Learning to be a bit more evil.

[Kyramus]

1) remove your kid gloves. if you want a serious campaign, show it to the players.

2) set encounters that are higher and lower than them. They have to learn to run once in awhile.

3) to keep them in the dungeon or have them wanting to come back to this maze like place...
a) have them find a scroll that states something along the lines of hidden treasure.
b) take the Dark Skull from the DMG and put it somewhere in the maze like complex, makes people wonder why the things they kill keep coming back.
c) an intelligent undead manage to capture their commanding officer. it's their responsibility to get their people out.

4) tricks and traps are nice, but try puzzles to open doors. or encounters that require the rogue to do open lock while the rest of the party are holding the fight at bay so they can hve the retreat. (open lock is a full round action, taking 10 or 20 would mean 10 to 20 rounds)

5) set up obstacles that require them to use their military skills. wouldn't it be painful if no one can jump over 7 feet across a pit to escape a group of undead that can possibly overrun them. Remember armor check penalties. Most characters can do a running jump (requires at least 20 feet). Characters with heavy armor cannot do a running jump. they can do a standing jump.

note: if you read up on the skills, there are all sorts of things you can do, including walking across a narrow horizontal beam without falling off it.

6) which the party is a military unit, and with 2 of them being CN, ig uess this is a crack squad. Most likely there will be a group out there that is a "elite" squad. Give them something to prove themselves against. When they return to base camp to report, have another group show up with several rescues of their fellow people. Have the camp cheer for the "elite" group. but make sure you drop the hint that there are more survivors that were cut off and still in the maze.

7) don't need to put intelligent monsters. use skeletons and zombies. zombies are pretty mindless, but skeletons have some rudimentary military skill since they are raised from dead soldiers or some such. just the use of small things to full effect works well. can you imagine a skeleton that has a beehive in it's ribcage? he targets the wizard with a gob of honey and all the bees go after him like asummon swarm. end of spellcasting.

 

[ThoughtBubble]

Here we go. Kyramus.

1. This is one of the parts I'm having trouble with. I've been wearing the kid gloves so long, they're like a second skin.

2. I'll keep this in mind.

3. I think I got their attention with a diary and a block of obsidian they can sometimes see figures in. If they think there's more information to be had about it, I'm sure they'll come back. If not, they are a crack team, and can be assigened to clear the place out.

4. Never been much good at coming up with puzzles. Combination locks are the best thing I can think of that still seems plausable.

5. Now that's a great idea.

6. Also a great idea.

7. The intelligent monster was to offer them a sort of devil's choice, they can either help it, and further their cause (arguably the cause of good) and it's cause at the same time, or they can struggle to find a way out and not bring any resolution to the situation. This far, one player keeps insisting that the thing's evil and can't be trusted, another says that they can just get information from it then kill it, and the rest are somewhere between helping and avoiding it.

 

[Taloras]

One rule I use is that if you do anything dumb, I ask "are you sure", if the asnewr is yes, I as the GM have no moral stops on going medievil. If the characters decide to wake a dragon by poking a stick in its eye or taunting obviously superiorly skilled characters or the head of an army... Well they get what they deserve.

My GM in the rifts game i played in over a year ago did this. I was playing a Burster who was tired of his juicerkiller friend bugging him. I didnt realize the damage was more than enuf to kill anyone. I stumbled over an unconscious man. the GM said "are you sure". got arrested for murder.

 

[Lord Zardoz]

How to be Evil

If you want the fights to be more dangerous, there are quite a few things you can do. And although harder to pull off, it is possible to create encounters that are likely to engage the players.

How to fight Dirty
1) Use the terrain. If you have traps in your dungeon, it stands to reason that the denizens therin know where they are. Lets say you have a 10ft deep pit in front of a door. You could have some Orcs pull a door off the hinges, and use it as cover while using missile weapons on your players. Someone will charge into melee, and then fall into the pit. (However, undead are not the tactically thinking sort, but a good tip for later).

1a) Create defensive obstacles. It never hurts to put archers on a balcony with only one ladder leading up. And dont forget to put a defender on the ladder to knock them off for falling damage. Dont forget to trap the ladder.

2) Use Leutenants. If you have undead, then throw in some low level clerics to direct them, or bolster them. If you use Orcs, throw in an Orc Barbarian of 3rd level, or an Ogre. A Leutenant should generally be stronger, and should compliment the minions.

3) Exploit Immunities. Undead do not breath. So have some of them grapple and hold someone under water. If your using fire based monsters, then fight in a burning room where everyone suffers fire damage.

4) Divide and Conquer. Split your attackers into two groups. If the fighters go after one of the groups, have the other group go after the ones that hang back.


How to Engage the players
1) Trap some of the party. Have one of the players dragged into a room with some other monsters in it, and then have another creature close and lock the door. The players outside the room can either try to smash in the door and save him, or leave him to his fate. I dont think that one of the players will let the others abandon him. You can also use spells to great effect to accomplish this. Casting a Web between the one who charges in and the rest of the party will cut off the fighter from help. You can also do this with any Wall spell.

2) Make their lives depend on it. Saving the world from an insane archmage is one thing. Saving themselves is quite another. When failure means death, the characters (and by extension the players) are much more driven to take action.

3) Keep things in the here and now. Its one thing to tell the players that they should stop the rampaging escaped demon, or people will die. Its quite another if the demon is 20 feet away gnawing the faces off of 5 year old girls while the girl screams for her mommy. If you need the players to take an intrest in what is going on, then make the consequences as immediate as possible.

4) Put them on the clock. It may help to let the players know that some NPC's are also looking into seeking the same treasure. If the players take too long, then the NPC's get the treasure. And on top of that, they will get all the rewards that the players were hoping to get.

END COMMUNICATION