TarionzCousin
Second Most Angelic Devil Ever
Damn, now you made me explain it, and it no longer works.
Turning the World Upside Down
- Thread starter jcayer
- Start date
It's always fun to subvert tropes, especially ones that are as common as "retake this place from these evil people." The world's not in black and white, so why should your gaming be?
I believe because games are meant to escape the problems of the real world at least for a short time, and not remind people of the difficulties and ambiguities of it.
Once in a while it's okay though, just to throw a Sabot into the mix.
But generally, for me, I hate ambiguity.
I believe that every once in a while, you need to throw a curve ball. Besides, sometimes you don't feel like statting up a bunch of encounters.
I wasn't sure if they would buy into it, fortunately, they did and it was a great night. The players have each told me how much they enjoyed bickering between themselves trying to figure it out.
During dinner with the vamps, one of them even stormed out because he wasn't getting all the answers he wanted.
When we started playing, all I knew as a DM was hack n slash and puzzles. And that is what they all grew up with. We've all grown and they are getting to the point were I think we could have a whole session without rolling a single die and they'd love it.
I wasn't sure if they would buy into it, fortunately, they did and it was a great night. The players have each told me how much they enjoyed bickering between themselves trying to figure it out.
During dinner with the vamps, one of them even stormed out because he wasn't getting all the answers he wanted.
When we started playing, all I knew as a DM was hack n slash and puzzles. And that is what they all grew up with. We've all grown and they are getting to the point were I think we could have a whole session without rolling a single die and they'd love it.
jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
Is that a Twilight reference?
You do realize that vampires have had daywalkers as far back as Dracula?
What's Twilight?
"As far back as"? That movie isn't even two decades old. As far as I know they ripped off most of their ideas from Castlevania anyway.
jonesy
A Wicked Kendragon
"That movie"? Dracula is from 1897. They made a movie adaption in 1922, then in 1931. Stoker's movie was 62 years after that. Dracula has been in over 200 films.
Or were you being sarcastic? It's really hard to tell sometimes.
What happened
It's 2 weeks later and since some people wanted an update, here is what happened.
The party was able to retrieve the artifact, but were very leery of it since they were afraid that was what was making the vampires "good". With the artifact in hand, they returned to the lead vampire, Milosh, who seemed unaffected, until they showed it to him. They watched as Milosh appeared to return to his old evil self. Thinking quickly, they hid the rod from his view and he returned to his "good" side.
He told them his clan were compelled to the monastery to retrieve the artifact and seeing it brought back that compulsion. He then insisted they leave as soon as possible.
As they exited the catacombs, the monks had attacked and the vampires were not going to win without help. Once more, great RP trying to decide what to do. Basically, there were three choices:
1. Side with the monks, who might consider them thieves for taking the artifact.
2. Side with the vampires, killing the monks, but allowed "something special, good vampires" to continue to exist
3. Running away and not getting involved...I would have worked hard to avoid letting this happen.
A brief attempt at diplomacy momentarily halted combat as the 2 leaders met, however, the monk leader was feigning interest in peace and blatantly stabbed Milosh with a hidden dagger, reigniting combat.
The party rogue immediately went into action as did the dragonborn fighter and Wizard. I've been experimenting with half HP and double damage for the monsters to speed up combat and make it more interesting. Rolling 4d10s for damage does make for some hard hits against 16th level characters. Anyway, through excellent tactics and use of bursts and blasts, the party decimated the monks, including the leader, in their general area.
The rest of the monks stopped combat at the death of their leader and his second, promising never to return in a hostile manner.
Even after the victory, the Warlord who was still distrustful, and the Cleric, who was almost hostile, would not accept the thanks nor hospitality of the vampires.
Once this was all done, I did a show of hands. Three of my five players were convinced the vampires would turn on them. One was on the fence most of the night and one believed the vampires were good. Anytime I can upset player expectations, I consider it a job well done.
It's 2 weeks later and since some people wanted an update, here is what happened.
The party was able to retrieve the artifact, but were very leery of it since they were afraid that was what was making the vampires "good". With the artifact in hand, they returned to the lead vampire, Milosh, who seemed unaffected, until they showed it to him. They watched as Milosh appeared to return to his old evil self. Thinking quickly, they hid the rod from his view and he returned to his "good" side.
He told them his clan were compelled to the monastery to retrieve the artifact and seeing it brought back that compulsion. He then insisted they leave as soon as possible.
As they exited the catacombs, the monks had attacked and the vampires were not going to win without help. Once more, great RP trying to decide what to do. Basically, there were three choices:
1. Side with the monks, who might consider them thieves for taking the artifact.
2. Side with the vampires, killing the monks, but allowed "something special, good vampires" to continue to exist
3. Running away and not getting involved...I would have worked hard to avoid letting this happen.
A brief attempt at diplomacy momentarily halted combat as the 2 leaders met, however, the monk leader was feigning interest in peace and blatantly stabbed Milosh with a hidden dagger, reigniting combat.
The party rogue immediately went into action as did the dragonborn fighter and Wizard. I've been experimenting with half HP and double damage for the monsters to speed up combat and make it more interesting. Rolling 4d10s for damage does make for some hard hits against 16th level characters. Anyway, through excellent tactics and use of bursts and blasts, the party decimated the monks, including the leader, in their general area.
The rest of the monks stopped combat at the death of their leader and his second, promising never to return in a hostile manner.
Even after the victory, the Warlord who was still distrustful, and the Cleric, who was almost hostile, would not accept the thanks nor hospitality of the vampires.
Once this was all done, I did a show of hands. Three of my five players were convinced the vampires would turn on them. One was on the fence most of the night and one believed the vampires were good. Anytime I can upset player expectations, I consider it a job well done.
Celebrim
Legend
Did he sparkle?
Seriously though, I personally as a DM take alot of satisfaction out of RP sessions and providing the players with challenges to their perceptions. For one thing, it tends to be more interactive for me as a DM and requires more of my imagination.
My personal favorite is the double cross, where you introduce a villain that seems quite nasty, then reveal the villain in that is provokes sympathy or admiration from the players and show that the villain has sympathetic and understable motives so that they consider changing sides, then reveal how much nastier and evil the villain was than they ever thought.
I consider Magneto the inspiration for alot of my villains. He's charming. He's learned. He has been legitimately wronged in his life. He has motives which are at least superficially understandable to the protagonists and the erst-while 'good guys' often seem anything but worth defending. But, he's still a villain and you'd better not forget it.
Also, I like it when villains prove durable enough to come back from their defeats.
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