D&D General JMISBEST's questions. Most of them about campaign ideas that either he or A GM he knows has and wants to know what people think

[Reef]

It does make a good afterlife question. The horrible anti-paladin is supposed to move on to the appropriate afterlife for him, but instead gets himself reincarnated for some reason - maybe he's trying to avoid a terrible punishment, it's not really important. Then some outsiders come searching to collect him and take him to his "rightful" place.

Definitely would be an interesting take. In fact, I’ve seen at least one movie that was basically that exact plot (name withheld due to spoilers).

 

[JMISBEST]

I've a question of my own

How do you play a villain were a lot of people, which can include some of The Pcs, agree with what he or she is trying to achieve but not what he or she is willing to do to achieve it

A example of that from A Deamon Headmaster RPG I made in 2,008 that got cancelled after the 3rd session is that 4 of The 6 Pcs agreed, but would never admit it, not even to each other, with The Deamon Headmasters plan to unite both the entire planet and the entire human race under a single world wide government that was a peaceful, tranquuil democracy but not what he was willing to do to achieve it, meaning using his super-human level of hypnosis based mind control to make it happen by using hypnosis to enslave the human race

To anyone that's wondering the 4 player characters that agreed with what The Deamon Headmaster wanted to achieve but not what he was willing to do to achieve it were the 1's that played Lloyd Hunter, Harvey Hunter, Ian(can't remember his surname or if its even mentioned) and Dianna Glass, later Hunter after The Hunters adopt her rather then continuing to foster her

 

[GuyBoy]

Until I retired, I actually was a Headmaster, but sadly my plan to rule the entire human race ever came to fruition. In retrospect, I needed to have enrolled 4 out of 6 of your PCs.

 

[JMISBEST]

Until I retired, I actually was a Headmaster, but sadly my plan to rule the entire human race ever came to fruition. In retrospect, I needed to have enrolled 4 out of 6 of your PCs.

Can we try and limit this to people that have actually read The Deamon Headmasters Books

Don't forget that what I said happened in A Deamon Headmaster RPG I made in 2,008 that got cancelled after the 3rd session is merely a example of how a lot of people, even a lot of The Player characters, can agree with what a villains trying to achieve, like Lloyd Hunter, Harvey Hunter, Ian(can't remember his surname or if its even mentioned) and Dianna Glass did in The Deamon Headmaster RPG I made in 2,008, but not what he or she is willing to do to achieve it

 

[Seramus]

Can we try and limit this to people that have actually read The Deamon Headmasters Books

I suppose you can.

Exits stage left.

 

[Reef]

I didn’t even realize it was a specific property. I thought it was just the campaign description. Oh well, I’m sure my thoughts were boring anyway…

 

[Inukai]

Can we try and limit this to people that have actually read The Deamon Headmasters Books

Don't forget that what I said happened in A Deamon Headmaster RPG I made in 2,008 that got cancelled after the 3rd session is merely a example of how a lot of people, even a lot of The Player characters, can agree with what a villains trying to achieve, like Lloyd Hunter, Harvey Hunter, Ian(can't remember his surname or if its even mentioned) and Dianna Glass did in The Deamon Headmaster RPG I made in 2,008, but not what he or she is willing to do to achieve it

I haven't read them but I do have some questions. Does it mean that the other 2 PCs agreed with using super-hypnosis to take over the world, or did they not want a peaceful world? And why would it be so bad to agree with the villain to have a peaceful world but not agree with stripping everyone's free will? I personally am all for a peaceful united humanity, but not if I'm just a worker drone under some kind of mind-control.
I would play that villain as wholly convinced he is humanity's salvation, and couldn't understand why anyone would oppose him. After all, why would you fight against a united and peaceful planet...?

 

[FrozenNorth]

Can we try and limit this to people that have actually read The Deamon Headmasters Books

Don't forget that what I said happened in A Deamon Headmaster RPG I made in 2,008 that got cancelled after the 3rd session is merely a example of how a lot of people, even a lot of The Player characters, can agree with what a villains trying to achieve, like Lloyd Hunter, Harvey Hunter, Ian(can't remember his surname or if its even mentioned) and Dianna Glass did in The Deamon Headmaster RPG I made in 2,008, but not what he or she is willing to do to achieve it

@pemerton quoted this in a different thread and it’s so true that I feel like I need to quote it here.

RPGs are about everyone at the table, not just the DM, and the DM has a responsibility to ensure that the game isn’t just : “ come play out the novel I have in my head”.

In my experience most RPG players want to do interesting and exciting things with their PCs, and don't want the GM to have written the plot in advance. They also tend to enjoy their PC having some sense of purpose or reason for doing what they're doing.

So I'd probably send the players an email asking each of them to tell you one thing their PC cares about or is loyal to, and one sort of monster or faction or person that their PC is opposed to as a result of that care or loyalty.

Once you get the answers, I'd then think of a few NPCs and a few situations that speak to those things the players have told you. Look for ways to connect the players' answers together (eg if one of the players tells you their PC hate bandits because bandits drove their family off the family farm, and another tells you that their PC is a disciple of St Cuthbert who hates all agents of Iuz, then it makes sense to have the bandits also be Iuz cultists).

Then when you actually start play, use on of the situations you've come up with, play it through and see what happens, and use the outcome - whatever it is - as a springboard to one of your other situations. Introduce and adapt your NPCs to help creates some links, and to give your players a clear sense of how they can act on their PCs' motivations. And don't be afraid to tell your players you're taking a 5-minute break to flip through your Monster Manual and draw up a map if the natural upshot of some episode of play is a situation or encounter different from any of the ones you've prepped.

And finally, always honour the players' achievements. If their PCs defeat someone, that someone is defeated (unless the players go on to declare actions with the intention of putting their victory back into question). If the PCs befriend someone, that someone is their friend, not a potential traitor. If the PCs persuade some enemies to surrender and swear an oath of loyalty, then have the NPCs keep their oath (again, unless the players declare actions that deliberately put the oath under pressure, like trying to order the NPCs to turn on former comrades).

In my experience, the approach I've described will produce fun RPGing in low(ish) level D&D.

 

[JMISBEST]

I haven't read them but I do have some questions. Does it mean that the other 2 PCs agreed with using super-hypnosis to take over the world, or did they not want a peaceful world? And why would it be so bad to agree with the villain to have a peaceful world but not agree with stripping everyone's free will? I personally am all for a peaceful united humanity, but not if I'm just a worker drone under some kind of mind-control.
I would play that villain as wholly convinced he is humanity's salvation, and couldn't understand why anyone would oppose him. After all, why would you fight against a united and peaceful planet...?

Clearly you misread my post, the other 2 players weren't the 1's that had their character agree with the villains plan, they were the 1's that had their characters disagree with the villains plan

 

[Inukai]

Clearly you misread my post, the other 2 players weren't the 1's that had their character agree with the villains plan, they were the 1's that had their characters disagree with the villains plan

So they disagreed with the plan to unite humanity as a single peaceful democracy? Why did they disagree with that? I'm curious what the rationale is for not wanting peace and tranquility.