Need help with a scenario

[jux]

Just starting to play adventure "The Vault of Yightrahotep" from the Spider God's Bride and ... holy mother of plot holes BATMAN!

In the set up, the PCs have one piece of artifact and totaly strangers NPCs (disguised merchants) have other piece of artifact. The only way the scenario to work is if they team up and travel to south. And the scenario just tels in one sentence, it is up for the GM to come up, why they start to work together.

So please help me with this scenario. Knowing the background and motives of PCs and the NPCs, it is seems very difficult. The artifacts are super rare and valuable. You hide them from others and at the same time look for the missing pieces. All I can think of are super cheesy, metagamy "lets be friends and trust each other for no reason" outcomes.

Any advice?

 

[strega]

I don't have the scenario but what about if the two parts of the item have an affinity for each other and keep guiding the two groups towards each other or the same goal. You can have the player characters getting strange dreams and premonitions and have odd things happen to 'guide' them in the right direction. They keep noticing the other party being furtive and secretive while heading in the same direction. It doesn't take much to trigger the paranoid side of most players with a powerful artefact and they'll soon be seeing assassin's round every corner trying to take their precioussss.

 

[jux]

While the artifacts are magical, they are designed to be separated and not found. So they should not pull the owners together. Another thing I don't want to do is give visions/command players to go somewhere and do something they don't choose to do. I want to play it out logically, that the players would feel immersed.

It is great idea to get them hunt each other, though, but the scenario also breaks when players confront them before working together to certain point.

Currently I tend toward a scene, when during the travels to south, they survive a desert storm and find merchants who need some help to fix their cart which was damaged during the storm. Not very original, but they are in the middle of desert so they cannot ignore each other - and then have the cheesy moment of "omg! you have this artifact - we totally like you now. Lets trust each other in something big!".

 

[Hopeless]

How much do they know about these artefacts?

Can you add in information where if they're combined outside of the place they're travelling to will cause an extremely large cataclysm?

Make it clear that the only way they can deal with this is to keep them separate with the two groups but when they reach the place where they can be combined safely... all best are off...

Something like that maybe?

As I recall taking Conan the Destroyer as an example they had the horn-like gem of some demon used as an artefact by a sorceror but it could only be touched by a virgin or pure soul.
I'll leave the rest of the story alone so people will bother to watch that movie if they want to know more but it really depends on what you've revealed so far and what else they have to do before they can reach the next stage.

So do they know who has the other artefact?

I recall a Conan actual play done by Gamerstable where up to the last episode or so they didn't even know who their true enemy was and by that they had his name but didn't know what he looked like and for most of their adventure was right under their nose so to speak!

So could their rivals pose as allies who are hunting the same group as the PCs are or they assume they are?

 

[jux]

They may not know much of the artifacts (when failing skillcheck). Just should get a hint that they need to travel far south, where the artifact can be used.

The artifacts are just key to magical lock. The players must find out that they only have one piece of the key. And they don't know that the NPCs have the key.

 

[strega]

You might want to have them use Insight or Evaluate to examine the item and deduce that it's a thing that releases a lock or door and that here is a piece missing.

 

[Hopeless]

So what if someone offered alot of money to examine their artefact and in the process they learn they've seen the other half and thats why they head out after them?

I really need to pick up a copy of this!

 

[jux]

Yeah, insight skill is used for the artifact.

@Hopeless
Damn good! This is very good alternative way to solve the plot. It was actually suggested in the adventure, that a "sage" could point the adventures to the right direction. This solution fits perfectly!

But yes, I still do recommend picking it up. Even though it might have "problems". Actually I think they are meant to be with those open-ended "features" . It makes the adventures more dynamic and more your own, but when running out of time and having a brain-cramp, it may become problematic. Experienced GMs have no problems I believe.

 

[Hopeless]

Curious finally picked up a copy very interesting...

You could have the "Sage" actually be someone linked to the other party as the artefacts themselves aren't that important as long as they have a copy of the image they only need a suitable sacrifice the parties greed is what is important i can't go into more detail without spoilering any more but whoa!

For example the keys merely hold an image that they need to identify exactly which glyphs they need to use to unlock said vault. Could be in any order but nothing says they need them to unlock said vault once they're already to make a copy even a sketch so they can refer to it later.
Use a few servants to test the sequence until they know the right mix and then all they need is suitable candidates for their ceremony... which is where the PCs come in... might be worth creating a rival party also being used so they (the PCs) learn exactly whats being planned for them...
To make it interesting how about they befriend a few locals and one of them is kidnapped because they bear a mark that makes them valuable to the same bad guys and that key they have they're trying to keep out of the hands of the bad guys as they want to swap it for their kidnapped friend that's if they don't rescue them themselves...

How far have you got with this game?

 

[jux]

How far have you got with this game?

We had to finish the last adventure first, which was "Spider God's Bride". The final battle took unexpected turn, when 2/3 of the adventurers were paralized for few days (not even able to speak). So the only survivor, not the sharpest pencil in the box, tried his best to heal them - thinking they are dying

So I could only give them a teaser for the next adventure in the end of the session. I will start with it next week perhaps.

 

[Hopeless]

How far have you got with this game?

We had to finish the last adventure first, which was "Spider God's Bride". The final battle took unexpected turn, when 2/3 of the adventurers were paralized for few days (not even able to speak). So the only survivor, not the sharpest pencil in the box, tried his best to heal them - thinking they are dying

So I could only give them a teaser for the next adventure in the end of the session. I will start with it next week perhaps.

OH!
Spoiler below....
Might be worth introducing your sage at some point maybe have him be the friend of their late employer who feels obliged to help them since I assume they avenged his friends death...
Give them a reason to later on contact him regarding that item they'll stumble across later on unaware he's actually someone else in disguise intended to send them after the next part of the artefact...
Of course at some point the original will be found conveniently dead and the only people seen near his villa would be the PCs which leads to further hijinx later on if they survive the climax of the artefact adventure of course!