Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Lanefan" data-source="post: 9053326" data-attributes="member: 29398">Agreed in general, and I appreciate players who take this approach. However, not all do; and I've seen more than enough attempted take-backs and retcons over time when things go unexpectedly wrong from what seemed like a simple action (a silly example here might be smashing a china vase without realizing it's full of nitroglicerine); and can do without those arguments.  Thus, I put my foot down quickly.This is great, and I say that in a good way!One classic example from my game of both the good and bad, from about 2001, went like this: party was in a methane-laden swamp, detailed as such in the canned module I was running.  The swamp is something of a trap in that while there you meet a few trolls but lighting any sort of fire results in the methane going up as a full fireball.  I had narrated that there was a distinct smell of methane or something similar and at least one player, in character, said something like "We'd better not light any fires here".  So far so good; and these were four very intelligent players.Then they met the trolls, and after killing them the party MU - without thinking - blithely cast Flaming Sphere to toast the bodies.  The following conversaton went like this:Me: "OK, you cast you spell - you all need saving throws."All four players in perfect unison, after a two-second silence: "D'oh!", followed by a roar of laughter.Saves were failed all over the place, and a majestic meltdown of magic items followed.  By the time the dust settled, of a party of about 8 (I forget the exact number) one character was dead, two others were barely alive, and over 100,000 g.p. worth of magic had gone up in smoke.  And everyone was laughing.......until the next week, when the player who had missed that session* showed up and started squawking, demanding retcons and do-overs because his character(s? I think he had two at the time) - while still alive - had lost some expensive gear.  That was one long and nasty argument, and turned something everyone else had seen as a silly mistake and gloriously fun moment into a drawn-out ordeal.  Soured the Flaming Sphere's caster on the game for years.* - it had long been established table policy at the time (and still is today) that if you-as-player miss a session your character(s) is(are) still in action, and left in the hands of others to play; which they will in good faith. Any pre-instructions given by the missing player to the DM and-or one or more other players are expected to be followed as closely as practical.</blockquote>

Verification