Looking for ideas about building a mini story arc for a PC – comments welcome!
One of my PCs has decided her character is opposed to the City Watch in Waterdeep and is intent on (vaguely) overthrowing them and the city's corrupt laws (fwiw the other PCs do not share this, if otherwise also not terribly sympathetic to the police and leadership). I'm trying not to be too discouraging of a choose-your-pain kind of gameplay style, suffice to say I've pulled strings a couple times to make sure the lvl 1/2 character picking a fight with a dozen level 3+ NPCs doesn't perma-kill them.
In addition to the main story and a bevy of hustle-for-money sidequests and such, I'm trying to develop mini story arcs for the PCs to further develop themselves. Her PC's interests seem to lend themselves well to like the 1910s-1930s era social movements and protests, and I'm brainstorming story arc ideas that might push her character into quandaries and decision-making that could be satisfying or revealing. But this being 2021, I'm also wanting to make sure everything has an angle or subtext.
My loose idea right now is that the PC is contacted by a Yuan-Ti Pureblood operating a cell in the city, who seizes on the PC's anti-Watch attitude and tries to conscript them into a plot to do something big in the city (like a bloody heist or terror attack). The Yuan-Ti wouldn't disclose the plot at the start of course, if ever really. Getting to that final step would take a few missions and the first couple would appear entirely like just sticking it to the City Watch (while, unbeknownst to the PCs, they're setting the scene for the Yuan-Ti cell to do whatever it is they want to do).
That's as far as I've gotten! Thinking on old movies and such for plot ideas about what this could look like and how to build a crescendo that is ever-more morally testing for her PC and the other PCs. This being WDH I do have the Faction quests and multiple antagonist storylines as well, and could just modify one of the ones that aren't in play in this adventure.
Your yuan-ti idea is great. I could think of a few scenarios that might apply. Historically speaking, revolutions are frequently deadly for innocent bystanders, and often result in more radical governments being installed to "defend the revolution"/"restore stability". Consider a case where being a subversive could endanger innocents, or somebody close to the PC. The yuan-ti could also be an outsider looking to destabilize the city to conjure a giant snake god or something along those lines.
There's the matter of player comfort to consider if you do this. Things like bystanders in harm's way and terrorism are disturbing to many and may cross the line.
That's kind of what I'm going for – she started off her adventure wanting to fight the City Watch and has kept up the animosity towards them (which I have driven as well through painting some of the Watch as corrupt or in any event incredibly brutal).
If this were a 4-5 act play, my thinking is that the PCs start off, ostensibly, thinking they are just sticking it to corrupt government or police or the like, fairly two-dimensional (unless someone rolls a high insight on the Yuan-Ti agent). The quests get progressively more challenging of course so that the PCs might think they are rooting out the corruption but in the big reveal they're setting up the terror attack or the like. Basically I want to get the PCs to see how far they're willing to go and when/how they stop it once released.
At the same time, though, I can imagine the other PCs pushing back at the first obvious moral quandary.
So what I'd like ideas on are what the big act might be and maybe what the terror cell would need to pull it off. I imagine a combination of "neutralize this person/barrier" and "steal this thing for us" and "make this thing unworkable" quests that ultimately lead to the agent squeezing the trigger and something goes "boom" – but not sure to what end. That's why I'm also wondering if modifying one of the unused antagonist lines from WDH might work out better since there's a "point".
Bumping this once to see if others have any ideas for a potential moral quandary mini-arc, where one/all of my PCs inadvertently facilitate a terrorist attack while thinking they are pushing back against corruption in the city police.
As a DM that frequently uses waterdeep, I find this crazy. First, there is the waterdeep lore:
The Town Guard (City watch) is under the supervision of the Force Grey, or "Grey hands." They are a group of elite adventurers dedicated to the protection of the city, and get rid of any or dangerous threats to the city. The force grey is under the control of The Blackstaff, and I doubt your PC can deal with multiple level 20+ adventurers. I'm talking about a person who owns a Genie, a Frost Giant, etc. Crazy stupid stuff. On the alignment wheel, they range from lawful neutral to chaotic good, and they are trying to eliminate the Xanathar crime faction. What I am trying to say is that the Town Guard in Waterdeep is incredibly supervised, controlled, and good intentioned. The PC likely doesn't know how powerful the authority of waterdeep truly is, and any attempt at anarchy would be swiftly and cleanly quenched. This is just the Force Grey. There are also the Emerald Enclave (Druids & Rangers), The Order of the Gauntlet (Paladins and Clerics), the Harpers (Rogues and good aligned criminals), and The Lords Alliance (Forces of every large city on the coast). All equally powerful, dangerous, and willing to protect waterdeep should the need arise. You seem to know your factions well. Bring them into the story.
I don't know the alignment of your PC. I don't know if they are willing to make a terrorist attack on innocent people just to get at authority. If you must make waterdeep corrupt, have the PC contact the Force Grey to get the town guard under control. If you must make your PC take the road to evil, have them be caught, taught a lesson about authority, and stand trial for murder, destruction of property, and being a threat to the city. Your PC is making potentially evil choices here. Make it known that they will be hurting innocent people. Your PC has the ideas of corruption, but do they actually know the city? They likely have this idea that they are the hero of the people, but are they? Is the PC the hero that she thinks she is? Think about the revolutions in china, germany, etc. Why did they happen. Was there any good?
Have the PC be free to do whatever they want. BUT: make sure they receive the full consequences of their actions. This is of the greatest importance. Don't be merciful to a PC that supports terrorism. They should stand trial, and it is the judgement of the city if she walks free, stays in chains, or never walks again.
I think some of what I was asking for may have been missed; it's my goal to basically get my PC to start asking themselves these hard questions. I've soft-gloved some of their interactions with the city watch but if they want to continue in this thread I'd like to explore it with them – with the consequences being baked in. I've also constructed the city watch to have corrupt elements in the pockets of others, hard-liners who readily beat the shit out of pickpockets, and do-gooders who are worried they'll be killed if they speak up. Contemporary policing in America is certainly an influence in this gameplay and portrayal of Waterdeep.
For example, both Force Grey and the Order of the Gauntlet play into the narrative I am building in other ways regarding corruption in the city watch; the PC's beliefs being what they are might well get them into trouble regardless, but it's not my story to tell in that regard.
So, accepting the noir-version of Waterdeep where there are weakpoints in the factions and police that have been exploited by organized crime and are exploitable by a terrorist cell, I'm keen for ideas that could help me construct a story arc for this PC based on the decisions they themselves make.
I appreciate the thought that went into this posting, truly, though it's sort of like saying "someone else has said these are the rules". I'm DM, and in this game "What I am trying to say is that the Town Guard in Waterdeep is incredibly supervised, controlled, and good intentioned" is not what I am saying.
In this version of waterdeep there is the potentiality for a terrorist attack and a less-than-capable Force Grey or other faction to respond to it for any number of reasons, even if they would otherwise want to or be able to. That's also the constructed "in" for my PCs – as people who Vajra and others can look to for help in circumventing the challenges they face in trying to keep a city on the brink held together.
Ultimately, how I'd like this story to go is the PC does some tasks for the cell not realizing they're enabling the terror attack, realize they're being used to that end, and try to stop it before it's too late.
Just curious if you have anything to share on how this turned out. I know it's been a long time. My players are also not interested in allying with the city and its authorities much. I wouldn't say they're openly antagonistic, because they realize the power differential. But, they aren't going to go out of their way to make the Watch's jobs any easier. But, unlike the other commenter above, my Waterdeep is a city where there's ample corruption and class disparity (Field Ward, anyone?). So, those supporting that system are at least partially morally culpable and the players and I enjoy navigating those murky waters.
I hope you found a way to let your player enjoy telling a fantasy story about being a revolutionary that didn't only have the message, "don't be a revolutionary, trust the cops." That would make me sad. But, you know your table best.
My two groups have only just finished Chapter 1, so we've got loads left. So, I'm expecting to bump into some of these same situations. If you have any advice on what worked and didn't, I'd love to hear it.
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Looking for ideas about building a mini story arc for a PC – comments welcome!
One of my PCs has decided her character is opposed to the City Watch in Waterdeep and is intent on (vaguely) overthrowing them and the city's corrupt laws (fwiw the other PCs do not share this, if otherwise also not terribly sympathetic to the police and leadership). I'm trying not to be too discouraging of a choose-your-pain kind of gameplay style, suffice to say I've pulled strings a couple times to make sure the lvl 1/2 character picking a fight with a dozen level 3+ NPCs doesn't perma-kill them.
In addition to the main story and a bevy of hustle-for-money sidequests and such, I'm trying to develop mini story arcs for the PCs to further develop themselves. Her PC's interests seem to lend themselves well to like the 1910s-1930s era social movements and protests, and I'm brainstorming story arc ideas that might push her character into quandaries and decision-making that could be satisfying or revealing. But this being 2021, I'm also wanting to make sure everything has an angle or subtext.
My loose idea right now is that the PC is contacted by a Yuan-Ti Pureblood operating a cell in the city, who seizes on the PC's anti-Watch attitude and tries to conscript them into a plot to do something big in the city (like a bloody heist or terror attack). The Yuan-Ti wouldn't disclose the plot at the start of course, if ever really. Getting to that final step would take a few missions and the first couple would appear entirely like just sticking it to the City Watch (while, unbeknownst to the PCs, they're setting the scene for the Yuan-Ti cell to do whatever it is they want to do).
That's as far as I've gotten! Thinking on old movies and such for plot ideas about what this could look like and how to build a crescendo that is ever-more morally testing for her PC and the other PCs. This being WDH I do have the Faction quests and multiple antagonist storylines as well, and could just modify one of the ones that aren't in play in this adventure.
Your yuan-ti idea is great. I could think of a few scenarios that might apply. Historically speaking, revolutions are frequently deadly for innocent bystanders, and often result in more radical governments being installed to "defend the revolution"/"restore stability". Consider a case where being a subversive could endanger innocents, or somebody close to the PC. The yuan-ti could also be an outsider looking to destabilize the city to conjure a giant snake god or something along those lines.
There's the matter of player comfort to consider if you do this. Things like bystanders in harm's way and terrorism are disturbing to many and may cross the line.
That's kind of what I'm going for – she started off her adventure wanting to fight the City Watch and has kept up the animosity towards them (which I have driven as well through painting some of the Watch as corrupt or in any event incredibly brutal).
If this were a 4-5 act play, my thinking is that the PCs start off, ostensibly, thinking they are just sticking it to corrupt government or police or the like, fairly two-dimensional (unless someone rolls a high insight on the Yuan-Ti agent). The quests get progressively more challenging of course so that the PCs might think they are rooting out the corruption but in the big reveal they're setting up the terror attack or the like. Basically I want to get the PCs to see how far they're willing to go and when/how they stop it once released.
At the same time, though, I can imagine the other PCs pushing back at the first obvious moral quandary.
So what I'd like ideas on are what the big act might be and maybe what the terror cell would need to pull it off. I imagine a combination of "neutralize this person/barrier" and "steal this thing for us" and "make this thing unworkable" quests that ultimately lead to the agent squeezing the trigger and something goes "boom" – but not sure to what end. That's why I'm also wondering if modifying one of the unused antagonist lines from WDH might work out better since there's a "point".
Bumping this once to see if others have any ideas for a potential moral quandary mini-arc, where one/all of my PCs inadvertently facilitate a terrorist attack while thinking they are pushing back against corruption in the city police.
As a DM that frequently uses waterdeep, I find this crazy. First, there is the waterdeep lore:
The Town Guard (City watch) is under the supervision of the Force Grey, or "Grey hands." They are a group of elite adventurers dedicated to the protection of the city, and get rid of any or dangerous threats to the city. The force grey is under the control of The Blackstaff, and I doubt your PC can deal with multiple level 20+ adventurers. I'm talking about a person who owns a Genie, a Frost Giant, etc. Crazy stupid stuff. On the alignment wheel, they range from lawful neutral to chaotic good, and they are trying to eliminate the Xanathar crime faction. What I am trying to say is that the Town Guard in Waterdeep is incredibly supervised, controlled, and good intentioned. The PC likely doesn't know how powerful the authority of waterdeep truly is, and any attempt at anarchy would be swiftly and cleanly quenched. This is just the Force Grey. There are also the Emerald Enclave (Druids & Rangers), The Order of the Gauntlet (Paladins and Clerics), the Harpers (Rogues and good aligned criminals), and The Lords Alliance (Forces of every large city on the coast). All equally powerful, dangerous, and willing to protect waterdeep should the need arise. You seem to know your factions well. Bring them into the story.
I don't know the alignment of your PC. I don't know if they are willing to make a terrorist attack on innocent people just to get at authority. If you must make waterdeep corrupt, have the PC contact the Force Grey to get the town guard under control. If you must make your PC take the road to evil, have them be caught, taught a lesson about authority, and stand trial for murder, destruction of property, and being a threat to the city. Your PC is making potentially evil choices here. Make it known that they will be hurting innocent people. Your PC has the ideas of corruption, but do they actually know the city? They likely have this idea that they are the hero of the people, but are they? Is the PC the hero that she thinks she is? Think about the revolutions in china, germany, etc. Why did they happen. Was there any good?
Have the PC be free to do whatever they want. BUT: make sure they receive the full consequences of their actions. This is of the greatest importance. Don't be merciful to a PC that supports terrorism. They should stand trial, and it is the judgement of the city if she walks free, stays in chains, or never walks again.
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I think some of what I was asking for may have been missed; it's my goal to basically get my PC to start asking themselves these hard questions. I've soft-gloved some of their interactions with the city watch but if they want to continue in this thread I'd like to explore it with them – with the consequences being baked in. I've also constructed the city watch to have corrupt elements in the pockets of others, hard-liners who readily beat the shit out of pickpockets, and do-gooders who are worried they'll be killed if they speak up. Contemporary policing in America is certainly an influence in this gameplay and portrayal of Waterdeep.
For example, both Force Grey and the Order of the Gauntlet play into the narrative I am building in other ways regarding corruption in the city watch; the PC's beliefs being what they are might well get them into trouble regardless, but it's not my story to tell in that regard.
So, accepting the noir-version of Waterdeep where there are weakpoints in the factions and police that have been exploited by organized crime and are exploitable by a terrorist cell, I'm keen for ideas that could help me construct a story arc for this PC based on the decisions they themselves make.
I appreciate the thought that went into this posting, truly, though it's sort of like saying "someone else has said these are the rules". I'm DM, and in this game "What I am trying to say is that the Town Guard in Waterdeep is incredibly supervised, controlled, and good intentioned" is not what I am saying.
In this version of waterdeep there is the potentiality for a terrorist attack and a less-than-capable Force Grey or other faction to respond to it for any number of reasons, even if they would otherwise want to or be able to. That's also the constructed "in" for my PCs – as people who Vajra and others can look to for help in circumventing the challenges they face in trying to keep a city on the brink held together.
Ultimately, how I'd like this story to go is the PC does some tasks for the cell not realizing they're enabling the terror attack, realize they're being used to that end, and try to stop it before it's too late.
Just curious if you have anything to share on how this turned out. I know it's been a long time. My players are also not interested in allying with the city and its authorities much. I wouldn't say they're openly antagonistic, because they realize the power differential. But, they aren't going to go out of their way to make the Watch's jobs any easier. But, unlike the other commenter above, my Waterdeep is a city where there's ample corruption and class disparity (Field Ward, anyone?). So, those supporting that system are at least partially morally culpable and the players and I enjoy navigating those murky waters.
I hope you found a way to let your player enjoy telling a fantasy story about being a revolutionary that didn't only have the message, "don't be a revolutionary, trust the cops." That would make me sad. But, you know your table best.
My two groups have only just finished Chapter 1, so we've got loads left. So, I'm expecting to bump into some of these same situations. If you have any advice on what worked and didn't, I'd love to hear it.