Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Jacob W. Michaels 07-22-04, 12:17 AM	I've asked this on the DM's board with little success, but after reading the "nerfed up" thread about DM railroading, I'm a bit afraid my best-laid plans are going to be too far along those lines (I'm fully aware I will be railroading more than I want to, but I'm having trouble seeing a way around it). The setup: I'm playing in a home-brewed world, with the basic premise of the campaign being that the PCs are part of a clan that dispersed several generations ago, under prophetic threat of being destroyed. Now something has begun hunting this clan's ancestors, and the PCs -- brought together by the archetypical stranger who then went off (and got himself killed, still unbeknownst to the players) -- have to try to rescue as many of their fellow clan members as possible and try to figure out what's hunting them and why. It's a rare-magic world (which I consider to be different than low-magic), with demons and devils serving as the main baddies. There is little access to divination spells, and one wouldn't walk down to their neighborhood temple to ask them to cast a divination. The dilemma: One of the players set up what I thought was a very cool background: His character was the daughter of a rich merchant from a very patriarchal society (modeled very closely -- with actual author permission, for whatever that's worth -- after Annagar from Michelle West's wonderful "Sun Sword" series). She was attacked by a wizard who had discovered a dagger that was actually the prison of a demon queen and who was trying to use the PC as a host body for the demon queen. Instead, she woke up some time later with no memory of what happened; the amalgam of the merchant's daughter and the demon queen, she has no memory of her previous life. In game terms, she's a succubus from Savage Species. She made her way north, drawn by some unknown feeling of ... looking for something. Her part in the campaign started when she encountered the PCs with several other rescued clan folk. She felt more at home there and decided to stick around, but the feelings of wrongness around her freightened all the NPCs and they insisted she go with the PCs. So they've been travelling together looking for other clan descendants, but the other players have little trust of this strange acquaintance (and are starting to realize she's not the normal human she looks like). Now, the next person they're supposed to be finding is the original daughter of the merchant. None of them know she's been traveling with them and I need to find a way to link the two. It's a patriarchal society, so she will be veiled and her face may never be seen. It's cross between an Asian/Arab society, meaning there won't be pictures of her laying around for the players to spot and it would be unlikely that her father would be making a great deal of effort to finding what is, after all, only a daughter. (I'm at a bit of a loss, too, to decide what his reaction to seeing her would be; men set great store in being stoic and not emotional.) My original idea was to have the players attacked and captured by the wizard. He would then be called away, leaving them with an opportunity to escape. I planned to link everything by having the PCs overhear two guards talking about not doing anything to the prisoners until they discover why they were traveling with Shalara Dameer (the name of the merchant's daughter who they were hunting). Obviously, this will involve some railroading (I'd play out the attack and if any of the PCs were able to escape, they could do what they want to stage a rescue but I would be hitting them pretty hard with something above their level), with the real adventure being the escape from imprisonment. I'm otherwise at a bit of a loss at what to do, though. Any thoughts to help me make this as fun as I can for my players?
Cymraegmorgan 07-22-04, 01:49 AM	The rich merchant may have offered a reward for his only daughter, the daughter he planned to use to close a deal with another merchant prince. Even veiled she would be recognized by her rare hair/eye colour, or her unusual height, etc.... The reward would be known among the merchant classes, bounty hunters, servant classes. Every NPC encounter the PCs have, there exists a chance she would be recognized, whispered about. No real railroading there, sooner or later the rumour will come to the party, violently or not. Maybe a kindly old gemsmith will recognize her and ask why she ran away from home. Maybe the caravan guard strapped for cash tries to "rescue" her from the party. Remember in patriarchal/misogynist societies, women with pedigrees are worth as much as good racing mounts.
Thorak 07-22-04, 11:00 AM	Just a comment; Daughters aren't necessarily ignored in patriarchal societies. Daughters are often incredibly precious, since they are the ones you can give to another family in marriage to cement an alliance. Having a lot of daughters means you can give them away instead of all kinds of riches. And if you've only got one, you'd really, really want to hang on to her to make a solid alliance with someone eventually. Though if you want to stick with your current world mechanic, a possible solution would be to lead the PCs to her home town. And have a secret lover from her past recognize her by her eyes. She won't remember him because her memory is gone, and might not even recognize the name he calls her, but when they find out the merchant's daughter's name is the same, the wheels might start turning in their heads.
Burky 07-22-04, 01:07 PM	well, to start off. your idea doesnt seem too bad in the line of railroading the players. they still have a decent amount of freedom to make their own choices. They could either give up and not put out a fight and be captured, try to kill the wizards, or try to escape from the wizards.. So i'd say that it would be fine to work it that way. heres another idea of a way you could work it. You might have something later in your campaign that would make this idea not able to work, but here goes... Have the girl wander off somewhere at night or while the PCs are preoccupied with something else.. Support this with her feeling that she is looking for something. When the PCs realize she is gone, they must make a choice. they could just continue on their journey and not pay any bother to the missing girl, or they could try to track her down. A) If they continue on their way and pay no bother to her, thats where you could play the wizards coming. They know the girl was with her, and have come to take her away. But now that the girl is gone, it throws a spin on things. The wizards could take the PCs captive and try to get information about the girl here. Of course, the PCs barely know anything, but the wizards just think they're being stubborn and not giving it out. Somehow give them a small break in which they must act quickly and use a bit of clever thinking to get out. (here you can go with your escape) The PCs now realize that something is definately unusual about the girl. If they make it out alive, then they now have to track down the girl. So now it is a race against time, in a way. Because both the PCs and the wizards are now out searching for the girl. After this its completely up to you as to how you want it to go. B) If they try to track her down, then you can have the wizards be constantly watching the PCs by some magical means. Direct them (as little and as suttle as possible) towards where the girl might be, through use of NPCs or whatever you might want to do. Once the PCs find the girl, the wizards have an easy way to get to her. The PCs will probably be questioning the girl, which in that time wizards will be coming to find them. What they do to the party and the girl is up to you. So theres just another suggestion. I hope it helps you a bit on your dilemma, or at least just gives you something to think about. Good luck on whatever you plan for them.
trapspringer 07-22-04, 01:25 PM	Really brilliant idea. Very nice. What you want to do here is avoid making your railroading suddle. Do NOT play out the encoutner. That is the worst thing you could do. Narrate. Tell the players in vague terms that they were ambushed in the night by very strong soldiers in turbans weilding scimitars and a dude who looked about 8 feat tall and was wearing a big purple-and black get up. They find themselves chained to a slightly damp stone wall by old, rusty chains made blue by the moonlight. or something like that. ;) It eliminates that feeling of failure and frustration which P. off players who consider themselves to be quick-thinking and strategy minded. Plus it gives things a more epic and movie-based feel.
Burky 07-22-04, 02:00 PM	hmm, i dont quite agree with all of that. If you have no choice but to be taken captive, then its not quite as exciting and thrilling. I'm not a very experienced player, but i would much rather be able to have a choice whether to fight back or run away or do whatever. If players are quick thinking, they will run all the choices they can make through their minds and hopefully pick the best one. But then again, its up to jacob, since he's the DM.
devinmdp 07-22-04, 05:21 PM	Originally posted by trapspringer Really brilliant idea. Very nice. What you want to do here is avoid making your railroading suddle. Do NOT play out the encoutner. That is the worst thing you could do. Narrate. Tell the players in vague terms that they were ambushed in the night by very strong soldiers in turbans weilding scimitars and a dude who looked about 8 feat tall and was wearing a big purple-and black get up. They find themselves chained to a slightly damp stone wall by old, rusty chains made blue by the moonlight. or something like that. ;) It eliminates that feeling of failure and frustration which P. off players who consider themselves to be quick-thinking and strategy minded. Plus it gives things a more epic and movie-based feel. I disagree completely. In fact, what you have suggested is the archetypal definition of railroading. Your plot sounds very well constructed and mature, so I assume you have fairly mature players. They should know that not every encounter they face is going to be winnable. There's nothing unrealistic about that. You should instead design the capture encounter to be tough enough that the PCs will almost certainly be captured. Then do indeed play it out....bUT HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART: If the players do thwart the capture, have a back up plan. Not necessarily a back up plan to have them captured, but a back up plan to move the story with some or all of the PCs not captured. Once you do that you can just run the encounter and let the dice fall where they may. In my 2nd edition campaign I needed to set up a capture. The PCs were all high level, but I easily got them all with a bunch of low level drow who are invisible and had drow sleep poison on their crossbows. But in my writeup of the scenario, I included several paragraphs of notes as to how the scenario would progress should the capture fail entirely or should it fail partially. Devin
trapspringer 07-22-04, 05:56 PM	I just have this vision of the PCs saying something like: Wizard: I cast teleport from the rod you gave us last session, returning us all to the lake we camped at last night. DM:...uh... You guys... have been traveling, and, like... no one, um no one said they... er...mand sure that... like, it didn't break. Fighter: Ok, cool, I drop that marble of darkness on the ground, the on we found in the dungeon 2 weeks ago that spreads in a 40x1 line. Then ask the bard to use that ring of stone-shape we bought. The one with one charge. DM: oh... um... that ring, it accidently... went... off in your pack. Bard: It required the number strand 1243298-8 to be spoken while being worn. DM: Er... you... like... your a zomnambulist. Bard: I'm an ELF! Yes, this did happen. And as that chick from THATC said, in response to 'your letting your own experiences guide you.' "That's what they are for."