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<blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 7617699" data-attributes="member: 29398"><p><strong>10. Slow-Motion Overthrow:</strong> Some halfway-powerful individual (a Mage, when I used this one) wants to overthrow the King and take his throne. The villain is patient and is running this as a 5-10 year operation; he also realizes the biggest threat to his plans will be mid-to-high level adventurers. But, he also knows that if he can kill off or drive away all the local low-level adventurers now they won't grow up to be high-level ones later, so he sets it up thusly: a famous adventuring company* - a company with the sort of reputation that absolutely anyone would give their right eye to join - is holding a recruitment drive for new members. All who are interested must appear in the main town hall at [date and time x]. So all the low-level types show up (including the PCs)...but villain doesn't just kill them there; he (through a hired actor) divides them up into adventuring parties and sends them out on "trial adventures" - which are actually almost total suicide runs. The PCs all get sorted into the same group, and their mission doesn't turn out to be quite as hard as planned (in other words, it's a typical 1st-level run). They get back to town and the company has vanished...and so have all the other adventurers from the meeting. Now things can start in earnest - the PCs could try to track down some other groups, or track down the company, etc., and much later oculd end up defending the King.</p><p></p><p>* - this company is ideally one the villain (but not everyone else) knows to have either been wiped out or to have left these parts for good.</p><p></p><p>Sample villains: An ambitious Mage; key underlings being a solid Fighter/actor (who plays the role of an experienced Company member); a Thief or two (these act as spies and crap-disturbers); and a crowd-pleasing Bard who subtly turns public opinion against the King as time goes on.</p><p>Motivation: power; or greed (the royal treasury is full o' gold, don't'cha know); or just the sheer hell of it.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Lanefan, post: 7617699, member: 29398"] [B]10. Slow-Motion Overthrow:[/B] Some halfway-powerful individual (a Mage, when I used this one) wants to overthrow the King and take his throne. The villain is patient and is running this as a 5-10 year operation; he also realizes the biggest threat to his plans will be mid-to-high level adventurers. But, he also knows that if he can kill off or drive away all the local low-level adventurers now they won't grow up to be high-level ones later, so he sets it up thusly: a famous adventuring company* - a company with the sort of reputation that absolutely anyone would give their right eye to join - is holding a recruitment drive for new members. All who are interested must appear in the main town hall at [date and time x]. So all the low-level types show up (including the PCs)...but villain doesn't just kill them there; he (through a hired actor) divides them up into adventuring parties and sends them out on "trial adventures" - which are actually almost total suicide runs. The PCs all get sorted into the same group, and their mission doesn't turn out to be quite as hard as planned (in other words, it's a typical 1st-level run). They get back to town and the company has vanished...and so have all the other adventurers from the meeting. Now things can start in earnest - the PCs could try to track down some other groups, or track down the company, etc., and much later oculd end up defending the King. * - this company is ideally one the villain (but not everyone else) knows to have either been wiped out or to have left these parts for good. Sample villains: An ambitious Mage; key underlings being a solid Fighter/actor (who plays the role of an experienced Company member); a Thief or two (these act as spies and crap-disturbers); and a crowd-pleasing Bard who subtly turns public opinion against the King as time goes on. Motivation: power; or greed (the royal treasury is full o' gold, don't'cha know); or just the sheer hell of it. [/QUOTE]
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