I am a mean DM and I Love it! Bwahaha!

[greyscale1]

This is Grey. My players stay out!



Anyhoo, I have a particularly nasty plot trick that the players are slowly uncovering that I am quite proud of. Figured I would come share here for some new content, maybe you can share similar evil!

Okay, soh:

The party has been running into these crystals for a while, (actually they look more like large glowing pearls) and they do not really know what is up with them.

What they know:
1. Their enemy (a huge empire) uses them somehow. High ranking commanders have one in the back of their hands.
2. One party member has had one since as long as she could remember (orphan).
3. The empire buys these things from a group of Eladrin that live in the Feywild. The only currency the Eladrin will accept are slaves. 1 crystal, 1 slave.

That and a bit more. I have been dropping hints left and right (this is actually not incredibly pivotal to the story, but it intertwines quite a bit). Here are some things they don't yet know.

1. The empire does not really know how the crystals are made, but most of their magitechnology (vital for their supremacy) is based around them.
2. The reason their higher level magic is all based around the crystals is because they used to be able to make them, but now their crystals have stopped working. They don't know why.
HERE'S THE BIG ONE!
3. The Eladrin take the slaves and siphon their essence into the crystals, thus filling them with power.
4. Souls trapped in these crystals are there until the crystal is broken, however, if the crystal is used before being broken, the soul is irrevocably damaged, if the crystal is used up entirely, the soul is simply erased.

By the way, very good aligned party.

By this point they have undoubtedly used these crystals at least a small amount. Yet even after they realize what has been going on and are very upset (in character that is, OOC my players will most likely be wide eyed at this point) the crystals are very tempting to use.

For example: The cost of the Resurrection ritual can only be paid in these crystals, which are spent and destroyed in the process.


MUHUHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!



Share your stories / comment.

 

[mattdm]

So, you've changed the basic assumptions of the game in a way which may make it less fun without letting your players know. This seems fun for you, but will your players enjoy it?

 

[MrMyth]

So, you've changed the basic assumptions of the game in a way which may make it less fun without letting your players know. This seems fun for you, but will your players enjoy it?

Because players never find enjoyment in plots that force them to make challenging moral decisions, or take enjoyment in the chance to find a way to potentially save thousands of lost souls?

 

[Dragonwriter]

Sounds like some truly Evil plot twists. I congragulate you.

Personally, one of my campaigns (3.5E) has some rather nasty stuff involved.
My player (yes, I have only 1 for this...) went to a backwoods town to remove a bunch of undead from an old mine nearby. He and the party fought through a veritable hoard of undead, culminating in a fight with a Necropolitan Wizard (named Julius). After they beat him, they kept going, since there was more to the place.
They got trapped in between a couple Walls of Force by a Lich. The Lich however, was LG and told the party the truth. The villagers were all devil-cultists, specifically of Mephistopheles, and were soon going to torch the party. Then he gave the option "Work for me, leave, or die." So, for quite some time, they have been working for a Lich.

Add in that later in the campaign (as the final arc), the player's cousin (his only living relative) will take command of the Elven nation and attack the recovering Human Kingdom. The party will have to take out this usurper (that they helped into his current position of power) and the character will have to kill his own cousin.

 

[Humanaut]

Love it! As DM or Player.

So much depends on your group ya know? That said, being a "Good Evil" DM is a great thing i think. Or is that Good and being Evil DM? or.. Evil DM in a Good way? hrmm...

 

[Rel]

I like it.

I think it makes for some interesting moral choices down the line. If any of the PC's dies after they know how these crystals work they have to decide if bringing that PC back to life is worth the destruction of some innocent soul. All the more interesting a choice if the PC's are actively trying to bring about the end of the Evil Empire that trades in these crystals.

Another twist that comes into play is how the power elite will react to the PC's trying to bring this practice to an end (assuming they do). If Lord Poopypants falls off his horse and breaks his neck then presumably his family can pay the High Priest to bring him back to life with one of these crystals. If the PC's bring to light that this is Evil (considering how the crystals are made) and wish to put a stop to it, they might suddenly find opposition among their own countrymen.

 

[Rel]

Love it! As DM or Player.

So much depends on your group ya know? That said, being a "Good Evil" DM is a great thing i think. Or is that Good and being Evil DM? or.. Evil DM in a Good way? hrmm...

The accepted term in these parts is "Rat Bastard DM" or RBDM for short.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Crystal Clear

Grey (OP):

Perhaps it's my fondness for Necromancy, but I figured out the basic gist of your plot before reading any of your points.

I suspect your players already have as well.

Still ... it's an entertaining story. Rock on.

-Samir

 

[greyscale1]

I'm glad you guys are shooting me approval, but lets here some of your own stories! I know I walk in the valley of the rat bastard DM, etc etc.

To The Thayan Menace:

By ANY of my points I assume you mean any that the players dont already know. I would be pretty impressed if you guessed my gist without reading my post : P.

Anyhoo, I'm actually quite glad that you figured it out without the extra points blatantly telling you. I usually judge a good detective story (at least in part) based on wether the audience can come to the same conclusion as the detective without any huge jumps in logic (a big hindsight Oh Damn!).

So I hope they are getting an inkling of whats going on, but right now, they must not trust their judgement enough to act on it at least. That is, if they found out at all.

*Ramble ramble ramble*

 

[Protagonist]

I like the idea but this bit didn't make sense to me:


evil empire (tm) trades 1 slave for 1 crystal
eladrin drain 1 slave to produce 1 crystal
so how do the eladrin profit from this deal?