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Message: <blockquote data-quote="S'mon" data-source="post: 4843168" data-attributes="member: 463">The "super bad ass NPCS who turn into total incompetents once they're on the side of the protagonists" is a common meme in adventure fiction, but one that I always try to steer clear of, and I advise other GMs to do the same.   Remember the SWAT team in Die Hard 2?  Did you think that was a cool scene where they all got wiped out in 2 seconds, leaving the hero to save the day?  Not me; it just trashed my Suspension of Disbelief.  Compare with the perfectly plausible equivalent in Die Hard 1 - single corporate security guard ambushed and shot.  Or the realstic, dramatic depiction of the police station massacre in The Terminator - the NPCs were doomed to lose, because they were hugely outmatched and didn't know what they were fighting, but the GM/Director didn't treat them with contempt.  Another good example again by Jim Cameron is his treatment of the Colonial Marines in 'Aliens' - again, they don't know what they're up against, and they are defeated, but they're not treated as disposable minions.If the *mini* boss wipes the floor with the Royal Guard, the King's best warriors, in a battle of their choosing, stop and think for a moment what message that sends the players.  It reduces the RG to the level of cardboard cut-outs, like the Die Hard 2 SWAT team, only there to make the PCs look good.  99% of players will appreciate it far more if the Royal Guard are depicted as just as tough & competent as they ought logically to be.  Then when the PCs eventually surpass them in power, it becomes a genuine achievement.</blockquote>

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