Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Rocket your D&D 5E and Level Up: Advanced 5E games into space! Alpha Star Magazine Is Launching... Right Now!

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7293508" data-attributes="member: 20323">Can't comment on your game because that's not a lot to go on... I wonder if the PCs have received public acclaim for saving this General? What are the General's views on adventurers? Does he wish to recruit them to strike at the cult in an off-the-books operation? Or distance himself from them because he feels humiliated? Or even belittle and disgrace them for "ruining his reputation"? Was he horribly traumatized by his captivity, did he manage to gain critical intelligence while he himself was being interrogated, or did he give up state secrets?I can share my quick recap of an intrigue-focused campaign I ran years ago, if that would be helpful?Basically, I can distill it down to 5 pieces of advice for such a campaign...but, as they say, "the devil's in the details"...<ol> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Craft a compelling villain with a well thought-out strategy (with at least 3 steps) toward a clear goal. If the players fail or do nothing, the villain advances toward that goal. Also, come up with at least one reason why the PCs can't just solve the problem with an all-out offensive against the villain (e.g. "Prince John" is untouchable so long as he has support of the kingdom's nobles); you want to facilitate opportunities to engage with the villain without violence (e.g. speaking thru scrying devices, state dinners, etc).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Create open-ended but clear quests, such as rescuing an informant from prison; even better if you include the PC's backgrounds into each quest & introduce a complication to each quest, for example, making the informant a gnomish PC's uncle & giving him a false tooth with an encoded message. Each quest should feed into another quest (that was basically the format for my 1st-10th level intrigue campaign).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">When introducing secrets for the PCs to uncover (e.g. the princess *is* the monster stalking the streets at night), make sure  to plant numerous clues.  Definitely  read  <a href="http://thealexandrian.net/wordpress/1118/roleplaying-games/three-clue-rule" target="_blank">The  3  Clue Rule</a> on the Alexandrian  blog and implement those suggestions. </li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Create scenarios/encounters that *encourage*  or even *require*  the PCs to engage in  multiple pillars of the  game (combat, exploration, interaction)  simultaneously. For instance, I had a chivalric tournament where a killer was hidden among the knights and was going after allies the  PCs  were  trying to woo; the PCs had to simultaneously place someone in the tournament to ID  the killer, someone in the stands to  protect their charge / schoomze, and someone to take out a crossbow sniper in a  tower behind a puzzle-trap door.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ol">Consider implementing a 4e style skill challenge approach (essentially tracking how PCs accrue victory points / failures / complications) for certain PC-NPC interactions when the PCs have a specific goal (e.g. interrogate the captive cultists, or convince Lord Palfrey to abandon his support of "Prince John"). This is a bit of an advanced technique & requires some imagination, but once you get the hang of it, the technique can really enhance an intrigue-laden campaign.</li> </ol>Don't worry. With a political campaign, it's entirely possible to reduce the number of combats they face per day, thus minimizing the need for curative magic.</blockquote>

Verification