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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DrunkonDuty" data-source="post: 5109117" data-attributes="member: 54364">The following is just me throwing out ideas as they come to me, so please forgive the unstructured nature of it. How's about all sides in the conflict of Good vs. Evil are inimical to mortals. To them mortals are just pawns in their conflict.  Actually use the PCs as pawns of some Angel. To start with they get help and advice from their Angelic mentor but at a later date, when they have come to trust and rely upon the angel, they get sent on a suicide mission. Either they are to be used as a distraction or maybe they have become a liability and need to be removed from play. Of course they have to survive, but maybe a friendly NPC or 2 bites the big one on the mission. Have a few of the Angels and Devils actually feel pity for the mortals and give the PCs some help and hints as to true the nature of the conflict. These could be the ones who let the PCs know they were set up. When the PCs confront their former mentor he dismisses them and their concerns. The PCs can then either approach, or be approached, by someone from the other side. Would be really good if it was someone they'd already been in conflict with. Lets the paranoia build as they wait for the inevitable betrayal. Or set up the inevitable betrayal. In the end the PCs have to decide whether to take sides or to reject the lot of them and try to lead people away from this reliance on otherworldy beings, who only have their own agenda in mind in any case. A good old humanist plot twist to the usual high fantasy Angels v Devils thing. Maybe make the Good vs Evil thing more of a Cold War rather than a Shooting War. This would allow particularly gung-ho PCs to over step the mark and become the liabilities that need to be removed. In terms of ending the conflict there needs to be some way that a handful of mere mortals can fight the Hordes of Heaven and Hell to a standstill. I would suggest, rather than finding some uber-artifact, they are given the chance to get Heaven and Hell into a stand up fight for a little Mutual Assured Destruction.  A question that has just come to me is, how important is the Earth in this conflict? Is it central? The site of future Aramageddon? Or is it merely one of  millions of tiny little fly specks in the grand, multiverse spanning conflict?  If it is a mere backwater then the PCs could get their neutrality by getting something over the local Angelic and Devilish commanders. Maybe they are/were lovers or in cahoots in some other, less biological, fashion. Victory through blackmail. If it's central then I'd go with the MAD suggestion above. My answer has focussed mostly on direct confrontation with the Angels and Devils. You mentioned the Church. Obviously you want that to come into play.  Obviously the church is the face of the the Angelic organisation. They are the people the PCs liase with in the beginning, before coming to the attention of the Angelic Mentor. The Church would be the ones who are first sent to eliminate the PCs after they go rogue. Plus you have the opportuntiy to play up all those debauched churchman cliches. Fun! How proactive are your players? The more they are the better I'm thinking otherwise they may never become the third party of the conflict. You may need to give them a humanist faction already in existence. Mmm, who would jointhis faction. Idealists and those who want to be rid of the Angels etc. But maybe some of them are so disillusioned by it all you get a strain of nihilists and outright lunatics who want to destroy the world since 'there's no reason for anything anymore.' cheers, hope there's some food for thought here.</blockquote>

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