Dilemmas
Conditions |
| Many stories have some kind of gimmick. Perhaps the heroes must work under a condition that changes their usual way of operating. Or the resolution of the story thrusts a hero, or the entire player group's heroes, into a choice between unpleasant alternatives. This section discusses these conditions and dilemmas. Don't overuse these gimmicks. If you tell too many stories that rely on them, your players will feel put upon and frustrated. But if you run an ongoing campaign, throw in a condition or dilemma every third or fourth adventure to keep players on guard and explore new ways of playing. |
Deadline |
| This common condition puts a time limit on the resolution of the adventure. If the heroes don't achieve their goal within a certain time, specified at the start of the adventure, then disaster will fall. The city may blow up, or a slow-acting poison will kill one of the characters. If the heroes seem to be moving smoothly toward success long before the deadline is reached, you can give them a nasty surprise by revealing that the adventure's villain was lying, and that the time limit actually expires much sooner than the PCs believed. But this often appears too blatantly manipulative, so be careful. |
Powers don't work right |
| This one always puts a scare into the players, or at least disturbs them. Some malign agency has tampered with their powers, so they don't work quite the way the heroes expect-or, often, not even remotely as they expect. Possible causes include passage to another dimension where natural laws work differently; a mutagenic agent that alters the PCs' body chemistry; or sabotage of the heroes' favourite gadgets. The adventure's climax should include a way to restore the powers to normal. Or a PC, discovering he or she likes the new powers, decides to continue with them without further change. |
Switched identities |
| This classic comic-book plot device puts one character's mind in another's body, and vice versa. It can easily work with and lead into the "Mistaken Identity" adventure hook (see that section). This gimmick works well in a comedic adventure, as one hero tries to learn how to control the other's powers. It also has a sinister side, though, especially if a switched hero finds himself in his arch-foe's body and is hunted by the foe's own enemies! |
Villain immunity |
| The heroes have the goods on the bad guy, and they know his or her location and weaknesses. But for some reason they just aren't allowed to lay a glove on the villain. Reasons could include diplomatic immunity (see "The United Nations" in Chapter 3 of the Campaign Sourcebook), or a close relationship between the villain and a hero or friendly NPC. Or a psychic villain might possess the body of a young child. Will the heroes blast the child in order to hurt the villain? Of course not. This is a frustrating turn of events, so play it up for one adventure, then never use it again until the players have gotten over the sting of it-or avenged themselves on the immune villain in some satisfying way. |
Wanted |
| A frequent turn of events in the comics frames the heroes for some crime, and they must go through the adventure while fighting or evading law enforcement officials. Spider-Man has had to live with this for years. |
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Dilemmas |
| In a dilemma, the heroes have to make a choice between two unpleasant alternatives. Draw the consequences of each choice as clearly as possible, and (if circumstances permit) allow the players as much time as they want to debate the question. As stated earlier in this chapter, the point here is not to make the players wrack their brains in anguish... though that is certainly entertaining. Instead, by making these decisions, the heroes define and display their characters in dramatic fashion. Here are some sample dilemmas, starting with the one most often seen in super-heroic adventures: |
Breaking the law |
| With great power comes
great responsibility. Will the heroes take the responsibility of
breaking the law, if they believe it means a greater good? The obvious context for this dilemma
arises when the heroes have the chance to kill a truly powerful, truly
evil villain. Kill, and violate every claim to civilized conduct? Or let
the villain survive to pillage, plunder, and (often) kill again? Every hero has faced this issue. In
nearly all cases they decide not to kill, because "that would make
me no better than the villain - " This is true. Pragmatically
speaking, a hero who kills is also hounded by the police and press, and
loses Karma and popularity.
Warning to the GM: If you present the heroes with this dilemma and they disagree on what to do, the next session may turn into an extended policy meeting on the topic "To kill or not?" And the schism may well split the group apart. If you want to protect against this, make sure all the PCs take the same view about killing before you begin the campaign. |
Destroy own item |
| Many heroes derive powers
from devices, magic rings, swords, amulets, animal familiars, and so on.
In this dilemma, one of these devices proves to be the source of the
adventure's problem.
For example, a magic ring may be gradually possessing the hero's mind and forcing him or her to commit mayhem. A villain may have found a way to install a doomsday device in the hero's armour, only the armour's destruction will save the day. Or a mind-controlled animal familiar may turn savage and bestial. The hero must decide whether to destroy his or her own device in order to solve the problem. Or another hero may destroy it without consulting the owner, a situation that would certainly lead to tension between the two from then on. The item should not be permanently destroyed. A hero can rebuild a gadget, though usually at some inconvenience and with a delay of an adventure or two. Unique devices, especially magical ones, should require the heroes to undertake an entire adventure to replace them. |
Leave the group |
| When the group's outlook and methods become distasteful to a hero, the hero and group may part ways. Most often this is a consequence of divergent views on the issue of killing. Another cause of this dilemma may be the discovery of a hero's dark secret. When a player is cooperative, you can introduce a subplot wherein that player's hero leaves the group, allegedly for one of these reasons. In fact, the hero is operating solo for a secret reason, perhaps to undertake a dangerous mission without endangering the group. The player plays a different character while the departed hero is gone. Or, for a twist, the player can introduce a "new" character that is really the "departed" hero in disguise. |
Reveal secret identity |
| This one is a killer. A PC must decide whether to tell his or her true identity to another or even, perhaps, go public. You usually have to do a lot of groundwork to set up this dilemma. For instance, establish a condition in which, for this adventure, the hero cannot appear in his or her secret identity. Perhaps the PC is wanted by police in that identity (the "Mistaken Identity" adventure hook lends itself to this development). Then, by a chain of circumstances, a valued NPC friend is accused of the murder of the PC! The hero can clear the friend of all charges instantly, just by revealing that he or she still lives. But will the hero do this? Note: Never put a PC in the dilemma of having to reveal another PC's identity. This just creates bad feelings no matter what action is taken. |
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Work with a bad guy |
| Another dilemma that will
have players scratching each other's eyes out (and maybe yours, too).
The heroes must enlist a hated foe's aid in order to dispatch a still
deadlier bad guy.
The villain agrees to help either because (a) the deadlier bad guy is cutting in on his act ("You can't conquer the world! I'm conquering the world!"), (b) the villain wants to spy on the heroes, learn more about them, and look for a chance to shoot them in the back, or (c) mutual survival. The real dilemma may come when the fight is over. The common enemy defeated, do the heroes (probably weakened) try to capture their erstwhile ally? What if the ally is unconscious, is it honourable to reward his or her aid with capture? |
| GM's Guide | Character Types | Telling Stories |
| Story Resolution | Goals | Villains' motives and methods |
| Adventure Hooks | NPCs | Dilemmas |
| Deathtraps | Preparing Campaigns | Running the Campaign |
| Bad GMing |