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Bassikpoet
2008-12-01, 11:13 PM
So as a cliff hanger in my last session, I had the PCs get caught in some webs with a clicking sound coming closer and closer.

The plan was to have a dungeon filled with spiders and ettercaps. However, after the session, one of the players came up to me and said that she was arachnaphobic. Thats the oops.

Now I need to find creatures that use webs but are not spider related. The party is a three member party of level 4s.

Please inform me of any non spider-related monsters around that CR that use webs.

Jølly
2008-12-01, 11:19 PM
Haha! I've always wanted this situation! I had a friend who disliked spiders so I made sure to throw them in when it was least expected. Never had anyone who was really scared of spiders though. As far as monsters with webs...hmm...maybe play it off as a kobold trap!?!

Sstoopidtallkid
2008-12-01, 11:19 PM
Adepts? Ettercaps (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ettercap.htm)? Web is a fairly good spell that most Arcane Casters could reasonably use.

RebelRogue
2008-12-01, 11:37 PM
Ettercaps (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/ettercap.htm)?
Ettercaps, though humanoid, are actually quite spiderlike. I'm pretty sure the name is derived from the scandinavian word for spider ("edderkop"). That aspect could be downplayed, though.

Prometheus
2008-12-01, 11:37 PM
Because you started off talking about how you can't do spiders, I'm assuming when she says archnaphobia she means it in the medical sense and therefore it would not be appropriate to continue (or would it? (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systematic_desensitisation)).

Have it be shamans and other magical tribal peoples. They could make clicking sounds and cast Web in order to ensnare (rather than kill) the PCs. You could talk about a spiritual connection to various animals (and perhaps mimic them when they cast the appropriate spells).

Of course as a DM there was no way you could have know about the archnaphobia and you could just say "scratch that last thing I said, here's what is going on". Some DMs are terribly afraid of doing that, but the PCs really don't mind if you have a decent reason for it.

monty
2008-12-01, 11:39 PM
I second the kobolds. Maybe a cult of sorcerers.

Gaiwecoor
2008-12-01, 11:42 PM
...

Have it be shamans and other magical tribal peoples. They could make clicking sounds and cast Web in order to ensnare (rather than kill) the PCs. You could talk about a spiritual connection to various animals (and perhaps mimic them when they cast the appropriate spells).

Of course as a DM there was no way you could have know about the archnaphobia and you could just say "scratch that last thing I said, here's what is going on". Some DMs are terribly afraid of doing that, but the PCs really don't mind if you have a decent reason for it.

Either of these would work very nicely. However, if you don't want to use casters don't feel comfortable scratching the end of the session and want to have the spider theme, but not have them actually show up ... the Aranea (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/Aranea.htm). Just have it change out of spider form into its humanoid form before the PCs actually encounter it. I'm not sure exactly what interaction you would choose, but it could make an interesting RP encounter, depending on the context of the situation.

Knaight
2008-12-02, 12:16 AM
Or just use the spider monster stats, with a different description. Metal ants with spells. Done.

Ravens_cry
2008-12-02, 12:25 AM
Wasn't Ettercap one of the insults Bilbo yelled at the giant spiders of Mirkwood?

amanamana
2008-12-02, 12:33 AM
Wow!
I had a player that was mildly aracnophobic. He actually enjoyed the 3 or so spider(ish) encounters we had in almost 2 years of campaign. The ones they won, of course. The one his character was captured by araneas was kind of terrifying to him, but ended in a amusing way. He liked it a lot.
But then again, he was mildly aracnophobic. I wouldn't recomend in your situation indeed.
I agree with people saying you could erase the last part of the session and turning the web in another kind of trap, if you're not confortable using spellcasters. Your players would have to be jerks to object your reason on doing so.

Totally Guy
2008-12-02, 03:10 AM
What a good idea, my next dungeon will be ful of moths!:smallbiggrin:

Cheesegear
2008-12-02, 03:15 AM
Rather Large Silkworms?

Ravens_cry
2008-12-02, 03:20 AM
A lost clan of mad silk weavers, who use their chosen fiber in a variety of cunning and lethal manners?

The Minx
2008-12-02, 03:24 AM
Wasn't Ettercap one of the insults Bilbo yelled at the giant spiders of Mirkwood?

Yes, I believe it was.

Athaniar
2008-12-02, 03:29 AM
Ettercaps, though humanoid, are actually quite spiderlike. I'm pretty sure the name is derived from the scandinavian word for spider ("edderkop"). That aspect could be downplayed, though.

An article in a Dragon about Ettercap ecology said something about the name, I believe it was derived from old english. It also mentioned The Hobbit. And "edderkop", I think, is only used in Denmark and Norway.

Coidzor
2008-12-02, 03:30 AM
Yes, I believe it was.

Or possibly Attercop, which is rather similar to ettercap. I know he did attercop, and he might also have done ettercap as well.

Apparently they're very serious insults to spider-kin, which makes one wonder what ettercaps call themselves, or if they've "reclaimed" the term...

newbDM
2008-12-02, 03:41 AM
So as a cliff hanger in my last session, I had the PCs get caught in some webs with a clicking sound coming closer and closer.

The plan was to have a dungeon filled with spiders and ettercaps. However, after the session, one of the players came up to me and said that she was arachnaphobic. Thats the oops.

Now I need to find creatures that use webs but are not spider related. The party is a three member party of level 4s.

Please inform me of any non spider-related monsters around that CR that use webs.

That must be an extremely severe case.

I am also terrified of spiders, to the point I scream like a little girl if I believe one is on me (which usually is not the case..). However, I can easily tell the difference between real ones and fantasy or toy ones. Heck, I love the drow to boot, and I played an aracnomancer army in D&D minis 3.5.

There was even a funny moment when I was in a locals store's tournament, and the head manager came past me with a squashed spider in a napkin (and I mean squashed) to dump it in a trash can next to me, and my reaction and the look in my face instantly lead to him asking "Are you afraid of spiders?!". I said yes. Then the employee running the game (who was also my DM at the time) said a hilarious joke somewhat around "And yet you are playing the drow aracno army? Hmm. There is some irony here somewhere, but I can't put my finger on it....". I laughed, because it was true and funny.

And I mean I LOVE drow art, and I believe the dridder are very interesting and downright cool. So if she is that afraid, I can just imagine how bad her phobia must be.

Maybe you are overreacting a bit to what she said?

Athaniar
2008-12-02, 03:51 AM
As another aracnophobe (with the same traits as described above), I agree. It should be OK as long as the player isn't extremely phobic and/or you don't describe the monsters in too much detail (the black, slimy, many-legged arachnoid leaps towards you from it's web of fear, it's serrated mandibles dripping with wicked posion as it's crimson eyes stare you right in the face, inducing a sense of spidery doom in you, as a swarm of smaller spiders under it's command starts engulfing you, crawling down into your throat, slowly choking you to death with their tiny, demonic forms). Probably shouldn't have written that, now I scared myself.

SoD
2008-12-02, 04:00 AM
Ha! In a campaign where our DM was arachnaphobic, as was a fellow player, I played a Chitine Paladin with a monsterous spider for his mount! If your guy is scared of spiders, just go ahead with the session as planed. If, however, you want realism to the point where you find giant spiders and throw them at your players...yeah, change that.

newbDM
2008-12-02, 04:15 AM
As another aracnophobe (with the same traits as described above), I agree. It should be OK as long as the player isn't extremely phobic and/or you don't describe the monsters in too much detail (the black, slimy, many-legged arachnoid leaps towards you from it's web of fear, it's serrated mandibles dripping with wicked posion as it's crimson eyes stare you right in the face, inducing a sense of spidery doom in you, as a swarm of smaller spiders under it's command starts engulfing you, crawling down into your throat, slowly choking you to death with their tiny, demonic forms). Probably shouldn't have written that, now I scared myself.

LoL.

I love how the lack of logic takes over our brains. Mid-way while reading that I instantly swatted my shoulder because I believed I felt "something" there. Now I keep thinking I feel webs flying onto my arms and body (no shirt on right now), but in truth (since my mind is reasonable and really aware of what is causing it because we are talking about it) I am pretty sure it is just the wind from the fan right above me pushing the hairs on my arms and body (I am Hispanic, born to be hairy...) against my skin, and I am probably just extra aware of the sensations on my skins because we are talking of spiders.

And now while I wait for this forum's 30 minutes daily maintenance to complete, I am even cleaning out and dusting my very messy computer room because... well I think you can guess why.

And yet, I not only played in Expedition into the Demonweb Pits where I met Lolth, but one of my favorite characters of all time comes from there (I still regularly play him). I am even trying to track down a cheap copy for the information about Sigil. So I can only imagine how phobic she must be to freak out just to imagine webs in a cliffhanger.

Maybe you can call her up, and talk for a bit with her about all this? Just be honest, and spoil the plot you were going to do if necessary, but at least you get it straight from her and work everything out with her one-on-one. Plus, such a talk can also help you figure out what other issues you can look out for.


p.s. Maybe sitting down with each player and working out a list of no-noes before a campaign is a good idea for all DM's to do?

Talic
2008-12-02, 04:24 AM
Kobold sorcerors fit the bill.

As draconics with claws, the clicking can be explained at claws on the tile. With 1 caster able to drop webs, and a dozen or so more weaker ones, warrior/rogue types... It works.

The webs trap unwanted visitors, the identify them, and, if they're not friendlies, then a bit of fire burns out most things. Follow up with Obscuring Mist, a couple pit traps, and you have the makings of a good knife fight, where the party is distracted, seperated, and challenged.

Should be ok, as long as there are no Claustrophobes in your group. If so, don't describe anything as stifling, oppressive, or the like. the clicking sound description probably set off your player. At least you didn't use "skittering".

EDIT: Besides... 'You hear a clicking to your left, something hard striking cold stone. When you turn, nothing's there. Something to your side catches your eye... The twinkling of a several pairs of eyes, just beyond the lantern light. The darkness of the cave seems more and more ominous, as the skittering noise of carapace on limestone returns... Ahead of you, above you, coming from several locations. Something drips upon your cheek... Wiping it off, you see that it's not water, but rather a thick, greenish ooze. That's when you see the eight-legged creature drop like a rock from the ceiling, straight towards your trapped form...' That's some quality play-up of a spider encounter. I try to do this with most of my encounters, whether they be zombies, wolves, spiders, dinosaurs, or something else.

BobVosh
2008-12-02, 04:52 AM
Or possibly Attercop, which is rather similar to ettercap. I know he did attercop, and he might also have done ettercap as well.

Apparently they're very serious insults to spider-kin, which makes one wonder what ettercaps call themselves, or if they've "reclaimed" the term...

Attercop is the only term. I'm at work and I grabbed a random book from a shelf before I left. Turned out to be The Hobbit.

http://www.daimi.au.dk/~bouvin/tolkien/spidernames.html

Just for fun make it a group of wizards on stilts who love casting web. Nonthreating. A werid cult.

Artanis
2008-12-02, 03:27 PM
An article in a Dragon about Ettercap ecology said something about the name, I believe it was derived from old english. It also mentioned The Hobbit. And "edderkop", I think, is only used in Denmark and Norway.
Deriving something from old english sounds exactly like something you'd expect from Tolkien. He used real-world languages as inspiration for the languages he made up for Middle Earth.

Jarawara
2008-12-02, 03:56 PM
My best spider story was when I described all the details of a web-filled room, the corpses hanging from the ceiling, the debris scattered across the floor, the whole nine yards. The player was ready for spiders, the only questions were how big and how many.

There was only one. And it was big. How big? Well, about 6 inches wide, and made of rubber. Well, the miniature, at least. I presume that makes it about 12ish feet wide in D&D terms, but the characters could handle that. What the player wasn't ready for was the 6" version, a halloween decoration toy I had purchased earlier, being brought out and tossed casually on the table in front of her.

She screamed.

I mean..... she *really* screamed.

And then she picked up the rubber spider and threw it back at me, hitting me square across the face, hard enough to bruise me.


And that's how I've developed arachnophobia, albeit of the rubber decorative kind. :smallbiggrin:

*~*~*

Of course, the only thing I fear more than flying rubber spiders is flying tuna-fish cans, but that's a story for another thread.

Burley
2008-12-02, 04:12 PM
http://i245.photobucket.com/albums/gg51/bjorn_djorn/Mothmonsterman.jpg

That is all.

Ridureyu
2008-12-02, 04:13 PM
Have it be kids with noisemakers

charl
2008-12-02, 04:18 PM
Drow perhaps? They are known to play with spider-themes, so them using a web-trap or spell is not a big stretch. Just don't have them actually use spiders or driders and it should be fine.

hamishspence
2008-12-02, 04:21 PM
when it comes to creepy moments- up close photo of the fangs and face of a bird-eating spider creeped me out.

having projector flash pics of spiders on opposite wall during the game might work for players who Want the creepy factor, but not fair to do with a genuine arachnophobe.

OverdrivePrime
2008-12-02, 04:35 PM
Just for fun make it a group of wizards on stilts who love casting web. Nonthreating. A werid cult.
:smallbiggrin: Awesome. It's tough to top wizards on stilts.

I vote for the gigantic silkworms suggestion. Have the silk webbing impede travel (and be slightly resistant to fire), but if you've got any characters with Knowledge Nature ranks in the group, you can quickly clarify that they are certain that the webbing does not come from any sort of spider.

If they round the corner, they can notice a slight blue-green glow emenating from further in the cave. Following it in, they'll find a colony of monstrous silk worms. Yay! On the downside, they're all really hungry. On the upside, if they characters survive, they've got a huge supply of extraordinary silk that could easily be used in magic items, such as ropes of rope trick or powerful garments and the like.


Barring that, drow are a great idea as well. The clicking sound is just a whole bunch of them cocking their hand crossbows and loading sleep darts.