Game Dream 2: Dealing with the Devil
This week, Doc asks about deals with the devil.
One of my favorite plot complications that I like to introduce as a GM is to create an environment where the players are forced to deal with unsavory characters that they would otherwise destroy. From either a player or GM/ST point of view, what is your most vivid recollection of this occuring in your games?
In my first D&D game of the modern era (i.e., ten years out of school), Matt Cutter had us encounter one of these devils in the underworld city of Aerunedar. As one of the characters described in his journal entry, "He is [named Ruathgrym] the Flamecoil, one of the four wizards who brought down Aerunedar in the name of The Coil. The others were Shieldcoil, Shapecoil, and Corpsecoil." It was one of the better role-playing moments of the game, as we had to come to terms with this high-level lich (most of the characters were around level 5 at the time) which was more or less difficult depending on the individual histories and alignments. And, of course, the Flamecoil used us for his own ends, which provided for some later moments of angst. "Van told him to take the skull, and the bones in the sack where it came from. As soon as the bent creature held the bones in its gnarled hands, it stood up straight and in a clear voice so unlike the one it had spoken with before, said, �these are what Ruathgrym wants,� and disappeared. The party looked stunned, and Van once again cursed his trusting nature before remembering that such is the way of our order."
Personally, it was moments like this that made this game of D&D fun, and indeed is what I'm looking for in a role-playing game: the moral ambiguity that one gets to work through that has nothing to do with one's actual life. Yet, by doing so, one gains insight into their own moral choices.
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