A liiittle railroad-y, but a decent dungeon crawl setup.
When it comes to ‘provisons you are carrying’, I’m set. My D&D characters almost always get a Bag of Holding ASAP. Ring of Sustenance, too. I LIKE being able to say ‘Block and tackle, crowbar and shovels? Gotcha covered.”
I think a bit of railroading was necessary in this case – it’s a dungeon crawl, so you have to get the PCs *in* the dungeon.
And it could have been worse – Brett could have started them off at the dungeon’s entrance, said, “this is why you’re here,” and gone from there. At least this way they have some player-determined reason for going in there.
I don’t consider it railroading. Plan “A” was hire PC’s to get them there. Plan “B” was run there and let them chase you. Aside from that it was the players fault for depending on passive perception checks. That might be expected in, say, an open marketplace when the most trouble you are expecting is a street urchin picking your pocket. This is a ruin. Even if the set-up line was out of character always check in ruins to make sure the ceiling doesn’t collapse etc. They could have stopped chasing him. They could have checked the entrance. They could have done a LOT of things. They didn’t. The GM is not responsible for the actions of the players; neither the ones they take nor the ones they don’t.
Should have made it “dungeon-walk.” Or “shadow-walk.” Anyways, railroading would be if they stopped chasing him at some point and some guards arrested them for assault then made them go into said ruins to search for the “innocent man they tried to harm.” Without supervision.
I get the impression the players were expecting Brett to be a lot more “blunt instrument” in his play, and not so much “subtle and sneaky.” A bit of overconfidence, maybe.
As for “provisions you are carrying”, my absolute favorite D&D 3.X item is the “Traveller’s Cloak”, from the softcover “Magic of Faerun” supplement.
It’s not anything powerful, it’s just:
(a) always keeps the wearer dry and a comfortable temperature (within certain fairly broad bounds), from the knees up;
(b) provides rations, enough the wearer will never starve;
(c) provides either cold water, or hot tea (at the wearer’s discretion), sufficient that only the worst blazing desert will result in dehydration;
(d) can transform into a tent, or back to a cloak, with a command word.
Seriously, one of the most useful bits of adventuring kit ever conceived of.
…
Or, there was the semi-high-level Wizard of mine who had a Portable Hole, a Decanter of Endless Water, a Pouch of Endless Food, and a Cauldron of Air. He had a “Gypsy Wagon” like insert built that exactly fit the Portable Hole, with space inside for sleeping, reading, etc. And storage compartments, SO MANY storage compartments.
The pouch and decanter kept him fed and watered. The Cauldron prevented being suffocated. And once inside, not only could he shut and lock the door, he could actually _close the Hole from inside_ and be nearly impossible to attack while resting.
All he needed was a wall to open it on. (I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around how to orient it vertically, and have bunk, desk, and small stove to cook at … so I stopped trying and accepted the “needs a wall” limitation.)
Well. When I was just a sprout – like, 14 or 15 years old – I went a little over the top with that: a Permanent Mordenkainen’s Mansion, in a portable hole.
IOW, I went straight past “pocket RV”, and into “Pocket PALACE”. 😀
… it’s telling that my character at the time was a First Edition Cavalier, of terribly advanced level, with some seriously munchkin-y application of a wish or two (removing class/race maximums … and 1E Cavaliers’ STR, DEX, and CON increased every level … they were all well over 20 when I finally grew out of the character, around age 16 or 17. I think CON was the highest, at 23 …!).
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Nicely done, Brett. 😉
I tensed up a bit as that door slammed. I can’t wait to see what Brett has in store for them. This feels diabolical.
Really cool and a great DM play. I’m guessing there was supposed to be a *thunk* or *click* or something in panel 4?
There was indeed. I missed it, but now it is fixed. Thanks!
Brett forgot his Jigsaw mask.
A liiittle railroad-y, but a decent dungeon crawl setup.
When it comes to ‘provisons you are carrying’, I’m set. My D&D characters almost always get a Bag of Holding ASAP. Ring of Sustenance, too. I LIKE being able to say ‘Block and tackle, crowbar and shovels? Gotcha covered.”
I think a bit of railroading was necessary in this case – it’s a dungeon crawl, so you have to get the PCs *in* the dungeon.
And it could have been worse – Brett could have started them off at the dungeon’s entrance, said, “this is why you’re here,” and gone from there. At least this way they have some player-determined reason for going in there.
I don’t consider it railroading. Plan “A” was hire PC’s to get them there. Plan “B” was run there and let them chase you. Aside from that it was the players fault for depending on passive perception checks. That might be expected in, say, an open marketplace when the most trouble you are expecting is a street urchin picking your pocket. This is a ruin. Even if the set-up line was out of character always check in ruins to make sure the ceiling doesn’t collapse etc. They could have stopped chasing him. They could have checked the entrance. They could have done a LOT of things. They didn’t. The GM is not responsible for the actions of the players; neither the ones they take nor the ones they don’t.
Plus, Brett is old-school. He grew up dungeon-crawling before he could roleplay-walk.
… Yeah, that joke sounded better in my head.
Should have made it “dungeon-walk.” Or “shadow-walk.” Anyways, railroading would be if they stopped chasing him at some point and some guards arrested them for assault then made them go into said ruins to search for the “innocent man they tried to harm.” Without supervision.
I get the impression the players were expecting Brett to be a lot more “blunt instrument” in his play, and not so much “subtle and sneaky.” A bit of overconfidence, maybe.
As for “provisions you are carrying”, my absolute favorite D&D 3.X item is the “Traveller’s Cloak”, from the softcover “Magic of Faerun” supplement.
It’s not anything powerful, it’s just:
(a) always keeps the wearer dry and a comfortable temperature (within certain fairly broad bounds), from the knees up;
(b) provides rations, enough the wearer will never starve;
(c) provides either cold water, or hot tea (at the wearer’s discretion), sufficient that only the worst blazing desert will result in dehydration;
(d) can transform into a tent, or back to a cloak, with a command word.
Seriously, one of the most useful bits of adventuring kit ever conceived of.
…
Or, there was the semi-high-level Wizard of mine who had a Portable Hole, a Decanter of Endless Water, a Pouch of Endless Food, and a Cauldron of Air. He had a “Gypsy Wagon” like insert built that exactly fit the Portable Hole, with space inside for sleeping, reading, etc. And storage compartments, SO MANY storage compartments.
The pouch and decanter kept him fed and watered. The Cauldron prevented being suffocated. And once inside, not only could he shut and lock the door, he could actually _close the Hole from inside_ and be nearly impossible to attack while resting.
All he needed was a wall to open it on. (I couldn’t quite wrap my brain around how to orient it vertically, and have bunk, desk, and small stove to cook at … so I stopped trying and accepted the “needs a wall” limitation.)
Can you level up to a “Collapsible Pocket RV?”
“It’s bigger on the inside than it is on the outside?”
“Well, what the heck ISN’T around here?”
Well. When I was just a sprout – like, 14 or 15 years old – I went a little over the top with that: a Permanent Mordenkainen’s Mansion, in a portable hole.
IOW, I went straight past “pocket RV”, and into “Pocket PALACE”. 😀
… it’s telling that my character at the time was a First Edition Cavalier, of terribly advanced level, with some seriously munchkin-y application of a wish or two (removing class/race maximums … and 1E Cavaliers’ STR, DEX, and CON increased every level … they were all well over 20 when I finally grew out of the character, around age 16 or 17. I think CON was the highest, at 23 …!).
Oh Brett, you sneaky bastard! I’m gonna love to see how this turns out.
Gm fight face! Gm fight face!
Brett edition
Well played, Mr. Brett. Game on.
Perfectly executed. Well done Brett!!!
Ugh. Even with rogue-analogues in the party. Never trust ancient ruins! Especially ones with floors made out of square stones!
Aaaaand, I just earned some Quatloos. 😀
CALLED IT!
Brett is going to be a Warmaster GM?
Clench as a free-action!