Players: Have You Ever Asked, "Why Don't You Take Care Of It?"

My players asked all the time. I'd be amazed if they didn't.

The answers ranged from:

"Yes, I can hunt down a tribe of bugbears but then I can't negotiate a treaty with the angry dwarves."

"I could do that, or I could spend the next 4 months crafting the Glaive of Beast Slaying that will be needed to take out the Great Beast."

"No problem, I can do it, I just thought you might want to collect the bounty given how you were pining over that Lesser Glaive of Beast Slaying."

"It's going to take weeks to chase down that scoundrel. If I'm gone that long there's a good chance Smaugh will come down off the mountain. Will you handle Smaugh if I go?"

JoeGKushner said:

No, but asking an NPC why HE doesn't go to do it specifically because he's a high powered NPC is.

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No, it isn't.

There's a difference between accepting how the entire setting and world works, and why this one random guy telling you to do crap can't go off and do it himself.

The best solution would be to take the characters at their world and let the NPC try and handle the situation by himself and fail. If the PC's ignore Fate knocking, that is their prerogative, but fate can be persistent. If the NPC fails eventually they are likely going to have to handle the situation anyway, except this time they won't have the option of going to the NPC for help. If they still refuse to help, then they can live in a world where the BBEG wins and they have to deal with the consequences of his nefarious plan.

ProfessorCirno said:

No, it isn't.

There's a difference between accepting how the entire setting and world works, and why this one random guy telling you to do crap can't go off and do it himself.

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Seroiusly, how so.

If you're willing to kick the suspension of disbelif about asking why your patron isn't going out there and doing something himself, why not ask where are the guns, and other benefits of technology?

Why are every other standard, long lived elves who still don't rule the world, long lived dwarves who don't rule the world, etc... okay but you just HAVE to know the one thing?

JoeGKushner said:

Seroiusly, how so.

If you're willing to kick the suspension of disbelif about asking why your patron isn't going out there and doing something himself, why not ask where are the guns, and other benefits of technology?

Why are every other standard, long lived elves who still don't rule the world, long lived dwarves who don't rule the world, etc... okay but you just HAVE to know the one thing?

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I don't wonder about the lack of all sorts of things that perhaps our society could have invented by now but simply haven't been conceived of, but if someone asks me to do something they could do themselves, I'll ask why they want me to do it. Why should someone in a different world be different in that respect?

Amadeus Windfall said:

I don't wonder about the lack of all sorts of things that perhaps our society could have invented by now but simply haven't been conceived of, but if someone asks me to do something they could do themselves, I'll ask why they want me to do it. Why should someone in a different world be different in that respect?

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So if someone is willing to pay you to do something that they themselves could do, you'd ask why they want you to do it?

I take it anyone who answers yes to those questions never goes out to eat dinner and makes everything at home?

I quess I'm just confused as to the motivation of asking "why don't you do it" as opposed to finding out more about the mission and what particulars that the characters would be expected to handle.

In real life, when going for a job interview, do people actually ask that. "Mr. Foreman, you seem of hale health and body. Why do you not dig this ditch?"

Don't minsunderstand, I can appreciate a PC asking details about the quest/questions/clarification and get that all the time. BUt as I've noted, it's never been asked why the NPC doesn't do it. I guess perhaps to me, why wouldn't the NPC simply tell the characters that its essentially none of their business why the NPC isn't doing it.

This might be a bit off topic, but the flipping the argument around I think could be interesting. So the world is clearly in danger and the PC's go to the super powerful mage who believes them.

In a game I'm running the players are about to reach this point. When they get there I plan the mage on telling them "thank you very much. I'll deal with it." and shoo them off without any details. My goal is to push them into action despite the big good guy saying get out of the way. Why is he cutting them out of the picture? In fact, how dare he!

I prefer to create a world where leaders chase after challenges. There are lots to go around, but in many cases various leaders want certain opportunities and will go to great lengths to deny others access to it. As a GM/Story Teller the big risk is what if the players say "cool" and are content to walk off the stage. They are still expecting a game. Just not the one I have spent the last 2 years building up. What do I do? This I believe is where the image of railroading could come in.

To avoid that when we started the campaign the players and I discussed what type of game we wanted. They clearly want, and still want, a "save the world" game. I expect the way we have the plot and motivations laid out there is no way the players will kick back and let someone else save the world. They are the chosen ones and the old guard better understand that.

Do all games need this level of involvement? No. I think a window dressing game where there is a thin plot line can be fun just as having deep involved plots. It can be tough as most groups have people looking for different things. Talking about it openly is what has worked best for me in creating the game we all want.

Finding the character who can beat back the darkness is also a common element of fantasy.

Only the one of prophecy can defeat the darkness, can you find him?

Sometimes turns out to be one of the party members looking.

Instead of a McMuffin it's a McCharacter!

I think that it's a fair question. If I go to a job interview, we both know the situation. I'm asking to exchange my services for money and they're considering whether to accept.

However, a crazy old wizard telling you "you must unite the five stones of plotdevicia before an arbitrary designation of time or all shall be lost" certainly begs a few questions.

If the players are a group of mercenaries who only care about the next pay check, then perhaps it is just a job interview and their only question is "what can you pay?".

However for a group of characters who have some greater stake in things that may not be enough information. A knight of the royal household, the guildmaster of the wizard's order and a high priest may not just go on a quest because they're offered 1000 GP and enough experience to level.

Also, if the world would be safer with this person helping them to save it, why wouldn't the players ask for their help and why wouldn't the NPC agree?

But it's not too hard a question for a GM to answer. There are thousands of potential reasons why some people can't or won't do this quest themselves. It's something I always consider myself when writing an adventure.

Trihelios said:

However for a group of characters who have some greater stake in things that may not be enough information.

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I can agree with this. Has it been anyone's experience in a pregenerated adventure though, that such a scenario is likely or even possible withou the GM doing a lot of addition/subtraction from the adventure?

Trihelios said:

A knight of the royal household, the guildmaster of the wizard's order and a high priest may not just go on a quest because they're offered 1000 GP and enough experience to level.

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Ah, but I guess, and this may be because how I run my own games, it is their 'duty' if the wizrd's guild tells him to go, if the royals tell him to go, if the high priest has a vision. "Hey Tempus, you're powerful enough, why don't you go." That might be a humourous conversation similiar to the one between Cale and Mask in one of the trilogys.

Trihelios said:

Also, if the world would be safer with this person helping them to save it, why wouldn't the players ask for their help and why wouldn't the NPC agree?

But it's not too hard a question for a GM to answer. There are thousands of potential reasons why some people can't or won't do this quest themselves. It's something I always consider myself when writing an adventure.

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I guess in terms of why wouldn't the NPC agree... I always get the feeling that if you volunteered to ask the NPC for help, that indeed, he should help, that the NPC would simply raise an eye, announce that he thought he had found those capable of doing these deeds, leave and find someone else who could do it. Almost like 'reverse' psychology so to speak.