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ShortQuests -- individual adventure modules! An all-new collection of digest-sized D&D adventures designed to plug in to your game.

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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Olaf the Stout" data-source="post: 3927364" data-attributes="member: 13703">I've noticed in the group that I DM that I have a tendency to be a little mean with my NPC's.  By that I mean that my NPC's (of both good and evil alignment) are often uncooperative and clash with the PC's.I think a lot of this stems from the fact that one of the PC's (Barbarian/Rogue) in the group has "a might makes right" attitude.  He doesn't care at all for authority and often tries to threaten and/or intimidate people to get them to do what he wants.Let me be clear in saying that it is definitely the PC that has this attitude.  The player of the particular PC also plays a much more diplomatic Sorcerer in the same campaign so it isn't the player with this attitute, it is just the personality of the Barbarian/Rogue.To give an example, the party at the moment is trying to solve a series of murders in a town.  They found the location of the local Theive's Guild and busted in.  The dealt with the intial guards, leaving one of the them alive for questioning.  The Barbarian/Rogue then threatens to kill him unless he tell the party everything he knows.  In this situation the Rogue is stuck between a rock and a hard place.  He obviously doesn't want to die, but at the same time, if he spills the beans the Thieve's Guild will probably track him down and kill him (or worse) anyway.In this situation the thief lied and said that he didn't know much as he was relatively new, telling them a few minor details about the place.  The party failed to see through his lies but were disappointed that a lot of the bad guys they came across seemed to not know much.  My other option would have been for the thief to beg for mercy and tell the party everything he knew.  That works sometimes but I don't think I'd want to do that everytime the party threatens someone.To give example of the PC's dealing with good NPC's, the party was hired to protect the daughter of a merchant by acting as decoys.  The merchant had discoverd that a assassin has been hired to kill his daughter.  The merchant wanted the PC's to perform the decoy role a certain way but the Barbarian/Rogue wanted things done his way.  The NPC's logic was that it was his daughter's life on the line so the party should follow his plan.  The Barbarian/Rogue's opinion was that the party were the ones that were putting themselves in danger for him so they should be able to do things however they wanted to.I find that often the PC's end up getting into an arguement with good NPC's because I have decided their goals and motivations beforehand.  Often they don't "need" the PC's and only the PC's.  They could get another group of adventurers to fill the role so they won't bow to all their demands.  The party on the other hand wants to dictate terms.So what am I doing wrong?  How to I turn things around and stop the party disliking and getting confrontational with a lot of the NPC's they come across?  And how do I do it without letting the party simply dominate and ride over the top of all the NPC's?Olaf the Stout</blockquote>

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