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View Full Version : End of Scenario Chaos - help!



Altair_the_Vexed
2007-12-08, 01:53 PM
Mark, Helen and John (my players) - shoo! Keep out.

I have a dilemma. Or rather, as "dilemma" refers to a difficult choice between two issues, I have a "multiemma" or something.

My players are getting to the end of a complex scenario. They're doing well, uncovering the clues and probably capable of killing the BBEG and henchmen with the info and skills they have. Jolly good.
But it's more complex than just that - let me explain.

BBEG is a secretly-Evil High Priest of a church of immigrants living in the capital of a nation. BBEG plans to replace the King of the nation with his puppet, one of his henchmen, a local. We'll call him "Puppet".
Puppet is the head of the royal guard. He's looking forward to being king. The current King has been discredited by various Epic curses which have made him clearly insane, causing him to declare war on the neighbouring dwarven nation.
So, the mad King is imprisoned in his own palace, to which Puppet has unrestricted access. Puppet doesn't want the people of his nation to suspect he's just murdered the King. He wants the people to demand he take the crown instead.

The PCs have stolen letters from BBEG to Puppet, which mention this plot. They've told the merchants guild about it (cause the guild hired them to look into why the King had gone mad).
The guild is quietly arming themselves and the commoners, but they can't stand up to the royal guard.
Vital to all this is that the BBEG has awesome DR unless one brings him into contact with a certain magical gem (kind of his holy kryptonite). The PCs have just spent a few days out of town tracking down and retrieving this plot token - ahem: gem.

The BBEG knows that his letter has been stolen, and he can easily have divined that they've gone after his kryptonite.

The enraged dwarven army is on the way with war in mind.

Clearly, there's plenty that can happen while the PCs are returning.

Do I have the BBEG and Puppet kill off the king / accelerate their plans before the heroes can return?

Do I have the guild start a revolution against the royal guard? Are we going to have street warfare between the Merchants guild, royal guard and BBEG's forces?

Do I have the dwarves arrive and start attacking too?


Of course, there are other options, but that's about the crux of it.

Help! We play our next session tomorrow.

Leadfeathermcc
2007-12-08, 02:08 PM
Why not do all three? It is the climax of the story arc. They have killed the king, and it has sparked a riot. They players have to get through the chaos to to the castle/palace. Then they have to wipe the Bad Guys out. As soon as they have that done the dwarves are at the city gates demanding satisfaction. Give the players no time between action scenes.

Play the run through the city as small parts of a whole, you make it 4 blocks then "blank" happens, another 3 blocks and you are up against a barricade, etc.

They guy over at I Waste the Budda with My Crossbow, has a great article (http://xbowvsbuddha.blogspot.com/2007/08/you-could-learn-lot-from-lou-scheimer.html) on this.

goat
2007-12-08, 02:29 PM
I don't see why a BBEG that knows plans are in motion against him wouldn't instantly accelerate/change his own plans to try and head them off.

Do you want to save the king, and keep the nation relatively stable, or would you be happy with the king dying, the plot being foiled and then some sort of massive destabilization in the country while they try and find a new ruler? Or do you want the king dead but instantly replaced by a suitable successor?

If you want the king alive, then I'd think the Dwarves have to attack; hard, fast and locally. The Royal guard would have to send at least SOME of their forces to help defend the nation, and that would make defeating the rest and defending the king easier.

Now, if the Dwarves attack and the Royal Guard stay where they are, you can discredit puppet by asking why they're not defending the people. If he says he's not going to break the kings orders, then he's unlikely to be very realistic as a future popular regicide.

If the people riot, then puppet can kill the king, blame it on the rebels, and apologise to the Dwarves. He's just removed an unpopular king and stopped a war, the fact he completely failed in his duties as head of the Royal Guard probably won't worry people. Your party might then have to defeat the BBEG forces, the royal guard AND a popular uprising against them if they do.

Altair_the_Vexed
2007-12-08, 02:48 PM
Hey, I don't care what happens to the world, I have plans to do games based on just about any outcome - I just want to be sure I don't spoil my players' fun. I guess in essence, and I'm meta-gaming my own subconscious here, I want you guys to suggest a plan so I can absolve myself of blame... :smallbiggrin:

Your last suggestion, Goat, is horribly good. The Puppet already has his spymaster trying to set up inactive revolutionary cells (keep people thinking they are rebelling and you can slow down the real rebellion - Orwell taught me that). I can just have the tack change and spark the revolution anyway.

EDIT - just looked at that article at ISTBWMCB: excellent stuff. I have an OD&D mass combat system which I could just about use for this - I was planning to have the military solution play out that way, anyhow.

I could let the PCs run into the approaching dwarven army on their way back. The dwarven presence forces the Puppet, BBEG and Guild into action. If the PCs persuade the dwarves... the balance of power could swing definitely one way or another. There's a lot hanging on what the PCs do here - just how it should be!

Yahzi
2007-12-08, 04:56 PM
Why not do all three?
Seconded. And have a long-lost claimant to the throne show up, backed by a cabal of invisible assassins. :smallcool:

Zenos
2007-12-08, 05:03 PM
Seconded. And have a long-lost claimant to the throne show up, backed by a cabal of invisible assassins. :smallcool:

Thirded, or something. If you like it a little dark, why not have players find someone they can puppeteer? Or if you don't like dark, why not just have the PC's go to find the true heir or find someone worthy of taking the throne?

Altair_the_Vexed
2007-12-09, 04:32 AM
Thanks - I've got plenty to get on with now: all out mass combat and heroic action, with the King's life in peril (the Puppet has to wait till he can reasonably claim someone else did the regicide) and a horde of evil priests on hand to animate the dead casualties.

Jothki
2007-12-09, 06:18 AM
Thirded, or something. If you like it a little dark, why not have players find someone they can puppeteer? Or if you don't like dark, why not just have the PC's go to find the true heir or find someone worthy of taking the throne?

Heck, they might be able to get away with subverting the puppet himself. If the players can get him the Merchants Guild's support, he won't need the BBEG's help. He can have the king killed, reveal the existance of the BBEG and blame him for the king's insanity and death, and have the players take him out with the support of the guard. With popular acclaim for saving the kingdom and the support of the merchants he's a shoe-in for claiming the throne, and when the dwarves arrive he can present them with the king's head on a pike. Only the merchants will know of his involvement with the BBEG, and they won't want to reveal it to avoid implicating themselves in the conspiracy to murder the king.