How do your players view the Purple Dragons?

[frankthedm]

Just more annoying FR NPCs that need to die horribly and permanently.

 

[poilbrun]

My players are working for them at the moment, but believe they're much to strict to their tastes. Losing an hour every time they arrive in a new city to papers checking get on their nerves...

As far as always arriving late during the fights, that's a bit normal IMO. A typical fight lasts less than 20 rounds, which means less than 2 minutes. Except if they're fighting in a place crawling with Purple Dragons, there's no chance they will arrive before the end of the fight. First, the fight needs to be reported to them, then they need to arrive on the scene of the fight (and since they're not usually in light armor, they only go at 20ft per round), and then only take a stance (after all, the members of the Purple Dragons that are there may not know the PCs, and thus not know that they are the "good" guys).

 

[Kae'Yoss]

You mentioned a "properly" portrayed Cormyr. I was wondering if you could elaborate on that a bit. My campaign is set in the mid-1360s Dale Reckoning, so alot of what is in the FRCS hasn't happened yet.

Well, the campaign took place in Cormyr and Sembia, but actually it was just a land with a name, and that was Cormyr. It had nothing to do with the real Cormyr. It wasn't as if the DM decided to remodel the FR to suit his needs, it appeared as if he just glanced over the FRCS and then decided to use the map. In the end it ended in a big struggle between Cormyr (which was backed by the Zents) and Sembia (which was backed by Thay).

 

[diaglo]

Mixed.

One or two characters are authority-types (particularly the priest of Lathander) who get along quite well with the Purple Dragons; the remainder are a bit more chaotic and like to run along the grey-edge of the law.

The entire party was wanted for quite some time in Tilverton for the theft of a noble's belongings until they were able to clear their name.

The campaign is based in the Dales, but occasionally ventures into Cormyr, so when things get too hot the party beats feet back into the homeland.

i don't know what you are talking about.

Fiddle Dragonslayer Skipstone.

Green, Blue, Red, Silver, Deep any kind of dragon even Purple ones are fair game to me.

 

[Elder-Basilisk]

One thing you might wish to consider to make the Purple Dragons seem more like an ally for the players IS to have them do something.

Nine times out of ten, when the fire knives attack or some other trouble hits, the purple dragons will hear the panicked cries of the people, assemble a strike force, and respond within a few minutes--long after the PCs have finished whatever scrap they were in. However, every now and then, IRL, a criminal decides to hold up a liquor store right as a couple cops are stopping to pick up some potato chips or an off-duty cop sees a crime in progress and stops it. So, maybe one of the next times the PCs get in a scrap, you might tone the difficulty a couple notches higher than usual, but have a squad or purple dragon knights burst in the door in round 3 and help the PCs out or have a couple of the "commoners" who usually run screaming for the doors when the PCs are attacked, draw swords and charge into battle to aid them. When the other purple dragons show up, the off-duty soldiers explain what happened and the PCs don't get hassled at all.

Alternatively, you could have the purple dragons actually track down a few villains. If you introduce two or three plot-hooks a session and the PCs only follow up on one or two, you might have a couple that are specifically there for the purple dragon knights to deal with. So the PCs get jumped by the members of the new thieves' guild and the purple dragons show up question the PCs and take the bodies away for Speak With Dead interrogations. Two days later, there's an announcement that there will be a public execution for the leaders of assassins' guild XYZ. I expect the PCs will be a lot more understanding if the Purple Dragons seem at least competent enough to handle some of the town's problems.