AoW: The party does something unexpected/bad. Now what?

[Raven Crowking]

This isn't your problem; it's the PCs problem, and that's a good thing. If the DM has an expectation of how the party should do something, he won't be ready to roll with what they actually do and you risk railroading. Your job is to set the problem according to what your NPCs would realistically do, and their job is to find the solution. Don't worry. They will.

When 3E first came out, I ran a shake-down one-shot to familiarize us with the rules, which consisted of unjustly imprisoning the PCs in the city jail, a converted castle, on the eve of a civil war. I used a castle plan I got off the internet, statted and placed guards, dogs, and assorted other prisoners, made sure I understood the mechanical systems such as ventilation and waste disposal, inserted some political chaos, took away all their equipment, and locked them down as tight as I could. I had no idea how they were going to get out - but they did, and so expeditiously that they forestalled most of the worst political chaos I had planned. They had so much fun they wanted to keep playing long enough to get out of the City, which an oppressive claimant to the throne tried to seal up so that his rivals couldn't escape him. So I gave them all handouts with information on the city suitable to their characters and turned them loose. They put their heads together for maybe half an hour while I read a book, then came back and fomented a riot that stormed the wall from the inside at its weakest point and escaped in company with the poor, the oppressed, and the rivals.

Trust the PCs. All you have to do is motivate them to do something and give them their heads, and you got a game.

You know, this is some of the best, and truest, advice I've ever read on EN World.

RC

 

[Imruphel]

You know, this is some of the best, and truest, advice I've ever read on EN World. RC

So very true. A great piece of DMing, Peni Griffin; thanks for sharing it.

 

[Raven Crowking]

So very true. A great piece of DMing, Peni Griffin; thanks for sharing it.

All I would add is that, if your players do not find a way, let that be what happens.

RC

 

[Steel_Wind]

IMC, Smenk persuaded the characters that Ragnar Dourstone was up to no good. Smenk, otoh, was a hard-ass businessman that the PCs decided they could trust. Go figure.

The PCs ultimately snuck into Ragnar's mine and fought their way through his guards to reach the elevator shaft. The PCs had to run from the Ebon Aspect, and ultimately killed it at the top of the elevator within the mine. When Ragnar saw what had happened, he ran for it as the PCs talked their way out of a further fight with Ragnar's remaining guards.

So IMC, the PCs ultimately exposed Ragnar but he got away. His lands were escheated and ultimately found their way into Smenk's hands.

I had Ragnar be the prime force behind the assassination attempts on the PCs during the events in HoHR and Champion's Belt - though the PCs never really connected the dots. Ragnar got away again from the City of Greyhawk after the Ulgurstasta was defeated.

Ragnar was also, not incidentally, the villain who sent word to Ilthane of the specific identity of Allustan and the PCs in Diamond Lake that had wrecked her plans with the Lizard Folk near BlackWall Keep. He's been trying to kill the PCs to take his revenge for quite a while now.

The PCs will meet up with Ragnar again - and his ally, Loris Raknian, together with the remains of the Ebon Triad in Alhaster during the Prince of Redhand.

I have found that with just a little tweaking, the plot flow throughout the early part of the AoW flows rather well. Ragnar has been the golden thread that has run through all of the first six adventures in my campaign.

 

[WinnipegDragon]

Thanks for all the advice folks. Erik and I had a similar idea in mind (an attempt to kill the party, tied back to Dourstone), but I was concerned about what happens after.

Peni Griffin is dead-on right. The party is going to have to figure that out for themselves.

 

[Hypersmurf]

A vast army of draconians prevents the guards from getting to the mine, and the PCs are able to enter unchallenged...

-Hyp.

 

[Nightfall]

Yep the PCs made the mess, so now they have to lie in it.