Best plot twists?

[Gnoman]

For DMs, what twists and turns in your plots are you particularly proud of?


For players, what's your DM pulled on you that was simply amazing?

[Karl Aegis]

The past half an hour of rolling had no effect on the plot whatsoever! You've essentially accomplished nothing!

[kieza]

I once ran a campaign where, in the history of the setting, the ancient lords of the elves had vanished for decades into the deepest parts of Faerie, and then returned with strange and terrible powers, calling themselves the Sidhe.

During the actual campaign (set centuries later), the party got involved with a conflict between multiple factions of the sidhe. One of the recurring villains was a relative newcomer--a sidhe who had only recently been elevated to their ranks. All of the sidhe thought that someone else in their ranks had elevated this newcomer, who called himself a "dark sidhe."

Well, the players (and, in-character, all the other sidhe that they worked with) figured that meant he was part of the Unseelie Court, and so they stocked up on countermeasures for Unseelie magic (which they knew dealt with ice, illusion, and a little bit of necromancy).

And then, when they tracked him down and fought, he blew them away with clouds of darkness concealing hungry things, poison gas, and shades of the dead.

See, this guy wasn't an Unseelie--or even a sidhe at all (although he let everyone think so as part of his evil plot). In truth, he was a dark elf who had copied what the ancient elves did, but he chose to venture to the depths of the Underworld, instead of Faerie. And since he was the only one who did this, and he didn't share power...he was a LOT more potent than any of the sidhe that the party had dealt with.

So now, the focus of the campaign changed very quickly from "let's stop these sidhe courts from waging a war across the Material Plane," to "Let's unite the fey under one banner before this dark sidhe can subsume Faerie into the Underworld."

The climax of the campaign was when the party, who were losing their war, tracked down the survivors of the original sidhe, stole the powers granted by Faerie's genius loci, and then delved into the heart of the Underworld in order to cut their enemy's power off at the source.

[Bard1cKnowledge]

There were a string of mysterious disappearances going on in the past few months, and strange rumors of an abandoned manor run by a Lich no one can enter

Turns out that they were ran out of town by a very shrewd and dangerous businessman due to them failing him for the last (and first) time

Also that guy was a rakshasa who hired the party to steal from said manor

[goto124]

I realise it's not quite what OP is asking for, but if I'm not wrong a DM should not aim to pull plot twists on the players? Because twists tend to be much more interesting to the DM than the players, and... stuff?

[Gnoman]

I realise it's not quite what OP is asking for, but if I'm not wrong a DM should not aim to pull plot twists on the players? Because twists tend to be much more interesting to the DM than the players, and... stuff?

Plot twists are no different in a game than they are in any other media - finding out that the climatic battle you've been rallying the entire empire to fight and seeking out allies for is really the final blood sacrifice needed to complete an ancient summoning ritual (which thus necessitates that you strike the being being summoned just as it enters this world, while it's still weak), or that the intricate plots you keep finding hints about aren't so pressing after all - the traces you're finding are moved around by centuries because time itself is broken is perfectly reasonable, and adds a great deal to the experience.

[goto124]

Plot twists are no different in a game than they are in any other media - finding out that the climatic battle you've been rallying the entire empire to fight and seeking out allies for is really the final blood sacrifice needed to complete an ancient summoning ritual (which thus necessitates that you strike the being being summoned just as it enters this world, while it's still weak), or that the intricate plots you keep finding hints about aren't so pressing after all - the traces you're finding are moved around by centuries because time itself is broken is perfectly reasonable, and adds a great deal to the experience.

... wait... really? So I'm the unreasonable one here?

[Murk]

... wait... really? So I'm the unreasonable one here?

Meh, depends. As said, it's the same as in other media. There are plenty of books and series where the "great plot twist" is really lame. In others, it's done better.
I'd say it shouldn't so much be a plot "twist" as a plot "conclusion", and sometimes the conclusion is not what you expected ;)

[AuraTwilight]

The party fighter was the reincarnation of the BBEG wizard's brother. Upon remembering this fact and getting to the final boss, he proceeded to headlock the villain and noogied him into surrendering.

[Honest Tiefling]

... wait... really? So I'm the unreasonable one here?

I wouldn't say yes, I wonder if the difference is in the application. For instance, if the BBEG reveals they are actually Archconcillour Totesnotevil and no one in the party had any hints of this, then...No, you are not unreasonable. However, if the PCs are poking at a mystery, then there probably should be more of a mystery then 'The guy everyone assumes did it for the reasons they assume he did it and in the method that is quite obvious'. I wonder if it more of a objection to the way certain plot twists are handled?

[Mikeavelli]

The Players are the guests of a local lord in a large, spooky castle who has all the affectations of being a vampire. Vaguely slavic accent, obsession with "red wine" - incredibly long life, and complaints of being unfairly persecuted by local Paladins. Despite all this, he is unaccountably polite to the Player Characters, and shows them a great deal of hospitality.

His Wife accuses him of marrying wealthy women from the surrounding areas, never producing an heir, and inheriting the wealth of their family in an ongoing plot to accumulate wealth and power. His wife asks the Players to help her out a bit with this and find the talisman in the basement he guards with the utmost caution, and has hinted at being the thing which sustains him and allows him to appear as a living man. A great deal of buildup goes into the party's adventures in the basement of the castle suggesting that the man is, in fact, a Lich of some sort rather than a vampire and that talisman his his phylactery. The vampiric affectations would then be solely to convince people hoping to destroy him that sticking a stake in his heart would be a good method of permanently killing him.

In the end, the players find the phylactery, confront the 'lich' prepared for battling an ancient and powerful undead wizard - and are terribly confused about why he's completely unconcerned that they're threatening to destroy his talisman. It turns out the secret to his longevity is that he's a Dragon, polymorphed into a human body, something that had also been alluded to (especially given his 'villainy' centers around the accumulation of wealth), but they're also completely unprepared for.

[Yukitsu]

Mine was where the team found out that they'd been working for literally Lucifer, everything they'd seen up to that point had been manipulated to look cheerful and upbeat rather than horrific as it was, and that all of their actions up to that point were leading them closer to the end of the world.

Ironically most all of that came from their choices, they were honestly supposed to be fighting against Lucifer, but it was a Shin Megami Tensei themed game anyway, those usually have that sort of choice in it.

Besides, you'd think that "Morgen Stern" was a dead giveaway.

Worse, only one player decided to switch bosses.

[comicshorse]

Like all things plot twists depend on the way they're done and the audience they're done for. What leaves one group gasping in astonishment, gets a 'obviously' from another or just annoyance from a third.
One time I managed it well (at least the P.C.s seemed to like it) was in a 'Fading Suns' campaign where the first campaign involved the P.C.s tracking down a scientist who claimed to know why the suns were fading.
The P.C.s finally tracked him down to a abandoned temple on a devastated planet. They immediately asked him the question they'd been sent to discover only to be told 'the stars are right'

It probably helped the group were big Call of Cthulhu fans

[Jay R]

At a time when the Death Lord was using all his power to try to return to Earth, the PCs found an extremely evil amulet in the hands of his minions. They defeated the minions, took the amulet, and destroyed it.

It turned out that the amulet was the lock that was keeping him out. It felt Evil because he was exerting all his force on it from his dimension. They felt his Evil through the amulet.

[Freelance GM]

Just as they reached the heart of the slaver's lair, the party was surprised/enraged to discover that the fake manacles their patron put them in weren't actually fake.

[goto124]

I wonder if it more of a objection to the way certain plot twists are handled?

Was thinking about this. Giving hints may be good, though you run into the problem of 'were the hints too vague/obvious', and can differ from player to player. And there's the double twist.

[DigoDragon]

I realise it's not quite what OP is asking for, but if I'm not wrong a DM should not aim to pull plot twists on the players? Because twists tend to be much more interesting to the DM than the players, and... stuff?

Depends on the players and how well the twist was written. One of the best twists I had according to my players:

Shadowrun, one PC wrote in his backstory that his daughter disappeared a number of years ago into the shadows. After losing his job and getting tired of the blue-collar life, he decides to become a runner and changes his identity/looks/location to disappear. He makes a pretty decent living this way. After a long time into the campaign, I sprung the twist that one young Johnson he has been working with turned out to be his daughter, who had plastic surgery to redo her looks completely and managed to work her way up the shadows of a corp. They didn't recognize each other because of their changed looks and identities, but when the twist came out, everyone was pretty stunned and amused.

Looking back, I think my better twists tended to be small in scope. Ones that don't derail or change the entire campaign, but add some character building on a personal scale.

Like this one D&D campaign where the party rogue was dating one of the bar maids at a tavern the party frequented in their adventuring. A twist came up that the bar maid was moonlighting as an informant for the villain of the adventure. She made money under the table from all the gossip and insider info she overheard, including plans the PCs made when they attempted to thwart the villain. The rogue took advantage of this twist by paying her for getting the same information she was giving the villain. The party also stopped talking about their plans in front of servants at taverns. :smallbiggrin:

[Brendanicus]

This isn't entirely my plot twist, because I was using a module.

When the party first entered the Halls of Flesh, (Big leg of the module) I posted a note on my DM screen that said "Illusions are a thing". The players never had to worry about illusions up until this point (Fairly new players). After the sign went up, though, payers would frantically look for illusions whenever they were stuck. They never found one.

On the last session of the campaign (still in the Halls of Flesh), this level 5 party had to fight a "Balor". It was a big epic showdown, on a hanging platform suspended over a river of lava.

Those very familiar with the module know that this "Balor" was really just a disguised Drider Duskblade, admittedly of high level. Nonetheless, in two rounds this badass monster managing to one-shot the Sorcerer (It was her first-time playing, too) and gotten the entire party down to less than half health. My players were rightfully getting worried.

Once the "Balor" started using Duskblade spells, I gave the PC Duskblade an Int check to realize that this ancient demon was using Duskblade fighting techniques. The players were confused by this, and one even suggested checking for illuisons, but she changed her mind given how unlikely this would be.

Anyway, the Balor fight was only designed to be a "test" for the PC's by the cruel Drow, so the Balor soon surrendered and revealed his true form.

At this exact moment, my players lost their ****. This was the last session of the entire campaign, and they realized that the little sign I made was exclusively for an encounter I had planned for months in advance. Everybody was sorely disappointed in themselves for not seeing it coming. Knives were pulled IRL, I **** you not.

It was hilarious, and I don't think i will ever see my players more shocked by a twist ever again.

[AxeAlex]

... wait... really? So I'm the unreasonable one here?

YES YOU ARE!!

Seriously,

Learning that the main villain is yourself, from before you went amnesiac is awesome.

Learning that the evil conspiracy is not evil, but in reality helping you from the start is awesome.

Learning that the god of evil and the god of good are the same god but acting from the future and the past (because he becomes evil during the events of the current game) is awesome.

Learning that the great wizard-queen was replaced by a non-wizard doppleganger who has no idea how to use the macguffin to save the kingdom he's grown to love since replacing the wizard-queen is awesome.

A plot-twist CAN be a bad thing, but if you follow THREE (3) RULES!, there should be no problem:

-Hints are needed. If a player can go "OOOH, THAT'S WHY SHE NEVER DID MAGIC AND FORBADE DIVINATIONS IN THE KINGDOM!, that's good

-It must be discovered by actions made by the players. THEY discovered the plot twist, not the plot twist that revealed itself suddenly for no other reason than drama.

-If it invalidates any quest or any actions made by the player, it MUST allow the player for a quick revenge or a quick way to "fix" everything they done wrong.

[Red Fel]

A plot-twist CAN be a bad thing, but if you follow THREE (3) RULES!, there should be no problem:

-Hints are needed. If a player can go "OOOH, THAT'S WHY SHE NEVER DID MAGIC AND FORBADE DIVINATIONS IN THE KINGDOM!, that's good

-It must be discovered by actions made by the players. THEY discovered the plot twist, not the plot twist that revealed itself suddenly for no other reason than drama.

-If it invalidates any quest or any actions made by the player, it MUST allow the player for a quick revenge or a quick way to "fix" everything they done wrong.

This is a pretty good summary.

The fact is, TTRPGs are a form of collaborative storytelling. And stories with well done surprises are very entertaining. Emphasis on well done. We're not talking Shyamalan here.

If your story twist does not invalidate the characters' actions, and is something they could look back at and see how it gets there, and it adds complexity and entertainment to the overall story, it's a good thing. And not all twists need to be DM-side only. Sometimes some of the best twists are worked out between the DM and some players in advance.

I had one piece in D&D 3.5 I worked on where I had a Dragonborn1 Hellbred2 who, in his previous life, was a cultist of Asmodeus3. Over the course of the campaign, he was supposed to recover the memory of who he was (resulting in some minor, but possibly noticeable, behavioral differences), keep it hidden (thanks to a magic ring that the other players might or might not notice he picked up in a town full of cultists), then, at a climactic moment, seize an artifact that would allow him to retain his Dragonborn powers while reveling in his true LE alignment. Sadly, the campaign got shelved before that happened. But it would have been awesome.

1 In 3.5, Dragonborn are good people chosen by Bahamut, the LG Dragon deity, to become dragon-people. If they become Evil, they lose their powers.
2 In 3.5, Hellbred are wicked people who sought atonement, but did not succeed before they died; they are returned to life with no memory of their past wickedness, and a chance at redemption if they're super awesome.
3 LE Big Bad.

[Segev]

In an Exalted game I'm running (very, very slowly in PbP), a Lunar (shapeshifting superbeing) player set up in his backstory that he Exalted (became a shapeshifting superbeing) when a wolf-man-creature was tearing apart his friends and their household. The Dragonblooded household was (obviously, to those who know the setting) not going to tolerate a Lunar remaining anywhere nearby, even if he saved some of them from another. So he set out to make his way in the world, hunting the monster that attacked his family.

The "obvious" answer is that the beast was another Lunar; why it attacked is mildly obvious (the Dragonblooded Realm persecutes Lunars), if so.

However, one thing is missing from the Lunar's Exaltation tale. Lunars are the Chosen of Luna, and (unlike other Exalted), every Lunar has a visitation from their patron goddess as part of their Exaltation.

I've since decided on something else for the identity of the attacking monster, but that was an option I was rolling around in my head.

[VoxRationis]

The only big plot twist I've ever come up against as a player was... extremely unsatisfying. Our disparate characters had found each other and united in order to team up against the evil wizard who had destroyed our homes, traveled across a continent to do so, and infiltrated his domain...

Only to find out that it was all a gambit this wizard had cooked up to get a group of adventurers together to do some mission or other of Great ImportanceTM which he couldn't do on his own. Why he felt the need to inflict great personal injury on all of us instead of just writing a letter was never satisfactorily explained.

[goto124]

A plot-twist CAN be a bad thing, but if you follow THREE (3) RULES!, there should be no problem:

-Hints are needed. If a player can go "OOOH, THAT'S WHY SHE NEVER DID MAGIC AND FORBADE DIVINATIONS IN THE KINGDOM!, that's good

-It must be discovered by actions made by the players. THEY discovered the plot twist, not the plot twist that revealed itself suddenly for no other reason than drama.

-If it invalidates any quest or any actions made by the player, it MUST allow the player for a quick revenge or a quick way to "fix" everything they done wrong.

May I sig this?


This is a pretty good summary.

The fact is, TTRPGs are a form of collaborative storytelling. And stories with well done surprises are very entertaining. Emphasis on well done. We're not talking Shyamalan here.

If your story twist does not invalidate the characters' actions, and is something they could look back at and see how it gets there, and it adds complexity and entertainment to the overall story, it's a good thing. And not all twists need to be DM-side only. Sometimes some of the best twists are worked out between the DM and some players in advance.


And this.

[AxeAlex]

May I sig this?



And this.

Of course! Feel free to correct me too, I'm not a native english speaker.

[prufock]

If your story twist does not invalidate the characters' actions, and is something they could look back at and see how it gets there, and it adds complexity and entertainment to the overall story, it's a good thing. And not all twists need to be DM-side only. Sometimes some of the best twists are worked out between the DM and some players in advance.
Very good, concise guideline. I like it.

For my own part, the one twist that pops into my mind is a "lesser of two evils" climax I did in a superheroes game. The PCs were part of a gov't-sponsored group called META (Mutation, Enhancement, and Technological Authority), and were tracking down an anti-metahumanbig bad. Once they found his hideout, it was revealed that he had collected data on "meta events" and compiled data, and it all showed that he was right - metahumans were a menace that caused more accidents than they stopped, and had much higher rates of criminal behaviour and dangerous mental illness than the population. He punctuated this point using data collected from the PCs (I kept a tally over the course of the game). If they attempted to stop him, he had given orders that all this data be released to the public, quite probably sowing anti-metaseeds far and wide. If they left him alone, he would continue his work taking down as many metahumans as he could as quietly as possible, and leave the PCs alone until last.

[LokiRagnarok]

How did that play out?

[prufock]

How did that play out?
Was this for me? It worked out pretty well, actually. They decided that the possible consequences of the truth was better than letting the guy's organization continue killing metahumans. They won, brought in a truckload of wanted criminals, and the world in general got more hostile to metahumans.

It was a no-win situation, in the longview, but they considered it a short-term win.

[Amphetryon]

YES YOU ARE!!

Seriously,

Learning that the main villain is yourself, from before you went amnesiac is awesome.

Learning that the evil conspiracy is not evil, but in reality helping you from the start is awesome.

Learning that the god of evil and the god of good are the same god but acting from the future and the past (because he becomes evil during the events of the current game) is awesome.

Learning that the great wizard-queen was replaced by a non-wizard doppleganger who has no idea how to use the macguffin to save the kingdom he's grown to love since replacing the wizard-queen is awesome.

A plot-twist CAN be a bad thing, but if you follow THREE (3) RULES!, there should be no problem:

-Hints are needed. If a player can go "OOOH, THAT'S WHY SHE NEVER DID MAGIC AND FORBADE DIVINATIONS IN THE KINGDOM!, that's good

-It must be discovered by actions made by the players. THEY discovered the plot twist, not the plot twist that revealed itself suddenly for no other reason than drama.

-If it invalidates any quest or any actions made by the player, it MUST allow the player for a quick revenge or a quick way to "fix" everything they done wrong.

That's. . . an interesting take on things.