actual campaign details, can't risk the chance that one of my players disregarded the spoiler warning.)

try these out:
1: The MacGuffin doesn't do what the players were told it does.
2: the villains actually want the pcs to use the MacGuffin, for a plot twist!
3: the MacGuffin is a high quality fake
4: the vilians try to steal the MacGuffin, but fail.

[Grinner]

Crash a UFO into the capitol
The remaining MacGuffin fragments were all taken by another band of adventurers. They now lie in private art collections. Gods' private art collections, mind you.
Australia-style millipede invasion
Zebra-pattern fashions take the nation by storm.
Have them find the remaining fragments, only to find that some pieces are missing.

[Silus]

The MacGuffin does not work as intended and Summons Bigger Fish? And said Bigger Fish was the cause of the problems that required the MacGuffin?

[inexorabletruth]

So, any ideas for something mindblowing and out of left field? (Sorry about the lack of actual campaign details, can't risk the chance that one of my players disregarded the spoiler warning.)

What if the MacGuffin is the villain? And the villains are just misunderstood other heroes that think your PCs are the villains? The heroes put together the MacGuffin, MacGuffin tries to destroy the world, and only an unlikely alliance between the two groups can stop it?

What if a third group is also attempting to acquire the MacGuffin for their own motives? It could be anything from:

It's a precious artifact and belongs in a museum not in the hands of mercenary treasure hunters.
They misunderstand its purpose and are unintentionally going to use it in a way that will wreak havoc on the world.
They are a zealot cult who worship the artifact and are going to hide it away in one of their ancient temples until the end of time (which won't be long if you don't find it soon).
They just happen to be an extra group of mercenary treasure hunters who heard it was worth some serious money. They might be persuaded to make a deal, if you've got the cash.


Two suggestions are enough, I believe. If you need more, I'll check back.

[Brendanicus]

The final part of the MacGuffin is not actually a reguar part of the MacGuffin, but is actually a fake alternate part (Edit: Maybe the villains or other party made it aside from The Ancients/Gods) that, when added to the MacGuffin, will cause it to perform an entirely different function that neither the heroes nor villains saw coming.

Possiblilities include:

Unleash a grave danger to the world
Create two fully functioning, complete MacGuffins
Destroy the MacGuffin, possibly causing something else to happen
Give a functioning MacGuffin to a third party that neither wants nor is capable of using it.
Creates a delicious blueberry pie.

EDIT: It could also create an "Anti-MacGuffin", that has the power to do the exact opposite of the regular MacGuffin normally does. Whether it is co-exists with the normal MacGuffin or replaces it is entirely up to you.

EDIT 2: Maybe the villains don't care who actually has the MacGuffin, only that it has been assembled. IE: The MacGuffin summons the Monster of Doom just by being assembled, but the badguys need to take it from the heroes because it also has the power to control said monster.

EDIT 3: Maybe the entire MacGuffin is a trap set by the Good gods, as anybody who assembles it must be doing so with evil intent. The villain assembles the MacGuffin, is instantly smote down, and in desperation the remaining villains wage open, brutal war on the PC's and everything they love out of spite.

[nedz]

The McGuffin, once assembled, becomes sentient.

It wants the party to collect all of the pieces of another McGuffin, only the descriptions it gives are either a little surreal or simply describe itself. This is because the McGuffin is more than a little insane, though not in an end of the world type thing. The McGuffin then turns delusional and begins warning the party of imaginary threats which it insists that they take seriously.

The BBEG then turns up and, rather than this turning into a fight, the McGuffin opens a Gate to the Far Realm and disappears through — though not before some bizarre aberrations have come through from the other side. This is the final fight with the PCs fighting off Cthulu as the BBEG legs it.

[VBoheme]

The MacGuffin does not work as intended and Summons Bigger Fish? And said Bigger Fish was the cause of the problems that required the MacGuffin?

I'm not even gonna lie - I'm kinda all about this idea. It makes the MacGuffin more than a MacGuffin, in a way.

Though also - howzabout the bad guys get the MacGuffin, but it's a fake. Thus, both sides have to find the real MacGuffin (drama!), which leads to the final showdown over the real MacGuffin, as the players meet the baddies.

That way, if it was, say "Summons Bigger Fish," the Bigger Fish could then be the next big bad. Curse you, Wind Fish!

[QuintonBeck]

Maybe a bigger villain orchestrated the whole race for the macguffin to keep his underlings (the supposed main villains) and any potential heroes (the PCs) busy and distracted while he did something that didn't require any particular macguffin but did need time and involved doing things that would draw attention if people weren't distracted. Of course, that'd be better if you had mentioned some strange things along the way that weren't related to the main chase that ended up relating back to the Big Bad's plot.

[ellindsey]

I ran a 'find the 12 pieces of the Macguffin' story a few years back where having the villains swoop in and grab the Macguffin when it was nearly completed never even occurred to me. Instead, during the course of the campaign, the players discovered that there were multiple enemy groups at work each with their own plots underway, some of which were even bigger threats than the one they needed the Macguffin to resolve. It then became an ongoing story of dealing with various opponent and resolving plots with the Macguffin quests as an overall framing device. There were groups taking advantage of the loss of the Macguffin to launch their own plots, and other groups who were in turn launching invasions to prevent that. By the time the players finally gathered all of the pieces of the Macguffin, the original enemy had already ceased to be an issue, but they had to rush back to use it anyway to prevent what would essentially have been a global war triggered by the events of the campaign.

[endoperez]

Plan for what happens when the enemies try to steal the McGuffing, but the players stop them. The villains are shocked, but I'm guessing they really NEED it and they'll have all sorts of resources to put into trying to get it back. The players now know something's up, and they need to keep an eye on the McGuffin, but they might very well become very paranoid about the whole deal, especially if they don't know exactly who is after it, and why.



Since you've already planned out what happens if the enemies steal it, you can have that as a very real threat. The villains will keep trying to get the McGuffin. If the players ever lose control of it, proceed to Plan A.

Now you only need to write out the Plan B: how can the players defeat the villains, and/or find out who the villain is, and/or find out their plans, without endangering the McGuffin.

Perhaps they are even going to break it apart and hide the pieces? :smallbiggrin:

[Thrudd]

Macguffin is an artifact required to prevent the release of an ancient world-ending power, imprisoned by a spell that is expiring. The completed maguffin requires the ritual sacrifice of an innocent human/sentient being to function and reseal the cosmic prison. The bad guys are of course prepared to do this with an innocent virgin. Who among the heroes would be willing to do this? If the bad guys steal the macguffin, will the heroes attempt to stop the ritual sacrifice of the young virgin? Once the ritual is completed and the power imprisoned again, the one who performed the ritual will be able to channel some of the imprisoned cosmic power (why the bad guy wants it, apart from stopping their world being destroyed).

[NowhereMan583]

First of all, two words: "Far Realms". Sprinkle a little Far Realms influence on whatever you end up going with for extra unpredictability.

Second, you could also mix it up a bit by having the PCs' information on the pieces of the MacGuffin / their locations end up being completely wrong in some minor-but-important way. For instance:

At a point when the PCs are CERTAIN that they still have a piece or two left to go, the MacGuffin shows signs of activating. Now they have to wonder -- are the other pieces they still need to get just a fabrication to throw them off? Are any of the pieces they already have fake as well? Is this just not supposed to be happening? What happens if the MacGuffin activates before they get to the other pieces?
The mostly-assembled MacGuffin starts to radiate some sort of magical effect that makes finding the last couple pieces much, much harder -- and it gets worse with each piece they find.
One of the remaining pieces has acquired some sort of additional role -- e.g., a holy relic. How are the PCs going to handle explaining to the cult priestess that the Mysterious Thingamabob of Obad-Hai that her order has been guarding for the last ten generations is just part of your MacGuffin and you need to take it now?
They arrive at one of the places where they expect to find a piece of the MacGuffin, and instead find an ancient, yellowing piece of parchment that says something along the lines of, "Bob: Whose idea was it to keep this here? This is a massive security risk. Moved it to Location Zulu. -- Alice"
Someone added another enchantment to one part of the MacGuffin at some point in the past, and it's screwing with the MacGuffin's function.
They arrive at a spot where they expected to find a new piece of the MacGuffin, and instead find one that they already have. Did they pick up a fake somehow? What happened to the one they were expecting to be here?
A piece of the MacGuffin is currently serving as a lich's phylactery.
A piece of the MacGuffin was stolen from its resting place a long time ago and sold to a wealthy collector. A sahuagin collector. The trail runs cold somewhere in the middle of the ocean.
A piece of the MacGuffin is intelligent, animate... and has serious philosophical disagreements with the PCs' goals.
A piece of the MacGuffin has been eaten, and is presently embedded in the stomach lining of a purple worm.


And some other ideas:

The MacGuffin doesn't activate when they get all the pieces.
When the MacGuffin is assembled, it starts multiplying, Draupnir-style. This wasn't in the operations manual...
The PCs get a sending from a trusted NPC warning them NOT to assemble the MacGuffin. They can't seem to contact him remotely after that. What just happened?
The MacGuffin, or a piece of it, is stolen from the PCs -- but NOT by the villain. Fred the local thief took it because it looked valuable, and is now trying to fence it across town. See if the PCs assume it was the villains without investigation, and rush off on a wild goose chase.
At the last minute, the king (or whatever ruler to whom the PCs owe allegiance) demands they hand over the MacGuffin (and the credit) to another group of heroes that better suits his political purposes.
The MacGuffin gains intelligence upon assembly, and doesn't WANT to be used in the way the PCs want to use it. They have to make regular Ego checks to keep from disassembling it again and hiding the pieces all over creation. The MacGuffin LIKED things that way.
The villains show up before the PCs have all the pieces, and reveal that they have just FOUND the MacGuffin. Wait... what do the PCs have, then?



What if the MacGuffin is the villain? And the villains are just misunderstood other heroes that think your PCs are the villains? The heroes put together the MacGuffin, MacGuffin tries to destroy the world, and only an unlikely alliance between the two groups can stop it?


This sounds like a great idea to me. I encourage going with it.


It could also create an "Anti-MacGuffin"...

A "GufMaccin", if you will.

EDIT: The MacGuffin turns out to be radioactive. That's going to cause some problems...

[Jay R]

To defend the MacGuffin, the people who hid the pieces made an identical forgery of each piece, which was in the same place, one door earlier. The forgeries act exactly like the true pieces, except that they do nothing when put together.

Meanwhile, the bad guys have been following along behind, letting the PCs take all the risks, then going in after them to find the true piece, now left unguarded. So the PCs have been basically doing nothing except clearing the way for the bad guys.

[Knaight]

The MacGuffin is a distraction. It's doesn't actually do anything, and the people contesting it with the PCs are some lackeys who's job is pretty much to distract them and anyone else involved with it while the actual non-MacGuffin plan is enacted.

Start dropping warnings about how the MacGuffin is suspect, and if they aren't listened to eventually there will be an attempted use of it which does absolutely nothing.

[Tvtyrant]

The MacGuffin is a distraction. It's doesn't actually do anything, and the people contesting it with the PCs are some lackeys who's job is pretty much to distract them and anyone else involved with it while the actual non-MacGuffin plan is enacted.

Start dropping warnings about how the MacGuffin is suspect, and if they aren't listened to eventually there will be an attempted use of it which does absolutely nothing.

The bad guy had the real macguffin all along, and sent fakes out as an excuse to get rid of incompetent employees.

[inexorabletruth]

The last part of the MacGuffin is a living thing. The PC's have to kill it in order to use it.

You could go lots of ways with this but two epic ones that come to mind:

Make it a really epic boss fight… bring out one of your favorite super monsters and really make it count.
Make it a moral conundrum. The creature is graceful, majestic, even gentle. The kill would be fairly easy, but it would be on par, morally, with drowning puppies. But without the MacGuffin, obviously they couldn't save the world. Really lay on the guilt by having the creature not fight back, but either attempt to run or plead for its life the whole time.


Either way… that's one session that will be talked about for a while.

OH! OH! Bonus round:
Before they use the MacGuffin, they discover that whoever uses it must give themselves over to it… bonding with its power to give the MacGuffin life energy, meaning the user will sacrifice their own life to save the world. It ties in all sorts of motifs, gives one character a hero's death, and gives you a chance to describe something really tear-jerking, powerful and beautiful all at once when the sacrificed hero becomes "one with the universe."