Has your GM shocked you lately?

[Rafael Ceurdepyr]

Wow, last night our GM threw us a couple of curves, one that completely blindsided me and the other I never thought he'd have the nerve to do.

In our Leviathan game, which we're resuming after about a 6 month hiatus, we encountered a creepy and mysterious man in a gray cloak, his head strangely cocked to one side, with a raspy voice. Naturally he tried to kill us with a spell--drowning on dry land isn't fun. And who should it turn out to be but Tolver Grayjoy, our boss in "first season", head of a spy ring who was captured and hanged by the bad guys. Turned out he was resurrected and sent after us. This was a shock, as I believed him to actually be dead.

But the REAL shocker was during the battle with undead Grayjoy. Will Corby--an NPC originally intended as a mere messenger for Grayjoy, who looked on Grayjoy as a mentor and father-figure, and with whom one of the PCs, Ari, fell in love--was killed in the battle. Here I must explain that Ari is played by the GM's wife (I'll call her Shiphrah). And Shiphrah is VERY attached to Will. Shiphrah has frequently said, "Oh, you can do anything you want, just don't kill Will."

And he killed Will.

Although his spirit still lives in a mysterious crystal shard, and our dwarven companion Ulgar has sworn to reunite his spirit with a body and give him back to Ari. Small comfort.

Have to say, I've never seen real tears in a gaming session before. But Shiphrah is quite tender-hearted and identifies Will with her husband the GM.

So, with that long intro--what's YOUR GM/DM done lately--in game--that shocked or surprised you?

 

[Barendd Nobeard]

Not any one thing, but every time we act honorably and trust someone, our Eberron DM ends up screwing us over.

He's turning our PCs into cynical, bitter, vigilantes, despite our best efforts not to be so.

 

[Chimera]

Not since we jumped him and took away the Taser.

 

[Aeson]

Not since we jumped him and took away the Taser.

I game with a guy that claimed to have used a cattle prod on another gamer when he did something stupid.

 

[the Jester]

I game with a guy that claimed to have used a cattle prod on another gamer when he did something stupid.

There have been many times when I wish I could do this, but I never have.

 

[Particle_Man]

My DM surprised me recently. He has this intricately developed world, tons of campaign notes, lots of role-play stuff (others like this, and I don't mind so long as I get to kill things).

Then one night we woke up in town and there was an invasion of interdimensional slugs and some chaos beasts. We dealt with that.

We found out that our town was actually on the outskirts of the chaos beast invasion and that there are chaos beasts over a wide area of the land!

Holy ****! I mean, maybe he doesn't realize how "spawnarific" chaos beasts are, but this imho radically changes the nature of the campaign (more in my "kill things" flavor, so I don't mind, but I was surprised).

 

[Rafael Ceurdepyr]

I mean, maybe he doesn't realize how "spawnarific" chaos beasts are, but this imho radically changes the nature of the campaign (more in my "kill things" flavor, so I don't mind, but I was surprised).

That definitely sounds like a shocking turn of events.

Maybe DMs don't surprise players very often. Or maybe I'm more into this particular game and likely to be shocked and surprised.

 

[Romnipotent]

we play in gurps (current group) and my GM's constantly using our flaws for inter character and party conflict. Not because he wants to but because its what happens.
Our actions result in positive and negetive results. The games more deadly than D&D, so we have a greater sense of mortality, where as in D&D a raise dead or reincarnate might be an eventual plan, even if quickly realised. Expenses are higher, profits seemingly lower, and theres a difficulty to buying magical weaponry, at least its a great game.
Shocking thing, hmmm. We've been adventuring with a wanted Criminal and pyromaniac, (Although metagamingly I know he has an evil twin) and have just found a bounty on his head. Meanwhile the character in question has disappeared! How convenient for the player

 

[sniffles]

About 3 years ago we started a new Forgotten Realms campaign in which our PCs were all the companions/students of a group of higher-level NPCs (see my story hour). My fiancee is running a cleric who started out as the "squire" of sorts for the NPC paladin. Several months ago, while our PCs were hanging out in a big city, it was revealed to us that the cleric was actually the paladin's illegitimate child!! (and they both knew it all along)

Not only was I impressed by the surprise, I was amazed that my fiancee was able to keep that secret from me all this time, as I think he and the GM had worked out that detail right from the beginning of the campaign.

 

[Rafael Ceurdepyr]

Not only was I impressed by the surprise, I was amazed that my fiancee was able to keep that secret from me all this time, as I think he and the GM had worked out that detail right from the beginning of the campaign.

I admire a GM who can keep a secret. We had actually guessed that Grayjoy would come back as a villain (although the undead part wasn't discussed) during some lunchtime discussion. Two of us (who play Ari and Raef--although Raef has gone away and I have another character) were talking about naming the ship we were having built after Grayjoy, calling it "Ratcatcher's Revenge," and the GM got a funny look on his face--surprising, because he's the king of the poker face.

Now he's a bit distressed that he's becoming too predictable.

Which might mean he'll up the shock quotient. Yikes!