Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="DMCF" data-source="post: 6826826" data-attributes="member: 6790388">I'm of the opinion that you did just fine. As the DM who spends time creating details it is perfectly acceptable to entertain the fact that PCs will/should pay attention in order to get the most fulfilling experience for everyone. How fulfilling has this experience been for you? You crafted that set of armor. You allowed them to collect it. After all that effort are you really OK with letting it fade into oblivion over a minor miss? They screwed up. OK. The DM is not a surrogate parent. Usually the DM is their friend. This is also the DM's creation. Many would agree the DM has more skin in the game than the players do.So how does the DM allow players to recover from screwing up, avoid sounding like someone's dad, be friendly with loot and bask in glory when players recount the amazing times they had running through the DM's adventure wearing the loot the DM provided?Answer: Take into account or interject new morality into the story.Players screw up for numerous reasons. Each time they do, whether it is hubris, greed, inattention etc. the DM has an opportunity for a glorious adventure hook that will stand the test of time in player's minds. A DM exploiting a player made situation requires minimal effort because the DM doesn't need to establish the conflict e.g., someone died. loot was missed, love was lost,  etc. because the player did it for them!If they player wishes redemption e.g., rez, loot, love etc. they now must work harder for it. There doesn't need to be more reward than initially offered for two reasons. A) Redemption/Salvation is a tale-telling reward. B) Time.We're all familiar with tales of redemption so I'll skip expounding on its' benefits. What about time? Time is limited. We live a limited amount of time and within this precious time we have even less to game. If there is one thing the DM and players can all agree on, it's that we are feeling the effects of time. It may be distorted in-game but our real-life limitations consistently translate into gaming. To put it succinctly: We want more loot, more power, to save our love as fast as possible. When players screw up you can always rely on time. No matter the reward, the time to exalt in triumph just took that much longer. For DMs time is our friend. Time allows us to interject lessons of morality without taking anything from the players. Time allows us to interject these lessons by providing more content, more emotion and a more personal experience crafted for, around, and by the players.TL<img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f600.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":D" title="Big grin    :D"  data-smilie="8"data-shortname=":D" />R The players had the set. They lost it. The set is still there.  It's going to take more time to get it. A heist is lame in most DM's eyes and can go against the story or the group's primary objective.Here's a couple of adventure hooks:- PC goes back to the Smith. Smithy is on fire. "I'm ruined! I'm ruined! That damn tark! That son of a gibberling!". He turns upon the PC, his eyes ablaze "You want your gauntlet back? Fine! It'll ruin me, but I swear you get _______ for me and get me back my ________ and it's yours! Make him pay...make him pay dearly".- PC's encounter a commotion out of the smithy. They approach. They find the smith prone over an anvil.  The smith still has a hammer in one hand, his eyes wide, mouth agape and the back of his skull summarily smashed in. The forge coals glimmer but will soon die out. This couldn't have happened more than a few hours ago. The sun barely crests the hills to the east. The gauntlet and the ring are nowhere to be seen.I bet if you try this and explain that this is a chance to redeem the inattentiveness of being "Mr. Cellphone" he'll shut that right off. My job can be pretty rough too. If the plant is down the plant is down. People need to know when they can play and when they can't.</blockquote>

Verification