Frenchman Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 During our last gaming session, I used an encounter, which my girlfriend thought up (the basics and background anyway), to great effect against my players. It was in the sewers beneath a middle-eastern style city, and I asked my girlfriend for idea of interesting things to throw in there. She said, "Why not a demented magic carpet that got thrown down there?" So I left it lurking in the muck, next to a body the characters had to investigate. Needless to say, it surprised the hell out of the prissy female martial artist, who had poked it with her staff, as it flung itself towards her, spraying everyone with offal. Even though the battle was over in a few short phases we were referring to it for the rest of the night, and even outside the gaming room. I think the best part was describing how the halfling's fingers slipped off of it because it was covered in...slime. It was such a riot, I decided to post it here for your viewing (dis)pleasure and ask about any similarly...provacative encounters the lot of you have put (or had) your characters through. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CDad Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I remember playing in a AD&D Greyhawk campaign many years ago. Our halfling thief heard a rumor that a mage had died in the deepest part of the sewers, and spent half the gaming night rutting around in the offal. The rest of us refused (clever pun) to go. We had a wonderful fight with a quartet of evil Knights from the Great Kingdom, gained EXP and a few choice magic items (plus the gratitude of the Mayor). He did manage to find the wizard's corpse... who refused to part with any of it's magic. Poor hobbit barely got out alive. He caught 2 diseases, and reeked for weeks. We never found out what kind of undead it was. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest taustin Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I recall an encounter I ran in a Chivalry & Sorcery game once. Involved a knight who had the worst possible characteristics in the game. If he dodged, you had a better chance to hit him, because he was so clumsy. But he was a knight, and the characters were terrified of him. When the inevitable fight started, it turned out his squire was far more dangerous, and his warhorse was a talking, spell-casting Great Horse that could throw fireballs and climb trees, but the knight was harmless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithcurtis Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... In my Savage Earth canmpaign, I have creature called a Behemoth which is basically a Dune-style sandworm. It's a slow moving herbivore. As long as you get out of its way, it's harmless. But it looks terrifying. However, it has a nearly man-sized parasite that travels with it. These are called bloodsuckers. They fill the same ecological niche as ticks or leeches. They are fast, mobile and voracious. So while people are distracted by the big dangerous looking creature and readying defenses against a huge creature that will never hurt them, they are swarmed by dozens of leaping, insectiod vampires. Keith "Misdirection is your friend" Curtis Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted April 28, 2005 Report Share Posted April 28, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I think the biggest "Oh No!" moment in my old campaign was when the PCs were guffawing about the troop of kobolds approaching them, then saw 2/3rds of them pull lassos, bolas, or nets, and the remaining 1/3 start to prepare flaming oil attacks... The close competitor came when they entered a chamber amid some ruins that contained a large sarcophagus, out of which rose a decaying figure dressed in tattered symboe embroidered robes, bedecked with a crown and jewels, and holding a rune inlaid ebon rod, topped by a skull. The figure asked "Who dares disturb My rest!" and the party ran like hell. Only later did they find out that it was just a zombie in costume. Not a bad defence for the tomb of someone who can only afford one zombie... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted May 1, 2005 Report Share Posted May 1, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I think the biggest "Oh No!" moment in my old campaign was when the PCs were guffawing about the troop of kobolds approaching them, then saw 2/3rds of them pull lassos, bolas, or nets, and the remaining 1/3 start to prepare flaming oil attacks... The close competitor came when they entered a chamber amid some ruins that contained a large sarcophagus, out of which rose a decaying figure dressed in tattered symboe embroidered robes, bedecked with a crown and jewels, and holding a rune inlaid ebon rod, topped by a skull. The figure asked "Who dares disturb My rest!" and the party ran like hell. Only later did they find out that it was just a zombie in costume. Not a bad defence for the tomb of someone who can only afford one zombie... I was lucky enough to miss the Kobold trip, and I think I came home from work right after the zombie, though I may be wrong. The Ice demons in the tomb were ... nasty 4d6K claws, iirc... In one of the first tombs, the zombies were pretty tough, but the damned SKELETONS were SHREDDING US. ME in particular, iirc. Good times gone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doc Democracy Posted May 1, 2005 Report Share Posted May 1, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... She said' date=' "Why not a demented magic carpet that got thrown down there?" [/quote'] My players got upset about a magic carpet. I wanted to leave a special carpet that caused people touching it to go to sleep (it was useful later on). The problem was they got very angsty about this carpet and they nearly all succumbed to the sleep power before they decided to roll it up (switching the power off). It's the first time that I've almost killed a party with a passive sleep inducing carpet.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vondy Posted May 1, 2005 Report Share Posted May 1, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... Creepy bald Egyptian dudes, but that was a pulp campaign.... In one of my fantasy games the terror of all terrors was a female vampire named Freijit who had been a master illusionist when she was among the living. She wasn't more powerful than anyone else they faced (in fact, she was less powerful than many), but she was ruthless, vindictive, and liked to play serious head and cat-and-mouse games with her prey (and opponents). And they were never completely certain she was destroyed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Outsider Posted May 1, 2005 Report Share Posted May 1, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... The Ice demons in the tomb were ... nasty 4d6K claws, iirc... Eh, the ice demon was big but not really shudder inducing. IIRC, there was only 1 the first time you guys encountered that particular monster, and you were 150+ point characters. Later, when you faced more than one, you were mostly well over 200... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted May 1, 2005 Report Share Posted May 1, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... Eh' date=' the ice demon was big but not really shudder inducing. IIRC, there was only 1 the first time you guys encountered that particular monster, and you were 150+ point characters. Later, when you faced more than one, you were mostly well over 200...[/quote'] The doppleganger made ME shudder! OF course, waking after it had torn my arms and legs off and left me for bait could do that, I suppose. The later encounter with one amongst the ogres of the wastes... The cold blooded lack of sentimentality the Ogres had been forced to develop was FRIGHTENING. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted May 2, 2005 Report Share Posted May 2, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... My favorite "Oh No" moment was when a player realized, much to his horror, he had personally invited a vampire on board his boat. Five seconds after that, the vampire commenced the PC beatdown. Don't worry, the PC survived, but the expression on the player's face was priceless. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Curufea Posted May 2, 2005 Report Share Posted May 2, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I've only got an "Oh no" as a player. At a con game of Paranoia, when we were being harassed by the locals of an area we were passing through. Before I had fully realised the uniform rules of Paranoia, I'd ordered our robot bodyguard "to shoot all guys in black". Luckily, we investigators had a higher security clearance. But the other players have never let me forget that massacre.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 2, 2005 Report Share Posted May 2, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I have five words for you: Vampire Rabbits From Outer Space! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gewing Posted May 3, 2005 Report Share Posted May 3, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I have five words for you: Vampire Rabbits From Outer Space! Have you ever played Arduin? They had Thunderbunnies. Huge swarms of rabid rabbits, iirc Also Kill Kittens. Cute little big-eyed kittens that mew piteously and pretend they are injured. WHen someone tries to pick them up or otherwise comes too close, they attack with their paralytic poison and the rest of the pride comes out for dinner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted May 3, 2005 Report Share Posted May 3, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... Have you ever played Arduin? They had Thunderbunnies. Huge swarms of rabid rabbits, iirc Also Kill Kittens. Cute little big-eyed kittens that mew piteously and pretend they are injured. WHen someone tries to pick them up or otherwise comes too close, they attack with their paralytic poison and the rest of the pride comes out for dinner. Interesting ideas, but I nearly got lynched by the two gaming groups I tried it on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Klabautermann Posted May 3, 2005 Report Share Posted May 3, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... Hi Herophiles, in an old adventure by Ulrich Kiesow I mastered lately for my group they encountered a tribe of lizardmen. Conversation was difficult because only the chieftain was able to speak two word sentences in a common language. It was a very funny evening when the magician of the group gets further and further embarresed because he self started to speak in that kind of sentences. "We travellers, we north going..." and so on. The lizardmen chieftain was in search of a groom for his daughther, but being not customized to humans he decided for the female warrior of the group. It was a hard task to explain that to the chieftain. The chieftain warned the group that there would be "Flap, Flap North" only being able to express himself by soundwords. Later on the heros discoverd that "Flap, Flap" was the sound of dragon wings. So they had to find another way . Greetings Jörg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zed-F Posted May 4, 2005 Report Share Posted May 4, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... Our Ravenloft game had its fair share of 'Oh no' moments, as one might expect. I was playing a peasant girl who was a demi-vampire. Under the right circumstances she was the most deadly member in the party, but for the most part she was pretty useless in a fight. She was learning how to heal from Sergei, the party druid, but her low INT and WIS meant she had a pitiful chance of success. One time the dwarf got hit with a vicious attack which layed open his back and nearly broke his spine. Tatyana got the idea that she should try to help the dwarf. Having rolled a 20, Tatyana decided that since the dwarf's spine was a bone, it needed to be set, like you'd set a broken arm... you never saw the druid run so fast to intervene. But the best 'Oh no' moment was when Sergei the druid realized that, in a previous life, he had been Sergei von Zarovich, younger brother to Strahd von Zarovich, and that Tatyana had in a previous life been Sergei's fiancee... Sergei's player came back into the room whimpering. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skalizar Posted May 5, 2005 Report Share Posted May 5, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... The absolute best (or worst from the player's perspective) are usually accidents, at least in my case. Many years ago as I kicked off a Fantasy Hero campaign, I had my players create young, inexperienced characters to start off with, representing the young kids in a small town on the borders where wars were frequent. They would have some training (no more than 1 level), but lots of knowledge representing their war veteran parent's desire to raise thoughtful offspring who would be scholars, not warriors. (but of course everyone needs to know how to defend themselves...) Anyway, the first session was meant to better equip them and to clue them into Something Sinister that was afoot. I created a couple of theives that they would need to handle as a group and I think you can see where this is heading. The theives would uncover a cache of hidden weapons and magic items, be discovered and dealt with, leaving a nice collection of spoils and a mystery as to why they were there. Bad decisions and unfortunate dice rolls lead to dying and unconcious characters and the thieves stealing away into the night with all their stuff (no big deal, I just made new stuff and an even better scenario to give it to them). At this point I was forced to give them names (and a quickly thrown together encounter with some of their lackeys so that the names would be known) and then every time I needed to motivate the players to go in a certain directiion, I only needed to mention said names and off they would go, hell bent on revenge. I ended up spending a lot of time and energy backfilling those throw away theives' history and activities as leaders of a mercanary group working for a sect of unusually capitalistic elves (also created for the purpose of giving them a reason to exist). I can no longer recall their names, but I'm pretty sure they players still remember them, probably even better than the real menace I originally created as the main plot of the campaign. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lilliandra Posted May 7, 2005 Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I had a GM who loved to make up His own Creatures. Had all of Us saying Oh No..!!! Quite Loudly infact a few times. But I guess the things I Love doing is in the middle of a dungeon through a riddle on The wall so to speak. Really Makes the Characters use there Brains not all Brawn. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted May 7, 2005 Report Share Posted May 7, 2005 Re: A great way to make your players go, "Oh No"... I had a GM who loved to make up His own Creatures. Depending on the fantasy setting, most monsters should be fairly one-of-a-kind. Certainly most Greek monsters were singular beings, as were many European ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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