Am I mean?

[Hussar]

Myke17 - whoa, whoa, whoa.

Storyline? A+. Sounds like fun. You got a map, you got court intrigue, you got the makings of some interesting stuff.

But WAY too heavy handed. Your players will not thank you for this. They will resent being forced into a lockstep railroad, and, if my experience is any judge, they will do everything in their power to kill the captain of the guard and screw him over. Possibly in that order.

You have to make them WANT to help the captain eliminate the Duke. Give them the reins and let them decide what direction they want to take this in. Maybe they'll take the simple route and help the captain. Maybe they'll want to help the Duke. Maybe they sell out the captain to the Duke for a better deal. Maybe they say screw it and find a fast horse out of town.

But, the best thing you can do for new players is to let them make the big decisions.

 

[Cor_Malek]

In that case - having them beaten could sabotage the plotline. How would you justify the captain breaking a deal with them if they would cripple or kill one of the guards (one stray crit hit)?
You might even let them win a combat and be arrested: ie have them attacked by some aggressive drunks, maybe robbers with CR slightly below average. As the PC's are wrapping it all up - the guard pops in and decide to arrest everyone and sort it out later, the guardsmen could even be sympathetic toward PC's, recognizing some of the opponents as robbers. And then... captain informs them they are charged with 3 counts of murder (the attackers died from wounds), and illegal fight in public, and then breaks a deal.

Or, they could just face a line of crossbowmen, that would work too

 

[Mesh Hong]

But it is very critical that they get arrested.

Certainly questionned, but not necessarily arrested. Please consider the possibility that they will want to cooperate with the authorities.

In the plot they come across a shakey looking elf that hands them a treasure map.

Good stuff here, this is a classic plot hook.

This map happened to be stolen from the Queen.

OK, the PCs have no way of knowing this I assume. Again, its a good twist.

They are then arrested and the captian of the gaurd makes a deal with them to eliminate a Duke who has been causing trouble latley in exchange for the map, which will lead to their next campain.

Whoah there! You are taking quite a few liberties with the illusion of free will there.

Even if the PCs are arrested why would they want to get involved with an assassination plot of a notable noble? That is a dubious endeavor at best. Surely the fact that the Captain of the Guard is prepared to give them back the illegal property that was stolen from the queen and was the reason for their arrest in the first place is grounds enough to not want anything to do with him. Maybe the group will decide to try and expose the Guard Captain, after all he is trying to organise a murder and that has got to be against the law!

You seem to think that your PCs will be of dubious moral fibre and will be prepared to kill to further their own ends. Are these people heroes?

Maybe this is the type of game your players want, but unless you know this for certain I think that you are thinking far too narrowly and making blanket false assumptions without actually considering any other more noble reactions.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Damn dude, that's harsh. Are you guys going to play a little bit of D&D before you have your friends arrested and beaten? Or are they going to show up at your house with their dice & character sheets and the cops will already be waiting for them?

Ha! Serves them right for delving into the occult. Jack Chick would be proud.

 

[Dausuul]

Okay, I'm gonna be blunt here.

Deliberately planning to curbstomp and capture your PCs, with no way for them to avoid or anticipate it and in response to no action of theirs, is classic railroading and very bad form. Doing it at the start of a campaign is a horrible way to lead off. And doing it to a bunch of newbies at the start of a campaign is... well, frankly, it's the sort of thing that helps keep our hobby from growing like it should. I doubt any of them will walk out right there (more experienced players might, depending on how blatant you were about the railroad), but it'll certainly put a bad taste in everyone's mouth and you'll have to work that much harder to wash it out.

If the PCs do something dumb that results in them getting arrested, like making death threats to the king in his own throne room, them's the breaks. In the scenario you describe, however, they should have a chance to respond--whether that response be agreeing to make the deal, or revealing the captain's perfidy to the king, or trying to kill the captain, or just running like hell into the wilderness.

If you absolutely must start the PCs off in prison, then I agree with what others have said--make it clear beforehand that the PCs are going to start off in prison and don't even bother playing out their capture.

 

[nnms]

Ok, I may not have them beaten. But it is very critical that they get arrested.
In the plot they come across a shakey looking elf that hands them a treasure map. This map happened to be stolen from the Queen. They are then arrested and the captian of the gaurd makes a deal with them to eliminate a Duke who has been causing trouble latley in exchange for the map, which will lead to their next campain.

Sounds like you have their whole lives planned out already.

Might I suggest creating situation rather than plot?

The Alexandrian - Misc Creations

 

[nnms]

If you absolutely must start the PCs off in prison, then I agree with what others have said--make it clear beforehand that the PCs are going to start off in prison and don't even bother playing out their capture.

The only reason them starting in prison is "critical" is to take away their choice so they have no real option but to accept the deal. It's a terrible way to go. A major selling point of RPGs is that it's like a story but *you* get to decide what your character does.

Taking that away from players is bad enough. Taking it away for their first experience? Awful.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Better to just 15 die fireball their characters as soon the game starts.

It's the only way to be sure.

 

[Pbartender]

I'd do it one of two ways...

The first is the ever popular mistaken identity schtick:

The PCs are all hanging out in a tavern, when a shaky looking elf rushes up to them out of nowhere. Before the shoked characters can do much of anything, he presses a crumpled wad of parchment into their hands and says, "Ah! There you are! You weren't at the rendevous and I've been looking for you everywhere. Here! Take this! You know where to deliver it... The Queen's Men are hot on my heels. I'll cause a diversion and draw them off for you. Now get going!" And he runs off, stumbling into people as he goes.

Now they have several options... They can go after the treasure themselves. They can turn in the map to the Queen. They can try to track down the guy the elf wants them to deliver it to. Or they can just ignore the whole thing and go back to drinking (in which case, the Queen's Men show up to drag them off for questioning).

The second is to start them off imprisoned straight away. Warn the players ahead of time, "The game will start with all of you imprisoned by the Queen's Men. One of you has come into possession of a treasure map that the Queen wants, but they're not certain who has it."

Again, now the situation is set, and it's up to the PCs to decide what to do... Attempt escape? Rat out your cell mates? Cut a deal with the Queen? Let the players decide.

 

[S'mon]

Yes, it's mean. It's probably a bad idea.

It is fine to do whatever you want to do to the PCs before play begins - this is called premise. Eg I once started the PCs out washed up ashore, minus most gear, after their ship was attacked by pirates.

It is generally not ok to ralroad them into being arrested, beaten, imprisoned etc in the course of play. Fine if the game works out that way, but not fine to have it all prescripted and then play/railroad through it.