Playing the PCs for suckers

[rounser]

Do you as a DM ever do it, or as a player, have you been deceived by a villain into a (mis)adventure?

Given that many parties bite every adventure hook that presents itself, and uncautious or low level parties often take things at face value, no questions asked, I'd imagine it would be immensely easy to set up...and get them to do a villain's dirty work for them...or frame them...or bait them into one almighty trap.

Although obvious when stated (a villain thinking, "Those darned adventurers looking for adventure again, eh? I'll give them an adventure they won't forget...") it doesn't seem to be a very common theme IME.

 

[Impeesa]

As a player, oh yeah. That sort of thing is real easy to pull off on us. I think our run through The Standing Stones speaks for itself.

--Impeesa--

 

[Mouseferatu]

Not a common theme? Why, if an entire campaign goes by without the PCs being tricked into doing something by a villain, you can't truly call it a campaign at all!

Seriously, yes, happens all the time. So long as the deception is well orchestrated by the DM and the NPC, I have no problem with it, as a DM or a player. If, on the other hand, the DM is cheesy about it--refusing to allow the PCs to take actions they want to take because it risks exposing the deception, or starting every campaign in that fashion, and always with people immune to all divinations imaginable--than it starts to get irritating.

 

[FireLance]

I have used it, but I use it sparingly - less than 5% of the time. Use it too often, and you'll have trouble getting your PCs to bite any hook.

One of my most successful deceptions was one in which the villians were themselves fooled. The PCs were asked by a village of halflings to drive out a band of orcs who had taken up residence in their apple orchard and were cutting down the trees and digging up the ground. After defeating the orcs, the PCs found a map with several "X"s on it entitled "Golden Treasures in Apple Orchard". The PCs themselves started digging up the orchard until they found out that "Golden Treasures" were a variety of apple.

 

[The Amazing Dingo]

Definately have to agree with Mouse (for the second time tonight). The DM has to still allow the PCs the freedom of play and not rail-roading a group of PCs along. In the same sense, I refuse to metagame it and automatically feel distrustful (especially at those early levels). If my PC fails his Sense Motive checks but I still don't like the feel of it, my PC goes along with it.

If you want a nice, well-written Story Hour that starts out just like that, check out Destan's Sins of Fathers game. The PCs are slightly distrusting but the baddie manages to slip away each time and even when they catch on, he *still* manages to get them to carry out the rest of it for him.

...that ploy can be so devilish!

lol...Firelance, thats very cruel. For the rest of the campaign, did the PCs happen to have any aversion to apples?

 

[rounser]

Not a common theme? Why, if an entire campaign goes by without the PCs being tricked into doing something by a villain, you can't truly call it a campaign at all!

I dunno - isn't it usually the villains wreaking a fiendish plot on an NPC group (e.g. there must be a save-the-village/town/city scenario in every other Dungeon magazine) or "the world" at large?

The only published D&D adventure I can recall where the villain is specifically out to get the PCs with the adventure hook is a Lankhmar one which is based directly on a story by Fritz Leiber.

Spoiler

The PCs (Gray Mouser and Fafhrd in the story) are marked specifically as "time's up" by Death, who has to complete his quota of dead heroes. So they're set up to go to an island where these really tough crab things hatch out of eggs and attack them, and they're supposed to die, but foil it by smashing the one egg that's unhatched

...or something like that.

 

[Thanee]

In shadowrun this happenes more often.

I recall one adventure, where my villain had invited the runners to test a new matrix-based security procedure simulation program, and they were hired to be the killers, which had to be stopped by the security forces in the training.

However, once they got hooked up to the matrix, the villain started to use illusion magicks to make them believe, they actually went inside, while there was never a single moment, where they had entered into the computer system.

They were out to kill the target for good (or bad, rather).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Telperion]

Do you as a DM ever do it, or as a player, have you been deceived by a villain into a (mis)adventure?

Yesterday I finished a political backstabbing campaign where "the Game of Houses" was played by both players and NPCs alike. It was a grand affair of deceit, cunning and misdirection. I loved it and so did those players who were with me through-out the campaign .

As an experience it was great, but as far as DMing such a game goes...it was one of the hardest and time consuming things I have ever done.
I'm writing something a little lighter right now...

 

[Keeper of Secrets]

Some kind of games lend itself to this more than others. Shadowrun, supers and spies, to be exact.

If the GM pulls it off well, then it can really work and be a great kind of experience, giving the characters an exciting affair. On the other hand the GM can't overuse it or 'cheat' with it or selse it turns into merely being the GM's whim, which is NOT a fun thing for anyone.

 

[shilsen]

Happens to my PCs some of the time when I DM. What's more likely is that they find themselves working openly with/for a villain in order to stave off the efforts of a more powerful villain. Deceiving PCs into helping their enemies is fun, but giving them reasons to actually help them of their own free will is just glorious