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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CruelSummerLord" data-source="post: 3924624" data-attributes="member: 48692">On another gaming website a few years ago, I read a post by a DM who told how he had read the combined Slavers modules (all four modules included in one booklet), and how the plot required the players to be captured, wtihout giving them any chance at all to escape capture.  He noted how the Slavers would go out of their way to destroy the PCs' most cherished heirlooms and their most precious possessions.  It's supposed to motivate the PCs and get them mad at the Slavers, but the DM concluded that it would only make them mad at him.  It's important to note that these aren't just their most powerful magical goodies; role-playing trinkets that might be worthless in-game but are still very important to the PCs, such as pictures of loved ones, family crests, and other things like that would be destroyed just to distress the PCs.  He panned the module and IIRC decided not to run it as written, since he thought the players should at least have a chance to evade capture and be able to keep their precious treasures, especially the ones that mean a lot to them.  Similarly, in reading through the 3E Forgotten Realms campaign setting, I read of a lich who wasn't statted out but was described as being able to cast spells that could steal memorized spells right out of a victim's mind.  This time, I was the one who cried foul, stating that sort of tactic was grossly unfair.  It's also dangerous; this is a wizard spell, which means that if the lich can cast it, the PCs probably can too.  Can you imagine a spell that would allow the PCs to steal the BBEG's memorized spells?  Me either, and this is a situation where, if I ran that encounter as a DM, I would strip the villain of that power.  I know full well that Bad Guys Don't Fight Fair, but to me there's a difference between giving villains and monsters powers that the PCs respect and fear, and just being cheap and unfair.  Have there ever been times, in reading through a module or monster description, you as a DM cry foul and change things in the players' favor?  This wouldn't be giving them a free ride-the module or monster could still have many challenges-but you as DM are acting to make things fairer for your players.  I'm just talking about those times when you think something is underhanded and unfair even to players who've played well.</blockquote>

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