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<blockquote data-quote="jaer" data-source="post: 4091219" data-attributes="member: 57861">If something comes up that I had not thought of, I do ad lib it.&nbsp; The thing is, more than likely, I know if there is a whoozit nearby or not before hand.Every dungeon and area I create has an ecology.&nbsp; If there is a carrion crawler, I know what it is eating and how it get's it's food.&nbsp; If there is an elemental or golem, I know why it is there even if it doesn't make sense for it to be there.When my players find something out of the ordinary and their immediate thought is &quot;Why is THAT there?&quot; they can try to rationalize out why something is there because there is a reason.So if I think my players are going to be fighting in a stable, I know where the buckets, hay, pitchforks, shovels, wheel-barrows, and horses are.&nbsp; If I don't expect them to be there and they manage to get into a fight in the stables anyway, I ad lib it.But a disarmed fighter in my group doesn't say &quot;I pick up the pitch fork and use it.&quot;&nbsp; He askes me if there is a pitchfork, I tell him to make a spot roll, and I roll randomly on what I think the chances are of the pitchfork being left stuck in the hay next to the fighter or on the wall ten feet behind him, and that roll is influenced by whether the owner of the stable is chaotic (like to leave stuff around and not likely to discipline stablehands who do the same) or lawful (anal about placement of tools).&nbsp; If he succeeds the spot check, I reveal to him where the pitchfork is based on the random roll.Nothing that fighter can do, other than pick up the and move the pitchfork himself, changes where the pitchfork is after it has been determined either by me before the game or by random roll during the game.Once I read the guidelines in the 4e book, maybe I'll try it another way and see how that goes...</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jaer, post: 4091219, member: 57861"] If something comes up that I had not thought of, I do ad lib it. The thing is, more than likely, I know if there is a whoozit nearby or not before hand. Every dungeon and area I create has an ecology. If there is a carrion crawler, I know what it is eating and how it get's it's food. If there is an elemental or golem, I know why it is there even if it doesn't make sense for it to be there. When my players find something out of the ordinary and their immediate thought is "Why is THAT there?" they can try to rationalize out why something is there because there is a reason. So if I think my players are going to be fighting in a stable, I know where the buckets, hay, pitchforks, shovels, wheel-barrows, and horses are. If I don't expect them to be there and they manage to get into a fight in the stables anyway, I ad lib it. But a disarmed fighter in my group doesn't say "I pick up the pitch fork and use it." He askes me if there is a pitchfork, I tell him to make a spot roll, and I roll randomly on what I think the chances are of the pitchfork being left stuck in the hay next to the fighter or on the wall ten feet behind him, and that roll is influenced by whether the owner of the stable is chaotic (like to leave stuff around and not likely to discipline stablehands who do the same) or lawful (anal about placement of tools). If he succeeds the spot check, I reveal to him where the pitchfork is based on the random roll. Nothing that fighter can do, other than pick up the and move the pitchfork himself, changes where the pitchfork is after it has been determined either by me before the game or by random roll during the game. Once I read the guidelines in the 4e book, maybe I'll try it another way and see how that goes... [/QUOTE]

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