A Surprise visit for Scurlock
Elke and Arquo pay a visit to Scurlock, but they need Setarra to take them to him. Trauma ensues!
Plus, one of my weaknesses as a GM exposed. How to roleplay powerful NPCs without overcompensating?
Players: Karen Twelves and Adrienne Mueller
http://www.seannittner.com/actual-play-surprise-visit-for-scurlock-372017/
http://www.seannittner.com/actual-play-surprise-visit-for-scurlock-372017/
What you say about powerful NPCs at the end there mirrors, like, my entire GMing career.
If I want an enemy NPC to have a chance of survival, they need to make the players laugh. Not necessarily the PCs, but the players. The show Justified illustrates my NPC villain theory pretty accurately, actually. You’ve got 3 (maybe 4) tiers of villains. At the top, the Boyd Crowder type is competent, smart, and tied into the PCs’ story well enough to survive despite perpetrating heinous acts. Next you have the season- or episode-long villains, who are competent but too dangerous or not cunning enough to survive. These are the Quarles-types, or the Criminals-of-the-Week types. Finally, you’ve got the dumb criminals like Dewey Crowe, who isn’t smart, isn’t competent, but also isn’t dangerous or cruel enough to get himself killed. I personally excel at making Dewey Crowes and sometimes get in a good season-type villain, but I hardly ever manage a Boyd Crowder.
“Scary but potentially fragile” seems to work better than “nigh invulnerable” as well. I think as players, we value our agency, and to squander that against some OP NPC bullshit is weaksauce, but players will also face ridiculous odds and extreme harm if they’re pretty sure they’ve got a good chance of being effective. Glass cannons for everyone!
Although really, when your players know you’re a fan of them and their characters, it bypasses a lot of potential “this villain is just GM fiat railroad grumble grumble” problems because you’ve got trust there, not animosity. This is me breaking out the topic on a broader scale – I know your group isn’t antagonistic, Sean.
Ironically, in my group’s last game they betrayed (a ghost contract even!) and killed Setarra after allying with Scurlock against another demon someone (cough cough) had loosed on Duskwall many months earlier. It was literally down to scouring the rules for any possible way to squeeze one more effect level out of the mechanics. 🙂
All my games turn into the end of Commando. #featurenotbug
Adam Schwaninger, yep. I hear you. Being a fan of the PCs goes a long way. And truth be told, the scary NPCs don’t actually have to be scary to the PCs, but they should know that being scared is the expected reaction and then choose otherwise if they like.
What I don’t like is the idea that PCs just waltz through the world ignoring the threats within in it (not that my players do that) because of a perceived plot immunity, or the ability to face any challenge in front of them. So it always feels like a balancing act of showing “yeah, this is why most people are scared of XYZ” without battering them over the head with it.
Something I thought you handled really well in your AP was when Scurlock appeared right next to Arquo. It’s creepy and powerful but also not overtly hostile, and it makes Scurlock capable of anything. Maybe it earns their respect, or at least the respect you’d give to a venomous snake or loaded firearm.
Thanks! I liked that detail as well 🙂