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Hi:
I am DMing a group of new players wich have a tendency for hack&slashing. They manage to ignore all the hints of the small Hobgoblin-Orc coallition that has being forming nearby the city andlast sesion manged to get captured by said coallition. The only, game-wise, reason I could came up for them not being excecuted inmediaely is that the hobgoblins want to torture them for desacrating their sacred burial ground.
I am really doubtful about their ability to escape by theirselves. There is a new player that will be joining this session, wich is more experienced, he could saved them, not chosen class yet, but I don't want the player's to feel like the new guy is star so I am going to make him start captured. There's a kobold sorcerer and a small warband wich they faced earlier who has in his best interest the destruction of this coallition, they were reasponsible for the deaths of said kobold's mate and eldest son, but has a grudge against the party. I think I am gonna use it to save the PCs if they can't came up with something.
Comments please.
Yawar
Hmmm... yeah, it is Deus Ex Machina, but that's sort of what it sounds like your game needs now.
What I would do, though, is take advantage of the fact that the PCs are prisoners to do an age-old plot that's fun and often hard to pull off. Throw them in a dungeon without any of their gear! Give the hobgoblins and orcs a hole in the ground near their lair that they throw their captured folks into—maybe this hole leads to a "sacred" cave that the humanoids believe is the opening to the lair of an agent of their god or whatever. In any case, the PCs end up in the hole with the lid closed above and there they can meet the new player, and they'll have to fight their way through a dungeon to escape from the far end using only their ingenuity, their class and race abilities, and whatever pieces of gear and armor they can scavenge along the way from the bodies of their slain foes or dead prisoners or whatever.
An old 1st edition module, "In the Dungeons of the Slave Lords," worked on precisely this plot. It's a tough one to pull off since it's not good to just tell the PCs "you're captured and your stuff is taken and now you're in a dungeon," but in this case, that hard work's been done already!
Just make sure to put a big box of all the PCs' gear in the last room or something like that so they can get all their toys back in the end!
Wow...thanks!! But that would likely be the sacred burial ground of the hobglins they already cleaned/ desecrate and I was espesific about it being the only of such structures when I started comenting the adventure background.
Their actual situation is dire: the four of them are between 1-4 hps, the Fighter/Wizard2 is with only grease and true strike prepared and no bonded item, the cleric's holy symbol, wich make technically the most powerful member of the party, has been taken away and the ranger and barbarian are disarmed and unarmored. They main problem they have is the Darkvision of the cratures so escape under cover of darkness is not a likely option and difficults an effort.
I could place them in a poorly located place for a cell in a woodland encampment or in a cell in the dungeon/burial place. I most likely to do the first since its easier to escape that way, but it makes more sense for the Hobgoblins/Orcs to put them in the dungeon.
Suggestion?
Yawar
Just make sure to put a big box of all the PCs' gear in the last room or something like that so they can get all their toys back in the end!
Or, if you are feeling less charitable, let them get back to the surface with whatever cast-off equipment they managed to loot from the corpses of the fallen and realise that the majority of the coalition are off raiding the city - perhaps only 10s of Orcs have been left guarding the camp. Emphasise that the majority of the equipment that they recovered is Hobgoblin in design. Then hope that they decide to disguise themselves as Hobgoblins, raid the camp now guarded only by Orcs and retrieve their stuff while driving enough survivors into the back of the raiding army to drive a big wedge into the new coalition and throw the raid into chaos.
Edit: wow, lots of ninjas!
Stick them in the dungeon and give them some opportunities to heal - rare moss/fungi, etc. that is specific to that location. Depending on who the cleric worships you may be able to rationalise a way for them to craft their own holy symbol, or even have a manifestation of a creature loved by the deity who acts as a spirit guide and holy focus (holy symbol replacement) while their follower is being tested - presuming that they have been faithful to this point. It at least gives them even chances of surviving :)
The Cleric has been pious, the strangely the half-orc wizard whos doesn't worship any god has beenpious too, but live so far of the human Barbarian and elven ranger siblings (obvious adoption) has been a lovesong to bloodshed and theirselves.
Is my party that weird or this stuff is more normal than I think.
Yawar
There's a similar thread describing the horrors of one of my characters being captured similarly.
It's very informative and funny, if I must say so myself.
I remember now, Iwas the one who suggested the Wolf Companion/ Hold the Carge for CLW/Falling Damage Trick. It was funny.
Myproblem is that I want to let my players figure out how to escape and if unable use the least Deus Ex Machina solution.
Thanks,
Yawar
I totally understand.
To my opinion:
1) Kobold rescue and then subsequent capture might allow for an escape.
2) Kobold intervention which distracts the hobgob/orc team might allow for an escape.
3) Having a Deity that took notice of the desecration of the holy site act to intervene (thereby making it literally Deux Ex Machina) might allow an escape.
Those are the options I see.
You can always have a Deus Ex Machina solution that leaves them in a tight spot, although they might be rescued from death by it.
For example, maybe another adventuring party comes in and rescues them but in the process several of the rescuing party are killed.
Maybe the ones who live from the other party had argued against saving the PCs and blame them for the deaths of their friends.
Maybe one of the slain rescuers was the son or daughter of a powerful noble who now has it out for the PCs.
These are off-the-cuff real loose ideas but the point is just that you can save their hides this once while still "punishing" them.
If you can get them to eventually say, "I wish those orcs had just eaten us" that's a sweet, sweet moment to savor :)
MisterSlanky
(Pathfinder Roleplaying Game, Adventure Path, Campaign Setting, Companion, Battles Case Subscriber)
Wow...thanks!! But that would likely be the sacred burial ground of the hobglins they already cleaned/ desecrate and I was espesific about it being the only of such structures when I started comenting the adventure background.
Their actual situation is dire: the four of them are between 1-4 hps, the Fighter/Wizard2 is with only grease and true strike prepared and no bonded item, the cleric's holy symbol, wich make technically the most powerful member of the party, has been taken away and the ranger and barbarian are disarmed and unarmored. They main problem they have is the Darkvision of the cratures so escape under cover of darkness is not a likely option and difficults an effort.
I could place them in a poorly located place for a cell in a woodland encampment or in a cell in the dungeon/burial place. I most likely to do the first since its easier to escape that way, but it makes more sense for the Hobgoblins/Orcs to put them in the dungeon.
Suggestion?
Yawar
I'm going to go back to James' fantastic initial suggestion and add to it with the comment, "if the group was really as bone-headed as you've claimed, they deserve whatever crap comes their way." I'm one of those touchy-feely DMs who rarely kill PCs outright, but I've been known to watch a couple die from their own stupidity...
"I shoot the giant flying silver golem as it hovers directly over me." "Um, it's flying over you, you sure?" "Yes, I do it now!." "Your shot hits its target and thump, roll 10d6 damage as it lands on top of you." "But I only have 6 hit points."
I think making these PCs play without their toys might actually be a way to try to get them to play outside their comfort zone. Perhaps instead of a sacred ground throw the PCs into a situation where they can try to survive, but chances are they can't. The object of the encounter is not to kill them, but to make them realize the only option they have is to flee through the only available exit.
In this case, the Hobgoblins/Orc leader has a "pet" he likes to keep fed with the bones of his enemies. As punishment for their transgressions they're thrown into a pit with said pet (and lots of rusty/crappy/old equipment). The group's first encounter will be to fend off the pet to the best of their damaged abilities. If you're worried about current hit points, make the ceremony a day or two off (which might give them other ideas to mount an escape), which should be plenty of time to recover at least some of those lost hit-points. During the fight, the creature will need to be fended off, and more importantly you'll give them an opportunity to notice that there's an exit into some kind of warrens the creature lives in. From there you can run it as short or as long as you'd like. Frankly, at this point I'd then let them decide themselves what they want to do with their old equipment. Mounting a return expedition may be worth their time, and more adventures.
Still a little Deus Ex Machina, but not terrible.
One thing to consider too is that maybe your PC's got themselves in this situation because they thought they were supposed to get caught in order to move the plot along.
I've seen that before on both sides of the screen. In those cases of meta-gaming it can be a good thing to have it end up with everyone re-rolling characters, not only resetting the game but also their expectations/preconceptions.
