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Message: <blockquote data-quote="kaomera" data-source="post: 5201952" data-attributes="member: 38357">The players did make a decision not to use the compass. Specifically, they decided that they could still get the fabulous treasure without endangering themselves. They where even correct, up to a point. And they did run across the treasure (the compass) partially by accident, but they wouldn't have actually found it if it hadn't led them to itself. And the penalties where the curse: there was no chance to get out of the curse by making a sacrifice. Everyone in the "crew" was subjected to Muphy's Law, amplified until one of them died, or they got rid of the treasure.Now, the thought that I was being entirely too clever for my own good here has certainly crossed my mind. Maybe I was a bit too flowery in my description above. I kind of wanted to see if anyone would "figure it out". It can be a fine line between "clever" and "obtuse" sometimes. The players figured out that the compass was a trap, they just seemed to think that was the end of things. They thought they had a clever way to get around the curse, but I thought I had a way to out-clever them.Here's how I saw things: The compass was, in and of itself, a fabulous treasure. The PCs knew this: they could sell it for quite a lot to a crew willing to gamble with their lives for even more than they had paid. They also knew the compass was cursed, and it took a life every time it led a "crew" (in this case the party) to a treasure.The PCs could have found it without it leading them to itself, but they didn't. The PC who picked it up (or his player, really) could have realized that something was up, but he didn't. Under other circumstances it might well have turned out differently. Had the party not split there would have been more PCs there when he found the compass, possibly leading to further insights and definitely meaning a light-source, which would have made the blinking trick mostly moot. Or he could have had some sort of backup light source, but he didn't. The pirates had a map of the mini-dungeon they where in, but they didn't stop to search the bodies. And had one of the other party members not been putting herself at serious risk at the same time as he found the compass there would have been more time for him to figure out that he wasn't getting away scott-free with the treasure, and dump it. But, IMO, those where all consequences of choices the players made.I wasn't planning on letting them get their hands on the compass without triggering the curse if I could help it. And the players gave me the opportunity to stop them. To me it seemed as if the players had decided that as long as they did not deliberately subject themselves to the curse, it couldn't hurt them. That seems to me like deciding that you can take all of the dragon's treasure and it can't do anything about it if you just refuse to roll initiative. Or maybe a better comparison would be finding a pressure plate in a hallway, and figuring there's no way it could possibly go if you walk across it without making a deliberate attempt to trigger it...I dunno, I hope I'm not coming off as all defensive about this. Obviously there was a breakdown in expectations here. I could have let get away with the compass, or even just not let them find it. But I wanted to be able to say "close, but no cigar". I didn't want to show them that coming up with a plan (ie: don't follow the compass to treasure) and then not actually following through on it 100% was enough.</blockquote>

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