Incentive for going to Thistletop

[amir mishali]

First time poster here.

I am currently running Burnt Offerings for my group. The PCs took the job of defending Sandpoint very seriously and spent a lot of time preparing for a goblin attack.

It seems to me like the incentive provided in the adventure to attack Thistletop rather than wait for the attack was pretty weak.

How did your characters react, and what incentive did you use to lure your PCs to attack Thistletop?

[JoelF847]

The incentive should be that stopping the new leader that's rallying the goblin tribes to join forces would prevent an attack on Sandpoint, while defending Sandpoint from an attack will lead to casualties amongst the citizens. The overwhelming numbers of five tribes of goblins attacking would make it impossible for the PCs to stop them all before lots of damage and loss of life happens.

Since the tribes normally won't work together without a strong leader, if they instead "cut off the head, the body will die", and kill the leader, then the tribes won't work together and the attack won't happen. The mayor, sherif Hemlock, and/or Shalelu could all nudge the PCs towards that conclusion if they aren't getting their on their own.

[HangarFlying]

Welcome to the party, and good luck with your game! While probably not a big deal considering RotRL has been around for some time, and the question you ask isn't overly revealing, it might be worth getting into the habit of posting your questions with "spoiler" tags unless you are writing in a thread that is specifically marked as a GM thread.

Spoiler:

To expand what Joel said, sometimes a good defensive plan is to take the initiative and go on the offensive: strike before the enemy has a chance to concentrate. By cutting off the head, the remaining goblins will revert to their inter-tribal squabbling and will cease to be a major threat to the area.

[leo1925]

For my group Shalelu made it quite clear that this new leader of the goblins is very dangerous and the full force of all of the goblin tribes would be devastating.

[Mazra]

Incentive to Attack Thistletop:

Significant points in some of Tsuto Kaijitsu's notes and letters if seen by Sheriff Hemlock or Shalelu could be stressed as to the urgency of the situation, like a bigger raid is planned, that one is transforming into a Demon, that someone by the name of Malfeshnekor may be awakened. None of this sounds good, and quick action should be the main course.

[Cleric of Caffeine]

I'm running RORL as well, and my players did the same in preparing the town for further attacks.

Movie plot spoiler:

My group wasn't too worried about goblins, or even a small band of humans that might be leading them. Once Malfeshnekor name was dropped I played up the dramatics of it. (The town wasn't attacked simply for goblin amusement, but only for the body needed for the ritual to awaken Malfeshnekor. Even created a deadline for the players with a "holy day" of Lamashtu when he would be awakened.

Of course if that doesn't work I'd throw Bruthasmus at the town ala bugbears in Classic Monsters Revisted style!-Possibly to steal further supplies for ritual?

[Miranda Silva]

Yes, once Malfeshnekor name was dropped my group dropped any plan of setting up defenses.