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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Bedrockgames" data-source="post: 9045907" data-attributes="member: 85555">I think you are mixing my explanations here. Bronze Master was designed as a villain to meet the villain trope. I don't see any issue with that. What I don't do is make him the villain of the campaign unless he actually survives to be the villain. If the players stab him and he dies on their first meeting, or if he becomes the big bad of a years long campaign, I am not invested in either outcome. And so him becoming the villain isn't a post hoc explanation. Him setting up the ambush isn't a post hoc explanation (the ambush didn't have to happen).Also, equally important, Bronze Master doesn't have to be their enemy. I have had parties befriend him. He is charming like a lot of bad guys. And that often results in him seeing eye to eye with certain parties. He isn't trustworthy. That is in his nature. But the reason the player got ambushed wasn't simply because Bronze Master had been introduced. The player went to Bronze Master, humiliated him and demanded a favor by demonstrating force. Bronze Master simply dealt with him diplomatically until he could get revenge. He definitely is modeled on a villain personality but his actual role in the campaign will very much depend on what happens, what his interests are and what the players interests are. My point was more nuanced than that. I was saying yes there is a conceit to playability going on with some of these premises, they aren't 100% historical realism, but that doesn't mean you can't bring historical realism to the table with them. Again it is about what franchise you are in. There are different kinds of action movies. Some are more grounded in reality, some are more comfortable with obvious plot contrivance and genre conventions that strain credulity becuause they add to the fun. Most campaigns reside on a spectrum here. It is not a matter of it being A or B (contrived or not contrived).I was responding to posts and points people made as they made them. I wasn't litigating the whole thread.</blockquote>

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