TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
At a convention game a few years ago, I co-ran a fantasy game with two other GM’s. All the characters were forest guards in the Queen’s service. Each PC had one specialty: archery, acrobatics, carousing, etc.
We tried to build in elements that allowed for each PC to have the spotlight for a moment or more. It worked pretty well, but the players went in a couple directions different from what we expected. So not everyone got to use his/her specialization.
The final confrontation took place on a zeppelin a mile high over the city. The evil Archbishop’s forces had been beaten back until only the BBEG himself was alive—but with a knife at his hostage’s throat: the 8 year old Crown Prince, heir to the throne.
It was a tense scene, with all the players and GM's standing in an open area to simulate where they were on the zeppelin's bridge. The archery PC was whispering to one GM, trying to get lined up to shoot the Archbishop. The wrestling PC was poised to jump forward and try to grapple with the BBEG.
I was playing the Archbishop, holding the knife. He saw what the PC’s were doing and yelled at them to stop. They didn’t. He knew that no matter what he did with the Crown Prince, the PC’s were going to kill him. They lied and said he would be allowed to go free, but he saw right through them.
So he threw the Crown Prince off the edge of the zeppelin.
The other GM’s immediately gasped and the players could tell they were surprised too. How could I just kill the NPC? But I had seen one PC slinking over to the edge of the zeppelin. As soon as I tossed the boy into the sky, he announced “I leap over the rail and angle toward the boy.”
See, his specialization was that he could shapeshift into a form that could fly. It was all he could do and he hadn’t had the opportunity to use it yet. In fact, his character had “never” used it so nobody except the other PC’s even knew he was a shapeshifter. Most of them had forgotten that he had mentioned it several hours prior. The BBEG had no idea.
The other PC’s caught the BBEG and the flyer caught the Crown Prince. Everybody was happy.
Of course, nobody was alive who knew how to fly the zeppelin. It crashed into the town below.
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What “Shining Moments” have you had?
We tried to build in elements that allowed for each PC to have the spotlight for a moment or more. It worked pretty well, but the players went in a couple directions different from what we expected. So not everyone got to use his/her specialization.
The final confrontation took place on a zeppelin a mile high over the city. The evil Archbishop’s forces had been beaten back until only the BBEG himself was alive—but with a knife at his hostage’s throat: the 8 year old Crown Prince, heir to the throne.
It was a tense scene, with all the players and GM's standing in an open area to simulate where they were on the zeppelin's bridge. The archery PC was whispering to one GM, trying to get lined up to shoot the Archbishop. The wrestling PC was poised to jump forward and try to grapple with the BBEG.
I was playing the Archbishop, holding the knife. He saw what the PC’s were doing and yelled at them to stop. They didn’t. He knew that no matter what he did with the Crown Prince, the PC’s were going to kill him. They lied and said he would be allowed to go free, but he saw right through them.
So he threw the Crown Prince off the edge of the zeppelin.
The other GM’s immediately gasped and the players could tell they were surprised too. How could I just kill the NPC? But I had seen one PC slinking over to the edge of the zeppelin. As soon as I tossed the boy into the sky, he announced “I leap over the rail and angle toward the boy.”
See, his specialization was that he could shapeshift into a form that could fly. It was all he could do and he hadn’t had the opportunity to use it yet. In fact, his character had “never” used it so nobody except the other PC’s even knew he was a shapeshifter. Most of them had forgotten that he had mentioned it several hours prior. The BBEG had no idea.
The other PC’s caught the BBEG and the flyer caught the Crown Prince. Everybody was happy.
Of course, nobody was alive who knew how to fly the zeppelin. It crashed into the town below.
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What “Shining Moments” have you had?
