Thwarted! Those dastardly PCs always taking a third option...


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This thread is a thing of pure beauty


We were playing an SF game where the scenario was we went to a domed city on an asteroid to try to obtain some sensitive, valuable information the local government was intending to clear from their records.
This we eventually did. Then I piped up with the question- "Those computers are worth an absolute fortune, yes?"
So we swiped the computers running the asteroid while we were at it.
We also drove around in a hover tank disguised as a pie truck, shot up the seat of government and murdered the local mayor, who really needed some killing.
We avoided that city for the rest of the campaign.


Let's see...

Way back in 2nd Ed, we had a DM that set up pretty tough damned-if-you-do-and-damned-if-you-don't scenarios for our paladin and cleric to struggle through. Note: DM wasn't trying to be a jerk. That is they way all of us thought it was supposed to be done. The guys playing the paladin and the cleric did it specifically for that struggle.
Blackmailed into doing some acquiring some magical thingy for the BBEG. But in this case the cleric and paladin were ok with giving it to him. Because the exchange was a distraction. While they were slowly doing the delicate dance of trying to give/receive the items without killing/dying, 2 of us stole every other item of value that he had (and destroyed the couple that couldn't be moved). So the BBEG was significantly weaker after the exchange.

Recently a campaign had a big long intro section where the party would find out something about the murdered man, go out on some fact finding adventure, comeback after learning something about his associates, go out on anther adventure, learn that he wasn't so nice, etc...
Out and back, out and back, several times getting a little bit more info each time and learning we had to find something back at the origin.
My spy/diviner was absolutely obsessed with 'knowing everything' about allies at least as much as enemies. So before we went anywhere, he thoroughly searched everything and learned everything about everyone. Very liberal (and concealed) use of all the detect spells, seek thoughts, find traps, detect secret doors, knock, invisibility, sneaky familiars, summoned creatures, etc...
We never left city on any of the side quests, yet had every single possible pertinent piece of information to be had.


I'm pretty sure I took third options that derailed a considerable amount of a campaign.

My joining character was literally dropped into a sci-fi campaign using the Mutants & Masterminds system just as the group of 'heroes' were going to take down an arms dealer. Once he was dead we were left with what to do with these military bio-weapons he had been trying to sell.

Group: Are there any government authorities we could give these to for proper destruction?
GM: Not really. You're on a rather lawless border world between the Empire and the Free Systems.
Me: I don't trust any government to hold on to this stuff. I throw it in my dimensional pocket while we figure out a way to safely dispose of these things.
GM: Wait. You want to hold onto weapons that a single drop of can kill off an entire world?
Me: Yeah, I have enough carrying capacity in my dimensional pocket to hold the warheads.

Thus began our campaign of searching for a way to destroy this stuff I had, which would prove most difficult and probably had us going the opposite direction he wanted us to go.

Me: So these things can withstand the millions of degrees of heat present in the heart of a star, and will probably be blown out the stellar wind to eventually land on a planet?
GM: Sounds good. (evil grin)
Me: Somebody seriously over engineered these things.
GM: They did now.

I think he managed to eventually get us involved in at least part of the plot, which rolled on without us.

Me: So this stuff was originally created by the gods of the world that everyone originally came from? Gods that everybody hates and haven't been worshipped in thousands of years?
GM: Pretty much, plus quite a number of people are now after you for possessing this stuff.
Me: Well if no one is praying to the gods, they should have no problem hearing my prayer when I call on them.
GM: What?
Me: I'll try praying to one of them to see if we can get any advice on how to destroy this stuff. I'm sure there was at least one who wasn't an utter bastard, right?
GM: Um, no. There were good gods as well.
Me: Then I'll try praying to one of them.

Given the lack of sanity among our characters, it's a wonder we managed to get a coherent plot out of this campaign.


Matthew Morris wrote:

Me: From a Marvel Superheroes campaign.

** spoiler omitted **

Thus was the Dr. Doom wannabe turned into an ally.

To Me:
Party has to fight a dragon to get through a portal. He can't leave the demi-plane alive.

So they fight and kill him, bring his body through the portal and raise him gaining a powerful ally. *sigh*

You just missed the plot hook that when the hero changes the past and return, everything goes to shit due to butterfly effect a la Flashpoint ;)


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I once built an intricate maze of rooms with all manner of clever puzzles and guards. The players were sent in after a well known crown which was stolen. First thing they do when they get inside? Cast Locate Object... when I reviewed my map it turns out the only safe path through was exactly the path shown by the spell... They just waltz right to the center, grab the crown, and wander back out... game over. ~sigh~


Aranna wrote:
I once built an intricate maze of rooms with all manner of clever puzzles and guards. The players were sent in after a well known crown which was stolen. First thing they do when they get inside? Cast Locate Object... when I reviewed my map it turns out the only safe path through was exactly the path shown by the spell... They just waltz right to the center, grab the crown, and wander back out... game over. ~sigh~

I don't think Locate Object or Find the Path work like that.


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blood_kite wrote:
Aranna wrote:
I once built an intricate maze of rooms with all manner of clever puzzles and guards. The players were sent in after a well known crown which was stolen. First thing they do when they get inside? Cast Locate Object... when I reviewed my map it turns out the only safe path through was exactly the path shown by the spell... They just waltz right to the center, grab the crown, and wander back out... game over. ~sigh~
I don't think Locate Object or Find the Path work like that.

Sure it does... the direct straight line path between the entry and the crown was the safe path.


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We had ended up on the wrong largely uninhabited continent, searching for a way back. While on watch one night DM informed the character that he saw a falling star. Character remembered a legend that you could wish on seeing a falling star:

DM: You see a falling star, what do you do?

Bogey: I wish for a pie and a pint.

Bogey enjoyed his pie and pint, and we spent several weeks exploring before taking the DM's next plot hook to get home.


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Charon's Little Helper wrote:
Bardach wrote:

Playing in a 2nd ed. mod we came across a statue near the entrance.

Statue was actually a stone golem with instructions to attack any one who damaged it or attempted to pass through a door.
Being suspicious we put a bag over its head without damaging it.

Thing was it was max. size bag of holding which we then took up a nearby hill to a 300ft cliff and then shook the bag out.

The DM's face was a picture....

Yeah - just because it can hold as much material as the golem doesn't mean that it can fit the golem through the bag opening.

2nd ed TSR module, not a bestiary golem. It was specifically described as life sized statue of a attractive slim female. Not that you would normally want to pull a 2ft wide sack over an attractive slim female - but you could.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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In 3.5, our GM had us go into a dungeon where we needed to get 4 sacred gems to open a giant stone door.

My druid summoned a thoqqua or whatever it was called, which melted a tunnel through the door.

I then promised the GM I wouldn't abuse that power. :-P

Liberty's Edge

Well it was a legit tactic and one I would have used as well. Eventually though it becomes harder and harder to plan ahead imo. As with a smart group they can bypass many of the encounters. As a DM one also has to be careful at high levels as well. Bad rolls on the part of the group and it's too easy to get a TPK imo. I also recommend heavily altering many of the npcs in the APS. Some are poorly designed and built around the group being new to the hobby. A experienced group will easily defeat many of the npcs in the APs imo.


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Was playing a vanara in a 3.5 oriental campaign, doing the 'lawful chaotic' route I do. We come across some of the human like snake people (yaun ki or something I think?) and capture two of them.

They don't want to talk and one of them goes with the "Blarg! I'm evil" route so I kill the crap out of him in front of his ally. His ally is all "screw this you'll kill me too this isn't the life I wanted."

My character looks at him and goes, "You are right I am going to kill you. I have to that is the law. Nothing in that law says you have to remain dead though. Here is what I propose: I kill you then have you reincarnated. You come back as something other than you are and get to live a better life as my vassal, so I can ensure you don't fall back to old ways, and after your service is up you go your own way. In return you give me the information I need to save the town."

Killed him as I was required by the law, reincarnated, ended up with a doppleganger cohort and all the information we needed to save the town the easy way.


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One guy in a recent game walked out of a meeting with the mayor because he was hungry and wanted his character to go to the local restaurant. The rest of the party followed. The worst part was the attack on the town I had planned for the middle of the mayors meeting came from the alley behind the restaurant.


memorax wrote:
Eventually though it becomes harder and harder to plan ahead imo. As with a smart group they can bypass many of the encounters.

Thus why I do not plan. XD


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Planning is better than not planning. Just don't plan yourself into a corner or the only way out will be railroad tracks and we know how dangerous those are. The best planning is for what the bad guys are trying to do and how they will react to various things; NOT planning for what the PCs will do.


Aranna wrote:
Planning is better than not planning. Just don't plan yourself into a corner or the only way out will be railroad tracks and we know how dangerous those are. The best planning is for what the bad guys are trying to do and how they will react to various things; NOT planning for what the PCs will do.

Exactly. Plan what the NPCs are planning. Include what they'll do in response to likely PC actions. If you know them well enough, you'll know how they would react to what the PCs actually do.


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Aranna wrote:
Just don't plan yourself into a corner or the only way out will be railroad tracks and we know how dangerous those are.

You've just described every single plan I've ever attempted.

No plan survives contact with the enemy. I have met the enemy, and he is me.


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One DM wanting to run a new Cthulhu campaign had us generate characters without being allowed to discuss this with each other as we would not know each other until we met.

Week 1: all the characters were independently at a function in a hotel. We were supposed to meet each other (and would then learn about each other as the campaign progressed). After 3 hours the DM had never managed to get two characters together at one time.

Week 2: DM: you have all been summoned to this meeting to do a job for ####. Describe your characters and abilities and then I'll read the intro...


I wrote a RPG tournament - in round 1 kids from the caravan they are guarding are kidnapped, and returned in exchange for the wagons, at the first campsite. The mission is to see the kids safely returned and then track down the bandits and their base (which they were told was the main reason they had been sent as extra guards), deal with them and if possible recover the wagons they had been guarding.

They were issued with details of the border area where the bandits were operating, a map of the caravan route and maps of the three main wilderness campsites on the route.

One group found the kids (released by the bandits in return for wagons) and spent a day escorting them (and the others from the caravan) back to the nearest town before heading to campsite 3. They then waited there for the main adventure which had to happen there because "why else would they have bothered giving us the map".


Pathfinder Rulebook Subscriber

I'm running book 1 of Way of the Wicked...

Spoiler:
...and the characters had no interest in revenge, like at all.
They made it out of Branderscar prison in maybe 5 minutes from time of escape. They even got Grumblejack out. When they got to the gatehouse where the Sergeant was that branded them, they just bypassed them, then used disable device to mess with the outer doors to the prison. I was amazed. 6 NE & LE folks, and no one wanted revenge or to torch the place.


Bardach wrote:

One DM wanting to run a new Cthulhu campaign had us generate characters without being allowed to discuss this with each other as we would not know each other until we met.

Week 1: all the characters were independently at a function in a hotel. We were supposed to meet each other (and would then learn about each other as the campaign progressed). After 3 hours the DM had never managed to get two characters together at one time.

Week 2: DM: you have all been summoned to this meeting to do a job for ####. Describe your characters and abilities and then I'll read the intro...

Week One, done properly, is much the superior way.

Week Two is for the modern ADHD crowd.


Jaelithe wrote:
Bardach wrote:

One DM wanting to run a new Cthulhu campaign had us generate characters without being allowed to discuss this with each other as we would not know each other until we met.

Week 1: all the characters were independently at a function in a hotel. We were supposed to meet each other (and would then learn about each other as the campaign progressed). After 3 hours the DM had never managed to get two characters together at one time.

Week 2: DM: you have all been summoned to this meeting to do a job for ####. Describe your characters and abilities and then I'll read the intro...

Week One, done properly, is much the superior way.

Week Two is for the modern ADHD crowd.

Depends on the game. Depends on the group.

Even in CoC, I've had great games where it took months to get the characters to all meet up and work together.

I've also played a great series of games where the characters worked for an insurance company and got send to investigate the weird cases. That game had an episodic nature and a rotating cast of players, so not having to set up the meeting the group in every new session helped a lot.
Cthulhu can be a bit problematic anyway. There tends to be a high casualty rate and since you're dealing in "Secrets man was not meant to know", it's more of a stretch than usual to keep bringing in randomly encountered strangers.

RPG Superstar 2012 Top 32

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We were at a Con, and everyone was playing an awakened clone of a 10th level wizard, and there were 3 of us. We shared a pool of known spells, which was filled when we spoke the name of the spell.

Instead of blurting out all the best spells, we kept mum until we needed a specific spell.

Then, the portal at the end would only let 1 clone escape. So my friend and I nodded farewell to the 3rd dude, gave him the staff, and held off the baddies. We were both NG, so we died in character.

I guess the GM expected us to all fight amongst ourselves once the baddies were gone.


Abraham spalding wrote:

Was playing a vanara in a 3.5 oriental campaign, doing the 'lawful chaotic' route I do. We come across some of the human like snake people (yaun ki or something I think?) and capture two of them.

They don't want to talk and one of them goes with the "Blarg! I'm evil" route so I kill the crap out of him in front of his ally. His ally is all "screw this you'll kill me too this isn't the life I wanted."

My character looks at him and goes, "You are right I am going to kill you. I have to that is the law. Nothing in that law says you have to remain dead though. Here is what I propose: I kill you then have you reincarnated. You come back as something other than you are and get to live a better life as my vassal, so I can ensure you don't fall back to old ways, and after your service is up you go your own way. In return you give me the information I need to save the town."

Killed him as I was required by the law, reincarnated, ended up with a doppleganger cohort and all the information we needed to save the town the easy way.

I am assuming that you know now that you made a mistake about reincarnate. The Yuan Ti clearly had the bad end of the stick and wouldn't have wanted to live if given the chance. Reincarnate and Raise Dead are pretty clear about that.


ngc7293 wrote:
Abraham spalding wrote:

Was playing a vanara in a 3.5 oriental campaign, doing the 'lawful chaotic' route I do. We come across some of the human like snake people (yaun ki or something I think?) and capture two of them.

They don't want to talk and one of them goes with the "Blarg! I'm evil" route so I kill the crap out of him in front of his ally. His ally is all "screw this you'll kill me too this isn't the life I wanted."

My character looks at him and goes, "You are right I am going to kill you. I have to that is the law. Nothing in that law says you have to remain dead though. Here is what I propose: I kill you then have you reincarnated. You come back as something other than you are and get to live a better life as my vassal, so I can ensure you don't fall back to old ways, and after your service is up you go your own way. In return you give me the information I need to save the town."

Killed him as I was required by the law, reincarnated, ended up with a doppleganger cohort and all the information we needed to save the town the easy way.

I am assuming that you know now that you made a mistake about reincarnate. The Yuan Ti clearly had the bad end of the stick and wouldn't have wanted to live if given the chance. Reincarnate and Raise Dead are pretty clear about that.

Except he accepted it. Perhaps you ignored that part. We made the deal *before* his execution.


Just thought of another one from my game, from the previous dungeon. I designed a puzzle room where the intended solution was to play tag with a couple of iron golems in order to manipulate them into standing on heavy stone block switches, which would open up the passage to the room beyond. What I didn't take into account was the fact that the barbarian with enlarge person cast on him was strong enough to simply drag the motionless golems over to the switches - I had specifically written that the golems would not activate unless they were attacked.

I was disappointed that they didn't play tag with them, but had to give them credit for coming up with their own solution.


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Kryzbyn wrote:

I'm running book 1 of Way of the Wicked...

** spoiler omitted **

Quoth Xanatos: "Revenge is a sucker's game".

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