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View Full Version : Giving the DM a braintwist



Renx
2007-11-26, 09:23 AM
OK, the situation: We're 1st level, just talking to our first quest-giver, who we delivered an accidentally-found scroll to. Enter the BBEG (human necromancer, red cloak, bald, scars on his head) with 4 ogres. Apparently he cannot enter the area where we are due to a ward the witch has set. Commence the braintwist.

BBEG:"Do you have the scroll!?"
Me:"Oh, that must hurt, how do you **** without it?"
BBEG:"...what?"
Me:"Your scrotum, that is. How do you **** without it?"
BBEG: *sputters*
BBEG:"Do you have it!?"
Me:"I don't know, I don't dance all that well."
GM: *neck twists from the weight of braintwist* "WHAT!?"
Me: "You know, if you have it, show it." *poses*

Fair or not? Our last session ended with something very closely resembling a Monty Python scetch (our GM sounds more like Eric Idle than Eric Idle and has a sense of humour to match), so I hope he'll forgive me :smallsmile:

Ganurath
2007-11-26, 09:29 AM
He's putting first level adventurers against a necromancer and 4 ogres, so I say all's fair.

Mr. Moogle
2007-11-26, 09:40 AM
Wow... you win, sir :smallamused:

Saithis Bladewing
2007-11-26, 09:45 AM
I do agree, that is without a doubt the best response to meeting the BBEG at level 1 possible. Hell, at any level possible. That is just win.

silentknight
2007-11-26, 12:12 PM
I'm not even your DM, and my head hurts just reading that.

Emperor Demonking
2007-11-26, 12:16 PM
I aggree it sounds brilliant but I don't know how you got your lines from "Do you have the scroll!?"

daggaz
2007-11-26, 12:24 PM
That would just annoy me as a DM, as it is not much more than random jibberish without any real reason or background, other than to derail the game. I would probably mark you down for minus XP if you kept it up. (my players know what kind of distractions count for penalties).

And Ganaruth, they are protected by a ward, so no they arent being pitted against the necro and his ogres, yet. They are just being introduced in a safe manner.

ocato
2007-11-26, 12:32 PM
Being annoyingly tauntish to a supremely powerful enemy when he is restrained is neither out of the ordinary nor likely to end well for the taunter.

However, were I DMing, I'd probably not have such a calm response to this as legitimate (if not funny) Role-playing. That is assuming your character is a joker, mildly impish, and/or prone to a more chaotic alignment (my personal interpretation).

silentknight
2007-11-26, 12:37 PM
I think the DM would be justified to have the BBEG be ticked that the characters weren't taking him seriously and smite them dead. And then animate them so he can kill them again.

Ryver
2007-11-26, 12:53 PM
Wow. That is... amazing. Love the humor. :D


He's putting first level adventurers against a necromancer and 4 ogres, so I say all's fair.

I think the DM would be justified to have the BBEG be ticked that the characters weren't taking him seriously and smite them dead. And then animate them so he can kill them again.
From the sound of things, the BBEG was incapable of entering the location where the PCs were, or harming them in any way.

Sounds more like a non-combat encounter to me, which isn't unfair in the least, and ensures that Mr. Taunter gets away with his tomfoolery... for the moment. When they meet again, though, you can bet that the BBEG won't have forgotten.


I aggree it sounds brilliant but I don't know how you got your lines from "Do you have the scroll!?"
He didn't. That was kinda the point - his taunts made no sense whatsoever.

Kaelaroth
2007-11-26, 12:59 PM
Hah! You, my friend, have humour! :smallwink:

Elhann
2007-11-26, 01:18 PM
Fair or not?

Given that you are first level, meeting the BBEG before doesn't seem too probable.

If it is a joke-heavy game, and ALL of you, players and DM, are there for the laughs, it is perfectly fair.

If your character answers randomly to everyone in the world, and your DM is fine with it, it is fair. If I were you, I wouldn't be surprised if the first cleric you met tries to shut you away in the worlds equivalent to a mental hospital.

If it is not a light-hearted game, and your character replies politely to everyone but the BBEG, I'd say you were being deliberately disruptive AND metagaming. Think it you'd like to be in your DMs place next time. Because your DM wants to have fun, too. And iving a world of hurt to random taunters seems like the kind of fun a necroamncer would have.

Prometheus
2007-11-26, 01:32 PM
Reminds me of the classic medieval jester or the fool. Fameous plays have a lot of good examples of answering the wrong questions and exacerbating the questioner.

Chronos
2007-11-26, 03:56 PM
If it is not a light-hearted game, and your character replies politely to everyone but the BBEG, I'd say you were being deliberately disruptive AND metagaming.I don't follow you. If he's polite to everyone else, he should also be polite to the guy wearing a lot of skull-motif clothing who's hanging out with a couple of zombified ogres? There's nothing to say the characters have to be polite to an obvious villain, and in fact, it would be out of character for many folks to do so.

Now, the specific taunt that the character used doesn't seem to make much sense (unless "scroll" is slang for "scrotum" somewhere), but that's a completely different issue.

Elhann
2007-11-26, 05:07 PM
OK, perhaps I didn't use the best choice of words. Excuse me, but English is not my native language, and these things happen more often than I'd want.

Let's say the OP's character is a jester, as Prometheus says. When asked, he answers with the first thing that goes through his mind. OK, that's his character. Perfect. I, as a DM would be more comfortable without insane characters, but since it is not my game, it's up to his DM.
If he is constantly replying to all, or most, characters, either PC or NPC, in such a way, we could consider it a character's trait. If everyone's fine with such a character, it is fine. You can ignore the rest of this post.

I don't think the first encounter in the game was the BBEG, and the OP mentioned that they were talking to their first quest-giver, and a bald, scarred, red cloaked human enters with ogres, and ask for a scroll. I'd say this scroll is the same scroll they accidentally found, but it doesn't matter. We can probably assume that, when talking (at least) to their first quest-giver, his replies were coherent.

In this partuclar case, though, the OP character replies incoherently as far as I can see. He knew that the BBEG couldn't enter, because the witch (which witch?) had warded the area where they were, so no bald human necromancers could enter. So he taunted him, in a way that makes absolutely no sense, as far as I can see: it could be part of an obscure dialogue I don't know.

Why? To give his DM a braintwist.

I'd say that kind of behaviour IS disruptive. Metagaming... yeah, OK. I'll give you that scarred wizard with ogre escort gives a good hint. It could be a setting where ogres are just big brute mercenaries, but since they are usually evil, I won't argue that.

Anyway, it seems that he was being disruptive just for the sake of being disruptive. If his group playstyle is that, and/or they were all having fun, it is fair. If not, I'd guess his DM was NOT having fun. If this is the case, my answer is "no, it was not fair. Think if you'd like to be the DM in such a situation. Do unto others, etc."

I hope I have explained myself better this time.:smallwink:

kjones
2007-11-26, 05:44 PM
If I were the DM here, I would laugh, and have the BBEG fume impotently at your insolence... but rest assured, if you were ever at his mercy, you could kiss your pretty little scrotum goodbye.

Falconer
2007-11-26, 06:40 PM
I agree with kjones. It seems that your DM didn't mind too much, but I have a feeling that this necromancer is gonna be out to get you especially from now on...

Chronos
2007-11-26, 08:51 PM
Why? To give his DM a braintwist.

I'd say that kind of behaviour IS disruptive.Or, his character is trying to braintwist the necromancer, and to disrupt him. Trying to disrupt the BBEG isn't a bad thing for the characters to do; that's their job.


I agree with kjones. It seems that your DM didn't mind too much, but I have a feeling that this necromancer is gonna be out to get you especially from now on...Oh, certainly, but that may well be a good thing. If he's too focused on the jester who taunted him, then that might improve the rest of the party's chances for taking him down. In which case the taunting was a great tactical move.

Fiery Diamond
2007-11-26, 08:59 PM
I completely agree with you, Elhann.

- Fiery Diamond

Renx
2007-11-27, 06:25 AM
Well, I never claimed it was comedy gold. I'm playing a half-mad priest of Boccob, and trust me, he was being completely serious. The pose was more or less off-game to explain the train of thought.

Anyway, after a few almost-as-random banters between the necromancer and a few of our party our ranger decided to fire at the ogres (well, the ranger's player wasn't there and one of us called him to ask "Yeah, we're facing a robed guy and 4 ogres, do you want to shoot your bow?"... Guess what he said :smalltongue:). It got messy after that and one of the ogres was killed (ice slick wins). Strangely enough, almost half of the attack rolls that session were nat 1's or nat 20's. Go figure.