How to urge party to not go after BBEG?

[Cor Azer]

So I'm working on a campaign outline for my next game, and I'm planning on revisiting an old cliche, but fleshing it out significantly - basically, a troll under a bridge. Now, this isn't going to be a normal troll (probably slap some sort of wizard abilities and beef it up a few levels). The campaign will likely just be heroic tier - 1st-10th level.

The setting is basically on an isolated peninsula, with only one real community - a village of only a few thousand people that has long been isolated from the rest of the world. The only real way to the mainland is by crossing a massive bridge that has been cursed/controlled/whatever by this troll for generations (so obviously, not a normal troll). Normally the troll doesn't let anyone cross, although it does rarely (once every few years) let a caravan pass, but only with significant losses. Sure, an army could easily pass, but the peninsula is (to the greater world at least) so little of note, that... why would anyone bother? Fortunately for the village, it is quite self-sufficient, so while not prosperous, it's not dying from the isolation. The villagers are a fairly spiritual folk, and despite the hardship of the troll's tyranny, are generally unwilling to leave the kami (local spirits they worship) behind.

Now, the reason the bridge is the only way to pass is because the peninsula is a rocky promontory several thousand feet high, bordered by fjords to the north and south, a raging sea to the west, and mountains (and the bridge) to the east. Steep cliffs on all sides, with no real access to the waters below.

The peninsula is fairly large (it takes about 4 days to get from the village on the western cliffs to the bridge at the eastern end), so there's plenty of room to play with for the party. I've got a forest region on the southern side with some adventure ideas, a dormant volcano and caldera lake on the north for more stuff, and some underground caverns for dark delves.

Still... the PCs, starting as residents of the village, will begin play knowing about the existence of the troll (although not her full details). They'll have a tale saying she can only be slain with the sword of the village's original founder (it'll mostly end up being a flaming weapon with quirks), but I'm loathe to explicitly say this weapon must be used. I've got several adventure ideas, but not all are directly related to finding the sword and defeating the troll. I suppose I could just to a linear hunt to find a hint that suggests a clue that shows a tower where hides a map that leads to the sword needed to kill the troll, but that seems a bit too... well, like I said - linear. Part of the reason I want a closed environment is so that within it, the players have a lot of freedom to explore, so dragging them from site to site seems counterproductive.

Any suggestions as to other plot twists or the like that could encourage the PCs to not immediately seek to end her tyranny of the bridge? Particularly those that can be done in varying order. I'll be having several NPCs suggest they wait and offer cautions, but really, these are PCs - they won't listen Sure, they'll likely get spanked if they go after her too early (and I sort of hope they do try and yet fail once before "the big blowoff"), but I'm looking for ways to delay this spanking. If it helps for inspiration, the culture is a blend of Norse and Japanese - me having recently watched Beowulf and played Okami

Thoughts/comments welcome.

 

[El Mahdi]

I would suggest an example. One or more PC's witnessed the slaughter of a legendary hero at the hands of the Troll when they were young (or at the beginning of the campaign). Or: they witness a formidable forray of soldiers/mercenaries/adventurers of the King/Emperor, attempting to cross the bridge to the peninsula (or attempting to destroy the Troll in order to reunite the peninsula with the Kingdom/Empire), get viciously slaughtered by the Troll, with no apparent injury to said Troll. And, if they attempt to defeat the Troll to early, fudge the results to make the Troll easily handle the PC's without killing them (they are beneath him, but not beneath teaching them, and by extension the village, a lesson).

 

[fba827]

Well since they know of the existence of the troll, probably other people in town do too.. right?

gossip and hearsay can tell many tales of villagers who decided to go after the creature but never returned or their bloody carcass was found rend to pieces not far from the bridge... if the PCs know about this common rumor they may at least give pause.


it wouldn't necessarily be the absolute best way to solve this (as they can easily ignore it) but there is at least a chance for it to give them pause and adds credibility to the lives of the common villagers since others would have reasonably tried before and gossip should thrive in an isolated village.

 

[Gilladian]

I like the idea that they see a hero (maybe a paladin? even a descendant of the town's founder) die at the hands of the troll. Perhaps the person doesn't die immediately, but lingers and they get to talk with him.

Or maybe there's the town drunk/cripple who survived the attack that killed the hero; he retells the story every year on the anniversary of the hero's death. And in the end, he always finishes by saying that "if only the hero had had his ancestor's lost sword..." things would have been different.

As far as how to avoid railroading them to find the sword, I don't think you'll have much trouble. A good sandbox campaign is what it sounds like you have going on. Just be sure there are 3-4 early adventure leads, and keep feeding new leads each time. And since there was a hero before, you can build up many of these things as "stuff left from the hero's day". Such as goblins who have just now bred enough to be a threat again, and ruins that new bandits have moved back into, etc... Eventually it will seem natural that they find out what happened to the founder's sword; maybe they discover that the founder deliberately hid it somewhere challenging enough to keep it hidden until someone was strong enough to defeat the troll?

Oh, just one thing - a couple thousand people isn't a village, it's a small town. There should also be a number of villages and hamlets scattered about on a peninsula as large as you're describing. Probably one about every 3-5 miles apart, wherever the terrain will support farming. Maybe every 15 miles where they are mostly hunting or fishing.

 

[Cor Azer]

Or maybe there's the town drunk/cripple who survived the attack that killed the hero; he retells the story every year on the anniversary of the hero's death. And in the end, he always finishes by saying that "if only the hero had had his ancestor's lost sword..." things would have been different.

Ooo... I really like that idea. It actually ties in thematically with one other idea I had. The campaign is being called 'Sake Lullabies', originally because there's going to be a plot thread dealing with the lord's daughter, a sake brewer, who must sing every night (I may reduce this to a once a week), to "tame" the troll's wrath and keep it from attacking the village. Having another tie into that theme, with a grizzled vet drunk on sake singing dirges/lullabies to his fallen shieldbrother about the troll sounds cool.

As far as how to avoid railroading them to find the sword, I don't think you'll have much trouble. A good sandbox campaign is what it sounds like you have going on. Just be sure there are 3-4 early adventure leads, and keep feeding new leads each time. And since there was a hero before, you can build up many of these things as "stuff left from the hero's day". Such as goblins who have just now bred enough to be a threat again, and ruins that new bandits have moved back into, etc... Eventually it will seem natural that they find out what happened to the founder's sword; maybe they discover that the founder deliberately hid it somewhere challenging enough to keep it hidden until someone was strong enough to defeat the troll?

That's more or less my intention with all of the plot threads not directly tied to the troll.

I guess maybe I'm just trying to brainstorm other ideas the players can follow-up on to make the troll an easier fight (although not too easy). I'd kind of like to drop 3-4 plot hooks about stuff that may be needed/help to fight the troll, and then the players can follow up on whichever ones they can/want. With none, the troll fight will be very hard, but with all, just a good challenge.

Oh, just one thing - a couple thousand people isn't a village, it's a small town. There should also be a number of villages and hamlets scattered about on a peninsula as large as you're describing. Probably one about every 3-5 miles apart, wherever the terrain will support farming. Maybe every 15 miles where they are mostly hunting or fishing.

Well, it's really just over a thousand, just inside "village" status according to the DMG. I want it to be small, but still have enough that the population (and by that I mean at least a small group of each of the eight standard 4E races) is sustainable - it's been isolated like this for several centuries. Although there's vegetation elsewhere on the peninsula, the only real arable land is the western tip where the village currently lies. I wanted it to be the only community in the area so the players can get a real feel for it. That said, there will be other points of intelligent life - but they'll be mostly hermit like folk - a few eladrin deep in the woods keeping to themselves, and possibly a hidden dwarven outpost high up on the dormant volcano.

There will be a lot of ruins though - the area was previously much more settled, but as generations passed with the area isolated by the troll, civilization has fallen back so that only the one village remains.

The peninsula has grown a bit since I first started mulling the idea, so I might add another nearby hamlet or to that can still get most of its supplies from the main village.

 

[ruemere]

Make the troll seem like a force of nature, an agent of destiny and seemingly immortal. Anyone, who grows up knowing about such being, will be unlikely to seek means to end beings existence - it's not often that one wants to go against fate.

Force of nature aspect:
- strong elemental powers - the troll appears to be partly made of rock, making its hide tough as stone (in-game terms: stone skin 1/day, enhanced natural armor, spell resistance)
- huge size
- slow (allowing for running away is the way to save lives of overconfident characters)
- heals very fast when submerged in water (when hurt, troll hides under the bridge and quickly regenerates)

Agent of destiny aspect:
- the troll for some reason ignores blind priest, who lives near the bridge. The priest cares for a small temple devoted to neutral deity, and, sometimes, helps the villagers. The troll leaves the priest alone, though its footprints are sometimes visible in the morning
- the priest gets by from day to day living on gifts of the villagers
- the troll sometimes brings some aquatic creature for the priest, too
- once anyone passing the bridge reaches the temple, the troll ceases pursuit
- small sacrifices to the troll, the bridge or gievn to the priest are thought to bring good luck

Immortality:
- the troll regenerates very fast under the bridge
- the fabled trollkiller sword causes wounds which do not heal, in fact, the troll wounded by the blade bleeds heavily and may even die

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Walknot]

Ambivelence

You can add some complexity to the troll, so the PC's start out trusting or at least uncertain about her, then learning the truth gradually. It can be a complicated truth, such as she has befriended the temple due to some kindness they had performed, and maybe some commercial interest prefer that trade is restricted.

Pile on that a mixed history with the troll. Mayube once she saved the village from invaders or from some sea monster and for this she has their begrudging respect. Sort of like that old chestnut about a tribe or kingdom even who offers sacrifices to the local dragon.

Could be a real bee's nest.

 

[sukael]

- small sacrifices to the troll, the bridge or gievn to the priest are thought to bring good luck

Going with this angle, you may want to have some locals view the troll as an ugly but necessary part of the region - maybe its sense of possession of the area (or inhuman hunger) means that it kills off (or hunts and eats) some monsters or inimical wildlife that would otherwise pose a threat to the villagers.

 

[El Mahdi]

Going with this angle, you may want to have some locals view the troll as an ugly but necessary part of the region - maybe its sense of possession of the area (or inhuman hunger) means that it kills off (or hunts and eats) some monsters or inimical wildlife that would otherwise pose a threat to the villagers.

Or maybe even the regions protector. Without the Troll, something much worse could invade this tranquil peninsula, destroying their way of life.

 

[the Jester]

To put a small but cool twist on the "see the area's protector die" theme, why not start the first session by handing them a group of pregens that you know can't take the troll, that are like 7th level or so? Make damn sure that you've set everything up so that the troll achieves a quick and easy tpk- maybe start the pcs with some of their healing surges gone, dailies used, etc- stack the deck, but in a slightly subtle way.

Then kill the party.

Then: "Ten years later... okay, guys, pull out the characters that you have generated yourself..."