D&D 5E Send a party to get an item/loot, how to keep them to their contract?

[CrimsonCarcharodon]

Let them run off with the item. Just make sure there are interesting consequences for doing so. Maybe the NPC sends a second group of adventurers after them, to get the item and take revenge. Or maybe the party gets the law called down on them, leading to attempted arrests or more drastic action. Maybe the party finds themselves subject to a thief trying to pickpocket the item away. Or maybe the item is actually cursed and the NPC just wanted it away from whoever had it in the first place; plot twist, HE was planning on betraying the PCs and forcing them to keep the blasted thing.

 

[Mephista]

So, here's my question in the first place. Why is the quest giver, well, giving the quest to a party they can't count on? I get that you're a GM giving out a plot hook, but shouldn't someone realistically have some kind of trusted people to do this kind of thing? There should be some kind of connection going on here other than shadowy person trying to hire everyone inside of a tavern, right?


Maybe the Contract is magically sealed? Like a geas on parchment type thing?

 

[DeJoker]

As some folks have pointed out it depends greatly upon the party as to what constraints you wish to place upon the contract or if you have one at all but let me wander done that path with a few musings of my own from past experience and maybe you will get some incites

As stated you have to tailor you adventure to the party, if you have a good aligned party that wants to be helpful then why would they keep the item for themselves as that is neither good nor helpful conversely if you part is evil, self-serving, or otherwise despicable in character (Chaotic Neutral to Chaotic Evil) then you need to deal with the party accordingly. So lets separate these two and look at them separately

Good Heroic Types
1) No Issue should be here with any contract they take to get any item
2) Just about any good person might higher them
3) The law might be willing to help them assuming it is not corrupt (aka evil)
4) Straight contracts in this case can be rather boring spice it up -- I liked the suggestion of sending
them to get a specific goose feather (or similar rather mundane seeming item) from a very
dangerous place and let them speculate on the why. For I have often changed what I was going
to do based off player speculation because as a player it is FUN sometimes to correctly guess
what your GM is up to even if initially it was not what you as the GM were up to

Some of those other potential contracts work as well -- helping a PC's relatives, a PC's church,
PC's benefactor, sensai, mentor, etc....

In this vein I once sent the PCs to go find someone's nephew, but this was after they had proved they were
reliable by completing 3 previous missions, to make sure he was safe because the individual as their employer
had lost contact with their nephew. Upon completion of the task they would be paid for the information good
or bad. This got the players to the destination of their next slew of adventures and they almost forgot the reason
they had come there to begin with. Eventually they did find and ultimately rescue said nephew and got paid
for that mission but by then they were neck deep in adventures. Still the downtime was used for various tasks
while one of them took a ship back to their client to complete their contract and get paid.

Evil Group
1) First I want to say I never run non-heroic groups as I find no redeeming elements in such an endeavor
and player if they are truly playing their alignments are not going to be buddy buddy for all that long
so party doomed if played correctly
2) As someone mentioned a Thieves oriented adventure is what you are looking at here, and as such if
the employer is not prepared to handle betrayal then they deserve to get burned by the PCs conversely
burn me once and not only do you have assassins on your tail now but you will no longer get any more
missions from me or any of my allies. There is a reason why there is honor among thieves because
without no one trusts you and you cannot get any work unless it is to kill someone and if you succeed
at doing that you just might not get paid, burn me once, then I will burn you seems fair to me
3) Of course if you have a PCs church (aka deity) request them to do something for a reward and they
double-cross the deity well not only does that PC lose access to their clerical magic but they have a
pissed off evil deity now gunning for them.
4) Again I do not run this kind of characters also because eventually the whole concept of why most folks
play RPGs gets chucked out that window and that is being the hero of the story, there are very few
books/stories out there that are written from the villains point of view which should give you some
indication that it is not a very popular topic nor all that fun after a while especially if you are making
them deal with the true consequences of their actions. No one likes to live their life always looking
over their shoulder or worrying about the who is out gunning for them today.

Lastly I never force players to do anything as that by definition is railroading -- although if you want and the employer is evil you could have them force the players in some way shape or form but that should be only if the group is evil themselves as such this employer (good or evil) would have a way to make sure that the PCs are compliant with their end of the bargain (Suicide Squad for instance)

 

[Baldurs_Underdark]

Hey all,

Thanks for all the replies. As other times before, the replies gave me a lot of inspiration.
I've invented an item with historical significance, which if anyone is carrying it will just get them killed - especially if they try to sell it. Except my NPC, which has the right network to turn the item into cash. But it's work in progress, and I will definitely visit this thread a bunch more times in the coming days to fine-tune this item and contract. It's an important part of the campaign.

Thanks all!

 

[Imaculata]

[*]Allow the players to do what they want, and have the NPC believe them... if they roll high enough on Persuasion (pretty much only a 19 or 20 on the D20). If this happens, too bad for me as DM. I'll have to deal with it.

Thats a good place to start. But why the Persuation check? Is the guy a walking lie detector? Only ask for a check if the players say something that would make the npc suspicious.

[*]Since they are likely to fail the Persuasion, the NPC will offer that the players pay up front for the information. Players are unlikely to have enough cash, and probably won't trust the NPC enough anyway.

This is what I would NOT do. If you don't want them to succeed at persuasion, and set the DC impossibly high, then why even have a check at all?
Here is what you should ask yourself as a DM:

-Does the npc have a good reason to not take the players for their word?
-Does the party have a bad reputation, that would lead the npc to mistrust them?
-Did the players not deliver the expected amount of items? Are some things missing that were expected?

If the answer to these questions is "no", then the players don't even need to make a persuation check. It's not a lie detector!

If the players won't pay, the NPC will offer that they all enter a Zone of Truth, and explain their intentions through multiple questions. Works if they are honest, which the NPC is, but probably will lead to no contract at all because I doubt that the players are 100% honest (although it may be hilarious).

You do not need to jump through so many hoops. Just have the npc stress to the players that if they are found at any point to be in breach of contract, word will spread, it will ruin their reputation, and he will seek compensation. Once the players understand that cheating the npc out of a bunch of valuables is a big risk, they may be less inclined to do so. But it still is their choice, and so there should be interesting/fun consequences IF THEY ARE CAUGHT. Don't make it so that they are automatically caught. If they are careful, they should get away with their foul play. And that's fine.

I am considering to invent a magical ring or armband which (one of) the players cannot remove, and which the NPC can locate from a distance. This way if the players betray the NPC and run off with all the loot, at least the NPC can track them down. Could lead to an interesting storyline by itself if the players choose to betray the NPC anyway.

These seem like more hoops. Do you want there to be a choice or not?

If the npc wanted to figure out if he had been cheated by the players, he'd probably have close ties to local merchants, and check whether they were sold suspicious goods by the players, shortly after finishing the job. Its that simple.

He would also easily find out if the players never returned at all. He's probably got a reasonable estimate of how long this job should take, taking into account the travel time. So if the players haven't returned to him with the item by then, he'll start asking around, and check if the players were seen leaving the region. He would probably send a pidgeon to nearby towns and cities, and check whether these adventurers were seen passing through there. Once the npc has verified that the players have taken off with his item(s), he'll probably put a bounty on their heads, and they could get arrested at the gate of any city.

That's all you really need. This guy may be influential, and may have a lot of contacts. Maybe there's a lot of people in the region that really like/respect the guy, and would quickly spread word to him, if they were sold dodgy items by the party that might belong to him.

 

[schnee]

Geas spells.

 

[Warmaster Horus]

...
-Does the npc have a good reason to not take the players for their word?
-Does the party have a bad reputation, that would lead the npc to mistrust them?
-Did the players not deliver the expected amount of items? Are some things missing that were expected?

If the answer to these questions is "no", then the players don't even need to make a persuation check. It's not a lie detector!
...

If the PCs return empty-handed to a competent patron who paid them to get a valuable item, I would think there would be a significant investigation into the possibility they are lying. NPCs should not typically be bumbling dupes who don't do due diligence even if the PCs succeed at some good Persuasion rolls. The NPC would have to have a very good reason to NOT doubt the PCs.

 

[Imaculata]

If the PCs return empty-handed to a competent patron who paid them to get a valuable item, I would think there would be a significant investigation into the possibility they are lying. NPCs should not typically be bumbling dupes who don't do due diligence even if the PCs succeed at some good Persuasion rolls. The NPC would have to have a very good reason to NOT doubt the PCs.

As I said, that is only IF the players return empty handed. That would already be a red flag.

But if the players do not return empty handed, but secretly keep a few of the items for themselves, would there be any reason to suspect foul play?

 

[Sunseeker]

First off: never pay the party up-front.
Second: the "tracking rings" is a neat idea, but I'd offer a bonus to anyone who wears them, like 10% more.
Third: when the PCs first meet with the NPC, make sure something about the NPC makes the players feel uneasy about betraying them.

As everyone else has said, if your party is a bunch of shiftless thieves, keeping them honest is a fools errand.

 

[iserith]

It may not be what you want to hear, but I think you'd save yourself a lot of effort and worries if you set about divesting yourself of caring about whether the PCs fulfill the contract. That may mean reworking whatever plot you're trying to set up or being okay with just rolling with whatever may happen. Interesting (and fun) consequences reasonably follow anyone who fails to hold up their end of the bargain. Those consequences are the beginnings of new adventures.