About #2: what about a good 'ol note passed under the table? Also, in the age of technology, send the poor sod a text?
About #3: you'd need something with Invisibility and very good Stealth.
About #2: what about a good 'ol note passed under the table? Also, in the age of technology, send the poor sod a text?
About #3: you'd need something with Invisibility and very good Stealth.
Pretty much this. I would have the combat or issues resolved quickly, so the other player could be involved. Making Bob part of the tensioning though would make him feel like he is in on it, which might keep him emotionally invested for a time.
I suggest never doing this to a PC, I don't see it ever creating any feeling other than annoyance. Fortunately NPCs and Cohorts are free game.
Edit: or the above suggestions would work too if the player is okay with it. Depends on what your players expect.
Oh yeah, the baddie is gonna need Cone of Silence as well. So, I'm thinking Bob has pretty much got to be set upon by some sort of crazy caster hermit man, who patrols the corridors of some ancient ruin. Or something like that anyway.
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I agree that the best way to present it is if Alice, Charlie, or Daria says something to Bob.. and you get to say "He's not there."
However assuming they were spread out instead of actually split up, the players would expect to have had a chance to roll perception to hear the grue sneaking up on them, or at least Bob's muffled squeak as he was grabbed.
There's a couple of GM presentation tricks I can think of to help in this situation. Both would have had to have been going on prior to the big reveal that Bob is missing, however.
First of all, I'm a fan of red herring dice rolls. That is, asking them periodically to roll perception for no in-game reason. There's nothing to be heard/seen/found, but they players will assume there is (unless you over-do the tactic..) It's especially effective if someone rolls a retardedly high value. No matter what the highest result is.. you always say something along the lines of "Hrm.. not quite high enough.. you think you might have heard something, but now it's definately gone.." This sort of thing is exceptionally useful in 'searching through the haunted house' style investigations.
Second trick: Delay the roll-reward. Ask for a perception roll, take note of the results, but then pretend like you never asked for it. It's like rolling for initiative long before there's any sign of combat. Once there IS combat (or in the case of a perception roll, the Grue grabbing for Bob after they go down this next hallway) you apply the results. Let the paranoia simmer until then.
if it fits story wise then go ahead. as stated the monster in question would need invisibility and good stealth, passing him a note should work, it'll let the other pc's know something is up though (may ruin a little bit of the dramatic tension)
just make sure that he isn't taken out of the game for too long otherwise it'll just get frustrating and he'll lose interest quickly. I'd suggest having a separate area in the dungeon that he's taken and then he's forced to try and find his party again, following the noises of battle or what not. it's doable, just hard to pull off.
There's nothing to say a caster uses silence on a pebble, throws it near Bob while invisible, sneaks up to him and subdues him in some way. A 4th level bard could mix Silence and Invisibility/Vanish to sneak up on the character and, given some levels of rogue, knock the character out with a sneak attack.
I would do this with a silence spell centered on Bob.
When the PC's talk to bob and he doesn't respond, they all turn around and look.. and find Bob fighting something they can't hear.
This allows you the moment of "Where the heck is bob?!" without taking Bob out of the fun/action. It also puts the PC's into a quandry of not injuring Bob while saving him.
Also instead of saying he isn't there, say he doesn't respond. whether he is there or not, is something for them to investigate. (at least, imo- your mileage may vary of course).
The whole thing also can work better if they are exploring a column/stalacttite-mite filled cavern. They split up slightly or are just weaving through them when Bob goes silent. they have to backtrack to find where they left him, only to find him fighting something.
Just an idea.
-S
Offensive Tool is a metamagic feat that makes spells that require willing targets work on non-willing ones.
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Talking to the player who is typically in the back (Bob) ahead of time would help things. Letting him know that his character isn't going to die, but that he will be snatched for purposes of building tension and giving the party a reason go in a certain direction. Once the game starts, all it takes is a note.
Also, this can be done when the player for Bob can't make it to the game. Let the players know that they can still use Bob and that he is very much still there. Then, at some point when they mention Bob and interacting with him (or when someone makes a perception check,) they notice he isn't there.
Those are the two most fair ways I can think of.
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You want this guy.
The Shambler was a pretty terrifying monster for a PC in Call of Cthulhu. If he grabbed you, you could pretty much kiss your character goodbye because there was little chance of ever getting back to your home plane of existence, let alone planet, once one of these guys got his hands on you.
As far as building tension and all that goes, this is a whole lot easier to pull off with a beloved henchman or other NPC (possibly a familiar or animal companion) the party will miss because you don't have to tell anyone it happened unless they detect it right away. Otherwise, give your party a reason to separate or take advantage of any opportunity when members are off on their own.
It's hard for me to imagine the fighter is constantly making the wizard hold his bags while he tries on new armor every time they go to the market. Use their sense of security against them. They think they're safe enough to split up when they reach town? A kidnapping can be just as scary as somebody vanishing when you thought they were right behind you.
Something else you might try is sleight of hand. Distract the party with another monster, treasure or trap, then gank the PC you're after while everyone else is looking the other way.
Notes work well enough, but you can also just ask the PC in question to step out of the room with you so you can explain what is happening and make any appropriate rolls in private. If he fails the save or grapple check or whatever, you can go back to the table without the player while he makes a sandwich or checks on his stock portfolio. Don't mention the character is gone until somebody asks about them, and make sure the player in question knows not to spoil the surprise.
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If giving Bob a fighting chance at resisting being grabbed and drug off WHILE keeping it secret from the rest of the party is the goal, here's an idea.
Once the grue begins its assault on Bob, you don't even mention it. You just keep a mental tally of how much in-game time is elapsing before the party realizes Bob is gone or under attack in the rear.
Once they realize it, they're free to take whatever actions they like to find Bob. Once they do, you don't tell them what they see. You put them in Time Stop and bring Bob back to the spotlight. He's left to his own devices to deal with the Grue for however many rounds it took the PCs to come to his rescue.
This is an exceptionally hard plot device to pull off in most RPG situations. Especially in RPGs like PF where to many players the characters are presumed to be heroes who should win every encounter.
Call of Cthulhu is one of the games this would fit perfectly into.
If you are determined to do this, I suggest that you proceed very carefully. First of all make absolutely certain that you have the party's marching order well defined so that there is no argument about "Bob" being behind the rest of the party.
Second, before you pull off the vanishing act, call a short timeout for the party and pull Bob into a separate room to let him know what is going on. Ideally Bob should have some opportunity to react and at least attempt to avoid being captured without a sound. Simply telling someone "your character was snatched by some unknown thing and you are going to have to sit out this next bit of game play" is rarely going to be seen as a positive gaming experience.
Make sure the party has a way to rescue Bob quickly so that Bob doesn't spend the rest of the game session playing Skyrim in the living room. Heck, he might end up deciding Skyrim is more fun.
Give the party perception checks to realize Bob is absent. The lack of footsteps, or breathing, or something should eventually cause someone to say "huh, that's odd."
If Bob reacts very negatively to the situation, then be prepared to abandon your clever little story arc instead of insisting that it has to happen because it would just be sooo cool!!!
If giving Bob a fighting chance at resisting being grabbed and drug off WHILE keeping it secret from the rest of the party is the goal, here's an idea.
Once the grue begins its assault on Bob, you don't even mention it. You just keep a mental tally of how much in-game time is elapsing before the party realizes Bob is gone or under attack in the rear.
Once they realize it, they're free to take whatever actions they like to find Bob. Once they do, you don't tell them what they see. You put them in Time Stop and bring Bob back to the spotlight. He's left to his own devices to deal with the Grue for however many rounds it took the PCs to come to his rescue.
Gotta say I love this method of handling it. It's one of the few ways I can imagine that I would find cool rather than annoying as a player.
(i.e. memorizes this to use at some point)
Vanishing is one thing but a far worse stresseser on PCs/Players is the threat that keeps getting away. If you have not played Left4Dead (1 or 2) I suggest going and watching some LetsPlays. Team Four Star has a good collection over on BlipTV. Rarely is a group in a Player vs AI game in danger of having a guy "go missing" but have that threat from instates for infected monsters like the Charger (which can knock people around), the Smoker (which is basically a ranged grapple and drag), and Jokey (which is another kind of "move you away" enemy).
On occasion the Hunter monster which leaps around, can be effective at spooking if it leaps in, takes a few swipes and leaves. A kind of "run by" glimpse of the threat.
These kinds of things can have almost the same "oh s@~&" reactions that turning around and finding a party member missing can. The threat is often better then the actual deed.
Also using red shirt NPCs (even enemy NPCs) as the first disappearie can work better. If no NPCs are handy, finding the remains of such an abduction from an earlier victim can work. Take an Etherial Attacker, the PCs find a few finger tips sticking out of wall. They go poke them and eventually find part of guy fused with the rock (Knowledge Planes/Magic to know this is guy who didn't quite make it out of the rock before becoming unetherial. This makes a grab attempt by the critter that much more intense for the party, because they remember what happened to the other guy.
Actually what would be creepier is they find the end of a severed wrist and the tips of some fingers sticking out of the wall. When they investigate they find what would have been two people grasping hands at the wrists, as if one was trying to pull the other out of the wall.
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If giving Bob a fighting chance at resisting being grabbed and drug off WHILE keeping it secret from the rest of the party is the goal, here's an idea.
Once the grue begins its assault on Bob, you don't even mention it. You just keep a mental tally of how much in-game time is elapsing before the party realizes Bob is gone or under attack in the rear.
Once they realize it, they're free to take whatever actions they like to find Bob. Once they do, you don't tell them what they see. You put them in Time Stop and bring Bob back to the spotlight. He's left to his own devices to deal with the Grue for however many rounds it took the PCs to come to his rescue.
Gotta say I love this method of handling it. It's one of the few ways I can imagine that I would find cool rather than annoying as a player.
(i.e. memorizes this to use at some point)
Whatever method you use to snatch a PC I suggest you don't split game time between Bob and the rest of the group. It also kills some of the mystery of what is happening to Bob when you take some time to play out what is going on.
I suggest that you introduce an NPC to accompany the group. Make the NPC a little weaker and have a lot less magic items. In fact let Bob run the NPC "Just to make it easier". Then snatch Bob's PC and wait for the fall out. Now the player of the snatched character can help find his own character. It builds the tension more as they really don't know what is going on. Once in a while ask for Bob to make fortitude and will saves on his original PC just to make them think something is happening. They will really freak out if you make "hmmm, that's not good noises when he rolls low on a save."
Yar!
The only time I've seen this work at the table is via pre-game preparation. From your example, if Bob is the target, TALK to the person BEFORE the game starts. Yes, let the player in on your plan, and make him a PART of your plan. Emails work well for this as well, and you can even do some RP via emails to work out the details of how it happened (does he need to make a save? etc)
That way, when he's gone missing in/during the game, instead of sitting there bored or upset, he has a grin on his face as he gets to join the GM in the fun that is springing plot twists on the party and watching their reactions and seeing how they deal with it.
This is particularly effective when things happen like PCs getting Dominated or even Magic Jarred. Then it becomes up to the player to spring the GM's trap, controlling that particular monster through their character, etc.
Of course, the player in question NEEDS to be a mature player, who can handle twists like this, and is able to keep metagame knowledge separate from in-game/character knowledge, is willing to keep a secret for dramatic tension purposes, and in general shows signs that he'd be a good choice AS A PLAYER to have this happen.
Individual circumstances always add new elements and change exactly how things will work, so many of the other previous suggestions coupled with talking to the player before hand is, IMO, the best course of action. I particularly like having a few weaker NPC's tagging along that the PC's can control. Not just to keep "Bob" busy, but to smooth out the transition from "I'm an active player" to "I'm an active player, but "bob" the character has been eerily quiet for too long now".
Just my thoughts.
~P
You really don't HAVE to treat this as a combat situation. Take Bob out of the room for a moment, tell him what's gonna happen when you slip him the note. No rolls involved, tell him it's a plot effect and has and should happen without depending on luck of the dice.
If we let everything happen as combat actions allow, there's too many roleplay elements, such as kidnappings, that won't work. For one, 4 people mobbing up on a guy and dragging isn't really an option, because there's no such team Action to drag away the same guy at once as far as I'm aware, and while it's a very effective and real method, in combat mechanics, it's a slow and very uncertain maneuver to try pulling off, forcing the baddies to almost kill you, ending the combat, and then dragging you off.
The Bar-lgura is a 3.5 edition demon who looks like a fiendish gorilla. His main power is its ability to teleport with a non willing creature (target gets a will save to stay).
You should get a look to "Here there be monsters", from the Savage Tide AP.
passing him a note should work, it'll let the other pc's know something is up though (may ruin a little bit of the dramatic tension)
I used to use a trick where every now and then I'd pass players a fake note, just saying "Hi" or something. That way, the other players never knew whether I was passing a real note at any given time.