RPG Superstar 2010 Top 32
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Another question - I'll be running the Lotus hideout in a few days. I'm wondering if I should try and push the party into entering the hideout via the well or just let it happen.
I know for a fact they're going to visit the Taxidermists, but if they enter via his trapdoor there's a good chance they'll skip the gauntlet and head the 'right' way immediately.
Should I (as someone in a campaign journal did) have some thieves come into the shop, spot the party and run out the front door towards the well, to lure the party into the ambush? Or should I just leave it and see what happens?
Or, frankly, alter the map to suit yourself. In your other thread you mention that your pcs are very tactical. Mine are very intuitive and tend to move quickly on the main objective. So be ready to improvise a little.
But I also feel like this: if the pcs 'skip to the end' in some circumstances then that has consequences, right? That might very well leave more Lotus Dragon stuff to deal with later. I'd consider just letting them do what they want, it might be kind of fun.
The Crucible is punishment for players who are too unobservant to notice that they're repeatedly being led into traps or for players who are so overconfident that they notice but don't care. They've already been set up twice: Vanthus trapped them in Parrot Island, and other Lotus Dragons lured them into a blind alley full of window snipers. The Crucible is just another attempt at the same thing, and if they're smart enough not to fall for it they shouldn't be forced to be stupid.
I recommend letting them avoid the Crucible and then complaining afterward about how they dodged your killer ambush later, so they feel the satisfaction about putting one over on the ol' DM. If they foolishly blunder into an ambush for the third time in two days, however... Let the dice fall where they may.
Incidentally, my players simply ignored the ambushers who tried to draw them into the Crucible well. They went in through the Taxidermy entrance and proceeded to clean out all the humans in the complex without even stopping to rest.
My players repeatedly didn't roll high enough Spot checks to even notice that the Lotus Dragons were slipping notes into their belt pouches etc. I would have liked to run the Crucible (heaven knows they could use a good ambushing to make them a little more careful), but they were just too damn obtuse...
My PCs also did not notice the notes until they got home that night. They also never took the bait and did not get to try the ambush. Then they joined the LDs so it was OK that they did not kill to many of them. (they changed their minds later-after spending a night in jail *grin*)