Angel Bob
2013-03-26, 11:33 AM
I know the "hilariously bad failure" topics are popular, but I'm noticing a lack of places where GMs can exult in a session that actually turned out betterthan expected.
For example, my group has problems with immersion. References and metagaming are a regular thing. Yet when the party entered an ancient, crumbling temple, I managed to overcome this problem for a limited time. The leader decided to try negotiating with whatever was inside. He staggered in, pretending to be drunk (I don't know how exactly this was supposed to help), and hugged the first creature he saw: a thri-kreen standing guard with a spear.
I described how he might expect the recipient of his hug to be "alarmed, confused, even enraged -- but the thri-kreen stares blankly ahead... out of one eye. The other eye is entirely shattered."
The leader backed off and called in the fighter with "Hey guys, check this out, there are statues." At which point his character observed that statues generally don't move, lurching forwards with outstretched claws...
The player spent the rest of the encounter significantly wigged out about the onslaught of undead and whimpering about how they were just going to reanimate when they were slain. (He was partially right.) Didn't help that a larger skeleton managed to gouge his chest open with a natural 20 a round later.
There was a hint of this immersion later: I described the party ranger slowly noticing the prickling sensation of scarab beetles crawling on her skin... followed by a swarming host of them... and ended up entirely covered in black-shelled beetles a few rounds later. But it wasn't as exciting as the above player (who's typically very stoic due to his OOC knowledge of the game and its cliches).
For example, my group has problems with immersion. References and metagaming are a regular thing. Yet when the party entered an ancient, crumbling temple, I managed to overcome this problem for a limited time. The leader decided to try negotiating with whatever was inside. He staggered in, pretending to be drunk (I don't know how exactly this was supposed to help), and hugged the first creature he saw: a thri-kreen standing guard with a spear.
I described how he might expect the recipient of his hug to be "alarmed, confused, even enraged -- but the thri-kreen stares blankly ahead... out of one eye. The other eye is entirely shattered."
The leader backed off and called in the fighter with "Hey guys, check this out, there are statues." At which point his character observed that statues generally don't move, lurching forwards with outstretched claws...
The player spent the rest of the encounter significantly wigged out about the onslaught of undead and whimpering about how they were just going to reanimate when they were slain. (He was partially right.) Didn't help that a larger skeleton managed to gouge his chest open with a natural 20 a round later.
There was a hint of this immersion later: I described the party ranger slowly noticing the prickling sensation of scarab beetles crawling on her skin... followed by a swarming host of them... and ended up entirely covered in black-shelled beetles a few rounds later. But it wasn't as exciting as the above player (who's typically very stoic due to his OOC knowledge of the game and its cliches).