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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Squire James" data-source="post: 5772132" data-attributes="member: 548">Hm... most of the Awesome moments I was involved in were "group DM derails" in a single AD&D campaign in the mid 80's.  We needed good dice rolls to do what we did, but most of it was due to Solid Plans the DM was totally unprepared for!  The best example follows:The story hook was a small horde of orcs, about 100 of them, were out ravaging the countryside.  We were 8 characters ranging from level 1 to 3, so we were not supposed to take them head-on.  Our party started with hints about where the horde was, but no hints regarding where their lair was.  The DM clearly meant us to encounter the horde, follow them back to their lair, kill them piecemeal, and rejoice with level-appropriate piles of treasure.We met the horde all right, in the aftermath of raiding a caravan.  We asked what was in the caravan, and one of the things the DM mentioned was several barrels of oil.  One of the 3rd level guys was a magic-user, so our thief got an Invisibility spell and fetched a couple barrels (some orc undoubtedly thinking "Did I just see a barrel move for no apparent reason?  Nah!").From behind a hill overlooking the now-camping horde, we lit the barrels on fire (those barrels of oil burned well back then... it only became "wussy oil" in later editions).  The orcs had started plenty of fires, so one more wasn't remarkable.  At least, not until we rolled them over the hill and on to their campsite, while the illusionist made a Phantasmal Force of them being Fireballs!The barrels provided the thermal component missing from the spell, so about half of them perished from failing to disbelieve they were being burned for 5d6 fire damage, and some more perished from a good roll on the 2d6 they were really taking!  Our other 6 people charged the 30 or so remaining orcs and slaughtered most of them.  I think a few might have gotten away, making us something they used to get their kids to behave... somewhere far from here.Of course, the DM had to punish us for our success by telling us all their treasure was in their lair (that we had no idea existed at this point).  Wait a minute... all these orcs trusted Some Orc Back Home with ALL their money?  Apparently so!</blockquote>

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