They say that no DM's plot survives contact with their players. So this thread is dedicated to all of those moments where your players pulled the rug out from under you and did something unexpected. Either good or bad, but most of my examples, I thought, made the game better.
Roughly in order:
I didn't expect the warmage/wu-jen to move into the Catacomb of Wrath.
I didn't expect the bard to declare himself the Goblin King.
I didn't expect the party to compete over who could earn the most sin points.
I did expect the cleric (who was Aldern Foxglove's target) to cast invisibility and fly on herself before confronting Foxglove; I didn't expect the beguiler to cast disguise self to appear as her when they went in. That confused things.
I didn't expect the party to kill Black Magga, especially since they were all confused.
I didn't expect the ranger to antagonize the nymph ghost.
I didn't expect them to suggest to the scanderig to eat the Runeslave Cauldron, then suggest to it to find Mokmurian and eat his treasure.
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My PCs approached Thistletop to closed doors. The dwarf fighter (the only one that speaks goblin) approaches the door to hear them poking fun at Ripnugget. He decides he wants to get using surprise and knocks on the door and says "Hey guys, I forgot the password, let me in"
Goblins reply with discussion first of "We have a password? Oh no, I forgot the password. Do you know the password? Um try, open up or we'll break down the door."
Dwarf: Um, are you telling me the password?
Goblins: Fine fine, do you have the food?
Dwarf with big grin: Yep
Goblins: Good enough
Opens door to ambush.
My PCs approached Thistletop to closed doors. The dwarf fighter (the only one that speaks goblin) approaches the door to hear them poking fun at Ripnugget. He decides he wants to get using surprise and knocks on the door and says "Hey guys, I forgot the password, let me in"
Goblins reply with discussion first of "We have a password? Oh no, I forgot the password. Do you know the password? Um try, open up or we'll break down the door."
Dwarf: Um, are you telling me the password?
Goblins: Fine fine, do you have the food?
Dwarf with big grin: Yep
Goblins: Good enough
Opens door to ambush.
Too funny.
I didn't expect them to use call lightning to attack my Big Bad guy who had trapped them behind a force wall and was taking a moment to monolog his evil plans.
I mean, yes the space underneith the stairs is opn tot he sky, but it wasn't fair of them to use a Ring of Shooting stars to finish him off after the lightning. (Never fail your save after a player rolls a crit touch attack...)
Too funny.My PCs approached Thistletop to closed doors. The dwarf fighter (the only one that speaks goblin) approaches the door to hear them poking fun at Ripnugget. He decides he wants to get using surprise and knocks on the door and says "Hey guys, I forgot the password, let me in"
Goblins reply with discussion first of "We have a password? Oh no, I forgot the password. Do you know the password? Um try, open up or we'll break down the door."
Dwarf: Um, are you telling me the password?
Goblins: Fine fine, do you have the food?
Dwarf with big grin: Yep
Goblins: Good enough
Opens door to ambush.
LOL indeed
I did not expect them to purchase a wand of Enlarge Person at 2nd level.
(pooled party gold in trip to Magnimar.)
Swallowtail Festival Goblin Raid foiled by a 10 foot Female Half-Orc with Combat reflexes and Cleve. AND with the the 9 foot tall monk.
yeah. it was brutal. they took out 1/2 the raiding party themselves.
... Swallowtail Festival Goblin Raid foiled by a 10 foot Female Half-Orc ...
I had just the same! Those lasses are fierce! A crit. with an enlarged earthbreaker on the goblin in the spicy salmon plate, they greived for the salmon.
I did not expect them to impale a dead goblin on a grappling hook and go fishing for bunyip through the Howling Hole.
I didn't expect them to go to thistletop by sea by convincing a fisherman to take them here.
Yeah, mine did that one, too.
hehe... MOAR.
I already expect the sea travel thing, which will include a "favor" from one of the local fisherman (probably getting rid of an attic whisperer plaguing his family...aka, my wife and child are going crazy while I'm at sea and if you can help I will take you wherever you want to go!)
Also, an additional Bunyp attack at sea that will need to be thwarted from stopping the ship from sinking.
I already suspect my players will try to take stuff over... they always do.
I didn't expect them to organise a city-wide goblin-hunt after the "closet-goblin" incident.
They used all of their hero and deputy status (and most connections they had established) to get everybody to make sure there weren't any left anywhere (we had a few “Fugitive” movie moments). They even requisitioned horses and dog to help in the search (they gave them back afterwards).
Which reminds me of a slight twist on the theme:
When mine were hunting up Thistletop, they borrowed hunting dogs from their new best hunting friend, Aldren Foxglove, at his manor.
Sadly, this was before I'd seen Skinsaw Murders . . . I didn't expect that!
I didn't expect my players to make up a party of almost pure rogues; a ranger/rogue dual-wielding war razors, a cleric/rogue, and a pure rogue "Face" man. They did extremely well until they faced a certain lamia in a crumbling bell tower.
... Swallowtail Festival Goblin Raid foiled by a 10 foot Female Half-Orc ...I had just the same! Those lasses are fierce! A crit. with an enlarged earthbreaker on the goblin in the spicy salmon plate, they greived for the salmon.
oh, the combat reflexs and cleve...with low hit points.
the horror! the comedy! mayhem in general.
I didn't expect my players to make up a party of almost pure rogues; a ranger/rogue dual-wielding war razors, a cleric/rogue, and a pure rogue "Face" man. They did extremely well until they faced a certain lamia in a crumbling bell tower.
And I didn't expect my players to make a party with no rogue. No one has a search check better than +2. (No Wizard either, so no one even has a high INT bonus to fall back on) There are certain parts of their anatomy that they can't find with both hands.
I didn't expect my players to kill Black Magga.
It helped when the raging barbarian with the Belt of Giant Strength and the magic greatsword critted twice in three rounds, including once for triple damage (from the Critical Hit Deck).
I really didn't expect two of the characters to try to eat parts of her afterward.
It helped when the raging barbarian with the Belt of Giant Strength and the magic greatsword critted twice in three rounds, including once for triple damage (from the Critical Hit Deck)
Oh, yes -- he was Enlarged.
Well, I did expect several of the characters would go whoring the second they got into magnimar. I also expected the pretty priest to get it without paying.
I even expected the rogue to pick some pockets.
I totally didn't expect him offering guided tours around Magnimar. Main reason being that he was there the first time and didn't know anything about the city. (There's still people up there throwing copper coins down the irespan shouting "HERE TAKE IT!")
And no one would have expected the rogue demanding an official City Guide License as part of his reward for saving the Mayor.
Last night.
I did not expect the Hagfish Patron's to do better against the three attacking SinSpawn (summoned by the very vexed Elyrium), than the party. (three crits with improvised clubs in three rounds.)
I did not expect the Lyraken (named Chriselle, who was with the party's Cleric), to jump into the bar fight and start healing said Patrons while cheerfully saying, "Desna Love's You!".
I did not expect said Lyraken to Crit and DOWN the last standing Sinspawn (only 2 hit points of damage, but the Sin Spawn was down to 1 HP), with a shot glass to the noggin AFTER downing the shot of whiskey and yelling "FOR DESNA!".
I did not expect the party to pursue Elyrium over the rooftops of Sandpoint, and especially, to catch and defeat her.
Next week.
Thistletop and Pickle Thieves. Can't wait.
Oh, KaeYoss... I mentioned your little thing about tossing coins off the Irespan to my players... they've now taken it as canon, and when they Teleport to Magnimar, they pick a nice, quiet place that won't move in a hurry... like the top of the bridge... and then throw a few coins in to avoid trouble.
Oh, KaeYoss... I mentioned your little thing about tossing coins off the Irespan to my players... they've now taken it as canon, and when they Teleport to Magnimar, they pick a nice, quiet place that won't move in a hurry... like the top of the bridge... and then throw a few coins in to avoid trouble.
Did I mention the people diving for the "golden ballista" that lies at the bottom of Magnimar's bay?
Don't let a character with more ranks in bluff than common sense (or with more epic feats than common sense, and we're taling low-level characters without any epic feats) lead tourists around a city, telling them about the sights they personally know nothing about. Those tourists believe *everything*.
On related notes:
Our DM today probably didn't expect the huge black dragon with about 300 hp falling in about 10 seconds.
A DM I played with certainly didn't expect two elves ritually shoving dead enemies' weapons up their own rectums. Well, no one expected that!
The DM in a d20 Modern game who let a careless biker be hit by one of the PCs never expected that PC to ask whether he'd get a way with putting the guy into the trunk and then just driving that car into the bay.
... or pay some guy in a fast food restaurant 1000 bucks so he won't interfere when the PC harasses the guy's son.
And another DM I played with never expected us to take our time to get to the siege we heard about. If he did, he would have thought it through, would have taken into account that we might get there at noon instead of midnight - and never sicked a vampire on us (to our shame I have to admit that no one noticed what was happening until 10 minutes after the fight
And none of us expected the druid to take his (crappy NPC-induced) hatred for halfings so far that he'd train his dire elephant (3.0) animal companion to step on them on sight.
And, the DM who determined that the gnome alienist's phobia was a fear of halfings and then forced us to go on a halfling ship for an important trip (we tried to keep the gnome in his cabin, but failed) to rip a hole into reality in his panic, sucking the ship, the whole crew, and half the party onto Acheron - smack into the middle of the Blood War.
Oh, KaeYoss... I mentioned your little thing about tossing coins off the Irespan to my players... they've now taken it as canon, and when they Teleport to Magnimar, they pick a nice, quiet place that won't move in a hurry... like the top of the bridge... and then throw a few coins in to avoid trouble.
The madness is spreading! :)
In case you didn't get the whole story the first time:
Oblivious to the Irespan's original purpose (and equally oblivious to the fact that no one else knew why it was there, either), he told one set of tourists about a king of magnimar in ages past who wanted to visit far-off lands across the ocean. But he easily became seasick, so travel by ship was out of the question.
So he commisioned a huge bridge to be built over the ocean so he could travel there in style, with a full company of bodyguards as it befits a king. Of course, such an undertaking drained the city's coffers quickly, and when he raised the taxes just so he could keep building, the city revoltet. Revolutionists seized the king, put him into a sack along with a load of copper pieces, and tossed him down his own incomplete bridge into the water, yelling "Want our money? Here, take it, and pay your way into Hell with it!".
After that, they did away with monarchy altogether - and, at least so he told them, it's still a custom to go up there from where the old tyrant was thrown into the water, toss some copper coins into the water and yell "Here, take it!"
There's also another story he told another bunch of tourists:
He said that the city was once ruled by a regent who wanted to wage war with some nation across the water. The huge bridge was built so the colossal war machines for which Magnimar was famous at the time could cross over. There were ballistae, catapults, trebuchets and such of incredible proportions, demonstrating the awesome power that was magnimar. In his megalomania, the king also let a huge war machine made out of pure gold be made to show everyone just how rich and great Magnimar was. But the thing proved too heavy for the bridge, and before it was gone more than a little way, the bridge just collapsed, sending the war machine onto the bottom of the ocean.
To this day, or so he told them, countless divers drowned in the attempt to locate this fantastical display of wealth.