Adventure running: when the PCs skip a step, what to do?

[Ancalagon]

Hello

I'm running an adventure (Gates of Firestorm Peak, exact details not important, but does contain SPOILERS) where the PCs are going through a large underground complex to find a gate to a dangerous plane/dimension. An evil back guy wants to use this gate to do Bad Things [emoji769].

To operate the gate, 3 macguffins (crystal rods) are needed. The Evil Bad Guy has one and gave 2 to underlings for safe keeping. The PCs have acquired one, but they have – through a mixture of luck and caution – kinda skipped a portion of the complex (a maze of caverns) without encountering Big Underling #2. The players have no idea that they have missed this miniboss and the 2nd crystal rod.

So now they will move on, finish the complex and face the Evil Bad Guy and (hopefully) prevail. This will end the immediate threat... but the dandergous gate is still opened, and cannot be closed without the 2nd crystal rod.

At this point, if the players want to find the 2nd rod to close the gate, they will have to backtrack and search the entire complex, which sounds rather anti-climactic to me... but maybe I'm wrong.

So is my gut feeling right (and I should change the adventure to move the 2nd rod forward so that the PCs can still find it) or should I leave it as is?

Thanks!

 

[TerraDave]

I would leave as is, but try to use some expository device to get them to realize they missed it. I sometimes use friendly NPCs that ask lots of questions, both for recapping and exposition purposes. You could also just hint as a DM or do something more heavy handed (the cleric or diviner has a vision).

For backtracking, maybe also hint on an expedited path. It can be interesting to go into something like a dungeon with a fixed goal, and not just exploring around, but maybe there is some way for them to get to the right part more easily.

 

[Bradley Hindman]

Hello

I'm running an adventure (Gates of Firestorm Peak, exact details not important, but does contain SPOILERS) where the PCs are going through a large underground complex to find a gate to a dangerous plane/dimension. An evil back guy wants to use this gate to do Bad Things [emoji769].

To operate the gate, 3 macguffins (crystal rods) are needed. The Evil Bad Guy has one and gave 2 to underlings for safe keeping. The PCs have acquired one, but they have – through a mixture of luck and caution – kinda skipped a portion of the complex (a maze of caverns) without encountering Big Underling #2. The players have no idea that they have missed this miniboss and the 2nd crystal rod.

So now they will move on, finish the complex and face the Evil Bad Guy and (hopefully) prevail. This will end the immediate threat... but the dandergous gate is still opened, and cannot be closed without the 2nd crystal rod.

At this point, if the players want to find the 2nd rod to close the gate, they will have to backtrack and search the entire complex, which sounds rather anti-climactic to me... but maybe I'm wrong.

So is my gut feeling right (and I should change the adventure to move the 2nd rod forward so that the PCs can still find it) or should I leave it as is?

Thanks!

Promote Big Underling #2 to the Next Evil Bad Guy (NEBG) for the next adventure (or perhaps for an adventure down the road). He has the rod and wants the other two so that he can complete his masters purpose. I would have NEBG flee from the current dungeon and start scheming somewhere else.

 

[iserith]

It may be a bit late, but I think in general, you'd want to telegraph that they need the three 3 Macguffins early on and then if they don't get them and defeat the final boss having not fulfilled that aspect of the quest, they get only a partial victory e.g. the agenda of the villain is ended, but the threat of the gate forever remains. Or it kicks off some other chain of events that leads to future adventure. They knew what they had to do and they didn't do it. To undo their error would be a hit to their agency.

If you didn't telegraph it such that the players can't possibly realize their "oversight," then I think [MENTION=22260]TerraDave[/MENTION]'s suggestion is a good one.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[Warmaster Horus]

Any clerics there that can receive a divine vision while they rest? Make it nice and abstract, enough so they know they're missing something and a little about the nature of its' location.

 

[Oofta]

Is there a reason you can't just put the "missed" encounter back in their path? Maybe change some of the fluff?

Or have a helpful NPC tell the party what they missed? Possibly even have a bad guy say "Ha! You will never succeed, you are missing ___".

Running canned mods when they don't go according to plan can take a bit of work. You either railroad (which can be done subtly) but it may be too late. So your best option may be to make it a different challenge.

They try to close the gate and it looks like it's going to work but then things start going sideways. The group now has another challenge that needs to be overcome. Whether that's a single encounter or an entire side quest is up to you. So, for example, the gate is closed but the group is sucked into an alternate dimension and needs to find their way back. Reuse the missed levels as a basis if you want.

 

[Seramus]

The party emerges victorious after defeating the BBEG, and stands there scratching their heads. In walks the other miniboss with a contingent of his guards. “Master? I heard the alarms and came as soon as I c... what is this!?”

 

[Tales and Chronicles]

Tremors. Have them go back in the maze, but the whole place is shaking with stones fall and fissures (maybe tentacles? its always good for the show) appearing everywhere. Run it as a big skill challenge or 13th Age-style Montage. Then they meet the miniboss who's also trying to flee the place. Maybe they fight him to get the last rod, maybe they persuade him to team up to avoid being crushed by the mountain.

 

[Quickleaf]

Hello

I'm running an adventure (Gates of Firestorm Peak, exact details not important, but does contain SPOILERS) where the PCs are going through a large underground complex to find a gate to a dangerous plane/dimension. An evil back guy wants to use this gate to do Bad Things [emoji769].

To operate the gate, 3 macguffins (crystal rods) are needed. The Evil Bad Guy has one and gave 2 to underlings for safe keeping. The PCs have acquired one, but they have – through a mixture of luck and caution – kinda skipped a portion of the complex (a maze of caverns) without encountering Big Underling #2. The players have no idea that they have missed this miniboss and the 2nd crystal rod.

So now they will move on, finish the complex and face the Evil Bad Guy and (hopefully) prevail. This will end the immediate threat... but the dandergous gate is still opened, and cannot be closed without the 2nd crystal rod.

At this point, if the players want to find the 2nd rod to close the gate, they will have to backtrack and search the entire complex, which sounds rather anti-climactic to me... but maybe I'm wrong.

So is my gut feeling right (and I should change the adventure to move the 2nd rod forward so that the PCs can still find it) or should I leave it as is?

Thanks!

IIRC this was a fault of the adventure's design. Leaving "dangling (but essential) clues" scattered without sufficient ways for PCs to discover them was endemic of older edition adventures. Heck, it's still a design flaw I see come up.

It really depends on your group & your guys' gaming style. I mean, if you're running this for old school nostalgia types, just play it where it lies. If they're kick-in-the door types and this is just part of an overall campaign, give them the satisfaction of a boss fight...but then have the gate make further complications in the campaign. If they're story first types and Gates of Firestorm Peak *is* the entire campaign, change the requirements to seal the gate...maybe a living sacrifice can be used instead of each missing crystal?

I can't remember how many NPCs/monsters the PCs can talk to for information in Gates of Firestorm Peak, but if PCs realize they can't close gate then having some "mouthpiece" NPC/monster to relay that info (and possible location of other crystal rods) would be good. A Nothic would be a thematically creepy choice.