Why not simply slaughter them?

[-=Xar=-]

What do you do when your players just pissed off a major evil organisation? How do you respond realisticly while preventing a total party kill? If the organisation has mostly low to mid-level members it seems not too difficult to keep the players challenged without killing them, as they can probably escape when their odds are runnig out. But what if the bad guys have access to scrying, teleportation and those nasty power words ? What keeps them from teleporting in during the night and kill off the whole party? Or attack them one by one when they are split up? Even if the bad guys resort to capture the PC's, why would they let them live longer, and give them a chance to escape? Speak with dead is your best friend...
I can't come up with any logical reason why I shouldn't let the bad guys simply slaughter all the PC's, hereby destroying my 4 year old campaign...

 

[swrushing]

you plan ahead.

asking "how do i stop the bullet" after the gun has been aimed and the trigger pulled is not the way to approach not getting shot.

Before you, as GM, install a "major evil organization" into your campaign, you need to ask yourself several questions and have plot and arc info for them...

1. how will this group interact with my stars?
2. what are the key elements linking them to my stars?
3. what will make this an interesting addition to my stars stories?

if the answer to these is "they will probably just slughter my stars in a lopsided squash" then maybe you should not add in that "major evil group" as a character in your story... unless your story needs "the stars were all butchered without much chance" for some drama thingy.

now, reasonable, in genre justifications for why the MEG "character" doesn't destroy the party abound...

1. the MEG has reason to believe something the character will do in the future will help them. A prophesy about "three elves and a blonde dwarf" would be just the thing.
2. one of the MEG "playahs" has a close tie to one of the PCs. Maybe he is the father of one of them.
3. MEG Likes the destructive potential this new group shows and figures "with a little nudging..." and starts a campaign designed to turn them to the dark side.

there are dozens more, oft cliched, that you can take and spin into new life.

 

[Darkness]

Maybe they need the spell slots for something else.

Maybe they don't want to risk going in personally. If the PCs are causing this much trouble to them, they could well be wary of them. Leaders of evil organizations often prefer sacrificing lots of their henchmen instead of braving even a small unncessary risk themselves.

Maybe infighting or corruption among the organization prevents them from getting this done. (Yeah, it's a long shot.)

 

[CronoDekar]

Various possible reasons:

* They underestimate the PCs and have other concerns
* They intend to use the PCs and need them alive
* They fear retribution from other enemies (yes, they could kill the PCs, but once they've used up their spells from the day an enemy might take advantage of their weakness and attack)
* They don't want to get caught (a crime against the PCs is still a crime)
* They have other concerns at the moment, such as finding the Evil Plot Device Artifact.
* Too risky (even after a lot of planning, there's always the chance that something could go wrong)
* Personality aspects, such as having a preference for dealing with pesky PCs through methods that don't involve violence
* A few of the powerful leaders of the organization are actually friends with the PCs, and doesn't want to see them get hurt (this can create a nice plot in a game!)

In the end though, this just might be something you want to suspend disbelief on, as long as everyone's having fun anyway.

 

[jerichothebard]

Because what fun is that?


Ok, ok, seriously.
What's to stop you? Well, nothing. But remember that the PCs are also likely to be part of an organization or three. Have a cleric? Built-in organization there. Have a board-certified mage? Well, there's another organization. Rogue part of the thieves' guild?

It's an arms race - MAD. Mutually Assured Destruction. IF your big bad organization hits your PCs, they risk drawing the attention of all the PC's allies. The Church of Pelor, the College of Mages, the ORder of the Sword of the PRophet... whatever.


jtb

 

[Peterson]

What I like to do is have the evil organization "get revenge".

Start killing friends and family, burning down any property the PCs own, threatening tavern owners where the PCs normally frequent, occasionally send lower level (and thus, less cost per attempt) assassins after the group, etc - until my group is forced to either make admends or go after the evil organization with fever.

Just my two cents on the matter.

Peterson

 

[Funeris]

In my homebrew I have a similar situation. The PCs are all low level and have just killed a handful of low-ranking members in the Massive Evil Organization. The leaders of the MEO have too much to worry about right now with the pesky PCs. So, they will delegate this task to members lower in the MEO.

Now, the lower members of the MEO will recognize failure probably isn't tolerated well. So, logically, they wouldn't just scry then teleport in. If they failed and survived, then odds are, it wouldn't be for very long. So, they'll weave intricate challenges for the PCs, hopefully forcing them in the desired direction. Where a complex trap lies. Now the PCs may cross to the dark side (this would be a favorable result for the MEO). But if the PCs don't, then they have to find some sure way to survive this trap that has been planned for months.

The MEO will learn well the tactics and skills of the PCs. A TPK is possible. But, don't TPK them out of the blue. You need to break them first. Break their spirits, attempt to turn them, and if all else fails then slaughter them.

 

[MerakSpielman]

OK, if this has become a concern, here's what I think you should do.

Stat out your evil organization - every major member has a full character sheet. List all their minions ("5 third level rogues"). List all their available cash, items, etc... Make a list of their political connections. Create a group hierarchy chart. Make notes on how each member relates to and interacts with all other members. Who is after whose position? Who has private ulterior motives for doing certain things? What is the group's long-term strategy? How are their assets deployed across the world? How many current missions and goals are going on, how important are they to the group, and who is doing them?

If you go through all this trouble, you might find that the minions and resources available for party-hunting aren't as unlimited as they appear at first. The party might be a thorn in their side, but elimination might not be a major goal if, for instance, there are several adventuring parties on their hit list, as well as several major plans nearing completion.

Then legitimately role-play the villians assigned the hunting job, according to the resources and minions at their disposal. What do they do with the limited time available to them? Where do they send their limited supply of minions? Where do they set up base and how is it protected (self preservation will be on their to-do list, which further draws away resources that might be devoted to party-killing)? What spells are prepared and cast each day, as a matter of routine?

The only thing I might avoid as a DM is the Scry-and-Fry tactic (Unless it's a tactic often abused by the party). There is a rationale for this. First, the resources devoted to party extermination might not include a caster with enough spell slots to make this viable. Second, if it is viable, it's very much an "all the eggs in one basket" strategy. If the party somehow fights them off, that's a tremendous amount of resources/minions expended that are potentially difficult or time consuming to replace. An evil villion might instead opt for a longer, more time-consuming method that keeps himself safer and doesn't run the risk of such a spectacular failure.

Great, now I'm thinking I'll have to follow this advice for my own anti-PC Evil Organization.

 

[Pielorinho]

I've only done the scry-and-fry once, and it was the penultimate scene in a long story-arc where the bad guy had just figured out that the players were on the verge of foiling all his schemes--and even then, his plan was more to regain the McGuffin (in this case, the queen he'd kidnapped) than to kill the PCs.

Consider that evil organizations tend not to be very stable; if the leaders leave for a bit, their underlings might decide it's a good time to make a power-play of their own. If you're worried than the second-in-command might be waiting for you to come back wounded and out of spells so that she can finish you off and take your job, then you're a little less likely to go out on a personal hero-killing mission.

Consider also that adventurers are usually suicidally brave; bad guys aren't necessarily so eager to risk their lives in battle.

So save the tactic to be a desperate measure on the part of the bad guys: it's very effective, but extremely risky for the bad guys.

Daniel

 

[Wombat]

There is also, of course, the moral aspect -- is it Good to kill someone simply because they belong to an Evil organization, or is it better to attempt to rehabilitate them? Is it Lawful to destroy a Chaotic group simply because it is there, or do you need orders to do so, or possibly hold trials?

Bringing alignment into play this way can not only create tenser situations, but also lead to some fantastic roleplaying!