"I wonder if it is friendl-OHMYGODIT'SEATINGME!"

[diaglo]

25 or so odd years ago... came close to killing my first dragon.

we had fought a gas spore... Oops.. and then frantically stumbled around the rest of the dungeon looking for a cure.

we found a dragon sitting on top of a pile of coins and potions. one of those potions must be the cure... (metagaming at its worst)...

one of the other guys says we can't carry all of that gold and by the time we figure out which potion is right (didn't want to drink multiple potions and explode) it will be too late. so lets clubber the dragon and get him to tell us.

we didn't know about subdual... but low and behold it was in the rules... 1edADnD (1979) DMG revised. so we attacked to subdue. and won... just before the dragon breathed on us.

anyway.. turns out we were right. so we cure ourselves and then head to town with our phat lewt.. and new beast of burden...

the dragon was brass... and the town nearly lynched us for harming their protector/benefactor.

 

[FCWesel]

Yeah, one of my players tried to get lippy with a man who had been upset that the player had killed his kobolds. Imagine the players surprise when the crooked and ugly old man turned into a huge Bronze Dragon and that the Dragon had told the PCs that they had just wiped out his 750 year old (and thus far, promising) experiment to breed goodness into the kobolds.

It's one thing to get lippy to an old man you don't know is a Bronze Dragon. You find out hard and fast that it is another thing to KEEP doing it.

 

[Gez]

How many savage looking, nastily armed, fanged, smelly good guys do you use?

Does a half-celestial sphynx count? Because she wasn't smelly. And do not eat her foes.

The PCs have been allied with kobolds and goblins (helping them uprise against the ogremage that enslaved them) and a sort of little beholder-like critter.

Or maybe an ettin Maitre' de (sp?)?

Maître d'hôtel, for hotel-master, adopted and mangled in American English as "Maitre D"...

 

[eris404]

How many savage looking, nastily armed, fanged, smelly good guys do you use?

I am embarrassed to admit it, but I am the type of player that loves to pick up strays.* In one campaign, I play a bard/cleric who has so far saved and befriended a gnoll and is working on converting a nest of ettercaps into a spy network for the good guys.

Also, the DM for this game decided to make many humanoid races the followers of a legendary ogre (The Tharkule) who was going to bring civilization, knowledge and power to them. Though they may look like normal gnolls, orcs or whatever, they are generally more intelligent, cleaner, neutrally-aligned (if not good) and eager to work with other "civilized" races; they are especially keen to be seen as equals by the PC races. This has created an interesting side plot, as not all humanoids are followers of the Tharkule and there has been some fighting amongst these factions.

* I have a soft heart and tend to play the healer/mediator of the group. I also like the idea of having networks of different NPCs and/or monsters to call on for help. But if the DM plays a foe as outright vicious, evil and dangerous, I have no qualms about subduing or killing it.

 

[VirgilCaine]

It must be a nightmare fitting a tux for a two-headed creature.....

Epic. Level. Expert.

Yeah, one of my players tried to get lippy with a man who had been upset that the player had killed his kobolds. Imagine the players surprise when the crooked and ugly old man turned into a huge Bronze Dragon and that the Dragon had told the PCs that they had just wiped out his 750 year old (and thus far, promising) experiment to breed goodness into the kobolds.

It's one thing to get lippy to an old man you don't know is a Bronze Dragon. You find out hard and fast that it is another thing to KEEP doing it.

Talk about a mistake.

 

[alsih2o]

Maître d'hôtel, for hotel-master, adopted and mangled in American English as "Maitre D"...

Hotel-Master? does anyone know why we use this on restaurant folk?

 

[Gez]

Because it's quite old, and comes from a time where every hotel was also a restaurant...

 

[Anti-Sean]

It must be a nightmare fitting a tux for a two-headed creature.....

I'm sure if we put our heads together, we can figure it out...

*runs*

 

[John Q. Mayhem]

I'm sure if we put our heads together, we can figure it out...

*runs*

As well you should!

Oh well, I'm getting ahead of myself there. That's not really a beheading offense yet.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

This is on my "to do" list. For the most part, my NPCs have been fairly sterotypcial, so yes, the party usually takes a look and decides whether to kill it or talk based upon appearance. My longer running campaign has a possible story line where I challenge these assumptions, but the party has not persued that one yet. My newer campaign will have a lot of cases where you cannot assume based upon appearance - good orcs, clean-cut respectable looking evil humans and the like. It should be interesting to see how long it takes to break them of the "kill it, then ask questions" mentality. I have forewarned them that things are not always as they appear.