One Thousand Ways to Freak Out Your Players

[FireLance]

176. All enemies try to inflict subdual damage on the PCs. Some players fear capture more than death.

177. One particular type of animal (crow, cat, rat, dog, owl) appears wherever the PCs go and always seems to be observing them. If the PCs kill it, another one shows up later.

 

[Grundle]

169. Have the players fight the dreaded "gazebo." (And I'm STILL trying to find that particular comic, either the KotDT or the Hackmaster....)

Ah, the dreaded gazebo, bane of heros everywhere...

http://www.duke.edu/web/DRAGO/humor/gazebo.html


The head of vecna is also priceless...

http://home.hiwaay.net/~srberry/gurps/Vecna.html

 

[HalfElfSorcerer]

178. Have an old lady walk up to the PCs, sneer, and whack the most heavily armed character with an umbrella. Once the players start lauging, announce that he takes 29 damage on a crit from a +5 keen umbrella. Then, a pie appears amongst the PCs and the old lady moves rather far away. 2 rounds later, the characters all take 51 points of fruit damage from a delayed action pie spell. Keep it up like this until you begin to recieve death threats.

 

[Artoomis]

146: Make Irritating product references: Potions of Fly appear in blue-and-silver flasks with red minotaur shillohuettes on them. When drank, the imbiber feels compelled to shout "Red Bull gives you WIIINGS!!"

179. Make all your notes that you hand out to your players be in a really irritating red-on-black color scheme.

 

[gamecat]

179. Make all your notes that you hand out to your players be in a really irritating red-on-black color scheme.

180. Repeatedly ask your players about the most problematic rules, and write a list.

 

[wolff96]

174. In the next room the players explore, have a human butler stand there at perfect attention. He is just a butler, waiting to serve the players drinks.

I did that with a skeleton in Heart of Nightfang Spire. It was in one of the empty rooms in the tower. I decided (just for my own personal amusement) to have it be a sort of reception room for important guests.

A skeleton stood inside the room and offered them drinks. All of the bottles in the room had long since evaporated or the alcohol turned to vinegar -- the water still worked, though. The thoroughly confused PCs stopped in the room, had a glass of water (after the cleric verified it as being pure), and then left.

I got three seperate e-mails later, all variations on the same theme of "What in the $&*# was THAT??"

 

[Lela]

Touché

Seriously, though, that color combination is really hard on the eyes.

I've found that highlighting his text (with my mouse) really helps.

181. Always show up to your games late. Sit there and unpack while all the players wait for you to be ready--having already unpacked themselves. This works best if the game is at your house.

 

[Ilen]

Trolls who start casting Resist Fire and Resist acid are particularly fun!

If you want fun with trolls you make them face a Half-Dragon (Red)/Troll with a Ring of Elemental Immunity (Acid). Or inversely a Half-Dragon (Black)/Troll with a Ring of Elemental Immunity (Fire)

 

[Khorod]

182. All handouts to players in metaphorical limmerick, attempting to maintain the grammar of the campaign setting- olde english...

There once was a Raven O' Burlap...

183. Use the grammar-humor books "Get the to a Punnery" and "Anguished English I-II" as the primary source material for your campaign.

 

[Xarlen]

If you want fun with trolls you make them face a Half-Dragon (Red)/Troll with a Ring of Elemental Immunity (Acid). Or inversely a Half-Dragon (Black)/Troll with a Ring of Elemental Immunity (Fire)

All I have to say to this is: beat him into submission, wait until he's 'dead', and yank the ring off. Then get him.