"Kick Down the Door" Poll for DM's

[TarionzCousin]

DM's, do you have a group prepped up and ready to "kick down the door" at any time?

If you don't need to prep, but are ready to have something attack your PC's at any moment, that's good enough.

Note that I mean a group outside of regularly plotted and planned encounters. For example, in an Eberron campaign the DM might always have some evil Emerald Claw villains statted up and ready to bust in on the characters when the session is lagging or needs a little sudden excitement.

 

[MutieMoe]

Yes, adventurers make enemies to easily and after burned down and looted temple or stepping on toes of local thieves guild it's pretty easy to justify the recurring villain organizations hit squads.
Those can serve as obvious seed for the next adventure when one of the players states the obvious "We should really do something about those crazy cultists/mafia goons."

 

[weem]

Sometimes, sure.

But it's always for a specific reason - something lead to the forming of said group - orders were issued by someone, or said group was wronged themselves by the PC's in some way etc.

Even then, I won't just bust their door down at any random moment - if they feel an urgency, and they are on the move, said group may not be able to keep up -- but one slip could see their door coming in at them. When used, I want the PC's to know "yea, we messed up" or, "we must have slipped somewhere, and we will know soon when and how" - not simply "oh, he felt this would be fun timing to spring them us" etc.

 

[The Shaman]

Sometimes, sure.

But it's always for a specific reason - something lead to the forming of said group - orders were issued by someone, or said group was wronged themselves by the PC's in some way etc.

Even then, I won't just bust their door down at any random moment - if they feel an urgency, and they are on the move, said group may not be able to keep up -- but one slip could see their door coming in at them. When used, I want the PC's to know "yea, we messed up" or, "we must have slipped somewhere, and we will know soon when and how" - not simply "oh, he felt this would be fun timing to spring them us" etc.

Yes. This.

 

[FireLance]

I voted never. These days, if I have a group of monsters or NPCs attack the PCs, it's because I planned for it to happen. Even when I was playing 1e/2e, I never really made use of wandering monsters and other random encounters.

 

[Lanefan]

Wandering Monsters Are My Friend.

And it's not like I have these random attackers "prepped up"; most of the time it's more that if the dice tell me something shows up I just wing it based on what might realistically be in the area. Sometimes it's not even an attack, just some other random disturbance e.g. a perfectly harmless stranger wandering into camp.

That said, if I checked for wanderers anywhere near as often as the rules tell me to the party would never get anything done.

Lan-"and they'd be dead, too"-efan

 

[ExploderWizard]

I have ready to go statistics for whatever types of things inhabit a general area. Attacking the PC's is largely dependent on the nature of those creatures and the recent actions of the PC's.

I try and let the players dictate the pace as much as possible. Sometimes their actions have consequences that they are not immediately aware of that trigger events and actions.

 

[Grymar]

I sure do.

I often have hit teams at the ready for a slow night. There is nothing that gets the group refocused like an assassins attempt at a death attack, or just the old call for INITIATIVE!

Usually I even know who sent them. Sometimes, though, I'll let the players figure that out for me.

 

[Oryan77]

Yeah, mine are called "city guards". Sometimes they are called "town guards". There sure are a lot of shady guards in my world.

Usually the only time I may have a down period is when the PCs are back in town. So guards are great to use and everybody hates it when a guard gets in their business. I think I've encountered too many Templar's in Dark Sun and roleplayed too many Hardheads in Sigil. I need to create some friendly guards...geez.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Yeah, mine are called "city guards". Sometimes they are called "town guards". There sure are a lot of shady guards in my world.

Usually the only time I may have a down period is when the PCs are back in town. So guards are great to use and everybody hates it when a guard gets in their business. I think I've encountered too many Templar's in Dark Sun and roleplayed too many Hardheads in Sigil. I need to create some friendly guards...geez.

So cops in your campaign really don't have anything better to do than get killed.