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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Taed" data-source="post: 5190728" data-attributes="member: 89454">I'm a fairly new DM and I missed a great dramatic opportunity yesterday that I didn't recognize until this morning, so I thought I'd start a thread so that everyone can share their regretful hindsight.  I'm not looking for bad rules calls, this is for missed story opportunities.We're working our way through _Keep on the Shadowfell_ and the party meets up with Balgron the Fat, who is more of a bad-ass gambler who rules the goblins with an iron fist than in the written module.  He also had a +1 Great Hunger Greataxe instead of that silly magic wand in his chest.The party had gone through the level "the wrong way", and had cleared it out before meeting up with him.  So, Balgron had plenty of warning that another damned set of adventurers had gotten past the guards and was prepared for their eventual meeting.The PCs are stupidly arguing outside the door about how they should burst in, and so Balgron hears them and opens the door and announces "Welcome!  We've been waiting for you!"  He says that he's willing to offer then a deal -- a one-on-one fight between him and their strongest.  If he wins, well, they were going to kill the party anyway, at which point he opens the door all the way to reveal 20 more goblins behind him.  But if their champion wins, he'll let them leave alive.  (Of course, he would do no such thing, but the party doesn't know that.)  But he warns them -- he's never lost a fight.After a bit of bickering between The Fighter and The Barbarian, it's The Barbarian that steps up to the plate.  The Barbarian and Balgron get into a verbal pissing match which culminates in The Barbarian announcing to Balgron one of his quirks, "See these ears on my necklace?  They didn't come from Dungeon-Mart, you know!"The battle commences, and after two misses by The Barbarian and two nice hits by Balgron, The Barbarian is down.What I did:Balgron laughs and kicks the dying PC, "THAT was your BEST?  Come on, people; give me a decent fight!  I'll give you another chance -- how about you, Fighter?"  (At which point The Fighter does manage to best him, but then all the goblins, after being in shock over their fallen leader, procede to either attack the party anyway or run away, happy to be free of the tyrant.)What I should have done:Balgron leans over and slices off The Barbarian's ear, announcing, "I do believe that I'll start a necklace of my own."I totally blew that -- it would have been a great unforgettable moment in the life of that cocky PC and the party.Anyone else have stories to share of dramatic moments that they blew?</blockquote>

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