a residential problem

[arscott]

I think that really depends on the nature of that slavery. Slavery as practiced by many ancient cultures was much less horiffic than the more recent enlavement of africans in the Americas. Thralldom and Serfdom were both forms of slavery, and the ancient greeks used slaves as police and beaurocrats.

 

[Turanil]

Well... Now I am going out of thread, but...

Depriving someone of his liberty for another person's benefit IS evil. The fact that so many cultures have been used to slavery over the ages only indicates that a majority of humans are evil since the dawn of times.

Now I agree that good/evil are simple concepts that apply well to fiction but are somewhat irrelevant to real life. Neurotic / psychotic, etc. would probably apply better. After having read many books about psychology I can only come to the conclusion that whoever performs what can be described as "evil acts" suffers from some sort of psychological disorder. Note by the way that I am NOT saying that this could be an excuse for their behavior.

Mmmmh... I think there is here the basis for a long and firy argument about something that does not belong specifically to the thread. Okay, say what you want, but I keep to my idea (slavery is evil) and won't respond to the subject anymore.

Turanil the Holy Liberator (DotF)

 

[StalkingBlue]

In the not too distant future, my PCs will be returning to their home town, and when they do the sorceress is going to discover that her daddy has arranged a marriage for her. Which, of course, she will not be thrilled with.

You already know that? How? That's for the player to decide, isn't it? What if the player decides the PC wants to marry this guy, or doesn't rewally care either way? As long as she's not attached to anyone else yet, she might care little whether a husband is waiting for her at home while she's away adventuring.

The father's plan is that the daughter marry into the nobility, with his money (he's a wealthy merchant) as the bait. And, of course, his beautiful daughter as the prize.

Doesn't make sense to me yet. Why does the father want to marry her off? He has to gain some advantage out of it or it's sorta pointless.

What I need are ideas for what he might do to/with her to force her to marry, and plot twists that could be thrown in to make things more amusing.

There are some strict boundaries I have to adhere to here:
1) the party are about 9th level at this point, and consist of a sorceress, a fighter, a druid and a rogue

2) any open display of magic by ANYONE will rapidly bring powerful anti-magic forces down on them to throw them into prison

Is this a large town with powerful clerics in it? Otherwise anti-magic forces wouldn't necessarily be promptly available, would they?

3) the PCs really don't want to kill the father; he's not evil (well, probably not... he is a slave trader).

Well, what the PCs want to do is the player's business to decide, isn't it?

Some things that could be fun:
1) the sorceress has a younger brother who may be around somewhere. He's 15, a real young punk.

2) the sorceress' mother is not around, and in fact although the party doesn't know it yet, is missing. There could easily be a stepmother or reasonable facsimile recently introduced into the picture.

3) the father has connections to a branch of the local smuggler's guild which the PCs also have connections with, but the local theives' guild hates the party rogue.

Any good ideas?

I still don't get the plot. Where's the motivation for the father? Where's that motivation for the daughter? Where's the conflict, where's the challenge? How is this going to make a DnD scenario?

Maybe Dad's being blackmailed or close to insolvency, so he has to marry off his *beuatiful but now penniless* daughter? (Might motivate the PC to go along with marriage plan, or might instigate PCs to track down and eleminate blackmailer, etc.)

Maybe daughter has secretely married someone else, would love to act Daddy's Girl but has a tad of a problem with her father's latest wish?

Maybe think more about what you want the challenge to be, what would constitute success/failure for the PCs. Consider what sort of stuff the players like to play - if they are keen on combat, the idea might fall sorta flat with them. If they like to employ magic, why curtail their use of it? If the whole world is magic-hostile, it might be a good idea to let them use magic without penalty at least on a PC's home turf when her own personal destiny is at stake.

Just some thoughts.

 

[GreyShadow]

I still don't get the plot. Where's the motivation for the father? Where's that motivation for the daughter? Where's the conflict, where's the challenge? How is this going to make a DnD scenario?

I think the father's motivation is that he's improving his families station by having his daughter marry into nobility.