Villains are smarter than PCs
If it’s considered smart for villains to play it safe to hire henchmen to do their bidding, why isn’t every rich adventurer doing the same? PCs could keep the fun stuff for themselves, but shouldn’t they at least send scouts ahead of themselves on their adventures?
The perfect hook
A scout giving a report to the PC party would be the perfect way to start an adventure!
- The players are interested in the storyline otherwise they wouldn’t have sent out a scout to investigate.
- The PCs have enough clues and hints in the report to achieve their goals so the DM doesn’t have to plant obvious clues if the players act unpredictably. The PCs can still gather more clues by acting brilliantly.
- The scouting report is a great way to build hype about your best scenes and encounters.
What do you think? Has anyone tried this approach before?
6 Comments
8:56 am on November 22nd, 2007
When I first read this I thought: You don’t send scouts ahead to check out a potential danger area (as a good aligned adventuring party) like a villian might because good guys don’t like to waste lives whereas the bad guy is just using a tool.
Besides, risking death yourself is just more fun.
However, I’ve never thought of using scouts as an adventure hook. Thanks!
10:09 am on November 22nd, 2007
Ah! Risking death - my favorite hobby!
12:50 pm on November 22nd, 2007
I thought collecting stamp was your favorite hobby!
3:00 am on November 24th, 2007
Pcs dont like to use scouts simply because they have to pay them. I mean think about it. When a pc has to pay a man say thirty gold a week for his services and that turns into several weeks that can get expensive for poor characters who like to use there money for other things. Not to mention those who do have the money to spend on a scout are less likely to do so because they are greedy and are more willing to spend the money on other things like expensive magical items.
10:25 am on November 24th, 2007
They have to be rich, but not greedy… It eliminates a lot of PCs!
1:59 pm on November 26th, 2007
I suspect it’s because the PCs expect problems that require solving will be big and noisy– if it’s something that they and only they can solve, someone will come knocking at the door. While if it’s something routine… isn’t that why the city has a guard patrol? They must do something other than lock up PCs after their bar brawls…
If the PCs hired scouts, their to do list would be arm length. Now if they had the scouts also verify their client’s ability to pay…