When Villains die early (or when PCs can still surprise you)

[Angrydad]

I've had players unexpectedly quash my villains or their plans in wonderful ways, much like the OP's story. I generally let them enjoy the surprise victory and then throw them into something bigger. The whole, "Behind a villain is a another villain" scenario is a good one, but sometimes you may want to introduce a new adventure entirely. Have the succubus mother still be a pest from time to time, but give them some other power group to encounter now.

 

[Novem5er]

Someone asked if they went to dinner fully armed:

Yep. In retrospect, it seems a little ludicrous to have a shield strapped to your arm as your eating sauteed fish, but I was trying to play to the idea that the villain was so confident that he didn't bother to ask his minions to disarm before approaching him. Remember, the PCs had already finished 3 or 4 missions for him, including sacking a city and killing its lord

Plus, he was an elite monster 5 levels higher than the party. What, me worry?

I think I'm going to have the party deal with the immediate aftereffects of the last session, mainly dealing with the remaining hobgoblins. Once that's settled (or they've given up trying to kick out a small army) then I'm going to put this particular story on the back burner for a bit. The PCs are still a little too low to be dealing directly with Hell at this point, and a returning villain (the succubus) will be so much more satisfying when they've forgotten about her

That said, this is a sort of sandbox game... there is a plot, but I'm trying very hard not to railroad the players. If they decide to clear out the Hobs before they move on to other pastures, then that could be a very cool story. They WILL need to find outside help, as there are roughly 120+ hobs left in the city and they will soon be sending a messenger east to the badlands to summon the rest of their clan. I like the idea of an underground resistance, competing political factions, etc.

Funny enough, one of the last comments from the PCs last session was that they were going to send an emissary to Loudwater and implore Lady Moonfire to send a reagent to Llorkh to run the city. If anyone's read the FRCG, they'll know that Moonfire isn't really interested in running ONE city, let alone two. I would love for the PCs to have a greater stake in the game world... so I wonder if they'll decide to take leadership of a city?

 

[Iron Sky]

Sounds like a cool scenario. More grist for the mill of my upcoming campaign.


I've actually killed a campaign before by killing the main villain - the first time we met him.

D6 Star Wars, the GM's first time running it and his whole game idea built around the idea of facing off against this super-cool baddie he thought up. After killing some of the dude's minions, we came to a launch pad where his shuttle was taking off. The bad guy stood in the doorway of it, personal force-field shimmering, preparing to give a dramatic speech when my merc opened up with his custom-designed automatic pistols.

A couple exploding Wild Dice later (on both attack and damage rolls) and the campaign lay dead in the back of a shuttle. Session ended and we never played again. Too bad too, I really liked my merc.

 

[Quartz]

I dunno. If I were the players, I'd try to convince the hobs to leave, saying that they've learned that a number of townsfolk have gone to get help - true because the PCs sent them - and they better leave PDQ to avoid being caught between multiple armies. Loot but no slaves either so they won't be pursued. (Hob)goblins are cowardly anyway - 'Run away to live and fight another day' is the rule. If they play it right, they could remain on terms of mutual respect.

 

[fba827]

someone touched on it in an above post, but consider reactions of the cambion's father, or siblings (not necessarily working for, but working with because the sister/brother also wanted something from the ruins beneath the city), and then of course the mother's reaction as well - perhaps dominating someone else to confront the PCs.

The PCs may also need to retake the city - if so, will it take a little while for the townsfolk to trust them? They may have two fights on their hands - fighting back the hobgoblins while dealing with the pitch-fork wielding townsfolk as well.

And then there is any backstory or connection from artifacts introduced - maybe others unrelated to the plot so far, are coming to seek that skull for their own purpose.


But, yes, I know all too well about players thwarting what was supposed to be an over-arching plot by doing things they shouldn't have (if you're reading this, you know who you are )