D&D 5E Missions and Moral Compass

[Riley37]

A variety of adventures are relaxing in a tavern.

A hooded figure approaches them, asks for their help, and offers a reward.

The adventurers say "but that would be WRONG!" and decline the offer.

Have you ever seen that happen?

How would your table respond, if the hooded quest-giver asked them to recover a Dragon Mask... and was an agent of the Cult of the Dragon?

What if the hooded quest-giver asked them to protect tree-cutters as they entered further into the Quivering Forest, and that meant defeating Seronalla the Whisperer and the elves, pixies, sprites, etc. of the Forest?

What if the hooded quest-giver wanted the PCs to act as "fifth column" support of a Mulmaster army invading Phlan, or vice versa?

 

[iserith]

A variety of adventures are relaxing in a tavern.

A hooded figure approaches them, asks for their help, and offers a reward.

The adventurers say "but that would be WRONG!" and decline the offer.

Have you ever seen that happen?

Yes, but not in many years.

How would your table respond, if the hooded quest-giver asked them to recover a Dragon Mask... and was an agent of the Cult of the Dragon?

What if the hooded quest-giver asked them to protect tree-cutters as they entered further into the Quivering Forest, and that meant defeating Seronalla the Whisperer and the elves, pixies, sprites, etc. of the Forest?

What if the hooded quest-giver wanted the PCs to act as "fifth column" support of a Mulmaster army invading Phlan, or vice versa?

Knowing my regulars, they'd negotiate a deal, get further details that would lead them on an adventure, and then double-cross the quest-giver at some point down the road.

They'd do this because our free time is valuable and they generally seek the fastest route to adventure which often means taking the hooks before them (or pursuing established character goals that involve the entire party and lead to adventure). We don't choose to spend much time having "pitch meetings" when it's time for adventure!

 

[Celtavian]

They would probably find out who the hooded quest giver was.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

LOL!

My players would be like, "Let's see the color o' yer gold, stranger."

 

[Celtavian]

My players have way too many enemies to listen to some hooded quest giver. They might listen at 1st level, after a few levels they would paranoid and have to figure out what the guy was about.

 

[Dausuul]

PCs hanging around in taverns awaiting quest-givers is a narrative convenience - highly implausible when you think about it, but useful if you just want to get the party started on a quest without a lot of lead-in.

As such, I think it is incumbent upon the DM to send a quest-giver with a quest the party will accept, and incumbent upon the party to accept it if it doesn't fly in the face of their ideals. The whole point of "quest-givers in taverns" is to save time. If the PCs don't or can't accept the quest, time is being wasted.

 

[practicalm]

I think my party would be too paranoia to be taking a hooded quest giver at face value. Usually I just let my group hear about any rumors and I've only had two times where I've approached the party with a quest giver like that. 1. When the party was separated and I approached the character mostly likely to be interested in doing the quest being offered. 2. When the party was out looking for specific information and someone showed up with the information they were looking for.

In the first case the rest of the party did not want to do the quest and it's been a slight rift because some of the party felt they were being played (They probably would have been). In the second, the party did a complete vetting of the person (as much as possible) to try to avoid being played. (They were not being played.)

Now that the party is 6-8th level, people will start to approach them and some of those people will not be what they seem. At these higher levels, the party is now a potential political force and there will be people attempting to use them.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

If the hooded figure is approaching the party, because it has heard of their reputation, then it would already know that they are unlikely to accept.

If the party is new, and this is their first chance to distinguish themselves within the world, then the absolute minimum amount of meta-gaming required for the game to exist is that everyone decide to play a character which will accept this offer.

 

[Sunseeker]

This is why I like to provide lots of quest hooks, because sometimes the "single quest hook that starts off an epic chain of events!" just isn't that interesting.

So while the party may be kicking at a tavern and are approached by a hooded figure, some other things are true:
There's many other people in the tavern, some of whom are making an effort not to be heard, while others don't care who hears them (each of these is a quest hook which requires the players to engage the NPC, instead of the other way around).
There's a board of "honey-dos" near the entrance, perhaps someone just nailed up a new one, or not.
The barkeep is a trusted figure in town who is known for always being in with someone who needs something done.

 

[Mishihari Lord]

I don't think this has every happened in one of my games. Part of my job as a DM is to come up with adventure that both the PCs and the players will be excited to undertake. Proposing a mission that they emphatically don't want to do would be a pretty spectacular failure on my part.