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Charles Phipps
Master of Realmslore
1425 Posts |
 Posted - 20 Oct 2007 : 22:02:28
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While it's not strictly time line accurate, I'm going to be running the Harper Schism as part of my games. Basically, as all Hell breaks loose, Khelban Blackstaff chooses to withdraw him and the majority of the "named" Realms Harpers of note (Larael, The Lady Lord of Arabel, etc).
One of my players is particularly infamous for being an "ends justify the means" type of fellow and neutral in alignment. So, I was all set for him to join the Moonstars when Khelben explained the nature of his plans and the group.
That was when the PC flat out walked out and told Khelben that they were neither friends nor allies anymore. He got a good RPGing line out of it like, "I'd rather work with people who are unsuccessful idealists than successful men who treat others like chess pawns."
Well that throws a lot of my campaign plans for a loop because I was going to run a lot of morally ambiguous missions in the future. Also, the PC is now no longer allies with most of his former associates and says he'll be actively hostile to them from this point on.
It's a subtle change but a big one to my games. I'm not sure how to cope honestly (then again-I never did like how the Harper Schism seemed so utterly behind Khels either)
So, what are some odd moments from your games?
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My Blog: http://unitedfederationofcharles.blogspot.com/
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Calrond
Learned Scribe
USA
118 Posts |
Posted - 21 Oct 2007 : 02:16:32
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Recently, an elf rogue stole a few potions from someone one night while they were camping outside the Ardeep Forest. He was suffering from the strength-draining touch of a shadow and was hoping that he could find a potion that could heal him. I had previously rolled to determine what the potions were (from the DMG table) and found that one was a harmless endure elements potion, but the other was a reduce person potion. With no idea what it was, he drank both potions and immediately started shrinking. That would have been alright if he hadn't been acting as a watchman for the rest of the party, making sure that nothing attacked them throughout the night.
When he realized that he was shrinking, he goes into their tent, kicks the party's sorcerer in the side, (to wake up the next person in line for the watch) and then runs out of the tent and into the nearby woods. He passes a climb roll to climb into the branches of a tree and hide. The sorcerer jumps up, assuming that they're under attack, but when he runs out of the tent he sees nothing but the Ardeep Forest. Thinking quickly, he uses some fairly efficient means to catch a glimpse of any would-be attackers: detect magic. It was the best means of detecting any attackers considering his night vision is pretty poor.
He sees that there are no immediate dangers so tries to find where the elf had gone. Not too far away, he finds him very easily through the use of the detect magic spell. The shrunken elf (now shorter than the average halfling) is in the branches of a tree nearby. The sorcerer taunts the elf for a moment, and then the elf pulls a wand from his pocket. He didn't know what the wand did, but he threatened the sorcerer with it. Showing some restraint, the sorcerer simply walked away, laughing.
After that, the elf failed the climb check for climbing down and wound up falling out of the tree. That player learned a lesson about unidentified magic items, and about performing strength-based skill checks with two strength draining effects on him. All in all, a good day.  |
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scererar
Master of Realmslore
USA
1618 Posts |
Posted - 21 Oct 2007 : 03:38:05
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| I think all of my games veer to places not planned. I kind of prefer it that way. I usually start with ideas and compass points and let the players roll. As the story develops, more ideas come and go. |
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Dalor Darden
Great Reader
USA
4211 Posts |
Posted - 21 Oct 2007 : 04:08:22
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Normally I allow my players to essentially go where they will...causes headaches on short notice moves by them...but it works out best for their enjoyment since I can wing it fairly well.
What I do is put into motion a time-table for certain key things in the campaign. As long as the players don't interact with or interfere with the numerous mini plots, things start happening around them. If the party touches on one of them...I just re-evaluate what needs to be done with it.
The only time I got thrown a major curve: a main character completely surprised me with: "I want to join the Zhentarim"
After I blinked for quite some time...considering Manshoon had roughly handled the gal on more than one occasion...I was like: "ARE YOU CRAZY WOMAN!"
When she explained that she wanted to become essentially a double agent, I just went with it. It did put me off balance though...but in the end it actually made for a really nice twist. |
The Old Grey Box and AD&D for me! |
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Unexpected veer in campaigns
