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Message: <blockquote data-quote="N'raac" data-source="post: 6119596" data-attributes="member: 6681948">Or, as has been suggested numerous times, the siege is a roablock between the players and the city - an obstacle which must be cirvcumvented to access a situation in which the players are already invested, just as you and Hussar view the desert."We need to get into the city, and that requires getting through the desert" is not as different from "We need to get into the city, and that requires getting through the seige" to al of us as it is to you and Hussar.I interpret "crazy wizard did this" as "some lunatic set this up for no discrenable motive", not as "this location has a rich backstory which explains where it came from and why it is here".  The family that constructed it over many years have a lot more going for them than "crazy wizards built a dungeon with no discernable reason other than frustrating adventurers".  The same players I have seen get annoyed with the "crazy wizard did it" explanation would not, I believe, be bothered by the Maure Castle "family constructed this over the generations to achieve various goals it has fallen into ruin/been co-opted to other uses/whatever over many years" backstory.  Now, if we know The Statuary was created "as a private place of worship and reflection for House Maure, where they kept a shrine to their gods (including "Y") as well as statues of famous Maure of the past", I would not expect it to be stocked up with magical tras, winding endless corridors and numerous secret doors.  But if I'm looking to figure out some link to a past member of the Maure family from a portrait, coming here to seek out his statue and ientify him may be something I can leverage.Tomb of Horrors and White Plume Mountain have no such logic in their backstory or design.  The one I waffled over was "In Search of the Unknown", where backstory says this served a purpose as a fortress for two adventurers, the layout, magical and mundane traps, etc. does not seem consistent with that backstory (so "crazy wizard" takes over).Do we create advesaries?  Absolutely.  Do I look to the PC's actions and activities and assess what they might lead those now established NPC's to do?  Again, absolutely.  As an example, you introduced Kas to your own game because he was linked to Vecna, and there was an existing link to the characters.  Did his personality change radically to suit your PC's?  Did you create a character from whole cloth to introduce as an "enemy of my enemy" character?  Or did you take a pre-existing character whose personality and backstory dovetailed nicely with the PC's activities and backstories, assess the action he would reasonably take based on his established character (and, I stress, only established in backstory, not in play, as he had yet to meet the PC's) and play out the results of his actions?  It seems like the last - such that situations were extrapolated from a pre-given NPC.</blockquote>

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