What has been the greatest use of a Plot Twist card in your game?

[Mama Loufing]

I decided to use the Plot Twist cards in my latest campaign. It's been fun, but nothing too dramatic until last Saturday.

The party was fighting a BBEG and he magically suggested to the fighter that something was wrong with the cleric, that he might be possessed, dominated, or a doppleganger. After a flurry of note passing, the fighter then grappled the cleric and told everyone else to flee the area. The cleric then deduced that something was wrong with the fighter, suspecting that he might be a doppleganger. Meanwhile, the blind paladin (whose eyes had been gouged out in a previous fight) attempted to fight the BBEG with the assistance of a seeing-eye arcane archer. The paladin finally triumphed and we moved on.

A few battles later, the party was attacked by an army of undead and the fighter was isolated from the rest of the party. He was then sadly killed by a friendly-fire fireball when he failed his reflex save, rolling a 1.

Everyone was stunned and really felt bad. Then they went to the plot twist cards for a way out. In a genius move, our Gunslinger played the Plot Twist card of that very name. He took over the story and said that as the fighter died, his body transformed into the doppleganger that he had been all along. Suddenly, the fighter's earlier bizarre actions made sense. The group then backtracked to the point where some enemies had taken the fighter prisoner and allowed the doppleganger to take his place in the party. They rescued the fighter and on we went.

Not only did the card save the evening, but it led to some really exciting play. Is anyone else having good luck with these cards? In an open-ended story, they seem like a great way to keep everyone involved.

[ronaldsf]

What an awesome story! I don't have a Plot Twist Deck, not seeing the utility in it. But seeing other people's examples of how they might come into play just might convince me to :)

[Exeter]

It was near the end of the first chapter of Curse of the Crimson Thrown:

Spoiler:

Croft asked the PCs to attend Trinia's execution (the false's one), as she had a bad feeling about the whole story and wanted to have some reliable guys there. So they got access to the nobles' tribune, where they chitchated with friends ands foes, when suddenly Black Jack turned up and caused a stir among the commons. They decided to swoop in, and our Cayden cleric jumped down from the tribune to get to the scaffold (i moved the execution from the palace's garden to the Domina Square and made it a big public event). His player found it an excellent idea to play out the "Jumping prooves a terrible choice" card and impaled himself with a nasty nail which protruded from the tribune. So he hang there at about 10 feet above ground, half down his way from the top of the framework. Great view, though.
Meanwhile the mob was breaking loose from its seats and tried to reach the scaffold (to tear Trinia and Black Jack in two, to defend them, or whatever), and the whole scene turned into a giant brawl. To heat things up, another player choosed to play out another plot twist card: "Everything is coming down". As a result the scaffold collapsed due to lazy construction, burying guards, the false Trinia, Black Jack, the executioners and the fastest brawlers alike (Black Jacl got away with the scapegoat, though: Dimension Door), and the breakdown was the final straw for the public, the whole Domina Square was seething chaos.
Our factotum and our dragon fire adept, still on the nobles' tribune tried to reach the cleric. They grubbed a banner hanging down the framework, and the paladin climbed it down to get to the cleric. She failed her climbing check and falled - right into the stampede at the cleric's feet.
So now it was on the factotum's turn to climb down. He did it, but just at the moment a pyromantic, anti feudalistic hedge wizard (a NPC who is turning up here and there in my campaign, but until now always in the background; the player don't know him yet, only witnessing his actions) aimed a fireball on the nobles' tribune. The tribune, being magically protected, wasn't harmed, but the crowd at its feet lost the rest of control, trampling the Paladin slowly but surely to mud. The factotum freed the cleric from its nail finally, but let him fall as he was not strong enough to hang onto the banner with one hand and to grab the cleric with the other. The cleric failed his acrobatic check to break his fall and joined the paladin. Then the factotum climed up again, took the stairs and together with the dragon fire adept ran downstairs to help both the cleric and the paladin.
after finding the two (and healing them)the now unified group boxed its way through the brawl to the scaffold to examine the scene, retrieved some of the buried but only found Black Jack and "Trinia" missing.

All in all it was a real chaotic scene, damn painful for at least two of my player's characters, but we all laughed our a**es off. :)

[Wolf Munroe]

So far my players have only ever used one in a game, so I guess it was the "greatest use" in my game. It just caused a mook villain to fall down some stairs in the dark and break her neck. The other players all closely guarded their cards like they were a poker hand and would eye them suspiciously when considering what to do next. Unfortunately that campaign ended when half the players left the state. I wish they had used the cards more, especially in the last session, when they ended-up retreating.

I'm toying with the idea of using both Plot Twist cards and the Cards of Fate rules for Harrow (a Post Twist/Hero Points-like ruleset for the Harrow deck) in my next game.

Anyway, post more examples! Plot Twist cards are great.

[Veiled Nail]

I am GMing a Kingmaker game while playing in one and we use the cards in both.

As a GM, my players are scouting a lakeside area, before trekking to the island in the middle. One player hands me the "Plot Twist" card to have a black bear appear on the other side of the lake. Well, there was a hungry wyvern over there, and then the party was able to plan for him. (not great, but it's the only big use recently)

For my players, probably the greatest use was when they were overmatched going to a troll lair. The wizard didn't know fireball yet and the party got trashed in the first room. I don't remember which card they used to get backup, but they got a couple of friendly NPCs to appear and bail them out a little bit. Then the wizard used the mechanical effect of "Lucky Day" [find 1 item of value 500gp or less] to randomly find a scroll of fireball.

As a player, I am playing a gnome sorceror. My character was swallowed whole, taking acid damage and really had no way to get out (no reliable slashing weapons available). I launched a fire-substituted lightning bolt and used "Where'd that come from" to explode my way out. My character lived. barely.

[Ross Hearne aka poisonbladed]

Wanting to join in the fun of the cards I opted to give them one a level. They can keep them and build up their collection, but as the DM I get one card everytime they level up too.

We are in a potential TPK with a banshee, a shadesteel golemn (thanks WOC), and a Daemon born Devourer. Pretty nasty fight and two cards were spent.

One was used to change the Banshee's attitude to the Necromancer she had dead to rights. Suddenly instead of wishing the PC's death the elven undead saw something worth saving, and did just that. In a flash the two flew from the battlefield for parts unknown. That banshee now guards their temple. Seeing that it is a temple to undeath it seems to work out.

Second was used by me. When our loving Alchemist was down. I don't remember what card it was, but it allowed for him to somehow survive having fallen to a brutish golem.

FYI the Daemon Devourer CR is a bit off. They are badasses so be warned.