deuxhero
Arcane
I saw the tail end of an old western TV show where a stagecoach stop is under siege by some Indians who I think want the gold there or something like that (Didn't get the name. From the character names and some details Google tells me it was the Laramie episode "A Sound of Bells"). I thought this situation could make a good RPG quest and thought about it.
The quest would start with the player walking into a building far away from any settlement. The exact nature of the building can vary, but it would have some treasure or hostage valuable to the "Indians" (who can be replaced by most factions, but will be called Indians as a placeholder) and not be that close to a settlement (close enough to be "nearby" is preferable to "middle of nowhere" though).
Inside the people in the building briefly wonder if the Indians went away before realizing they held their fire so the PC would just be another caged rat they can starve out. The residents start to argue amongst themselve bring up a few possible ends to the quest: negotiate surrender ("We wouldn't be in this mess if you just let them have the damn gold!"), fight them off (It's doubtful you can take them all on, but perhaps you can cause enough casualties to make it not worth it for the Indians), send someone to get help (This could be the PC, who can volunteer with no checks needed, or a convinced NPC who must be covered either by fire or some distraction) while avoiding being shot by the Indians. A skilled PC might add rigging up a way to communicate long distance from stuff around the building (Details dependent on setting: Might be smoke signals, might be a jury rigged radio) or a distraction to aid any messenger.
Alternatively a player that actually looks around instead just blindly walking into the building can either talk to the Indians. In dialog they can agree to help them, find out what they are doing then get away and go to the round up help branch, or fight them. If the PC agress to help they might enter the building as above, but as an agent for the Indians. As an Indian agent the PC would deliberately sabotage their chances: convince a guy to flee only for him to be cut down so they have less defenders and screw up an invention and cost access to some of the more defensible positions or just get them to surrender.
Rounding up help part seems pretty simple once you have a town designed. Have the PC travel there and talk to people, convincing them with character appropriate reasons to join the posse. It's also quest that could have a time limit.
The quest would start with the player walking into a building far away from any settlement. The exact nature of the building can vary, but it would have some treasure or hostage valuable to the "Indians" (who can be replaced by most factions, but will be called Indians as a placeholder) and not be that close to a settlement (close enough to be "nearby" is preferable to "middle of nowhere" though).
Inside the people in the building briefly wonder if the Indians went away before realizing they held their fire so the PC would just be another caged rat they can starve out. The residents start to argue amongst themselve bring up a few possible ends to the quest: negotiate surrender ("We wouldn't be in this mess if you just let them have the damn gold!"), fight them off (It's doubtful you can take them all on, but perhaps you can cause enough casualties to make it not worth it for the Indians), send someone to get help (This could be the PC, who can volunteer with no checks needed, or a convinced NPC who must be covered either by fire or some distraction) while avoiding being shot by the Indians. A skilled PC might add rigging up a way to communicate long distance from stuff around the building (Details dependent on setting: Might be smoke signals, might be a jury rigged radio) or a distraction to aid any messenger.
Alternatively a player that actually looks around instead just blindly walking into the building can either talk to the Indians. In dialog they can agree to help them, find out what they are doing then get away and go to the round up help branch, or fight them. If the PC agress to help they might enter the building as above, but as an agent for the Indians. As an Indian agent the PC would deliberately sabotage their chances: convince a guy to flee only for him to be cut down so they have less defenders and screw up an invention and cost access to some of the more defensible positions or just get them to surrender.
Rounding up help part seems pretty simple once you have a town designed. Have the PC travel there and talk to people, convincing them with character appropriate reasons to join the posse. It's also quest that could have a time limit.
