Most Unexpected Moments In Your Campaign

[Olaf the Stout]

Tell me your stories of unexpected campaign moments, where the players have done something that left you scratching your head and thinking “What the……? Did that just happen”

The biggest unexpected campaign moment I had was when I had a group of assassins attack the party. They were a group of female assassins that were hired to stop the PC’s from investigating a murder. They broke into the party's hotel rooms and attacked them in their beds in the middle of the night.

Since the PC’s were asleep they didn’t have any armour on or have much in the way of weapons or magic items. Also, since they were staying in 2 rooms the party was split up. Not exactly an ideal situation for the PC's to be in. A couple of PC’s were taken down into single digit hit points but the party managed to succeed in capturing all 4 assassins.

After pumping them for information about who hired them, etc., they decided that they would let the assassins go, without taking any of their weapons, equipment or gold from them. Not only that, the party also willingly gave them some of their own equipment so that the assassins could “prove” that they had successfully completed the hit. They did plan on meeting up with the assassins after they had received their payment but unfortunately circumstances meant that the party wasn’t able to.

So not only did my PC’s let the assassins who attacked (and nearly killed them) go without taking anything from them, they also gave them extra stuff! The assassins also got to collect their payment for the job, even though they didn’t complete it!

To makes things even weirder, one of the PC’s set up a date with one of the assassins. He didn’t end up being able to make it, but I found it amusing (and perplexing) that he wanted to date someone that had tried to kill him.

So what about in your campaigns? What have your players done that you didn’t expect?

Olaf the Stout

 

[Hellzon]

To makes things even weirder, one of the PC’s set up a date with one of the assassins. He didn’t end up being able to make it, but I found it amusing (and perplexing) that he wanted to date someone that had tried to kill him.

Well, if loved ones are often endangered in a campaign, hooking up with a cold-blooded killer sounds like an investment.

 

[arscott]

'Cause that worked out so well for Daredevil.

 

[ppaladin123]

[Minor thread derail]

Yay! This forum is about sharing gaming stories and wisdom again!

[/minor thread derail]

 

[Piratecat]

Back when my campaign was 2e, the pcs had just leveled. I had a cool adventure set up: the PCs had to sneak into, or fight their way into, a giant termite mound which had been taken over by a mercenary band. Their job was to find the Mercenary captain and capture him alive. Epic and flavorful, right?

TomTom the psionicist says "look what I can do now!", goes ethereal and scouts the burrows, getting a brief peak at the Captain.

Velendo the cleric says "and look what I can do!" Then he summons a freakin' aerial servant, described the captain (thanks so much, TomTom, really), and tells the servant to go retrieve him.

Then the party sits back and has a picnic while the servant rushes off on his errand.

15 minutes later the servant emerges with a struggling, shouting captain, and the whole group runs for the coast -- without ever having set foot inside my dungeon.

--

My second choice would be when they decided to solve the problem of an evil flesh-weaving cult by casting earthquake and collapsing the entire dungeon complex on their heads.

 

[Moleculo]

Not my PCs, but my brother was in a campaign where the PCs were supposed to assault a giant pyramid looking for some macguffin. They used locate object, lo and behold it was in the pointy top of the pyramid. So instead of plowing through the base and working upwards, they blasted a hole in the top of the pyramid and my brother flew up on his mount and plucked it from it's resting spot. Probably the last time the DM put the guards outside of the treasure room, let alone put the macguffin at the top of the dungeon.

 

[Whimsical]

When the players can break your dungeons with high-level spells and effects, it can help to change what an adventure site means.

With high level gaming, I like to think BIG! The entire multiverse is the "dungeon," teleport/wind walk/plane shift is the "hallway," the target location is the "room," and if that location happens to be secured against direct entry, then the surrounding structure and wards is the "walls" & "door".

Each "dungeon room" for a 20th level party could have been the entire "dungeon" for a lower level party. And each relevant adventure site could be spread out enormous distances, including between planes, but it's just a Gate and a Teleport away.

This is how I don't care that a high level party can move through walls with ease and avoid entire sections to get the toy surprise at the bottom of the cereal box. This is how high level divinations and movement magics makes the game instead of breaks the game. This is just how high level parties work.

Monte Cook's Design Secrets: High Level Adventures is the article that had it all click for me in my head, and I learned how to stop worrying and love the bomb.

 

[Mallus]

This happened early in our current 4e campaign, forever altering it's course.

• The PC's rescue a dire boar sow meant for the fighting pits during a violent dockworker's protest.

• The party's ranger decides to adopt the pig.

• The party decides to get the pig 'blessed' by a local cult of a dog god.

• While transporting the pig to the temple, the party inadvertently starts a false religion around her, while attempting to mollify a crowd of rabble who were pitching rotten vegetables (this is what happens when you mix inappropriate skills, a crazy idea and high rolls into a Skill Challenge).

• The absinthe-soaked party mage converts to the religion, and much to everyone's surprise, can now heal in her name.

So the party is a church, at least part of the time, and it's order of knighthood.

 

[Joshua Randall]

The pair of PCs were both goody two-shoes types, a fighter/cleric and a ranger. They were investigating the deaths of several gladiators and (thought they had) traced it back to a rival gladiatorial stable-boss, Volpone. (Yup, this was from a Dungeon magazine adventure.)

PC #1: I will put on my hat of disguise and pretend to be a comely lass, so I can lure Volpone away.

DM (me): Yeah, well, just keep your dirty thoughts to yourself. Anyway, you do so and he starts following you.

PC #2: While he's distracted, I will break into Volpone's house.

DM: Isn't your character a fire'n'brimstone kind of preacher-man who believes lawbreakers should be smote mercilessly? Breaking and entering is a crime. Plus, you completely lack any rogueish abilities.

PC #2: Whatever. I cast stone shape on the embrasure of the window and make an opening.

DM: Uh, okay. You rummage around and find some documents showing that Volpone has been skimming money from his own gladiators and keeping it for himself. But, you don't find anything implicating him in the murders.

PC #2: How much money?

DM: [I make up some number.]

PC #1: I lead Volpone back to his house where we will blackmail him...

PC #2: ... into cutting us in on the deal.

DM: !!!

Thus began my players' PCs' careers as crime-bosses. (And thus ended their tenure as "heroes" in the traditional sense.)

 

[Stormtalon]

Not my PCs, but my brother was in a campaign where the PCs were supposed to assault a giant pyramid looking for some macguffin. They used locate object, lo and behold it was in the pointy top of the pyramid. So instead of plowing through the base and working upwards, they blasted a hole in the top of the pyramid and my brother flew up on his mount and plucked it from it's resting spot. Probably the last time the DM put the guards outside of the treasure room, let alone put the macguffin at the top of the dungeon.

Something like this happened in a campaign I ran. Party was assigned to clear out a tower infested by devils, and, as happens, the leader of the devils was at the top, with a nice balcony and view. 99 times out of 100, this particular party will choose the "kick in the front door and kill everything" as their main tactics. Not this time. They scouted, they climbed up, hit the head devil first and then started fighting their way down.

And then, on the third floor, they inadvertently triggered the destruction of the entire tower. A combination of Enlarge plus Iron Construct on the Warforged Juggernaut was just too much for the ancient floors of the tower to handle. Between a broom of flying and a couple other flight options, they made it out (though the Juggernaut had to climb up from the basement and slam thru the back wall to get out before the collapse).