Avoiding Turning An NPC Into A Mary Sue

[alex_greene]

And now, in The Blood Path, the adventure module I'm working on, I come across the problem of moderating the outcome of a climactic battle scene, where a major NPC meets his destiny fighting against the major antagonist.

Without railroading the plot, how do I get the player characters - who /will/ have to fight, at the end of the adventure - to be the instruments of turning the tide towards victory, while at the same time allowing the NPC to meet his fate with dignity?

In other words, without turning the NPC into a Mary Sue?

 

[Hopeless]

So what do your players have to do to accomplish this task?

Does the npc have to hold off their nemesis so your players can accomplish some task?

What is their experience of this npc and their foe?

Is the npc a mentor of one of the player characters?

Is he a nemesis and is going to intervene so bystanders or civilians can be evacuated to safety?

He'll only become a Mary Sue if you don't take into account why the players are involved and why its important that this npc face certain death and why its important to the players?

 

[alex_greene]

More like the player characters helping the protagonistic NPC fulfill his part of an oath to be the instrument of the Big Bad's death.

The player characters are not bound by this oath. But it is a mark of great respect to the NPC's tribe to help the NPC complete his oath successfully, without themselves doing the killing.

I just don't want to end the climax with the characters sitting back and watching me roll dice for the big bad and the NPC while they sit by idly. That'd be as bad as Grandfather's Monologues in the Traveller forum next door.

 

[Lemnoc]

They’re both plot elements under your control and part of your narrative. Is there some random chance the outcome would / should be different than you’ve constructed your scenario to reveal? I mean, why is it—if the players successfully bring you to this moment—you must stage this combat and roll it out while the players munch chips? Is there a chance, if your players do everything right, the scenario won't end as you envision?

The Greek dramatists would work this kind of action offstage. Maybe you should as well.

I’d unleash something dramatic that occupies and fulfills the players, then describe the big reveal at the end. Either that, or have the players take on and roll out the attributes of the big bad and his minions in that final combat against your doomed NPC. They're sure to knock the Mary Sue out of your NPC.

 

[pachristian]

No matter how you look at this, you've set this up to be NPC-on-NPC action. That reduces the players to the role of spectators to the GM's monologue. That's bad GM'ing, no matter how well intentioned or instrumental to the plot.

So set up the epic fight. Have your NPC fearlessly face the villain. Then on the first attack, the villain gets a critical and the NPC fumbles her defense and dies. Either use loaded dice, or roll behind a screen. Then it's up to the players to do something useful.

Or do the whole scene off-camera, as previously suggested.

 

[pachristian]

Either that, or have the players take on and roll out the attributes of the big bad and his minions in that final combat against your doomed NPC. They're sure to knock the Mary Sue out of your NPC.

I stand corrected. Lemnoc's idea here is much better. It fulfills your plot need, and keeps the players involved. Give them points for playing the villains.

 

[Mage]

Without railroading the plot, how do I get the player characters - who /will/ have to fight, at the end of the adventure - to be the instruments of turning the tide towards victory, while at the same time allowing the NPC to meet his fate with dignity?

I am going to play devils advocate here because I don't think I can improve on anyone elses ideas or come up with a better contribution, and approach the issue from a difficult angle. Do the players necessarily have to help the NPC, or succeed in helping him? What if they fail, or are not 100% up to the task? Could the adventure still work?

 

[alex_greene]

The battle has, apart from destroying the bad guys, three main goals.

- Protection: they have to guard vulnerable NPCs from being taken.

- McGuffin: they have to separate a McGuffin from the bad guys (the usual sort of mission they're used to)

- Completing the NPC's oath.

Of course, the players' leader can be the one to prove his mettle by taking over when the allied NPC falls, returning with his sword dripping with the big bad's blood to allow the NPC to cleanse himself of his oath before he dies.

That's about the only way I can think of to make the player characters' participation worth it - the allied NPC can only take the battle so far, sustains a mortal wound, the player character finishes the job. Job done.

Thanks, everyone. Very useful insights here.

 

[Redcrow]

Maybe do it like the scene from Star Wars IV: A New Hope where Obi-Wan is fighting Vader while the others are trying to escape the Stormtroopers? Obi-Wan lets himself be killed so the others can escape and won't risk their lives trying to help him.

 

[Mixster]

So set up the epic fight. Have your NPC fearlessly face the villain. Then on the first attack, the villain gets a critical and the NPC fumbles her defense and dies. Either use loaded dice, or roll behind a screen. Then it's up to the players to do something useful.

This!
Also because it afterwards puts your PCs into the ethical problem of what they tell the tribe. Clearly the tribe wants to believe that the NPC died valiantly while fighting the big bad. And the players themselves would probably gain more from this story. On the other hand, that's lying, and in a pretty serious way. So should they do it?

 

[alex_greene]

Sounds like a plan. The big bad standing defiantly over the corpse of the fallen NPC. He's laughing. "Is that the best you've got?"

Gives the players a chance to grit their teeth, gird their lions and come back with "No, @$$h0le. We are."

 

[jux]

For me, this is inspiring read: Don't prepare plots, prepare situations.

 

[alex_greene]

Well, in that case, here's the situation of The Blood Path.

The player characters will have a fight on their hands, and a deadly one, too. If they win, they win big. If they lose, everybody loses. It's that important, and history ends up depending on what the characters do. But they will have to fight.

This is unlike any of the other adventures I have written, where you can try to think up a solution to a problem, or talk your way out of the problem. The only solution here is violence. So I hope the player characters who go through this module are damned good at it.

 

[DamonJynx]

I'm making a huge assumption here: that in this climactic battle the PC's and their NPC allies are outnumbered, possibly outmatched - but not by much.

This is how I would structure it.

The enemies combat skill levels for the mooks should be less than the PC's, somewhere between 10 & 30% depending on how badly outnumbered they are and if the enemies have any sort of advantage; terrain, ranged attacks from concealment and so on. Whilst the major villain should have skills 20-30% higher than the average PC and 10% higher than the major NPC ally.

The PC's have their hands full with the enemy mooks. As part of the narrative the NPC allies are whittled down till it's the PC's with an equal or slightly lesser number of foes to deal with and the 2 NPC's who are facing off against each other. As the PC's deal with the mooks, the battle rages between the 2 NPC's. The big baddy lands a telling blow and your NPC ally bites the dust.

It is then upto the PC's to finish off big baddy (who is sorely wounded and near death). Award a hero point to a PC that does the deed with the fallen allies weapon and an extra IR for all if they 'bend' the truth a little when dealing with the rest of tribe. How to write that for other GM's to pick up on...well I'll leave that to you Alex.