Help with new story arc

[baratus16]

I am a relatively new DM, and I am running my first campaign. I want to create a shorter arc where one of the PC’s backstory comes into play. They are a grifter, who only cares about themselves, money, and their wife. Now, they gambled big and lost, so the group that they gambled with kidnapped his wife. This group, I have decided, is The Xanathar’s Thieves Guild.

I want them to be nearly to the point where he has all the money he needs to repay the guild, and then have someone (who later turns out to be from the guild) steal the money. They find out it was the guild who robbed them, and they plan a break in to rescue his wife, steal back their money, and possibly take revenge.

I should be able to muddle through planning out the layout of the hideout, just a dungeon more or less, and I know that the head of the guild, The Xanathar, would be paranoid and prepared with traps, magic items and all sorts of goons. But, I don’t know how to plan out the more impactful parts of this story. Like, what happens if they do kill Xanathar? Will it destabilize the underworld of Waterdeep? Or, what if he bargains with them? What happens if they decide to kill his wife in retaliation for the attack? Or if they manage to rescue her? Should she want to be rescued, or has she decided the guild is a lifestyle more suited to her? I am no writer, so here I am, asking more seasoned DM’s for any advice they might be able to give.

[baratus16]

Replying to my own post to hopefully get some attention.

[Unoriginal]

I am a relatively new DM, and I am running my first campaign. I want to create a shorter arc where one of the PC’s backstory comes into play. They are a grifter, who only cares about themselves, money, and their wife. Now, they gambled big and lost, so the group that they gambled with kidnapped his wife. This group, I have decided, is The Xanathar’s Thieves Guild.

I want them to be nearly to the point where he has all the money he needs to repay the guild, and then have someone (who later turns out to be from the guild) steal the money. They find out it was the guild who robbed them, and they plan a break in to rescue his wife, steal back their money, and possibly take revenge.

I should be able to muddle through planning out the layout of the hideout, just a dungeon more or less, and I know that the head of the guild, The Xanathar, would be paranoid and prepared with traps, magic items and all sorts of goons. But, I don’t know how to plan out the more impactful parts of this story. Like, what happens if they do kill Xanathar? Will it destabilize the underworld of Waterdeep? Or, what if he bargains with them? What happens if they decide to kill his wife in retaliation for the attack? Or if they manage to rescue her? Should she want to be rescued, or has she decided the guild is a lifestyle more suited to her? I am no writer, so here I am, asking more seasoned DM’s for any advice they might be able to give.

The full Xanathar Guild's HQ is described in the Dragon Heist module, alongside with (some) of the consequences that would happen if the Xanathar is killed and advice on how to handle the PCs trying to negotiate with him.

Skullport (where the HQ is) is described in full in the Dungeon of the Mad Mage module.

Should she want to be rescued, or has she decided the guild is a lifestyle more suited to her?

Uhm, why would she prefer being an hostage for people who are delusional, sadistically cruel or both?

The Guild are slavers. No one would want to be in their cells.

[duzzledwarf]

A lot of these questions depend on what your players do, and how they want things to happen.

They plan a break in to rescue his wife, steal back their money, and possibly take revenge

And if they don't? For instance, what if they pull some kind of political intrigue instead, which doesn't involve them directly delving into the lair? What if they think going against the guild is too risky to even pursue at all? etc.

Will it destabilize the underworld of Waterdeep?

It will probably create some sort of power vacuum, yes. Might depend on how the party plays it; do they want to take over and fill the vacuum they've created? Maybe they will have thought of this, and will have some of their own ideas in mind.

What if he bargains with them?

Depends largely on how the party plays it.

What happens if they decide to kill his wife

Depends largely on how the party plays it.

Should she want to be rescued

Depends on her relationship with the PC.

I don't mean to sound facetious or unhelpful, really. But you've got to leave some room for the players to help make the story, because a lot of how this could turn out will depend on the choices they make. So you might not want to prep a plot so far in advance, and let it develop organically. Or really, as some say, "prep situations, not plots."

[Corran]

Uhm, why would she prefer being an hostage for people who are delusional, sadistically cruel or both?

The Guild are slavers. No one would want to be in their cells.

It can be a good twist ending. Or a justification to why there's no DMPC tagging along should the adventure continue; better yet, the (ex) wife is an antagonist that may appear again at some point in the future. Assuming there is a good answer to your question obviously. Which makes me think of this:

I want to create a shorter arc where one of the PC’s backstory comes into play. They are a grifter, who only cares about themselves, money, and their wife.

Love is blind, but how unreasonable would it be if the wife shares some of these qualities? She is a grifter, who only cares about herself, money, and her husband. That sounds more likely than the wife being the poor innocent lady in distress cliche. Maybe the idea was hers all along and was some time in the making (long enough to make contact with the guild and come to an agreement about the ransom). Maybe she is not even really abducted by the Xanathar's guild and just tries to make it look like that so that, because she thinks that her husband wont be so silly to attempt a rescue attempt against so infamous criminals (and maybe only a few low level Xanathar members are involved just in the ransom drop; for extra hilarity make them having been tricked, so the pc's will still have enough reason to go against the cult). Maybe she was already a guild member and all this is some long plan of hers in the making, because the husband (or party) has something that the guild wants. With a significantly reimagined Xanathar, you could go even for something like this.

[baratus16]

[QUOTE=Corran;24817618]It can be a good twist ending. Or a justification to why there's no DMPC tagging along should the adventure continue; better yet, the (ex) wife is an antagonist that may appear again at some point in the future. Assuming there is a good answer to your question obviously. Which makes me think of this:

Love is blind, but how unreasonable would it be if the wife shares some of these qualities? She is a grifter, who only cares about herself, money, and her husband. That sounds more likely than the wife being the poor innocent lady in distress cliche. Maybe the idea was hers all along and was some time in the making (long enough to make contact with the guild and come to an agreement about the ransom). Maybe she is not even really abducted by the Xanathar's guild and just tries to make it look like that so that, because she thinks that her husband wont be so silly to attempt a rescue attempt against so infamous criminals (and maybe only a few low level Xanathar members are involved just in the ransom drop; for extra hilarity make them having been tricked, so the pc's will still have enough reason to go against the cult). Maybe she was already a guild member and all this is some long plan of hers in the making, because the husband (or party) has something that the guild wants. With a significantly reimagined Xanathar, you could even do something THIS LINK.

See, I thought of this and my player even brought it up as an option, but I don't want to make them feel like I'm taking their agency away I guess. Like, I don't want to make huge decisions that may upset them, or make them feel like their backstory has been taken from them. Which, um sure wouldn't happen, they're super chill and they brought it up, but hey, anxiety is super fun.

[baratus16]

Also, I was wanting to do this after hidden Shrine, I'm running a slightly modified tales from the yawning portal, and I don't think three level 9 characters could take down a beholder, plus whatever henchmen he has if it came to that.

[NecessaryWeevil]

Also, I was wanting to do this after hidden Shrine, I'm running a slightly modified tales from the yawning portal, and I don't think three level 9 characters could take down a beholder, plus whatever henchmen he has if it came to that.

When we raided the Xanathar's lair, another criminal group that we were sort of frenemies with was also wreaking havoc, so that evened the odds. I don't know if that's an official part of Dragon Heist, or not.

[Teklese]

See, I thought of this and my player even brought it up as an option, but I don't want to make them feel like I'm taking their agency away I guess. Like, I don't want to make huge decisions that may upset them, or make them feel like their backstory has been taken from them. Which, um sure wouldn't happen, they're super chill and they brought it up, but hey, anxiety is super fun.

The way I have always thought of it was that the backstory I gave was the base for my character and it could grow and evolve as the story goes on. As a player I have no issues with the DM adding something like this as it makes for a more realistic element of chaos to my characters world.