Get Your Game Session Out of a Rut

Ever been running a game and your players just seem to be going along in a rut – not trying anything new?  Sometimes people get into a dull spot and don’t seem to have the energy to bring to the table – and it shows in their lack of enthusiasm.  One way to get your players to sit up, take notice, and participate in the game again is to throw something completely unexpected at them.

Get your players to tune in by throwing them for a loop:

1. Have them arrested as soon as they enter the next town. It doesn’t matter if it’s their home-base or if they have never been there.  It doesn’t matter if they didn’t do anything illegal – they could be arrested on suspicion of illegal activity, or based upon rumored activities (a.k.a. it’s a set-up).  And they don’t even have to know why they are being locked up; their ignorance could cause the guards to treat them poorly (“come on just admit it!!” being yelled as the player gets poked with a sharp stick).  This could be a great red-herring mystery to them, and could generate several side-quests to:

a) Escape from prison/jail/the work-house… This seems more of a primary concern than a side quest, but still, if it’s not related to the initial adventure goal then it qualifies as a side-quest.

b) Re-acquire personal items… When arrested, the players were stripped of any and all items they had acquired, and these may have been sold to a passing merchant caravan by the guards.  They could go on a side quest to re-acquire their stuff, especially if they had a special magic item or something that belonged to an important NPC.

c) Find out who spread rumors about their illegal activities… This could end quickly or could become a long-standing rivalry between the party and competing factions or some religious group, or some guild; or maybe one of the players pissed off an important noble or merchant and he/she started the rumors or bribed the guards into arresting the party.  Or maybe it was a case of mistaken identity – perhaps the upset noble/merchant mistook one of the players for someone that owes him money or (insert reason for someone to not like the players).

d) After escape the players must clear their names… this could be part of C above or could spur its own set of (mis)-adventures that the players could be involved in.  If they don’t clear their names, word could be spread far and wide that they are outlaws on the lam, running from justice.  This could seriously impact what NPCs will now associate with them and which towns they could enter (or no longer enter).  They may even have to go undercover.

2. Kill off an important NPC or powerful, well-known figure. Even an iconic one.  Yes, if you kill someone that the party relies upon for information and help, they may have several reactions:

a) They may want to revenge their fallen ally. This could cause detective-like behavior and may be the beginnings of a great manhunt side-quest.

b) They may panic and not know where to go next, which will afford you plenty of opportunities to bring different NPCs into the lives of the party.  Maybe the players are blamed for the assassination of the NPC and so no-one wants to associate with them now.  Or maybe everyone wants to help, but they all do so by giving really bad clues and leads that actually lead no-where.  This could lead to frustration and some good roleplaying.

c) They may be indifferent and not react much at all, in which case you should make some major changes to how the players are received by people, since they didn’t care about the NPC that was prominent in their lives.  If everyone in the region suddenly regards the party with suspicion and a certain gruff attitude, it could seriously impact the players.  What if all of the shops want to charge 40% more for goods and services because of the party’s reaction?  This may be an irreversible side effect of the death of the NPC – one the PCs don’t have that much control over, but which will change the flavor of their NPC interactions a great deal.

3. Start a civil war… Start a major conflict in the area in which the PCs do most of their home-base exploration and planning.  Have a powerful political figure who is unrelated to the main adventure get killed and describe a civil war brewing in the power vacuum aftermath of the assassination.  Have the party hear about the growing storm but unable to stop it. This may affect them in several ways:

a) Will the party be pressed into service for their home-town?  Will they have to go into ‘hiding’ to avoid being conscripted into military service?  Will all members of the party have allegiance to the same side?

b) Will the party have to choose between defending their home territory and completing the main quest of the adventure?  Will there be a moral dilemma when they hear about the women and children tortured by the other side after they chose to continue their quest?

c) Is the current quest more important than defending their home-land?  Is it actually their homeland?  Or will they be offered a nice mercenary paycheck to work for one side or the other?

d) How long will the war last? Will it be over quickly, and if so, will the players be treated like traitors for not participating?  Will it last a long time, effectively scarring the region?  Will their be political intrigue as some factions try to influence the surrounding regions? Will the party be involved in that?

4. Have the party show up to the place where they are expecting the final fight and make it deserted… Everything in place as though the area was occupied, but no-one in sight, or within earshot, or anywhere near the place.  Then they have to figure out:

a) Where do we go from here?  All signs pointed to this place and there is nothing here… what now?

b) Where did everyone go?  Why did they leave?  Is this illusory?

c) Why did all the signs point to this place if there is no activity happening?

d) If we can’t resolve our quest here, how are we supposed to resolve it?

e) Who is to blame and how are we supposed to determine that?

These things take a little bit of planning, but not much once you have it in your head.  In fact, maybe you can help keep yourself out of a rut by having an outline and just going with the flow.  The best thing you can do as a DM in one of these situations is learn to improvise:

First, have a general outline in your head.

Second, have a list of NPC names and place names in your hands.

Third, react to the players rather than leading them along a path.

Fourth, do things spontaneously – since these are side-quests, they don’t have to track back to the main adventure goal, so don’t try to bend them until they do… just relax and go with the flow.

And you may just help them lead themselves out of an adventuring rut and into an active game again.

Until my next post, I wish you good gaming.

~DM Samuel