"If this problem is so bad, why aren't YOU doing it, NPC?"

[fuzzlewump]

While writing an adventure, one detail I normally gloss over or flat-out ignore is why higher level NPCs don't join the epic struggle that the PCs are involved in. For kick down the door style of play it's less of a problem, but the question still stands as to why higher level adventurers haven't already scoured the place for every last monster and every bit of treasure. One way I can see to avoid it is to avoid putting in higher level NPC's at all, and say that most everyone dies out when they get higher level and start seeing the 'dark secrets' of the world and whatnot.

That solution bothers me, just because I like having mentor type NPC's there, as guildmasters and friends and barkeeps ready to give helpful advice to nudge adventure, and more importantly, the game in a fruitful direction. So, if it's becoming clear that a big bad evil guy is brewing a storm in the east, if a mentor NPC sees it as a problem, why don't they extinguish it, or even travel with the party members to make sure the job is done?Another question is, why do adventuring parties seem to be steady around 4-6 people? Wouldn't it make more sense to take 20 able bodied adventurers into the goblins halls?

So, tell me fellow members of ENWorld, how do you, or would you, write adventures and settings so as to justify the standard tropes of D&D I have mentioned here? That is, how do you justify or otherwise deal with the adventuring party limited roughly in number to the players' numbers, and with higher level NPCs being around who should be able to solve the problems of the world that the PCs deal with.

 

[The Shaman]

Why didn't Gandalf hop aboard Gwaihir and fly the Ring to Mount Doom?

 

[Squizzle]

A 4E answer is that the game-mechanical aspects of things, like level, don't describe absolutes, but rather how the world and things in it interface with the PCs. Heck, given that most of the statistical effect of level comes in with attack/defense aspects, you could have the PCs mentored by a lower-level character, who in her prime was a mighty warrior, but has become more feeble (but no less tactically brilliant) in her old age.

 

[Morrus]

"While you're taking care of the evil wizard here, I'll be off battling the legions of Hell on another plane. I'll handle the difficult stuff; you handle this relatively easy one."

 

[Dire Bare]

Why didn't Gandalf hop aboard Gwaihir and fly the Ring to Mount Doom?

Gandalf was worried he'd be too easily corrupted by the power of the ring.

In a well-designed campaign world, there may be some high-level badasses hanging around, but they are constrained in what they can do.

Individual adventures usually just assume the PCs are THE heroes, or the PCs are heroes who happen to be in the right place at the right time.

That was the problem many gamers had with earlier versions of the Forgotten Realms. There were so many high-level badasses in the literature of the setting that it somewhat strained credulity that the world even needed yet another group of heroes. The newer version of the Realms addresses that.

A good DM will let his players know, through story, that they can't take a backseat and wait for Merlin/Gandalf/Elminster to take care of things . . . the fate of the world (or at least the town) rides squarely on their shoulders!

 

[Dire Bare]

. . . but the question still stands as to why higher level adventurers haven't already scoured the place for every last monster and every bit of treasure.

Something else to consider, in addition to providing an in-story reason why high-level Gandalf doesn't just solve the problem himself, is the number of heroic adventurers strolling around your campaign world.

Are adventurers a dime a dozen, making the life of the average orc a living hell? Or are adventurer types rare? In most literature and film, the heroes are the rare few who step forward when no one else will or can. They aren't part of a larger subset of fantasy society professionally trained to kill monsters and loot treasure.

The "adventurer as common" idea has been done in the D&D literature before, often somewhat tongue in cheek. I will never have an "adventurer's guild" in one of my games, as "adventurer" isn't a class of people.

Also, many "minor" heroes in the literature, those who are skilled, brave, and willing to fight the good fight . . . often have more local concerns (protect the village) or lack the knowledge, skills, or "hand of prophecy" to join the PCs in their quest to Mount Doom.

 

[Dire Bare]

"While you're taking care of the evil wizard here, I'll be off battling the legions of Hell on another plane. I'll handle the difficult stuff; you handle this relatively easy one."

Or Gandalf dealing with Saruman while the Fellowship travels to Mt. Doom.

While this can work in a novel, I hesitate to use it in a game. We play games like D&D because WE want to play the awesome hero battling the larger threats, not the second-string who tackles the less dangerous quests.

 

[Whimsical]

There's an RPG trope that's implemented due to every D&D game featuring a party of adventurers—adventurers are common.

Flush it.

Instead, have each character define their class by their actions and choices. The player's wizard who just hit 6th level? He's the first one ever!

 

[fuzzlewump]

There's an RPG trope that's implemented due to every D&D game featuring a party of adventurers—adventurers are common.

Flush it.

Instead, have each character define their class by their actions and choices. The player's wizard who just hit 6th level? He's the first one ever!

Sounds cool, but who do the PCs fight then?

 

[Ariosto]

The original idea was that new PCs entered the game by walking up to the gate of an outpost on the latest frontier.

1st ed. AD&D DMG, p. 91:

Natural movement of monsters will be slow, so there will be no immediate migration to any depopulated area -- unless some power is restocking it or there is an excess population nearby which is able to take advantage of the newly available habitat. Actually clearing an area (dungeon or outdoors territory) might involve many expeditions and much effort, perhaps even a minor battle or two involving hundreds on each side, but when it is all over the monsters will not magically reappear, nor will it be likely that some other creatures will move into the newly available quarters the next day.

Such is the march of Civilization, and "our work here is done". The work deeper in the wilds beyond the fields of men, even unto other Planes, is not for the hand of the tyro or novice adventurer.

Nor are there fit rewards in tamer regions for super-heroes and demigods. What yields a good 250 XP to someone needing but 2500 to gain a level might be worth but 25 (or 2.5, .25 or even 0) to someone needing 250,000.