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View Full Version : Party meets Party encounter....



dafrca
2021-12-05, 12:46 AM
I was thinking today, in the whole time I have played Fantasy RPGs I can't remember a game where our party ran into another party of adventurers in a dungeon. I don't mean a gang of cultists or raiding party, I mean an NPC version of a Fighter, Wizard, Cleric, and Thief. Not evil bad guys but our peers so to speak.

So I am curious, have any of you had such an encounter?

If so, how did it play out?

If you were the GM, did you mirror the players characters or just make up a reasonable party of similar level and make up?

Just curious what you experienced. :smallbiggrin:

Quertus
2021-12-07, 06:46 AM
Well, most often, it'll be a (copy/twisted mirror of a) party I have experience with: one where I've been a player, or the GM, or have used as a "sample party" to test content / rules.

DigoDragon
2021-12-07, 07:35 AM
I've done that scenario on rare occasion. It usually ends peacefully, assuming that the PC party is interested in talking things out (often both parties are in it for same goals so it takes negotiations to agree on splitting up the dungeon crawl).

Easy e
2021-12-07, 05:45 PM
Yeah, I find that the toughest "foes" were usually with other parties of adventurers that were at cross-purposes to our own group.

KorvinStarmast
2021-12-21, 12:17 PM
So I am curious, have any of you had such an encounter? Yes, in AD&D 1e with modest frequency. Initiative drove who tended to win the encounter if it came to combat. We usually parleyed, though, in the groups that I was in.

Yes, in OD&D on one occasion that ended up in PvP. The side that won initiative (we rolled d6 for initiative in those days) mopped the floor with the others.

Brookshw
2021-12-24, 09:38 AM
Occasionally, though I feel like in a bar room brawl was more common.

Velaryon
2021-12-24, 08:21 PM
As a player, I was in a game where a party of adventurers came upon our party while we were camped for the night, then politely waited nearby for us to wake up, get ready, and then promptly challenged us to a friendly duel. It was amusing (I think we won but this was nearly 2 decades ago so don't quote me on it).

In my first campaign, I created a fairly generic party of NPC adventurers consisting of an elf druid, a halfling bard, a human wizard, and... some kind of cleric. They would run into the PCs every once in a while and either trade/sell them random magic items, or sometimes help them on minor quests. One time the bard was killed in combat and the PCs went on a big quest to get her revived. Eventually nearly the entire party died in a nasty fight and the elf druid ended up becoming the BBEG.

More recently (but still some years ago), my current 3.5 campaign began with the PCs doing a simple fetch-quest as an audition to join a mercenary guild. They succeeded, only to find that the MacGuffin they had retrieved was actually worthless and the whole thing was purely a test. Some time later, they were hired to administer this same test to two other lower-level parties of adventurers. They got on so well with the second party that one of the PCs married that party's rogue.

SimonMoon6
2021-12-24, 09:48 PM
I've often thought about having a rival NPC group for the PCs to deal with. The intention wouldn't be "they fight" but would be a more annoying sort of rivalry.

For example, the PCs arrive at a dungeon (perhaps they spent a lot of time preparing first). When they get there, they see the rival NPC group leaving the dungeon, with a wagon full of treasure. The NPCs have cleared out the dungeon already (possibly because the PCs were too slow). This scenario might have a possible extra twist that the NPC group didn't figure out a certain clue to find the actual secret treasure, so there's still something that the PCs could do if they explore the cleared-out dungeon thoroughly. Even without that twist though, the main thing would be setting up the NPC group as rivals who are ready and willing to take on the adventures that the PCs should be doing. This would partially give the PCs reasons to try to move quickly towards starting and resolving adventures (to avoid having their thunder stolen by the NPC group) even though PCs generally like to do things slowly... and it also gives the PCs "enemies" that aren't actually enemies to be killed on sight.

Ideally, the NPC group would be *nearly* as competent as the PCs, but possibly with the flaw of not figuring out the important clues in the nick of time like PCs would, so you don't want to rely on them to save the world because they might mess things up. Or the NPCs might go through a dungeon and push the one button that you're not supposed to push because that will release the unbeatable super-enemy. So, the PCs need to get to the dungeons first because the reckless NPC group will probably ruin everything if they go through the dungeon first.

Easy e
2021-12-27, 05:04 PM
This is often a staple of other RPG systems and worlds..... the rival group.