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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5901104" data-attributes="member: 4937"><p>Ok, but I presume then that:</p><p></p><p>a) They are never the target of these assasination plots.</p><p>b) Whatever powerful group is behind the assassination plots hasn't realized that these meddling kids are always the ones foiling their plans.</p><p></p><p>I mean seriously, I haven't even pulled the assassins that strongly out of my bag of tricks yet because the party is at this level light on counters to getting attacked in their sleep, slipped a poison, or otherwise the object of a complex assassination plot by a skilled foe. Not that they haven't had to fight a few assassins, but they were more of the knife in the dark alley/crossbow from the roof sort (though the Monster Summoning IV as an assination method came close to killing a PC). And for a while there we were nothing but urban adventures were it seemed everyone was armed with a rapier, and as for swashbuckling I have only one word: pirates. </p><p></p><p>But sure, I was using the most extreme cases when I talked about enraged beserkers, hunger crazed ghouls, and mindless slimes but they've faced a lot of different enemies with a lot of different motives: bandits, possessed townsfolk, crazed nihilist cults, illegal fight clubs, grave robbers, invading sahuaghin armies, opium dealers, a gluttonous ghoul king, disgraced noblemen, evil fertility cults, corrupt merchant companies, and necromancers with goals so complex and surprising that I can't reveal them publicly yet. Not everyone was in a kill and kill only mode, and indeed there hasn't been one major villain that the PC's didn't have extensive interaction with prior to realizing that he was a villain and/or getting into combat with them. Indeed, there is so much intrigue going on that I can't follow up on every thread - the story may actually have too many players. The current sub-boss, Tarkus, showed up in session one as the helpful neighbor and it took until episode twenty-three or so and a half-dozen conversations before they started wondering what he was hiding. </p><p></p><p>Nonetheless, the PC's often realize that the easiest way to deal with certain problems is just kill the antagonist, and it's not like their enemies are stupid. If it doesn't make a lot of sense to be merciful, then there isn't going to be mercy.</p><p></p><p>I suppose out there there is an interesting game where the PC's play the role of event planners and the great challenges are whether the fish course will come off right, whether you can get the master of the miller's guild through the entree before he gets embarassingly drunk, and whether you arranging seating so that neither the ambassador from Flan nor the ambassador from Mulsheen (who hate each) feel sleighted, but well, if the PC's are taking a more active role in politics, I would expect the knives to come out. Seriously, hunger crazed ghouls are more merciful than politicians and regents who feel their power (or path to it) is threatened. You ever read/seen Hamlet? Wasn't exactly a module where everyone enjoyed plot protection and no one could die. So exactly where do you plot your game between worrying about the doilies matching at the party for the retiring head of the lamp lighter's guild and poison armed assassins attacking PC's in their sleep?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5901104, member: 4937"] Ok, but I presume then that: a) They are never the target of these assasination plots. b) Whatever powerful group is behind the assassination plots hasn't realized that these meddling kids are always the ones foiling their plans. I mean seriously, I haven't even pulled the assassins that strongly out of my bag of tricks yet because the party is at this level light on counters to getting attacked in their sleep, slipped a poison, or otherwise the object of a complex assassination plot by a skilled foe. Not that they haven't had to fight a few assassins, but they were more of the knife in the dark alley/crossbow from the roof sort (though the Monster Summoning IV as an assination method came close to killing a PC). And for a while there we were nothing but urban adventures were it seemed everyone was armed with a rapier, and as for swashbuckling I have only one word: pirates. But sure, I was using the most extreme cases when I talked about enraged beserkers, hunger crazed ghouls, and mindless slimes but they've faced a lot of different enemies with a lot of different motives: bandits, possessed townsfolk, crazed nihilist cults, illegal fight clubs, grave robbers, invading sahuaghin armies, opium dealers, a gluttonous ghoul king, disgraced noblemen, evil fertility cults, corrupt merchant companies, and necromancers with goals so complex and surprising that I can't reveal them publicly yet. Not everyone was in a kill and kill only mode, and indeed there hasn't been one major villain that the PC's didn't have extensive interaction with prior to realizing that he was a villain and/or getting into combat with them. Indeed, there is so much intrigue going on that I can't follow up on every thread - the story may actually have too many players. The current sub-boss, Tarkus, showed up in session one as the helpful neighbor and it took until episode twenty-three or so and a half-dozen conversations before they started wondering what he was hiding. Nonetheless, the PC's often realize that the easiest way to deal with certain problems is just kill the antagonist, and it's not like their enemies are stupid. If it doesn't make a lot of sense to be merciful, then there isn't going to be mercy. I suppose out there there is an interesting game where the PC's play the role of event planners and the great challenges are whether the fish course will come off right, whether you can get the master of the miller's guild through the entree before he gets embarassingly drunk, and whether you arranging seating so that neither the ambassador from Flan nor the ambassador from Mulsheen (who hate each) feel sleighted, but well, if the PC's are taking a more active role in politics, I would expect the knives to come out. Seriously, hunger crazed ghouls are more merciful than politicians and regents who feel their power (or path to it) is threatened. You ever read/seen Hamlet? Wasn't exactly a module where everyone enjoyed plot protection and no one could die. So exactly where do you plot your game between worrying about the doilies matching at the party for the retiring head of the lamp lighter's guild and poison armed assassins attacking PC's in their sleep? [/QUOTE]
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