So, how do you keep'em from just 'porting away?

[Felon]

A lot of plots in the genre of high adventure involve characters getting boxed-in or steered into danger. How do you make escape a goal, how do you make players feel hounded and claustrophobic, when players can just go "poof" the first moment they have to huddle together and leave any dire situation miles away?

This is the sort of thing that I'm hoping Heroes of Horror will cover, although after the way they covered war in Heroes of Battle doesn't fill me with hope (since their advice was basically "screw the whole war thing, treat it like an outdoors dungeon"). How do other DM's handle it? Are there any good sources to consult on the topic?

 

[Steel_Wind]

Generally speaking, I simply don't allow teleporting. At all. For PCs or NPCs.

That solves that.

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

Adjudicate Teleport strictly. Most parties are large enough that one Teleport won't handle everyone, also, they all have to be together to cast the spell. Second option is spells that prevent it, like Dimensional Anchor. Unhallow combined with Dimensional Anchor is very handy. A party used to teleporting away that suddenly finds it cannot is likely to be in very bad shape - they come to rely on it, and when it unexpectedly doesn't work, they can be in all kinds of trouble.

I'm not in favor of nerfing skills or spells, in general. Treat most things strictly by the book, and you resolve most of the issues.

 

[Felon]

Adjudicate Teleport strictly. Most parties are large enough that one Teleport won't handle everyone,

D&D is structured around a four-player party. A wizard of 9th level can teleport himself and three others.

also, they all have to be together to cast the spell.

Which might impose a tactical problem in the heat of battle, but I'm talking about creating an entire adventure with a mood of claustrophobia and paranoia.

Second option is spells that prevent it, like Dimensional Anchor. Unhallow combined with Dimensional Anchor is very handy.

That's a good point. Just wish unhallow had a broader effect.

I'm not in favor of nerfing skills or spells, in general. Treat most things strictly by the book, and you resolve most of the issues.

Maybe most, but not this one IMO. I'm not favor of nerfs either, but teleport is given away a little too early and its casting time, targets, general effects, and spell components (or lack thereof) are a bit too generous.

 

[Corsair]

Teleport is partially at that level so parties can start skipping the tedious random encounters likely to be encountered on long overland treks (not to mention skipping the tedious overland treks themselves). Its hard for a party of mid-to-high level adventurers to go on world-spanning missions if it takes them a month to get anywhere.

 

[Ankh-Morpork Guard]

All BBEGs offer free pizza.

 

[Jolly Giant]

A lot of plots in the genre of high adventure involve characters getting boxed-in or steered into danger.

My advise would be that if the PCs can cast Teleport, start using a different sort of plot! What works for a low-level campaign, doesn't neccessarily work for a mid/high-level campaign. Once the party reaches level 10 (roughly), you need to change gear a little. A lot of what used to be challenges are now just a matter of having prepared the right spell.

This is a good thing, IMO. If a campaign starts at level 1 and lasts long enouch to reach into two digit-levels, I think it needs to change style at least once or twice along the way. It can easily get repetitive and boring if it doesn't.

It seems to me that when I see a post where a DM complains about D&D not being fun/cool/whatever at higher levels, that DM is (in most cases) trying to run his/her campaign using pretty much the same plot elements as he/she would use for a lower level campaign. Which just doesn't work... :\

I'm not saying YOU do that (I see your point about wanting a claustrophobic feel), I'm just reminding you (and any other DMs) about the need to make campaigns a little differently for high-level characters. Simply because it's good advice, IMHO.


PS. Monte's BoEM (1 or 2, but I think it was 1) had a couple of cool ways for the DM to surprise PCs that like to Teleport out of trouble. Spells like Teleport Tracer and Teleport Redirect... Teleport Redirect is also an excellent way of stopping the old scry/buff/teleport routine!

 

[I'm A Banana]

Which might impose a tactical problem in the heat of battle, but I'm talking about creating an entire adventure with a mood of claustrophobia and paranoia.

One answer is "lower levels," though that's probably not very useful at this point.

It seems that in creating an adventure like that, the tantamount thing is that the PC's constantly feel the pressure around them. Rather than ban teleport, I'd make heavy use of scrying and teleporting NPC's. If the character can't go buy a round of drinks at the local tavern without mysteriously robed monsters porting in and killing him (perhaps that have had their tongues cut out, making them incapable of explaining themselves). The idea of being constantly watched, knowing at any moment your life could be in danger, and knowing that there is no safe place to go, because there's no way of telling how you are being scried...

That's claustophobia and paranoia D&D style, AFAICT. Not trapping them, but finding out where they run to when they're trapped....

A lot of plots in the genre of high adventure involve characters getting boxed-in or steered into danger.

In mid-high level D&D, being "boxed in" doesn't happen very easily, just like being captured doesn't happen very easily in low-level D&D. And largely for the same reason.

Steered into danger is as easy as a lying, swindling NPC (though that trick only works once or twice before Zone of Truth comes into play). And when the PC's start using magic, it's time for the villains to start doing the same thing.

Heroes don't take wrong turns. They may be hunted. They may be suddenly encased in a Wall of Force, or subject to a Hold Person from an unknown source, but they won't stumble blindly into problems anymore. They can still be manipulated, just not randomly shunted off of their own plan.

The idea is to make it part of the plan. Or have NPC's use potent magic against the PC's (nothing's more fearful than knowing your enemies outclass you).

 

[Commonblade]

No TP, In fact currently no planer spells at all. In Story the world has been cut off from the planes. The only way anything touches the outer planes is through the gods avatars that where caught on the planet at the time of the event.

 

[Luthien Greyspear]

Funny, this doesn't seem to happen to me...

Interestingly enough, in my campaign the party has provided its own solution to this problem. They are (intentionally) woefully under-magicked. The party mage (a psychic warrior/wizard/bladesinger) only just got 3rd level spells...at 10th level. The party cleric only just got 4th level spells (she's a 3rd-level ranger also). The (seemingly) free multi-classing that 3.5 allows has kept the party from specializing the way a party had to in the old days. The only really DEDICATED member of the party is the rogue, and he's going into Shadowdancer next level.

This may become a problem in about 5 levels or so, but I'm not really worried. In addition to their penchant for spreading themselves a little thin in order to gain a sense of breadth, my players have no idea when to run away. They're like samurai, but without the cool helmets. (Except the elves, who simply MUST look their best on the battlefield).