What should I do with PC prisoners?

[Eccles]

There was an article in 'Warpstone', the WFRP magazine which had a similar situation, only with hobgoblins which you could use.

Blatantly pick off the best magical items in front of the party, 'coz (as mentioned above) it winds them up and leaves them spoiling for revenge.

Then the Orcs use them as training. Heal the PCs a bit, then they have to run an assault course with a few leashed worgs and their orcish handlers pursuing them. At the other

Every so often, they have to jump, climb or swim something, dive through hoops, under drains, through swampy ground, that sort of thing.

And all the while the orcs are lined up along the sides of the assault course throwing rocks and mud (subdual damage only) at them.

If they fail, they spend the next week sweeping out the worgs, before they have to try again. If they win, the entire tribe lynches them before they cause too much mayhem, but lets them go. Telling them that their weapons and wotnot is under a tree in the distance...

You've got to hobble the spellcasters so they can't cast any major spells. And beat them to within an inch of their lives if they actually manage to cast any spells, of course!

 

[Knightcrawler]

What Should I do With My PC Prisoners

Well it depends. HAs the orc tribe been a campaign item for a while and do you plan on using them again later on. Unless your players are really, really bad at roleplaying don't just strip them and then set them loose. This is a great chance for 1 or more almost pure roleplaying sessions.

Slavery idea sounds good. To the tribe or perhaps the orcs are working for somebody more powerful, say perhaps like a new nemisis that you want to introduce. Make them think their way out of it.

Now if your players aren't good at thinking and roleplaying the "HUnt" idea might be the way you want to go. A chance to sneak and fight their way out with primitive weapons.

Now as to the fathering/mothing a child story line. Be careful here. Only do this if your players are at least a little mature and aren't too squeamsh. But as to having a male PC basically being "raped" doesn't entirely work unless your going to use magic. There's just certain biological functions that are needed for that. If completely ugly and batting him around most likely no way he's going to get it up.

If they've wiped out a good portion of the tribe during their adventures the orcs might be really ticked off. Think of maiming several of the PC's. Loosing a hand, arm, eye, tongue, foot or leg can lead to some interesting solutions and good roleplaying.

Above all DO NOT make it easy for them. Don't kill them either. Make them work their buts of for this.

Knightcrawler

"A sucking chest wound is the DM's way of telling you to slow down."

 

[mikebr99]

Crucifixion!

Nail 'em up I say!

Nail some sense in to 'em!

 

[sword-dancer]

It depends?

In Standard d&d Elves are dead meat, tortured to death
Dwarves also, except maybe they are to useful as crsftsmen, then they are slaved, maybe crippled and sent to work.
Humans/Gnomes/Halflings would be enslaved if not to dangerous.
Spellcasters would be killed or sacrificed to the gods especially clerics.

 

[Grazzt]

It depends?

In Standard d&d Elves are dead meat, tortured to death
Dwarves also, except maybe they are to useful as crsftsmen, then they are slaved, maybe crippled and sent to work.
Humans/Gnomes/Halflings would be enslaved if not to dangerous.
Spellcasters would be killed or sacrificed to the gods especially clerics.

True true. My players' PCs once got ambushed by a roving band of orcs (in my 1e campaign). Most got away, except one of the party's elves and the dwarf fighter. The elf was tortured (cleansed said the orcs) and sacrficed to Grummsh. The dwarf was crippled, shackled, and sent to the salt mines in the mountains where he was eventually rescued by forced to retire from adventuring due to his injuries.

 

[Aeolius]

Perhaps the orcs will throw one PC off a cliff, drop a second one into a volcano, drown the third, and bury the fourth alive – where the PCs are mysteriously transformed into an air, fire, water, and earth genasi respectively, by an orc-hating deity. Nahh...I like my half-orc idea better.

Perhaps the orcs sell the PCs to a covey of hags, who, out of pure malice, polymorphs the PCs into a party of orcs before dropping them back into the laps of their former captors. They’d plant a hag eye on the PCs, of course, to watch all the fun.

 

[reapersaurus]

It depends?

In Standard d&d Elves are dead meat...

What's "Standard D&D" mean?

You mean 1E or 2E?
Where in 3E does it specify that orcs are a completely destructive race?

 

[Nail]

Nail 'em up I say!

Nail some sense in to 'em!

Absolutely!

But hey bud: you've got t'give us a bit more t' go on.

• How do the PCs know of the orcs (if at all)?
• How do the orcs know of the PCs? (in other words: previous encounters?)
• How do orcs live an' work in your campaign?
• How will the PCs be captured? (easy or after a long fight)
• and seriously, can th' PCs avoid being captured? (no railroading!)

In most campaigns, orcs are cruel morons who hate elves and dwarves. Is your campiagn more complex than that? It better be, or any PCs of those races are insta-rations for the orcish hordes. This might be a perfect time to define your own orcish culture. Orcs can be tough but cool barbaric b@stards.

Don't use the deus ex machina solution. Make th' blasted PCs work fer it, or have them die. None of this: "I've gotta 6th level paladin NPC waiting in th' wings fer a plan B rescue." Do it once, and th' PCs will expect it th' next time they're in trouble. Moreover, it takes th' role of "Hero" away from th' players.

If you've got the RB-DM guts to handle it, be prepared for th' PCs to fail to escape. Miserably. 'Cause guess what: most PC plans are path....errrr....unsound.

If they're captured, and if you can convincingly explain why the PCs aren't immediately slaughtered, then slavery seems like th' most believable and workable solution here.

"Awwww. Poor adventurers! We'll just let you go..." is lame, lame, lame.

Not that I'm opinionated, er anything.

 

[Nifft]

Don't use the deus ex machina solution. Make th' blasted PCs work fer it, or have them die.

I dunno, I think that players who value their PC's magic items over their PC's lives aren't that rare.

The way I see a potential d.e.m. working out is thus:

• PCs fight orcs. Orcs capture PCs.
• Orcs strip PCs of everything.
• PCs are staked to the ground and tortured (for days, perhaps -- maybe some permanent Con or Dex loss here).
• In rolls the d.e.m. and saves the PCs' mangy hides. The orcs, and everything the PCs owned, are gone.

Losing everything they own isn't a slap on the wrist for most PCs (monks and sorcerers excepted).

-- Nifft

PS: Don't forget to take the Wizard's spellbook! Oh, she never took the feat Spell Mastrey? Poor thing!

 

[Cloudgatherer]

Unless the orcs have a reason to be "nice" (fear of retribution), then the PCs should be done for.

I've only done one "capture" scenario. The goal of the attackers was to capture the PCs. The party, on an average day, could have easily wiped the floor with their attackers. However, the attack was planned, and the party even had a bit of warning. One player remarked, "Who are these heavily armed woodcutters?" (that was their cover).

The end result, roughly half the party was captured. The captured PCs were enslaved (dominate magic) and worked for the bad guy for a while, the other PCs worked to find their missing comrades, made for some interesting RPing. I "fast forwarded" time to the point of rescuing the captured party members, in order to get everyone back in the game early the next session.