Seeking input: Creating some tough moral choices.

[Mistah J]

Hey everyone,

In the game I am currently leading, I would like to develop some strong role-playing based side-stories for my players to run along side a main story arc that might be a little combat heavy at times.

Allow me to explain the groundwork I've laid so far:
Out of a party of 5 characters, 3 have died so far. Once death occurred, I gave the player an envelope and stated they could stay dead, or they could open it.

Inside each envelope was a statement that their character was no longer dead; they spontaneously returned to life. It also stated that they had no memory of the time they were dead except one: they remember making a specific promise but not to whom or the context in which it was made.

So what I would like to do is, later on in the campaign each party member becomes involved in a side quest that ultimately boils down to a hard moral decision they have to make and the promise is to decide one way instead of the other.

That being said, here are the promises I created:
1. I will take his place
2. I will return it to her
3. I will tell him the truth
4. I will let her go
5. I will do what he asks

What I would like help with is coming up with the different scenarios to which these oaths are connected.

I should mention that I am not looking to be a d!&% of a DM here. I don't want to create Catch 22 situations that result in horrible calamity no matter what a PC does. Instead, I'm looking to reward my players with memorable and thought provoking story-lines.

I should also mention that the entity to which these promises where made is a powerful Angel, one who is interested in the party doing good works and fighting against evil so, these situations should be about doing the right thing even if, and especially when, that is a difficult thing to do.

Please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, and ideas - I am open to anything out there.

Much appreciated.

 

[TheClone]

Dammit. Until I read the word "Angel" I was about to say "One of them promised the/a devil to send him a soul." But since the promise was made for an Angel, you are more looking for the "sacrifice a lot to do something good" kind of thing, right?

Can you add some more information about your setting? Is it classic D&D morality? What's good, what's evil and what's going on in your world in general?

 

[veritas681]

Everyone lies. It's a sad fact of life, but no matter how moral we think we are, all of us catch ourselves lying about something. Sometimes, the most trivial of lies becomes the most egregious.

Roger and Sally have been together as a couple for a very long time. Brett and Roger have been the best of friends for longer than that. Jimmy has always had a crush on Sally, but she has relegated him to the "little brother" as long as they've known each other, and he'll take what he can get from her. These four are a close-knit group of friends that are all the right kind of tragedy waiting to happen.

Sally accepted Roger because no one else was around at the time, and she was happy simply to love and be loved in return. It wasn't until later when she got to know Brett that she began to feel like she'd made a mistake. Every declaration of love Roger gives her is returned with an honor-bound lie of obligation. She doesn't really love him back, but he's never done anything wrong, so she lies.

Sally will tell Roger the truth.

Roger is aghast at the thought that he might lose the woman of his dreams to his best friend, so he watches the two of them. He realizes that everything she likes about Brett is something he can never be, but because he has dominated her heart, his fear of losing her drives him to keep it.

Roger will take Brett's place.

Unfortunately, there is nothing Roger can do to be like Brett. Sally can see very plainly what Roger is doing, and it's making things worse. She feels guiltier and guiltier over feelings she can't help, and Roger's efforts aren't making that any better. Eventually, she tells Roger that she must leave him, and she pursues Brett shortly thereafter. Roger is furious with her, and implores Brett on his honor to turn Sally away. Brett doesn't feel anything for Sally and is dedicated to Roger for all they've endured together.

Brett will do what Roger asks.

Alone and with no one she loves, Sally turns to Jimmy for comfort. He's been there the entire time, and now he sees an opportunity to make his move. Sally tells Jimmy that she can't break another man's heart by pretending to love him and that he has to detach himself from her.

Jimmy will let Sally go.

The end.

I know I skipped a promise and only covered four characters, but I wasn't sure how to tie in the last promise and add a fifth character to the mix. Lies and romance are messy plot devices, but they're an easy way to draw plot webs as tragically as possible. I hope I've given you some kind of inspiration.

Good luck, and have fun! ^^

 

[Mistah J]

Can you add some more information about your setting? Is it classic D&D morality? What's good, what's evil and what's going on in your world in general?

Sure,

It's a pretty standard fantasy setting, the players are all the heroes - a card-playing rogue, healing based ranger, ascetic monk/paladin, shadow magic sorcerer and a greatsword wielding fighter.

They are all childhood friends and the main story arc will involve going up against a plague of fiendish origin.

Hope this helps

 

[TheClone]

Okay. I'd find it easier for have tough moral choices if the promise had been made to a evil being. Because that will cost them something and they most likely will strive to make right what they had to do wrong. With an Angel you can only force them into a situation where they have make a bad decision that will cost them something, but when it's done, it's done.

1. I will take his place: Maybe taking the place of a dying king or something and doing the job involves some nasty decisions between bad and worse.

2. I will return it to her: The pc(s) need to fetch a magic item that would be quite usable to them but they need to return it to some npc. They might be needing the item for help other people who will die without it.

3. I will tell him the truth: During a quest the pcs learn an important fact about some happening from the past. If they tell it to npc a, it will cause problems or cost lives. But they have to tell it.

4. I will let her go: The pcs adventure with a npc. At a certain point only one may pass to bring the adventure to a good end. But the one going will die and the npc is volunteering. Maybe the npc is emotionally valuable to the pc.

5. I will do what he asks: You could simply ask something evil.

I guess you can do a lot with choices between bad and worse or the good old "You have to sacrifice these 3 people (that you maybe like or love) to save those 10 others."

 

[Lendro_Furioso]

First off, I really like the idea a lot. The fact that it's an Angel they've made the promises to is different, and should be a surprise later on in the campaign. I'd strive to make the decisions very difficult with the information available at the moment, but in hindsight be for the greater good. Sort of like Frank Herbert's Dune, where the jihad is actually the best course of action in the long run.

1. I will take his place: the PC must take a burden unto himself. This could be anything from taking a position of authority (for connotation, see for instance the Sword of Damocles myth, for example). It could also be to take a blow for someone, ie, responsibility for another's actions, and their consequences. Maybe to keep the kingdom at peace the PC's will claim to have done some evil deed executed in fact by a ruler (evil or no). The PC's can get a bad reputation, but avoiding civil war may be more important. Think barons squabbling, this is the sort of thing that degenerates into a struggle for the throne.

2. I will return it to her: the powerful artifact/magical item is a winner here, think something like a staff that can heal the demonic plague. Once the PC's use it to heal a certain influencial NPC (a king, or any plot-centric NPC, really), they must return it straight away, despite the fact that it could basically heal thousands of dying men and women. Of course in the long run, it's more important to destroy the source of the scourge than to temporarily heal its effects. To prevent them from simply healing everyone, then the NPC in question, have them be far away from home, or create some sort of time constraint.

3. I will tell him the truth: the PC's must reveal a hard-earned fact about the plague to an enemy. This enemy will be working against them, but the knowledge will be used both to harm the PC's later on in the campaign as well as save the lives of many people in the enemy's faction. In the short term, concealing the truth would greatly cripple the enemy. In the long run, that same enemy's strength will be needed, either to keep a greater foe at bay or when all banners are united against a common foe.

4. I will let her go: I'd have the PC's catch a big bad evil gal, get something from him/her, then let her go. In the long run, the power vaccuum created by her death would mean more bloodshed. And a nemesis, those are always fun.

5. I will do what he asks: as stated, kill a few to save many. Not an easy choice, especially if it is an ally. If you think about the possibility of civil war, have the PC's ally with a good Lord, but in the end be forced to crush his chances to become the rightful ruler (despite the fact that he would be a benevolent ruler) in order to prevent a further evil.


So there you have it: a demonic disease is spreading, the ruling class vying for power, the populace wanting to hang the responsible parties, a king that is unfit to rule, a better substitute whose rise to power would mean disunion and certain disaster, and the PC's in the middle. In other words, a campaign.

PS: can you tell I'm reading George R.R. Martin atm?

 

[MortalPlague]

There have been some excellent suggestions in this thread already. I'll see if I can offer some thoughts that haven't yet been mentioned.

1. I will take his place
The PC must marry his brother's widow (or something to that effect). Or the PC volunteers to undertake a dangerous mission in place of someone else.

2. I will return it to her
Virginity. This may involve time travel.
Seriously though, the magic item or artifact is probably the best way to do this. To put a twist on it, the person they need to return the item to may be an enemy. Perhaps it's a scepter that allows her to control undead, and without it, her army will rampage through the kingdom?

3. I will tell him the truth
I think most of the good ones have been covered on this one. Nothing else jumps to mind.

4. I will let her go
I'd like to second the thought of letting a big bad evil lady go. Lendro's got the right idea.

5. I will do what he asks
When I read this, I thought immediately of loyalty to a king or ruler, particularly one who's asking something ill-advised or dangerous. Perhaps the king has fallen victim to the plague, and asks to be put out of his misery?

 

[Senko]

Just thought I'd throw this one out there

"I will do what he asks" the parties final task is actually to spread the plague rather than stop it. Becaues while its of fiendish origin its actually part of a complex long term plan by good. There's a tough choice short term good (everyone in the kingdom or most of them survive) but a worse evil happens later or most die but the worse horrors prevented.

Less bitchy choice . . .

"I will do what he asks" they need to kill a mother and her unborn child because the child is in fact the culmination of the demonic plague to create an abomination that will kill and feed on the people who survive from birth (eating its way out of the mother and presenting a major challenge to the party if they choose not to do as asked) only to grow more and more powerful as it ages. Imagine if you will seeing a newborn child tear its way out of the mothers body only to stand toe to toe (and perhaps escape) against a party of mid-high level adventurers. Who know's what it will become?

 

[Dragon Sin-Camealot]

1. I will take his place
2. I will return it to her
3. I will tell him the truth
4. I will let her go
5. I will do what he asks

I'm going to be cheesy because the questions have been answered satisfactory already. A basic possession spell?

I will take his place by possessing him then return his body to his wife. I will tell him what I did to him after choking her unconscious and let her go. He asks to return things to normal and I comply.

 

[Rune]

Allow me to explain the groundwork I've laid so far:
Out of a party of 5 characters, 3 have died so far. Once death occurred, I gave the player an envelope and stated they could stay dead, or they could open it.

Inside each envelope was a statement that their character was no longer dead; they spontaneously returned to life. It also stated that they had no memory of the time they were dead except one: they remember making a specific promise but not to whom or the context in which it was made.

So what I would like to do is, later on in the campaign each party member becomes involved in a side quest that ultimately boils down to a hard moral decision they have to make and the promise is to decide one way instead of the other.

That being said, here are the promises I created:
1. I will take his place
2. I will return it to her
3. I will tell him the truth
4. I will let her go
5. I will do what he asks

What I would like help with is coming up with the different scenarios to which these oaths are connected.

I very much like your premise, but I think you're missing a golden opportunity with your implementation. Consider, somewhere down the line (not too soon, but well before any of these promises will be put to the test), having the PC(s) tell you what the promise was. Then, give them some time to wonder when it'll come up, and how. When it does, make it big. Big enough that they know it is upon them and just what the ramifications of either decision would be (significant either way, of course!).

I should also mention that the entity to which these promises where made is a powerful Angel, one who is interested in the party doing good works and fighting against evil so, these situations should be about doing the right thing even if, and especially when, that is a difficult thing to do.

Please feel free to share your thoughts, opinions, and ideas - I am open to anything out there.

Much appreciated.

An angel is a good hook. Yes, it is true that it will mean that its goals should be similar to your party's (if they are at all heroic), but an angel does not have to be nice, or likable (consider Gabriel from the Prophesy movies). Whatever the promises, they should each have a dual purpose: furthering the goals of the angel (and its liege) and testing the PC's character!