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.
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.