Too many enemies?

[Daniel]

I recently started a new Lords of Olympus Campaign.The first session was spent in Character Creation.One of my players, who was very eager to get a good parenting and also some good powers at the start of the game, decided he wanted 5 enemies. Yes.5. Sounds crazy enough? I checked the rules and it didn't seem to have any limits on the number of enemies you could have. He gave a great story that fitted with his parenting and would explain why the Olympian Family hates him so much.I warned him he was probably gonna end up in Tartarus if he did even the slightests of mistakes, and that having 5 enemies was probably worst that having -20 Luck.I also offered him to give him some points for the story he wrote and some other contributions so he could check off some of his enemies, but he declined.

While the character was VERY creative and intresting, I am baffled at how the hell I should handle it, or if I made a mistake.Worse yet, the guy doesn't back off. He craves the challenge.If I put him in a situation he wouldn't be able to win (wich is what the Olympians would do) I would be placing a wall against the player, and probably taking him off the campaign, and ending up as if he had no possible control over his situation. If I am too soft and don't make him suffer enough, the enemies flaw would mean nothing, and the campaign would suffer too for it.

Any ideas or help?

Thanks in advance.

Daniel

[mAcular Chaotic]

He might be expecting that no matter how big the challenge is, that there'll be some way of winning if he plays his cards right, as opposed to just signing a death sentence.

[Panjumanju]

It sounds like what the player wants is the opportunity to overcome lots of violent conflict. 5 enemies sounds like a great way to make that happen.

For instance, what I would do is stagger these enemies - have a series of assassins pop out of the woodwork and try to off him alone. The assassins should be progressively more difficult and strike at progressively more vulnerable times, such that by the time he's through the first three he's in a panic about how to make the issue go away.

Just one example - but the point is, all you have to do is make the player feel the worth of the points, and ideally not by making them feel the impact post mortem.

//Panjumanju

[mAcular Chaotic]

You could think of it more as a statement by the player revealing what kind of game he wants to play rather than just picking outright defeat. It's always "impossible odds" when dealing with enemies in fantasy except for the heroes who manage to make it.

That said, the tricky part is balancing this against the other player characters. It would somehow have to be different enough to feel significant but without trivializing the other player's struggles.

[Artifacts of Amber]

I don't own LoO so not sure how enemies is defined but I assume it is not just physical enemies.

Having a cowardly enemy would be interesting. One who sabatouges your efforts, equipment relationships but never confronts you. Or a social enemy who breeds more contempt and hatred around the Mount.

I think the biggest factor is spilting the enemies into their own arenas and style then taking every chance to screw with the players, It doesn't mean make a problem insurmaountable but make even the easy things a pain in the ass and the hard things harder.

I would have to know who the enemies are to help with specific ideas. But the assassins idea and random Or what seem random attacks is always useful. Anything that upsets the players plan and if they get upset remind them they asked for it.

[Doughdee222]

Just because a guy is an enemy doesn't mean he wants to kill the PC. Maybe embarrassment is enough. Or he's an enemy until he gains what he wants: "Give me that first place trophy that is rightfully mine and admit to everyone that you cheated and we'll be cool."

Or you could go the route of mobsters and a guy with big gambling debts. They can't get money from a dead guy so they pressure him to do a task he specializes in until the debt is paid. Of course, they determine when it is paid.

The player may not even know a guy is an enemy. In this one campaign I ran a PC took the disadvantage of having a Familiar. Unbeknownst to him the Familiar was a minor demon. When combat started the demon would open an invisible portal to his master's domain. When a monster or thug was killed the demon sent the soul through the portal to his master. The PC's god wasn't getting any souls and was progressively getting angrier. The player never knew that his helpful little toad was bleeding him dry.

[RTrimmer]

It might be entertaining if some enemies worked against each other.

"I want him dead. Now."

"Unacceptable. I want him to suffer. This will be a masterpiece of pain and will take years."

"Dead, no. Suffering I can work with. I want his skin. He'll grow another and I'll take it. Seven times."

He'd better be tight with his fellow PCs because they'll probably take collateral damage. Their loved ones, or liked ones, if any, could get caught up in the affray. And the other PCs aren't getting points for Mr. Popular's enemies. Their players didn't sign on for this.

[Croaker]

And the other PCs aren't getting points for Mr. Popular's enemies. Their players didn't sign on for this.

Hum... Then, some PCs could get points for his enemies successes.

Having to fend of a NPC is something. But when the other PCs have an interest in screwing you... In fact, now that I think about it, this is the kind of thing I'd do if a player had an awful lot of Bad Karma. Everyone is out to get him, after all^^

[finarvyn]

One nice thing about a lot of enemies is that if some intrigue happens then the player won't know which direction it came from. One enemy is easy to counter, many is hard to anticipate.