My players are trying to melt my head!

[WD40]

So... in my houserules document that I hand out to my players, I include a line that states (roughly) I am not a DM who uses Wish solely as an excuse to punish my players; I encourage it's use.

One of my players has taken this to heart, and upon receiving a Wish, said:

"I wish for you not to grant this wish."

....

I went back on my rule and made the universe implode....

Some might think that was a little harsh... but I couldn't think of any other way to handle the situation at the time.

Discussion:

- How would you have handled that wish?
- What dopey wishes have you received?

 

[frankthedm]

Edit:you charge the player 5000 XP and he retains the wish:Edit

You were trying to be cool with your players and one of them goes and proves why you should never go easy on them.

 

[JustinM]

I would have just taken it back and said that nobody will get any more in that campaign. He ruined it.

 

[werk]

Ah...paradox...we meet again.

I prefer to treat paradox with a smile and a pat on the head for trying to be oh so cute.

I would have just done nothing and said, "done!" then resolved any questions in a character oriented way.

How is that possible? Your character doesn't know...
Was the wish granted or not? Your character cannot tell, but he believes that it was, but it's really impossible to know for sure...

I control the world, your characters interact with the world, you interact with your characters...it's up to you to figure out how the world works using your character as a perceptive lens. I'm not going to tell players the secrets of how the multiverse works (but it involves a lot of hand-waving and bad maths).

 

[Gothic_Demon]

I'd have asked who his character was referring to when he said "You". Then someone/something else would have granted the wish instead.

 

[pawsplay]

"okay."

If the wish wasn't granted, then no wish exists to create the paradox. It is exactly like wishing for changing a recent event. As such, no paradox exists.

 

[Wormwood]

Edit:you charge the player 5000 XP and he retains the wish:Edit

Honestly can't find fault with this.

 

[Umbran]

Hr?

Granting that wish does not punish or in any way harm the PC, so there's no problem with it. Rather like, "I wish for this wish to have no effect." I mean, if that's what he really wants...

 

[BlackMoria]

I would dock the character the XP for casting the wish and then continue with the game. The wish as worded is a throwaway and the net effect amounts to no effect at all, except the character is down XP.

 

[ceratitis]

Ah...paradox...we meet again.

I prefer to treat paradox with a smile and a pat on the head for trying to be oh so cute.

I would have just done nothing and said, "done!" then resolved any questions in a character oriented way.

How is that possible? Your character doesn't know...
Was the wish granted or not? Your character cannot tell, but he believes that it was, but it's really impossible to know for sure...

I control the world, your characters interact with the world, you interact with your characters...it's up to you to figure out how the world works using your character as a perceptive lens. I'm not going to tell players the secrets of how the multiverse works (but it involves a lot of hand-waving and bad maths).

second this