Am I a cruel DM?

[Ambrus]

Well, the thread seems to be finally loosing steam so I'll take this oppurtunity to thank everyone who chimmed in with their insight and feedback. I've certaintly gotten a lot to think about, more than I originally expected. I'll let you all know how it turns out, perhaps in a story hour as someone suggested; if I can figure out how that works.

I'll just leave off with this short anecdote:

When my boss asked me how my weekend went I answered "less than stellar". When he asked why, I tried my best to explain in very simple terms (my boss is utterly RPG illeterate) how I upset my players by taking something away from them that they'd worked long and hard to acquire. His response to this was an expected "I don't get it." I decided to explain it in terms a non-gamer might understand:
"Have you ever seen Indiana Jones and the lost Ark?"
"Yeah, sure."
"Well, imagine that you're Indiana Jones and you've worked hard to get this Ark. Then, in the last ten minutes of the movie, nazis show up and snatch away the Ark right out of your hands. That's kind of how my players feel."

*pause*

"And you're the nazi?"
"Yeah... I'm the nazi."
"Ah. I get it now."

Now I just have to worry about bursting into flames or melting.

Ambrus, I'd be really worried that only your SO (SO? Fiancee!!) is upset. How cold have the last few days been?

I'd rather not go into that. Thanks.

If you ever move to Toronto, and you're looking for another player, let me know!

I actually lived in Hamilton between 98 and 02. I can't say that I have any intentions of moving back there. Thanks for the offer though. Let me know if you ever move to Montreal.

 

[Asmo]

"And you're the nazi?" "Yeah... I'm the nazi." "Ah. I get it now."

Hehe, brilliant!

Asmo

 

[Piratecat]

I have deleted a large number of posts from this thread. I am exceedingly annoyed that I needed to do this. Thank you to everyone who didn't follow the hijack, and please remember that bickering and hijacking is not something that we tolerate. When you're tempted to do so, you're much better off just walking away from your keyboard for a time. Otherwise you may find yourself being forced to take a break, and everyone would generally prefer to avoid this.

Carry on!

 

[Darthjaye]

No your not. This is coming from the player side of things. Firstly, as pointed out previously and numerously, the party should have been on their toes. They relied too much on someone else to get things done in this instance. Some may say they weren't paranoid enough about a group they barely knew offering a helping hand with no real costs. Secondly, never, i repeat, never as a player trust the hard earned artifact (ARTIFACT!!!) you fought so hard to find, with someone you don't know from Adam (whomever ever the heck he is). Thirdly/est/ish, you as the GM deserve to have a little fun. They need to understand it's not just for their entertainment. They just get up, wipe themselves off, and either go get even with them little bastichs or move on. Me, i say revenge is a dish served cold and often. Find em, plug em, raise and plug em just to get the point across. They duped them and made it somewhat personal by befriending them. As the great Jesse Ventura once said "I ain't got time to bleed" which i can only surmise, after writing it, is two things: One-my brain may have just have a fart, and Two-dust yourselves off and go get your artifact back (and your reputation, cause if anyone else finds out this happens, your gonna hate bards!!).
Speaking of which, can you use locate/ discern/ commune type spells to find a artifact you had in your possesion?
Hell if my GM (coyote6) had pulled that off he'd have laughed at us when we figured out what happened. And i mean laughed at us to our faces. That doesn't mean he's a bad guy, just that he knows a good laugh/ blunder when he sees one.

Hope that helps....rub the salt in!!!

 

[Raven Crowking]

Story Hour

Ambrus,

To write a story hour, simply write up a sequential story telling your campaign events as they happened. You can examine mine, or those of other posters, for examples.

I would really like to read the backstory here, and know where this one goes.

RC

 

[robberbaron]

Don't beat yourself up over it.
I don't plan every twist and turn of my campaign and haven't had any complaints (yet).

Did any of them ask for a Sense Motive check? Did you offer one?

No and no - perhaps a bit harsh.
No and yes - dopy players.
Yes and yes/no - bad rolling. Shame, but it happens.

Carry on with the plot but let them get the artifact, unless they give their trust unconditionally to the next bunch of miscreants who want to rip them off, in which case they get what they deserve.

 

[tonym]

...I'll let you all know how it turns out, perhaps in a story hour as someone suggested; if I can figure out how that works.

Yes, please let us know what happens--preferably in this thread, since I don't check the Story Hours. If you do a Story Hour, please post news about it in this thread so I'll know to read it.

Good luck!! This thread has been very interesting, btw. I've been in 2 gaming groups which experienced somewhat similar situations. One had a happy ending, one a sad ending. I hope yours ends happily for all involved.

Tony M

 

[_Magnus_]

I think that this is fair. It might be dissapointing, but not unfair. having the artifact stolen will make the party think twice about letting go of valuable/hard earned items in the future. It also makes the experience more real. In real life, I dont think those gnomes would have given the artifact back, and it shows that NPC's don't always have the parties best interests in mind, and that they have their own agendas.

 

[Fieari]

This thread has been a VERY enjoyable read. I would love to hear the conclusion to this little tale... what the group actually ended up doing to resolve it. And then I'd like to see this thread archived. It gave me some great insight as to how I should handle certain situations in my campaign... a great blessing.

Also, here's an offering of thanks to PCat for deleting posts so I didn't have to read them. The sheer civility of everything I've read heartened me greatly, because all too many threads of this nature end up as... er, "urination duels" (is this term eric's granny friendly?).

 

[Treebore]

Along the same vain as Magnus brought up, artifacts are priceless, right? In real life would you trust A few friends you know, but not really, help you hide it away without you being directly involved the whole way? Better yet have your BEST friends back you up the whole way as well? I don't think so.

Heck, in real life I wouldn't trust my best friends with something I owned that was considered priceless. I would worry about being killed for it, by anybody.