Jump to content

In need of ideas - teenage liege lords


Recommended Posts

Hi,

I'm out of ideas (and time) for the next session of my samurai campaign. Since I have been using many details from Pendragon for my own samurai game (such as the Book of the Manor supplement), and the Samurai book is eventually coming up, I thought of asking here to seek help.

The PCs in my pseudo-historic campaign in Suruga (1550 AD) have achieved the hatamoto level, meaning they are sort of elevated bodyguards of their liege lord. Problem is, their liege lord is a spoiled teenager and his half uncle is governing the province until he comes of age. Meanwhile, the PCs have brokered a 12-year truce with their neighbouring and more powerful enemies from Sagami: the Ishizaki. Both provinces are using the time to rebuild their provinces (after several disasters) and arming themselves, in preparation for the day the truce ends, the hostages go back to their homelands, and the battle commences.

- Do you know of any Pendragon scenario focused on courtly intrigue I could adapt to this? :huh:
My only idea for next session is to somehow combine negotiations with the jesuits in order to get saltpeter from the Portuguese (and thus blackpowder), while having to care for their spoiled teenage liege lord. Perhaps he insists on attending the negotiations and he jeopardises the operation with his comments. Is there any scenario (for whatever ruleset, actually, that fits this set-up?).

- I've been eyeing the Prince Valiant episode book. Does it include any scenario that might be suitable? 

 

Thanks in advance!

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't know of any KAP-specific scenarios. I've only played the game peripherally a couple of times.

However, historically there is a bunch of intrigue that you can use. They could be sent off as emissary /observers for their liege. In 1550, Takeda Shingen has just finished conquering Shinano Province, thereby taking control of the mountainous spine of Northern Honshu. It's a direct gateway to the fertile Kwanto Plain provinces, and everybody is wondering which way he's gonna jump next. This eventually leads to his conflict with the Uesugi of Echigo Province, but that's a couple years into the future. As of 1550, he's mopping up the last resistance in Shinano and is a major power in the Game of Daimyos.

And wouldn't you know it, your setting of Suruga Province is right next door to the Takeda home of Kai Province. Pretty sure the Uncle Regent would like to have some sense of where Shingen is going to be nosing around next, wouldn't he?

[link to wiki article on Takeda Shingen]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takeda_Shingen

Edited by svensson
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

You could look at The Marriage of Count Roderick (available free from this site) and put your players on a quest to find a wife for their spoiled brat liege lord :)

There's a Flashing Blades adventure called The Ambassador's Tales which might work well as a Japanese diplomatic mission. You'd have to change lots of things but it is brilliant and my players just loved it as a Middle-Earth RPG adventure, 25+ years ago. It is available on DrivethruRPG I believe. It would also work as a Pendragon scenario/small campaign.

 

Edited by 7dot62mm
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, svensson said:

However, historically there is a bunch of intrigue that you can use. They could be sent off as emissary /observers for their liege. In 1550, Takeda Shingen has just finished conquering Shinano Province, thereby taking control of the mountainous spine of Northern Honshu. It's a direct gateway to the fertile Kwanto Plain provinces, and everybody is wondering which way he's gonna jump next.

Takeda Shingen is already causing trouble to the PCs! 😁. In fact, last session ended when the army of Suruga repelled a Takeda army planning to attack Shinano from the south after first crossing into the northern mountains of Suruga. Takeda tried to convince the PCs their ally in Shinano is far less convenient than having him as an ally, but they decided to go for the honourable option, and honour their alliance with the daimyo of southern Shinano by stopping Takeda's army. They released a river they had dammed well in advance in preparation for Takeda's incursion, and now the enemy troops are fleeing in disarray.

What would you do if you were Takeda?

I think he's going to retreat as fast as he can, as he has obviously subestimated his enemy, and even if his troops outnumber the local forces, they are in mountainous territory and it's too easy for the local samurai to ambush them. He is then going to offer a non-agression treaty and focus on invading Shinano from the east.

-----------

However, some years later, he might have conquered all of Shinano. And then he may be tempted to crush those pesky samurai who thwarted his plan. So thanks a lot for your suggestion. How would you then plan that mission? 

  • Like 1

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, 7dot62mm said:

You could look at The Marriage of Count Roderick (available free from this site) and put your players on a quest to find a wife for their spoiled brat liege lord :)

There's a Flashing Blades adventure called The Ambassador's Tales which might work well as a Japanese diplomatic mission. You'd have to change lots of things but it is brilliant and my players just loved it as a Middle-Earth RPG adventure, 25+ years ago. It is available on DrivethruRPG I believe. It would also work as a Pendragon scenario/small campaign.

 

Thank you! I'll have a look. I don't mind adapting many details as long as the scenario is cool.

In fact, the boy is already betrothed to one of his uncle's daughters. BTW the uncle has only daughters, no heir. However, 

- the Uncle regent has recently found a concubine. What if she gets pregnant and she has a boy? Temptations...?

- being a spoiled child, perhaps the teenage liege lord insists on marrying another girl. What then?

I'm also looking forward to introducing some negotiations with the Portuguese. Perhaps before their enemies do the same.

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 hours ago, Runeblogger said:

😁

What would you do if you were Takeda?

I think he's going to retreat as fast as he can, as he has obviously subestimated his enemy, and even if his troops outnumber the local forces, they are in mountainous territory and it's too easy for the local samurai to ambush them. He is then going to offer a non-agression treaty and focus on invading Shinano from the east.

-----------

However, some years later, he might have conquered all of Shinano. And then he may be tempted to crush those pesky samurai who thwarted his plan. So thanks a lot for your suggestion. How would you then plan that mission? 

It depends on how important Sugura Province is to him.

He may look at Sugura's situation and see exploitable weakness. You describe the province's status as precarious... A spoiled brat for a liege lord, an army that is tired and low on gunpowder, damage from recent natural disasters... All of that could make Sugura look like a wounded deer to a pack of wolves.

On the other hand, if Shingen is focused on finishing his work in Shinano, he might see Sugura as a distraction that doesn't have much of an up side for him. The Kwanto provinces are certainly more wealthy. If he controls those, he controls most of the rice production in all of Honshu. Controlling Sugura just give him a port, and seaports are not all that important to Honshu daimyo.

So Shingen may see those pesky samurai as either cunning opponents worthy of respect or as bugs that need to be stomped. Either way, I would certainly have the Takeda start spending some koku to dig up dirt on Our Heroes in order to blackmail them at a later date. They're obviously a major pillar of support for Sugura's daimyo, and it's in the Takeda's best interests to be able to topple them if needs be.

Another idea strikes me as well...

You might introduce religious problems in the form of the Ikko-Ikki sohei. A fiery young Buddhist preacher establishes a monastery nearby and starts preaching about the decadence of samurai. This attracts the farmers and ronin in the area, who form a religious crusading army seeming from out of nowhere. Naturally, this monastery is in a highly defensible location. The situation could be resolved diplomatically if agents of the Sugura daimyo can convince the preacher of their piety and righteousness. OR the players could have another Ishiyama Hongan-ji War on their hands...

Lastly...

There are downloadable resources from L5R [which will certainly require some converting] as well as the earlier samurai games of Bushido by FGU, Sengoku by Gold Rush games, RQ3's Land of Ninja box set, and Mongoose's RQ2 /Legend Land of the Samurai, which was retitled Samurai of Legend.

Edited by svensson
  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Some ideas:

In the GPC is a stroy that the PKs go to Estregales as ambassadors and end up in a power struggle in that court when the present King of Estregales is killed. (p 61 Embessay to Estregales).

Another is called: PRESUMPTUOUS PRAETOR, page 68. It tells of a foreigner in exile who abuses the code of hospitality while the lord of the manor is away.  PKs can step in.

An adventure seed before that is: THE MERCENARY SYAGRIUS, which tells about the above exile and that he needs a place to stay. They find him pillaging in the countryside. Syagrius is mad because Prince Madoc left him a few years earlier and he lost his lands because of it.

One of the events during the anarchy period is the kidnapping of Queen Ygraine. You could modify this in a rival's attempt to kidnap the boy's mother.

You could also make it even more of an Arthurian legend in having the uncle getting a son, who is kidnapped, and later returns as a hero. Especially if the current spoiled brat turns into a tyrant. 

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
On 15 de marzo de 2019 at 7:42 PM, svensson said:

So Shingen may see those pesky samurai as either cunning opponents worthy of respect or as bugs that need to be stomped. Either way, I would certainly have the Takeda start spending some koku to dig up dirt on Our Heroes in order to blackmail them at a later date. They're obviously a major pillar of support for Sugura's daimyo, and it's in the Takeda's best interests to be able to topple them if needs be.

(...)

Lastly...

There are downloadable resources from L5R [which will certainly require some converting] as well as the earlier samurai games of Bushido by FGU, Sengoku by Gold Rush games, RQ3's Land of Ninja box set, and Mongoose's RQ2 /Legend Land of the Samurai, which was retitled Samurai of Legend.

Thanks for your ideas! 👍

I would like Takeda to dig up dirt on Our Heroes, but I don't know what dirt his agents could dig up. How would you run that?

I've mined all those books you mention for scenarios. Although in the case of L5R I havent't dug very deep. I have read the current edition downloadable con scenario though.

Last session I had read The Ambassador's Tales 7dot suggested and I was going to run that, but then the players decided to first deal with Takeda's ongoing campaign against Shinano, so next session will deal about that. They reckon they need to help their ally so Takeda does not go after them afterwards, even though I have been sending them the message that their ally in Shinano is weak and mostly doomed.

Takeda has already conquered the central part of Shinano and most of the north, so he's going to focus on the south now, and that's the part my players want to help defend. Since they knew there is a powerful daimyo in Echigo (the province north of Shinano ruled by Uesugi Kenshin) who has been helping the samurai lords on the border against Takeda, they arranged a meeting with him and suggested that he attacks the north of Shinano at the same time their  ally in the south of Shinano is going to be attacked by Takeda's forces.

In the south of Shinano there are only 5 fortresses shielding the main castle against the takeda army. The players have struck a non-aggresion deal with Takeda, so they can't attack him, only help their ally defend from his attacks. Next session they are going to one of these fortresses. What wil happen there? 

I've read a bit about Takeda's campaigns in Shinano. He was successful and conquered the whole province. He managed to do that mainly because of his lightning attacks, because many lords chnaged sides to him and because these Shinano lords were not unified. So I would like this to be very difficult for my players to go well. But how can I do that and still have a satisfying session? 😕

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 16 de marzo de 2019 at 12:23 PM, Cornelius said:

Some ideas:

(...)

You could also make it even more of an Arthurian legend in having the uncle getting a son, who is kidnapped, and later returns as a hero. Especially if the current spoiled brat turns into a tyrant.

Thanks Cornelius! These are good suggestions but we plan to maybe play through the GPC some day, run by one of the players, so I can't really use that. But the idea of the uncle getting a son is brilliant. His wife is old now, but some years ago he got himself a young concubine... And if he gets a son just before his nephew becomes the new daimyo, he may have second thoughts...

At the very least, said nephew will become paranoid at the idea of his uncle wanting to poison him so his son can eventually rule... Will the players accept their young liege lord's crazy idea of confronting the uncle with half the province's troops?

That will happen after the sieges in Shinano, though. 👍

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Runeblogger said:

Thanks for your ideas! 👍

I would like Takeda to dig up dirt on Our Heroes, but I don't know what dirt his agents could dig up. How would you run that?

I've mined all those books you mention for scenarios. Although in the case of L5R I havent't dug very deep. I have read the current edition downloadable con scenario though.

Last session I had read The Ambassador's Tales 7dot suggested and I was going to run that, but then the players decided to first deal with Takeda's ongoing campaign against Shinano, so next session will deal about that. They reckon they need to help their ally so Takeda does not go after them afterwards, even though I have been sending them the message that their ally in Shinano is weak and mostly doomed.

Takeda has already conquered the central part of Shinano and most of the north, so he's going to focus on the south now, and that's the part my players want to help defend. Since they knew there is a powerful daimyo in Echigo (the province north of Shinano ruled by Uesugi Kenshin) who has been helping the samurai lords on the border against Takeda, they arranged a meeting with him and suggested that he attacks the north of Shinano at the same time their  ally in the south of Shinano is going to be attacked by Takeda's forces.

In the south of Shinano there are only 5 fortresses shielding the main castle against the takeda army. The players have struck a non-aggresion deal with Takeda, so they can't attack him, only help their ally defend from his attacks. Next session they are going to one of these fortresses. What wil happen there? 

I've read a bit about Takeda's campaigns in Shinano. He was successful and conquered the whole province. He managed to do that mainly because of his lightning attacks, because many lords chnaged sides to him and because these Shinano lords were not unified. So I would like this to be very difficult for my players to go well. But how can I do that and still have a satisfying session? 😕

1. Dirt on the players.

Do any players have a dark secret? Have any of them profited from their service in an unlawful way? Have any of them said anything disloyal about their lord?

In both KAP and in Sengoku era Japan, there are two constants that are always present: servants are invisible and servants want money. It's easy to bribe the server girl at the local sake house or the ashigaru who takes care of the horses to find out all kinds of ugly things about player characters unless they've been very careful.

As the old Japanese saying goes, there is only one safe place for a secret... the grave. ;)

2. The Shinano situation.

The players are sent to aid one of their ally's castles. They are at the castle delivering assistance [be that rice, gunpowder or whatever] and they are specifically sent to reassure the ally that Sugura is behind him. As high-ranking officers of Sugura, it is also intended to send a message to Takeda... 'this is the line in the sand'.

Unfortunately, Takeda has gotten to the castle lord first. This lord decides that he has seen which way the wind is blowing and doesn't want to be around when Takeda Shingen starts taking heads. Shingen is well known for his mercilessness versus those who resist him, after all. This lord decides to switch sides while the players are present, with the takeover happening in the middle of the night. Can the players escape the trap with no preparation?

Alternatively, the castle lord is still on the fence when Takeda's forces arrive. Can the players keep the lord from falling to pieces and switching sides out of fear long enough for the castle to hold out?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/28/2019 at 10:57 PM, svensson said:

2. The Shinano situation.

The players are sent to aid one of their ally's castles. They are at the castle delivering assistance [be that rice, gunpowder or whatever] and they are specifically sent to reassure the ally that Sugura is behind him. As high-ranking officers of Sugura, it is also intended to send a message to Takeda... 'this is the line in the sand'.

Unfortunately, Takeda has gotten to the castle lord first. This lord decides that he has seen which way the wind is blowing and doesn't want to be around when Takeda Shingen starts taking heads. Shingen is well known for his mercilessness versus those who resist him, after all. This lord decides to switch sides while the players are present, with the takeover happening in the middle of the night. Can the players escape the trap with no preparation?

Alternatively, the castle lord is still on the fence when Takeda's forces arrive. Can the players keep the lord from falling to pieces and switching sides out of fear long enough for the castle to hold out?

Oh, I like your ideas very much Mr. Svensson...! Thanks a lot!!! :lol:

I like the 1st one best (escape from the castle with their troops). However, I need to think of ways to make it interesting. I've got to be careful, if I make it too difficult, it could easily end in a TPK. If I make it too easy, it's boring.

The 2nd one is kind of fairer for the players, as they can do more to reverse the situation. However, one of the players has been investing A LOT in social skills, and his character is an ace at negotiation and influencing people. So if he were allowed to speak with the would-be turncoat, he would surely end up convincing him to remain loyal and fight the Takeda. For example, in last session, he managed to convince the Takeda emissary that it was in their best interest to return a fort to them the Takeda had previously taken. Furthermore, precisely for this reason he had the spotlight last session, so giving him the chance to negotiate again would put the spotlight on him again. He's really good at talking and fighting with weapons. His only weakness is running and jumping.

OH, and by the way, the shinto priest PC has made a deal with the kami of an expert tactician, so he can help them in the upcoming battles...

  • Like 1

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Alright, let's go with the 'middle of the night betrayal' scenario. The key here is to present each character with a scene where they're called on to something they're good at AND something that'll be a challenge.

For example:

While the players are representative of their liege Sugura, they also have a duty to protect the interests of Sugura's ally. Do this with complications and additional goals other than just simple escape.

The players are quartered in the castle's guest room floor. The changeover is happening in the middle of the night. Therefore, the PCs are unarmed and unarmored at scenario start.

Complication 1: Getting to their gear. That's worth a couple fights right there. Remember, it would be very bad for them to return without their family's ancestral swords....

Complication 2:  Wouldn't you know it, also present is Ally's favorite concubine, who was visiting her aged and ill mother. As the changeover begins, the concubine realizes that she'd make a valuable and very damaging hostage for Takeda to take against her lord, Sugura's Ally. She decides to attempt jigai, the samurai noblewoman's version of seppuku. Can the players talk her out of it AND escape with her and her mother??? Naturally, the concubine is on the guest floor with the players and they have to protect her without their full gear.

Complication 3: Can the players escape with the supplies Sugura has delivered to their Ally, which would otherwise be captured by Takeda?

See where I'm going with this?

 

  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Okay, confession time.

I'm a lifelong military historian and gamer, but just like with every historian there are gaps in my knowledge. I'm very up on the Dark and Middle Ages, I'm OK on the Renaissance, but after about 1500 or so, I completely lose interest until about Queen Victoria's reign. And my real knowledge of Asian military history is pretty spotty. I know some Chinese, a fair bit about Japan, a little of India, and absolutely nothing of Thai, Burma, Viet etc.

BUT my wife is a huge Japanophile. She loves anime [which I tolerate at best], is a big fan of Japanese culture etc. Now, I like a Toshiro Mifune movie the same as anybody [and if you don't like Toshiro Mifune, you need therapy], and I love the L5R RPG, but I didn't start putting Japanese military history together until I met my wife. And I did it just so I could have a somewhat intelligent conversation with her. :D And we have a deal... she doesn't talk to me about Naruto and I don't go into great depth about my concerns about my [American] football team's off-season trades :lol:

Anyway, be sure to tell us all how your game works out.

Edited by svensson
  • Haha 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Haha, you're lucky to have a wife who likes shonen manga and Japanese history. :D It's about time you run a ninja campaign for her?

Well, I have come up with another complication for tomorrow's session: their teenage liege lord is 17 now, but his uncle doesn't allow him to celebrate hi gempuku (coming of age ceremony), until he's 20 to better protect him. However, the boy is eager to test his mettle in combat and he's rather headstrong. So... he'll ask our heroes to take him to the the north with them in secret. When they refuse, he will do that anyway, disguised as a common ashigaru (last session I already commented how he has been seen around with some rowdy ashigaru boys he's made friends with). Then, in the middle of the night, when they start hearing the roar of their  troops camped outside and being killed as in a slaughterhouse, a bloodied ashigaru will come to them and tell them about how their liege lord is in the middle of the fray! OMG, I wonder how they will get out of this one!

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

And the one old NPC standing on the parapet of the castle holding a sign...

"Our liege lord is being an idiot and we have to protect him. Please excuse us. We mean you no harm otherwise..."

[Like the old retainer holding the sign in the street in the tale of 'The 47 Ronin of Lord Asano' :lol:

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

If you really want to scare them, have them find a dead body of an ashigaru that looks like their daimyo (not beyond the realm on possibly in munitions grade,  mass produced armor, especially if covered in blood and gore). While the PCs are agonizing over his death, and hopefully before they commit seppuku or do a suicidal revenge-counter attack,  the lord could show up and ask if the deceased was a relative of theirs, and then lead the PCs off to the find the killer to avenge their "kinsman". 

BTW, Why would the lord ask the PCs for permission? He's the lord so why doesn't he just go? Then some  ashigaru who recognizes the lord rushes to tell the PCs. That drops the PCs in it without the foreshadowing, upping the panic quotient. 

  • Like 1
  • Haha 1

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

42 minutes ago, Runeblogger said:

He's not the lord yet. He's not even an "adult", since he hasn't done the gempuku cermony yet.

But I like your idea very much! 😹

Just don't tell your players where you got the idea. I already have one lynch mob after me!

  • Like 1

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

If you really want to scare them, have them find a dead body of an ashigaru that looks like their daimyo (not beyond the realm on possibly in munitions grade,  mass produced armor, especially if covered in blood and gore). While the PCs are agonizing over his death, and hopefully before they commit seppuku or do a suicidal revenge-counter attack,  the lord could show up and ask if the deceased was a relative of theirs, and then lead the PCs off to the find the killer to avenge their "kinsman". 

BTW, Why would the lord ask the PCs for permission? He's the lord so why doesn't he just go? Then some  ashigaru who recognizes the lord rushes to tell the PCs. That drops the PCs in it without the foreshadowing, upping the panic quotient. 

Oh DAT FUNNEH! We like!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, svensson said:

Oh DAT FUNNEH! We like!

If you like that, then you might like the idea of Takeda Shingen hearing about it and hiring a double. So the PC's future Daimyo essentially inspires Kagemusha.

  • Haha 2

Chaos stalks my world, but she's a big girl and can take of herself.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Well, I feel bad now. :( The whole session didn't go at all as I had thought it would. This is what happened:

First, when the teenage liege lord asked the PCs for permission to go with them, they accepted! They guessed since the boy is going to be the ruler in two years, they better get on well with him... So they proceeded to convince his uncle, and up they went, with the boy disguised as a young samurai and closely watched by two of the PCs.

When they reached the castle of their ally in the north, he asked them to reinforce the garrison of the first fortress the enemy was going to attack (the northernmost one: iida). But since they were carrying their liege lord in disguise, 3 of the PCs stayed behind with him in the big castle (Ogaki), while the PC who knows about strategy and leading troops went further north with their 500 troops to the first of the 5 exposed shielding fortresses (iida). He failed a Perception roll and failed to investigate further some rumours he had heard during dinner with their host (the turncoat). So, later on, he woke up to the sound of two armed samurai with armor on ready to butcher him. A couple criticals on my part, after, he's bleeding on the floor. He died. At the same time, the 500 troops were being butchered by their host's own samurai troops, and only 100 of them managed to escape the trap, and fled to the next fortress further south. (see attached map)

After this, the other 4 shielding fortresses' morale dropped. They decided to bring the garrisons of two of them (Matsuo and Suzuoka) to the bigger castle in the south (Ogaki) to better resist the incoming enemy army. The other 2 remaining fortresses (Chiku and Kannomine) were besieged with superior numbers and after some days, the resisting samurais surrendered or died.

Takeda did not go further south to the big castle, as in the top north of Shinano, Uesugi Kenshin began attacking two fortresses, as they had arranged this with him. He left the fortresses well garrisoned and went north again to face Uesugi. Before that, however, he sent the dead PC's head to the other PCs with a note from Takeda Shingen: "This is what you get when you decide to fight the Takeda".

The PCs in the big castle down south then decided to use their troops to do some guerrilla warfare against the Takeda army in the lost territory. But later winter came and they retreated to their own land. The uncle of the young liege lord suggested proposing Takeda a non-agression pact. After much discussing this, the party best negotiator (94% in the Influence skill) managed to negotiate that. In exchange, they surrender the rest of the lands around their ally's last castle, after having convinced him his samurais could move to their own lands and swear loyalty to the uncle, since the south of Shinano is deemed lost anyway. Thanks to his incredible negotiating skills (and a critical roll) he has also managed to convince Takeda to give them the head of the turncoat (!), and so they avenged their fallen comrade.

Still, of course, I've made a big mistake: not giving the now dead PC some other hint about the betrayal that what was going to take place in the fortress. <_<   

Map-of-the-Takeda-campaign-against-Shimo-Ina.jpg

Read my Runeblog about RuneQuest and Glorantha at: http://elruneblog.blogspot.com.es/

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A PC death is NOT 'a mistake', RB. The whole point of adventure games is risk and death is a natural consequence of that risk. In a full-on battle like your scenario, that risk multiplies and sometimes that means a character loss.

The real question is 'does the player feel he got jerked around'? If he does, talk to him about it and see what you can do to improve your GM skills. Also, make sure that the character's sacrifice is honored in-game. Perhaps the teenaged liege lord has grown up a bit, seeing one of his honored retainers butchered for the sake of education....

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Atgxtg said:

If you like that, then you might like the idea of Takeda Shingen hearing about it and hiring a double. So the PC's future Daimyo essentially inspires Kagemusha.

Gotta be careful with the Kurosawa references. Too many at one time and players will figure it out :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 3/31/2019 at 9:52 PM, svensson said:

A PC death is NOT 'a mistake', RB. The whole point of adventure games is risk and death is a natural consequence of that risk. In a full-on battle like your scenario, that risk multiplies and sometimes that means a character loss.

The real question is 'does the player feel he got jerked around'? If he does, talk to him about it and see what you can do to improve your GM skills. Also, make sure that the character's sacrifice is honored in-game. Perhaps the teenaged liege lord has grown up a bit, seeing one of his honored retainers butchered for the sake of education....

As long as there is a difference between the player and the PC, things will be fine. Award the player for having his character make such a sacrifice. Maybe others in the court feel some sort of obligation to the retainer. Even the young lord may feel a special bond with the new character (if it is a family member). This may give him privilages other PCs do not have. 

Also make it clear that this is not just a random kill, but a true plot and it will define the relationship between the remaining PCs.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...