Dm s.o.s.

[nombie1099]

My players aren't monsters... they are for the most part good players with a couple of dashes of Murder hobo and a sprinkle of scrooge McDuck. In my current campaign they rescued the king's daughter and foiled a kidnapping attempt. The king being overjoyed at this event, gave them all titles and a mansion with a plot of land on it, just outside the city limits like a downton abby situation. Furthermore he gave them a reward of 1000 gold each in the bank of the city. Since then they have been running around the city now for about a month, not paying for much of anything and telling shop keepers to "put it on the kings tab" like they own the city.

Now, I realize that I could bring the hammer down, but I don't want the king to come off as ungrateful for their efforts to rescue his daughter and there is an ongoing adventure where the players have uprooted an underground Cult of the undead. The Pc's are currently rooting out the cult but..they are getting out of hand with the demands and the cavalier attitude. I realize I created this mess with the initial adventure hook, but there has to be a way to reign the players back in, without just out right steam rolling them. right? Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

Additional facts: the kingdom is prosperous but not opulent, there are still systemic issues with poverty in certain areas and crime is still a thing that has to be kept in check. It is a port city and sees much travel and trade business.

[InvisibleBison]

Is this happening because the characters are jerks who are taking advantage of the king's goodwill, or because the players don't understand the nature of the reward their earlier actions earned them? If the former, then you should have the king take some measures to stop them from essentially stealing from him (maybe require them to do a task without payment, maybe seize their bank accounts). If the latter, you need to have an out-of-game conversation with your players to get everyone back on the same page about what's going on in the game.

[nombie1099]

Is this happening because the characters are jerks who are taking advantage of the king's goodwill, or because the players don't understand the nature of the reward their earlier actions earned them? If the former, then you should have the king take some measures to stop them from essentially stealing from him (maybe require them to do a task without payment, maybe seize their bank accounts). If the latter, you need to have an out-of-game conversation with your players to get everyone back on the same page about what's going on in the game.

It's a mixture of both, the players (out of game) argue that they aren't going too far to ask for these things...since they saved his daughter and are working to "protect" the city. But I disagree on that account. How would a king put a limit on them without causing bad blood with the adventurers that he sees as an expensive asset to his City but an asset non the less?

[Sutr]

Options:

1. You could talk to them.

2. The King could talk to them about rewards and that they have limits.

3. Their peasants are revolting. I mean really the peasants on their land are in the death cult and willing to become zombies. Having to root out the plague on their own estate will in fact lessen their wealth. (do the PC's hide the fact that they had to eliminated their own people to keep standing, do they loose face for the cult being on their lands)

4. Another noble talks to them, perhaps one who's son is marrying the princess. He knows they have the kings favor and in fact has mismanaged his lands. He just hopes to use the PC's opulence to secure his son's future.

5. Another noble doesn't talk to them but doesn't like his new neighbors. He's not associated with the undead cult and opposes it. Maybe he even captures some undead and a low ranking cleric while the PC's are living it up. (Use as a red herring to give the PC's a timeline or shifting favor of the King)

6. Another noble is part of the death cult and doesn't like the PC's does go talk to them about their spending at the same time tries to lead them to different foolish actions. (Use with number 5 to try to talk to low ranking cleric before he's scheduled for execution so the Kings guard sees them break the Kings proclamation.)

7. Burn it to the ground. Undead cult was much further along PC's must escape zombie kingdom saving who they can.

8. The King could try to put a trusted nobleman in the party to give them legitimacy and watch his own expenses.

[Palanan]

If the PCs are in your version of Downton Abbey, they'll have neighbors on adjacent estates. One of those neighbors, an earl or someone of similar standing, can pay a social call and mention that the PCs' behavior is causing some concern, and he can offer to give them some pointers on how to behave in their new social situation.

If that doesn't work, then your players really aren't getting the message, and I think the king freezing their accounts is a perfectly reasonable response, both in-game and as a DM.

[Zarrgon]

Well, first I'd ask where is the problem? So the players are shopping and buying stuff? You do have a Typical setting right? So the characters are not buying like ten rings of wishing, right? They are just buying things like a fancy cloak for 10 gold, right? If so...who cares. Just let them do it.

Second, did they GET the reward of an endless tab? It does not sound like they did? So where did that even come from? Why did you let that happen?.

Of course, this story is a bit classic.....and it even has a classic 2nd plot: The king gets tired of the greedy heroes and so sets up another quest for them to save the kingdom. Except this one is a trap and rigged against the characters. And the twists are endless...maybe it's not the king but the queen....or the princess.

Or maybe the king, up on his high happy throne, threatens the next kingdom over with "do as I say or I will use my heroes on you". And King Viktor Von Doom accepts the challenge.....

[Falontani]

You could have hundreds of the beggars saying that the heroes "put the bill on his tab" illigitamately, and try to steal from the king, at which point the king has to believe his people, believe his heroes, or change how the heroes are able to pay (such as handing them the money, or making their own bank accounts with more limited funds)

[Segev]

You could have hundreds of the beggars saying that the heroes "put the bill on his tab" illigitamately, and try to steal from the king, at which point the king has to believe his people, believe his heroes, or change how the heroes are able to pay (such as handing them the money, or making their own bank accounts with more limited funds)

I actually like this solution. It doesn't make the PCs immediately the bad guys (even if they WERE acting irresponsibly), gives a reason the King has to change the way things are being done, and gives the PCs a side quest to hunt down these scallywags besmirching the PCs' good names.

An easy way to avoid "does the King believe his subjects or the PCs?" is to have him call in the PCs and those accusing them of "abusing his largess" and have the NPCs leveying the accusations say, "These aren't [the PCs]." Quickly getting to the bottom of the fact that few know what the PCs look like, so the impersonators barely have to try to disguise themselves. Thus establishing that there are impersonators, without damaging the goodwill between the King, PCs, and the people being scammed.

[Rynjin]

If the PCs are in your version of Downton Abbey, they'll have neighbors on adjacent estates. One of those neighbors, an earl or someone of similar standing, can pay a social call and mention that the PCs' behavior is causing some concern, and he can offer to give them some pointers on how to behave in their new social situation.

I like this. Maybe toss in a bit of backhanded "sympathy" about how hard it is to be one of the nouveau riche, with none of the breeding required to truly understand the responsibility they've been given along with their privilege.

[Bronk]

My players aren't monsters... they are for the most part good players with a couple of dashes of Murder hobo and a sprinkle of scrooge McDuck. In my current campaign they rescued the king's daughter and foiled a kidnapping attempt. The king being overjoyed at this event, gave them all titles and a mansion with a plot of land on it, just outside the city limits like a downton abby situation. Furthermore he gave them a reward of 1000 gold each in the bank of the city. Since then they have been running around the city now for about a month, not paying for much of anything and telling shop keepers to "put it on the kings tab" like they own the city.

Now, I realize that I could bring the hammer down, but I don't want the king to come off as ungrateful for their efforts to rescue his daughter and there is an ongoing adventure where the players have uprooted an underground Cult of the undead. The Pc's are currently rooting out the cult but..they are getting out of hand with the demands and the cavalier attitude. I realize I created this mess with the initial adventure hook, but there has to be a way to reign the players back in, without just out right steam rolling them. right? Any suggestions would be appreciated, thanks!

Additional facts: the kingdom is prosperous but not opulent, there are still systemic issues with poverty in certain areas and crime is still a thing that has to be kept in check. It is a port city and sees much travel and trade business.

I think this would be easy to fix, given your Downton Abbey analogy. Your players all now have titles, estates, etc., which is great, and they all have special bank accounts. Like Downton Abbey, they would have servants, people to work the land, and some advisors. Given their start, they would all have some level of good reputation with the locals to begin with - at least with the commoner merchants with whom they're currently dealing. However, they clearly haven't put much thought into their new status.

Now is the perfect time to enact a land owning mini-game by moving on from season one!

To keep it simple:

1: Each of their estates came complete with a small economy and their own mini treasury.

2: The city bank knows this, and so any bill beyond the initial thousand gold was automatically taken out of their own slush fund.

3: As nobility, it's up to them to come up with the yearly taxes to the crown, and some of them might not have enough anymore.

That should give them something to think about. Maybe they can band together and pool their existing resources. Maybe they can use their adventuring skills to boost whatever it is that makes their estate money, like magical crafting, or using druids to enhance their fields. Maybe they could hire otherworldly beings to send to war in case a draft is called. They can use diplomacy to smooth over ruffled feathers or enter into deals with other nobles. They can deal with their commoners as well, dealing out justice, or perhaps a romance angle?

The important part is to follow through. If they shirk their duties and fail, their people could starve, or their King could regretfully strip some of their titles. If they do well, they could end up with extra spending money and some fun NPCs to party with during downtime.

[nombie1099]

Thanks for all the great input guys, I don't know yet what I will do to resolve this but you've all given me some really great ideas! thanks!:smallsmile: