Thread by @ajitgeorgeSB

The Shieldbearers of the #RadiantCitadel are the ‘best of the best. Think ‘D&D special forces’. But they’ve got an intentional twist that asks some tough questions and poses added complexities that DMs can utilize and players can build stories from.

#dnd #ttrpg #desidnd

The Shieldbearers are deployed to hot zones, dropped into the worst situations. Their mission is to find & rescue people in danger. Their casualty rates are high; they’re true heroes of the Citadel.

The twist: The rules of engagement state they can only defend if attacked first.

They aren't allowed to impact the area or otherwise go on the offensive.

The leadership of the Citadel is wary of how intervention can cause unforeseen larger problems. Changing natural conditions, even for "good", can have a ripple effect that is unpredictable in its impact.

Getting involved in a war may bring the Citadel into larger conflicts or cause unforeseen challenges both for the locals & the Citadel. The solution may be worse than the problem.

This policy isn't without objections but it's the rules of engagement the Shieldbearers live by.

This gives DMs a new way to spice an encounter.

If Shieldbearer PCs follow the rules of engagement, they will have to wait until attacked and that can certainly increase the challenge rating of an encounter.

There are plenty of ways that a DM can now take what would have been a vanilla encounter and push up the complexities for the players in interesting and scary ways, with very high stakes for the PCs, those they are trying to save, and the Citadel itself.

The tension is palpable--how long will it be before the PCs are attacked while they're trying to save innocents from a terrible and monstrous threat? An enterprising DM can keep their players on pins and needles in a high drama moment.

On the other hand, if the PCs go on the offensive, there can & should be consequences! For example, the Shieldbearer PCs decided to rescue a village from a small raiding band from the neighboring kingdom, and they attack and defeat the band--yes the innocents are saved!

But defeating that small raiding band may now snowball into a huge war or even a retaliatory attack on the Radiant Citadel itself!

A whole campaign could be built out of the consequences of that single choice, the powerful domino effect of breaking the rules.

Normally the DM pulling a big consequence out of something small is frowned upon. But in this case, because the rules of engagement are known upfront, it’s a good way to both craft a story and show how even well-intentioned intervention can worsen a people's predicament.

There’s a lot of real world inspiration for the Shieldbearers, but part of it draws on my own NGO background and my problems with “voluntourism”, where people go to a place to “help” for a couple of weeks with no plan, then leave--their time might have left the place worse off.

It’s a way to turn the usual expectations and tropes of adventuring parties on their head and push them to ask some tough and challenging questions. As the writer, I’m not saying one answer is right or wrong. That’s for your gaming table to decide for yourselves.

And I think that’s part of the real fun, where the real story lies in your game. Whether to follow the rules of engagement or not and what those consequences are for the choices made by a party of Shieldbearers.

Regardless of which choice the PCs make, there are two major tensions and pressures on them: Internal and external.

The internal pressure is the moral choice of these complex rules of engagement and their consequences.

PCs should feel this moral dilemma—it creates lots of RP!

The external is the high stakes of waiting or not to take action!

The dread of knowing the enemy is RIGHT there, while you try and save people from bad things and not knowing if the enemy will attack. OR you attack, and then oh boy—what are the consequences down the road!?

Shieldbearers can also make for awesome NPC Companions! While the Shieldbearers usually travel together in their own special cohorts (parties), there are plenty of reasons why 1 might be solo and team up with the PCs on a quest.

Because of how the Shielbearers function, this gives the DMs a great narrative reason to leave them out of combat or otherwise fade them into the background for a heightened story impact.

There is a lot of versatility for DMs to drop a Shieldbearer into your party.

I hope DMs and players alike will see all the robust possibilities of play with the Shieldbearers, and how this faction can add new dimensions and complexities to your game.

I'm really looking forward to hearing how people use Shieldbearers in their home games and what happened!