By the Nose

[Wizards of the Coast]

I don't mind leading the player characters by the nose once in a while, and my players don't mind it either provided I play by certain guidelines.

Read By the Nose on D&D Insider here!

 

[S'mon]

Perkins' 'leading them by the nose' seems to mean nothing more offensive than simply throwing out plot hooks, which I'd think all GMs should be doing all the time anyway.

I'm not exactly sure about 'never leading them into a trap' - certainly my hostile NPCs may attempt to lead the PCs into a trap, but this will be an emergent property of gameplay, typically in response to prior player actions. If it's a completely arbitrary 'bolt from the blue' trap without foundation in prior events (you're at the inn, when werewolves attack!) then I would tend to make it a CR-balanced, but if it's a response to prior PC action that won't necessarily be the case.

 

[McTreble]

I wonder if I'm in the minority here, but does anyone else find that since 5e was announced, this article series (like anything not having to do with the new edition) doesn't interest them?

 

[S'mon]

I wonder if I'm in the minority here, but does anyone else find that since 5e was announced, this article series (like anything not having to do with the new edition) doesn't interest them?

I'm not really interested in 5e, so for me it's fine.

 

[D'karr]

I wonder if I'm in the minority here, but does anyone else find that since 5e was announced, this article series (like anything not having to do with the new edition) doesn't interest them?

For me it's the other way around. Almost nothing about 5e has interested me, but this series of articles is edition neutral anyway. It has good advice for DMs of any edition.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I wonder if I'm in the minority here, but does anyone else find that since 5e was announced, this article series (like anything not having to do with the new edition) doesn't interest them?

You might be. I've been following the new edition along and I also love The DM Experience articles, because as D'karr says... they are edition neutral. The points Chris makes are usually applicable across all editions of D&D and even other RPGs.

 

[delericho]

I wonder if I'm in the minority here, but does anyone else find that since 5e was announced, this article series (like anything not having to do with the new edition) doesn't interest them?

No idea if you're in a minority or not, but I usually enjoy this column, and 5e hasn't changed that.

That said, I wasn't so keen on this installment. Not that I disagreed with anything really... there just wasn't really anything I felt the need to comment on, disagree with, or even steal. File this one under "stuff I mostly do anyway".

 

[GreyICE]

Perkins' 'leading them by the nose' seems to mean nothing more offensive than simply throwing out plot hooks, which I'd think all GMs should be doing all the time anyway.

I'm not exactly sure about 'never leading them into a trap' - certainly my hostile NPCs may attempt to lead the PCs into a trap, but this will be an emergent property of gameplay, typically in response to prior player actions. If it's a completely arbitrary 'bolt from the blue' trap without foundation in prior events (you're at the inn, when werewolves attack!) then I would tend to make it a CR-balanced, but if it's a response to prior PC action that won't necessarily be the case.

Well I think that's his point. If the PCs all of a sudden go "I want to go explore the Tower of Madness" and then they wander around the tower for a while until they find a strange old man being attacked by orcs, and they kill the orcs and trust the strange old man when he decides to lead them into the tower, even though he chuckles creepily at times and can be caught staring off into the distance (and it's named the bloody Tower of Madness) it's kinda their own darn fault.

If the DM is heavily leaning on them to go to the Tower of Madness and then gives them an NPC who just happens to know the way through the Impossible Maze in front of the tower and said NPC also knows how to open the door to the tower which is impossible to open, and then said NPC after being perfectly reliable and 100% necessary to get to where they are suddenly leads them to a room that slams shut behind them and tells them "now you are all my captives!" it ends up feeling a little... railroady.

 

[D'karr]

leads them to a room that slams shut behind them and tells them "now you are all my captives!" it ends up feeling a little... railroady.

We tell our kids all the time, don't take candy from strangers. Why won't adventurers just learn that simple lesson?

 

[GreyICE]

The players should have better expectations of their DM than the creepy guy with the mustache whose always watching the playground. The entire adventure can slow to a crawl if the PCs want to kick the tires on every single plot element before they even go near it.