|
I am about to run a game...Sunday in fact. The character are going to escort a noble coming off a riverboat from the docks to his villa, when a fight between two groups. One of dock workers the other of caravan guards, around 50-80 people on each side. If the PC's wait it out they can get out of it, if they decide to meddle they may get some "mob justice" dealt to them. No matter what they do, a few of the dockworkers break off and face the PC's thinking they started this.
How would you structure this encounter? It's a group of six (6) 3rd level characters. Would you have "Dockworker Mob" (1st level Commoners with the "mob template" from DMG II) and a "Caravan Guard Mob" (1st level Warriors with the "mob template" from DMG II) fighting each other, ignoring the characters unless they meddle? Have the "toughs" that break off be 1st or 2nd level Warriors?
|
|
To start with, considering a generic Mob o' Humans is CR8, I probably wouldn't throw two of those at a LV3 party. If, for some reason, I really had to run such an encounter, I'd give the party a pretty big hint that they didn't need to try to take either one on. Saying something to the effect of, "The mobs of longshoremen and merchant guards don't seem to be paying any attention to you and you get the feeling they're really only interested in fighting each other," would be a pretty good start. Then I'd set a time limit for the skirmish and have the local gendarme show up in riot gear to break up the fight.
As for the fightin' mad dockworkers who are going to break off and pick a fight with the party...
They're dockworkers. Make them Lv1 commoners accompanied by a Lv2 expert foreman. Equip them with clubs and daggers and maybe a gaff or two and no armor. Have them break off combat as soon as they see they aren't dealing with common merchant guards. Afterall, they've got families to feed and taxes to pay. These guys shouldn't put their lives on the line just because they're feeling froggy. Giving the party's diplomats a chance to talk these guys down before the fight breaks out would be a good idea too.
|
|
To start with, considering a generic Mob o' Humans is CR8, I probably wouldn't throw two of those at a LV3 party. If, for some reason, I really had to run such an encounter, I'd give the party a pretty big hint that they didn't need to try to take either one on. Saying something to the effect of, "The mobs of longshoremen and merchant guards don't seem to be paying any attention to you and you get the feeling they're really only interested in fighting each other," would be a pretty good start. Then I'd set a time limit for the skirmish and have the local gendarme show up in riot gear to break up the fight.
Done. Something to that effect is already in the "boxed" text I wrote. Also in my DM notes I put down that they will leave the party alone unless the party engages them in combat. If that happens the mob will attack until either the character finds some type of cover for one full round or the mob is attacked by something else...like the other mob.
I forgot that a "mob" is such a high CR. Perhaps instead of two "mobs" if the characters get froggy a small group of either Commoners (the dock workers) or Warriors (the caravan guards) steps out of the crowd to take care of them. If I go that route what is the CR for a single Commoner or Warrior? Is it still Level/2 = CR....so a 6th level commoner or warrior is like a CR 3? Is "human" now listed as a "monster" somewhere? (LOL)
Don't have the whole Mob attack the party. Just have a few of the indaviduals invloved in the combat and stat them up. Maybe have two or three "mob encounters" that occur as the PC's try to navigate through the crowd. Burnt Offering starts as a raid of goblins attaking the town but the party only fights a small portion of them in three seperate mini encounters. It works well at making the group feel like a lot is going on arround them as you describe some of the actions happening as they move between each encounter.
I wouldn't even bother statting up the either group of people, they would simply be fighting in the back ground I wouldn't make any sort of rolls or anything to determine the out come of the fight, it would simply turn out the way I thought was more interesting at the moment, assuming the characters are still around to see the end of it. The only combatants I would actually bother giving statistics too would be the ones that the PCs came into direct conflict with (ie the ones that peeled off the main mob to attack the party).
I might keep the stats of a generic human mob on hand as back up (likely just the example from DMG II), just in case the party does something unexpected such as charge into the center of the massed melee with weapons swinging... and in that case I wouldn't worry about the CR being much higher then the APL, because the party would have brought it upon themselves. I am a firm believer in player character actions having consequences.
|
|
Don't have the whole Mob attack the party. Just have a few of the indaviduals invloved in the combat and stat them up. Maybe have two or three "mob encounters" that occur as the PC's try to navigate through the crowd. Burnt Offering starts as a raid of goblins attaking the town but the party only fights a small portion of them in three seperate mini encounters. It works well at making the group feel like a lot is going on arround them as you describe some of the actions happening as they move between each encounter.
I like that idea. I think I will go with that option.
...The only combatants I would actually bother giving statistics too would be the ones that the PCs came into direct conflict with (ie the ones that peeled off the main mob to attack the party). I might keep the stats of a generic human mob on hand as back up (likely just the example from DMG II), just in case the party does something unexpected such as charge into the center of the massed melee with weapons swinging... and in that case I wouldn't worry about the CR being much higher then the APL, because the party would have brought it upon themselves. I am a firm believer in player character actions having consequences.
I am a firm believer of that as well.
So here is what I think I will do and I'd like to hear what you all think. Noble gets off the boat. PC's greet him and some RP. The stevedores starts unloading ship as per normal. A few minutes later the caravan guards come up waiving a contract saying they were hired to do the same work and take the cargo to "XYZ" place. No one can seem to figure out who is the signing person on the contract...issues erupt. The two groups collide, PC's have to get the noble out of harms way. While this is all happening there is an assassin that set up a "magic mouth" spell to go off in order to incite more violence, yelling stuff like "yeah, get him" and the like. Also it incites a small group of caravan guards to "get the rich man over there! he is reneging on the contract" which starts with the combat the PC's get into in an effort to defend their client.
So that's my idea for the first encounter. How does that all grab you?
|
|
So the assassin knew ahead of time a fight might break out at that exact spot? Isn't there a chance somebody will see a disembodied mouth appear on the ground or on a nearby chunk of wood or wherever as it shouts its message? I'm not saying the assassin couldn't have planned out the riot. It just seems like a lot of work. It'd be simpler (and cheaper considering the assassin PrCl no longer has spells) to just show up in a disguise, provoke a fight and then slip through the crowd in the middle of the battle. He could even disguise himself as a caravan guard and actually tell the group of actual guards to attack the party while pointing right at them.
If the assassin is a spellcaster, a simple ghost sound spell would be enough to create the provocation he's looking for while he hides on a rooftop and snipes the target from a distance.
Maybe I'm missing information, but there might be another problem with your scenario. The dockworkers aren't going to get paid for delivering the cargo. Usually a dockworker's job is only to load/unload the boats at the dock so they aren't likely going to have a problem with the guards transporting it anywhere. Likewise, the guards probably wouldn't care who unloads the boat since they're still getting paid to deliver the goods and unloading a boat is tiring work. This whole argument could be solved by a really simple agreement to let the dockworkers unload the boat while the guards go get a beer and then come back later to transport the cargo. Now if you set up the encounter as a labor strike is taking place, you're onto something. Have the normal dockworkers staging a protest when a group of rent-a-guards show up with scabs hired by the local merchants who want their stuff. No magical provocation is needed for a fight to break out once the longshoremen see their jobs outsourced to a bunch of day laborers.
|
|
So the assassin knew ahead of time a fight might break out at that exact spot?
Actually yes. There has been an ongoing issue with the porters and the caravan guards for months now. The caravan guards have been recruiting people to be able to take over the entire operation from the time the boats come in. Currently everyone is a bit cranky due to the weather...they are in the middle of a heatwave.
Maybe I'm missing information, but there might be another problem with your scenario. The dockworkers aren't going to get paid for delivering the cargo. Usually a dockworker's job is only to load/unload the boats at the dock so they aren't likely going to have a problem with the guards transporting it anywhere. Likewise, the guards probably wouldn't care who unloads the boat since they're still getting paid to deliver the goods and unloading a boat is tiring work. This whole argument could be solved by a really simple agreement to let the dockworkers unload the boat while the guards go get a beer and then come back later to transport the cargo.
True but the Guards Guild have want to take over the entire operation, so they been wooing over porters to their guild with little success. Now they been taking to beating the Stevedores to the punch by securing contracts ahead of time with the clause that their men unload/load the cargo to ensure its safe arrival, cutting out the Stevedores.
|
|
I am happy to report that so far the adventure is a success. It has been almost two years since I GMed a game. My players said it was a great game...only a light bit of oil was needed to get the rust off me.
1st Encounter - Dock Riot: That went well. The PC's went to the docks and did some RP with their patron ahead of time and knew some backstory about the bad blood between the two guilds. They greeted the baron and his retainer that they are going to escort and thats when the fight started up. Rather then two "mob" templated groups, I basically turned the area where the riot was going on into a terrain feature. If you wanted to pass through it you were going to get thwumped. The PC's were out of the way and were about to execute their plan to get around the fight when I had about 6 "toughs" come forward to fight them, trying to get to the baron. In the group is a dwarven "cloistered cleric" that dropped an "enthrall" spell on them...little if actual fighting went on. Pretty quick and painless. I was hoping for more but that is okay. They escorted the baron to his villa, stayed the night and next day got on the road to escort him to meet some nobles for the afternoon.
2nd Encounter - Similar to the first, except they walked into my "red herring" of an encounter. It's a bunch of religious fanatics. The PC's fit the bill of what they don't like. I adapted the "skill challange" mechanic from 4E somewhat to PFRPG and tried it here. It was working okay up until the dwarf cloistered cleric and the barbarian decided that the priest/leader/big mouth person needed to shut up. The intended to cast "silence" on an arrow and shoot it short, drop it at his feet. The barbarian accidently hit the enemy priest/bigmouth guy...which started combat. It is a 3/3 Cleric/Rogue and about 6 Commoners (ie fanatics) vs. 6 PC 3rd level characters and two NPC's of 5th and above. Needless to say it was a spanking but the RP of the "skill challange" was a good thing that the players liked.
3rd Encounter - The barbarian is severly intoxicated...slumped forward in his saddle and the baron's retainer leading his horse type of drunk. They are coming home and the assasin sets up a sniping position. He knows that the baron pretty much has Protection vs. Arrows up at all times, so he sets up and shoots his horse trying to get him to get tossed and trampled. This sets up another skill challange to calm the horse and to a footchase to get to the assasin...who is actually long gone but they find clues to who he is and so forth.
In two weeks we do another game. I'll let you know more about what happens. Thanks for all the input everyone.