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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ilbranteloth" data-source="post: 7404365" data-attributes="member: 6778044">So the scene started when they discovered the old tomb while they were guided for a couple of out of town nobles on a hunting expedition. To tie into one of [MENTION=42582]pemerton[/MENTION]’s favorite subjects, there were some secret ulterior motives. However, those had no bearing here.Anyway, they opted to explore the tomb, pretty much because it was there. Of course, the prospect of treasure was a driving factor, and they had taken refuge in the entrance as a defensive position against an orc attack. They didn’t have to enter the tomb, and their position was very defensible, but they decided to move forward.One of the characters, a 17 year old, decided to jump into the water. Another followed and located the passage that was now under water. To my surprise, the rest followed, without going to collect their rope.They explored, found what they could, then realized they didn’t have a way out. I suggested that somebody would probably have gone back to get their rope, but they decided that they didn’t.So we just kept playing it out. From that point on, I was needed very little. A few questions here or there, but mostly it was discussions among the characters. Part of what they did was provide clues for anybody that might come after them, and to record everything they felt was important in the hopes others could benefit, and particularly hoping that their friends would find them and continue what they thought was important.Before the next session, somebody wanted to join the campaign. I knew that the noble was still outside, but hadn’t decided/diced to see if they had survived. So the new character combined with the noble, who had survived, became their way out.The last part of your statement gives insight as to why some people consider Story Now games as more susceptible to railroading/taking away player agency. The tomb was designed with a false tomb to fool tomb robbers. Why would I, as the DM, restrict their decisions to not allow them to fall victim to the design of the tomb as many before them. Originally, the poison spikes were a deadly end for most, due to a seesaw passage trap that was, by this time, obvious because it was stuck in a partially tipped position. So the original trap was obvious, but no longer dangerous because the elements had rusted the mechanism in place, and the pit had not only filled with water, but the poison diluted and the wooden spikes rotted and crumbling.The state of this part of the tomb made it clear that it had been plundered, that it was once very, very deadly, and that there might not be much to gain from the risks. Obviously, there are often other things to be gained aside from riches. Several other expeditions to the tomb did yield some riches. The last expedition threw me completely, though. There wasn’t any specific reason to return to it at that point, but they decided that despite the fact that they had retrieved the treasure that remained, and found the remains of the mummy that had been slain by drow, they wanted to go open the sarcophagus they had left.That’s right, despite the fact that they were already involved in a half dozen other directions, and that all of the deadliest traps and monsters had slain every other person who attempted to plunder it over thousands of years, they wanted to go trigger what was potentially the deadliest trap/encounter in the place. The acid gas trap that remained was deadly, although fortunately for them only affected one of them. Since they had already found the remains of the mummy, they knew it was otherwise empty. This was months after their original exploration. The encounters in the tomb were a mix of predesigned and improvised, along with some random determination. The only dramatic “need” at the time was the PCs desire to explore and gain treasure. As it turned out, there was much more that they found that related more to their motivations and ties to the village, things I haven’t detailed here. The ramifications of the three trips to the tomb, along with the death of one of the PCs continues to have multiple impacts (and is driving a couple of characters more specifically). A quick summary: discovering the remains of a band that died a hundred years ago with ties (including a letter and a magic item) to a mysterious villager that they wanted to know more about.The discovery of efforts by drow to plunder the tomb from below. They were already investigating drow activity on the area.Confirmation of the evil/spy nature of a hireling of the nobles(which the nobles knew) and their suspected ties to a traitor within the party. This is related to the ongoing political activities in the campaign. This ties into significant motivations for several characters, and there are also significant disagreements among several of the characters on these matters.Discovery of potential proof of the evil motivations of a Lord in relation to those political matters.Information that may lead to the ancient dwarven ruins of Dekanter, a driving motivation for another character.The acquisition of several items that have particular value to a cleric of Deneir that can help them with other matters.The passing of the “test” by several of the characters who had inquired about joining forces with the Harpers, but had not found them (or didn’t know they had successfully made contact).There’s more, but that should be enough for now. The point is, the exploration itself is one thing, but doesn’t exclude nor always include moments of great importance to each and every character. The three expeditions were undertaken by different groups of characters, but the later groups were acting on information as well as goals set with characters from the earlier expeditions. There were characters that were on two or all of them as well.</blockquote>

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