New OOTS products from CafePress
New OOTS t-shirts, ornaments, mugs, bags, and more
Results 1 to 29 of 29
  1. - Top - End - #1
    Orc in the Playground
     
    SolithKnightGuy

    Join Date
    Jan 2020
    Gender
    Male

    Default Reaction of villagers

    Hey guys,

    we've ended last session at a certain point, I'd like to discuss with you and hopefully get an idea on NPC reaction. Here is the setup:

    There is a small village, lying not far out from a massive swamp, ruled by an old black dragon. Really nasty thing, spreads its influence over entire region and in case of this village, demands sacrifices every 4-5 years. Sacrifice in this case being a pretty child from a village. In the village, there is a person, villagers know, works with the dragon. She is most probably evil, but due to her connections, no one dares to touch her. It is she who usually arranges the transfer of a child to the dragon.

    A few years have passed since last sacrifice and a new group of dragons' acolytes has entered the village. It was already known, this years' victim was kid with the name Alex. Alex and his mother have, however, abandoned the village two days ago. Villagers were not happy with this, but they figured this is between Alex, his mum, dragons' connection in a village and dragon itself.

    As this new group of acolytes had entered the village, they managed to scare off an inkeeper's apprentice first and have talked to the woman, who works with the dragon. After a while, villagers, hiding in their houses (and occasionally running from house to house to share info of this scary group) noticed some of the group members carrying mentioned woman from her house, unconscious. Also, there was some blood on her. They carried her from the village. Also, at least two of the acolytes have demon wings - scary creatures, deformed.

    Afterward, village has noticed, acolytes talked to local ranger at his house. Since they were bickering among themselves, ranger has managed to run off into the forest. Rest of the villagers do not know, what they were taking about, but it was probably the victim question. At this point, day was over and all four acolytes have moved into dragon woman's house and are now resting there.

    What should village collective do?

    Thing is, there are few adventurers to be found in these parts and there is just an occasional caravan. Villagers live mostly of farming, fishing, hunting and logging. They reside here for decades and have not really accepted their fate, but prefer such life then being refugees. Also dragon does not react well to his "cattle" relocating freely.

    thanks

  2. - Top - End - #2
    Troll in the Playground
     
    Lvl 2 Expert's Avatar

    Join Date
    Oct 2014
    Location
    Tulips Cheese & Rock&Roll
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Nothing, probably.

    By your description in all those years none of them have lifted a finger against the dragon or in service of it, being completely passive victims/people who figure any other option is going to be worse, at least this way there's some stability. They haven't for instance gone looking for the runaway kid and mother. Now whoever these guys are, they're the dragon's problem. The only person they've actually harmed so far is the creepy dragon's little helper they all secretly despise but openly respect.

    You could have one or more villagers go and tell on your party with the dragon, maybe actively spy on them. Or you could have one or more villagers try and secretly make contact with the adventurers hoping they're the lesser evil. You could do both. You could make it really confusing where the party receives handwritten notes from two different people who both have incomplete information and who don't know about each other doing this. That would be a fun gameplay decision. But I don't see your description of the situation as making any action inevitable. They've been living like the dragon's cattle for years, they're not exactly on the brink of screaming you will never take their freedooooom!.
    Last edited by Lvl 2 Expert; 2020-10-05 at 03:13 AM.

  3. - Top - End - #3
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    DwarfClericGuy

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Virtual Austin

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Yeah. Agreed.

    The town has already decided what they are willing to do about the dragon's machinations. Nothing.

    However, if this isn't the answer you are looking for, could you share with us where you hope the campaign is heading? This will aid in coming up with how the next chapter in the story should play out.

    Good luck!

  4. - Top - End - #4
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    PaladinGuy

    Join Date
    Sep 2018
    Location
    EU
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    So, I'm trying to get into the mindspace of such a villager:

    We know a dragon is Bad News, and that this specific dragon is likely to harm us all if we try to flee or rebel. Apart from the sacrifice every 5 years, it seems the village is allowed to go on pretty easily and without much hassle. We dislike the dragon's woman because she's the one who carries away our children, but if we harm her we risk the wrath of the dragon.

    But now something has changed: the dragon's acolytes (who I could assume are in better standing with the dragon than the woman) have carried away the woman, unconscious and bloody. If I were to guess, the dragon is angry that this year's sacrifice ran away and has decided to punish the woman for this. Good riddance!

    But... two questions remain: why did the ranger went into the forest? Did the acolytes scare him? What were his relations to the woman, and Alex and his mother?

    The second question is what the acolytes plan to do. I don't like the fact they are spending the night in the village, and I fear they may take over the role of the woman and impose a much stricter rule upon us.

    What would I suggest the village does? Well... nothing. We have to wait and see, but if someone from outside came into the village, someone strong, someone who could challenge the dragon, then maybe I could try to convince them to help us. Maybe I could try to contact the ranger and tell him to search for adventurers.

    Why would I do this now? Because things have changed suddenly, and for the first time in many years it feels like the dragon's rule isn't absolute: a sacrificed slipped away, a servant was deposed, his acolytes bicker among themselves...

  5. - Top - End - #5
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Flumph

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    I would expect a variety of reactions.
    Most, by far the majority would do nothing. For reasons explained above.

    A fair few would probably get twitchy, some may look at this as an opportunity to bolt and move if they were on the edge already but more would pack up and be ready to leave at a moments notice...some in this same category would have a sudden need to visit relatives, go to the larger town a couple of days away for their yearly shop, go on a longer (multi-day hunt) etc and minimize their risk (which for some would be staying close and protecting their family and stuff for others would be getting out of dodge for a week or so).

    a couple would be looking for ways to use the instability for their own ends. This is likely to fall within three major categories
    FIRST: People looking to get in good with the dragon. sucking up to the acolytes, bringing them dinner etc...giving them reason to not attack THEM and THEIR people (which could have various definitions, close family, clan, the whole village, their drinking buddies etc). Maybe even looking to be a second or replacement agent for the dragon, they say how that previous woman was untouchable up until now and they want that position of social dominance.
    SECOND: people looking to get away from the dragons power. This could be anything from pulling in agents to mess with acolytes, finding a large group (perhaps a knightly order etc) that they could switch over their protection racket to instead (sure the dragon could still hit the village but probably wouldn't want to piss off a significant organization...who will eventually make its life difficult), or even just renegotiating the deal with the dragon in a more favorable light (every 12 years instead of five or exempts their own decedents for example)
    THIRD: people with personal goals who want to use the instability as cover. This could be just about anything. with peolpe jumpy and on edge temper could flare. Others could see a chance to do something naughty or even utterly horrible and claim it was these weird aggressive acolytes for what happened. and because people want to think only outsiders do horrible things they may well get away with it.

  6. - Top - End - #6
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Earth
    Gender
    Intersex

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Your village is 2D.

    You have gone on and on about what is happening around the village. How do they feel about the dragon? What connections does this person have (apart from a giant dragon that could kill them all in an hour)? How do they feel about her?

    What was village life like beforehand? You make them sound like a vary insular people with heavy CN or CE alignments present. They seem to have no regard for the lives of their "friends" children; so long as it is not theirs.


    They reside here for decades and have not really accepted their fate, but prefer such life then being refugees.
    This runs contrary to the rest of the post...


    Collectively i expect them to start running to the hills. It won't even been enmass as they are only looking out for number one. Families might stay together but i have doubts with the setup.


    If they are not accepting of their fate what steps have they taken to rid the dragon threat? Who is the lord of the land? Is there some distant king that should be helping them?

  7. - Top - End - #7
    Ettin in the Playground
     
    Telok's Avatar

    Join Date
    Mar 2005
    Location
    61.2° N, 149.9° W
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    I think the only people left in the village at this point are those who are completely unable to flee, or who literally have no problem with a child being hauled off and murdered like clockwork. If the population is effectively made of incompetent cowards and families of sociopaths... Ok, working with this... The incompetents won't do anything. They're probably bullied into near slavery by their neighbors.

    So the only people in the village who might do something are people completely at ease with regular child sacrifice.

  8. - Top - End - #8
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Devil

    Join Date
    Sep 2017

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    One question that you haven't answered is..

    ..............WHAT IS KEEPING THEM HERE. and beening eaten dosent count...

    yes there farming, yes they have famlies here, but if things are bad they can always upsticks and go...
    farming is easy all you need is land and water, you can get them anywhere.....

    What is keeping them under the dragons threat?
    is there somthing elce nearby that will do WORSE then kill them?

    look at the news during any war, there are millions of peps on the move dispite bombs and bullets flying everywhere. economic migrents and refugies push the borders every day, and thats with the threat of a large monster/tirent trying to stop them.

    if they have been under the dragons sway for any amount of time then they will know its paterns of behavor. so the ones who want to run or get help will know when they can leave.

    The woman who spyes for the dragon, was she a solo operator? if so then she must have spent alot of time looking over her shoulder and slept in the stongest house with the door locked and warded every night. After all "accidents" happen all the time. also how replaceable is she? if this roll as the dragons rep is now up for grabs who has a chance of taking it?

    Finally what race are this villigers? humans have a relativly slow reproduction rate under stress, even at the best of times one viable kidd every 10 years without good medicine/magic. Taking a youngling out of this community every 5 years is going to put one hell of a dent on your population so i would exspect alot of empty houses/beds after a few rounds. that would definatly push families to serusly consider relocating ANYWHERE.

  9. - Top - End - #9
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Earth
    Gender
    Intersex

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Assuming normal class dispersal there should be one adept per 20 or so people and that is on the low side. In pathfinder between purify food and drink, create water (which starts clean), and stabilize they should be good for unlimited health care and sanitation and that is level 0. Population growth should be okay even if relying on heal skill aided by the above spells.


    Though reading it in a new light i realize that the ownership wasn't the swamp it was the village. Why have a spy at all? He is king. Undisputed for 5+ years...

  10. - Top - End - #10
    Barbarian in the Playground
     
    DwarfBarbarianGuy

    Join Date
    Apr 2020
    Location
    Emerald City, Oz
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    The question I have is...what are the villagers getting out of it?

    People will live on the sides of an active volcano, because to soil is much richer than elsewhere, they will live by an aligator infested river, because the fishing is better there, they'll live on a fault line, or in a hurricane zone or put up with nigh on any condition if there is a net benefit.

    Does the dragon protect them? Does it poop beside their fields, allowing their farms to prosper? Is there a constant flow of wannabe dragonslayers enriching their economy? Has the dragon lady been using her dragon-granted powers to aid the village?

    A one-way transaction doesn't make sense. People, even unwashed peasant scum, kinda get prickly about losing their children. If they cannot handle it themselves, eventually they will summon dragonslayers...and then it is all over. What would prevent them doing so?
    "There is no hunting like the hunting of man, and those who have hunted armed men long enough and liked it, never care for anything else thereafter."
    ~ Ernest Hemingway

    2021 2022 2023 2024

    Dwarf Magus (Deep Marshal) spell list

  11. - Top - End - #11
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    DwarfClericGuy

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Virtual Austin

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by aglondier View Post
    A one-way transaction doesn't make sense. People, even unwashed peasant scum, kinda get prickly about losing their children. If they cannot handle it themselves, eventually they will summon dragonslayers...and then it is all over. What would prevent them doing so?
    This is a great question. One that you could build a campaign world around.

    For example, what if there are no heroes? The PCs are the first and only people powerful enough to challenge a dragon. For the first time in history, hope has come to town.

    Or...what if it's not legal to move? What if the villagers have to stay where they live because they are peasants and, therefore, not allowed to leave the land their lord has demanded they occupy? It may be necessary for the party to go have a chat with the lord of the land.

  12. - Top - End - #12
    Titan in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2010
    Location
    Dallas, TX
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Don't assume that the villagers are in agreement. The argument between them about what to do opens up more options for PC agency.

    So what they really do right now is live in fear, worry about what to do, and keep talking uselessly.

  13. - Top - End - #13
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    MindFlayer

    Join Date
    Mar 2018

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by Telok View Post
    I think the only people left in the village at this point are those who are completely unable to flee, or who literally have no problem with a child being hauled off and murdered like clockwork. If the population is effectively made of incompetent cowards and families of sociopaths... Ok, working with this... The incompetents won't do anything. They're probably bullied into near slavery by their neighbors.

    So the only people in the village who might do something are people completely at ease with regular child sacrifice.
    I think not. Sure losing child is bad, but if we compare that for example normal medieval human lord. Who collect taxes and every few year forced all able bodied male population to fight in his petty wars. Then that sacrifice thing can actually be very good deal.

    Compared to a neighboring village, they would lose one child in five years, but in a neighboring village the lord would go to war and because wars are expensive then arbitrary taxes would be high and the crowd would starve in the winter and then the children would starve to death. Also, when spring comes, in this village the men would go to work in the fields, but in the neighboring village to fight the Lord’s wars. Here the harvest would be better when men had time to farm. In the neighboring village the yields would be worse and of course not everyone would return from that war and in the autumn there would be tax collector who would collect most of the harvest.

    That is, in practice, if the only tax were one child every five years then compared to that neighboring village in this village, people would do well and migration could be in the other direction.
    Last edited by Tajl; 2020-10-09 at 03:29 AM.

  14. - Top - End - #14
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    DwarfClericGuy

    Join Date
    Aug 2005
    Location
    Virtual Austin

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Is this particular village somehow outside the feudal system?

    If not, then they get the worst of both worlds. Fealty, and therefore providing troops, to the lord. Plus the depredations of the dragon.

    Double whammy!

  15. - Top - End - #15
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2013

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    For the first few days, the villagers most likely do nothing while being secretly terrified. If the new acolytes are still there after a few days, someone brave or expendable eventually goes to knock on their door and ask what they're supposed to do about the sacrifice.

    If they believe the new people are representatives of the dragon, the villagers will probably do what they say unless the requests are insane.

    If the new acolytes move on without saying anything, someone eventually tries to get in touch with the dragon's representatives to ask what they do next, unless the PCs give them a better option. Some of the other villagers will probably flee, fearing retaliation from the dragon for the loss of the local rep.

    If the PCs explain who they are, the villagers are most likely deeply unhappy. They might ask the PCs to leave before they're noticed. It might be possible to rally them against the dragon, but this will be very difficult as they've been under its thumb for decades, so the PCs will need to be very, very convincing

    Does the dragon collect the sacrifice in person or send lackeys to get it?

    My assumptions:

    1. The villagers don't like the dragon, but they see no way of getting out from under its rule.
    2. Absent any other options, they will want to try hard to avert its potential wrath, without very good reasons to believe they have a chance against it.

  16. - Top - End - #16
    Pixie in the Playground
     
    MindFlayer

    Join Date
    Mar 2018

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by Democratus View Post
    Is this particular village somehow outside the feudal system?

    If not, then they get the worst of both worlds. Fealty, and therefore providing troops, to the lord. Plus the depredations of the dragon.

    Double whammy!
    Possible, but would take very brave lord. Most likely Dragon would thing that village and people as his property and most old evil Dragons doesn't like to share. Could easily lead to one burned castle and lordly meal for dragon.

  17. - Top - End - #17
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jun 2014

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    My first, rather horrible question when I read the OP was 'why are they sacrificing THEIR OWN children' as opposed to, say, kidnapping someone else's, or raising the oddball unwanted children as future sacrifices instead of dumping them at the local equivalent of the orphanage to be adopted. It's a horrible situation regardless, but if they've been living like this for a long time I would expect the villagers to have tried to worm out of it in some way by now, and an evil dragon is going to be bothered by different things than a non-evil human. I could absolutely see it being fine with the villagers throwing someone else under the bus as long as they didn't cause problems for the dragon.

    It then occurred to me that the OP never actually said the kids died just that they were 'sacrificed' so if the sacrificed kid is going off to be raised as the dragon's future agent that would make more sense as to why they aren't making some kind of effort to rock the boat.

    Tl:dr - I would also like to know what the villagers are getting out of this that they didn't run screaming for the nearest dragonslayer ages ago.

  18. - Top - End - #18
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Flumph

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by aglondier View Post
    ....... People, even unwashed peasant scum, kinda get prickly about losing their children. If they cannot handle it themselves, eventually they will summon dragonslayers...and then it is all over. What would prevent them doing so?
    Eh. Humans have a pretty mixed history on that one.
    The rate of sacrifice seems kinda vague but lets say 5 to make it worst case. Now how often is there some terror child, orphan, possible bastard, or just an extra mouth that the parents can't feed? In ancient Rome these would have been the children tossed on dung heaps, or sold into slavery immediately.
    So how big is the village, once you count the surrounding farms?...how many births can be expected per year?
    The rate may not be all that bad.
    And if the villagers pick the sacrifice - well then they feel more committed to it. More reason to rationalize it and also keep outsiders out of it. Plus then families in good standing will be less likely to have their own kid taken and will police each other to keep said standing.

    And if they have some sort of protection from larger threats (the dragon doesn't care about the local alligators eating their goats but will respond to an invasion as the village is part of her territory) they could consider it distasteful but better than the risk of moving etc.

  19. - Top - End - #19
    Barbarian in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2016
    Location
    Earth
    Gender
    Intersex

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Well lets just break it down...

    (Assuming pathfinder unless i mention otherwise)


    A village is a group of people numbering 61-200 adults*. Even at 61 and with only half married you still have 15 pairings. According to the Book of Erotic Fantasy humans have a 20% chance of getting pregnant (which i think is rounded down from irl figure). So if we assume sex once a month with only waiting one month for the mothers to recover and no measures taken to reduce conception... (also no untimely deaths from normal things + baby making strain)

    1st year: 15
    2nd year: 14
    (We begin averaging out at 1-2 babies per month with roughly 5-6 potential mothers per month)


    So the village has no shortage whatsoever of children. Even if we assume half die between picking we are looking 25+ children to pick from. You might ask; how are they feeding them all? Good question. I'll answer...


    Let us go "historical campaign" for a moment. You are a level 1 commoner, a serf to Lord Blueblood, and you manage to grow 10 bales of wheat. Lord Blueblood walks up "tax season!" and now you have 5 bales. You go to the miller and he will turn it all to flour, but he wants his pay, and now you have 4 sacks of flour... so on and so forth... you might even get a handful of copper before you are done for the year.


    Planeshift back over and... Lord Blueblood never arrives. If we go by the literal words and not just assume the dragon is normal and he conquers anything nearby regardless of national lines then there is no Lord Blueblood. You now have five extra sacks of flour. One family in the village is missing a child but fifteen families now have twice the usual produce... even those who are not in families are earning more by not having Lord Blueblood around.


    Assuming trade and travel is not discouraged, assuming no outside pressures they are experiencing the biggest economic, industrial and population boom that they have ever known. If there is at least one academic in the village that, too, is booming.


    Twice as much wood from loggers, twice as much wool from shepherds. No child is going hungry. The cost of everything is dropping due to overabundance. More and more people will have more freetime to practice hobbies. They may be evil heartless people but they are experiencing a renaissance like no other.

    The only problem they are likely to have in this scenario is accidentally stripping their natural rescources.

    So how big is the village, once you count the surrounding farms?...how many births can be expected per year?
    If we go kingmaker and incorporate Ultimate Rulership optional population tracking rules... an extra 25 if the hex counts as swamp, 100 if a plain with 100 more if farm improvement built. The village is at the edge so it can go either way... We can also bend a rule and let a fort be in the same hex as the village (but not part of it) for an extra 50.

    So 86 to 450 adults for the "kingdom". If we assume the fort is dragon cult HQ then 400 breeders with 50 cultists.


    Now how often is there some terror child, orphan, possible bastard, or just an extra mouth that the parents can't feed? In ancient Rome** these would have been the children tossed on dung heaps, or sold into slavery immediately.
    Terror children happen quite often; they usually become non wizard arcane PCs/Villains. Orphans would actually be less common than normal due to the dragon maintaining its territory and dealing with anything that it thinks is a threat. That last question i answered above to my satisfaction...



    *3.5 often gave numbers for monster race tribes. Each time there was a +100% noncombatants. It never reached PF to my understanding but children are assumed to be uncounted as an unspoken legacy rule...


    **There was this old medieval saying; the first son gets the land, the second joins the army and the third becomes a monk...

  20. - Top - End - #20
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Zombie

    Join Date
    Jan 2007
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by Democratus View Post
    Is this particular village somehow outside the feudal system?

    If not, then they get the worst of both worlds. Fealty, and therefore providing troops, to the lord. Plus the depredations of the dragon.

    Double whammy!
    It sounds like the dragon is the de facto feudal lord in this scenario.

  21. - Top - End - #21
    Dwarf in the Playground
     
    Flumph

    Join Date
    Apr 2020

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    farming is easy all you need is land and water, you can get them anywhere
    That's not true at all. Pretty much all land is already owned, especially the land good for farming. And if you do find some waste land that's not being farmed, it's a lot of work to prepare it for farming, and you probably left tools and livestock behind so the dragon wouldn't notice you sneaking off.

    As for dragonslayers, it's a poor village. What are they going to pay dragonslayers with? Or maybe dragonslayers have come -- and lost.

  22. - Top - End - #22
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Tawmis's Avatar

    Join Date
    Mar 2004

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    As others have asked - what's keeping the villagers there?

    And why are they willing to sacrifice one of their own every few years?

    And why does the dragon even NEED to have these sacrifices?

    I think you need to tie all of these things together...

    For example...

    The dragon came here long ago, when the village was just beginning. He used his magic to corrupt the land and kill the plants.

    But then came to the village, convinced them they were cursed. And if they provided him a sacrifice he could help them.

    The people do so - sacrificing a young, beautiful person - because that's what the dragon said needs to be done. Maybe he's convinced them that it needs to be young and beautiful - because he channels that soul energy back into the land (clearly lying, but superstitious people and all) - and upon getting the sacrifice - the land around the farmers bloomed (again, using some kind of dragon magic that taps into the druid side of things).

    The dragon keeps this charade up because it amuses him, to have these people willingly give up one of their young as the plants begin to "die" in the land, and the sacrifice "replenishes" the land.

    So that would explain why they remain (they've been told for generations now that they're cursed).
    Why they sacrifice their young person (needed to use their soul to replenish the land according to the dragon).
    And why the dragon remains also (amused to have followers, and the occasional rich, beautiful meal it gets to destroy).
    Need a character origin written? Enjoyed what I wrote? How can you help me? Not required, but appreciated! <3

    Check out my 5e The Secret of Havenfall Manor or my character back stories over at DMsGuild.com! (If you check it out - please rate, comment, and tell others!)

    Subscribe to my D&D Channel on Youtube! (Come by and Sub)

  23. - Top - End - #23
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jun 2014

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by mindstalk View Post
    As for dragonslayers, it's a poor village. What are they going to pay dragonslayers with?
    The dragon's hoard. If the dragon's the de facto lord of the region, possibly his position.

  24. - Top - End - #24
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Oct 2013

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    The sacrifice makes sense as a means of control, so they don't pull a Laketown and forget he exists.

  25. - Top - End - #25
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Gray Mage's Avatar

    Join Date
    Jun 2010
    Location
    Porto Alegre, Brazil
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by Kareeah_Indaga View Post
    It then occurred to me that the OP never actually said the kids died just that they were 'sacrificed' so if the sacrificed kid is going off to be raised as the dragon's future agent that would make more sense as to why they aren't making some kind of effort to rock the boat.
    You know, this is a cool idea/twist. Maybe one of the villagers recognize one of the new acolytes and maybe they are rebelling against the Dragon (or not). Might make for some interesting play.
    And if the Dragon is looking for minions, then selecting pretty kids might be selecting for high Cha, maybe he's looking for kids with potential to become Sorcerers or is able to identify those that have the potential and the villagers think it's a selection for beauty.


    Ignotus Peverell avatar made by the great Bradakhan.

  26. - Top - End - #26
    Ogre in the Playground
    Join Date
    Aug 2012
    Location
    Vacation in Nyalotha

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by Gray Mage View Post
    You know, this is a cool idea/twist. Maybe one of the villagers recognize one of the new acolytes and maybe they are rebelling against the Dragon (or not). Might make for some interesting play.
    And if the Dragon is looking for minions, then selecting pretty kids might be selecting for high Cha, maybe he's looking for kids with potential to become Sorcerers or is able to identify those that have the potential and the villagers think it's a selection for beauty.
    Or, preying upon the villagers’ fear like it’s a delicacy (to black dragons it often is), the dragon leaves the sacrifice open ended. The villagers, seeing an opportunity, sacrifice the reject children. The cruel, the wrong in the head, the deformed. They’re handpicking the agents of their future torment, politely flagging all the stop signs in the provided captcha so to speak.
    If all rules are suggestions what happens when I pass the save?

  27. - Top - End - #27
    Bugbear in the Playground
     
    Chimera

    Join Date
    May 2019

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by Xervous View Post
    Or, preying upon the villagers’ fear like it’s a delicacy (to black dragons it often is), the dragon leaves the sacrifice open ended. The villagers, seeing an opportunity, sacrifice the reject children. The cruel, the wrong in the head, the deformed. They’re handpicking the agents of their future torment, politely flagging all the stop signs in the provided captcha so to speak.
    And it's a pretty perfect setup so far as getting relatively loyal servants is concerned. The sort of people a village would willingly sacrifice are extremely likely to not have kind feelings toward said village, fewer connections that might make them inclined to try to help. Good/neutral children who are cast out by society for stupid reasons are less likely to care about their oppressors, while the jerks and bullies will do fine learning to be even better at it.

    Maybe the dragon is just running a social experiment for kicks. Get a village to sell out its most vulnerable, then train said vulnerable to be your followers and have them destroy said village.
    The stars are calling, but let's come up with a good opening line before we answer



  28. - Top - End - #28
    Troll in the Playground
    Join Date
    Jul 2012
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Quote Originally Posted by Xervous View Post
    Or, preying upon the villagers’ fear like it’s a delicacy (to black dragons it often is), the dragon leaves the sacrifice open ended. The villagers, seeing an opportunity, sacrifice the reject children. The cruel, the wrong in the head, the deformed. They’re handpicking the agents of their future torment, politely flagging all the stop signs in the provided captcha so to speak.
    You eventually run out of obvious target children mind, which would lead to the person/group who is actually tasked with picking the sacrifice to select children for increasingly petty reasons. Which is actually a neat thing narratively because it would further the villages sense of paranoia, fear, betrayal and so on. It'd wind up like the Salem witch trials but for picking kids to be eaten by a dragon.
    Sanity is nice to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

  29. - Top - End - #29
    Ogre in the Playground
     
    Flumph

    Join Date
    Feb 2005
    Location
    Santa Barbara, CA
    Gender
    Male

    Default Re: Reaction of villagers

    Run out? eh not likely.

    since the kids are being sacrificed at one ever so many years.
    And so we are looking at one kid every 5 years? You have new kids to pick from. As long as it is a low enough percentage it won't effect much. Especially if it a a replacement loss. (dragon takes X/decade but prevents (X+Y)/decade. So you can keep on just choosing one from an age bracket.

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •