Johannes asked: > The character Tribunus has gotten the biggest possible destiny (IIRC 15cp > i don't have my books with me now). My idea is, that he saves the life of > someone close to a future emperor (or a future emperor). > The other problem is how to engeneer the situation, so Tribuns comes out > reliably as the hero, as opposed to the whole party, without being too > obviously railroading.
Shouldn't such a big Destiny have something to show for it soon, if you can arrange it, rather than years down the line? Give him the chance to save the next emperor ... First, how do you make sure that the credit goes to one man, not the entire group? - A foiled assassination attempt. Would Tribunus' player try to block an arrow or a thrown knife? Then set it up so that only he is in position, maybe in armor when the target wears a toga. - If Tribunus wants to live too much for that, fudge the die rolls so that he unintentionally blocks the attack and gets a nice, heroic, non-crippling injury. - Arrange an accident where only one of the PCs can grip the arm of the target before he falls into the chasm. The others can quickly grab Tribunus, to prevent the whole chain from sliding, but Tribunus is the only one in physical contact to the target, and hence gets the glory. Second, how to make the railroading non-obvious? - There are multiple attackers, but only one with a throwing knife/axe or a bow. The other PCs can cover the lesser threats. Only afterwards it becomes clear that Tribunus saved the day. - There are several victims. The players (and PCs) know that there is a very very important person among the VIPs, but not which one. Afterwards, fudge it that the NPC saved by Tribunus is the important one. The latter could be risky, of course. I once GMed what I thought were clear hints that the PCs had a mook rather than the archvillain, when the mook covered the escape of the boss. Two elderly men, similar clothing, no pictures available. The players didn't catch on and were rather disappointed about my 'cheat'. > I also intend to either make an other iteration of the "book" story arc, > or end it. There is a book on magic, that actually is pretty worthless, > but because so many people have comitted so many crimes to get it, it got > a reputation, making more cults covet it. > > I'd like to use Synois there, a female masterthief, who has an affair with > one pc. She already tried to steal the book from the pcs (based on bad > information, that they have it) but the attempt was too subtle for the pcs > to notice, so they do not know that she is a thief yet. The basic model > for her would be Amanda from the Highlander series and the persona the pcs > know is that of a daughter of a rich greek merchant. The PCs don't have the book, right? - Somebody finds out that the book has secret ink, but making it visible will destroy the book. The PCs might be able to get into a position to witness this, perhaps infiltrating a closed session of a mystery cult. Something magical happens, turning an altar into pure gold (or the priest who conducted the ceremony) but without modern forensics there is no proof what really happened, or the priest names three enemies who die within days of natural causes, or whatever. Synois is the key to the invitation. - Synois hires them to escort her to the auction of a rare book. Once there, the PCs are flabbergasted how much Synois is prepared to offer (being unable to steal it, she turned all her previous booty into cash) until they realize which book it is. Either she rides with the book into the sunset, or something happens to destroy the book in view of all interested parties, or the PCs turn on Synois, get the book, and learn the truth. - Synois gets the book off-stage and asks some of the PCs to examine parts of it, to verify the identity. They realize that the book is overrated. Meanwhile, third parties get wind of it and try to kidnap/interrogate/seduce/bribe the PCs for the 'hidden truth' and won't take no for an answer. > An other sideline would be the arena death of the villian from the last > adventure (he had Ingrun (pc) framed for murdering a candidate for the > position of the flamen dialis). My idea is, that he gets chained into a > bed, and various gladiators, including Ingrun have to climb over stuff to > get to him. Who gets there first and guts him wins. A public arena? That doesn't sound gross enough, a bit of a non-lethal race and then a killing stroke. Of course a Roman arena can easily get too gross for a game. - Hungry boars, lions, and bears staked at various points of the arena, the unarmed convict, and armed gladiators who chase him away from the safe spots time and again. - Something with dogs, because the flamen dialis had this dog taboo. A large cage with dogs, the convict, and the dogs are small enough that the convict can escape by jumping up to hang from the roof. But there are gladiators with nailed sandals on the roof, outside. - A cross, the convict, and a couple of gladiators with whips and knives. Whoever kills him has lost. - The convict, a stake, and some female gladiators doing a lap dance. The rest is left to the sick imagination. Regards, Onno _______________________________________________ GurpsNet-L mailing list <[email protected]> http://mail.sjgames.com/mailman/listinfo/gurpsnet-l
