NOW LIVE! Today's the day you meet your new best friend. You don’t have to leave Wolfy behind... In 'Pets & Sidekicks' your companions level up with you!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="kenada" data-source="post: 8942193" data-attributes="member: 70468">I’d like to explore the example a bit more. Let’s assume that the DM has indicated that this is a possible consequence. When the PCs go to fight the Ruffians, the DM notes this will have fallout if they kill someone, especially with the Townmaster who is afraid of retribution. This is known because the PCs can see how the townsfolk are afraid, and they’ve talked to a few people who mention the Townmaster in particular is trying to keep things together but feels like he can’t do much about the situation. So the PCs decide to enact justice in the way that they tend to do: they kill all that bad guys. The townspeople are happy that someone has come to kick Ruffian butt, but the Townmaster is freaked out.From there, the DM explains what is happening and what consequence the Townmaster is considering: declaring them outlaws. He needs to show that he is a friend to the Ruffians to prevent them from hurting people in the town. The PCs try to negotiate. Maybe they suggest they can take care of the problem, but the Townmaster is wary. They roll because there are obviously consequences at stake, and …. Well, it’ll depend and could go one of the ways described in the previous post.Success with a hindrance is the Townmaster has to make a show of things to the Ruffians. He agrees it would be helpful to deal with the Ruffian problem, and they’d appreciate it, but he can’t be seen showing any kind of support. Even though they’re themselves considered outlaws, the Ruffians have demonstrated that they will use violence to impose their will. However, the Townmaster slips the PCs a token to show to trusted people to gain their support.Otherwise, on a failure, the PCs are properly declared outlaws. They could try to act like the Ruffians and get what they want by imposition, but they’re pretty much on their own when it comes to dealing with the Ruffians. No one is going to help them, and if they are on the losing side of things, then it sucks to be the PCs. Even if the PCs somehow prevail, they will probably need to do something to make restitution and show the Townmaster and people of Phandalin that they’re not a threat to it.When I talk about this situation as a “zag”, it’s in the context of the adventure which (more or less) assumes the PCs heroically save the town from the Ruffians. Maybe the party kills them all, or they detail and take the members of the gang prisoner, but the rest of the adventure is set up to dispense the necessary hooks to get the PCs to go to the other places of interest (Thundertree, Cragmaw Castle, etc). With the zag, those hooks are gone. No one is going to talk to the PCs (definitely not openly). The PCs might still discover those things, but it’s going to be through other mechanisms. Perhaps they set out north from Phandalin and run into some of those situations naturally instead of via hook.What I’m trying to suss out is to what extent having an adventure like that acts as a constraint, or how compatible this kind of play is compatible with having an adventure like that at all. Even if this consequence makes sense (it follows from the fiction, makes sense, is signaled as a consequence, etc), should one still keep the intended arrow of play in mind? Maybe instead of being declared outlaws, a more zig-aligned approach would be putting the PCs in the service of the Townmaster or requiring them to make an act of contrition towards the Ruffians as a way to diffuse the situation and avoid reprisals?</blockquote>

Verification