A paranoid peasant revolutionary

[filibuster]

Hi,

I'm DMing a game at the moment and the players are going to be visiting a city soon that has an oppressive slaver government. The poor in the town are under constant threat of slavery and are generally persecuted. Amongst all that a ground roots revolution is starting and the players will meet the leader. The thing is he wouldn't trust them, right? So he needs a testing task, but I'm having a brain dead moment - it needs to be a task that illustrates their goodwill, but without revealing to them that he is the leader of a revolutionary force...

 

[ajanders]

Try a negative test: ask them to do something legal they should be morally opposed to.

For example, ask the party to track down some runaway slaves: if they bring them back, it points out the flaws in your operational security. If they refuse the job and call you a contemptible trafficker in human misery, you know they're on your side.

Offer them a perfectly neutral task, or even one that benefits the existing social order. Reward them with a slave. If they manumit them, you can trust them.

Ask them to capture some slaves for you: if they refuse, that's a good sign.

 

[Psychotic Jim]

A bit late, but to add to build upon the previous suggestion, after he has tested their motives, the peasant leader might want to test their competence. A bungling ally is not much better off than a traitorous one. Perhaps instead of just one test, the leader could sent them on a number of them, starting with quests that generally benefit the common man without challenging the establishment (like eliminating some monster that prays only on peasants, for example). Then gradually ease them into more subversive and subtle missions. In a since, these tests are not just simply trust builders, rather they are also "training" the party as they go along.

 

[buddhafrog]

Under what situation and for what reason are they meeting the leader? That might help understand the relationship better and thus what tests might be given.... but I like your idea a lot. My PC's are headed towards their BBEG, but if they fail, they will retreat into a city with a similar situation as the one you mentioned.

 

[LostSoul]

This is late as well - I was thinking, get the PCs to do something that will tie their infamy to the NPC's. In the last episode of How to Make it in America, there's a situation like that. "If I go down, you will too."

If the PCs want the trust of the NPC, they will have to do something that will make them enemies of the guys in power. That way they can't snitch, because they've done something horrible, and the other guys have the dirt on them.

 

[filibuster]

not too late

Thanks guys,

Your suggestions have not been too late - we only play infrequently and I've been planning ahead of where they're actually playing. I've incorporated all those suggestions into the planning:

The PCs are initially refused entry into the tavern the leader is holing up in - "rich folk like you don't belong in a place like this," etc...

They will be asked to find a runaway slave (-ve test) which, if accepted, will result in an ambush by the peasants.

They will then be asked to clear a sewer - he wants to move some of the population underground out of the watching eyes of the slavers.

Then he will finally ask them to burn down a guard house after which he will trust their intentions.