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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
 Posted - 17 May 2005 : 04:38:05
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Hi there. I don't know about the rest of you, but I like randomness in my games. Case in point, during this most recent gaming session I deliberately got my players into a battle beyond their hope of winning (which, considering that there's seven of them with an average level of 15, was a feat in and of itself). Then, in the middle of the fight, I had a bunch of the monsters just spontaneously vanish. Over the next few rounds as the battle continued, the mutilated corpses of the monsters kept popping up here and there on the ground.
It took them *hours* to figure out that they had been summoned by a high level Monster Summoning somewhere else in Faerun. I loved it.
So I wanted to ask what other random things you've had, either as a player or a DM, in your games. Oh, and has anyone played a wild mage? That's next on my list whenever I get to be a player again...
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Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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tauster
Senior Scribe
Germany
399 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2005 : 10:30:54
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i regularly use encounters that have nothing to do with the main plot, though often it either seems like there is a connection (my design), or the players just think it somehow is linked with the plot. itīs astonishing what kind of conections players can "find" between incoherent events!  
teh most often used "randomness" i use is during travels and when the party rests, i.e. when they stay in one place for a longer time (several hours). our standard procedure: i ask them whether or not they want keep watch (most often, they do) and who takes which shift. everyone is asked to roll a d100 (the higher, the "more interesting"  ). my players to regularly come up with dice rolls in the high nineties (according to our experience, a game session without is an exception from the rule), so watch time is generally an interesting thing.
sometimes i use these "random" encounters to sneak not only side plots but also things relating to the main plot in - "disguising" the story arc that way ensures that your players are staying interested in the campaign. my piece of advice: always leave them guessing whether they are following a sidetreck or close to the main plot!
[edit]
one example for "disguised" story arcs:
while travelling from tilverton (pre destruction!) to daggerdale in the height of winter (blizzards, snow-closed mountain passes, etc...) they shoot a small fox that wanted to steal their provisions at night. after i described itīs fluffy winter pelt, they immediately decided to keep the fur - and discovered that this particular fox had six legs! one day later (still during the same blizzard), at night they got attacked by displacer beasts (six legs!) and immediately wondered what is behind "that all".
of course they donīt know that the fox is a red herring: either an eloped wizards experiment or just a "freak of nature".  |
Edited by - tauster on 17 May 2005 10:39:28 |
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Snotlord
Senior Scribe
Norway
476 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2005 : 12:10:11
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| Randomness is great! It can shake up a stale session/plot, it buys the DM time to polish on the story and reduces the railroading feeling of a not-so-cleverly designed plot. If everything happens for a reason the game can easily become predictable (not necessarily a bad thing, but it usually is). I think random tables is a great tool to be creative, as it forces me to think in new ways. |
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Thomas M. Reid
Forgotten Realms Designer & Author
334 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2005 : 14:45:35
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What has been described thus far is sort of planned, calculated randomness, so I don't know if this really fits in with the discussion or not, but I have a couple of funny tales regarding randomness in the game.
The first harkens back to the original Temple of Elemental Evil adventure that I ran. The very first wand of wonder appeared in that product, and boy, was it weird. After the characters got a hold of it, they started using it regularly during big battles, just to spice things up on the battlefield. Of course, in those days (1st Edition), you didn't have the kind of thorough rules for conditions on the battlefield during combat, but we made do with our imaginations and a few rolls of the dice. So when a rain of fish fell from the sky, or a giant tree grew in the middle of the fight, we usually found a way to put it to good use -- slippery conditions, obstacles, etc. It's amazing how much more interesting (tactically speaking) a few randomly placed effects like that can make the fight.
The other bit of wonky randomness occurred in the old Lost Tomb of Martek adventure. There was a wild magic zone in part of that, and the characters were right in the middle of it when they decided that they needed some protective magic. I don't remember all the details now, but the wizard tried to cast some sort of a buff spell on the paladin. Now, the game mechanics for spells in this wild magic zone called for a couple of die rolls to randomly pick a new spell from the lists. I did so and had to clamp my mouth shut to keep from laughing (I'll reveal the result at the end).
So this is what happens in the game: the wizard fires off his protective spell, and nothing happens. They decide to proceed, being very cautious and wondering what magical suppressions are in place. Then, without any warning at all, the paladin just blows up! Of course, they all think they're under attack, but the result I secretly came up with was delayed blast fireball. I had to keep from cackling for a good half-hour while they are scrambled around, trying to find their attackers. It was a riot!
Thomas |
"A knight is not truly virtuous, only truly resolved to be so."
www.thomasmreid.com |
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Hoondatha
Great Reader
USA
2449 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2005 : 17:36:23
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| Those're good. That's part of why I want to play a wild mage: they seem to create that chaos a whole lot easier than anyone else. Though, I have wondered, why would any wild mage use their ability to summon forth any desired result from a wand of wonder? That's organising chaos, isn't that the last thing they'd want? |
Doggedly converting 3e back to what D&D should be...
Sigh... And now 4e as well. |
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Wooly Rupert
Master of Mischief
USA
36779 Posts |
Posted - 17 May 2005 : 17:47:49
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quote:
Originally posted by Hoondatha
Those're good. That's part of why I want to play a wild mage: they seem to create that chaos a whole lot easier than anyone else. Though, I have wondered, why would any wild mage use their ability to summon forth any desired result from a wand of wonder? That's organising chaos, isn't that the last thing they'd want?
I don't see wild mages as wanting chaos as much as I see them simply playing a little fast and loose with the rules of spellcasting. |
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Randomness
