Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 morganm Aug 01, 2008 22:32:31	Hey everyone! Looking for some input here. We play one-shot adventures with prerolled characters set in Forgotten Realms using v.3.5 rule set. The adventures are completed in one night typically about 5 or 6 hours of playing. Things in bold I'm particularly looking for input. PCs: Not rolled yet but thinking about lvl 4 to 6, mix of medium humanoids (humans, half orcs, half elves, dwarves). Ideas for fun characters? Core rule books only! Synopsis: Party is a group of muscle for hire. A local big time fencer hired the party to collect some debts. He gives them locations around town where to find them and what intel he has on them. Players will have to negotiate with the fence about their payment. The fence will tell the PCs that he doesn't want his 'customers' killed as they will be sources of revenue in the future. Of course if they have to defend themselves, so be it, but they should not be drawing steel first. If a mark can't or won't pay up then they should be roughed up and taught a lesson with a warning that they better pay up soon or next time they wont get off so easy. Any mark that does get killed means less payment regardless of why it happened. Good name for the fence? Better term or position for him than 'fence'? Not all about combat. The party would ideally like to intimidate people into paying up. Thus no threat to life and limb and they don't have to use resources. Not all marks are pushovers though. Some will have muscle of their own. Others may have superior skills in Diplomacy, Bluff, Intimidate, or stats. Perhaps while they are out and about they will get harassed by town guards. Ideas for quick, random, encounters? Encounters: E1 - Hired Lugs PCs have been invited to meet with a local fence. He's no mere sneak thief and is rumored to be directly under the local thieves guildmaster. He's more of a manager than a fence; giving orders to other fences around town, hiring new muscle, following up on orders and tasks to ensure they are done, and rarely gets his hands dirty with actually buying and selling. He's very hard to intimidate and bluff but may be prone to diplomacy. First the fence will lay out what he wants done. Then the players must negotiate with him to try and get the best deal possible. After payment is agreed upon the PCs will be given their marks and a map. The players are also extended invitation to buy whatever they may like from their shop front and to ask for the special discounted goods. E2 - Possession of Stolen Goods If they so desire the players may peruse the shop and buy whatever is available. They may also use the secret question to see some nice stolen goods as well. E3 - Deadbeats The first mark is group of deadbeat hash addicts. They find them at a local hookah house. Asking the front clerk where they are and he will show them to a side room explaining that they spent what money they had, smoked themselves silly, and his bouncers tossed them in this room to settle down. These guys pose little threat but they are obviously broke. One of the deadbeats will try to pull a knife but will likely blunder the attack due to his inebriated state. After this the PCs will likely rough them up, give the warning, and move on. Encounter is over after they do this or otherwise resolve the encounter. E4 - 100 Excuses Second mark is a man with a gambling habit. He's quite charismatic and his tung is sharper than a masterwork rapier. He'll come up with all kinds of excuses backed up by Diplomacy or Bluff checks. His goal is to convince the PCs that he'll make good on his payment real soon and there's no need to rough him up. Where should he be? What are some good excuses I can say before rolling his Diplomacy or Bluff? E5 - The Regal Lady The third mark is a lady of nobility but she's pretty far down the totem pole; as it were. In order to keep up the notion that she is of high nobility she has had to take out loans from some unsavory folks and now she's due to pay up her last loan. After pulling some strings in her family and a few well placed lies she's secured some personal guards and has the town guards patrolling her neighborhood. Getting to her will be tricky and she obviously won't be paying up. Her body guards will protect her and she'll try to escape. If she escapes then she'll get a near by patrol of town guards to come and try to arrest the PCs. Ideas for other encounters? Ideas for different NPCs?
#2 doomsought Aug 01, 2008 23:15:11	HMM, make sure to Have EVERYTHING mapped out on the lady, the PCs will use some lateral thinking on her. as for another NPC: A very civilized Kobold Jeweler, he is in fact completely honest and has the money ready for the PCs to pick up, its just than no one else would give him the loans to buy his raw materials. His most recent client Has been the Regal lady and he gives The PCs some gossip on her that may tip them off or otherwise help them. Hmm, maybe a seedy cleric with a drinking habit as well, or something to that meme.
#3 world_slider_dup Aug 02, 2008 12:45:25	One possibility is that one of the marks decides it is cheaper hiring muscle of his own than paying the debt. He will readily pay when he has no more protection.
#4 angelofthenight Aug 02, 2008 14:07:20	I suggest that the captain of the gaurd is in some trouble with the fence over delayed loans of a fairly considerable sum, perhaps 2-3000 gp. The loans were spent on healing magic for his wife, but everyone believes that he has a drug habbit. I also suggest that the fence is the major drug supplier to the town, along with buying stolen goods. angel
#5 drin Aug 11, 2008 9:50:14	As for good characters, rogue swashbuckler, if that is still valid. Dumb fighter that is strong with a smart weasely guy, (thinking of MasterBlaster in RoadWarrior Beyond Thunderdome). Dexstrously challenged thief. Pompous mage (Edwin from Balders Gate game), drunk dwarf indebted to fence for gambling, clumpsy fighter. Fence name? I am partial to Paroth Drin or Allister Vane. And he/she could be an Investor, Benefactor, Small Business Owner -just like anyone else. Perhaps you should not have the fence himself hire the PCs. Keep his involvement limited. There should be no direct connection to the fence. Someone knows that the PCs have been hired and sends a thug group to take care of the PCs themselves. Once the PCs defeat the group, someone will notice a covered figure running off in the distance. Assassination attempt during the night. Proposal to pay off the PCs to not follow through with muscling the victim. Of course at some point, they try to extort from the wrong person and they uncover another plot to take out the fence. Have a figure that looks just like someone in the fence's employ escape. The E4 guy will be in a place where he can use his skill to con people. A circus or a theatre or any tavern or gambling place. When confronted he will suddenly change character and be extremely sorrowful and deeply regrets not being able to pay his loan back. He may even give a small amount to the party as a pay off, then try to skip town after the PCs leave. He could quiety set the PCs aside and say that the person he was talking to was about the give him an investment amount that would pay off the fence. Everything should just about be taken care of when the PCs "interupt" the transaction. Then at some point, the guy ends up dead, not by the PCs. I like the City guard idea. The guard could think he can get away with anything because he is a guard. There should be an instance where they victim does not really owe the fence anything but has an item the fence wants. The fence also has a creature under his employ that can harrass a merchant unless extortion has been paid. I was thinking some person who can control rats or other vermin that could ruin a business.