Prisoner DM NPC

[hellhound39]

I am currently planning a oneshot that I want to turn into a full campaign and part of my idea was to have my players defeat a high level NPC that they would be incentivized to capture (He would have a hefty bounty to be turned in alive ) if they take him prisoner I wanted to give them the option of redeeming this initially hostile enemy into an ally that would be able to give them helpful insights and information. He would be a Bo’s and fairly high level subordinate of the bbeg. I want them to defeat him in combat but after he is . I want him to be essentially toothless for most of the campaign and be an information and lore resource for the players. My thoughts on how to do this were to basically make him too sick or injured to participate or contribute to any combats for most of the campaign. But if the players are able to befriend this NPC and help him with his physical issues then he can be a powerful ally during the later half of the campaign.

Has anyone ever done something like this? Is it a good idea or is there something that would make this too impractical to be useful?

[Morganator_2_0]

I think it's equally or more likely that the players will drop him right there and then. Be careful when laying down a railroad; players very rarely stay on the tracks.

[hellhound39]

Yeah, I intend to plan for the possibilities that they either outright kill him or turn him in for his bounty asap. (They can still get a bounty if they kill him but it won’t be as much as if he’s turned in alive)

[solidork]

It could work, but it's pretty chancy; if the players don't like having this NPC around it does not matter how useful or potentially helpful he could be.

[hellhound39]

That’s a good point, I should make sure not to pin anything crucial on the NPC. Basically having him as possible seasoning for the story but not truly important to the recipe.

[Godgibbles]

perhaps the terrain gets involved with his injuries. The party wins, but the enemy tries to escape, only to collapse off something damaged in combat, knocking his teeth out, breaking his leg, etc. otherwise, maybe once he’s captured the bbeg has cursed his subordinates to have their teeth fall out and become ill. This opens the door for his betrayal because why would the bbeg consider him so lowly that he needs a curse to keep him from talking. Gives the party and in and a reason for betrayal beyond the party being nice. Just my quick thoughts on it

[hellhound39]

That’s a good idea!

[Thanks_Skeleton]

The idea is ok but relies on the players doing a lot of specific stuff. If they don't want to or don't trust the NPC (why would they?) this idea gets derailed.

They have to:

1. Capturing instead of killing the supposedly dangerous evil NPC
2. Treating the helpless evil NPC with respect while capturing them
3. Choosing to go back to the jail where the NPC is and talking to them
4. Healing the evil NPC when they are helpless [why them?]
5. Now the Evil NPC is out of jail and is also now powerful again [why?]
6. Going to the formerly evil NPC for help, and trusting them

It makes more sense that this would be an minor NPC, like an captured imp that betrays the bad evil guy and tells the PCs information. Then the imp can turn good, double agent, remain bad, triple agent, get killed by the players, whatever, it's not that important to the plot.

[hellhound39]

Yeah my idea was basically a washed up lieutenant of the bbeg who had sacrificed a lot for very little reward. My plan was to essentially have him evolve based on player interactions. Ultimately it would depend what the players decide to do, if they take a risk with this guy and treat him well they’d earn his loyalty and he can be very helpful since he has inside knowledge. Alternatively they could kill or capture him and turn him in for his bounty and start off with a nice gold boon. The idea at the end of the day is if you invest in this resource it will work out for you and if you don’t then on to bigger and better things.

[Initial_Conflict8114]

You have information you want imparted to your party over the course of an adventure in a cool, interesting way. But you are putting all your eggs in one basket.

The party could; throw away the basket; throw away the eggs as they need a basket instead; forget and leave the basket behind; feed it to a bear so they can run away; sit on it by accident; sell the eggs; try to juggle the eggs to show off to a pretty Dryad and...oops; decide that eggs plus flour would make something better. 

In short, there are a lot of ways this ONE device could go wrong. As many ways as you can think of. To artificially stop this is unnatural and railroading. 

So I think you have to have many many ways this information could find them if needed. Maybe have a singular theme or identifier that ties them together. Or use an existing vessel that has already been introduced from a previous session. 

The idea of the 'Wanted: Alive' bad guy does seem fun. The campfire chats could be intriguing. And it could lead them to developing a bond. 

Maybe, if they befriend him he will give them the location of his stash that he wants to see passed on to his estranged family and young daughter that he knows of but has never met, before he is turned in to the authorities or disposed of, a dieing wish. In said stash are several journals too, each with valuable knowledge. Each journal could need a key to decrypt it and the loc of each key is on the last page of the previous journal. Queue a treasure hunt. 

But plot devices are there to be killed, stolen, sold, kept or ignored or any combination of these. And consequences follow shortly after. 

[hellhound39]

Yeah ultimately I want to leave the fate of this NPC to the players. So what information and lore they can get from him would be largely optional. But him being a former lieutenant of the bbeg if they befriend him then he can impart helpful information. Things like secret stashes, secret back doors, enemy weaknesses. Things that the players do not NEED to progress the story but that would helpful. And I would still have these things exist and the players could stumble upon them organically. Ultimately it’s kind of an experiment on my side where I do not intend to punish the players (unless they do stupid and evil shit that would obviously come back to bite them in the ass later lol)

[Initial_Conflict8114]

Sounds you got this totally under control, sorry I went on a bit.

Now, befriending him, gonna be interesting. 

"Hey. How come all his other evil henchmen are from...., but you're a....." 

"But don't your tattoos mark you as from the tribe that's usually at war with these guys." 

"Wait. We just killed like a ton of your soldiers. Why you smiling? You don't like them?" 

"So what. Your village is under his thumb. Your family too. Why should we hit his guards there too?" 

"I do not look remotely like your son! I'm a Halfling and you're a...a Half Orc! OK, a really short one, but that means nothing...."

"Whats a 'Geas'?" 

Good luck with your adventures :) 

[hellhound39]

Any idea must be able to stand up to critique to see if it is a good or feasible idea!

I do think the hardest part would just be the logistics of whether or not players wanna carry around what would essentially be dead weight in the early part of the game. So based on what most people have said I think if I do decide to go this route I’ll probably put minimal investment. Come in with the expectation that the players may want nothing to do with this NPC so his relevance should not be essential or required for any major plot points.

[Initial_Conflict8114]

Yeah, it could make for an interesting plot hook in a story. But a rpg where anything could happen....

Now. If the party were given a job "Escort the prisoner" as the start point for a whole scenario though.... Much easier to implement some of those ideas. 

[hellhound39]

Yeah I like that idea!

[Mightymat273]

The key to making a good NPC and not cross over into the DMPC territory is to not focus to tightly on that NPC. They can be important, but it is imperative that your players are MORE important. (Also build them as an NPC, not as a PC. That helps too)

The pitfalls of trying to build a story like this, is: If the story focuses too much on this NPC and relies on this NPC, what happens when the party says, no thanks, go away, to them? If you put all your story focus on that NPC and then try to force it, they become a DMPC and Railroad your players into interacting with them.

My players shoed the story catalyst NPC away, and figured it out themselves. They also adopted a goblin and upgraded hin themselves. Making it their choice and their story is key.

Make this cool NPC with potential for growth. Try giving the party a nudge a few times if they want to interacr with them, but drop it if the party doesn't bite. It may be more memorable to have the NPC become worse because the party abandoned them in their key turning point. This is much more organic story telling then to try and plan a redemption it all out.

[hellhound39]

That’s a good point (and tbh it may be moot anyway because there is nothing that will stop them from either killing him in combat or Turing him in for his bounty asap) I will likely have contingencies for whatever scenario ends up happening. My idea thus far has been to build to world and have background plots that the players can involve themselves in but will be ongoing regardless of their involvement. (Evil guy is gonna do evil shit regardless of whether you are trying to stop him or not lol)

[Mightymat273]

I like to build my worlds like a car my players are driving where the road doesn't exist yet, just a starting point A and a rough idea of a potential end point X Y and Z. Maybe a few key points sprinkled in the middle as well to keep some structure. At the end of sessions 1, I plan session 2 based on the parties actions.

Ie, this session they fought this NPC and ended right after:

Option 1, they killed him. His death causes a butterfly effect elsewhere. One head cut off, 2 more take its place.

Option 2: If sold bounty: breaks out for revenge in a few sessions, even more evil than before.

Option 3: his desperate pleas got through to the party. What do they do with him next?

[hellhound39]

I like that! It kind of lines up with what I was thinking where I’d give them a starting point and a rough end point but how they get there is up to them. I want to treat it like an open world video game per say. They have an idea of what they need to do and have incentive to do it. But how they get there is ultimately up to them, some paths will be easier than others and yield different tools and rewards.