Party Let Down

[DonTadow]

I just finished a major session in my story arch. For the last 8 or 9 sessions the party has been battling their way through tombs, caves, a fotress and finally an Ice Castle to find an Ice Crystal. IN the last session several died while fighting a Lich. The LIch also destroyed several magical weapons of the party in the process. After defeating the Lich, they saved the demi god whom possessed the crystal and she was going to give it to them willingly. However, as she was about to give the party the crystal, one of the party's longtime enemies appeared (a level 19 wizard in the body of a paladin whom's body he has taken over named Ustran Gustav ) . Ustran casts a spell which causes half the party to fall unconsious while he walks over and takes the crystal. He then uses his dimnesion doors and teleports to get away. The party only knows the person whom's body he is in and wonder how this individual is so powerful. They do not suspect it is the wizard whom's prized artifact they destroyed 20 sessions ago coming for revenge.

When I wrote this a couple months ago, I thought this would be a good idea to really estabilish the threat that Ustran was. The party had treated him second fiddle to the rest of the adventure. However, in execution, it came off as a big let down. The party had went through a number of puzzles and creatures to get to that point (plus two months underground) and they were happy after capturing the crystal. In my mind, I thought that a bad guy stealing an artifact they treasured would make for great anger and want them to seek revenge, however, it came across as a big let down as Ustran walked away with the Crystal and another powerful artifact they found.

Everyone looked pretty down leaving out. ONe of the players talked to me after session and told me that there were alot of down faces leaving the session and she was really frustrated as she felt all her work for the last two months was for nothing. Remembering the faces as they walked out, I"m thinking others thought the same. She's been the most diehard player
and she said that she was worn out by the lack of the payoff from the mission.

"After two months of being underground I expected the payoff would be phenomenal, it would advance the storyline for everyone and it did nothing, it took all the air out of our sails, we're barely alive we don't have what we came down here to look for and on top of that we find out that none of what we done down here will matter" she said.

Now I'm wondering waht to do. In my original planning I planned next session the party would be summoned by time lords whom would explain finally whom Ustran really is and what his plan is. The time lords were going to tell the party that they managed to prevent Ustran from leaving the time period with the ice crystal (Ustran still got away) after he stole it from them. The magic he used to reach the party was powerful enough to signal the time lords (for whom he has been pissing off for some time). The time lords are beings whom try to protect the time line and Ustran has been guilty of changing things for some time. The time lords would give the party the ice crystal and a device to prevent Ustran from teleporting within 200 miles of them. In return the Time lords will wish for the party to hurry and find a way to defeat Ustran as they can not travel to his home plane.

Again, this was planned to form the beginnings of an alliance between the time lords and the party and help the party focus on Ustran as the main villian. This was suppose to be the big pick me up for the party's troubles after this session.


But now I'm thinking this session was a bigger let down than before. I'm thinking about summing up the time lords session in a PDF and sending it to the party before session.

Should I wait until next session and role play it out or send the pdf so that the party does not feel thier time was wasted.

 

[lgburton]

this is a tough situation... but i'd play the time lords part out with the pcs. definetly... it will give the players an opportunity to play out the frustrations of their characters, get it out of their system... if you'd had time in your last session, i would have suggested not ending it until you could have had the pcs wake up in the presence of the time lords - giving them hope that the adventure itself was really not over.

then i'd try to end the session on a solid up-note. a sucessful combat, a good clue, something exciting - instead of the time lords giving them the ice crystal, perhaps something in the way the time lords kept ustran from leaving seperated him from the ice crystal, but they can't get it either - a small session where the pc's have to go get the crystal (and other, party equipment-rebuilding types of items) that ends on a high note, would almost certainly boost morale some... letting the pc's win a fight for the artifact, feeling that they did the job themselves, rather than just deus ex machina dropping the prize in their laps, could really help out after this kind of painful defeat.

just a couple of ideas i was throwing out there, feel free to ignore me

 

[Quickleaf]

Hey, I'd have the same response if I was one of your players and had just spent 2 months underground, several characters were killed, and a two-bit villain stole the pay-off. That your most diehard player complained is telling you something: Change your DMing style. No sweat, it has happened to all DMs at some point. It is easy to slave over a great plot and somewhere along the line the players get overwhelmed, bored, or disenchanted.

At a juncture like this, if I were DM, I would kiss my carefully woven plot bye-bye. If it's no longer fun for my players, it's no longer fun for me. Think about the time(s) when they were having the most fun during the campaign. What was keeping their attention? How were they being rewarded? What kind of villains do they like to face? Maybe Ustvan isn't a villain they can sink their teeth into. What motivates them? These are the questions to ask your players (and yourself).

As for your Time Lords question, definitely, definitely RP it in person, if that's the route you choose to go.

Cheers!

 

[DonTadow]

Another solution would be to have Ustran get away, then have Shiva get up as well and explain to the party that she is a powerful demigod, of course she saw the invisibility spell of Ustran. The crystal he stole was a replica. She then tells them shows them the real crysal.

 

[Saeviomagy]

Here's the question - did the PC's have even the faintest illusion of being able to succeed at stopping ustran?

Did they actually have any chance at all of stopping him?

Or did he
1. Teleport in, standard action
2. Cast another spell, rendering half the party unconscious (and was there a save against this? One that party members could potentially make? Or a total-bs-dc-45 deal?) (possibly a free action, but not likely)
3. Walk to the crystal. (move action)
4. Take it without a struggle from a demigod (??)
5. Dimension door/teleport away with no chance for the party to stop him.(Another free action??)

The worst thing for party morale is when they realise that not only do they not matter (ie - the DM is running the show in it's entirety), but that bad things happen to them because they don't matter.

That and the fact that the bad guy is NOT ONLY a bit-player, but a bit player that the PC's simply cannot recognise...

Finally - did you do this at the end of a session? Or did you let the PC's think they'd won at the end of the session, and START the next session with Ustran doing his thing. The first is really bad - you don't end a session on a down note: End it on a cliffhanger or up note.

 

[lgburton]

Another solution would be to have Ustran get away, then have Shiva get up as well and explain to the party that she is a powerful demigod, of course she saw the invisibility spell of Ustran. The crystal he stole was a replica. She then tells them shows them the real crysal.

...possible, but i wouldn't go there because to the players it feels as though they aren't accomplishing anything, but having it handed to them - which can be just as demoralizing as leaving a session on a down-low note.

 

[MavrickWeirdo]

There is a very good explanation of how to (and how not to) handle Intrigue and Betrayal.

It might even help you develop a recovery.

 

[scourger]

Role-play it.

 

[DonTadow]

Here's the question - did the PC's have even the faintest illusion of being able to succeed at stopping ustran?

Did they actually have any chance at all of stopping him?

Or did he
1. Teleport in, standard action
2. Cast another spell, rendering half the party unconscious (and was there a save against this? One that party members could potentially make? Or a total-bs-dc-45 deal?) (possibly a free action, but not likely)
3. Walk to the crystal. (move action)
4. Take it without a struggle from a demigod (??)
5. Dimension door/teleport away with no chance for the party to stop him.(Another free action??)

The worst thing for party morale is when they realise that not only do they not matter (ie - the DM is running the show in it's entirety), but that bad things happen to them because they don't matter.

That and the fact that the bad guy is NOT ONLY a bit-player, but a bit player that the PC's simply cannot recognise...

Finally - did you do this at the end of a session? Or did you let the PC's think they'd won at the end of the session, and START the next session with Ustran doing his thing. The first is really bad - you don't end a session on a down note: End it on a cliffhanger or up note.

I definatly made a big mistake. I planned on ending the session on the high note with the defeat of the Lich. Then looking at the time I thought I could run through the Ustran encounter, but with time running out he did exactly as you described. Which is why even I felt bad at the end.

The problem with running a mini-adventure for them to get the crystal is that, from the mouth of the other player, they feel that they have already accomplished a lot to get the crystal and another mini mission would make them wonder as if it is all worth it. From that conversation, is why i'm thinking about waiting on the time lord encounter until this is over.

Outside of the pcs not feeling as if they earned it, are theere any other negatives to the demigod telling them that the crystal he took was an illusion and handing them the real crystal. I could always say that the demigod hid the crystal in a room with a powerful monster or puzzle, but from the mouth of my dedicated player "WE've already done enough for this ::explenative:: thing "

I"m always worried about damage control now. As a DM do you apologize to your players for rushing through an encoutner and taking choice away from them or do you just do immiediate damage control at the beginning of the next adventure?

 

[Bront]

this is a tough situation... but i'd play the time lords part out with the pcs. definetly... it will give the players an opportunity to play out the frustrations of their characters, get it out of their system... if you'd had time in your last session, i would have suggested not ending it until you could have had the pcs wake up in the presence of the time lords - giving them hope that the adventure itself was really not over.

then i'd try to end the session on a solid up-note. a sucessful combat, a good clue, something exciting - instead of the time lords giving them the ice crystal, perhaps something in the way the time lords kept ustran from leaving seperated him from the ice crystal, but they can't get it either - a small session where the pc's have to go get the crystal (and other, party equipment-rebuilding types of items) that ends on a high note, would almost certainly boost morale some... letting the pc's win a fight for the artifact, feeling that they did the job themselves, rather than just deus ex machina dropping the prize in their laps, could really help out after this kind of painful defeat.

just a couple of ideas i was throwing out there, feel free to ignore me

I think you're spot on as to how to handle this.

I remember one of my first characters spent several adventures working to track down a particular NPC (Turns out it was a PC of the GM who had betrayed some of the players in a previous game by making a deal with a devil of some kind, who was ironicly named Foust.). Eventualy we learned that Foust had designs on a particular town, and we moved to defend it. With all of our carefull preperations and planning, we could not hold back the tide of evil he lead to overtake the city, and we eventualy negotiated the city's peaceful surrender to spare the lives of those who were in it from more fighting and distruction. It left a bad taste in my mouth, but as a character, it helped define me, and it taught me that you can't always win every encounter. I eventualy got over it, and later went on to fight Orcus (We managed to dispell him, which realy must have pissed him off, this was a 1E/2E game btw).

Basicly, give the PCs something to overcome, and some way to see that they did gain some ground, and all is not lost. Also, don't be afraid to give them some extra reward for their service (Perhaps the Time Lords have some items to offer them, or the Demi-goddess can restore a few of them). I think you can turn this into a positive, and eventualy get your players to overcome this loss.