Hey everyone. I love the idea of a bounty being placed on the party's head for a previous deed they did, which comes back to haunt them randomly as they continue with their adventures. I just need some other ideas of how they can suddenly find themselves in a life-or-death situation out of the blue. It's not meant for a TPK, but rather just to make them paranoid should they continue to survive/not investigate and stop the bounty. Some ideas I have so far:
Assassin posing as courier in crowded market place. Stabs one of party without killing them. Then the party member becomes cursed (curse to be expanded on).
Party lured into cave system with two exists. Bounty hunter team then blow up one of the openings - party must fight through monster cave, then bounty hunters at other end.
Party on ship - sabotaged with the intent of picking them off in middle of sea. Pirates board in aid of bounty hunters.
For the sake of realism, the plans of assassins should be straight-forward, practical, and meant to be lethal.
For the sake of the game you - as DM - don't really want the assassins to succeed.
Why not just stab the character to death in the market ( curses are complex, tricky, and possibly expensive )? Why not just collapse the caves on them and be done with it? Why do the assassin-pirates not just blow the Party's ship out of the water with cannon fire and not risk any of their boarding parties?
After all you don't want a TPK, but the assassins do ( or should ) - unless you can come up with an in-game reason why they really don't.
Maybe the assassins haven't really been hired to kill the party? Maybe this is an elaborate revenge plot, and someone wants to terrorize the Party and not just kill them. That would explain the apparent non-lethality of the attacks. Which begs the question - who is doing this, and why? Who has the party wronged enough to not only want the Party dead, but to make them suffer and to make them afraid? How far is this person/people/organization willing to go? Are they willing to target friends, family, and allies of the party? Are they willing to commit unrelated horrific crimes in order to frame the Party, and destroy their reputation?
Once you know why, who, and how far of what's really going on, all sorts of possibilities open up for "assassination" attempts - and you have a conflict, a BBEG ( or a big bad evil organization ), a whole series of possible events and encounters.
It just became an entire adventure arc, if you so choose :)
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Yeah that makes more sense. Maybe not "assassinate" but bounty hunters bringing them in alive for the bounty. So I'll got back to the drawing board with the excellent advice, thanks!
Vedexent had the right of it...you need to figure out the WHY. Say someone wants the party to do something for them but don't want to just hire them. Better to coerce them maybe?
Remember that not everyone is sane. Someone might want the party embarrassed, hurt, mocked or whatever but NOT killed. Their motivation could be only in their twisted mind.
How about a body-swap? (Works best if a player will be gone for a session or two) Someone stabs a PC in the street and they fall over dead. However, the actual PC has merely been captured and a body-double left in their place. How will the party find this out?
Misdirection (I love this one!). A secret cult has seen into the future that some terrible thing is coming. They have no proof and nobody will believe them. In desperation, they attack the party and flee, hoping the party will chase them into the path of whatever is coming
I believe that I have done something very similar to what you are looking to do and the players still talk about it as one of their most memorable encounters. An ambush and assassination attempt can a lot of fun if you build tension the right way. I wrote about it in the "How Was Your Last Session" thread along with a small breakdown of why I thought the scenario was compelling. It's not a short read, but it's not a super long read either.
Hey everyone. I love the idea of a bounty being placed on the party's head for a previous deed they did, which comes back to haunt them randomly as they continue with their adventures. I just need some other ideas of how they can suddenly find themselves in a life-or-death situation out of the blue. It's not meant for a TPK, but rather just to make them paranoid should they continue to survive/not investigate and stop the bounty. Some ideas I have so far:
This is a tricky balance to strike.
For the sake of realism, the plans of assassins should be straight-forward, practical, and meant to be lethal.
For the sake of the game you - as DM - don't really want the assassins to succeed.
Why not just stab the character to death in the market ( curses are complex, tricky, and possibly expensive )? Why not just collapse the caves on them and be done with it? Why do the assassin-pirates not just blow the Party's ship out of the water with cannon fire and not risk any of their boarding parties?
After all you don't want a TPK, but the assassins do ( or should ) - unless you can come up with an in-game reason why they really don't.
Maybe the assassins haven't really been hired to kill the party? Maybe this is an elaborate revenge plot, and someone wants to terrorize the Party and not just kill them. That would explain the apparent non-lethality of the attacks. Which begs the question - who is doing this, and why? Who has the party wronged enough to not only want the Party dead, but to make them suffer and to make them afraid? How far is this person/people/organization willing to go? Are they willing to target friends, family, and allies of the party? Are they willing to commit unrelated horrific crimes in order to frame the Party, and destroy their reputation?
Once you know why, who, and how far of what's really going on, all sorts of possibilities open up for "assassination" attempts - and you have a conflict, a BBEG ( or a big bad evil organization ), a whole series of possible events and encounters.
It just became an entire adventure arc, if you so choose :)
Good luck - and have fun with it ;)
My DM Philosophy, as summed up by other people: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1rN5w4-azTq3Kbn0Yvk9nfqQhwQ1R5by1/view
Disclaimer: This signature is a badge of membership in the Forum Loudmouth Club. We are all friends. We are not attacking each other. We are engaging in spirited, friendly debate with one another. We may get snarky, but these are not attacks. Thank you for not reporting us.
Yeah that makes more sense. Maybe not "assassinate" but bounty hunters bringing them in alive for the bounty. So I'll got back to the drawing board with the excellent advice, thanks!
Vedexent had the right of it...you need to figure out the WHY. Say someone wants the party to do something for them but don't want to just hire them. Better to coerce them maybe?
Remember that not everyone is sane. Someone might want the party embarrassed, hurt, mocked or whatever but NOT killed. Their motivation could be only in their twisted mind.
How about a body-swap? (Works best if a player will be gone for a session or two) Someone stabs a PC in the street and they fall over dead. However, the actual PC has merely been captured and a body-double left in their place. How will the party find this out?
Misdirection (I love this one!). A secret cult has seen into the future that some terrible thing is coming. They have no proof and nobody will believe them. In desperation, they attack the party and flee, hoping the party will chase them into the path of whatever is coming
I believe that I have done something very similar to what you are looking to do and the players still talk about it as one of their most memorable encounters. An ambush and assassination attempt can a lot of fun if you build tension the right way. I wrote about it in the "How Was Your Last Session" thread along with a small breakdown of why I thought the scenario was compelling. It's not a short read, but it's not a super long read either.
If you're curious, you can read about it here.
"Not all those who wander are lost"