Confess! Tell the most horrible thing you've done to your players

[Jd Smith1]

I'll start:

My current group, most of whom have been gaming with me since 2002, are men of limited empathy. The humor at the table is rough. In-game, they operate using the four principles of spite, greed, petty-mindedness, and irrational affections for inconsequential NPCs.

A couple years ago during a Fading Suns campaign, they landed a lucrative contract to infiltrate groups suspected of trafficking with, or encouraging, the Darkness Between the Stars.

So they infiltrated the group. Which in fact turned out to be engaged in banned activities: RPGs and CCGs.

They spent most of two sessions obtaining clear evidence of the participants and their crimes. It was the only time I have seen my players squirm. They still talk about that scenario; it was, IIRC, the only time empathy ever came close to overcoming greed in the group's history.

 

[Imaculata]

During a horror campaign, while the party was exploring a house at night, I gave my players a huge scare. They were already really on edge, because they broke into the house, and the owner (a priest and suspected cultist) could be back any minute. Then I suddenly played the loud sound of a chiming clock, and literally made some of my players jump out of their seat.

I also made my players believe that this evil priest had his own wife tied to the bed with wire. As they cut her restraints, it was revealed that his wife in fact had long been dead, and he had brought her back as a ghoul. And then they had to run for their lives.

 

[R_J_K75]

Knowing there was a gnome in the party I put a prismatic sphere on a wizards bed to protect him when he was sleeping. The gnome saw this and being inquisitive went up and touched it. Poof...dead.

 

[Dioltach]

Fairly innocent: back in 2nd edition days, I gave the party a vorpal sword. Explained what it did. Cue big eyes, "me want, me want!" Except the party was made up of two magic-users, a dwarven psionic, a druid, a cleric, and a beastmaster. No-one could use this lovely treasure ...

Quite disturbing: when describing a dungeon, I repeatedly emphasised how everything was red. "The walls are red. Red ceiling. Red red red. Blood red. Red red dead. Everything's red. Red. Red. Red." Kept it up the whole time, it drove them crazy.

Worst ever: not me, but another member of our group was DMing, and allowed someone to join who played a kender.

 

[R_J_K75]

....allowed someone to join who played a kender.

I played one...ONCE. Only lasted about 2 sessions until the DM killed me with an Ethereal Vortex.

 

[Bagpuss]

In Shadowrun I poisoned one with tetrodotoxin, a poison that leads to complete paralysis while the victim is still conscious and aware of every going on. Heart rate slows until virtually undetectable.

I then took them aside told them what had happened, how their character could see and hear everything but could do nothing and when we came back in handed them the rulebook and asked them to start making a new character.

So while they are making the character I go on to describe the party finding the body the paramedics arriving. The trip to the hospital and being declare DOA and taken to the morgue and put in a tray. The rest of the party carry on with the investigation. While they are doing that the company they are working for orders an autopsy as other execs had been killed then came back as zombies.

Kept taking that player outside “to work out how we would work his new character into the campaign“ but actually to describe how the fridge was open plan inside and he could sense the cold and ther other corpse around him, how they were discussing the planned autopsy, etc.

The other players discover the nature of tetrodotoxin just as I am describing the start of the Y Incision.

 

[Dioltach]

I played one...ONCE. Only lasted about 2 sessions until the DM killed me with an Ethereal Vortex.

Yup, that's my approach to any kender at my table. And tinker gnomes. Although I tend to allow them a save to avoid a fluke meteor strike.

 

[R_J_K75]

Yup, that's my approach to any kender at my table. And tinker gnomes. Although I tend to allow them a save to avoid a fluke meteor strike.

I always liked Tinker Gnomes, I always use them as priests of Gond. I had them accidentally unleash a bunch of automatons in Waterdeep that went haywire and started wreaking havoc until the PCs destroyed them.

 

[ccs]

Gather around & let me tell you the story of Brian the Lich....

So we were playing 1e at the time (a campaign that ran summer '86- early '91) & my friend Brian made the mistake of assuming that anything he read was in effect within the game.
Well, at some point he'd read an article in Dragon about the process of becoming a Lich. Among other things it detailed this deadly potion that had to be brewed & drunk.

Before this campaign had even begun Brian had decided that he wanted his next character to become a Lich. He planned out what Lvs of Cleric/Wizard he wanted to be, what deity to be a cleric of, race, what he wanted his stats to be, what all components from the article he'd need.... Pretty much everything.
Except for one key thing.
He intentionally never said one word of this plan to me, the DM.

He was an active player. Right from lv.1 f I wasn't throwing a quest at the party, Brian was suggesting quests to get the items on his list. Or he'd negotiate items as payment, spend resources acquiring/making them, etc etc etc.
For awhile I didn't realize what he was up to. He hadn't said anything & I hadn't read that article. And he never once mentioned anything about Liches.
Somewhere about a year into this campaign I acquired a "Best of Dragon" volume with this article reprinted in it. And I noticed some of the odd things he'd been questing for.... So I payed much closer attention to what he said - both in & out of character. And what he did in character.
I decided to see how long he'd go with out telling his DM the evil plan.
'86 faded into '87, into '88, turned in to '89. We graduated High school. Played all summer. Started off to different Colleges, played over the holidays, 89 turned into '90. We played every week through the summers & over holiday breaks. 90 turned into the end of winter break in '91.... All during this time? Further accumulation of the odd stuff, built a fortress, eventually an Alignment shift, but never any mention of Liches, Lichdom, nor did his character ever do any research on the subject.
If he had? He'd have found out how one becomes a Lich in my game.
{I bet you can see where this is heading....}

Now remember, we're playing 1e.
To gain double digit Lvs of both Cleric & Magic User (wizard to you young 'uns)? That is a HELL OF A LOT of XP. Especially when it's being split between 3-4 other players. 100s & 100s & 100s of thousands of XP.
And it takes TIME to play that much D&D. Like YEARS.

So our last game over winter break going into '91? Brian has finally achieved his minimum desired lvs.
His character retreats to his fortress, casts all the spells to activate his phylactery, seal his inner sanctum, etc etc etc.
Lies down in bed & drinks his super-toxic killer potion fully expecting to wake up as a Lich.

I reply with something along the lines of "Let me see your character sheet."
He hands it over.
I rip it up & declare the character permanently DEAD.
The rest of the group almost dies laughing.
The stunned look on Brians face? Priceless. A true Kodak moment.
Even more priceless when he learned I'd had this potential ending in mind for nearly 4 years & all he had to do to avoid it was talk to me about his plan.

The lesson of this story: There's no secrets from the DM.

 

[R_J_K75]

Gather around & let me tell you the story of Brian the Lich....

So we were playing 1e at the time (a campaign that ran summer '86- early '91) & my friend Brian made the mistake of assuming that anything he read was in effect within the game.
Well, at some point he'd read an article in Dragon about the process of becoming a Lich. Among other things it detailed this deadly potion that had to be brewed & drunk.

Before this campaign had even begun Brian had decided that he wanted his next character to become a Lich. He planned out what Lvs of Cleric/Wizard he wanted to be, what deity to be a cleric of, race, what he wanted his stats to be, what all components from the article he'd need.... Pretty much everything.
Except for one key thing.
He intentionally never said one word of this plan to me, the DM.

He was an active player. Right from lv.1 f I wasn't throwing a quest at the party, Brian was suggesting quests to get the items on his list. Or he'd negotiate items as payment, spend resources acquiring/making them, etc etc etc.
For awhile I didn't realize what he was up to. He hadn't said anything & I hadn't read that article. And he never once mentioned anything about Liches.
Somewhere about a year into this campaign I acquired a "Best of Dragon" volume with this article reprinted in it. And I noticed some of the odd things he'd been questing for.... So I payed much closer attention to what he said - both in & out of character. And what he did in character.
I decided to see how long he'd go with out telling his DM the evil plan.
'86 faded into '87, into '88, turned in to '89. We graduated High school. Played all summer. Started off to different Colleges, played over the holidays, 89 turned into '90. We played every week through the summers & over holiday breaks. 90 turned into the end of winter break in '91.... All during this time? Further accumulation of the odd stuff, built a fortress, eventually an Alignment shift, but never any mention of Liches, Lichdom, nor did his character ever do any research on the subject.
If he had? He'd have found out how one becomes a Lich in my game.
{I bet you can see where this is heading....}

Now remember, we're playing 1e.
To gain double digit Lvs of both Cleric & Magic User (wizard to you young 'uns)? That is a HELL OF A LOT of XP. Especially when it's being split between 3-4 other players. 100s & 100s & 100s of thousands of XP.
And it takes TIME to play that much D&D. Like YEARS.

So our last game over winter break going into '91? Brian has finally achieved his minimum desired lvs.
His character retreats to his fortress, casts all the spells to activate his phylactery, seal his inner sanctum, etc etc etc.
Lies down in bed & drinks his super-toxic killer potion fully expecting to wake up as a Lich.

I reply with something along the lines of "Let me see your character sheet."
He hands it over.
I rip it up & declare the character permanently DEAD.
The rest of the group almost dies laughing.
The stunned look on Brians face? Priceless. A true Kodak moment.
Even more priceless when he learned I'd had this potential ending in mind for nearly 4 years & all he had to do to avoid it was talk to me about his plan.

The lesson of this story: There's no secrets from the DM.

Id have made him an NPC with a 10 INT and had Brian the Lich be the villain of every campaign after.