Why is he being hunted?
Lord Zardoz
Explorer
Selected Answers, In Bulk
Happily, I am quite bored right now, so here are 30 possible reasons.
Obvious / Boring / Cliche reasons.
1) A previously defeated foe is seeking revenge.
2) He is the "Chosen One", and is needed for some ritual.
3) He is the last of his bloodline, and his death will fulfill a prophecy.
4) He is in the line of succession for a throne, and does not realize it. Somone lower in the succession wants him dead to assure his own ascendance to the throne.
5) The wife of a vengeful assassin slept with him recently. The assassin wants revenge.
6) There is a bounty on his head due to his actions in a previous adventure.
7) He is a wanted theif.
8) He was wrongfully accused of murder by the man who is actually guilty.
9) They are not after him, they are after the artifact that he unknowingly carries with him.
10) A nursery rhyme his father told him as a child is the pass word to a lost treasure. Since his parents are dead, he is the last living person who can unlock the treasure.
Better reasons that arent so predictible
1) He is the clone of a mad wizard, one of many. And the original person wants him dead.
2) A time traveller from the future has come back in time to kill him to prevent an apocalypse of some sort.
3) He is a living gateway to hell, and someone wants to make sure that gateway is never opened.
4) His existence is a mistake of the gods that must be set right before creation is unmade.
5) He sold his soul to a demon, and was then re-incarnated. The demon is holding him to the original deal.
6) He is wanted for murder. Whats intresting is that he is guilty.
7) The god of Justice (or some other convenient virtue) appeared before someone and demanded that he kill the player to prevent an apocalypse. Actually, it was a god of trickery. The actions of the misled person have been sheilded from the true god of justice, who has no idea that someone is trying to commit murder in his name.
8) As a child, he and his friends used to chant the name of a demon, in a childish game to summon the boogy man. That demon was banished for 100 years. It has returend, and is coming to kill every person that ever chanted his name.
9) One of his ancestors was a demon. Every woman he has ever had physical relations with has become a demon. To prevent the deaths of more women, a group of adventurers are trying to capture him and kill him. Or at least put him in a monastary after he takes a vow of celabacy.
10) He has been cursed. Every villiage he visits has been beset with misfortune. They have blamed him for their troubles, and wish to kill him.
Reasons that just seem amusing right now.
1) He impregnated his sister, and his father is out to kill him.
2) Someone who looks exactly like him sold his soul to a demon. The demon wants his soul due to a case of mistaken identity.
3) The wife of a vengeful assassin told her husband that she slept with the player recently to cover for her real lover. The assassin wants revenge.
4) The player uttered a blasphemous oath while drunk in earshot of an unusually zealous believer, who will see the player answer for his words.
5) He has offended someone, and that person has ordered him captured and brought back into his presence so he can apologize properly.
6) An apsiring assassin was asking a more experienced assassin what he could do to prove himself worthy of joining up. The Assassin picked the first person he could out in a crowd and said "Kill that person, and bring me his head", hoping to get the idiot to leave him alone. The person he pointed to was the player.
7) As a child, the player was a bully, and picked on the scrawny kid. The kid holds grudges quite long.
8) His grandson is trying to prove or disprove once and for all that if you go back in time and kill your grandfather, you will not disappear in a puff of smoke.
9) He is the last in a rare bloodline of people that taste great to dragons. He is to be captured and forced to breed so that a dragon with truly refined taste can enjoy an eternity of good eating.
10) It has been foretold that his child will end the world. So some people trying to save the world are out to cut his balls off, thereby saving the world.
END COMMUNICATION
Happily, I am quite bored right now, so here are 30 possible reasons.
Obvious / Boring / Cliche reasons.
1) A previously defeated foe is seeking revenge.
2) He is the "Chosen One", and is needed for some ritual.
3) He is the last of his bloodline, and his death will fulfill a prophecy.
4) He is in the line of succession for a throne, and does not realize it. Somone lower in the succession wants him dead to assure his own ascendance to the throne.
5) The wife of a vengeful assassin slept with him recently. The assassin wants revenge.
6) There is a bounty on his head due to his actions in a previous adventure.
7) He is a wanted theif.
8) He was wrongfully accused of murder by the man who is actually guilty.
9) They are not after him, they are after the artifact that he unknowingly carries with him.
10) A nursery rhyme his father told him as a child is the pass word to a lost treasure. Since his parents are dead, he is the last living person who can unlock the treasure.
Better reasons that arent so predictible
1) He is the clone of a mad wizard, one of many. And the original person wants him dead.
2) A time traveller from the future has come back in time to kill him to prevent an apocalypse of some sort.
3) He is a living gateway to hell, and someone wants to make sure that gateway is never opened.
4) His existence is a mistake of the gods that must be set right before creation is unmade.
5) He sold his soul to a demon, and was then re-incarnated. The demon is holding him to the original deal.
6) He is wanted for murder. Whats intresting is that he is guilty.
7) The god of Justice (or some other convenient virtue) appeared before someone and demanded that he kill the player to prevent an apocalypse. Actually, it was a god of trickery. The actions of the misled person have been sheilded from the true god of justice, who has no idea that someone is trying to commit murder in his name.
8) As a child, he and his friends used to chant the name of a demon, in a childish game to summon the boogy man. That demon was banished for 100 years. It has returend, and is coming to kill every person that ever chanted his name.
9) One of his ancestors was a demon. Every woman he has ever had physical relations with has become a demon. To prevent the deaths of more women, a group of adventurers are trying to capture him and kill him. Or at least put him in a monastary after he takes a vow of celabacy.
10) He has been cursed. Every villiage he visits has been beset with misfortune. They have blamed him for their troubles, and wish to kill him.
Reasons that just seem amusing right now.
1) He impregnated his sister, and his father is out to kill him.
2) Someone who looks exactly like him sold his soul to a demon. The demon wants his soul due to a case of mistaken identity.
3) The wife of a vengeful assassin told her husband that she slept with the player recently to cover for her real lover. The assassin wants revenge.
4) The player uttered a blasphemous oath while drunk in earshot of an unusually zealous believer, who will see the player answer for his words.
5) He has offended someone, and that person has ordered him captured and brought back into his presence so he can apologize properly.
6) An apsiring assassin was asking a more experienced assassin what he could do to prove himself worthy of joining up. The Assassin picked the first person he could out in a crowd and said "Kill that person, and bring me his head", hoping to get the idiot to leave him alone. The person he pointed to was the player.
7) As a child, the player was a bully, and picked on the scrawny kid. The kid holds grudges quite long.
8) His grandson is trying to prove or disprove once and for all that if you go back in time and kill your grandfather, you will not disappear in a puff of smoke.
9) He is the last in a rare bloodline of people that taste great to dragons. He is to be captured and forced to breed so that a dragon with truly refined taste can enjoy an eternity of good eating.
10) It has been foretold that his child will end the world. So some people trying to save the world are out to cut his balls off, thereby saving the world.
END COMMUNICATION
Land Outcast
Explorer
Thanks guys, pretty good stuff cropped out here, I'm working with all this... (well, almost)
Psychotic Jim
First Post
A variant on the "paranoid and not really being hunted" schtik- somebody is trying "gaslight" the PC- that is, to drive him insane and alienate the character from his/her friends.
He is being hunted as a training exercise:
...He signed a contract to be a "target" to train others in pursuit tactics (non-lethal), was given a head start, and ran. (Plot twist: now has amnesia.)
...A gang/guild decided hunting the PC would make a good training excercise for young members. If he survives long enough, perhaps he becomes the "graduation" target.
...A cult has decided that the PC heralds the arrival of their Chosen One. To be annointed as the Chosen One, a cultist must hunt the PC and steal "X" from/kill him.
...He signed a contract to be a "target" to train others in pursuit tactics (non-lethal), was given a head start, and ran. (Plot twist: now has amnesia.)
...A gang/guild decided hunting the PC would make a good training excercise for young members. If he survives long enough, perhaps he becomes the "graduation" target.
...A cult has decided that the PC heralds the arrival of their Chosen One. To be annointed as the Chosen One, a cultist must hunt the PC and steal "X" from/kill him.
BadMojo
First Post
Lord Zardoz said:
Given the ability to easily magically impersonate anyone, down to the most minute physical detail, the mistaken identity thing isn't so bad an idea.
Sure it might be a bit played out, but it may be interesting if someone stole the PC's identity and comitted some awful act. The authorities, a victim's family, bounty hunters, etc. could be hunting for the poor PC.
You could have it be some grand conspiracy, or just simply a crime of opportunity. Bad guy sees the PC in the wrong place at the wrong time, just some stranger on the street and BAM!, frames him.
Bran Blackbyrd
Explorer
In my campaign one of the characters is being followed so...
The PC is the son of a king. The son has never felt like a part of the family. He has always favored learning to be a musician and historian as opposed to his brothers, who study swordsmanship and similar activities. His father does not approve.
The PC sneaked away and is traveling under an assumed name so that he can live the way he wants to but he's certain that he's being followed. He's a bard class-wise, and earns meals and board as a traveling musician.
In this era in my campaign world demihuman races are almost extinct following a genocide and anyone found to be harboring them would be in deep stuff. The PC's father, the king, has allowed a few large populations of elves to live in the local wilderness unmolested, a kindness that would cost him dearly if it were discovered.
The PC (who thinks his father is a tyrant towards his family and subjects alike) has discovered he is being followed and believes that his father has sent assassins to kill him in order to preserve the family honor and keep him from revealing the family's secrets.
The facts are that the king's power is being eroded by the local barons, who are plotting against him hoping to seize his power. The recent years have been hard for the king, so he has tried to be harder. Fearing that an attempt to overthrow his family's rule was fast approaching, he took every effort to have his sons trained in battle and strategy. The PC resisted much to the king's dismay. When the PC slipped away the king became afraid that not only would his son's disappearance be seen as a weakness in the family, but that the young man would be killed by his enemies.
The possibility that his son would reveal their harboring of elves and bring destruction upon them in the process had occurred to him as well; his son being something of an impetuous, short-sighted and self righteous brat... He has sent some people loyal to him to find the PC but not to kill him, only to collect him and bring him back into the fold before he's killed or causes calamity to befall them.
In short; the PC is a runaway noble who is being followed by the king's agents so they can bring him back to his family.
Alternately, the king's enemies could have discovered the PC's identity and want to capture and either kill him, or pump him for information.
Edit:
Hehe. The funny part is finding out if the party tries to slay the demon (it is evil after all) or if they try to reason with it in order to resolve the matter. It could be the demon doesn't care who pays up, as long as it gets paid; on the other hand the demon, once convinced that it has been tricked, might get angry and agree to let the party off the hook as long as they find the jerk that dared to fool him. No one likes being tricked.
The PC is the son of a king. The son has never felt like a part of the family. He has always favored learning to be a musician and historian as opposed to his brothers, who study swordsmanship and similar activities. His father does not approve.
The PC sneaked away and is traveling under an assumed name so that he can live the way he wants to but he's certain that he's being followed. He's a bard class-wise, and earns meals and board as a traveling musician.
In this era in my campaign world demihuman races are almost extinct following a genocide and anyone found to be harboring them would be in deep stuff. The PC's father, the king, has allowed a few large populations of elves to live in the local wilderness unmolested, a kindness that would cost him dearly if it were discovered.
The PC (who thinks his father is a tyrant towards his family and subjects alike) has discovered he is being followed and believes that his father has sent assassins to kill him in order to preserve the family honor and keep him from revealing the family's secrets.
The facts are that the king's power is being eroded by the local barons, who are plotting against him hoping to seize his power. The recent years have been hard for the king, so he has tried to be harder. Fearing that an attempt to overthrow his family's rule was fast approaching, he took every effort to have his sons trained in battle and strategy. The PC resisted much to the king's dismay. When the PC slipped away the king became afraid that not only would his son's disappearance be seen as a weakness in the family, but that the young man would be killed by his enemies.
The possibility that his son would reveal their harboring of elves and bring destruction upon them in the process had occurred to him as well; his son being something of an impetuous, short-sighted and self righteous brat... He has sent some people loyal to him to find the PC but not to kill him, only to collect him and bring him back into the fold before he's killed or causes calamity to befall them.
In short; the PC is a runaway noble who is being followed by the king's agents so they can bring him back to his family.
Alternately, the king's enemies could have discovered the PC's identity and want to capture and either kill him, or pump him for information.
Edit:
I like that. What if some guy wants a particular thing, and makes a deal with a devil for it but the catch is that he's figured out how to get out of his end of the bargain. He also wants to stick it to the PC (for whatever reason) and disguises himself, through magic, as the PC. Disguised, he makes the deal, then makes a discrete exit leaving the unwitting PC to pay the demon.BadMojo said:
Hehe. The funny part is finding out if the party tries to slay the demon (it is evil after all) or if they try to reason with it in order to resolve the matter. It could be the demon doesn't care who pays up, as long as it gets paid; on the other hand the demon, once convinced that it has been tricked, might get angry and agree to let the party off the hook as long as they find the jerk that dared to fool him. No one likes being tricked.
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I used this hook with some success in a wuxia campaign set in China:
The gods have sent an immortal assassin to hunt the PC because they have forseen that the PC will, at some point in the future, kill one of them.
(Of course, it turned out that it was a trick by an evil god, who convinced the others to issue the "death warrant" on the PC, because he saw that the PC was the only one who could stop his Evil Plan (tm)....in the end, the PC ended up uncovering this, and killed the evil god....thereby fulfilling the supposedly-false prophecy.
The gods have sent an immortal assassin to hunt the PC because they have forseen that the PC will, at some point in the future, kill one of them.
(Of course, it turned out that it was a trick by an evil god, who convinced the others to issue the "death warrant" on the PC, because he saw that the PC was the only one who could stop his Evil Plan (tm)....in the end, the PC ended up uncovering this, and killed the evil god....thereby fulfilling the supposedly-false prophecy.
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