D&D General Forced Marriage backstory

[Kobold Stew]

The imposter subbing in is a nice approach. I think it is great you want to work with this story -- really rewarding for the player, esp if it comes as a surprise.

Maybe: The PC is now a wanted criminal, for breach of contract, and their family is in debters' prison. The player has chosen their future, but loved ones are incarcerated because for breach of contract. This leaves open a response that is violent (prison break!), diplomatic (appeal through the courts), social (appeal to the finace's family

This of course can be combined with the suicide or the doppelganger.

 

[Steampunkette]

Imposter/Changeling is a nice option... ESPECIALLY if the Changeling replaced the PC and married the betrothed.

If the character is a woman, maybe introduce things at the tavern with an elf they loosely knew coming up and saying "Are you -sure- you should be drinking that in your delicate condition?" and have the Imposter be (or pretending to be) pregnant with the spouse's child.

If it's a man, have another old friend style elf come over and clap him on the shoulders and congratulate him on getting his wife preggers.

Or just have the elf come over and start reminiscing about fond memories and then slip in some fond memories that the player doesn't have... from time spent with the imposter.

Also fun: Have an old friend or old flame of the PC try to get them into hiding "Before your Vengeful Betrothed" comes in for a drink, to move the social encounter to a smaller, more private, setting with the old friend providing info to the group.

Lots of fun angles that don't require immediately interacting with the spouse and derailing the story utterly.

 

[Princelucianus]

So:

I'm going to use an elf-imposter, used by the family to save face.
Foreshadow if they go to an inn first (a normal thing for many groups) if possible.
Or total shocker if she opens the house she thinks she still owns in Neverwinter, now occupied by the loving couple.

 

[Princelucianus]

Then they decided in Port Llast to return to Luskan.
After that, it somehow became more logical to go to Silverymoon.......

Players

Hope to be able to use in the unforeseeable future!

 

[Benjamin Olson]

They will later learn at the pub, through a bard saying a tragic song, about the sad story of the revenant that haunt the streets around the docks at night, crying the name of his/her beloved.

Whether or not that's appropriate for this particular forced marriage backstory plot, a player caused revenant (of any sort) is a pretty tasty plot element to drop into a campaign.

 

[Bill Zebub]

“Oh, no hard feelings at all! Really, don’t worry. By the way, have you met my husband? This is Brad, he is a Deva. And a hedge fund manager. So…how is that murderhobo thing working out?”

 

[Andrew Anderson]

“Oh, no hard feelings at all! Really, don’t worry. By the way, have you met my husband? This is Brad, he is a Deva. And a hedge fund manager. So…how is that murderhobo thing working out?”

You beat me to the punch. I wish I could love this twice.