Desperate odds, equalizers, and leaving LotR behind

[Psion]

Fair enough. I guess in your original post, you made it sound as if your party is typically matched against enemies who they equal in approximate strength. In my campaign, the party is most definitely matched against enemies they are no match for whatsoever -- 5th-level players against deities, for example.
They don't have any secret weapons or dingi to handle the situation -- they just try and manipulate circumstances

Well, you made it sound like they where on equal footing. But I am sort of NOT looking for dinguses. I am looking for "other equalizers", which could include "manipulating circumstances" as you put it.

 

[Psion]

3.) Over-extension - ("You fell victim to one of the classic blunders! The most famous is 'never fight a land war in Asia'...")
This one is a little harder and requires more patience. It requires annoying or threatening the enemy long enough to cause him to over-extend his forces, then crushing those forces - or letting nature do it - before he can retreat to a position of strength.

Hmmmm... this reminds me of one of my favorite comic book series of all time. Darkseid, a powerful evil force in DC Comics, takes on the Legion of Superheroes. He basically mentally enslaves the whole daxan planet, i.e., a world full of superman class beings.

The LSH confronts them, but they are pretty much hopelessly outclassed. However, they tussle with him long enough and tax enough of his power that the Daxans slip from his mental control and turn against him, which pretty much ends his bid for power.

 

[barsoomcore]

But I am sort of NOT looking for dinguses.

Of course, the plural of "dingus" is "dingi".

 

[Jeremy Ackerman-Yost]

This has a lot of appeal to me. Sort of a divide and conquer. The villain relies on his henchmen to do a lot of his dirty work, but doesn't entrust (or cannot entrust) his minions with enough power to stop the PCs when he is not around. A quick distraction could dismantle his plans, though if the villain is truly staggering in power, this may not be sufficient to permanently deal with him. Hmmm.

They buy some time. Maybe the villain has multiple independent sources of power, and the Pcs just snag one of them. They acquire his stronghold, which has a near unbeatable defensive capability. Now you're set up for a seige where the BBG tries every clever and crafty trick in the book to beat his own defenses while the PCs have to counter him (while learning the capabilites of the stronghold and dealing with the complications of a seige). Or they could go the "Fantastic 4 vs. Galactus" route and snag the Ultimate Nullifier. They may not know how to use it, but the BBG probably doesn't want to risk it. After all, if they accidentally blow up the continent, it won't leave him a lot to conquer.

 

[hong]

Of course, the plural of "dingus" is "dingi".

Oi! Stop stealing my schtick!

And in FACT, the plural of dingus is dingae. Sheesh!

 

[Jack Haggerty]

Entry Word: dingus
Function: noun
Text: Synonyms doodad, dofunny, doohickey, gadget, gizmo, ||hootenanny, jigger, thingum, thingumajig, thingumbob

Another idea is to take the "Boromir scenario" to completion...

For example, what if Boromir (a good guy) managed to successfuly take the Ring from Frodo? He begins by using the Ring for "good" purposes, destroying Sauron and his armies, but then begins to unwittingly take his place as a new Dark Lord. Now his former friends must stop him.

 

[dr jekyll]

I kinda like the Thomas Covenant option.

There's nothing *here* that can oppose the Main Evil, so you have to summon your dingus from outside. Make it a hairy, scary, nigh-impossible job just to summon the dingus. And then you get Thomas Covenant (ref: Stephen R. Donaldson), who's nearly mad, can't use the dingus, and can't afford to believe in the party's existance. Or maybe he needs a steady diet of S'mores or he fades back to whence he came.

dr jekyll

 

[Ralts Bloodthorne]

Here's one nobody usually thinks of.....

Now, in some worlds, Good holds the upper hand (Like FR, let's be real, good does still hold the upper hand) and believes it always will.
Think of the Jedi Council from Star Wars

Now, let's keep using FR as an example.

The PC's start rumbling with orcs, but unlike most orcs, these guys are trained in modern gear and tactics. Backed up by goblin archers and kobold sorcerer's.
When everyone hears about it from the PC's, they are laughed at.
More and more creepy, wierdo, militant and well-organized thingies and boojums are fought by the party.
Wehn they get back to town, they still here: "Sure, sure buddy. Squad of platemail wearing, halbred wielding orcs, flanked by goblin calvary on worgs, and supported by blue goblins and kobold sorcerers? They are the ones that took over that keep? Yah, right, that keeps always been a little too close to Zhentil keep, more than likely the Banites snapped it up."
More powerful things, still working with deadly tactics....
"Undead special forces backed by wraith strike teams and banedead artillery? Sure, sure, the drow are the ones attacking elvish forces."

Now, let's really get them in a jam. They finally meet up with the Man-Behind-The-Scenes TM and it is none other than King Azoun himself, returned from the grave as a Death Knight, and furious about what "Those puling weaklings have done to my country!"

Now, not only does everyone ridicule them, but some people are willing to lynch them for bad-mouthing King Azoun (Gods rest his weary soul) and talking bad about the Royal Family.

Great, so the good guys think they are liars, evil groups are seeing if they want to join, and everyone is laughing at them while they are desperately dodging Undead Fire Knives that His Fearsomess, King Azoun is sending after them.

They only have one foe, but once they kill him, they may be in more trouble than they would believe.
"They stole desecrated King Azoun's body! HANG THEM!"