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View Full Version : When DMing can be exceptionally rewarding - Voicing out my satisfaction



Jan Mattys
2009-09-08, 07:47 AM
Hi everybody.

I've been a lurker in this forum for quite some time now, mainly posting in the OOTS section, with one-liners more often than not.
Today I'm so excited I've decided to post something a bit more complex: a review of the immense satisfaction I've felt as a DM in my last session this Sunday.

Feel free to add your own story in this thread. It is intended as a space for DMs to tell happy tales. :smallsmile:

We've seen a lot of "I'm a DM and I have problems with my players" threads... I think it's time to give our good players a pat in the back, too.

I'll start. Here's my story, which I've spoilered to avoid the wall-of-text effect.


So, I'm the DM of this two-years long campaign of Call of Cthulhu.
My players have proceeded to uncover many mysteries and somehow managed to keep their sanity, too (well, more or less). They helped the authorities in destroying various cultist organizations, and even managed to kill some head-cultists while advancing the main plot. Turns out there's a grand scheme in all their adventures, and they start collecting stuff and investigating. Now, after about a year of in-game adventure, they possess quite a few artifacts, a decent knowledge of the worldwide cultist conspiracy, and the means to try and end it, striking at the very heart of the evil guys' organisation.

They've been climbing the ladder in true rpg style: first they fought off a local cultist in the United States, then sailed to old Europe and started to sistematically dismantle various centers of Power.

So, now they have three or four BBEGs heads in their bags, and they are approaching the top of the power pyramid...

...and they assault the HQ of one of the last remaining powerful bosses before the final showdown.

Quite standard approach: they make friends with other people who dislike him, investigate, suffer some setbacks and ambushes in the process, make friends with other people who can help, burst in the BBEG's house guns blazing, and manage to corner the guy. All coupled with an impressive display of tactics that leaves the poor bad guy without his usual handful of cultist meat to throw at the invaders.

In pure rpg style, it's now time for the monologue by the bad guy. You know, the short dialogue between the heroes and the villain before the whole place blows up due to tnt abuse, spells, and the occasional Elder Horror showing.

...and this is when my players surprise me. They decide to play some mental tricks on the evil guy. He's telling them that they're just a lucky bunch of unknowing and misguided heroes, that the plan can't be stopped, that it's too late for them, and that no matter how lucky they got in crushing the various cultist cells in europe, now it's time to die. Standard stuff, really... to which my players answer, pointing out that maybe, just maybe, there's something the evil guy is missing. Maybe, just maybe, they're not just "a bunch of misguided and unknowing heros". That maybe, just maybe, they know what they are doing all too well, and that the evil guy's Master, from his unspeakable places of horror and doom, can't be satisfied with the incompetence of his followers. They use the artifacts at their disposal to convince the evil guy that they know the plan and are ready to take over, and that what appears to be just a bunch of useless investigators is a magically powerful, prepared and angry commando.
They suggest that maybe, just maybe, the evil guy should be SCARED of calling the power of the Elder Horror by his side, because its favour is far from granted.

...All this makes too much sense for me to ignore, so I decide to follow and see where this new approach takes us. A few lucky rolls later, my players are growing in confidence and making all-too-appropriate comments (some of which are so perfectly worded that they go far beyond their intended purpose in the mind of the evil guy) while the dude is totally psyched and ****ting in his pants, asking himself "is this possible? Am I not appreciated for what I've done? Can't my Master see that it's not my fault?"

Long story short, the evil guy ended up messing up big time, putting everything at stake in an ultimate attempt to gain *back* the favour of Nyarlatothep, and got destroyed pretty easily after a fairly quick fight that could have been handled much better.

First time in my life I see a BBEG destroyed by RPG instead of guns.
My players enjoyed that kind of victory immensely, and so did I.
I'm not sure it can be done again, and I'm not sure it would work *that well* if overused, but this one time was just priceless.

:smallbiggrin:

Ok, rant over :smallwink:

The Glyphstone
2009-09-08, 08:03 AM
Judging by recent threads, we will now call out your players for being wannabe Hannibal Lectors and demand you report them to the police before they kill and eat someone.:smallbiggrin:



Awesome story. Particularly nice to see you have the flexibility to just chuck a preplanned fight/plot scene out the window and wing it, which far too many DMs lack the ability to do.

kjones
2009-09-08, 08:38 AM
First time in my life I see a BBEG destroyed by RPG instead of guns.

Well, this one d20 Modern game I played, they blew up the BBEG with an RPG...

Good story, though.

Jan Mattys
2009-09-09, 05:00 AM
Well, this one d20 Modern game I played, they blew up the BBEG with an RPG...

My players would sell their souls for one of those :-)

Come on, no one has a cool story of PCs doing the smart thing and overcoming the DM's expectations?

Swordguy
2009-09-09, 05:38 AM
Judging by recent threads, we will now call out your players for being wannabe Hannibal Lectors and demand you report them to the police before they kill and eat someone.:smallbiggrin:


Jesus...no kidding. Some people... :smallannoyed:

Anyway, OP, I'd like you to take solace in the fact that though you may not have gotten your huge ending fight scene, You Are A Good GM. Well played, sir. Well played.

Hzurr
2009-09-09, 10:14 AM
I've finally learned that there is absolutely nothing I can do to predict what will happen to my PCs. If I expect a big knock-down drag-out fight, they'll RP their way through things. If I expect a walk-in-the-park encounter, it will nearly take them to a TPK. If I expect a dialog, they'll come in swords swinging.

PCs are never to be trusted, and will always do what you aren't prepared for.

However, :smallsmile:, it seems that the things that are most surprising also end up being the most entertaining and memorable.

--Edit--
Also, never forget that when the players try and talk down a BBEG, and you tell them to roll a diplomacy check, even though you know that it will never work, they'll roll a nat 20 every time.

Jan Mattys
2009-09-09, 11:13 AM
I've finally learned that there is absolutely nothing I can do to predict what will happen to my PCs. If I expect a big knock-down drag-out fight, they'll RP their way through things. If I expect a walk-in-the-park encounter, it will nearly take them to a TPK. If I expect a dialog, they'll come in swords swinging.

What's not to quote in this universal truth? :smallsmile:

I've long lost my faith in the power of plot. The power of PCs is far greater...
Lol, sometimes *I* feel railroaded... :smallbiggrin:

Lycan 01
2009-09-09, 11:48 AM
My players would sell their souls for one of those :-)

Come on, no one has a cool story of PCs doing the smart thing and overcoming the DM's expectations?


I have had a lot of stories where players went dumb on me. But every now and then, they catch me off guard... One player in particular tends to always suprise me by roleplaying out his characters actions and words in such great detail that I usually have no choice but to give him bonuses to his rolls... A few notable examples include:

-(DnD) Convincing several Kobold minions to join the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster
-(Star Wars) Barging into an apartment and killing all the guards in order to rescue some kidnapped girls about to be sold into slavery, then convincing the crime lord, upon his return to the apartment, that his men were at a local bar getting hammered. The crime lord then turned and left instead of walking into the apartment full of dead thugs and cowering slave girls hiding behind a semi-dead Jedi Apprentice.

This next Star Wars story deserves greater detail...


The party met Watto at a swoop bike race. They mistakenly assumed he was the informant they were supposed to meet, so they tried to bribe him for info. No luck. So the player in question offered Watto a date with his non-existant sexy daughter-in-law in exchange for Watto's help in meeting Jabba the Hutt. Watto was interested, to say the least. Well, now the player needed to find somebody to pose as his daughter-in-law. I mention that there's a Twi'lek nearby, so he moseys on over to her and introduces himself. And then, he tells me, word for word, exactly what he says to her.

I sat there, staring with my mouth agape, as he told the Twi'lek that his friend (Watto) was a really nice guy who'd never done anything wrong... and he was now dying of cancer. He only had three days left to live, and he had a last request: he wanted to be flashed by a hot Twi'lek chick. The player was very sure to tell her that she didn't have to do it, but it would be a very nice gesture for him, since... you know... he was dying. Supposedly... He also mentioned that his friend had no family, and he'd always been a very nice and financially successful individual.

So yeah, be basically made up this massive BS story right then and there on the spot. :smalleek:

So I gave him a roleplaying bonus to his Bluff roll for the story. He also spent a force point or two for some more points. And then he spent a Destiny Point to get an even bigger bonus to his modifier! :eek:

So... yeah... dice roll + various modifiers = 42 Bluff roll. Plus the whole "Destiny Point" thing...

Watto got his "request" fullfilled, and the Twi'lek actually stuck around as Watto's "friend" for the rest of the game. Watto, in exchange for the player's kindness, gave him a Swoop Bike to use in the race. Watto also bet on the player, who ended up winning. Since the player joined at the last second, Watto was the only person who bet on him, so he won EVERYTHING. Watto spent the next three days drinking, partying, and spending time with his new "friend" before randomly dying of cancer in his sleep.

Yeah. Watto really had cancer. I ruled that since he did so well on the Bluff roll, the Destiny Point made it true. The player was horrified, but comforted by the fact that those three days were the best of Watto's life. Oh, and the Twi'lek inherited everything. :smallamused:

Also, it should be mentioned for sheer comedic value that the player was a twitchy Dugg named Frizzo. :smallbiggrin: