Don't Betray the Characters
- The Horned Beast
- "An unassuming human merchant named Melchis (secretly a Chaotic Evil Fiend Cultist devoted to Iuz) hires the characters to escort him on an expedition to find an ancient temple lost in the jungle."
- WOTC has done this in numerous adventures now: Planescape, Spelljammer, Vecna, now its in the DMG! If I can ruin an adventure with three or four words, its too fragile an adventure.
The Problems with Betrayal
- You lose the trust of your players.
- Your players become cynical.
- It builds a fragile adventure model. What if they figure him out?
Alternatives
- Let the characters know they're working for a shady character (Al Swearengen in Deadwood!) who has something the characters need.
- Let NPCs change their minds one way or another. Let them be convinced one way or another through actions or conversations.
- Let bad guys turn into good guys (Like Illyria in Angel "would you like me to lie to you now?").
Ten Other Alternative Hooks
- Good guy gets possessed when in proximity to the macguffin.
- You're working against a parallel group of evildoers.
- The guy is just a normal guy who wants to get rid of an evil artifact before anyone else does.
- The guy is a known priest of iuz but you want to get it before he sends other assholes to do it first.
- You're undercover working for the iuz priest but as an agent of some good shady god.
- The priest is good but is having nightmares of this crown and needs it destroyed before it turns him into an iuz dude.
- The priest is a shady agent of a secret sect but offers the characters something they really want or need.
- The priest's twin brother is an iuz dude who is going after it himself.
- The priest merchant is a fallen celestial who doesn't manifest until he's destroyed the artifact.
- The priest has a loved one cursed by iuz and must use the crown to restore them.
