Things I Learnt Today

[Heliomance]

Sending the players against a zombie elephant when the Dread Necro can cast Command Undead is a bad idea.

Four zombie Terror Birds with 94HP apiece is far too many HP for a level 5 party to chew through in any reasonable length of time, even with the assistance of the aforementioned zombie elephant.

Never, ever underestimate the suicidal tendencies of PCs.

[dsmiles]

Never, ever underestimate the suicidal tendencies of PCs.

This is a very important lesson for a budding DM/GM. Keep it close, and never forget it.

[Eldan]

Oh god yes. "Hello, guards we originally planned to sneak past. We are here to assassinate your leader."

[Heliomance]

They encountered a village. Every single person in the village was dead, missing their eyes, and covered in scratch marks. As they went further in, they discovered a few people had scrawled "It's so beautiful" on a wall in their own blood before they died. They eventually found one survivor, sitting on a doorstep, missing his eyes, babbling about how beautiful it was and how he'd painted it, how he never wanted to see anything else again. there were more dead villagers around the house, and a small trickle of blood leaking out from inside.

Two of the players went inside.

[Wings of Peace]

Bah, it'll give them teeth. The average level of my party is 4 and our DM sends waves of seven or eight kobolds at us with 70hp a piece and wizard support at us. Rather than quell our suicidal tactics it's just made us mean.

[huttj509]

They encountered a village. Every single person in the village was dead, missing their eyes, and covered in scratch marks. As they went further in, they discovered a few people had scrawled "It's so beautiful" on a wall in their own blood before they died. They eventually found one survivor, sitting on a doorstep, missing his eyes, babbling about how beautiful it was and how he'd painted it, how he never wanted to see anything else again. there were more dead villagers around the house, and a small trickle of blood leaking out from inside.

Two of the players went inside.

Well by that point you just HAVE to, I mean, come on!

You can't just walk away from that.

And when the world ends there will be a human being standing by a button marked "do not push, seriously, don't", saying "I just wanted to see what it would do."

[Draconi Redfir]

They encountered a village. Every single person in the village was dead, missing their eyes, and covered in scratch marks. As they went further in, they discovered a few people had scrawled "It's so beautiful" on a wall in their own blood before they died. They eventually found one survivor, sitting on a doorstep, missing his eyes, babbling about how beautiful it was and how he'd painted it, how he never wanted to see anything else again. there were more dead villagers around the house, and a small trickle of blood leaking out from inside.

Two of the players went inside.

And then what happened? *sits down for storytime*

[dsmiles]

They encountered a village. Every single person in the village was dead, missing their eyes, and covered in scratch marks. As they went further in, they discovered a few people had scrawled "It's so beautiful" on a wall in their own blood before they died. They eventually found one survivor, sitting on a doorstep, missing his eyes, babbling about how beautiful it was and how he'd painted it, how he never wanted to see anything else again. there were more dead villagers around the house, and a small trickle of blood leaking out from inside.

Two of the players went inside.

If you don't go inside, how will you ever get caught on the plot hook?

[Heliomance]

One of them went mad, the other I gave a bonus on the save due to being wildshaped at the time and not wanting to take out two party members in the second session. They managed to drag the mad one out and cast Blindness on her before she clawed her own eyes out, but she's now been NPCd as no-one can cast Remove Curse.

[Volthawk]

Oh god yes. "Hello, guards we originally planned to sneak past. We are here to assassinate your leader."

Yeah, the risks of having a madman character in the party...

[Killer Angel]

Two of the players went inside.

Seriously... did you expect something different?

[SilverLeaf167]

But what was it inside that made all the villagers mad?

[Heliomance]

They're not sure. Asking any of the living witnesses simply gets a response of "so beautiful..." :D

[panaikhan]

something I learned as a DM.

"Every time you make something idiot-proof, the PC's will come up with a better idiot"

[Eldan]

They're not sure. Asking any of the living witnesses simply gets a response of "so beautiful..." :D

Well, I'd start testing. Send in summons and see if it works on animals. Remote-operated magical sensors. And so on. Try blindfolding yourself, or shouting in.

I mean, you justhave to examine something like that.

[SilverLeaf167]

Didn't the blinded PC even see what it was? Were the references to its beauty just plain madness?

[Choco]

Never, ever underestimate the suicidal tendencies of PCs.

Yeah, no matter how long I DM, that is something that never ceases to amaze me. Some players just take a while to learn that just because something is in their path does not mean that they can beat it, and that some obstacles are best avoided instead of plowed through...

This happened last week in a 4e game I DM for 2 players:

The Barbarian was down to just 1 healing surge for the day and was currently at little over half health, the Shaman was practically untouched. They come across a small army lead by the current villain, an army containing enemies that they had struggled a little against when they were in much smaller numbers.

So what do they do?

The Barbarian charges and promptly starts getting surrounded. The Shaman, seeing this, decides that it is a good idea to try to ping the villain (who is sitting in the back not participating and who has a crapload of HP) for some minimal damage each turn instead of trying to help and/or talk some sense into the barbarian. That would have been a wipe had the cavalry not arrived at the last second and driven the villain off...

Yeah, what have I learned after all these years? Try to have some believable out for the PC's just for those days I don't feel like wiping them (like the 3rd session of the campaign for instance...). The PC's in this case knew there were friendly forces nearby, and I was able to play it in such a way that they felt important for stalling to give their allies time to show up, even though they were just being stupid .

Yeah, the risks of having a madman character in the party...

I learned, as a player, to not interfere with what the madman does and distance myself from him as much as possible. That way when he inevitably attracts the wrong kind of attention I am not dragged in and can watch him suffer the consequences of his actions

As a DM, I learned to not punish the whole party for the madman's actions. Unless of course they encouraged the player to make and act out that kind of character. I sure as hell know that when I'm a player I am none too happy when I keep getting screwed over by the actions of the resident party idiot.

[Volthawk]

I learned, as a player, to not interfere with what the madman does and distance myself from him as much as possible. That way when he inevitably attracts the wrong kind of attention I am not dragged in and can watch him suffer the consequences of his actions

As a DM, I learned to not punish the whole party for the madman's actions. Unless of course they encouraged the player to make and act out that kind of character. I sure as hell know that when I'm a player I am none too happy when I keep getting screwed over by the actions of the resident party idiot.

Nah, he's cool generally. He isn't disruptive, really (hell, he's our resident pacifist) and it led to the pretty interesting stuff. See, most of our actions are based on limited information and acting without knowing the full picture anyway, so it just pulled things along a little. Makes some pretty cool RP as well (he's not just a "I'll do it cuz I'm CRAAZY" type, he just sees things differently).

[Eldan]

Plus, you guys are often a bit too passive for my tastes, so a madman stirring up some action is pretty welcome.

I mean, I can't have the DMPC suggesting all the plans, can I?

[Choco]

Nah, he's cool generally. He isn't disruptive, really (hell, he's our resident pacifist) and it led to the pretty interesting stuff. See, most of our actions are based on limited information and acting without knowing the full picture anyway, so it just pulled things along a little. Makes some pretty cool RP as well (he's not just a "I'll do it cuz I'm CRAAZY" type, he just sees things differently).

*sniff*, that makes me so happy! I didn't know that players who play non-disruptive crazy characters still existed! I am so jealous....

[Talyn]

I gotta say, it seems like the OP thought he was playing a World of Darkness (or maybe a Call of Cthulhu/Don't Rest Your Head) game - in D&D, players ought to be expected to go in to the place that everyone comes out maddened and dead.

That's sort of what D&D adventurers DO. That's why they are adventurers!

[jpreem]

Jep it would be kind a lame - babbling villagers around of this wretched hut. Or townsfolk warning you that nobody has returned from the forest of Doom etc. Then you just shrug your shoulders and say: "Meh alrighty then. Ill just not go there. I'd rather be a dirt farmer"
End of campaign.

[Pisha]

True. Still, there has to be some middle ground between "Hmm, sounds dangerous, guess I'll go grow beets" and "Welp, guess I'll go stroll in and glance at the dangerous and insanity-inducing maguffin!" I mean, if nothing else, steal a page from mythology and look inside the room via mirror.

[hewhosaysfish]

Well, I'd start testing. Send in summons and see if it works on animals. Remote-operated magical sensors. And so on. Try blindfolding yourself, or shouting in.

I mean, you justhave to examine something like that.

And then weaponise it. Just keep it in a box and flash it at people you don't like. "Here, look at this!"

[Eldan]

Ah. The Medusa approach.

[AsteriskAmp]

Oh god yes. "Hello, guards we originally planned to sneak past. We are here to assassinate your leader."

Yeah, the risks of having a madman character in the party...

Or a character with Asperger's Syndrome, or damage to the prefrontal cortex.

[Heliomance]

Jep it would be kind a lame - babbling villagers around of this wretched hut. Or townsfolk warning you that nobody has returned from the forest of Doom etc. Then you just shrug your shoulders and say: "Meh alrighty then. Ill just not go there. I'd rather be a dirt farmer"
End of campaign.

A more sensible response - especially bearing in mind they were aware that this is a horror game - is what they eventually did, which is to burn down the house and warn everyone they come across not to go that way while they try to figure out what's going wrong with the world.

Didn't the blinded PC even see what it was? Were the references to its beauty just plain madness?

Oh, she saw it. Getting a coherent answer out of her, though... that's a different story.

[rayne_dragon]

A more sensible response - especially bearing in mind they were aware that this is a horror game - is what they eventually did, which is to burn down the house and warn everyone they come across not to go that way while they try to figure out what's going wrong with the world.

Oh... see, you need to specify the horror part. In D&D it's perfectly sensible to go into such a house (well, at least in 3rd and later editions), but in something like Call of Cthulhu then burning it down or just plain fleeing makes more sense. Context is everything.

[AsteriskAmp]

Oh... see, you need to specify the horror part. In D&D it's perfectly sensible to go into such a house (well, at least in 3rd and later editions), but in something like Call of Cthulhu then burning it down or just plain fleeing makes more sense. Context is everything.

Burn it? In Call of Cthulu you call the Chernobyl team and get them to cement the town and surroundings. It's way to risky to only burn it, in best case the abomination inside is fire resistant.

[Heliomance]

Oh... see, you need to specify the horror part. In D&D it's perfectly sensible to go into such a house (well, at least in 3rd and later editions), but in something like Call of Cthulhu then burning it down or just plain fleeing makes more sense. Context is everything.

It is D&D. You can do horror in D&D.