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kdtipa · 05-15-2018, 10:29 AM

In addition to the subject of the escort having their own thoughts and possibly causing problems, the subject is also not a carefully crafted character with as much effectiveness in the campaign as possible. An ambush is much scarier because the person being escorted is much more likely to die than any of the "adventurers" that are used to that sort of danger. Or the sword is more likely to get stolen from under their noses. The subject of the escort is much more vulnerable than the Player Characters.

It's really a good way to make the players deal with something less than ideal if you have players that power-gamed their characters skillfully. You don't have to use GM fiat to say "sorry, your power doesn't work here" (which would be unfair really). You can just say "This person doesn't have layers of DR and cat-like reflexes... and if they die... you don't get paid" (or whatever motivation is working). The players suddenly have to scramble to solve the problem of keeping the weak subject safe.

I've had some luck with it in running games. And it's almost always fun to give the subject an interesting personality.

05-15-2018, 10:29 AM	#6
kdtipa Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Southern New Hampshire	Re: escort missions In addition to the subject of the escort having their own thoughts and possibly causing problems, the subject is also not a carefully crafted character with as much effectiveness in the campaign as possible. An ambush is much scarier because the person being escorted is much more likely to die than any of the "adventurers" that are used to that sort of danger. Or the sword is more likely to get stolen from under their noses. The subject of the escort is much more vulnerable than the Player Characters. It's really a good way to make the players deal with something less than ideal if you have players that power-gamed their characters skillfully. You don't have to use GM fiat to say "sorry, your power doesn't work here" (which would be unfair really). You can just say "This person doesn't have layers of DR and cat-like reflexes... and if they die... you don't get paid" (or whatever motivation is working). The players suddenly have to scramble to solve the problem of keeping the weak subject safe. I've had some luck with it in running games. And it's almost always fun to give the subject an interesting personality.