NPC scenario help?

[Captain Altoid]

Hey there- I'm in need of some DMing advice/ideas, so I'm tossing this one out there:

I'm thinking of having a lawful neutral (with emphasis on the "lawful") party NPC get picked up by a city guard and imprisoned for some reason. She's so lawful that it's likely if someone with legitimate authority were to arrest her, she'd come without a fight. I want to create a little scenario for the party whereupon they'll have to free her somehow, leaning toward NOT just being able to do a prison break or slaughter all the city guard. (Something where they'll have to actually roleplay and interact with the city authority rather than just slash their way through.) The rest of the party falls across the good (though not necessarily lawful) spectrum.

Any ideas are welcome. (I was thinking of having it happen while the NPC is off on their own getting supplies or something and having the PCs find out later when she dosen't return, but I'm certainly open to other options.)

[Nakun]

With my limited DM experience, I'd say that there are two main problems that you may have. The first is how long can your group keep it's concentration? Because my group nears ADHD at some points, and having them wait for a late NPC could turn into a bad idea since there's the chance that they'll just leave and forget. Assuming that your group isn't like that, you should be fine. The other problem is getting them to not cut down city guards to save the NPC because it's easier than talk to them. For that I suggest putting them around lots of other people, since they are good, or throwing in yet another NPC that could be a friend of the first, but be like a 1st level commoner so that combat would be a death sentence for him/her.

If this helps at all, you're welcome. If it has confused you or gone in the completely wrong direction, I apologize for spewing gibberish.

[Krellen]

Do you want her arrested legitimately or illegitimately?

[Captain Altoid]

Do you want her arrested legitimately or illegitimately?

I'm flexible. But if it's illegitimately, I don't want it to be something to where they'd have grounds to say "The whole city is corrupt! Let's just do a jailbreak!" if that makes sense. It has to be legit enough for the NPC to at least THINK they've committed a crime, at least at first. They're in a foreign land, but at least one is an emmisary of his people, and so they've got some incentive not to create a massive incident.

I think if it's a SERIOUS crime (punishable by death), it ought to be an illegitimate arrest in some fashion. The NPC needs to have been behaving in an understandable and lawful fashion, though, in a way that results in the arrest. One route I don't want to go is to have someone who looks like the NPC committing a crime and the NPC getting arrested for it.

[Prometheus]

If you wanted it to be a non-combat challenge, consider having them prove the NPCs innocence instead? That can be quite an involved plot.

The most obvious way of preventing my characters from the simple hack and slash is to show that their enemies are more powerful. Then they would have to use stealth, negotiation, espionage, collaboration with other sources, etc. Perhaps the NPC impresses the PCs with combat skills, and it speaks to the greater power of authorities when they arrest the NPC secure in their ability to do so (before they know that the NPC will not resist). Perhaps you simply describe the sheer volume of guards and the power that the city is know for. In any event you will need for them not to give up, which means making two things clear 1) there are routes to gets the NPC out (a convict with an agenda, a secret enterance through the sewers, a chief guard know for being a heavy drinker) and 2) that it is important to get the NPC out (if they are emotionally invested, wrap the NPC into the plot).

[Dementrius]

Hey there- I'm in need of some DMing advice/ideas, so I'm tossing this one out there:

I'm thinking of having a lawful neutral (with emphasis on the "lawful") party NPC get picked up by a city guard and imprisoned for some reason. She's so lawful that it's likely if someone with legitimate authority were to arrest her, she'd come without a fight...

The old mistaken identity schtick could be one way to go here. The NPC has a resemblance to a wanted criminal (Secret Evil Twin? Doppelganger? Mirror of Opposition? Both wear red hats?) and is taken in by the guard for questioning. ("Sure, I'll come down to the station with you. We'll get this mess all sorted out in no time...what are you doing with those dimensional shackles and ball gag?")

Unfortunately, evidence does point to the NPC (Framed?) and he is locked away for A Crime He Did Not Commit (tm). Bonus cliché points if a one-armed man did it.

Or better yet! An Athach - The Three-armed man did it! (may not work with the mistaken identity above unless the NPC is 18 feet tall and weighs 4,500 pounds)

[psychoticbarber]

The old mistaken identity schtick could be one way to go here. The NPC has a resemblance to a wanted criminal (Secret Evil Twin? Doppelganger? Mirror of Opposition? Both wear red hats?) and is taken in by the guard for questioning. ("Sure, I'll come down to the station with you. We'll get this mess all sorted out in no time...what are you doing with those dimensional shackles and ball gag?")

This a good idea.

...Yoinked...

[Dementrius]

This a good idea.

...Yoinked...

I live to give ... adventure plot hooks

[Xuincherguixe]

Someone gave a description, and she matched it. Maybe a bit more circumstantial evidence that points towards her, but nothing substantial.

The lead prosecutor could be someone annoying to the players. Then they'll have reason to defeat him legally and make him really furious. ^_^ Or alternatively, he has a very nice hat which he bets (saying that no one can beat him in the legal arena). I mention the hat because sometimes things that random really do encourage players.

[psychoticbarber]

I live to give ... adventure plot hooks

Really? You live to give them? ... you are my new best friend .

[Dementrius]

Really? You live to give them? ... you are my new best friend .

My blood is made of MacGuffins and my bones are railroad tracks. Each of my fingers is a pointed, steely hook, carefully polished. Don't ask about my spleen - it's caused the death of enough NPCs as it is.

[Captain Altoid]

Good ideas, but I'd rather not go for a mistaken identity option for various reasons I won't go into. (And I promised one of the players that this campaign would be doppelganger-free, as it's sort of something I overdid--abused, even--a few years ago in a previous campaign.)

Hrm...If this were the Old West or something, I'd have her be in a duel and accidentally kill someone with a ricochet. Maybe there's a D&D equivalent... *ponders*

[Dementrius]

Good ideas, but I'd rather not go for a mistaken identity option for various reasons I won't go into. (And I promised one of the players that this campaign would be doppelganger-free, as it's sort of something I overdid--abused, even--a few years ago in a previous campaign.)

Hrm...If this were the Old West or something, I'd have her be in a duel and accidentally kill someone with a ricochet. Maybe there's a D&D equivalent... *ponders*

Understandable. Other options include:

You could pick a crazy local law that she didn't know about
http://www.crazylaws.com/

Along the same lines perhaps a certain kind of (or all) magic is outlawed in the city without the correct licence. The same with weapons (she refuses to disarm or hand over the weapon as it is a family heirloom)

The framing need not be a "doppelganger", one of her items could be stolen and placed at a crime scene.

She could take a wrong turn in the city and end up in a secret military base / safehouse and be arrested as a spy.

One of her ornamental tattoos/armour decorations bears a resemblance to the mark of the "Purple Rose" - a famous assassin

She is caught defending herself from young hoodlums, one of which is the son of a noble.

A family members' debt (back taxes?) needs to be repaid and she is arrested until the payment is made.