Obvious player things that modules often don't get

[Piratecat]

Almost as often as on-the-spot stonemasonry. Don't even get me started on that.

Usually with adamantine spoons.

 

[Agamon]

Huh. I kinda like DMing 'on the fly', (IWO, reacting to unexpected player actions). It's the funnest part of DMing, IMO. My own adventures sure don't cover every eventuality, or even every probable one, so I don't expect published ones to either.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Man, lemme tell ya. What about:

Chop up all the wooden items in the dungeon and cart them around on the high STR packrat dwarf so that the expert can use carpentry to shut doors and create battlements with which to combat enemies within hallways.

I'm torn between horror and awe of this dwarf.

 

[Rhada]

Capture the main villain instead of kill him.
Offer opportunities to surrender.
How do the enemies react when the party leaves the dungeon to rest in another place.

EDIT. I just saw the white plume mountain thread xD

 

[llamatron2000]

I'm torn between horror and awe of this dwarf.

Yeah. They even made a cart for him to pull. Sometimes I'm pretty horrified, too.

 

[Slife]

Divinations(All)

 

[Arc]

Of course. Improv dungeon carpentry.

Happens all the time.

Almost as often as on-the-spot stonemasonry. Don't even get me started on that.

Our initial party for the Whispering Cairn was composed entirely of dwarves. My character, a fighter/wizard going towards Runesmith, had max ranks in craft(stonemasonry) and appraise. The eventual bonuses after all modifiers were fairly high (greater than +10 for both, iirc). My DM had a field day when I asked "So... that 10,000 year old mural on the wall over there? How much does my character think it's worth?" and rolled a natural 20 on the appraise check.

*SPOILER*The handholds and safety nets that we built as we climbed up into the wind tunnel area ended up saving the entire party's life.*SPOILER*

Never underestimate the power of a party of patient dwarves with very good tools =P Why open the trapped door when you can spend a day excavating around it?

Before the campaign crashed due to scheduling difficulties (bah, college), the party was planning on buying the rights to the Cairn, sprucing it up, and establishing it as a museum/tourist attraction.

 

[Thurbane]

Capture the main villain instead of kill him.
Offer opportunities to surrender.
How do the enemies react when the party leaves the dungeon to rest in another place.

Amen to all of these!

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Use moltov cocktail to blow a hole after hole in a dead end room.

That actually did happen.

 

[Grunzel]

It was mentioned above: interrogating enemies. Its usually assumed that all monsters and bad guys fight to the death, but occasionally they are captured. Then it turns into "what horrible torture can I inflict to get him to talk." Maybe I've just got twisted friends, but every group I've been with has had no reservations about cutting off fingers, or cutting one orc's head off and taunting another one with it.

The other thing missing is noises beyond the room you're currently in. If there's a banshee wailing in the room on the left, apparently the PCs don't hear it until they open the door. And conversely, the guards in the next room don't hear the PCs fighting the troll in the courtyard. Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil did okay at this, but generally its lacking.