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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 6495014" data-attributes="member: 4937">For me, this always proves to be the sticking point, but not for the reason you think.&nbsp; The big reason I find that villain negotiation breaks down is the villain is aware that the party is a bunch of blood thirsty treacherous thugs that can't be trusted and have a history of backstabbing anyone that negotiates with them.&nbsp;&nbsp; What's in it for the villain when the PC's are just going to murder him after he cooperates anyway?For me, this frequently becomes a problem, because I mistakenly make one of my &quot;three clues&quot; the confession or assistance of the baddie.&nbsp; But the biggest problem hasn't been the NPC getting killed before he can parley, the biggest problem is that even if a parley happens the PC's are usually lousy negotiators that clearly can't be trusted.&nbsp; And once word gets out that they are dishonest and not good for their word, it gets really hard for them to be persuasive.&nbsp;&nbsp; I'm usually reminded of the negotiations between Inigo and The Man in Black regarding whether the MiB will trust Inigo to work with him, given that Inigo is obviously just waiting around to kill him - only in this case the PC's are Inigo Montoya.&nbsp; The best the PC's can usually come up with is something like, &quot;I give you my word as an adventurer.&quot;</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 6495014, member: 4937"] For me, this always proves to be the sticking point, but not for the reason you think. The big reason I find that villain negotiation breaks down is the villain is aware that the party is a bunch of blood thirsty treacherous thugs that can't be trusted and have a history of backstabbing anyone that negotiates with them. What's in it for the villain when the PC's are just going to murder him after he cooperates anyway? For me, this frequently becomes a problem, because I mistakenly make one of my "three clues" the confession or assistance of the baddie. But the biggest problem hasn't been the NPC getting killed before he can parley, the biggest problem is that even if a parley happens the PC's are usually lousy negotiators that clearly can't be trusted. And once word gets out that they are dishonest and not good for their word, it gets really hard for them to be persuasive. I'm usually reminded of the negotiations between Inigo and The Man in Black regarding whether the MiB will trust Inigo to work with him, given that Inigo is obviously just waiting around to kill him - only in this case the PC's are Inigo Montoya. The best the PC's can usually come up with is something like, "I give you my word as an adventurer." [/QUOTE]

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