I've been planning to run an pathfinder campaign of epic proportions spanning about a year in a high-fantasy world made by a friend. My original plan was:
- The PCs steal an artifact of value and are hired by the Mafia.
- They ascend through the mafia's ranks, using various intrigues and plots to advance their own well-being and that of the mafia, manipulating, blackmailing, &c., people, lords, cities, countries, devils, angels, and, eventually, gods.
- As they progress in their work, they identically find the Godfather's true identity – the literal father of all the gods, who, imprisoned in a magical dagger in the Drake War, wants to undo the world
- They somehow beat him.
After asking some friends for their thoughts, I realized that this kind of railroading is horrible ("What if they decide not to steal the artifact?" "What if they don't join the mafia?" "What if they don't find the Godfather's identity?", &c), so I came up with dissociation entities, e.g.:
- The mafia would prefer a demonic horn guarded by the city, and can not allow the demon himself to be resurrected
- A cult wants to resurrect the demon, and therefor wants someone to steal if from the city
- The city is hiring guards
- Various armies are recruiting
This way, there are a couple of scenarios that can play out, including the one I layed out, and even if the PCs decide not to work for the cult in the first place, my whole plot isn't ruined: they can do all of the same things working for another army instead.
The question is, why are they going to do anything at all? A Lawful Stupid paladin goes out into the world seeking glory and fame, and searches it. Why does a group of unscrupulous rogues go out and do anything at all? Why not just settle at petty theft?
Clarification: What can I use to drive the PCs from petty theft to something more interesting from a plot point of view?
Best Answer
Good question. There's usually a deeper motivation behind going out and stealing things. Your characters will probably fit into one of the following three buckets and this will give them a reason to start.
Greed
A greedy character often wants to use money as a way to keep score. Thievery is an easy way to get it AND bring somebody else down a level.
This can be considered the default for most D&D style rogues.
Mastery
Somebody who is good at a skill will often want to improve it. They could have started out being trained by older mentors (small hands and an innocent look make for great pickpockets) or stole for survival. After more and more use, this then becomes the only skill that they think they can use.
At any moment, a chance to use and improve those skills becomes something that someone will try to take. The bigger a risk, the bigger the thrill when you succeed.
Survival
This is usually the way beginning rogues get involved in "the business". It's better than starving and there aren't any other chances. Once you've started stealing, it's easier and easier to justify doing it just one more time.
If anybody knows, blackmailing the character to do some more dirty work gets easier. Each time they break the law they get deeper and deeper. This is often how dirty cops in fiction get buried.
How To Use The Motivations
The motivations themselves can help you get players onto the edges of a big quest.
Telling a greedy character about a legendary dagger that is rumoured to be able to kill the gods is a sure fire way to get him looking for it. Make the clue-chain reasonable and he will beeline straight for it.
Tell a survival oriented character that he and his family will be well taken care of. They just need to do another little job first... oh, and another. Because we have your darling little kids.
A character that wants mastery will generally be intrigued by a challenge. NPCs complaining that the security in a particular building is too tight and they can't see a way in should be enough to perk his interest. Have him find something interesting that hints at a bigger challenge somewhere else and he'll be raring to go.
Beyond The Motivations
The most effective way to make players focus on a Big Bad is for it to threaten them specifically. Well, not exactly them, but their way of life and the world around them. There
During the initial phase, whether they end up working for the Mob or going freelance, encourage them to build up ties (and show off any backstory). These are what you are going to threaten.
Have one of the PCs mothers invite him for a visit occasionally. 2 minutes of "She offers you tea and asks after you and the boys you grew up with. What do you tell her?" should be enough to help set the relationship and make her exist in the player's minds.
They might also build up a relationship with a favourite fence, pawn shop owner or barman. They could take ownership of a building as a hiding-place, to cook drugs or run a brothel in. Whatever they feel like.
The purpose of this phase is to let them build up bits of the world that are important to them. It's important that they choose these, so you'll need quite a few pieces of colour that you can expand on as their interactions deepen.
Later on, you start to use the ties to build tension. For example, have the mother talk to the PC about strange men prowling around (and there's nobody there when he checks) a couple of times. Tell them they can't find their fence, that nobody's seen him all day and that his place was tossed.
Once they find out who their enemies are, you can bet your ass they are going to go out there and deal with them.
Summary
At the end of the day, to go beyond petty theft and feathering the nest, it's all about people. Who they like, who rubs them the wrong way, who seems to have a similar agenda, who can get them owing (and paying) favors.