[RPG] How to the villain intimidate the players’ characters into submission

campaign-developmentdnd-5egm-techniques

I'm planning a new campaign where the villain will force the party to do his bidding, starting from level 3.

The opening will be an encounter with the villain, where he will "ask" them to do not-so-nice things. A good-natured (or even neutral) predictably will refuse to do so, because it involves a massacre of innocent village, for instance.

I want to intimidate them into submission, simply by showing how great the difference in strength between them and this villain, but not kill them. This villain stat should stay the same across every encounter, but slowly become beatable later. Think of it like a Darth Vader, I guess?

I will be using 5e, and this is part where I believe the problem is: the bounded accuracy means that you can't really show how great the power difference is. I mean, the players having a +4/5 attack bonus vs the villain having +7/8 will still allow them to think "well, we are 5 people, we can still try". Ramping up the AC has its limits.

At first, I was planning to "reveal" the attack bonus, "okay, so that's a 7 plus 8. I believe that's a hit?" to freak them out, but I have doubt that it will deliver the message. A very damaging spell/ability may freak them out alright, but at level 3, I fear killing them out outright (I almost always roll in open and never fudge an open roll)

Is there a way for me to accomplish this without railroading them into the choice? Or is 5e the wrong system to do this?

Best Answer

You don't

I usually hate this type of answer but unfortunately this sort of thing is rarely done well at tables and should be avoided. Particularly in a first session this will be considered railroading.

No matter how strong the initimidation is the players will still think they have a chance to win and are extremely unlikely to give in. This results in three options:

  1. TPK, the players will refuse to do what is asked and would rather fight to the death.
  2. Your players micraculously win and destroy your carefully planned campaign.
  3. The PCs run away. This might be a welcome outcome for you but it is still unlikely they will do what you want them too.

... the villain will force the party to do his bidding ...

This is almost a definition for railroading. You shouldn't be forcing your party to do anything. You can present the villian as evil and describe his actions but you should never dictate how your PCs respond to it. For experience it is extremely unlikely this scenario will go the way you want without railroading.

Some Alternatives

Straight up forcing your players to do something through intimidation is a bad idea. But there are other ways that you could achieve a similar result.

  • Blackmail them. Hold a town to ransom, capture the PCs little sister, something suitably evil and compel the PCs that way. This may still not get the result you want but will portray the villain as suitably evil.
  • Trick them. Have the villain pose as the quest giver, give them vague or inaccurate reasons for what he wants done. Maybe the people they are sent to kill "killed my son", which is of course a lie. A villain lying to the party is totally ok and something I have done in the past. This is the most likely approach to get the players to commit terrible acts, make them think they weren't terrible while they were doing them. Warning; some players may not takes this well. You will need to judge based on your own group of players.
  • Run it as a cutscene. Before the game starts you describe the situation, the players are in the midst of the preparation to commit this terrible act. Describe how the powerful enemy inspired terror in them and they choose to do his bidding. Most importantly they regain control of their character before they commit the act. They can then choose to not do it if they want to. Never force a PC to do something they don't want to, if you do you are denying them their agency.
  • Have it part of the campaign setting. Estabilish the dominance of the villain as part of your campaign setting, the PCs are already living under the thumb of the bad guy. Have it part of the characters backstory how they came to be under his control. Thanks to Nitsua60 in chat for the idea

I'd also suggest you watch this video from Matt Coville on Running the Bad Guys. He introduces a villain called Karalel the Vile and its a great example of how to introduce a powerful and evil enemy. You could also check out the episode of dice camera action where Chris Perkins first introduces Strahd (I'm not sure which).

Session 0 and Campaign Expectation

It is possible that all the advice I have given is totally inaccurate, your players may enjoy this kind of play. If so they wouldn't be like any of the players I have ever met but that doesn't mean it is wrong.

If this is something you believe your players will be onboard with you need to set it up in the campaign expectation during session 0. Explicitly explain that you would like to be able to force the characters to do thing through intimidation. If they aren't onboard then you shouldn't do it. I expect this will be the case, if I'm wrong however, I wish you luck.

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