How to manage Temptation

[Sammael99]

The recent developments in Sepulchrave's wonderful High Level Story Hour The Rape of Morne got me thinking about how you manage "temptation" in your campaigns.

I think that, from a story point of view, there are good ways and bad ways to handle this. Let me tell you about something that happened to me as a player a few years back.

We were playing Mage, and my character was a Euthanatos private investigator whose mentor had been corrupted by the Nephandi. He was, understandably, fanatically against the Nephandi, and a specific demon had taken particular interest in him and decided it would be succesful in corrupting him through temptation.

Then, during this one unhappy raid on a Technocracy stronghold, my character gets in a crossfire and dies. Well, actually he doesn't, really : when the killing bullet is mere inches from his head, time freezes, and the demon appears. He offers to save his life in exchange for a service.

My character refused. He died.

From a background point of view, the GM had used the background well. From a narrative point of view, it was pretty pointless : it was so binary that there was no way my character would let himself be tempted. I preferred to let the character go, even though I liked him much, than compromise everything that the character was about. Especially, I thought it poor that the temptation was about the character's own life.

So, going back to the original question, how do you use the concept of temptation in your campaigns ? Can you relate examples ?

 

[Vaxalon]

Heroes will often gladly give their life for a cause. That's what makes them heroes!

You can't corrupt a hero by threatening his life.

You have to threaten something he values.

 

[Apok]

You have to threaten something he values.

...like his +5 Keen Greatsword of Speed...

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Salutations,

Hmm, this is interesting.

I prefer temptations that challenge the character's normal behavior- and pushes them to take evil actions.

Example 1:

The players were running a shipping company, and their main competition was a Kenku husband/wife and their company. (I run kenku like Ferengi.)

While at first there was friendly competitions between the two companies, it slowly began to turn ugly. The kenku eventually tried to scare the pc's away from a contract by staging a "haunting" in the house of one of the pc's grandfather.

Unfortunetly, it was too much for the old man- and it killed him out of freight. (The pc's thought the old man was crazy and never bothered to investigate his concerns about ghosts in his house.)

Well, the grandson pc was feeling very guilty, but then rage when he found out the kenku were involved.

A little time later, they found out the kenku had a child with a rare disease that was going to kill it. The grandson pc spent the company's fortune on outbidding the kenku on the only source for a cure.

When the kenku came to negotiate for the cure- he burned it in front of them.

The rest of the players were speechless.

Example 2 (and the last adventure I have run, heh)-

The players are travelling to a dwarven island when they were attacked by pirates- before a boarding could happen, a genie appeared and demanded to be amused.

For the next three days, there would be one competition each day. The final day's competition would be a battle to the death.

The first night- the pirates joined the pc crew for a dinner. There was a lot of nervousness, and the pc cleric detect poison like mad- but it went off well. The female pirate captain and the rogue leader of the pc's even began to become friendly.

The second night- the same deal. Both sides became more friendly- sharing war stories.

The final night, before the battle- the pirates slipped a wisdom-reducing poison that affected both the pc monk and the pc cleric.

To say the rogue was mad was putting it lightly- both the cleric and monk were weakened greatly. If they were not sure the genie would kill them all- a battle would have happened then.

The final battle comes and the pc's, using some suprisingly clever tactics, were able to overcome the pirates.

The genie demanded the pc's kill the pirates, but after a moment of thought- the rogue refused.

The reason is a long complicated story in itself, but in short- he was seeing how chaotic the world was.. and his actions have been, and how his actions were not making the world better.. but perpetuating the problem.

The genie cursed them somehow (they are still unsure how) and let them go.

Conclusion- Temptation is good, but it is important to let the players deal with it the way they want. Good rp'ers will deal with it accordingly (accepting it or not), and more casual players will deal with it the way they seem fit.

I would not put such a temptation as a crucial part of a campeign, or even punish a player for taking/refusing a temptation.

The important thing is to have consequences for that temptation- refused or accepted. It is best done if there is a domino-like effect, with events from that decision going out and beyond the character and affecting the "world" around them.

FD

 

[Sammael99]

I would not put such a temptation as a crucial part of a campaign, or even punish a player for taking/refusing a temptation.

The important thing is to have consequences for that temptation- refused or accepted. It is best done if there is a domino-like effect, with events from that decision going out and beyond the character and affecting the "world" around them.

FD

Hey FD. I was thinking specifically of temptation in the religious sense (ie. supernatural powers granted in exchange for something (your soul, a service, etc.) but your examples are interesting. They come more in the realm of what I call moral dilemnas in my campaigns (not that the two are necessarily mutually exclusive.)

From a narrative point of view, I like the first example, even though I would have hated my player for being such an absolute bastard. ;-)

The second example is typically a moral dilemna. I remember a game we played where we confronted a mage who was experimenting on dead bodies to try and resurrect his dead and dearly beloved wife. When he couldn't find bodies, he "made" them dead, if you see what I mean. We had long in-party debate before we decided what to do with the guy... It was obvious he had to be stopped, but he was doing this out of love, so killing him outright seemed the wrong thing to do... (Also, he was healing one of the characters of a deadly disease... that was the very same one that had killed his wife and his young daughter was hanging round with the party and being cute and all...) These kind of decisions are what I love about role-playing !

 

[Sarellion]

You need mature players of course. I remember a former player who said I can get more powerdul in two way. I become a priest or I sell my soul and become undead.

hm...

 

[drnuncheon]

Subtlety is the key. Don't have a devil appear in front of your characters and say "Hey, wanna sell your soul?" Nobody's going to fall for that.

Introduce them as an NPC. Put the players in debt to them somehow - whether it's for timely aid or what have you. Make them like the NPC. Then the NPC asks for a favor.

It's just a little one, mind you - and don't play it up as a big deal. Make it a bit shady but - and this is important - make it justifiable. "I need you to go steal this item - it was stolen from me, and the city guard refuse to get it back." Something that the players would accept as justification for a little shady activity. Make sure the details are verifiable, so if the PCs check up on it, they find out it's really true.

Bascially, the trick in doing temptation right is in making the PCs want to do whatever the temptation is for. Make them tempted to do something they already want to do...just tinge it ever more with wrongness.

This works especially well when they have a Cause. Introduce the tempter as someone willing to aid them in their cause. If you do it right, they will trust the NPC and follow his advice.

After they're used to trusting him, then you can start bringing in the supernatural powers. But don't present it as a "sell your soul" situation. Have him trick the tempted into thinking there's an epic quest, power with a price - just don't mention what the price is. Have them believing that these supernatural powers are the only way to accomplish their quest, and convince them that the heroic thing to do is to "pay any price" for their cause.


In your example, the temptation might have been far more effective if the bullet had been aimed at someone else. Especially if the demon described in detail what effect the death would have on the future. "That little girl is the next Jonas Salk, you know. When she grows up, she'll discover a cure for Alzheimer's. Of course, I'm sure someone else discover the cure eventually...but you could prevent it by doing one simple thing. It's not even an evil thing, I just need someone to..." and then present something that the Euthanatos would consider doing anyway. Like, say, returning a particular low-life to the Great Wheel of Transmigrations instead of turning him loose*. I think that would make it a lot more effective.

J

* - the person was going to go through a conversion experience and repent all their sins, saving their soul and turning them into a force for good. But the Euthanatos doesn't need to know that.

 

[Hand of Evil]

You have to know your players and their characters. You have to look at their background and history and play to something there. You have to have good players that have a set vision of their characters.

You can talk with the players off-line and coach them but that sometime backfires, at least draw them out.

 

[Furn_Darkside]

Hey FD. I was thinking specifically of temptation in the religious sense ...

Ahh, ok, sorry about that. drnuncheon offered the best advice.

There is a line from something that says the best trick the devil ever played was convincing the world he did not exist.

Supernatural/religous tempation is best down when it appears to be anything but supernatural/religous in nature.

Of course, the consquences go along the same lines of what I said earlier- they should be far reaching to give the impact of the decision.

Such creatures don't tempt people for little reasons- they do so because that decision will impact another matter which will impact another- and eventually cause great strife or stop a great boon.

One soul of one pesky adventurer that they would probably get anyway is hardly worth the trouble.

FD

 

[seasong]

I don't know how much I should post here - at least one of my players reads here .

The question seems to be soul-purchase-specific temptation, so I will relate some bits on that.

Duelling Demons, AKA Good Cop, Bad Cop

The first demon sets the stage, by being a general bastard, doing horrible things to things the PCs care about. Gets them in a righteous, vengeful mood. He may even pose it as a test - if they offer their souls, he'll make the pain stop.

They'll refuse, naturally, and start looking for ways to hose him.

That's when Demon #2 comes in. Or rather, when he becomes available. #2 isn't that interested in anyone's soul. He's just a very powerful, semi-retired demon who runs a bar the players happen to frequent. He doesn't really want to get involved, but a soul is still valuable/useful to him, so if the cause seems worth it (this will take some persuading - take on that demon? heck no!), he'd be willing to do a small trade.

And he'd not abuse the soul, of course. He's retired, you see. He can just use a certain number to achieve certain powers.

They may not take the bait, of course. In which case he'll just shrug - it is no matter to him.

If they do take the bait (then or later, when they get desparate), demon #1 fakes a glorious death, and then the two of them split the take.

Other twists on this include #2 posing as a contract, mercenary angel; both demons posing as opposing sides in a shadow war; and other vicious lies.

The Sacrificial Hero

Some heroes will destroy themselves utterly if they think it will save the world. Getting the soul in this case is child's play... the demon just has to convince the hero (through smoke & mirrors or simply lying outright) that giving the demon his soul will, in fact, save the world.

In at least one case, the players (believing that a demon was going to consume the world) put together a plan to feed the demon a stream of specially-prepared souls to keep it sated and sleepy, to prevent world destruction. Alas, it was not to be, for someone remembered Hitler & Poland.

At least one cult I've had in another game was based around something similar - the cultists believed that the demon they were feeding would destroy the world if they failed to provide. The demon just kept feeding them cthulu-esque imagery.

It may not even have to be the whole world. Some people are patriotic enough that they'd do it to defend their country (or even just increase their country's standing in the world). Wouldn't you?

Lies, Damned Lies, and Statistics

Persuade the character that they are only signing over part of their immortal soul - renting it, really. And look at what you get for such a pittance!

Character Creation

Hit a twinker when she's most vulnerable... offer a package at character creation - the character has sold her soul, and now has a full load out of nifty powers. Treat the sold soul as a duty or never-ending favor owed.

Or maybe even the hook for adventures.

No Really!

Demons are the good guys. Trust me.

Preparation & Passionate Moments

One of the most effective strategies (mimicked in the bar demon example at the beginning of this post) is to let the characters know that soul-selling is an option well ahead of time. Outline what it entails, and what kind of advantages you can get if you do it.

But don't push it, don't sell it, don't even look interested in getting them to do it. Emphasize, in fact, that it's usually a bad idea, unless one is really desparate.

Let the idea marinate for a few sessions, as the action gets heated.

Then, at a climactic moment of player/character passion, casually remind them that they have several options. Make sure you have at least two - one with soul-selling, one without - but make sure the soul-selling one is the most likely to succeed.

They won't always take the bait. Mostly, they won't. But demons work on the longterm plan, and longterm, most people eventually take the easier path.

Passion can be found in a lot of situations, also. It doesn't have to be combat. It can be vengeance (ruining the life of someone otherwise untouchable), hatred (a destructive campaign against all orcs), love (giving you the means & status to pursue the hand of a princess) and so on.

A Note About Parties

A savvy demon will follow a two simple, additional guidelines when there is an entire party of yummy souls at hand.

1. If you get one of them, make it as pleasant as possible. At least until you've got a significant number of them. You don't want to scare off the other prey. Similarly, don't demand too much initially.

2. Tell them all the same lies. They wouldn't be a party if they didn't talk occasionally.