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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Percivellian" data-source="post: 2612783" data-attributes="member: 27824">I've learned the lesson of giving dilemmas like this to my players the hard way. A DM holding onto a preconceived idea of a 'right' and a 'wrong' choice, or even a 'superior' and 'inferior' choice is a recipe for some discontentment, at the least.In the game, the characters are faced with a serious choice, and the players are thinking on it seriously. They will ultimately choose what they think is best after all considerations have been made. Now, in a situation like this, they already feel screwed from both sides. Damned if they do, damned if they don't. It's either lose a party member, or face what this Queen is telling them is a TPK. Being that this is a situation of DM's creation, it's the DM's job to pull them out of "I feel screwed" territory, and not dangle a knifepoint above their heads. Whatever choice they make should be rewarded at this point because these levels of moral ground are ultimately subjective constructions of the mind, and the players may not see it the same way as the DM.I like Badger's line from the pilot episode in Firefly: "Crime and politics, love. Situation is always: fluid." Same thing here, only it changes to - Behind the DM's screen, the situation is always fluid. As we run our games, we get these grand visions and think, "Man, that's gonna be so cool." But our players aren't aware of our plans and sometimes they don't fall right into them. One of the most important skills a DM can have is the ability to, at the drop of a hat, change (or just plain get rid of) all their grand visions to ensure that the game stays fun for the players, because really, DM's don't tend to have fun if they players aren't enjoying themselves.The thing about having your players feeling caught between a rock and a hard place now is that it's a sure bet they'll be pretty damn happy when things unexpectedly turn in their favour. The trick, of course, is to not make this feel like you're going easy on them, or just swooping in and fixing things for them. There are plenty of ways to do this, but you have to make sure it happens.Good luck. I'm still curious as to how it will play out, and how your players will react.</blockquote>

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