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Message: <blockquote data-quote="TuDogz" data-source="post: 1078488" data-attributes="member: 9889">quote: original post by Wish___________________Let me get this straight. Your high level PCs are fighting a high level wizard, and they've had the temerity to defend themselves against magic? And now you want to know how to screw them over? Sounds to me like your PCs are simply acting intelligently. I don't really see why you have to go to great lengths to punish them for it. As a DM, sometimes you have to admit that your players have done something unexpected and effective. Rather than railroading them to get your plot back on track, you need to roll with it and weave a new plot that takes into account the new direction that the PCs have chosen. The DM isn't supposed to "win". And the DM isn't supposed to tell a predestined story and force the characters to go along with it. People who do that are called novelists, not DMs.___________________I suppose it had to happen eventually.  Getting flamed by some dumba$$ who doesn't know me, the situation and who presumes a single situation defines a persons DMing style.I am the last DM on the planet you should consider a Novelist.  I have been playing D&D since it was an expansion of Chainmail and view RPG gaming as a combination of advanced game playing evolution and most importantly, GROUP STORYTELLING.  My players do more through their actions to determine the direction and number of plotlines in our campaign than I do as a DM.  I have had small bar and backroom locales blossom into huge warrens of organized crime because of an offhand comment made by a player.  Often I am simply the mechanic that builds the story framework for the tale they have determined we want to tell.  I come to the table every week prepared to let the PCs do anything they like.  They do not need to tell me that they are going plane tripping or dragon hunting or burgularizing some worthy's home.  They can pursue any interest anywhere and I put it together as we go.  They do, I adjucate.  That's the job.  The basic principles of storytelling however should be maintained.  One of these principles is story arc.  Read Robert Mckee's "Story" if this is beyond your grasp.WE had determined to start a second campaign and eventually tie the two campaigns together as the more developed campaign advanced into epic levels.  The implementation of this, as the primary DM, was left to me.  This particular BBEG (and there are multiple BBEGs in this campaign) is key to the tying together of the two story lines.  The players do not know this and if I let my players have unhindered access to the structure, the only way to keep 8 months of realtime track laying useful would require serious railroading of the PCs.  AS TO THIS PARTICULAR SITUATION, I have no objections to PCs using good tactics and I will not nerf their actions if they play in a way that defeats my NPC no matter how it MIGHT change the story.  I , however, have a job, a pregnant wife, a child and a house I am rebuilding and don't have unlimited time to solve the problems created by six intelligent players.  Therefore, I came here looking for the assistance of the imaginative folks here to help me find a subtle way to help my NPC hold off the PCs for the short term.  All the previous posters helped with that.  You, Wish, did not.  If the speed with which you come to character judgements is any indication of YOUR DMing style I consider myself fortunate not to be involved in any of your games.-TuDogz</blockquote>

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