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Has your GM shocked you lately?
- Thread starter Rafael Ceurdepyr
- Start date
Rafael Ceurdepyr
First Post
sniffles said:@Rafael - hey, I just realized I know some gamers from Atlanta through another forum. But Atlanta's a big city...
Indeed it is! I'm about 2 1/2 hours west of Atlanta, but go there every year for DragonCon.
Rafael Ceurdepyr
First Post
sniffles said:I'm not geographically challenged, really... Just had a brain phart.
Ah, but if you're in Portland, Atlanta IS close to Birmingham. Relatively speaking. Right?
Henry
Autoexreginated
My DM shocked me last year by having a 10-year old kid revealed as one of the masterminds to a kidnapping plot. The NPC (whose name is Elmo, and was actually 14 disguised as 10) left us high and dry in a precarious position, took our stuff, and left. Well, I shouldn't say "high and dry" -- it was actually "low and wet" on an overturned lifeboat at the mercy of a cadre of pirates, the little bastard.
We're the only gaming group I know that swore an oath to hunt and string up a teenager.
We're the only gaming group I know that swore an oath to hunt and string up a teenager.
the Jester
Legend
Henry said:My DM shocked me last year by having a 10-year old kid revealed as one of the masterminds to a kidnapping plot. The NPC (whose name is Elmo, and was actually 14 disguised as 10) left us high and dry in a precarious position, took our stuff, and left. Well, I shouldn't say "high and dry" -- it was actually "low and wet" on an overturned lifeboat at the mercy of a cadre of pirates, the little bastard.
We're the only gaming group I know that swore an oath to hunt and string up a teenager.
Super cool.
I once used a psionically-active newborn infant as a major villain, does that count?
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
Henry
Autoexreginated
the Jester said:Super cool.
I once used a psionically-active newborn infant as a major villain, does that count?
Nah, I remember a former poster to these forums who beats us all, because the main villain of his campaign was a druidically Awakened Gorilla.
"The Mastermind is an APE?!?!"
The Sigil
Mr. 3000 (Words per post)
ROTFLMAO!Henry said:Nah, I remember a former poster to these forums who beats us all, because the main villain of his campaign was a druidically Awakened Gorilla.
"The Mastermind is an APE?!?!"
That does it... the next Evil Mastermind in my campaign is going to be a druidically awakened ... wait for it... spoiler:
rosebush...
My PCs will get very sick of hearing, "Rosebud" and will probably end up thinking it's some dumb sled.
My PCs will get very sick of hearing, "Rosebud" and will probably end up thinking it's some dumb sled.
--The Sigil
Lancelot
Adventurer
Haven't been playing much lately, but I've DM'ed my own home-brew for a bunch of players nigh on 20 years. Most of them are veterans - we have some partners and guest appearances who are less experienced, but the average player in the group has been gaming 10-20 years. They're a hard bunch to shock.
"Huh. My identical twin sister that I've known since I was 1st level, two years ago (real-time), is actually a transdimensional soul-eater from Beyond? [shrug] I guess that happens..."
However, I was thrilled to find I finally shocked them about a month ago. The core players of my group developed some characters to the low Epic levels (23rd lvl), and have basically retired to run a borderland region in a good-aligned land. Now, these characters were advanced from 1st level, over the course of 5 years or more (real-time). Very deep attachment to the PCs and the land they live in.
For the last 3 years, we've been doing a new campaign. Psionic characters working as special agents for another country. And again, the players have built a real attachment to their characters and the country they work for. The twist is that this new nation has just declared war on the country their Epic characters live in. It's not a good-vs-evil thing; neither country is "evil" - it's simply about land, and politics, and old history.
What really shook the players, though, is their commanding officer casually mentioning that their intention is to capture the borderland region that the Epic characters run, then hand it over to a neighboring evil power to form an independent buffer state between the two nations.
Jaws on the floor all over the place. It was a shock in a lot of ways - that their (lower-level) psionic PCs are potentially going to be taking on their older Epic level PCs, that the war between the two (non-evil) nations is deadly serious, and that their current nation would cut a deal with an evil power for political expediancy and to gain a military advantage.
The worst thing is, there is no clear-cut villain in this. Their commanding officer and the people he reports to are not necessarily evil or misguided. It's simply the most sensible tactic, given other political and geographic considerations in the region. The players are now stuck trying to figure out what is the "right" thing to do.
"Huh. My identical twin sister that I've known since I was 1st level, two years ago (real-time), is actually a transdimensional soul-eater from Beyond? [shrug] I guess that happens..."
However, I was thrilled to find I finally shocked them about a month ago. The core players of my group developed some characters to the low Epic levels (23rd lvl), and have basically retired to run a borderland region in a good-aligned land. Now, these characters were advanced from 1st level, over the course of 5 years or more (real-time). Very deep attachment to the PCs and the land they live in.
For the last 3 years, we've been doing a new campaign. Psionic characters working as special agents for another country. And again, the players have built a real attachment to their characters and the country they work for. The twist is that this new nation has just declared war on the country their Epic characters live in. It's not a good-vs-evil thing; neither country is "evil" - it's simply about land, and politics, and old history.
What really shook the players, though, is their commanding officer casually mentioning that their intention is to capture the borderland region that the Epic characters run, then hand it over to a neighboring evil power to form an independent buffer state between the two nations.
Jaws on the floor all over the place. It was a shock in a lot of ways - that their (lower-level) psionic PCs are potentially going to be taking on their older Epic level PCs, that the war between the two (non-evil) nations is deadly serious, and that their current nation would cut a deal with an evil power for political expediancy and to gain a military advantage.
The worst thing is, there is no clear-cut villain in this. Their commanding officer and the people he reports to are not necessarily evil or misguided. It's simply the most sensible tactic, given other political and geographic considerations in the region. The players are now stuck trying to figure out what is the "right" thing to do.
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