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<blockquote data-quote="Lacyon" data-source="post: 4627322" data-attributes="member: 63046">Sadly, I've been that DM too often. I run a lot of modules, sometimes because I'm asked (my playgroup started because a couple of friends asked to be run through the Return to the Tomb of Horrors, converted to 3E), and other times just because my prep time is limited. The group understands and at least geographically tries to stick to the module just out of deference to reality. Every once in a while, they'll throw really wacky things at me though. The first couple of times I just had no idea how to handle it and had it either fail or do nothing productive without much feedback to the player, and I could tell it was frustrating for them (not so frustrating that they stopped playing, but still).&nbsp;I've gotten a lot better since then (I think), at least in part because of the 4E DMG (I know, people are probably tired of hearing about how awesome skill challenges and p. 42 are, but the concepts there, along with experience, has really helped me think about how to structure and scale challenges on the fly, even in my 3E game). Sometimes the wacky idea just doesn't work, but usually it'll at least seem like it failed because the PCs aren't good enough (yet) or the enemy took precautions that stopped it, rather than just &quot;umm, that doesn't help&quot;.&nbsp;&nbsp;That's a pretty good sum-up.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Lacyon, post: 4627322, member: 63046"] Sadly, I've been that DM too often. I run a lot of modules, sometimes because I'm asked (my playgroup started because a couple of friends asked to be run through the Return to the Tomb of Horrors, converted to 3E), and other times just because my prep time is limited. The group understands and at least [I]geographically[/I] tries to stick to the module just out of deference to reality. Every once in a while, they'll throw really wacky things at me though. The first couple of times I just had no idea how to handle it and had it either fail or do nothing productive without much feedback to the player, and I could tell it was frustrating for them (not so frustrating that they stopped playing, but still). I've gotten a lot better since then (I think), at least in part because of the 4E DMG (I know, people are probably tired of hearing about how awesome skill challenges and p. 42 are, but the concepts there, along with experience, has really helped me think about how to structure and scale challenges on the fly, even in my 3E game). Sometimes the wacky idea just doesn't work, but usually it'll at least seem like it failed because the PCs aren't good enough (yet) or the enemy took precautions that stopped it, rather than just "umm, that doesn't help". That's a pretty good sum-up. [/QUOTE]

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