Hello everyone! As of writing this I have now run 3 adventures with my party and have learned a great deal about planning, writing, and responding to player choices. Now before I get too far into todays topic I thought I would describe a little bit about the player party:
We have Mishso, a Dragonborn Noble who is at the moment attempting to conceal most of his identity and is running away from his fate.
Nabi, a elven druid who grew tired of the traditional druidic lifestyle and is looking for more thrills in this adventuring party
Thranduil, an half-elf sorcerer who was shoved into a position of power, and only recently came into his own magical powers, he is now on a quest not only to discover the truth behind his powers but also to avenge the deaths of his retainers and reclaim what is rightfully his.
Thorin, a dwarven paladin who is one of the few remaining members of his hometown after being destroyed in goblin raids.
The player make up is a unique one, 3 guys, 1 gal, 2 have played D&D games before while 2 really have not. It is a unique makeup but allows for us all to have a lot of fun.
Now to the topic at hand, creating villains and providing consequences. One of the goals I initially made was to provide compelling antagonists for the party, and while only just beginning I know that Thranduil will be thinking about one villain for quite some time as we move on into the adventure.
Our third adventure had a former advisor of Thranduil’s father (Sadron) come into town with the intention of killing our beloved Sorcerer when instead he found his retainers and decided to hold them for ransom.
After a series of encounters for our party, the final scene led them to a clearing in which the retainers were chained to a central metal post in which Sadron has a wand of lightning bolt. He presented Thranduil an impossible choice, to give up his name, lordship, and right to rule in exchange for the lives of his retainers.
He couldn’t give that up, and in it’s stead the retainers were killed.
Now, my goal is to work with this character to help make this a driving force in our adventure. The villain in this adventure (Sadron) may not be coming back for a while, but the pain and the hard decision can have far reaching impact for several adventures to come. I’m curious to see how the player rolls with it, and have some ideas of how we can loop it in to the main plot. This also provides a great hook for later adventures.
I don’t mind using death as a consequence and I have seen that many DM’s fear this because of the permanence of it. I think it not only has a constant state of reference, but also can be a driving influence in future decisions. I bet that the next decision will be answered with much less hesitation as this one was. The party always learns from mistakes.
I have to be honest, I have really enjoyed playing the cast of NPCs and especially villains. While our third adventure we took a little detour to provide some detail into one character’s backstory. Adventure 4 will drive us right back into the main plot.
Ideas on what you like me to talk about on the next Behind The Screen? Leave a comment or reach out to me via Facebook or the Twitters.
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