Hello fellow dungeon masters đź‘‹, I'm a fairly new dm and was a bit unsure how I should handle my campaign
So, my players insulted and thratened the local townmaster multiple times, which was fun so the ruler of the town and the surrounding towns Lord Saxton kidnapped them, and he sent them to the Castle jail where they broke out.
They were away from town last session so I thought it'd be cool if Lord Saxton put a bounty on their heads. I could maybe have locals try to capture them to claim the reward and inn keapers and locals ignoring them for fear of punishment for betrayal.
How would I go about doing something like this or anyone have any good ideas? (Also we're playing through lost mine of phandelver so any ideas to do with that would be great). all help would be greatly appreciated and thanks to all those who respond.
Posters outside the tavern, near the edge of town - so the party see that they are wanted, and they might decide to camp outside of town instead of heading inside.
Do they have any close friends in town who might be willing to hide them?
Posters outside the tavern, near the edge of town - so the party see that they are wanted, and they might decide to camp outside of town instead of heading inside.
Do they have any close friends in town who might be willing to hide them?
Thanks for the help, I was thinking it'd be a good idea to have some posters.
They have one close friend, Sildar Hallwinter who might be able to hide them and one of the shopkeepers is sort of friends with them as well
Posters outside the tavern, near the edge of town - so the party see that they are wanted, and they might decide to camp outside of town instead of heading inside.
Do they have any close friends in town who might be willing to hide them?
Thanks for the help, I was thinking it'd be a good idea to have some posters.
They have one close friend, Sildar Hallwinter who might be able to hide them and one of the shopkeepers is sort of friends with them as well
Here's some tips for what I've found to be the most fun for everyone.
Put up wanted posters around town so they can see them, tear them down, draw on them.
Have the local guards on alert, checking wagons going in and out, patrolling the streets. But. The trick here is to make them not very competent. You really want your players to still play the adventure. If the danger is too high, they'll just run far away. So let them make some disguises that usually work as long as they don't make themselves too obvious. Let them roll Deception to pass the guards. Let them take back alleys around town. That's fun for them.
Give them some allies in the town. People they are already friends with. Or even people that just like the thing they did that got them in trouble in the first place. These allies are more competent than the guards. Maybe the innkeeper hates the guy they insulted. And she knows who the PCs are, but let's them stay in the inn anyway. She gives them a wink, a free drink, and tells them to stay low. The allies should cover for them when it's reasonable. As long as they don't have to take big risks themselves. This gives the players places to hide and people they can count on. Most people in town will probably ignore the PCs to actively try to stay out of trouble by association, if they even notice them at all.
Give them a villain. A captain of the guard that wants them caught at any cost. A Javert character that is always just one step behind them. Someone they can hate, and love to outwit.
And finally, give them a way out. Something they can do to clear their name eventually. It could just be completing the main mission. If they solve the town's problems and become heroes, then no one will want to arrest them again. Lord Saxton will have to swallow his pride and call off the warrants. Even better if he is the one that has to reward them publicly for their good deeds. They get to enjoy making him look bad one more time and leave as local celebrities.
Waylaying the party on the road with bounty hunters is another metric that adds some combat flair - the classic “this says to take you alive, but I’ll just say you resisted” trope is an oldie but a goodie.
One thing that can really add some flair to a campaign - think about travel times for messages. An angry lord might send riders to nearby locations, but the expense of sending folks to post wanted pictures a couple towns over might not be worth it for whatever the slight was, so mews of the bounty might spread rapidly and permeate one area, but begin to spread a bit more slowly after that. Descriptions can also get a bit muddied with travel and the gossip will not be as juicy further out, so folks located nearer to the offence might know the details better than people living a bit further away.
I'd suggest making elements of the town guard and perhaps the mayor themselves powerful enough that the party can't easily kill them ... unless you want this turning into a bandit/murder hobo campaign.
After insulting and threatening the mayor, the party's most likely response might be to just kill them and their employees if they try to do something to prevent the characters from doing whatever they want to do. If they succeed at that, they might just kill any authority figures they meet since they will be under the impression that they can kill anyone with impunity because there are no consequences and no one capable of enforcing consequences.
Just putting up wanted posters doesn't do much unless the characters/players perceive it as a real threat. So, it will be up to you to decide what sort of game world you are running and exactly what range of creatures are found in it. Are the characters so exceptional that the village contains no one who is a realistic threat or are they just low level adventurers and some fraction of the town population might be trained, knowledgeable and capable of defending themselves from adventurers.
Lots of wonderful advice, I'll just add a few things to think about.
You want the players to still be able to play the adventure and not be overwhelmed by hoardes of bounty hunters and guards. Be careful that you don't overdo it.
The townmaster might not have any power to speak about outside of his own town. While his guards are sure to be on the lookout for the PCs, perhaps the mayor in the next time over doesn't even care because they hate the twonmaster or something.
Not every commoner should be out to get the PCs, some less than lawful characters might even want to help them or at least doesn't care about them being wanted.
Make sure that the news about the PCs being wanted fugitives spread at a reasonable pace. If they leave the first town in a hurry, travel all night thrugh perhaps even multiple levels of exhaustion just to arrive in the next town and find that somehow, magically, everyone knows that they're wanted criminals is less than fun. Give them a day or two to stay ahead of the news and reward them for clever ways to avoid their warrants.
Let the level of pursuit fit their crimes. If they have a fairly low level bounty (and they probably should, since they haven't been doing anything really terrible, as far as I can tell) , don't send high level bounty hunters after them, they shouldn't care. At the same time, perhaps not every commoner and low-level guard think that a measly 50 gold is worth risking their lives over?
Have a way out for the players. With that I mean that there should be a way for them to (at least somewhat) peacefully solve their dispute with the toiwnmaster. Perhaps they can pay a fine (LMoP is full of treasures, so they can probably afford it later on) or do a quest for the Lord or solve it by trial by combat against one of the Lord's champions?
Also, does anyone know around how much i should have for a reward for all of them as still aren't great with how the currency works?
What level are they? Considering their relatively petty crimes I wouldn't put it too high since that would attract more powerful bounty hunters and you don't neccesarily want that. Maybe 50 gold per PC?
- Anything they try to buy in town should be marked up at least 50-100% if not more since it is dangerous for a shop keeper to be seen dealing with them. Honest shopkeepers might not sell to them at all.
- There will be a mix of folks in town. Some won't care, some don't pay attention to much of anything, others might be sharp eyed and pick up on anyone they don't recognize (including disguised party members) and pay closer attention to them.
- If party members enter the town disguised, you could have conversations where the party of threatening bandits is discussed. Have folks talk about the bounty and how they have heard that some big name bounty hunters with a track record of bringing in their prisoners dead or alive, but preferably dead, are supposed to be heading this way. Have someone else say that "No. Those folks wouldn't come to such a small town as Phandalin unless the bandits do something worse. The bandit party might even be miles away by now having heard that <great bounty hunter (Level 10+ fighter type or equivalent NPC with entourage) is coming to hunt them down> is on their way." Someone else could mention that they heard the lord had sent for the bounty hunter specifically. Have another rumor that the party murdered a group of homesteaders and stole their belongings. Have another rumor that the party has been raiding caravans taking the triboar trail (these things may have actually been due to the orcs and other threats in the area but the leaders of the town don't care if the party gets blamed and if it helps them catch the party or keeps the party out of town then they will be happy with it).
- have the town guards paying attention and stopping anyone new to town.
- in terms of bounty amount - this really depends on what sort of economy you have put into your world. I would tend to base it on how much money the characters have and have seen. Is 10gp a cheap lunch at the local pub or enough gold to purchase room and board for a month. How do the players see it? If 10gp is a lot to the players then a 50gp bounty says that someone wealthy wants their heads and is willing to pay for it. Even 20gp might be enough if 1gp is considered a lot. On the other hand, if 10gp isn't that much to the local economy, then 100, 500 or even 1000gp could be a reasonable bounty. Just base it on the crimes the party has committed and how easy money is to get in your economy.
From your earlier description, it sounds like the characters have only blustered, insulted, and threatened the town leader ... were jailed for their behavior and then escaped. They haven't killed anyone yet or actually committed any real crime except escaping custody where they were jailed for being rude. In this case, the bounty would likely be less since the goal of the wanted posters and bounty isn't really to kill or recapture the party but rather to keep them out of town and not further threatening the town leader.
However, the town leader is likely to hire several guards to protect him 24/7 for at least the next month or two until he is certain the characters have left. They have threatened him and he will move to protect himself. He may also get someone to setup traps in his house for unwanted guests. If there is a cleric around, he might get a glyph of warding placed on his bedroom window for example - or another on the floor of the hallway or his bedroom keyed to anyone not a part of his household.
- However, if you are playing Lost Mines of Phandelver, the town IS being run by bandits. The Redbrands lead by Glasstaff are in charge and milking the town for protection money (After setting up fake attacks on the town by their allies including undead raised by Glasstaff himself). I don't know how you might have modified this to fit the world you are running it in. So, depending on how you are running it, the entire story casting the party as bandits to be hunted could be a ploy by the bandits running the town to put down some troublemakers - then later when the party takes out the Redbrands you could frame it as the party overthrowing the corrupt regime that has taken control of the town and restoring their reputation.
In the meantime though, you can use the situation to highlight to the players the consequences of acting like criminals/ruffians/bandits even in a fantasy society. You could emphasize this further by having occasional arrests in town of other citizens for various crimes and decide what suitable punishments would be in your world and then have them publicly displayed.
Also, does anyone know around how much i should have for a reward for all of them as still aren't great with how the currency works?
What level are they? Considering their relatively petty crimes I wouldn't put it too high since that would attract more powerful bounty hunters and you don't neccesarily want that. Maybe 50 gold per PC?
- Anything they try to buy in town should be marked up at least 50-100% if not more since it is dangerous for a shop keeper to be seen dealing with them. Honest shopkeepers might not sell to them at all.
- There will be a mix of folks in town. Some won't care, some don't pay attention to much of anything, others might be sharp eyed and pick up on anyone they don't recognize (including disguised party members) and pay closer attention to them.
- If party members enter the town disguised, you could have conversations where the party of threatening bandits is discussed. Have folks talk about the bounty and how they have heard that some big name bounty hunters with a track record of bringing in their prisoners dead or alive, but preferably dead, are supposed to be heading this way. Have someone else say that "No. Those folks wouldn't come to such a small town as Phandalin unless the bandits do something worse. The bandit party might even be miles away by now having heard that <great bounty hunter (Level 10+ fighter type or equivalent NPC with entourage) is coming to hunt them down> is on their way." Someone else could mention that they heard the lord had sent for the bounty hunter specifically. Have another rumor that the party murdered a group of homesteaders and stole their belongings. Have another rumor that the party has been raiding caravans taking the triboar trail (these things may have actually been due to the orcs and other threats in the area but the leaders of the town don't care if the party gets blamed and if it helps them catch the party or keeps the party out of town then they will be happy with it).
- have the town guards paying attention and stopping anyone new to town.
- in terms of bounty amount - this really depends on what sort of economy you have put into your world. I would tend to base it on how much money the characters have and have seen. Is 10gp a cheap lunch at the local pub or enough gold to purchase room and board for a month. How do the players see it? If 10gp is a lot to the players then a 50gp bounty says that someone wealthy wants their heads and is willing to pay for it. Even 20gp might be enough if 1gp is considered a lot. On the other hand, if 10gp isn't that much to the local economy, then 100, 500 or even 1000gp could be a reasonable bounty. Just base it on the crimes the party has committed and how easy money is to get in your economy.
From your earlier description, it sounds like the characters have only blustered, insulted, and threatened the town leader ... were jailed for their behavior and then escaped. They haven't killed anyone yet or actually committed any real crime except escaping custody where they were jailed for being rude. In this case, the bounty would likely be less since the goal of the wanted posters and bounty isn't really to kill or recapture the party but rather to keep them out of town and not further threatening the town leader.
However, the town leader is likely to hire several guards to protect him 24/7 for at least the next month or two until he is certain the characters have left. They have threatened him and he will move to protect himself. He may also get someone to setup traps in his house for unwanted guests. If there is a cleric around, he might get a glyph of warding placed on his bedroom window for example - or another on the floor of the hallway or his bedroom keyed to anyone not a part of his household.
- However, if you are playing Lost Mines of Phandelver, the town IS being run by bandits. The Redbrands lead by Glasstaff are in charge and milking the town for protection money (After setting up fake attacks on the town by their allies including undead raised by Glasstaff himself). I don't know how you might have modified this to fit the world you are running it in. So, depending on how you are running it, the entire story casting the party as bandits to be hunted could be a ploy by the bandits running the town to put down some troublemakers - then later when the party takes out the Redbrands you could frame it as the party overthrowing the corrupt regime that has taken control of the town and restoring their reputation.
In the meantime though, you can use the situation to highlight to the players the consequences of acting like criminals/ruffians/bandits even in a fantasy society. You could emphasize this further by having occasional arrests in town of other citizens for various crimes and decide what suitable punishments would be in your world and then have them publicly displayed.
Thanks very much, I'm definitely going to use a lot of those ideas.
The PCs just defeated the redbrands a couple of sessions ago so it could be cool for Lord Saxton to say they are the last remaining Redbrand members or something like that. Lord Saxton has also been paid off by the Black Spider so I think that would justify a high enough pay for a top bounty hunter to come in which should be fun.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
Hello fellow dungeon masters đź‘‹, I'm a fairly new dm and was a bit unsure how I should handle my campaign
So, my players insulted and thratened the local townmaster multiple times, which was fun so the ruler of the town and the surrounding towns Lord Saxton kidnapped them, and he sent them to the Castle jail where they broke out.
They were away from town last session so I thought it'd be cool if Lord Saxton put a bounty on their heads. I could maybe have locals try to capture them to claim the reward and inn keapers and locals ignoring them for fear of punishment for betrayal.
How would I go about doing something like this or anyone have any good ideas? (Also we're playing through lost mine of phandelver so any ideas to do with that would be great). all help would be greatly appreciated and thanks to all those who respond.
Posters outside the tavern, near the edge of town - so the party see that they are wanted, and they might decide to camp outside of town instead of heading inside.
Do they have any close friends in town who might be willing to hide them?
Thanks for the help, I was thinking it'd be a good idea to have some posters.
They have one close friend, Sildar Hallwinter who might be able to hide them and one of the shopkeepers is sort of friends with them as well
Thanks for the help, I was thinking it'd be a good idea to have some posters.
They have one close friend, Sildar Hallwinter who might be able to hide them and one of the shopkeepers is sort of friends with them as well
Here's some tips for what I've found to be the most fun for everyone.
Put up wanted posters around town so they can see them, tear them down, draw on them.
Have the local guards on alert, checking wagons going in and out, patrolling the streets. But. The trick here is to make them not very competent. You really want your players to still play the adventure. If the danger is too high, they'll just run far away. So let them make some disguises that usually work as long as they don't make themselves too obvious. Let them roll Deception to pass the guards. Let them take back alleys around town. That's fun for them.
Give them some allies in the town. People they are already friends with. Or even people that just like the thing they did that got them in trouble in the first place. These allies are more competent than the guards. Maybe the innkeeper hates the guy they insulted. And she knows who the PCs are, but let's them stay in the inn anyway. She gives them a wink, a free drink, and tells them to stay low. The allies should cover for them when it's reasonable. As long as they don't have to take big risks themselves. This gives the players places to hide and people they can count on. Most people in town will probably ignore the PCs to actively try to stay out of trouble by association, if they even notice them at all.
Give them a villain. A captain of the guard that wants them caught at any cost. A Javert character that is always just one step behind them. Someone they can hate, and love to outwit.
And finally, give them a way out. Something they can do to clear their name eventually. It could just be completing the main mission. If they solve the town's problems and become heroes, then no one will want to arrest them again. Lord Saxton will have to swallow his pride and call off the warrants. Even better if he is the one that has to reward them publicly for their good deeds. They get to enjoy making him look bad one more time and leave as local celebrities.
Good luck and I hope you all have a great game!
Waylaying the party on the road with bounty hunters is another metric that adds some combat flair - the classic “this says to take you alive, but I’ll just say you resisted” trope is an oldie but a goodie.
One thing that can really add some flair to a campaign - think about travel times for messages. An angry lord might send riders to nearby locations, but the expense of sending folks to post wanted pictures a couple towns over might not be worth it for whatever the slight was, so mews of the bounty might spread rapidly and permeate one area, but begin to spread a bit more slowly after that. Descriptions can also get a bit muddied with travel and the gossip will not be as juicy further out, so folks located nearer to the offence might know the details better than people living a bit further away.
I'd suggest making elements of the town guard and perhaps the mayor themselves powerful enough that the party can't easily kill them ... unless you want this turning into a bandit/murder hobo campaign.
After insulting and threatening the mayor, the party's most likely response might be to just kill them and their employees if they try to do something to prevent the characters from doing whatever they want to do. If they succeed at that, they might just kill any authority figures they meet since they will be under the impression that they can kill anyone with impunity because there are no consequences and no one capable of enforcing consequences.
Just putting up wanted posters doesn't do much unless the characters/players perceive it as a real threat. So, it will be up to you to decide what sort of game world you are running and exactly what range of creatures are found in it. Are the characters so exceptional that the village contains no one who is a realistic threat or are they just low level adventurers and some fraction of the town population might be trained, knowledgeable and capable of defending themselves from adventurers.
Thanks very much to all of you. That's all a great help
Lots of wonderful advice, I'll just add a few things to think about.
Good luck with your game! :)
Thanks
Also, does anyone know around how much i should have for a reward for all of them as still aren't great with how the currency works?
What level are they? Considering their relatively petty crimes I wouldn't put it too high since that would attract more powerful bounty hunters and you don't neccesarily want that. Maybe 50 gold per PC?
In terms of play adjustments ...
- Anything they try to buy in town should be marked up at least 50-100% if not more since it is dangerous for a shop keeper to be seen dealing with them. Honest shopkeepers might not sell to them at all.
- There will be a mix of folks in town. Some won't care, some don't pay attention to much of anything, others might be sharp eyed and pick up on anyone they don't recognize (including disguised party members) and pay closer attention to them.
- If party members enter the town disguised, you could have conversations where the party of threatening bandits is discussed. Have folks talk about the bounty and how they have heard that some big name bounty hunters with a track record of bringing in their prisoners dead or alive, but preferably dead, are supposed to be heading this way. Have someone else say that "No. Those folks wouldn't come to such a small town as Phandalin unless the bandits do something worse. The bandit party might even be miles away by now having heard that <great bounty hunter (Level 10+ fighter type or equivalent NPC with entourage) is coming to hunt them down> is on their way." Someone else could mention that they heard the lord had sent for the bounty hunter specifically. Have another rumor that the party murdered a group of homesteaders and stole their belongings. Have another rumor that the party has been raiding caravans taking the triboar trail (these things may have actually been due to the orcs and other threats in the area but the leaders of the town don't care if the party gets blamed and if it helps them catch the party or keeps the party out of town then they will be happy with it).
- have the town guards paying attention and stopping anyone new to town.
- in terms of bounty amount - this really depends on what sort of economy you have put into your world. I would tend to base it on how much money the characters have and have seen. Is 10gp a cheap lunch at the local pub or enough gold to purchase room and board for a month. How do the players see it? If 10gp is a lot to the players then a 50gp bounty says that someone wealthy wants their heads and is willing to pay for it. Even 20gp might be enough if 1gp is considered a lot. On the other hand, if 10gp isn't that much to the local economy, then 100, 500 or even 1000gp could be a reasonable bounty. Just base it on the crimes the party has committed and how easy money is to get in your economy.
From your earlier description, it sounds like the characters have only blustered, insulted, and threatened the town leader ... were jailed for their behavior and then escaped. They haven't killed anyone yet or actually committed any real crime except escaping custody where they were jailed for being rude. In this case, the bounty would likely be less since the goal of the wanted posters and bounty isn't really to kill or recapture the party but rather to keep them out of town and not further threatening the town leader.
However, the town leader is likely to hire several guards to protect him 24/7 for at least the next month or two until he is certain the characters have left. They have threatened him and he will move to protect himself. He may also get someone to setup traps in his house for unwanted guests. If there is a cleric around, he might get a glyph of warding placed on his bedroom window for example - or another on the floor of the hallway or his bedroom keyed to anyone not a part of his household.
- However, if you are playing Lost Mines of Phandelver, the town IS being run by bandits. The Redbrands lead by Glasstaff are in charge and milking the town for protection money (After setting up fake attacks on the town by their allies including undead raised by Glasstaff himself). I don't know how you might have modified this to fit the world you are running it in. So, depending on how you are running it, the entire story casting the party as bandits to be hunted could be a ploy by the bandits running the town to put down some troublemakers - then later when the party takes out the Redbrands you could frame it as the party overthrowing the corrupt regime that has taken control of the town and restoring their reputation.
In the meantime though, you can use the situation to highlight to the players the consequences of acting like criminals/ruffians/bandits even in a fantasy society. You could emphasize this further by having occasional arrests in town of other citizens for various crimes and decide what suitable punishments would be in your world and then have them publicly displayed.
Thanks, they're level 3
Thanks very much, I'm definitely going to use a lot of those ideas.
The PCs just defeated the redbrands a couple of sessions ago so it could be cool for Lord Saxton to say they are the last remaining Redbrand members or something like that. Lord Saxton has also been paid off by the Black Spider so I think that would justify a high enough pay for a top bounty hunter to come in which should be fun.