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Last night my players finally finished the island, and so it was time for the showdown with Plugg and Scourge -- or so I thought!
It turned out that the players were so scared of Plugg that they had never even thought that open mutiny was a possibility. They were seriously considering staying on the island and building their own raft rather than going back on the ship!
While I admired their ingenuity, I really couldn't let the campaign get that far off track. And I couldn't understand why they were so terrified of the twerp. So we ended up discussing it all out of character, and I really came to understand where they were coming from.
It turned out that everything I had said to try to subtly encourage them to mutiny had actually made them think he was impossibly strong. I emphasized that he was way younger than the other Wormwood officers. They thought this must mean that he was even stronger than them, to have gotten promoted so quickly. I never showed him actually doing anything awesome in combat. They thought he was holding back to keep his true power a secret, and was probably a high-level spellcaster. When he deviated from Harrigan's plan, they figured that he must be at least as powerful as the Boss in order to risk it!
So, unhappily, I basically had to just straight-up tell them that he was only Level 5, and that they could take him.
It ended up being a really good fight, especially thanks to a couple of Barbazu devils that Plugg managed to summon up as a last-ditch tactic (in my story he's a rogue Chelish agent who worships Mammon). But I don't like how railroady I had to get to make it happen.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can anybody think of some good, subtle ways to let the players know that Plugg is actually vulnerable?
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Interesting problem. My group had a healthy fear of Plugg, but they found Bonewrack Isle so completely unforgiving they didn't see any choice but to confront Plugg. Staying on that island was out of the question!
Yeah, my players kicked butt on the island, plus they found Aaron Ivy living there (fairly comfortably, thanks to his traps!). So they figured they could hang with him a few weeks, build a vessel using Craft (carpentry) and Knowledge (engineering), and make themselves scarce! As much as I liked their fight on the ship, I kinda wish I'd let 'em. :)
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Yeah, my players kicked butt on the island, plus they found Aaron Ivy living there (fairly comfortably, thanks to his traps!). So they figured they could hang with him a few weeks, build a vessel using Craft (carpentry) and Knowledge (engineering), and make themselves scarce! As much as I liked their fight on the ship, I kinda wish I'd let 'em. :)
That could have worked. You could always have them come into a ship another way. Maybe repair the Infernus or have a smuggler or a slaver come by the island and the PC's take it. Then proceed to Rickety's as per the plot, but with the addition of knowing that Plugg is out there as another recurring villain in addition to Harrigan.
Last night my players finally finished the island, and so it was time for the showdown with Plugg and Scourge -- or so I thought!
It turned out that the players were so scared of Plugg that they had never even thought that open mutiny was a possibility. They were seriously considering staying on the island and building their own raft rather than going back on the ship!
While I admired their ingenuity, I really couldn't let the campaign get that far off track. And I couldn't understand why they were so terrified of the twerp. So we ended up discussing it all out of character, and I really came to understand where they were coming from.
It turned out that everything I had said to try to subtly encourage them to mutiny had actually made them think he was impossibly strong. I emphasized that he was way younger than the other Wormwood officers. They thought this must mean that he was even stronger than them, to have gotten promoted so quickly. I never showed him actually doing anything awesome in combat. They thought he was holding back to keep his true power a secret, and was probably a high-level spellcaster. When he deviated from Harrigan's plan, they figured that he must be at least as powerful as the Boss in order to risk it!
So, unhappily, I basically had to just straight-up tell them that he was only Level 5, and that they could take him.
It ended up being a really good fight, especially thanks to a couple of Barbazu devils that Plugg managed to summon up as a last-ditch tactic (in my story he's a rogue Chelish agent who worships Mammon). But I don't like how railroady I had to get to make it happen.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can anybody think of some good, subtle ways to let the players know that Plugg is actually vulnerable?
Hmm, interesting. My players hated Plugg so much that they wanted to fight him regardless of how powerful he might have been, hehe.
What I did to drive them to not tarry too long on Bonewrack Isle (and also to want to mutiny) was, during the storm, had Conchobar singing songs about mutiny (he was pissed about Plugg's gambling ban, as I have Conchobar basically being a bookie). After the storm, Plugg ordered the PCs to go get water from the island. He then threw Conchobar in the sweatbox for his songs and told the PCs Conchobar would remain there until they returned with the water.
Now, if your PCs don't have a good relationship with Conchobar you could swap him out for any of the other friendly NPCs.
Has anyone else had this problem? Can anybody think of some good, subtle ways to let the players know that Plugg is actually vulnerable?
I tend to have the opposite problem when I run Skulls & Shackles. I have to discourage my players from killing Plugg early. Last time I ran the game they managed to push Plugg off deck during the Storm without getting caught.
I also hasn't helped that me and all of my players have either played the adventure or ran it before, so we all know where the plot is going.