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<blockquote data-quote="jayoungr" data-source="post: 8498452" data-attributes="member: 6702445">Well yeah, but the flip side of that is that the NPCs can only do things that I think of.&nbsp; And maybe I'm just not good at keeping dignity/authority when met with smart-alecky-ness IRL?I'd add (4) sneak into the castle another way.&nbsp; I didn't think I was unduly limiting them either, but the players seemed to feel that I was blocking them.It reminded me of another situation that I had back in one of the very first games I ever ran, for a completely different group of players.&nbsp; In that case, they were trying to get across a bridge connecting two countries that were at war.&nbsp; I decided that there was no way the border guard was going to allow anyone into the country from the place they were coming from.&nbsp; They would have to either fight their way through or find another way across the river.&nbsp; But the players were fixated on a way to persuade that guard to let them through and they spent a considerable amount of time trying multiple solutions aimed at that one option, even having the party paladin do an awesome display of holy radiance to prove their good intentions.&nbsp; Every time something didn't work, they just got more and more frustrated, and looking back on it, I think I should just have relented and let it work.&nbsp; Fortunately, the Rahadin situation didn't seem to cause an equal amount of frustration, but still, I wonder if I made the right call.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jayoungr, post: 8498452, member: 6702445"] Well yeah, but the flip side of that is that the NPCs can only do things that I think of. And maybe I'm just not good at keeping dignity/authority when met with smart-alecky-ness IRL? I'd add (4) sneak into the castle another way. I didn't think I was unduly limiting them either, but the players seemed to feel that I was blocking them. It reminded me of another situation that I had back in one of the very first games I ever ran, for a completely different group of players. In that case, they were trying to get across a bridge connecting two countries that were at war. I decided that there was no way the border guard was going to allow anyone into the country from the place they were coming from. They would have to either fight their way through or find another way across the river. But the players were fixated on a way to persuade that guard to let them through and they spent a considerable amount of time trying multiple solutions aimed at that one option, even having the party paladin do an awesome display of holy radiance to prove their good intentions. Every time something didn't work, they just got more and more frustrated, and looking back on it, I think I should just have relented and let it work. Fortunately, the Rahadin situation didn't seem to cause an equal amount of frustration, but still, I wonder if I made the right call. [/QUOTE]

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