STARP_Social_Officer
First Post
OK. In my country we have an expression. "More arse than class" means something is pulled off entirely by accident, but yet has a positive impact on everything. An example might be a person who, after blundering through a forest, totally lost, suddenly discovers the body of Jimmy Hoffa. That kind of thing. Simpsonians might recognise the term "pulling a Homer" as meaning much the same thing.
Examples from your game? I'll get the ball rolling.
The party are in a tavern when a really drunk half-ogre barfs on their table, then challenges the fighter to a...fight. The fighter really doesn't want in on this, but the half-ogre won't take no for an answer so the fighter reluctantly agrees, believing he can probably just push the guy over and that'll be that. Four rounds in, the fighter hasn't laid a finger on the half-ogre and is down to 8 hp. Oops.
So the fighter tries to withdraw, but the crowd has gathered around the brawl and he can't get out. And even if he does, he's going to look like a complete chicken, which he can't let happen. He stops briefly to figure out that he could have avoided getting into this situation at any stage but chose instead to go blindly into the fray. At this point the DM (not me) informs the players that the half-ogre is a good six levels ahead of the fighter. Leaving aside the bonehead call to set up a so blatantly one-sided encounter, my rogue and the party's sorcerer started taking bets on the match, with the odds heavily favouring the half-ogre.
At this point, the fighter, who's seen his life flashing before his eyes, makes a last desperate swing and rolls a natural 1. We use critical miss rules, and when he rolls again he misses. The DM says his sword goes flying over the heads of the crowd. Now unarmed against this goon, the fighter's in deep do. The brute misses his attack, so the fighter does the only thing he can do, which is to start hurling random stuff at the brute. The DM rules he can pick up stuff on the tables around the bar (conveniently forgetting his previous ruling that they were in a ring of people), so he starts chucking cutlery, mugs, etc. at the half-ogre.
Now, at this point, the dumb luck occurred. The DM had written the brute as a recurring villain's henchmen, and into his NPC character notes he'd written that the brute had unusual phobias - he was terrified of kittens, of moonless nights and...spoons.
That's right. Spoons. You've probably all guessed where this is going. The DM had said there was cutlery lying around (I think he'd forgotten what his notes said), so when the fighter said "I hurl a spoon at him," the DM blinked, clearly remembering what he'd decided and regretting saying the fighter could throw cutlery.
You know what happened next. The big guy screamed and ran off, leaving the fighter as the somewhat bewildered victor.
Every time we encountered the half-ogre in future, we all produced spoons. It kind of eliminated him as a threat.
Some bonehead calls in there, but still funny and a classic story of victory through complete and utter fluke.
Any more?
Examples from your game? I'll get the ball rolling.
The party are in a tavern when a really drunk half-ogre barfs on their table, then challenges the fighter to a...fight. The fighter really doesn't want in on this, but the half-ogre won't take no for an answer so the fighter reluctantly agrees, believing he can probably just push the guy over and that'll be that. Four rounds in, the fighter hasn't laid a finger on the half-ogre and is down to 8 hp. Oops.
So the fighter tries to withdraw, but the crowd has gathered around the brawl and he can't get out. And even if he does, he's going to look like a complete chicken, which he can't let happen. He stops briefly to figure out that he could have avoided getting into this situation at any stage but chose instead to go blindly into the fray. At this point the DM (not me) informs the players that the half-ogre is a good six levels ahead of the fighter. Leaving aside the bonehead call to set up a so blatantly one-sided encounter, my rogue and the party's sorcerer started taking bets on the match, with the odds heavily favouring the half-ogre.
At this point, the fighter, who's seen his life flashing before his eyes, makes a last desperate swing and rolls a natural 1. We use critical miss rules, and when he rolls again he misses. The DM says his sword goes flying over the heads of the crowd. Now unarmed against this goon, the fighter's in deep do. The brute misses his attack, so the fighter does the only thing he can do, which is to start hurling random stuff at the brute. The DM rules he can pick up stuff on the tables around the bar (conveniently forgetting his previous ruling that they were in a ring of people), so he starts chucking cutlery, mugs, etc. at the half-ogre.
Now, at this point, the dumb luck occurred. The DM had written the brute as a recurring villain's henchmen, and into his NPC character notes he'd written that the brute had unusual phobias - he was terrified of kittens, of moonless nights and...spoons.
That's right. Spoons. You've probably all guessed where this is going. The DM had said there was cutlery lying around (I think he'd forgotten what his notes said), so when the fighter said "I hurl a spoon at him," the DM blinked, clearly remembering what he'd decided and regretting saying the fighter could throw cutlery.
You know what happened next. The big guy screamed and ran off, leaving the fighter as the somewhat bewildered victor.
Every time we encountered the half-ogre in future, we all produced spoons. It kind of eliminated him as a threat.
Some bonehead calls in there, but still funny and a classic story of victory through complete and utter fluke.
Any more?
