You were supposed to turn left!

[quozaxx]

In many campaigns. The GM sets up a situation and hopes that the players do something specific.

 

Whether it is turning left instead of right, or walking away from a fight instead of fighting.

 

I'm sure there are many examples of this and would like to hear your misdirection story.

 

Example: My players have (on 2 separate occasions) talked their way out of situations rather than fight it out. It turned out way better than fighting, but that is not what I had originally expected them to do.

[Certified]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

/e whistles

[Tom]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

Two of my particular favorites (both the same char, interestingly enough):

 

The two PCs in the scenario and two NPCs are sneaking their way through the dungeon of a magical castle that used to be City Hall in Millennium City. For color, I have them stumble upon a magical workshop, and to highlight they're no longer in the 'normal' world (using the term loosely since this is a supers game) and how evil their enemy is, I've included the skull of a unicorn (with horn) among the items on the work table. The whole room was intended as window dressing. One PC decides to take the skull, and asks if Witchcraft (one of the NPCs and transformed into an ancient hag) if it can be used as a weapon...

 

The skull gained a Name, and became the plot device that allowed Mole to destroy Brangomar in dragon form (for now)...

 

Same PC is doing an informal patrol following stumbling over a COIL base in Hudson City (yeah, I'm doing 'standard' Champs in HC). A group of VIPER agents attempt to nab him with a rolling ambush from the back of a van...

 

Mole aborts to a tunneling DFC, forcing the agents to abort the attempt entirely. Somehow, it never occurred to me that Mole might use Tunneling as a defensive action...

[Querysphinx]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

Two of my particular favorites (both the same char, interestingly enough):

 

The two PCs in the scenario and two NPCs are sneaking their way through the dungeon of a magical castle that used to be City Hall in Millennium City. For color, I have them stumble upon a magical workshop, and to highlight they're no longer in the 'normal' world (using the term loosely since this is a supers game) and how evil their enemy is, I've included the skull of a unicorn (with horn) among the items on the work table. The whole room was intended as window dressing. One PC decides to take the skull, and asks if Witchcraft (one of the NPCs and transformed into an ancient hag) if it can be used as a weapon...

 

 

That's a unique weapon specialization-- WF: Unicorn Skull

[Vulcan]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

This has happened to me a lot. Usually I just run with it - in fact, I take great pride in my ability to go with what the PC's want to do and tie it into the ongoing plot.

 

But sometimes they come up with something that catches me so flat-footed that I really can't compensate for (usually because we play late at night/early in the morning...). So shortly after my players get 'so far off the path they can't see it anymore' I have them find a pond, lake, stream, fishtank, or whatever water feature is appropriate and tell them...

 

"You see some little red fish. They sorta look like herrings...":D

 

That usually gets them back to someplace I can work with pretty qucikly.

[mwiggins]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

I based a D&D game on "IT" by Stephen King. The PC's saw a kid get grabbed by something that looked like a clown that transformed into a harpy and flew off.

One of the players wanted to ignore it and check into the inn.

[Hermit]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

Two of my particular favorites (both the same char, interestingly enough):

 

The two PCs in the scenario and two NPCs are sneaking their way through the dungeon of a magical castle that used to be City Hall in Millennium City. For color, I have them stumble upon a magical workshop, and to highlight they're no longer in the 'normal' world (using the term loosely since this is a supers game) and how evil their enemy is, I've included the skull of a unicorn (with horn) among the items on the work table. The whole room was intended as window dressing. One PC decides to take the skull, and asks if Witchcraft (one of the NPCs and transformed into an ancient hag) if it can be used as a weapon...

 

The skull gained a Name, and became the plot device that allowed Mole to destroy Brangomar in dragon form (for now)...

 

Same PC is doing an informal patrol following stumbling over a COIL base in Hudson City (yeah, I'm doing 'standard' Champs in HC). A group of VIPER agents attempt to nab him with a rolling ambush from the back of a van...

 

Mole aborts to a tunneling DFC, forcing the agents to abort the attempt entirely. Somehow, it never occurred to me that Mole might use Tunneling as a defensive action...

 

Mole has occaisional bouts of brilliance in the midst of his usual stream of cockiness

[Gnaskar]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

In a Dark Heresy campaign my PCs decided to head shot a high priest, through a key hole, then storm into a room filled with two-hundred cultists. It was supposed to be a flavor scene, to let them witness the birth of a daemon-host, who was supposed to become a mayor villain. Not only did they manage to kill the planned lieutenant in a single shot, they actually managed to kill the boss, too.

 

Earlier in the same mission, while investigating the above cult (one of seven suspicious cults on the planet) they decided to pit one (recently proven loyal) cult against another loyal cult as a distraction. That ended up bringing all seven cults out for a massive brawl, escalating with the arrival of Redemtionists (an ultra-violent fringe cult) and the PDF (local army; with the individual soldiers members of rival cults). I'm planning to have them return to that planet to see the devastation the resulting civil war caused.

[Blue Jogger]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

I usually have this happen to me, but this one surprised the heck out of me.

 

The players had spent months preparing their new ship, gathering a crew and otherwise getting ready to leave " after two weeks of game time". This was really important (for the players and their characters) to leave at that time. The subplots weren't all that bothersome except the extreme time pressure that they were under.

 

On the day that they were supposed to leave, an army of orcs attacked the city. The slaughtered the legions of mindless orcs and correctly determined that the reason the orcs were attacking was they spent too much time in one place meaning that the bad guys managed to figure out where they were.

 

Instead of packing up their stuff and leaving, they instead follow the portals back to where the bad guys were. Leaving their precious ship and crew to the hands of fate.

 

They explained that they could have spent their lives running away onboard a ship (as they had planned to for months up to this point), or they could defeat the bad guys once and for all.

 

[input.jack]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

So, what happened to the crew and the ships?

 

It sounds to me like if they succeeded, everyone would be safer.

[Badger]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

To be honest I am drawing a blank on any specific examples. But, I have been told by a GM friend, that he had to almost design 2 adventures. The regular and backup in case my character did something "completely stupefying".

 

The same GM friend also mentioned in the same breath that I must be an expert in devising strategies "So damn crazy, it just might work".

 

Though, dont get me wrong i dont try to do that. I just seem to look at situation in a different, out of the box way.

[ParagonAlpha]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

I've got too many instances to relate. Just assume it always happens. Players taking the game in another direction is my bane. Fortunately I've discovered I'm really good at improvising the new direction and making it seem like that was where I was heading in the first place.

 

The trick I've found:

1) Be flexible in your plans.

2) Listen to what the players say when they start trying to figure out what is going on.

3) Be ready to steal their ideas without hesitation.

4) Act aloof and smug when you need to use their ideas acting like they were yours to begin with.

5) When the players realize they were 'right', act slightly upset that they 'figured you out'.

6) Occasionally make them very wrong. Just to keep them on their toes.

 

Follow these steps and no matter how hard your players muck things up you will always seem a genius and master GM.

 

Thank You

[sinanju]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

The trick I've found:

1) Be flexible in your plans.

2) Listen to what the players say when they start trying to figure out what is going on.

3) Be ready to steal their ideas without hesitation.

4) Act aloof and smug when you need to use their ideas acting like they were yours to begin with.

5) When the players realize they were 'right', act slightly upset that they 'figured you out'.

6) Occasionally make them very wrong. Just to keep them on their toes.

 

Follow these steps and no matter how hard your players muck things up you will always seem a genius and master GM.

 

Yep. Not that I've run a game in several years now, but when I did GM, I never created step-by-step plots. I figured out who the bad guys were, what they wanted, what resources they had available to them, and how they'd react to interference. Then I'd figure out several possible ways the PCs could stumble across their nefarious schemes.

 

Once that happened, I just let the players do what they would--and only needed to throw a clue at them occasionally when they were completely stumped as to what to do next.

 

As for the original question, I ran a campaign once where the PCs were exploring alternate dimensions through a "stargate" type device. They found themselves in a world very like their own except for the large pits full of bodies and the gunships roaming the skies. MY idea was that there was a zombie apocalypse going on (large pits full of really-o, truly-o dead zombies), gunships to kill said zombies.

 

The players looked at the evidence and concluded that the US government in this world was a corrupt fascist nightmare, stamping on the citizenry with iron boots and filling mass graves with the bodies of resisters. So they began planning accordingly. It was a much more amusing premise than mine, so I ran with it. They had great fun dodging the Sinister Forces of Evil for three days before they could escape back to their world.

[Doc Democracy]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

Like Sinaju, I have given up any hope of guiding the players to set piece encounters. Even if I think I have been trying to railroad them into a set place they take an obscure mention of an obscure item and head off into the sunset.

 

Instead, I decide who they will meet and in what order. I decide some elements of the encounter but they will meet them (contexts will vary depending on their actions) and some encounters might be avoided or be easier or harder (again depending on actions).

 

So. While I can relate many instances where they pick up on very odd things and run with them but they have no ability (as far as my plotting is concerned) to turn left instead of right....

 

 

Doc

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

Classic story in our group, from many years ago...

 

SF mercenary-style setting (Traveller or Space Opera, forget which). The PCs were in a group of vehicles driving through the back of beyond somewhere. They come to a fork in the road and drive on.

 

Just a few minutes later, they get ambushed. The complete works - emplaced mines in the road, explosives triggering a landslide to block retreat, enemy troops shooting like Davy Crockett, especially well-emplaced heavy weapons, you name it. Considerable damage done to the PCs' vehicles in the opening salvo, with worse clearly about to arrive.

 

Players express some unhappiness about the effectiveness of the enemy's shooting. Referee quotes the relevant rules and adds that the bad guys spent at least a couple of hours beforehand setting all this up. He also points out various features that make this an especially GOOD ambush site.

 

Then one of the Players notices that the GM is pointing at the wrong part of the map. Remember that fork in the road the group passed just minutes before? They went the OTHER way.

 

GM gets somewhat ticked off at this revelation (especially since it is correct) and finally points at the correct coordinates and says "OK, the ambush happens HERE, then". Given that he had just said the bad guys had spent several hours setting up their surprise party elsewhere, this does not sit well with the Players. There are numerous snide remarks about 'teleporting ambushes'.

 

It's been nearly twenty years since, and the guy who GMed STILL gets comments about that one particular time.

[Theron]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

That doesn't happen to me. Most of the time, when I'm plotting an adventure, I have absolutely no idea how I'm going to resolve it. I gave up worrying about such things ages ago and just put my trust in the players to either come up with something far more interesting than I had in mind, or suggest the way they would most like to solve it. This saves consternation on my part and keeps me involved in the game as much as them.

[Vulcan]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

I based a D&D game on "IT" by Stephen King. The PC's saw a kid get grabbed by something that looked like a clown that transformed into a harpy and flew off.

One of the players wanted to ignore it and check into the inn.

 

Sounds like an instant alignment change to me...

[Vulcan]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

Classic story in our group, from many years ago...

 

SF mercenary-style setting (Traveller or Space Opera, forget which). The PCs were in a group of vehicles driving through the back of beyond somewhere. They come to a fork in the road and drive on.

 

Just a few minutes later, they get ambushed. The complete works - emplaced mines in the road, explosives triggering a landslide to block retreat, enemy troops shooting like Davy Crockett, especially well-emplaced heavy weapons, you name it. Considerable damage done to the PCs' vehicles in the opening salvo, with worse clearly about to arrive.

 

Players express some unhappiness about the effectiveness of the enemy's shooting. Referee quotes the relevant rules and adds that the bad guys spent at least a couple of hours beforehand setting all this up. He also points out various features that make this an especially GOOD ambush site.

 

Then one of the Players notices that the GM is pointing at the wrong part of the map. Remember that fork in the road the group passed just minutes before? They went the OTHER way.

 

GM gets somewhat ticked off at this revelation (especially since it is correct) and finally points at the correct coordinates and says "OK, the ambush happens HERE, then". Given that he had just said the bad guys had spent several hours setting up their surprise party elsewhere, this does not sit well with the Players. There are numerous snide remarks about 'teleporting ambushes'.

 

It's been nearly twenty years since, and the guy who GMed STILL gets comments about that one particular time.

 

Yeah, that's a rough one to overcome, once you make the mistake of pointing to the wrong place on the map.

 

The best thing to do at that point (IMO) is to let the PC's have their victory and say the ambush didn't happen. Then set up another one in another location (say, an entry hall with little cover and a couple guys with fully automatic shotguns firing though loopholes in the walls...)

[mwiggins]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

Sounds like an instant alignment change to me...

He was a Neutral. 3rd Ed D&D had a version of neutral that wasn't worried about the balance between good/evil and law/chaos. It was apathetic... Sorta what a depressed peasant would have. I really couldn't figure out why his character would go adventuring.

[A_Pail_Rider]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

"You open the door, and see a room with a white floor, with squares marked in pale blue. We'll start from here next session."

 

Yeah, we'd run off the end of the guy's map, and he didn't feel like making something up on the fly. :D

[A_Pail_Rider]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

"You open the door, and see a room with a white floor, with squares marked in pale blue. We'll start from here next session."

 

Yeah, we'd run off the end of the guy's map, and he didn't feel like making something up on the fly. :D

[Hugh Neilson]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

He was a Neutral. 3rd Ed D&D had a version of neutral that wasn't worried about the balance between good/evil and law/chaos. It was apathetic... Sorta what a depressed peasant would have. I really couldn't figure out why his character would go adventuring.

 

I have a simple policy in that regard. You can make any character you want, any personality you want, as eager or reluctant to adventure as you wish. But I am not obligated to twist your, or your character's, arm. If he avoids all the adventure hooks, then he doesn't adventure.

 

While I don't want to under value the GM's requirement to provide interesting adventure opportunities, the player also has an obligation to create a character who has some motivation to adventure. If he wants to build a character who will avoid adventure and seek to stay home, then his character may be sitting at home a lot while the other characters adventure.

[Matt the Bruins]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

I once threw my GM's plans out of whack in a crossover White-Wolf game by having my character refuse to go gallavanting off into the spirit world with the other characters (he was a gritty, hard-nosed vampire who was working with the others for practical reasons rather than out of the spirit of adventure, and they would have been the only food source he was certain of in other dimensions). It was hilarious that a couple of my fellow players were completely flabbergasted by someone following in-game logic and bow out rather than sticking with the group for meta reasons.

[Ian Mackinder]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

Yeah, that's a rough one to overcome, once you make the mistake of pointing to the wrong place on the map.

 

The best thing to do at that point (IMO) is to let the PC's have their victory and say the ambush didn't happen. Then set up another one in another location (say, an entry hall with little cover and a couple guys with fully automatic shotguns firing though loopholes in the walls...)

 

I totally agree. The GM in question was and still is a good guy, but I think the Players had gotten his back up somewhat in this case - meaning he was not going to back down. With 20-20 hindsight, he should have just let them win that one, then taken a ghastly revenge later.

[Vulcan]

Re: You were supposed to turn left!

 

He was a Neutral. 3rd Ed D&D had a version of neutral that wasn't worried about the balance between good/evil and law/chaos. It was apathetic... Sorta what a depressed peasant would have. I really couldn't figure out why his character would go adventuring.

 

Hunh. I always looked at 3E Neutral as more 'selfish' than 'apathetic.' But ignoring a child in distress could be argued to be an outright evil act, in my opinion anyway.

 

And then the next day when the kid's parents - say, a retired assassin and a high-level ex-monk - show up and find out this guy saw what happened and didn't do anything...

 

Of course, even if they're just 20th level Commoners, in 3E that can be pretty formidible against low to mid level parties...