Crashing the game: When the DM doesn't expect resistance

[wingsandsword]

Odd title for a post? I was trying to find a way to describe what just happened to me. Here is the scenario. A group of soldiers, gamers all, on weekend pass, first time off post in months, decide to hit the local game store and have a marathon D&D session off post and relax. For me it's the first time in way too long that I've actually had a chance to play. One wants to take his first shot at DMing and his first time tabletop RPGing (he's only played computer games beforehand).

(For the record, the system is 3.5, which matters for the section later on the role of Paladins in the campaign)

After a long stretch of character creation, and a brief synopsis of the setting (bleak vaguely Eastern European setting with inquisition-like church hunting all arcane spellcasters town and executing them) we get going. We create a party of PCs, nobody wants to create an arcane caster, but the novice DM says for plot reasons we should have at least one. I break down and create a Rogue/Sorcerer (that only uses roguish abilities in public). Our plot hook is there is *something* interesting happening off in the distant marshes so we hire a ferryman to take us near there on his raft, and then wade into the marshes shortly thereafter to be attacked by what was essentially a mini-Kraken. After a long fight we kill the beast.

So, we're in the swamp and have just finished off this Kraken-like monster, and just as it collapses dead, suddenly from out of nowhere a squad of armored soldiers arrives surrounding us and brandishing the insignia of the (supposedly LG) order that is trying to exterminate all arcane magic. They place us under arrest and demand we come with them, or else.

So, I decide my character (as a sorcerer that has been on the run his entire life from the holocaust, and as a Sorcerer he's doomed by bloodline to execution) isn't going to surrender to the inquisition without a fight and that whoever sent us out here set us up. Even way out in the wilderness, a hundred miles from civilization they come and decide to arrest for no apparent reason (my PC didn't even use any magic in the fight, we hadn't used any arcane magic, so as a player I can't even see why they would want to arrest our PCs other than plot fiat). My PC tells them they can just shove off, we're not going anywhere, and if they don't turn tail, they will be killed. My PC rolls a natural 20 on his maxed out Intimidate and rolls over a 30. . .which apparently doesn't affect them because apparently they are Paladins and immune to fear. So, I tell the DM in no uncertain terms that since they declined the ultimatum to leave, I pull out my hand crossbow (which already had a bolt tipped with CON-damage poison) and shoot at the lead inquisitor, in what we had already established was point blank range, saying I was going for a head shot.

The DM pretty much didn't know what to say or do. I think I broke his brain. He was apparently expecting the PCs to come along peacefully to prison to continue the plot, and he later admitted he didn't even have stats written up for the soldiers. He couldn't understand why anybody would ever want to shoot at a Paladin. The DM, admittedly novice, makes a setting where arcane casters are being hunted to extinction by an inquisition that has arbitrarily declared all arcane magic inherently evil. Insists that the party have an arcane spellcaster in it (I originally wanted to play a Paladin, he said that was Bad because there is "too much moral grey area in this setting", he thought that in his games it would be too hard to play a paladin because he wanted to run a "morally ambiguous" setting, then throws Paladins at us as genocidal inquisitors.

Personally, I was just in the mood for a relaxing no-thought-needed "kick down the door, kill the orcs, take their pie" type game, I get enough deep thought at my job, but I was willing to throw myself into a more complicated game just for the sake of being able to game, then the DM can't handle it when we don't follow the railroad-as-written it all comes to a screeching halt.

So, anybody seen something happen like this before?

 

[Starfox]

Happens all the time. The kind of situation your DM made is typical of the hard-to-pull-off situations you try out as a novice storyteller DM.

 

[Mephistopheles]

You could have just rolled with it considering that it was his first time out, not just as a DM but as a tabletop role player, then after the game you could have given him a few pointers for his next one, perhaps.

 

[Crothian]

Also, in a one shot there are times when the PCs need to just go along with the DM for the sake of the story and to keep things moving.

 

[MarkB]

You could have just rolled with it considering that it was his first time out, not just as a DM but as a tabletop role player, then after the game you could have given him a few pointers for his next one, perhaps.

Also, in a one shot there are times when the PCs need to just go along with the DM for the sake of the story and to keep things moving.

While that's true, an inexperienced DM isn't necessarily going to be able to give out the clues that this particular situation is one of those times. To the players, a bunch of guys in plate armour showing up in the middle of nowhere to capture them can look very much like any other normal combat encounter.

 

[Gilladian]

I've definitely seen that kind of situation happen before. It isn't fun. You wanted to play your PC, and he failed to realize (due to his inexperience as a DM) that he'd set up a very dangerous situation with a single resolution directly counter to your PC's modus operandi.

That's why when/if I want to play a "capture" game, I start the campaign or scenario that way; I explain ahead of time "out of game" how it happened, and that the PCs will have a chance to get out of it SOON. I never try to actually force submission from PCs. It doesn't work.

 

[IronWolf]

I agree that capture scenes are difficult to pull off well. PCs tend to do anything they can to get away from being captured. If faced with odds that are so against them then they start to feel railroaded, especially if the situation was just sprung on them as opposed as a result to some decision they made that led them to that tenuous situation.

The DM you had was a novice DM as you mentioned. It is all part of the learning curve of learning what works during a game and what doesn't. Over time he'll learn these nuances and better what to expect from his players during a game. And even then players will find a way to do something the DM wasn't expecting!

 

[Lhorgrim]

I've seen it happen from both sides of the screen.

When I was starting out as a DM, I made most of the rookie mistakes at one time or another. To make it worse, I was in late elementary school/middle school when we started playing and we were playing 1E.

Some recent threads have discussed how often houseruled 1E was, and we did it due to an incomplete understanding of the RAW. Unfortunately (fortunately?) there weren't any world wide messageboards to let us know we were doing it wrong.

I think that new/novice DMs often feel overwhelmed with the options of a sandbox style game, and they try to script the story as a way to control what they need to have prepped for the game. A new DM in 3.5 probably wouldn't feature a lot of monsters with grapple if he or she wasn't comfortable with the mechanic.

Sounds like the OPs DM had some of these issues being new to tabletop and DMing. That's a tough combo to overcome. Hopefully if he gets to play more he'll learn from these mistakes and get better. Very few of us started out as great DMs after all.

 

[Doug McCrae]

You should've followed the GM's plot.

 

[Oryan77]

You should've followed the GM's plot.

No, I don't think that was necessary in this situation. I usually agree that players should suck it up every so often and just follow a plot hook so the prepped adventure gets going, but capture scenarios are not one of those times. As everyone knows, nobody wants to get captured. And if the DM needs them captured, he can do it no matter what. At least let the players resist if that is what they choose to do. Especially being Paladins, the DM can make sure he prevents a TPK with a simple 1 HP Lay on Hands to any unconscious PCs.

The DM pretty much didn't know what to say or do. I think I broke his brain.

Really, I don't see what the problem is. Sure, the DM ran a scenario that doesn't make a lot of sense, but it being his very first time DMing, he gets a pass. We've all done much worse than this.

What was the outcome of the scenario? Did you guys quit right after you attacked? I don't understand how the game could be ruined just because you attacked. Either, you attack, and the Paladins fight back and overwhelm you guys, and the game goes on. Or, you attack, and you guys overwhelm the Paladins and the game goes on. Either way, both outcomes should have provided the DM with some useful material to keep the game going.

Being a new DM though may make it hard for him to realize that. But then if you guys feel that he is now struggling to think of what to do next if you guys foiled his plot hook attempt, then you guys should give him suggestions on what to do during this session, "Maybe there are more swamp monsters we can hunt around here. I'm going to scout around." You could also pray that he is smart enough to realize that if he needs to capture you, he needs a bigger force next time. And the next day after the PCs rest, Paladin squad #2 comes along & railroads the group into a capture.

Hopefully he'll learn his lesson and avoid this type of plot hook in the future. And there's nothing wrong with you pointing out after the session that railroading with a capture is a very difficult thing to do well and it usually doesn't sit well with players when it happens. Educate him, that's how a DM will get better.

I'm not against capturing PCs as part of a plot hook. But it needs to be well planned so the players don't feel completely ripped off. Unfortunately, new DMs tend to use the capture plot hook right off the bat and they suck at it. I don't know what it is, capture scenarios just seem so cool in your head when you are writing an adventure, then everything crashes down when you attempt it