Ideas for encounters on the way to the protest.


Hell's Rebels


Hey all, this coming weekend I am going to be running the session of a Hell's Rebel. There will be some first time players (no table top rpg experience and not a lot of video game rpg experience either; these are not people who I would call gamers in either since of the word). I feel like the protest encounter could be difficult for them if they are going in cold.
As such I am looking for some encounter ideas that they can encounter on there way to the protest. Ideally, this should be a non-combat (or at least it should be obvious that combat is not the only way). It would be great it gives enough hints on ways to solve this creatively.
I do not know what the party composition is yet, we are making the characters together before we play.
Any suggestions would be so helpful


I think probably the easiest is to simply toss a couple street thugs at them (I'd use the Chelish Citizens' Group Thugs for stats). While on their way to the protest, they pass through an alley off of the main streets and these thugs come up to the PCs and try to rob them, threatening violence if they don't hand over their coin. They use nonlethal tactics just like the normal thugs and flee if the PCs successfully scare them or do enough damage, or they fear the guard might step in.

Two level 1 warriors should be an easy fight for new players and allow them to try out the basics of their kits (add another if you have more than 4 players, though if they're all new 2 should suffice no matter how many PCs you have). You can even make this fight happen a day or two before if you're worried that they'll use up their spells or use per day stuff.

The beauty of such a simple encounter is that it also gives the PCs several options for how to deal with the fight.

Fight: Self-explanatory, though you might want to caution the players that using lethal damage can come with risks of further investigation by the guards.
Run: The thugs aren't smart enough to block the exit behind the PCs, so they have an easy out if they need one.
Call Guards: Calling for the guards might spook them off.
Diplomacy: Talking the thugs down, perhaps by pointing out that they're not that far from the main street calling out would bring the guards might frighten them off (or irritate them enough to respond that they'll beat them up and take their coin before the guards can ever show up if the check fails).
Intimidate: Make them back down
Bluff: Make them think the PCs have some pull with someone important they don't want to mess with. You can combine this with another check to give added credibility, like Knowledge (Nobility), Knowledge (Local), or Profession (Soldier).

Before the confrontation even happens (or possibly during if someone or something distracts the thugs), these are also some skills worth considering.
Perception: If the PCs can catch these thugs marking them out just before they go into the alley, it might give them a push to think of how to set up a tactical advantage. You can also use Perception or Knowledge (Local) to give them a lay of the land to find good routes that will put the PCs at an advantage.
Escape Artist: You could have a narrow alley to the side where an Escape Artist check (or a small character) could be used to flank around these foes.
Climb: Same as Escape Artist, but give them an easy to climb wall nearby so the PCs can get the literal drop on them.

If a PC want to go this route but no one can distract them and they're already in the confrontation stage, simply have a loud noise in a nearby alley (say a cat knocking over a bin or something) might distract them just long enough for a sneaky PC to make a move.

All of that should give them enough to work with that's also in line with how Hell's Rebels is built to encourage certain styles of play. If the players can't quite figure these out, you can always drop some hints (make the PC do Perception or Sense Motive checks to notice one of these possible options).

Oh and one other detail, if these thugs do survive the encounter, it's not a bad idea to have them be a part of the crew of thugs that attack Rexus later. They'd naturally want revenge against these punks that got away from them before, which is sufficient excuse for them to stop paying attention to Rexus long enough for the PCs to rescue him.

Hope that helps!


I'd avoid combat - 1st level characters are really fragile and if the fight happens on the way to the protest, they might have real trouble with any fighting at the protest. If you're looking to get them some experience before the protest, I'd suggest generating some simple encounters like giant rats, or a couple street thugs (as suggested by Trichotome) for a day or two before hand.

If you're looking for non-combat encounters on the way to the protest - have them encounter small groups who are members of the factions at the protest - partisans, economic conservatives, advocates of democracy, anarchists or Chelish loyalists. This gives the pc's some additional exposure to 1 or more of those groups and encourages some role-play.

Other options would include spotting an NPC that has a reputation as a pick-pocket (for a pc with a connection to the seedier side of Kintargo in his background.) Get solicited by street vendors ("Psst. Hey, buddy? Wanna buy a watch?") - people out to make a buck off the protest. Have them get brusquely pushed aside by a higher level NPC with an escort of Hellknights - get the pc's annoyed at the arrogance of Barzillai's crowd and make their protest more personal.

Shadow Lodge

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Latrecis wrote:
If you're looking for non-combat encounters on the way to the protest - have them encounter small groups who are members of the factions at the protest - partisans, economic conservatives, advocates of democracy, anarchists or Chelish loyalists. This gives the pc's some additional exposure to 1 or more of those groups and encourages some role-play.

While I like this idea of encountering already-committed ideologues, this raises a question that's been niggling me about the protest for a while. Namely, where did these committed ideologues get their politics? Typically, the answer would be that they picked them up as activists for organizations, but there are two problems with this explanation. First, Barzillai is supposed to have smashed the preexisting organizations or driven them underground, so there can be narrative space for the PCs' organization. They would be in no position to organize a protest like this (spontaneity is mostly a myth), let alone have activists there. But even assuming these were low-level remnants, they are identified by their ideology only and not by a commitment to an organization.

The latter problem is easy to fix, however. "Economic conservatives" are associated with the Bleakbridge mercantile association; Chelish nationalists with House Tanassen (and not the CCG; let's keep them separate); Kintargo nationalists with House Jarvis (barons of Argo); anarchists are in the pay of Galtan subversives, and democrats in the pay of, say, Liberty's Edge or the White Thistles.

Bonus, you can bring these up and have your players interact with them later in the campaign, instead of using them for one encounter and then never again.

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