So, what do you do if a PC used to be a tyrant? What do you do if a different PC helped an assassin? And if both these thigns happened in backstory, how do you stop your players from killing you?
Since there were no new fights in tonight's game (although there were a
lot of off-color jokes -- and in not entirely unrelated news, I'm renaming the major God of Exploration something
other than "Bress"), so... wait, where was I? Oh, right. Because there were no fights, I thought it might be worth talking about plot development and pacing in an ongoing campaign.
Brief game summary so that the rest of the post makes sense (no spoilers, just compressed for space):
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- PCs escape from the burning mansion of a Croghan lord who also makes hideous flesh golems.
- PCs execute said lord as a traitor.
- Local citizens send for an imperial authority who has a nearby estate.
- The Imperial Magister of the Northern Reach, an eladrin wizard who has an estate nearby, arrives and takes charge of the situation. He requests that the PCs join him in Capria to have their story recorded in front of an inquisitor.
- PCs teleport thousands of miles to the heart of civilization.
- Bramble is the party's quith (aka wilden) shaman. PCs learn that the person that Bramble's military unit escorted to Capria was Oak, possibly the most accomplished assassin alive. Bramble warns the Magister that said assassin is no longer exiled to Faerie, and was surely brought to Capria for some dastardly purpose.
- In fact, there's apparently a rash of unexpected and apparently unconnected deaths occurring lately. Many funerals. Related?
- Stron is the party's warforged wizard, who lost his memory after spending hundreds of years buried in a swamp. With the Imperial intelligence service already suspecting that he is one and the same as the legendary Inquisitor Zacris, Eye of the Crown, Stron sees a statue of Zacris standing atop a platform of bodies -- and oh yeah, they're the same person. The Inquisitors want Stron back, but his Grey Guard oaths apparently supersede his former position. Much kerfuffle.
- Hey, apparently Inquisitor Zacris had a tower! Wonder what's inside?
- The party stays at the Pillar of Swords, one of the five nicest inns in Capria, free of charge. There are baths and fluffy towels.
- On a mission, while crossing a bridge, Bramble is attacked by the Enlightened (kenku assassins) who have apparently learned of her presence in the city.
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We're now two games from Paragon tier. That means that some character backstory that's been around since game start needs to attract some attention. Both Strontium and Bramble saw some major development of their backstory tonight, and other players will see some interesting things in the next few games as well. I think that's important. I've been sitting on all this great backstory, and part of me says "You can't let Stron know he used to command entire armies! What if he wants to do so again?" But the only possible answer to that is "Hell yes, that'd be fascinating."
The reemergence of Zacris after centuries is a massive stone thrown into the already turbulent pond of imperial politics. The fact that Stron isn't an evil conqueror like Zacris apparently was, and that joining the Grey Guard forgives you of all past crimes, is a fascinating (and unanticipated) mechanic for getting Strontium off the hook if he just wants to stay with his adventuring party in the Grey Guard. Meanwhile, some people in Capria will decry this and try to use or recruit him, and some will applaud him -- but his very presence changes the status quo, even if he does nothing. He's a new piece on the board of Caprian politics. What sort of piece remains to be seen.
Meanwhile, I knew it was time that Bramble understood what it was that got her enlisted in the Guard. Her crack squad helped an exiled assassin reenter the world,
under orders, then got sent into an ambush from which she was the only survivor. She was sent thousands of miles away before she could talk to anyone and an assassination contract (from a group that only kills people when doing so improves the world!) was taken out for her. Now she has told other people - very important other people - that the assassin is out there. That's going to change the world as well.
So, it was a game of plot developments, and I think that's going to continue for a bit. Paragon play should feel different than the heroic tier. More is at stake. Let's see how I end of doing in making that happen.
...unless my players keep making boob and dick jokes, that is.
I think this sort of plot expansion is important in a long-running game. If you want your players to have agency in the world, you need to take what they've given you in their backstory and make it important and worthwhile. That means leaving plot undefined to start and building it as the game progresses, using stuff from the players to establish your bad guys and good guys. Because it's important to their backstory they'll want to follow up on it, and because you've built story and adventures around it their doing so will push your game forward. It's a fun combination.
One final note. I'm so, so glad I made the Grey Guard politically neutral and inviolable by normal law. It means that they can move relatively freely in any political upheaval, and they're given much more respect than itinerant strangers normally would be. I like how that makes the campaign feel.
