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Message: <blockquote data-quote="BrassDragon" data-source="post: 8498711" data-attributes="member: 7791">Some practical advice:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Use another NPC, a peer to the players, to frame the relationship and gently model the desired player character behavior e.g. 'This crime lord has a long memory and I've heard... stories. Please show respect if you can, maybe bring a small gift.' Alternatively you can have the peer NPC react to the players being weird, instead of the big cheese e.g. 'By the gods, my family lives on the queen's lands. Could we please focus on why we need her?' The reason this sometimes works is that it moves away from a direct challenge (where players will just keep one-upping the powerful NPC) and introduces are more complex dynamic.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you're not naturally snarky or quick with your repartee, stop playing out the scene in first person but switch to the more distant third person voice. 'After your remark, the baron's face hardens and he goes quiet. Only his advisors are willing to engage with your petition and they suggest the following baragain...' This takes you out of the firing line as a DM and re-focuses the players. Remember that one reason powerful people are, well, powerful is because they have countless flunkies and specialists to handle unpleasant tasks, like engaging with your player characters.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Invest one of the player characters in the relationship. It's not just a random town mayor, it's the bard's sponsor or the barbarian's former lover etc. Powerful NPCs should rarely come out of nowhere, whenever you can, hook them into the player character's backgrounds and establish some kind of feeling or relationships before they come face to face.</li> </ul>On top of that, it helps to have a mindset that no NPC is vital or that the story can only flow from or through certain NPCs. Let the players genuinely burn bridges and lose their connections, and introduce important story elements in other ways, preferably by letting the players work harder for it. If you get into that mindset and make it second nature, it's much easier to take button-pushing players in stride.</blockquote>

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