Gaining Insight via Companion Characters (Played by PC's)

[weem]

Last night I ran the 11th game of this, my second 4e campaign and it went so well I thought I would share the structure of it here for anyone interested.

Recently I made some Companion Character Sheets and posted them here at EN World, and in last nights game I finally put them to use (more on those in a minute)...

The players left off in the last game sleeping for the night on an airship ("The Side Wind") hovering just above the ground near a trail they had accessed during the day.

This game found them waking up in the middle of the night to discover the crew missing, the ship now hundreds of feet in the air, and hovering above them another airship that had been chasing them the last few days.

The captain of said ship came to theirs and they all talked for a few moments, it was very intense. The conversation had just gotten underway when the PC's asked, "What have you done with the crew" to which he responded, "Oh don't worry about them, they are just fine"...

...at that point, i handed each player a Companion (using the sheets I made) - each representing a crew member and said to them, "meanwhile, on the ship above you" and we began playing out the very dangerous situation the crew was in.

They were able to get the drop on their captors before being put in a cell, and began to work their way up from below decks. After a few encounters (one combat and 2 non) during which they saw some very terrible things, gained various bits of information and stole/sabotaged a few things, I switched back to the PC's on the 'Side Wind' and their conversation with the captain.

There was intense negotiating, some threats exchanged, and as they came close to an arrangement, I cut back to the crew and their attempt to escape the ship above.

The crew (again, played by the players) was able to escape, and via a small (and barely flyable life raft) they were able to head back to the ship below where the PC's were. By the time they got there, the captain had already worked out a deal with the PC's and did not care to take action against the returning "prisoners".

Anyway, it's a very simplified version of events last night, but the point is that it was a game that was very exciting, had everyone engaged and gave the players some insight into something they would not otherwise have. It also allowed for the following...

1) The session was very much 2 events occurring at the same time, one more combat oriented and one more skill challenge based, which is fun - so you got a good mix of both. Also, before we started, I realized that if the dialog with the captain slowed, or the PC's were stumped as to what they wanted to say or ask, I could simply jump back to the crew which could keep the pace moving along quickly, maintaining the suspense. As it was, they were fine so I broke away when it felt right in the dialog, etc - but the option was there.

2) It let the players get a feel for some of these crew members they had been with for the last few days. I had written 3-4 word keywords for their personalities, but told the players to "make them your own based on those" and they dove right in. Those particular crew members now have faces to the PC's. They aren't just names anymore.

3) It gave the players a chance to step outside of their characters and try out something new, beyond the roles they were accustomed to in the campaign.

Anyway, it definitely recommend doing something like this if it sounds like your kind of thing, especially if you haven't already. I have done some stuff similar to this, but not usually within the exact same timeline/location etc.

Any thoughts about this from either a DM or a PC standpoint? For example, as a player, is a game like this appealing to you, or do you prefer the line between your character and NPC's be pretty solid?

 

[Mort_Q]

Very cool idea. Thanks for sharing.

 

[Zinovia]

Your encounter sounds like it was a lot of fun and ran well. I like the idea of giving the players some different character roles to play in order to mix things up a bit.

Later in my War of the Burning Sky game, I plan on running a vignette in which the players are playing bodyguards (not their normal characters) and witness the assassination of a key NPC (which happened before the campaign began). It should provide them insight into the events of that night as well as the personality of the NPC. I also will get to kill them off. I'm concerned that it may be a bit too scripted however - no matter what they do, the NPC has to die. The timeline can't change. It's intended to be more of a roleplaying encounter and a chance to talk to this guy who is now dead, and gather information rather than a combat encounter.

What this lacks compared to your encounter is the chance for the characters to make a meaningful difference in the outcome - although they are clever, and you never can tell what will happen. The NPC must die, the assassins must escape, at least in part. Other than that, I'm leaving things pretty open. Hopefully that's enough scope to make this a worthwhile encounter.

 

[weem]

Very cool idea. Thanks for sharing.

No problem, glad you liked it

Your encounter sounds like it was a lot of fun and ran well.

Yes! It was one of my favorite games DM'd for 4e (top 5).

Later in my War of the Burning Sky game, I plan on running a vignette in which the players are playing bodyguards (not their normal characters) and witness the assassination of a key NPC (which happened before the campaign began). It should provide them insight into the events of that night as well as the personality of the NPC. I also will get to kill them off. I'm concerned that it may be a bit too scripted however - no matter what they do, the NPC has to die. The timeline can't change. It's intended to be more of a roleplaying encounter and a chance to talk to this guy who is now dead, and gather information rather than a combat encounter.

What this lacks compared to your encounter is the chance for the characters to make a meaningful difference in the outcome - although they are clever, and you never can tell what will happen. The NPC must die, the assassins must escape, at least in part. Other than that, I'm leaving things pretty open. Hopefully that's enough scope to make this a worthwhile encounter.

What you could do is that instead of killing them all (the bodyguards played by the players) is stop when there is one player left... maybe backup arrives for them. The assassin would then take off in a flash, leaving the one survivor...

...Then, the PC's could learn at some point that, guess what... there is rumor that a guard survived the attack. This survivor may have recounted the attack to family members or friends... this recounting could contain an identity of the assassin etc. Maybe the tale indicates that the assassin was wounded - slashed in the face. Maybe that matches up with a certain NPC who was later treated after being "attacked by a bear" and slashed in the face etc.

It doesn't really give you a "meaningful difference" in the outcome or anything - this would be planned to occur, etc. But it's just an idea that immediately came to mind - for fun. It may not work with other things you have going on for all I know.

Although (sorry, I'm typing as I think here), you could involve skill checks/challenges to glean said information during the fight, thus putting the potential gathering of info into their hands, which in turn allowed for it to be passed on in the first place. You could even mention towards the end of the fight that it is apparent the assassin is too much for them, giving one or more of them an opportunity to run (after having identified the assassin, etc), again, putting in their hands the chance to let the information survive.