DMs Brainstorming for Encounter - My Players Out!

[Dremmen]

OK, so I have this adventure I'm running tomorrow. Its great, up to the very last encounter and I wanted to get some thoughts on how to set this up. Here's a quicky on the set up - the party has travelled far into the wilderness, mostly by boat, to reach a remote wizard's lodge now long abandoned. They are ransacking it for goodies. Once they finished the ransacking and are getting ready to return to the river boat that brought them is where I'm dubious.
See, besides them there is this kingdom that is also after the goods in the lodge. They've sent a small force of six spearmen, four archers, two clerics and a captain to intercept the party and they've arrived after the players. These are some of the possible scenarios that I've toyed with -

1. The soldiers are waiting in the woods just beyond the lodge and ambush the players as they make their way back to the ship. This is fine but I have some really nice WorldWerks props for the ship and for the lodge. This particular scenario would be the least colorful and entertaining, I think.

2. The soldiers are waiting outside the lodge and attack the players as soon as they try to leave. This will probably force the players back into the lodge and ensue in the soldiers storming it. This could get tricky as there may be fighting from inside to outside. The lodge is enchanted of course and its outer dimensions are smaller than its inner dimensions. That's great and magical and all that but would make the siege a nightmare to recreate with the minis and to scale as the footprint of the building is not the same as the space inside.

3. The soldiers walked to the lodge, picked up the trail of the PCs and followed it back to their waiting ship. They are all either inside the ship waiting for the players, or have archers posted on the deck waiting for the players. The hesitation I have with this scenario is that the players take off into the woods and avoid this entirely. This is probably the most fun scenario as the ship would make for interesting combat and I could try to dissuade the players from fleeing by reminding them how long the voyage is back home on foot. But they might flee combat nonetheless.

What do you all think? Do you have some other scenarios that I didn't think of? Are any of the above to your liking?

 

[maddman75]

3. The soldiers walked to the lodge, picked up the trail of the PCs and followed it back to their waiting ship. They are all either inside the ship waiting for the players, or have archers posted on the deck waiting for the players. The hesitation I have with this scenario is that the players take off into the woods and avoid this entirely. This is probably the most fun scenario as the ship would make for interesting combat and I could try to dissuade the players from fleeing by reminding them how long the voyage is back home on foot. But they might flee combat nonetheless.

Check out the bolded portion above, there's your answer.

Also, you seem to talk as if combat is a foregone conclusion. I'd have the commander of this force challenge the PCs and demand they hand over the McGuffin. I'd try to come up with a high stakes standoff myself. When the PCs return to the boat, the captain and the spearmen wait to meet them. Off to one side under some cover the archers are ready as well. The clerics are ready with some oil flasks and some type of fire magic. The captain threatens to burn their ship if they don't hand over the items! Players take it so much more personally when you go after their stuff. Hack at them all you want and its all in good fun - threaten to burn their boat and they'll be screaming for the captain's blood.

Now they have some choices. They can hand over the items, and presuming they can't go without them, they follow the NPCs to take them back later. They can fight, but they'll have to figure out a way to stop the clerics from lighting the boat, or a way to put it out afterward. Heck, they might do something totally unexpected, like hand over the items and offer to join the captain's band!

That's what I'd do anyway.

 

[Dremmen]

Check out the bolded portion above, there's your answer.

Also, you seem to talk as if combat is a foregone conclusion.

Now they have some choices. They can hand over the items, and presuming they can't go without them, they follow the NPCs to take them back later. They can fight, but they'll have to figure out a way to stop the clerics from lighting the boat, or a way to put it out afterward. Heck, they might do something totally unexpected, like hand over the items and offer to join the captain's band!

That's what I'd do anyway.

Interesting maddman. No, I don't believe fighting is a certainty, just a likelyhood. At least one of my players is a bit reckless and I'm thinking he'll charge, and the others follow. With your scenario, and considering that the players need to get back home, the soldiers would end up with the loot since the players wouldn't let the ship burn. The soldiers would then get on horseback and ride for home. What I would do in turn is allow that the party's scout, an elven ranger/druid, knows of a short cut thorugh the woods that would let the party catch up and then ambush the soldiers. That would be a fun scene and in the party's favor since they have a couple of thieves and an assassin. The only downside is that combat would happen in the woods and again not in one of my time-consuming props. But c'est la vie.

Thanks much