| sCZot |
Hi everyone, this is my first post.
I have some experience as a GM, but I'm new to Pathfinder. The players mentioned below are my first Pathfinder group. We started at first level and are learning the rules as we play.
We recently completed an adventure with my group of four players at third level. I may have set the difficulty too high, but the players loved it. They specifically mentioned how great it felt to be low on resources and holding on for dear life. This gave me the idea for a long battle in the streets of the city, where ordinary citizens were turned into mindless creatures by a powerful curse. It's a consequence of the players' choices from the previous session, because they chose a different quest.
I want to keep my players in suspense for a long time, constantly fighting or running away to get a better position before the next horde of former citizens catches up with them.
Is that even a good idea? Won't it degenerate into slug? I've got a few ideas on how to spice it up. The survivors are hiding underground with little to no food or water supplies. Some subquests involve building or finding fortified structures to rest in. Based on my knowledge, characters may prefer to acquire valuable items, even if it means risking unnecessary danger.
I don't want to wipe out characters because of poor adventure design, but I also don't want to save them through obvious deus ex machina mechanics. I'm thinking of an event on timer. If they can't find their way out of the walled city by a certain time, or break the curse, the royal cavalry arrives to clean up the city and investigate the source of the curse. This isn't the first occurrence of such an event in the area, so the arrival of the cavalry is for a reason.
What do you think? Do you have any advice? Even if your advice is to avoid this whole idea, I'd like to hear the opinion of an experienced GMs.
Of course, any other ideas on how to keep the tension up while throwing hordes of enemies at my players would be appreciated.
Thank you