plot/story line - Need ideas

anticant · Feb 17, 2010

I have a storyline question for you. The story goes like
this... the party is on their way to a dungeon to deliver a ransom to an evil dude. initially I didn't think of putting a twist on the story but the party suspects the ransom (chest) is a bomb or something. they did a detect magic
and they know that there is some evil magic on the chest that is
beyond their understanding. This gives me a real opportunity to put a
twist on the story but I just don't have any ideas other than to go
along with it and make it blow up when it is opened. Maybe I could
have some type of conspiracy between the governor, who is paying the
ransom, and the evil dude.. i dunno.. any good ideas?

btw, this is 0e rpg i'm running

Gilladian · Feb 18, 2010

Well, if the governor, who is paying the ransom, and the kidnapper, who receives the ransom, are in cahoots, who are they against? What is their ultimate goal?

If it is to simply keep, and split, the ransom, but they don't care if the victim survives, then perhaps the ransom simply isn't IN the box. The box is a way to mislead potential rescuers. The real ransom never has to leave the governor's hands; once he "pulled it together" to "pay off" the kidnapper, he had what he wanted.

If the plan is to ensure that the victim doesn't survive, then the only reason to put a bomb in the ransom is if the victim will be present when it is opened. Maybe this is a double cross - the kidnapper thinks that the ransom is being split between him and the governor, but really the governor has arranged that the ransom blow up, killing everyone - the victim, the kidnapper and the PC rescuers.

Maybe the victim him or herself is the one pulling the doublecross; he arranged his own kidnapping, and is eagerly waiting for half the ransom himself. But the governor discovered the ruse, and is responding by planting the bomb. In this case, there's no real innocent victim (except possibly the kidnapper, who might have fairly innocuous motives for helping someone kidnap himself).

Hope this gives you some ideas!

buddhafrog · Feb 19, 2010

anticant said:
I have a storyline question for you. The story goes like
this... the party is on their way to a dungeon to deliver a ransom to an evil dude. initially I didn't think of putting a twist on the story but the party suspects the ransom (chest) is a bomb or something. they did a detect magic
and they know that there is some evil magic on the chest that is
beyond their understanding. This gives me a real opportunity to put a
twist on the story but I just don't have any ideas other than to go
along with it and make it blow up when it is opened. Maybe I could
have some type of conspiracy between the governor, who is paying the
ransom, and the evil dude.. i dunno.. any good ideas?

btw, this is 0e rpg i'm running

What is the stated reason for the ransom? Who is being held? What is the stated reason the gov would be willing to pay the ransom?

If the PC's can detect the magic, the BBE would be able to do so as well, I would think. Regardless, maybe not an explosion, but rather a magic *something* -- stopping time except for the person being held ransom, who was working with the governor and thus had an antidote for this spell. This person then kills the immobilized BBE, takes his special something or another, and leaves the PC's there to fend for themselves after the spell wears off. This gives the PC's an anti-gov adventure to follow up with.

Or maybe, the BBE is really the governor himself, and the ransom was the way to legally get the money/item out of the city's control and into the private hands of the governor (depending upon the city's politics). The magic of the box could be that it erases the recent memory of the PC's, who after waking up, find themselves in the dungeon, captive or not, confused and trying figure out why/how they got there ... and who the can/can't trust. The players would know the governor was the BBE, but the PC's would not. Could make for interesting role-playing when they return to the governor who rewards them with a public ceremony, etc...

fba827 · Feb 19, 2010

I like what Gilladian and budhafrog already mentioned.

But thinking on a much smaller scale - maybe the chest contains, not quite a bomb, but some sort of devil spirit. The govenor is hoping it will kill the randomser when he opens it. Of course, it will also end up attacking the PCs if they are in the room when the ransomer checks the contents. The governor thinking that the PCs are collateral damage. BUT this idea only works if the govenor would even think that he could still get whatever person/item that is being held for ransom. Such as, those exposed to the devil spirit (even if it's not fought) contract some sort of disease and the govenor then offers a trade or the antidote for the captive person/thing....

ajanders · Feb 19, 2010

See if any of these help...

1. The governor really doesn't like kidnappers. He sent the kidnapper a cursed magical item as part of the ransom. Alternately, there's a big evil thing bound to the chest that's going to leap out and kill everyone in the room when the chest is opened.
Potential issues include:
a. Once the demon is loose, what happens? The governor didn't think this through, and now the demon is loose to wreak havoc on the world.
b. "OK, who taught the governor a demon-summoning ritual?"
c. Is demon-summoning an impeachable offense? Even if it's in a good cause?

2. A powerful evil magic item is the ransom: these magically sophisticated kidnappers aren't going to be satisfied with mere gold and silver. Issues include:
a. What kind of bad guys want the Rod of Asmodeus?
b. Should we keep the Rod of Asmodeus away from the bad guys, even if it means sacrificing the life of the governor's daughter?
c. If we do sacrifice the governor's daughter to keep the Rod of Asmodeus away from the bad guys, how much trouble are we in with the governor?
As a variant, perhaps the governor isn't aware this item is powerful evil magic: the bandits just said "Send us 5000 gp and your gold bookends." Who knew one of the bookends contained a seal of the Abyss?

3. The magical bomb has been discussed, as the kidnappers and the governor are in cahoots...and that's very traditional. Governor plots evil with hirelings for profit, governor kills hirelings to avoid splitting the money, governor hires adventuring patsies to move money, governor kills adventuring patsies for operational security, patsies escape and bring governor to justice.
However, you can run a variation on this...the bomb fails to kill all the kidnappers, too, as well as the party. Can the party overthrow the governor by themselves? Can they get the kidnappers to help? Do they trust the kidnappers to help? Is there a clever way they can get both sides to destroy each other and take all the money?

Tamlyn · Feb 25, 2010

The cool thing is you can plan for a twist in the story later. Let the PC's deliver the chest. The ransomer inspects it (where the PC's can't look over his shoulder) and pronounces everything groovy. Only weeks, months, or years later - after the PC's have forgotten about the whole anti-climactic ransom adventure - does the twist make itself known. You don't even have to know yourself what the twist is yet.

Turtlejay · Feb 25, 2010

Tamlyn said:
The cool thing is you can plan for a twist in the story later. Let the PC's deliver the chest. The ransomer inspects it (where the PC's can't look over his shoulder) and pronounces everything groovy. Only weeks, months, or years later - after the PC's have forgotten about the whole anti-climactic ransom adventure - does the twist make itself known. You don't even have to know yourself what the twist is yet.

Totally this. The twist will be more meaningful if you tie it into a story element, and this is a great way to do it. Even better if you do the horror movie thing.

Horror movies are good because they don't scare you constantly. They build tension, and allow you to connect to the characters, and then . . .BAM! If overused, the movie is not scary at all, since you expect it, and you likely could give a rip about the characters.

Lull your party into complacency. Mild quests and interactions, and then blow the lid off when you feel it is right. Link some of these things together, and suddenly they feel overwhelmed. Kind of like how Lost manages to connect all the loose ends and twist upon twist.

That's my opinion, at least.

Jay

fba827 · Feb 25, 2010

Tamlyn said:
(snip)
Let the PC's deliver the chest. The ransomer inspects it (where the PC's can't look over his shoulder) and pronounces everything groovy.
(snip)

Have you by chance been watching too much Pulp Fiction (the movie)?

GladiusNP · Feb 25, 2010

The PC's believe the chest holds the ransom, but what if the kidnap victim is in the chest, held helpless in stasis by that evil magic? So the PC's deliver the chest, and realize they have delivered to their foe the very person they thought they were saving...

They might have a very nasty chat with the governor when they finally take out the 'kidnapper'.