Help me capture my PCs

[Zaruthustran]

"Okay guys, in order for the plot to work your characters have to be captured. Can anyone think how that might've happened? [Ideas from PCs] Great, some time later you all wake up in prison."

This is a terrific solution. If the meat of your adventure begins *after* the capture, and you absolutely need for the capture to happen, then just be upfront with the players and make it so.

Really, the contrivance of having the game start in a prison cell is no different from having the game start in a tavern. The game-the puzzles, obstacles, combats, and decision-making--is what's important. Not the setup.

I once started a game with a crazy situation. I said "Okay, the game begins with your characters in the Thieve's Quarter. Bob, your character is panting. Paul, your character has his sword out, and it's covered in blood. Mark, your character is on fire. Josh, your character is sprawled over a dead body. Okay, how did you all come to find yourself in this situation, and what do you do next?"

They worked together to supply the details, and I ran with that. I didn't expect Bob to say that his character was panting because he'd just been polymorphed into a dog, but hey--whatever.

Point is, you can and should trust your players to go with the direction of the game. If you must railroad your players for the sake of the plot/providing them with a good story, then don't even try to fake them out. Just be upfront, ask them to trust you that it'll be awesome, and then holler "all aboard!"

-z

 

[Capellan]

Nothing annoys players more than having their PCs captured. Expect resentment from your players!

PirateCat is wise. Never force the PCs into being captured.

Have the town guards find the dagger and come to the PCs to bring them in for questioning. Have the guards be courteous about it: they know the PCs rep and don't want a fight if they can avoid it. They also know that it's quite possible to steal someone's dagger.

If the PCs decide to fight or run, let them. They'll be assumed to be guilty and be hunted appropriately while they try to find out whodunnit. If they agree to come along quietly and assist enquiries, then you can move on to the "trying to persuade the authorities we didn't do it and to let us help find the real killer" part of the adventure.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

Nothing annoys players more than having their PCs captured.

I was going to agree with you until I remembered the time where we were forced into an adventure where we woke up in completely different bodies. That annoyed me more than being captured, because at least when I was captured I could use my own character and his abilities to find a way out.

Expect resentment from your players!

That I will agree with.

 

[Delta]

Nothing annoys players more than having their PCs captured. Expect resentment from your players!

QFT. And fierce, ferocious, unrelenting resistance from their characters at all costs. Many would rather die than be captured and be left unable to act under their own will.

Highly reccomend against it. If you simply must, must, must do this in your game, then rip it off like a band-aid by deus ex machina. They wake up one day already captured and now they're challenged with how to escape. Players will still resent it, but at least the gameplay plotting at that point is not actively resisting their efforts.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Are Detect Lies, Speak With Dead, and such-like spells part of the legal process? Even more importantly, do the players know if they are or not? If the answer to both questions is 'yes', then they shouldn't have any problem surrendering to the authorities unless they are really paranoid. If the answer to either is 'no', good luck!

 

[rgard]

The plot seems a bit contrived to me, I'd just let them escape then do a hunted-for-a-crime-they-didn't-commit bit a la The Fugitive.

If the PCs have to be captured to make the plot work my favourite method is to say this:

"Okay guys, in order for the plot to work your characters have to be captured. Can anyone think how that might've happened? [Ideas from PCs] Great, some time later you all wake up in prison."

Ditto to all the above.

 

[awayfarer]

I'm curious, why does this situation have to happen?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Contrived, and probably won't work. Who cares if the PCs can't escape? They can incapacitate the guards, possibly even without killing them.

Most guards should be lower level than the PCs, and I don't think it makes sense that the "Elite Red Badge" unit (or whatever high level guards call themselves) would show up that quickly.

In a game with mind-reading magic, the plot wouldn't stand up long anyway.

In any event, if the PCs somehow end up in jail, there will be massive resentment, which will last beyond the end of the session. I don't think that's worth it.

 

[EP]

This sort of thing is right up alley (so to speak). As a Police Officer, I can tell you that proof is the hardest thing to come by while evidence is always plentiful. Also, evidence doesn't lie. What you want to plant is solid and near damning evidence that the PCs were responsible. Usually, suspicion begins from what witnesses see as the behaviour of the suspect before the crime was commited. So, in your example, if an argument or open hostility between this guest and the PCs is obvious, the suspicion of their involvement will grow.

Also, a dagger in the victim's head is good evidence but it doesn't mean that one of them is the murderer. If you can get a PC to go into that guest's room for whatever reason before the crime is committed, then someone may have witnessed entering or leaving the room, that would also raise suspicioin (especially if the dagger belonged to that PC).

And never underestimate the power of a good forgery in one of the PCs handwriting being placed at the scene as strong evidence of their involvement.

Then again, there's nothing to say that a beggar was paid to tell the city guards that they saw one of the PCs run out of the place with a bloody dagger in hand after hearing screams from inside.

Just because a city may have access to magic doesn't mean they're "modern" and keen on forensics or a fantasy equivalent to them. It's probably safe to say that if someone tells the cops "they did it," then the arrest is as good as gold.

Do you have to capture ALL of the PCs? What are the odds you can get at least one while the others escape through dimension door? Then the rest will come back to rescue him.

 

[EP]

In any event, if the PCs somehow end up in jail, there will be massive resentment, which will last beyond the end of the session. I don't think that's worth it.

It all depends on how it gets done. If you can capture them by actually twarting them, then they'll know it's their own fault. One of my PCs is being held prisoner right now and I got him through months of planning and trickery. Included an NPC in the party (who was a pit fiend in disguise) and he mingled and blended in to the point that the party would normally trust him. When a big fight broke out with the fiend's allies, the PC didn't seem to stop and think about why his new buddy suddenly grabbed hold of him in a bear hug before the pit fiend used a modified teleport spell to whisk him away. Now the adventure hinges on finding him and breaking him out.

Mind you, that kind of plan doesn't help with this thread right now, does it?