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<blockquote data-quote="HomegrownHydra" data-source="post: 8702594" data-attributes="member: 6775557">An example from one of my games would be a time that a player learned that some NPCs who had ties to his PC had been captured by a band of hobgoblins and bugbears. I had planned for the entire party to respond, and so there were enough opponents for multiple battles involving the whole party, and I had planned to have three different fights. However, just two players actually attempted to tackle the problem, and they did so by trying to sneak into the encampment at night. When they failed a sneak check they tried to fight the whole camp straight up (they just assumed that I had balanced the battle so that they would be able to win). This was incredibly foolish and totally hopeless, but I decided that I wasn't going to go easy on them and instead would send every opponent at them which would surely steamroll them. Yet, when one of the players realized they were in over their heads, he tried a very smart tactic: he had his PC shout out a demand to challenge the leader 1-on-1. Since there was a NPC leader, I decided to go with it. Then, with some very lucky rolls and more smart roleplaying, the PC got the leader to give up and let them leave.This scenario played out completely differently then I had planned. However, this wasn't because they avoided the encounter. On the contrary, they aggressively (and stupidly) sought out the fight. But at every point of the way I allowed their choices (and dice rolls) to matter, for both good and ill.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="HomegrownHydra, post: 8702594, member: 6775557"] An example from one of my games would be a time that a player learned that some NPCs who had ties to his PC had been captured by a band of hobgoblins and bugbears. I had planned for the entire party to respond, and so there were enough opponents for multiple battles involving the whole party, and I had planned to have three different fights. However, just two players actually attempted to tackle the problem, and they did so by trying to sneak into the encampment at night. When they failed a sneak check they tried to fight the whole camp straight up (they just assumed that I had balanced the battle so that they would be able to win). This was incredibly foolish and totally hopeless, but I decided that I wasn't going to go easy on them and instead would send every opponent at them which would surely steamroll them. Yet, when one of the players realized they were in over their heads, he tried a very smart tactic: he had his PC shout out a demand to challenge the leader 1-on-1. Since there was a NPC leader, I decided to go with it. Then, with some very lucky rolls and more smart roleplaying, the PC got the leader to give up and let them leave. This scenario played out completely differently then I had planned. However, this wasn't because they avoided the encounter. On the contrary, they aggressively (and stupidly) sought out the fight. But at every point of the way I allowed their choices (and dice rolls) to matter, for both good and ill. [/QUOTE]

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