Ever brought in an NPC party? The PCs show up to an adventure and find another crew has beaten them to it.
They could be a Similar Squad, if you want to make it a running gag, or a different group of characters can just answer the same call.
This is something shared universes like the big superhero settings will actively avoid, so that Spider-Man can get to the secret lab when the alarm goes off without finding Captain America already there and handing an unconscious Electro over to the police. That kind of thing is only funny for a while.
Still, hearing about other adventurers’ deeds will make the hero business seem a bit less lonely.
On the other hand, when the PCs are adventurers for profit like dungeoneers, Shadowrunners or Ghostbusters, having a rival team chasing the same emergency and the same paycheck is a sure cause of trouble. Being shown up by an NPC party will definitely breed antagonism.
Which is of course the best time to force them to work together.
Having written this up, now considering what I could do with the idea in my current V20 game...
It's fine as a joke; however when a GM has an NPC adventuring party show up and take the interesting plot off you because it's more "realistic" for them to do that then it's annoying.
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely. At that point they're actively a problem.
DeleteOne use might be hoovering up the plot hooks that the PCs don't go for...