So, I am running my group through Shackled City. They're doing very well, actually. Until they decided to not heed my warning that the dungeon was extremely tough, and to take their time and plan accordingly.
The situation:
Cleric is out of spells completely. He's an Aasimar Clr1.
Sorcerer has 3 0 level spells left. He's a Chaos Gnome Sor1.
Paladin is at about 75% hp, and has used lay on hands. He's a half-orc pal2.
Bard is being NPC'd for the session, and the person has him just singing, because he's lazy.
Rogue is at about 80% hit points. He's a Whisper Gnome Rog2.
Now, they have a wand of cure light wounds, with 24 charges left. So they decide to heal a little (they were close to full hit points), before trying to tackle the 'green meanie' they were told about from Yuathyb.
They bust into the room, and spread out - the half-orc is enlarged, so he takes the lead with his longsword and shield. The rogue flanks him to the right, looking up and trying to peer around the balcony. The sorcerer is in the middle, playing it safe. Cleric is next to the sorcerer, since the little bastard has a penchant for getting in to trouble. The bard (being played as an NPC this week) is dully following, and doing nothing but singing, because the person playing him was lazy.
They inch forward, and eventually the half-orc is standing between the two balconies. He sees no danger. The rogue, though, critically succeeds at his spot check, and sees the flying 'green meanie', complete with oozing brain, and multiple tentacles. It starts to swoop down, and the rogue plinks at it.
Now, I made sure to note the creature was being defensive, and hovered 15 feet above the gnome. The gnome foolishly decides to barely move, takes no cover, and fires again. The half-orc potshots the creature, doing a good amount of damage, while the cleric foolishly is readying actions to attack the creature if it gets in range (i noted the length of the tentacles.. the ready actions were completely wasted imo), and the sorcerer flings his final spells at the thing, missing all but one, and scoring a single point of damage.
Here's where it gets ugly. Because the rogue decided not to move, he gets grabbed, paralyzed, and flown up to the ceiling for a snack. The half-orc had decided to simply be a melee fighter, and had no range weapon. The group frantically tries to plink the thing, but to no avail; the bard fires into the grapple (finally the person decides it might be a good idea to actually USE the bard) - but the bolt hits and kills the unconscious rogue. The creature drops the lifeless carcass of the whisper gnome rogue to the edge of the balcony, which bounces off the rail and ends unceremoniously dumped on the floor in an expanding pool of blood.
In shock, the group looks at me like I am crazy... I tend to be fairly lenient, but this time I promised myself to play it the way it was meant to be played.
Next, the cleric and sorcerer, up on the balcony, continue to try and plink it. The thing swoops down, nails the sorcerer a couple of times; who then smartly dives over the railing and taking the falling damage rather than dying. The cleric wasn't so bright. He got snagged, swept to the ceiling, and was made the second snack of the night. His body fell down, bounded down the stairs, and landed at the bottom in a very awkward position.
This entire time, the half-orc paladin decides to run around trying to get in range... The thing isn't stupid, so it avoids the lumbering brute until it gets smaller. When the enlarge finally wears off, the thing swoops down, paralyzes him, and starts to eat him.
It was here I decided to avert a TPK, given all the work I did to get the game going smoothly, and fudged a few damage rolls. I had made the encounter lethal, and challenging, and the creature had 3 hit points left, but luck was screwing the PCs bigtime with repeated misses. The bard actually managed to hit the half-orc, but didn't do enough damage to kill him. Finally the sorcerer hits, does 6 damage, and kills the thing... Which falls 40ft knocking the half-orc out cold.
Now... I don't consider myself a harsh GM. I gave ample warning, tons of pre-info on character builds that would be successful etc. They chose to ignore it, and charged headlong... As amusing as I find the entire situation, it nearly ruined my months of prep-work, and tens of hours of writing things out, and fleshing everything right.
My group, on the other hand, thinks I was excessively cruel. I didn't taunt them, I didn't gloat, I didn't brag. I probably went a weentsy bit overboard with the gruesome fall descriptions of the dead PCs... But I thought it was semi artistic, and rather true of what would happen.
So here's my question... Would you have treated your party with kid gloves? Or would you have played it straight up and had a TPK?
Mike/Starkad
The situation:
Cleric is out of spells completely. He's an Aasimar Clr1.
Sorcerer has 3 0 level spells left. He's a Chaos Gnome Sor1.
Paladin is at about 75% hp, and has used lay on hands. He's a half-orc pal2.
Bard is being NPC'd for the session, and the person has him just singing, because he's lazy.
Rogue is at about 80% hit points. He's a Whisper Gnome Rog2.
Now, they have a wand of cure light wounds, with 24 charges left. So they decide to heal a little (they were close to full hit points), before trying to tackle the 'green meanie' they were told about from Yuathyb.
They bust into the room, and spread out - the half-orc is enlarged, so he takes the lead with his longsword and shield. The rogue flanks him to the right, looking up and trying to peer around the balcony. The sorcerer is in the middle, playing it safe. Cleric is next to the sorcerer, since the little bastard has a penchant for getting in to trouble. The bard (being played as an NPC this week) is dully following, and doing nothing but singing, because the person playing him was lazy.
They inch forward, and eventually the half-orc is standing between the two balconies. He sees no danger. The rogue, though, critically succeeds at his spot check, and sees the flying 'green meanie', complete with oozing brain, and multiple tentacles. It starts to swoop down, and the rogue plinks at it.
Now, I made sure to note the creature was being defensive, and hovered 15 feet above the gnome. The gnome foolishly decides to barely move, takes no cover, and fires again. The half-orc potshots the creature, doing a good amount of damage, while the cleric foolishly is readying actions to attack the creature if it gets in range (i noted the length of the tentacles.. the ready actions were completely wasted imo), and the sorcerer flings his final spells at the thing, missing all but one, and scoring a single point of damage.
Here's where it gets ugly. Because the rogue decided not to move, he gets grabbed, paralyzed, and flown up to the ceiling for a snack. The half-orc had decided to simply be a melee fighter, and had no range weapon. The group frantically tries to plink the thing, but to no avail; the bard fires into the grapple (finally the person decides it might be a good idea to actually USE the bard) - but the bolt hits and kills the unconscious rogue. The creature drops the lifeless carcass of the whisper gnome rogue to the edge of the balcony, which bounces off the rail and ends unceremoniously dumped on the floor in an expanding pool of blood.
In shock, the group looks at me like I am crazy... I tend to be fairly lenient, but this time I promised myself to play it the way it was meant to be played.
Next, the cleric and sorcerer, up on the balcony, continue to try and plink it. The thing swoops down, nails the sorcerer a couple of times; who then smartly dives over the railing and taking the falling damage rather than dying. The cleric wasn't so bright. He got snagged, swept to the ceiling, and was made the second snack of the night. His body fell down, bounded down the stairs, and landed at the bottom in a very awkward position.
This entire time, the half-orc paladin decides to run around trying to get in range... The thing isn't stupid, so it avoids the lumbering brute until it gets smaller. When the enlarge finally wears off, the thing swoops down, paralyzes him, and starts to eat him.
It was here I decided to avert a TPK, given all the work I did to get the game going smoothly, and fudged a few damage rolls. I had made the encounter lethal, and challenging, and the creature had 3 hit points left, but luck was screwing the PCs bigtime with repeated misses. The bard actually managed to hit the half-orc, but didn't do enough damage to kill him. Finally the sorcerer hits, does 6 damage, and kills the thing... Which falls 40ft knocking the half-orc out cold.
Now... I don't consider myself a harsh GM. I gave ample warning, tons of pre-info on character builds that would be successful etc. They chose to ignore it, and charged headlong... As amusing as I find the entire situation, it nearly ruined my months of prep-work, and tens of hours of writing things out, and fleshing everything right.
My group, on the other hand, thinks I was excessively cruel. I didn't taunt them, I didn't gloat, I didn't brag. I probably went a weentsy bit overboard with the gruesome fall descriptions of the dead PCs... But I thought it was semi artistic, and rather true of what would happen.
So here's my question... Would you have treated your party with kid gloves? Or would you have played it straight up and had a TPK?
Mike/Starkad
