Help needed unlocking my brain!!!

[Davek]

Greetings,

I'm running a game this saturday and am having a bit of a mental block in prep for it. If anyone has any suggestions I would be grateful.

Situation:

approx. 6th level party

1 Ranger/Rogue
1 Fighter (Oriental type)
1 Fighter/Cleric

I have a main encounter already planned out. They intend to get revenge on a bandit group, all 60 or so of them....

I would like to solicit a number of smaller side encounters/puzzles for their inevitable tangents (it always happens). They are currently in heavily wooded foothill type terrain, with only small population centers but relatively cleared of monsters (some do come down from the mountains occasionally).

They have recently been involved on the winning side of a war, and there are bands of defeated enemies roaming around, as well as said bandits.

Thanks to those that have the time and inclination to help out. Please feel free to include as much detail as you like.

 

[Mark]

Have some Dire Wolves chase them at the end of the day when they start to make food at camp.

An Ettin who has been robbed by the bandits in the past might mistake the party for other bandits. (He'd attack them even if he didn't, I suppose. )

A sidetrek/small swamp might hold some useful items collected by a Green Hag.

 

[Angcuru]

a bunch of kobolds sneak up on them while they're sleeping. If they didn't post a guard, they're in for a nasty surprise, and a lesson in common sense for future games.

 

[dave_o]

Detail the bandit stronghold, with traps, pitfalls, and the like - unless they're desperate soliders from a losing war, in which case such organization is unlikely. Though, they are still former soliders, and that entails at least a bit of skill.

Perhaps have the PCs be captured by the bandits, and have to escape. It'd teach them to go in with better odds than 60:3.

 

[Davek]

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

If they choose the frontal assault, or any assault in fact, I think they will be toast. Unless they can initially shock the bandits so severely the bandits just fold. The bandits are mostly just thugs, but there are a number of enemy troops that have rallied around a strong leader, including some formation trained archers (I give a +2 circumstance bonus to hit for archers firing volleys in formation, for every 4 archers).

I am assuming that they have something planned, and the bandits to this point do not know that they are coming. There won't be many traps or pitfalls in the camp, as that isn't something bandits would actively set up. The numbers alone should be enough to put some sense into the PC's (but if not, at least they will have had a chance to think again )

 

[Xeriar]

a bunch of kobolds sneak up on them while they're sleeping. If they didn't post a guard, they're in for a nasty surprise, and a lesson in common sense for future games.

Have you ever played a game where someone didn't post watch? I can't recall any.

Hell, sometimes we post double watch (familiars, elves, extra people...)

 

[Davek]

Thanks to those that made suggestions.

Just an update as to what happened.

I use a variation of the kobolds sneaking up on the party while they were sleeping. I change the encounter to use goblins instead of kobolds. Four goblins were able to sneak up on a the half-orc fighter cleric while he was keeping watch. He failed all his detection rolls and was hit several times by the goblins with arrows before he could react. After that the party was awakened and the quickly mopped up the goblins, but it did take them several more rounds than they expected.

The encounter with the 'bandits' turned out different from what I expected them to do. It turns out they did not have a plan about what they were going to do but luckily I did .

They were a bit noisy in their approach and were spotted by a patrol. The patrol snuck up on them and although the party eventually detected the patrol, it was to late to avoid an encounter. The ranger/rogue tryied to find out who was sneaking up on them, and he was able to sneak up on two of the patrol members, but missed the third .

The whole encounter eventually came to a standoff between archers on both sides, and some quick thinking and diplomacy on the part of the patrol leader and the oriental style PC, prevented a serious fight. The group met with the bandit leader, and were convinced to help him sort out an 'internal' matter, dealing with the men the party was looking for in the first place.

They went out and ambushed these other bandits, (who included a half ogre) and eventually took them out, but not before the half-ogre killed the fighter-cleric. It was a good battle none-the-less, and I think they enjoyed it.

 

[Kweezil]

Have you ever played a game where someone didn't post watch?

Haven't played in one, but I DMed a group that didn't, in the Crater Ridge Mines of RttToEE. Oops