One whole good sized nation vs an Intellgent Kaiju: Who is the most troublesome enemy

[FireTigeris]

Originally Posted by Disliker of the mary sue

Hm that is an interesting idea.....

Thanks- I like generating plots, (but not generating the bookkeeping that goes with it) . Feel free to use anything that's useful.

[Disliker of the mary sue]

Hm I suppose the problem with a big enemy is more or less not to make it other people's problem...I rather not just end up in a situation where my side plot just overtakes the spot light since. While this is more on the gm part, how would you sort of keep this problem from taking over the campaign?

[Johnny1A.2]

Originally Posted by Disliker of the mary sue

Hm I suppose the problem with a big enemy is more or less not to make it other people's problem...I rather not just end up in a situation where my side plot just overtakes the spot light since. While this is more on the gm part, how would you sort of keep this problem from taking over the campaign?

It depends on which enemy we're talking about. If we don't want 'The Hunt For the Bard' to become the campaign, we need a limiting factor on how often the Bard's enemy turns up and becomes the group's problem.

If he's on the run from a human (broadly defined) state, then you just assume that the reach of that state has limits.

In a low tech world, if you're halfway across the continent or around the planet from the country in question, it might not be likely to matter. For ex, imagine you're on the run from William the Conquerer's men after he takes over England. That would be a big problem for the group when they're in England, or maybe if they're relatively near it, but it becomes less and less of an issue as they move into the Levant or cross over to South America.

In this case, the Bard's problem becomes the group's when they have to go near the queen's realm, or the realm of some close ally, and only occasionally at other times. Also, in a low-tech world, even if they get recognized by an agent of the queen a thousand miles from home, there's a good chance he's there by himself and has limited resources on-hand, and it'll take time to get a message back and get more people to back him up.

Now, with the sentient kaiju...it depends heavily on exactly what she can and cannot do. If she can take monster form and fly around the world to get him, then being spotted becomes more serious. If her magic can track him, he needs something that shields him. It depends.

Try this: for the kaiju, the Bard has a magical item or device that jams his wife's tracking powers, as long as he has it, she can only find him by 'mundane' means (spies, informants, etc). But he can lose it, it can be taken from him, or he might need to use it for other purposes that could reveal him. So yeah, the Bard can solve the group's problem with his magic item, but if he does it, the have to skedaddle fast until the device recharges because they can expect Her to show up fairly soon.

It occurs to me that this offers another plot hook, too. If the bard's quarrel with his wife is not beyond the moral event horizon, then she represents a possible emergency option, too.

Maybe the bard knows he could call her in and she'd help them in an utter emergency (if the group is fighting Ghidrah and the world is at stake, calling in she-Godzilla might be an option), at the cost of her now having him (kind of like when the Second Doctor called in the Time Lords that time, even knowing it meant they'd catch him, because the situation was so dire).

How bad do things have to get before the Bard turns off his jamming device on purpose?