kjones
2008-10-12, 01:47 PM
At one point or another, I've tried all the standard methods for getting my players into the game. Signals for in-character/out-of-character speech, voices and accents, props, music, lighting, even the stupid DMG trick of making invisible characters sit under the table. None of it ever really stuck - I guess my groups just aren't "serious" enough. Which is fine, we still have fun. But last session, I had an idea that turned it all around.
The party was fighting a bleakborn (from the Libris Mortis, if you're unfamiliar with them - they're basically frost zombies that feed off of body heat, sucking it and any other heat out of everything nearby) outside of a quarry they were trying to explore. The party is fairly melee-focused, except for the warlock, who had already left for the night. So most of them were pretty close to this thing, and they were feeling the hurt from its heat-draining aura.
Then I had an idea.
"To give you a good sense of what your characters are feeling right now," I said, getting up out of my chair, "we're going to do a little simulation exercise."
I went to the freezer. "Anyone who is currently within 30 feet of the bleakborn... put an ice cube down your pants."
They did it, eventually, though I had to offer them a little bonus XP. And suddenly, the battle changed. It was no longer "Dang, another six points of cold damage," it was "Holy ****, get me away from that thing!"
As a DM, this was the best idea I've ever had.
The party was fighting a bleakborn (from the Libris Mortis, if you're unfamiliar with them - they're basically frost zombies that feed off of body heat, sucking it and any other heat out of everything nearby) outside of a quarry they were trying to explore. The party is fairly melee-focused, except for the warlock, who had already left for the night. So most of them were pretty close to this thing, and they were feeling the hurt from its heat-draining aura.
Then I had an idea.
"To give you a good sense of what your characters are feeling right now," I said, getting up out of my chair, "we're going to do a little simulation exercise."
I went to the freezer. "Anyone who is currently within 30 feet of the bleakborn... put an ice cube down your pants."
They did it, eventually, though I had to offer them a little bonus XP. And suddenly, the battle changed. It was no longer "Dang, another six points of cold damage," it was "Holy ****, get me away from that thing!"
As a DM, this was the best idea I've ever had.