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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5435720" data-attributes="member: 82106">I'm pretty much with Dungeoneer on this one. Of course you could consider it a monetary issue. The PCs could resurrect the general, for 5000 gp (500 in heroic tier)! That kind of cash cost will probably motivate them and doesn't threaten your plot. I'd expect the players will think of it as a way out anyway if they fail the SC. As far as fighting vs using an SC to negotiate, I would leave that up to the players. They can just go in fighting and have a stiff fight. They can go in talking and maybe get what they want. If they fail they could STILL decide to fight, but now it is a tough fight vs 5000 gp and there could be other risks involved (like the swamp is behind enemy lines and they might find it hard to limp back home after being mauled by a bunch of mad lizard folk). Maybe if they fight the lizard folk join the enemy. All of these are plot elaborations but don't directly impact the SC itself, which is about negotiating.You do run into a lot of these kinds of choices with SCs. Usually when I run into this kind of problem I try to 'reframe' it. Consider ways that you can either break down an SC into smaller encounters or shrink its scope, or think of ways to broaden its scope so that it includes a larger task. Or consider restructuring some elements of the plot so that the SC becomes more focused or interesting or whatever. It is very true, SCs require a good bit of thought to get well integrated into the narrative so they work well with the story.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 5435720, member: 82106"] I'm pretty much with Dungeoneer on this one. Of course you could consider it a monetary issue. The PCs could resurrect the general, for 5000 gp (500 in heroic tier)! That kind of cash cost will probably motivate them and doesn't threaten your plot. I'd expect the players will think of it as a way out anyway if they fail the SC. As far as fighting vs using an SC to negotiate, I would leave that up to the players. They can just go in fighting and have a stiff fight. They can go in talking and maybe get what they want. If they fail they could STILL decide to fight, but now it is a tough fight vs 5000 gp and there could be other risks involved (like the swamp is behind enemy lines and they might find it hard to limp back home after being mauled by a bunch of mad lizard folk). Maybe if they fight the lizard folk join the enemy. All of these are plot elaborations but don't directly impact the SC itself, which is about negotiating. You do run into a lot of these kinds of choices with SCs. Usually when I run into this kind of problem I try to 'reframe' it. Consider ways that you can either break down an SC into smaller encounters or shrink its scope, or think of ways to broaden its scope so that it includes a larger task. Or consider restructuring some elements of the plot so that the SC becomes more focused or interesting or whatever. It is very true, SCs require a good bit of thought to get well integrated into the narrative so they work well with the story. [/QUOTE]

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