D&D 5E I Failed My Kobayashi Maru Scenario

[AngryOgre]

I understand the whole touchstone approach, but I agree with the OP's original choice here. He was DMing for his son and friends who were essentially dressing up a dog and dragging it around on a leash as a prize. Very uncomfortable, no matter their fondness for the creature. He chose to remove it from the game.

D&D is a reflection of life as much as you want to make it, or as much as an escape as you want it to be. I've had my stepson ask me why the race of black people were evil? Why the "jock looking and macho talking dwarves" picked on the "effeminate and nerdy elves"? And this was just from him reading the PHB. Kids pick up on stereotypes quickly, its an easy way for them to compartmentalize information. I make sure in my games with kids to never delve lightly into morally questionable behaviors, like stock racism, or slavery. And like the OP... if i felt things getting awkward, out goes the culprit.

I guess, I mean is s fantasy role playing game. Part of growing up is learning to differentiate between real life and fantasy. Even at a young age. But if that's the way you want to run your games I'm not gonna stop you. But this DM is recognizing that their kids really got attached to this npc, why not make it a fun game getting it back. By reinforcing they could never get to know this npc is basically othering it. Instead of getting acquainted with something new.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Maybe Snik is only "mostly dead" and a trip to Miracle Max is in order?

My wife is always collecting a menagerie in any game we play. I've just resigned myself that the endgame will look like "The Incredibly Journey" with Nereth the Flameskull, Bub the Flumph, and Susan the Hydra instead of a cat and two dogs.

 

[Zaruthustran]

Good story, well told. I appreciate that you're bringing the joy of gaming to a new generation, and taking it seriously.

I recommend you leave Snik as a dead kobold. Don't retcon, don't bring him back as a zombie or clone. It's important for the game world to be consistent and for consequences to matter.

But clearly, your players desire a mascot. Maybe a little comic relief, maybe a critter that they can have power over. So I'd give them that: a squire, a spirited mount, a familiar. Even a client (escort mission) or a rival. A recurring NPC that they can interact with beyond combat. Give them a companion and a foil.

 

[Krakenspire]

Leave snik dead. They will move on and name a future familiar snik in honour of their first slave.

 

[transtemporal]

Thats pretty cool. Hell, id let them bring him back. Thats an interesting scenario.

Then id have snik become an evil nemesis. They may have bought him back, but they also killed his tribe!

 

[txshusker]

This is one of my favorite posts for a while, now.
1) you're back into it.
2) you're teaching 11yr olds
3) they were crafty enough to take a captive.
4) they were invested in the captive!
5) you killed their hopes like a good DM who crushes souls. I can't wait until they're 12 and you take them through The Tomb of Horrors with their favorite characters.

Honestly, if I was running a couple encounters for the first time while teaching the game to 3 11yr olds and learning all the tedious rules as I go, I would have totally killed off the kobold, too. I think it was great you used pits ex machina, since they had been a part of the encounters up to that point and that you didn't just make something totally up.

over Xmas, I was running Keep of the Borderlands, and the players took a goblin captive in that first cave. They tied him up and decided to throw him into the pit so he couldn't get away while they interrogated him. I totally had him break his neck when he landed in the pit. They had screwed up on the initial interrogation and I gave them 3 chances to renege on the "throw him into the pit"; so I wanted to teach them a lesson... and I really didn't want to deal with the captive aspect at that moment.

Humanoids aren't pets. They would try to escape. And kobolds are fast and quick and nimble. I honestly think it's a plausible outcome. The players don't get everything they want!

 

[Kobold Stew]

Kids like pets. I've run a number of games (fantasy and sf) for my son and his friends, and they regularly want pets involved; talking pets especially.

I agree with those who say that you shouldn't go back on what you've done; retconning weakens everything that you might do in the future.

But it's also clear that you had decided what was the "best" roleplaying outcome for the kids without listening to them -- from your description it's clear what they wanted, and that you worked against that, both forcing the kobold to run away, and defying the dice, and having him fall and die in a trap. I'd suggest that there's were you can learn: the opportunities for them as they discover what they can do in an rpg; the freedom, the chance of rebellion, the moral issues of fighting evil, and the opportunity of talking to one's pets -- all that they will be able to take with them.

It's clear you recognize that things could have gone differently. Now just make sure they do -- so that they come to love rpgs as much as you do.

 

[Storminator]

Thanks for the replies everybody. You've given me some great ideas on how to move on from here.

I think I learned from my mishandling of the situation. 11 year old boys see the game differently than I do, and I'm going to try to keep that in mind as I run it for them.

I'm with you on this. I'm running for my son and one of his friends. I'm kind of meh on 5e, because it seems to cover a lot of gaming style I'm no longer really interested in. But those are exactly the things the boys have latched on to.

Gonna have to adapt. . .

PS

 

[Schmoe]

Am I the only one thats OK with this outcome? I dont think he made a mistake, with new or veteran players. And none of that "its the DMs game nonsense" I know the boys liked the kobold.

Life in D&D is harsh. The gods are fickle and fate is a b....

Sure the DM made a call and the boys tried to prevent it. Even the dice gods tried to prevent it.

The DM learned his lesson, and the players learned theirs. They never bound the kobold too well, its escaped a bunch of times. How cruel is it to make something your slave? Why is everyone ok with indentured servitude? If the kobold was helpful and playful, then things might be different.

The boys are 11ish and the game will go on, with or without the kobold. The next time they capture a foe, and want to "keep it as a pet" they will learn harsher and crueler lessons about life than this.

In fact if they keep talking about it, their next adventure, one of the boys will be captured, and forced to be a slave to some lizardfolk. Even if they treat him well, lets see how well he likes it. Only then will Snik's death have a truly profound impact... true freedom.

I actually agree with you. Sure, the kids would have liked to keep Snik, but as another poster said, there will be other Sniks. This Snik will become more than he ever could have otherwise, his legend will grow, and he will become the one that got away.

Obviously I don't think a DM should actively try to thwart the player's plans all of the time or even most of the time, but sometimes it happens. The players will adapt, and that, too, becomes part of the story.

 

[Krakenspire]

Its funny, this story reminds me so much of my first adventures as a 12 year old, going to the Savage Land with the good ole' masters kit back in the day, fighting Allosaurus and dealing with weird new races. We never played the game correctly, DM fiat was painful but we had a boat load of fun and 25 years later we STILL talk about the odd characters we met along the way and the wacky fights we had. I agree with the poster above, Snik will become legend and will be remembered by the kids for years to come.... "Hey remember when we caught that kobold... what was his name...oh yah Snik and you chased him during that wolf fight? Yah that was epic man...."

These are the best of times in so many ways! That'll do DM, that'll do...