I'm about to embark on a new chapter in the campaign I DM. It will have one PC play the part of the bad guy and he'll work against the main PC group. The problem I have is how to do this with the d20/D&D game structure and logistics? Has anyone pitted one PC versus another in their campaigns before? If so, how did it work out and what did you do?
Need Help: PC vs. PC campaign
- Thread starter Pandion
- Start date
diaglo
Adventurer
had 2 groups square off before.
ran one group during lunch at school.
and one group at my house after school.
for a little over 4 months.
then had them both meet at my house to play the Grande Finale. Battle Royale
find the Uber Artifact to win.
both groups were mainly good aligned.
nothing like good vs good for some really moral issues....![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
ran one group during lunch at school.
and one group at my house after school.
for a little over 4 months.
then had them both meet at my house to play the Grande Finale. Battle Royale
find the Uber Artifact to win.
both groups were mainly good aligned.
nothing like good vs good for some really moral issues....
I've been thinking of doing a PC vs. PC game but too was wondering how to make it work. My idea was to allow an evil group of PCs to take shelter in a large cave. They then get funds by raiding nearby towns and the like, mugging people on the open roads or chopping monsters to kibble and taking their loot in the lairs.
The good party will hear about a group of evil people that have a bounty on their heads. The good PCs would be able to learn what the evil party consists of based on a series of gather information checks and role-playing.
They would be able to find out information such as,
a) a general idea of where the evil hideout is (but not how it is protected/fortified or anything else that has to do with the layout),
b) what class and tactics the evil group is/uses (like finding a commoner who witnessed a dwarf wielding a battleaxe standing next to a human robed man who launched out a fireball on some innocent people)
The evil party would be able to find out
a) when the good party was going to be in the area so they could “lead them away” from the lair and perform guerilla tactics before retreating to the trap infested lair.
b) but not exactly what the good party consists of.
The good party has the ability to attack the lair and retreat back to town but the evil party would have more treasure/funds “to stock up” in an effort to compensate for not being able to get into town easily.
The general overview would be the good guys knowing a lot about the evil people but not how to find them or once they find them, how to take them in/kill them much less penetrate the lair.
The evil party will know when and roughly where the good party is to plan for quick strikes but nothing of what is coming at them.
Battle to the death, winner takes all. Each group has the ability to give false information so the evils get the good guys to wander into a red dragons den and get beat up while the goods convince the evils that they consists of over a dozen paladins.
I really like the idea of good vs. good.
The good party will hear about a group of evil people that have a bounty on their heads. The good PCs would be able to learn what the evil party consists of based on a series of gather information checks and role-playing.
They would be able to find out information such as,
a) a general idea of where the evil hideout is (but not how it is protected/fortified or anything else that has to do with the layout),
b) what class and tactics the evil group is/uses (like finding a commoner who witnessed a dwarf wielding a battleaxe standing next to a human robed man who launched out a fireball on some innocent people)
The evil party would be able to find out
a) when the good party was going to be in the area so they could “lead them away” from the lair and perform guerilla tactics before retreating to the trap infested lair.
b) but not exactly what the good party consists of.
The good party has the ability to attack the lair and retreat back to town but the evil party would have more treasure/funds “to stock up” in an effort to compensate for not being able to get into town easily.
The general overview would be the good guys knowing a lot about the evil people but not how to find them or once they find them, how to take them in/kill them much less penetrate the lair.
The evil party will know when and roughly where the good party is to plan for quick strikes but nothing of what is coming at them.
Battle to the death, winner takes all. Each group has the ability to give false information so the evils get the good guys to wander into a red dragons den and get beat up while the goods convince the evils that they consists of over a dozen paladins.
I really like the idea of good vs. good.
Whisper72
Explorer
Well.... don't know how to do the logistics in a F2F campaign, but in a PbeM setting, it is great fun to have multiple rival groups running around, fighting eachother etc.
Things can be pretty hairy though. Expect a lot of PC death. Smart use of ambushes and traps etc. by one party against another can quickly decimate the ambushed party IME.
The effect from a PbeM way of playing is that you get a sort of turn-based rythm going. It is very important to keep track of time, to see when one party has finished something, and when another does something, so that when they are working to thwart eachother, it is clear who gets in what actions / preparations first....
Things can be pretty hairy though. Expect a lot of PC death. Smart use of ambushes and traps etc. by one party against another can quickly decimate the ambushed party IME.
The effect from a PbeM way of playing is that you get a sort of turn-based rythm going. It is very important to keep track of time, to see when one party has finished something, and when another does something, so that when they are working to thwart eachother, it is clear who gets in what actions / preparations first....
StalkingBlue
First Post
Pandion, is the hostile PC going to be a member of the party on the face of it (i.e. a traitor), or will he operate separately from them?
Pandion said:
My current character is a chaotic evil,pyromaniac,gnome. He has been living in the Dark Forest since before the town was built. He has done a few horrible things in his time but most of them were so long ago he has become a tale to frighten children. He views all the other characters as intruders on his territory. He already almost killed the other gnome wizard(got him down to single digit hit points,left him for will o' wisps to finish off). Even when he was thrown away by a dragon and landed in the middle of the party, he wanted nothing to do with them. I don't see why they would want him around, either. His smell is more of a warning that the dwarf's clanking armor. He has a skunk for a familiar and loves to use stinking clouds.He's not that powerful, just lucky so far. The party has never had good saves against bad smells. The barbarian may try to reach him as a fellow worshiper of Erythnul but he wants to sacrifice the barbarian. The drow priestess could probably add him to her string of charmed men, but even she must have some standards. They act like they want to use him for bait, and he is not dumb enough to allow that.
See above for my previous ideas.
I am trying to think of a reason why the evil group who hangs out in the cave/lair cannot simply exit it to make elaborate ambushes themselves against the good party. When I got to thinking, if I allowed the evil party to make the ambushes against the good party, I would need to have both groups meet together so they can control their characters, which I am trying to avoid except on the final session. All the other sessions would lead up to the "final confrontation". I am going to arrange for the evil group to have the ability to make allies and they (the NPCs) will attack the good PCs. The more money the evil PCs spend on the task, the more likely their will be success however, if the ambush fails, the evil PCs will have less funds to continue their quest of repelling the good aligned bounty hunters. Any suggestions?
I am trying to think of a reason why the evil group who hangs out in the cave/lair cannot simply exit it to make elaborate ambushes themselves against the good party. When I got to thinking, if I allowed the evil party to make the ambushes against the good party, I would need to have both groups meet together so they can control their characters, which I am trying to avoid except on the final session. All the other sessions would lead up to the "final confrontation". I am going to arrange for the evil group to have the ability to make allies and they (the NPCs) will attack the good PCs. The more money the evil PCs spend on the task, the more likely their will be success however, if the ambush fails, the evil PCs will have less funds to continue their quest of repelling the good aligned bounty hunters. Any suggestions?
Sorry for the delay with my response.
I've been planning with the one player who'll be playing the part of the evil, duplicitous character. So far he'll remain as a member of the PC group but act as a spy for an organization his character is a member of. The way the campaign plot is set up I have 3 groups searching for the same things and it's a race to see who gets all of the first(and can keep them
) The evil player is basically using the PC group to lead him to these items.
I've told him that sooner or later the PCs will wise up to his plans and he'll have to fight it out. The real trick for him is knowing how to screw up the other players' plans and battles without them knowing what he's doing. Should be interesting and logistically feasible.
I've been planning with the one player who'll be playing the part of the evil, duplicitous character. So far he'll remain as a member of the PC group but act as a spy for an organization his character is a member of. The way the campaign plot is set up I have 3 groups searching for the same things and it's a race to see who gets all of the first(and can keep them
) The evil player is basically using the PC group to lead him to these items.I've told him that sooner or later the PCs will wise up to his plans and he'll have to fight it out. The real trick for him is knowing how to screw up the other players' plans and battles without them knowing what he's doing. Should be interesting and logistically feasible.
