Who would have thought it would have been harder to write an adventure for evil characters?

I know I didn’t, at least not as difficult as it has been. The principle seemed easy enough: simply find a way to get neutral and evil characters to work together, kill monsters, and claim treasure. The killing and claiming pretty much go hand-in-hand so there’s no real issue there. Working together is simpler than I expected and it all comes down to the players. Good players always understand the needs of the game over the desires of their characters and can always adapt to the situation, balancing the twisted desires of their wicked sorcerers, barbarians, and necromancers with the pursuit of the story. There are several threads here on EN World attesting to this fact, to my great relief. Problem solved. Let’s write an adventure.

Uh, no. There’s one more factor to account for. Motivation.

I’m taking a break right now from completing the latest draft of The Key of the Fey, a 1st-level mercenary adventure for 4e. By “latest,” I mean fourth and by “draft,” I mean complete re-write. The concept is simple: mercenary adventures are written for any non-good party willing to do anything to get paid. Matters such as reputation, dignity, and money are the primary sources of motivation for these types of adventures but the levels to which you can offer vary greatly. Unaligned characters are in it for themselves yet retain a value system and ethical code; evil characters will pretty much do anything to get what they want and their morals are limited only by their players. There are ways to handle this and the answer is one of those classic “easy to say, tricky to do” solutions.

Over the course of writing Key, I’ve found the answer is variety. Good-aligned heroes are simple to provide for – you need a victim. Someone must be in danger, whether it’s one lone villager kidnapped by orcs or an entire city under threat of a demon prince summoning an army of fiends to lay seige and slaughter all in sight. Toss them some coin and XP for their efforts and your adventure is under way. Mercs need a little more. They need a “why.” Why should they save the city? Why don’t they offer their services to the demon prince? Why do they even have to pick a side? Why not play both sides? In asking these questions, they consider alternate possibilities and go for it. They are not held back by the ethics of good. Everything is possible for mercs and the adventure has to account for that, making it one of the best reasons to play a merc.

RPGs are about freedom, from where I sit. Unlike video games, books, and any other media, you can attempt anything you can think of. In a sense, the story should be just as flexible as the rules – they are a guide and nothing more. Every one of us has played a game where something happened out of the blue and without expectation. Out of nowhere, the 1st-level wizard creates a puddle of grease under a hill giant’s foot as it stands on the edge of a cliff and sends the behemoth over the side to his death… with the key to the dungeon the PCs need to get inside hung around his neck. The game never stops. The players climb down the cliff face to retrieve the key from the hill giant’s splattered body, the GM allows a quick Perception check to notice the key dangling from the giant’s belt before pouring the grease, or the hill giant grabs onto a thick tree root to stay alive just a bit longer, or whatever else it takes to keep the story moving.

Mercenary adventures follow this same principle to a higher level. Their motivation can change to suit their latest employer. While they need a good reputation to keep working, they only have to worry about what their employer finds out about their performance and the rumours spread about their exploits when it’s all done and over with. Different alignments create unique obstacles to overcome as well and there’s a good possibility of a mixed-alignment party. The evil mercs will stab anyone in the back so long as they still get paid (or get paid more) and the unaligned mercs gave their word to their original boss. You need to account for these factors when designing (and particularly running) a merc adventure or campaign. And when it works, it’s incredible. You’ve just pulled off one of the greatest balancing acts in gaming and your players become a significant part of the game. Their decisions affect more than just the number of bodies left behind and the story evolves in new directions by the start of the first chapter.

Morals must be considered and the balancing act for any alignment in your party can be tricky. I think it goes without saying that Key is not recommended for noobs or any group getting together for their first game. If you know your players and have already begun to blur the line, Key is for you. I’ve always been able to fall back on a game of Wraith back when it first came out as a guideline for merc adventures. Our group had played together nearly five years and was the original group for all of us (sharing one AD&D Player’s Handbook between the five of us before branching out to try new systems). We had a new player join up and he created a skinhead. Whether or not he used that character as a excuse to spit out his own slurs and speak openly because he was “just in character,” it was a problem. No one wanted to play with his character (and with the player, as it turned out). As soon as we kicked out the skinhead and his equally tolerant player, we enjoyed the game. Roleplaying gives you a better look at the person sitting across from you, a gaze into their imagination unbound. Good players work with their comrades and great players can start fights with party members without affecting the group. Let your players worry about how far is too far and you can focus on crafting the story with little worry or concern for the cohesion of the group.

Everything is just over a week away from getting to the playtesters and we'll find out if this is the one that works. My own group had some fun with it and filled it with surprises (I had no idea just how deviant a pharmacist could be) to make it a good venture into something a little different. Here's hoping you'll be able to enjoy it to when it hits your local online shelf.

However, I think my next adventure will be about fuzzy bunnies and fluffy teddy bears collecting as many hugs as possible before all the boys and girls around the world start to feel sad. That will be much, much easier.

Todd Crapper (that's right) is the Head Honcho for Emerald Press PDF Publishing and author of the upcoming 4e adventure, The Key of the Fey (releasing December 2009), and co-author of Risen: The Guide to Resurrected Characters (October 2009). He wrote this blog because there was no one around to stop him, not even those meddling kids and their mangy mutt.

EP

I've always thought that another good way to give a character more depth is for him to develop meaningful relationships with NPCs and organizations in the game world. However, in order to encourage the players to invest time and effort to do so, the relationship has to be an asset, not a liability.

I've decided to start with organizations first as they are more amorphous and easily fudged. Since organizations are made up of a variety of people, it seems more plausible that they are able to provide various benefits and services.

The following are very initial thoughts on organizations, and are subject to change.

Level
Like almost anything else in 4e, organizations have a level which abstractly measures their power. A village might be no more than 4 or 5. A kingdom would be in the upper teens, possibly even a 20. The worshippers and servitors of a god (not just a specific temple, but every worshipper and servitor, including angels and exarchs, in all the worlds and planes) would probably top the scale at 30.

Rank
Rank is a measure of the character's standing with (or within the organization, if he is a member) and abstractly determines how much of the organization's resources he can tap upon. A character's rank in an organization can be no higher than the organization's level. A character whose rank in an organization equals its level effectively leads the organization and can command all of its resources.

Benefits
Some of the potential benefits that a character can gain from association with an organization are as follows. Generally, a character should not be able to call on assistance from an organization too often - perhaps about once per month. A character's ability to call on assistance from the organization should also be renewed whenever his rank with the organization increases (even if the organization has helped him within the last month), or whenever he performs a service for the organization. An organization may also offer unlimited assistance if the character is acting on its behalf.

1. Skill checks - if the organization is plausibly able to help, it may allow the character to make one skill check as if he was trained in it, and provide an additional +1 bonus to the check. This bonus increases to +2 if the character's rank is 11 or higher, and +3 if his rank is 21 or higher. If the skill is a specialized skill for the organization (e.g. Religion for a church), the character may make the check as if he was trained in the skill and had the Skill Focus feat for the skill, and the bonus is doubled (i.e. +4 if his rank is 11 or higher).

2. Rituals - the organization arranges for the casting of a ritual of half your rank or lower. You still have to pay for the component cost. If the DM thinks it appropriate, the organization may be able to provide access to select higher-level rituals.

3. Trade - the organization procures a magic item of half your rank or lower. If the DM thinks it appropriate, the organization may be able to obtain certain higher-level magic items. You may buy the item or exchange another magic item of the same or higher value for it.

4. Mundane Services - the organization may provide whatever mundane services the DM thinks is appropriate. For example, a village might offer the character a safe place to rest, a merchant house may be able to arrange transportation for the character, or a church may be able to translate a document from Supernal to Common.

FireLance