The Best Scene in the Prequels?

Although it is by far my least favourite of the three prequels, and largely without redeeming features, "Attack of the Clones" does include what is probably my favourite single scene in the trilogy. I refer specifically to the scene between the captured Obi-Wan and Count Dracula, wherein the latter attempts to persuade the former to join him.

In addition to being one of the few pieces of actual good acting and dialogue in the trilogy (with other examples being Qui-Gon and Shmi Skywalker in TPM, and Anakin and Palpatine at the opera in RotS), during the course of this scene Dooku actually lays out pretty much the entirety of the villains' evil master-plan for Obi-Wan. He even goes so far as to tell Obi-Wan that there is a Sith Lord in control of the Republic, and gives him the name (Sidious). That's about as close as you can get as to put up a big sign saying "Palpatine is a Sith Lord!!!".

Of course, he does this safe in the knowledge that he won't be believed. Almost everything he says is true, and yet it serves to throw the Jedi even further off the path than they otherwise would be. (Of course, I have major issues with the Jedi being incredibly stupid in the prequels, but that's another rant. One mostly unrelated to the scene in question.) In effect, he lies to him using the truth.

Now, there's a reason that this is here, rather than on my other blog, and it is this: betrayal has been quite high in my thoughts of late. Partly, this is because of an article over on the Wizards of the Coast website a couple of weeks ago. (Incidentally, that's part of a very good series, and one I highly recommend. I don't agree with everything the author says, but there's a lot of good stuff there.) And partly it's because of a long-expected betrayal in my ongoing campaign.

In my opinion, for a betrayal to be effective, and especially for it to be effective without totally outraging the players, it has to achieve two things: firstly, it has to be in some sense unexpected; secondly, when looked at in retrospect, it's important that it was obvious that it was coming. After all, if the guy you didn't trust anyway betrays you, well, that's just obvious. Of course he was going to betray you; it was just a matter of when (and how)! Conversely, if the guy who has been your staunch friend and ally throughout suddenly turns his coat, players might rightly call foul.

That is, of course, a very fine line to walk.

The thing is, the DM holds all the cards. And, in fact, the DM can create new cards at will - if you need to pull 5 aces out of a pack, you can do so. So 'beating' the players really isn't a challenge. All I need to do is have a great wyrm dragon appear and use its dragon breath for 300 damage (DC 50 Ref for half). And with a mystery, it's the same - it would be very easy to think through the scenario like a master villain, look at the PC capabilities, and progressively close off all the clues.

But there's no challenge in that. It's far more satisfying watching the PCs (and the players) work through the struggles and then 'win'. Ultimately, you want the PCs to succeed most of the time. And one of the most enjoyable parts of the Eberron Code campaign has been watching the players gradually unravelling the mysteries, so that they now know most of what's going on.

(Indeed, an old DM of mine used to assert that for a mystery game the DM should only write half the plot. For the rest, he should wait until the players start batting around ideas, and whatever they come up with should be the ultimate answer. I don't agree with that approach - it certainly gives the players the joy of being 'right', but one of the great joys of the current campaign has been seeing them get it 'right' (mostly) without help. They've seen the clues, they've gradually put them together. Basically, they're involved in the game. Good times.)

The last session went so quickly that the players didn't really have time to think about what's been happening recently. And that was intentional - significant chunks of the session were specifically intended as a distraction to keep the players focused on what's happening over here while other things happen over there. But it will be interesting to see how the next session goes...