This is from James Ward post awhile back.
It covers surprises that can happen in a game.
The week of this story we were using our low-level characters. I had a half-elf thief/magic-user that I was very proud of. Ren 'o the Blade had high stat scores. He had risen to 5/6 in experience levels. He had an impressive magical dagger, a fully charged wand of fireballs and a half-charged wand of paralyzing. Other players brought their dwarves and humans. We were a solid group that had played together before. This time was strange in that Gary insisted that a powerful NPC dwarf come along on the adventure. He had never brought along an NPC before. We didn't have a problem with that when we found out the dwarf had a large magic carpet, a +3 shield, and a dwarven throwing hammer. We started into the Drow area through part that we had cleared before.
We discovered a highly magical area with some type of dais. The Drow and Drider guards were quickly dealt with. Gary described the portal in wonderful detail. None of us were going to make any mistake in dealing with this thing. We started testing it using the same tests that we used for the demon mouth in TOMB OF HORRORS. We tied a rock to a rope and threw it in the hole. We could easily pull the rope back. We stuck a staff with a bit of raw meat on the end in the hole and again easily pulled it back. A small cage with a living plant and a mouse went in and came out healthy and fine. We had a wizard with a teleport spell. He memorized our area and we tied a rope to his middle and he walked through the portal. We easily pulled him back and he described a cool metal chamber with a metal door in the distance. We were filled with wonder and just had to check it out ourselves. Here is where we made the bonehead mistake.
We all jumped into the portal; came out on the other side; and began exploring.
Gary got up from his DM chair and asked me if I had my Metamorphosis Alpha starship Warden material. I said I did and he urged me to go and get it. I thought this was a strange request, but I went and got it. When I came back Gary was sitting in my chair with a character sheet in his hand. He told me to sit in his DM chair. I felt very uncomfortable sitting in Gary's chair. For years that chair represented the all-powerful DM. At first I was very unsure of DMing this group.
Gary explained to all of us that we had just been transported to the starship Warden. The portal we went threw had winked out behind us (bonehead moment for us). The group was now on the deadly Warden. My beloved fantasy character Ren 'o the Blade was in deadly danger and I was the one explaining the danger.
For many game weeks, the group explored the Warden. Gary and I talked about the effects of magic and mutational powers. We decided magic did full unsaved damage so my half-elf's fireball wand did 36 points of fire damage. Conversely, mutant control attacks always worked on the fantasy characters.
I was unhinged in the following weeks as I threw military robots, red androids, and really nasty mutant plants at the group. Rolling to see which character the Warden menaces attacked was unusually hard for me, especially when they attacked my half-elf. More discussions occurred on clerics getting their spells back. I selfishly wanted it so my character could be healed of damage.
It is now 43 years later. That brave band of fantasy characters lives in a forest on level seven of the Warden. I'm hoping Steve Chenault of Troll Lords lets me write a stretch goal C&C adventure where they go to save Ren the Prince of an Elvin Nation. Only time will tell, wish him luck.
We discovered a highly magical area with some type of dais. The Drow and Drider guards were quickly dealt with. Gary described the portal in wonderful detail. None of us were going to make any mistake in dealing with this thing. We started testing it using the same tests that we used for the demon mouth in TOMB OF HORRORS. We tied a rock to a rope and threw it in the hole. We could easily pull the rope back. We stuck a staff with a bit of raw meat on the end in the hole and again easily pulled it back. A small cage with a living plant and a mouse went in and came out healthy and fine. We had a wizard with a teleport spell. He memorized our area and we tied a rope to his middle and he walked through the portal. We easily pulled him back and he described a cool metal chamber with a metal door in the distance. We were filled with wonder and just had to check it out ourselves. Here is where we made the bonehead mistake.
We all jumped into the portal; came out on the other side; and began exploring.
Gary got up from his DM chair and asked me if I had my Metamorphosis Alpha starship Warden material. I said I did and he urged me to go and get it. I thought this was a strange request, but I went and got it. When I came back Gary was sitting in my chair with a character sheet in his hand. He told me to sit in his DM chair. I felt very uncomfortable sitting in Gary's chair. For years that chair represented the all-powerful DM. At first I was very unsure of DMing this group.
Gary explained to all of us that we had just been transported to the starship Warden. The portal we went threw had winked out behind us (bonehead moment for us). The group was now on the deadly Warden. My beloved fantasy character Ren 'o the Blade was in deadly danger and I was the one explaining the danger.
For many game weeks, the group explored the Warden. Gary and I talked about the effects of magic and mutational powers. We decided magic did full unsaved damage so my half-elf's fireball wand did 36 points of fire damage. Conversely, mutant control attacks always worked on the fantasy characters.
I was unhinged in the following weeks as I threw military robots, red androids, and really nasty mutant plants at the group. Rolling to see which character the Warden menaces attacked was unusually hard for me, especially when they attacked my half-elf. More discussions occurred on clerics getting their spells back. I selfishly wanted it so my character could be healed of damage.
It is now 43 years later. That brave band of fantasy characters lives in a forest on level seven of the Warden. I'm hoping Steve Chenault of Troll Lords lets me write a stretch goal C&C adventure where they go to save Ren the Prince of an Elvin Nation. Only time will tell, wish him luck.
It covers surprises that can happen in a game.
