Lord Mhoram Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Our new teen superteam has been invistigating a new drug ring. New designer drug, new cartel. Our team telepath did a scan on one of the thugs we captured. Got the info on where it was made (which confirmed what we suspected by normal investigative means). After about 8 or 9 phases of her looking through his mind, his memories go black. She can go back beyond a month and a half (about the time he started with this new cartel) and they come back. After a successful KS mental powers roll, she relealized that this was a "erase memory" trigger psychic surgeried into the guy by his boss, who had also hit him with a mental transform of total loyalty- he had never done drug deals before (mostly muscle) and had a brother who was destroyed by drugs, and avoided it, and here he is doing work for drug stuff. So the head of the bad guys is a mentalist who does psychic surgery on his underlings, to make them loyal and have a memory wipe of the time they were with him if they get mentally scanned. So as we were planning to do a recon on the drug making site - situated inside a major chemical company.. a few bad people were making the drugs on the side on the graveyard shift... and trying to decide what to do about the gang I said "Well, we could just scan every employee going in on graveyard and the failsafe will hit, and they lose the last month and a half, and they guy looses his entire cartel. It will just return them to the state before they were mindcontrolled into being criminals" The GMs responce to which was to theatrically bury his face in his hands. He said he figured we would do something a bit off the wall, but not that far off. So I got us an XP for a creative solution. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegasus Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... There's one in every group... It just goes to show, no matter how much you prepare as a GM, you can never prepare for everything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Polaris Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Mhoram, That is a very clever solution... I love it when players come up with things like that. Polaris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hermit Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... You made a GM cry... you brute! still, very cunning... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpira Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Something similiar happened to me once. I had planned this long adventure around the players trying to stop this banished dragon from returning to the land. There were four parts of a seal that was needed to bring the dragon back and a cult was after all four. After the first part of the adventure they had a piece of the seal. My player Terry looks up at me and says,"This is the first part of the seal, right?" I say yeah. He continues "And they need all four to bring the dragon back, right?" It dawned on me where this was going and what was the big flaw in my adventure. Yes, I groaned. He smiled and said "Well if they can't get this, then, they can't bring back the dragon. No need for us to risk our lives anymore." I could have made up something to make them continue but instead, I shrugged, gave him extra xp and thought a lot more carefully about my plotlines from then on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acroyear Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... I shrugged' date=' gave him extra xp and thought a lot more carefully about my plotlines from then on.[/quote'] So naturally the bad guys got the other three pieces and then could devote the whole of their forces to hunting down and getting the 4th? Enemies undivided! Ok, I'm evil. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nexus Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... That just rocks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Something similiar happened to me once. I had planned this long adventure around the players trying to stop this banished dragon from returning to the land. There were four parts of a seal that was needed to bring the dragon back and a cult was after all four. After the first part of the adventure they had a piece of the seal. My player Terry looks up at me and says' date='"This is the first part of the seal, right?" I say yeah. He continues "And they need all four to bring the dragon back, right?" It dawned on me where this was going and what was the big flaw in my adventure. Yes, I groaned. He smiled and said "Well if they can't get this, then, they can't bring back the dragon. No need for us to risk our lives anymore." I could have made up something to make them continue but instead, I shrugged, gave him extra xp and thought a lot more carefully about my plotlines from then on.[/quote'] I'm running a strangely similar sub-plot in my Champions game. There are eight artifacts, and all eight are needed to summon the dragon. The team has one, and thus has thwarted the evil cult. But all the artifacts are also powerful magical items with their own powers. Someone with enough of them can probably just take the one back from the team easily (or maybe they already have... the only way to verify the authenticity of an item is to use it, but the items are cursed. The item the team has hasn't been used but once, when they found out it was cursed and the base was infultrated by the cult once since then). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John T Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... I just LOVE it when a good plot goes *POOF* right before my eyes. Mostly because I tend toward heavily multi-layered plots in which having something like this occur is the can opener for more worms. I don't go out of my way to keep the players from "winning"... I just like insuring we'll all never be bored. Ask Slim McCoy about some of the BS he's had to deal with in my games, sometime. John T Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SomeAsianKid Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Ah yes, the "bad guys need X amount of artifacts to do bad things" plot. Our GM modeled a long term campaign after this, and after we had the first item the party deemed that my character might as well teleport it into the sun to ensure the apocolypse would never come. The look on our gm's face was so sad we reversed our decision and said, "Or we could just keep it in the base vault. Nothing can get into there anyway..." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Armitage Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Something similiar happened to me once. I had planned this long adventure around the players trying to stop this banished dragon from returning to the land. There were four parts of a seal that was needed to bring the dragon back and a cult was after all four. After the first part of the adventure they had a piece of the seal. My player Terry looks up at me and says' date='"This is the first part of the seal, right?" I say yeah. He continues "And they need all four to bring the dragon back, right?" It dawned on me where this was going and what was the big flaw in my adventure. Yes, I groaned. He smiled and said "Well if they can't get this, then, they can't bring back the dragon. No need for us to risk our lives anymore." I could have made up something to make them continue but instead, I shrugged, gave him extra xp and thought a lot more carefully about my plotlines from then on.[/quote'] Should have used the technique used in "Shadows of Yog-Sothoth". Yes, all three fragments of the Disc of R'lyeh are needed for the ritual that raises R'lyeh. But one or two fragments can be used in a long and complicated ritual that crafts facsimiles of any missing fragments. The villains want all three, but if push comes to shove they only need one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightray Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 I have a telepath villain who's MO is implanting mental triggers in my adventure for this weekend! Must. Rewrite. Plot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supreme Serpent Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... I have a telepath villain who's MO is implanting mental triggers in my adventure for this weekend! Must. Rewrite. Plot. Just amend. Some triggers make the person believe they're a chicken. Some make them scream constantly. Some make them believe they're married to hero/heroine X. Some make them believe they're a bulletproof action hero. Etc. Entertain yourself watching the heroes deal until they can get the triggers removed. Especially entertaining if the triggers don't kick in until a little later...have to go track down all the people they "liberated". Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Actually, there's a decent followup that could readily come of the above plot. Six months later, all those people start reverting to their criminal tendencies. They're all back in normal society now, separated by hunreds of miles. Why? The villain's power actually makes targets loyal, and causes a memory wipe of the time they were with him if they get mentally scanned which reverses itself after a period of time. And subconsciously, throughout that period of time, their minds are percolating how best to use their current position to further their Master's ends. [so, LordMhoram, does your GM follow the boards at all? ] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightray Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Just amend. Some triggers make the person believe they're a chicken. Some make them scream constantly. Some make them believe they're married to hero/heroine X. Some make them believe they're a bulletproof action hero. Etc. heh. Unfortunately that's not quite going to cause the building anti-psi paranoia I'm aiming for. Who in the public is going to be fearful if their congressmen suddenly start clucking like chickens? Heck, would anyone even be surprised? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chimpira Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Should have used the technique used in "Shadows of Yog-Sothoth". Yes, all three fragments of the Disc of R'lyeh are needed for the ritual that raises R'lyeh. But one or two fragments can be used in a long and complicated ritual that crafts facsimiles of any missing fragments. The villains want all three, but if push comes to shove they only need one. Oh, do not get me wrong. I could have done all the things mentioned above but I had not thought about it beforehand. If the npc's adapt to the new situation that is one thing, but to adapt the adventure (and the relics) to compensate for my lack of foresightedness after the fact.... Well that would have been wrong. Sometimes you got to shrug, let it go and keep your mind on the big picture. The big picture is that your players were going to slap themselves on the back, laugh really hard about what happened and look forward to the next session. And since this was just an adventure in the campaign, it was not that big of a deal. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted August 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Why? The villain's power actually makes targets loyal, and causes a memory wipe of the time they were with him if they get mentally scanned which reverses itself after a period of time. And subconsciously, throughout that period of time, their minds are percolating how best to use their current position to further their Master's ends. [so, LordMhoram, does your GM follow the boards at all? ] He does drop by from time to time, as a lurker. And I fully expect there to be further repurcussions from this. OOC we all figure the team just picked up a new hunted for free. Part of what made it so cool, is I think that the mindwipe thing was sort of thrown in there for color to keep the team telepath from getting too much info, and I just sort of keyed on that. And we had done the major portion of the plot. We had stopped the first big distro of the drug. Finding out how it was distributed and stopping it was a secondary adventure. For those that remember me posting him, this is the group with Terminal Velocity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chiba Bob Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... My Egoist did something make the GM cry awhile ago. The Badguys had the ultra-secure building that no one could bypass the security on it. My character, not having any stealth or security systems skill elected the full frontal assault approach. A surprise Ego Attack against the door guard (to gain entry) and Mind Control against the guard at the security desk behind the armored glass and I had control over the whole building ---- so much for is impenetrable building. I then used the building's own security system to then defeat the bad guys ---- just love those death traps! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... As a GM I empathize. As a player... HehehEHEhehe... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinx999 Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Actually, there's a decent followup that could readily come of the above plot. Six months later, all those people start reverting to their criminal tendencies. They're all back in normal society now, separated by hunreds of miles. Why? The villain's power actually makes targets loyal, and causes a memory wipe of the time they were with him if they get mentally scanned which reverses itself after a period of time. And subconsciously, throughout that period of time, their minds are percolating how best to use their current position to further their Master's ends. [so, LordMhoram, does your GM follow the boards at all? ] To me that sounds too much like. "How dare you mere players thwart me! I will punish you for your presumption! I will crush you like the insects you are!" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Mhoram Posted August 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... To me that sounds too much like. "How dare you mere players thwart me! I will punish you for your presumption! I will crush you like the insects you are!" The tone is fairly correct. but the villian is paranoid/arrogent enough to psy surgery his goons, and we are starting young supers on our first mission. So the statement fits from the internal storyline. It's not the GM who would get revenge for the players screwing up his plot, it is the arrogent villian trying to get revenge on the starting teen supers for destroying his master plan. The GM is not a retributive type, but he villian seems to be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... Just amend. Some triggers make the person believe they're a chicken. Some make them scream constantly. Some make them believe they're married to hero/heroine X. Some make them believe they're a bulletproof action hero. Etc. Entertain yourself watching the heroes deal until they can get the triggers removed. Especially entertaining if the triggers don't kick in until a little later...have to go track down all the people they "liberated". It looks like we're thinking on parallel lines here... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... As a GM I empathize. As a player... HehehEHEhehe... As a GM, I congratulate the players. Sounds like a classic comic result - there is a hole in the villain's plan which the hero cleverly exploits. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hugh Neilson Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... To me that sounds too much like. "How dare you mere players thwart me! I will punish you for your presumption! I will crush you like the insects you are!" Funny...I thought it sounded like the kind of sequel adventure I remember from a number of comics where the hero's solution comes back to have unexpected repercussions. I'm specifically recalling FF #2, where the FF hypnotize 4 skrulls to believe they're cows. Years later, in Avengers 89-94 (Kree Skrull war), the Skrulls reappear. Years after that, John Byrne's FF story where the town that consumed the SkrullCow milk shows up. To me, it's having past issues crop up and impact future scenarios that makes a campaign, rather than a series of episodes. As a GM, I wish I could spot more such opportunities. oo - 2,000 posts. [No wonder I'm so far behind on work.] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Storm Shadow Posted August 13, 2004 Report Share Posted August 13, 2004 Re: I made the GM cry.... I'm happy to hear these stories because my GM sometimes acts like a player and forgets who are the main characters. But sometimes is worse, he takes revenge! I remember our teen superteam went to save a dam near Denver because the bad guys will destroy it. Suddenly they appeared and one of them growed up 20 mts more or less and had the bad idea to stamp me to the ground. I woke up and flew until the height of his stomach and did a punch... maybe the GM still is calculating the stun So the big bad guy was defeated with only 1 punch and seems it didn't like to the GM because in the next adventure I found the "anti-character"! Some data of my character Dark Moon is: STR 75, SPD 5, DEX 21 It was a "big cassual" I found a guy with STR 100, SPD 6, DEX 30 So this guy appeared and the leader of this mission was a NPC (don't ask why ) and the GM knew I has a disadvantage that always I follow leader orders. So the NPC said "Dark Moon fight with him". Of course with the second punch I received I was almost dead on the ground after 24 mts. of knockback. I guess he cryed a lot when I stopped his big bad guy so he took revenge. What we can do with a GM like this? GM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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