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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ovinomancer" data-source="post: 7184710" data-attributes="member: 16814">Ah, the strawman of, 'if you don't embrace the illogical encounter in adventures, you're just doing the obvious and that's not fun.'  Let me give you an example from my game last night:  the party almost wipes on the stone giant Thane, but pulls out with one death.  They find Ellister, the rock gnome, and I, having read his description, play him off as brash and excitable and a nonstop talker.  Through the scene, they party finds out that Ellister is from Loudwater, that he's offering a reward for returning him to Loudwater, and how the Thane was using the stalactite.  Ellister also took a shine to the dwaven warlock PC, even rushing to his aid to cure him in a later fight (and ignoring the barbarian, who was far more badly wounded).  This was a blast, as the dwarven PC didn't want an excitable gnome talking his ear off constantly, but also didn't push him away.  When Ellister saw the airship, he flipped out, and went rushing all over it.  He won over the captain of the airship by making useful recommendations for improvements and got greater access.  The party was happy to get improvements, and so left the ship with Ellister making changes to go to Waterdeep via teleport circle for a few days to re-equip.  When they returned, Ellister has stolen the airship and gone a joyride across the Sword Coast.This all played out directly from how the party interacted with the character, and with the provided motivations of Ellister, and with opportunity within the game.  Totally not fun, right?But Hill Giant guards on the embattled Storm Giant royal family in an adventure about the ordaning being broken?  Nope, should just glaze over that.  And you're right, most of the time players don't notice.  However, I, as DM, need to present a world that reacts believably to the players, and knowing why there are incongruous hill giants as the royal guards is something that I need to know, especially if the players do attempt to bluff them.  Why they're there and what their motivations are is crucial to being able to run that scene believable and well, and even in a fun way.  But, pointing out the complete failure to provide an explanation for this very incongruous setup makes me an unfun DM, I guess.  I'll let my players know, they'll be disappointed in me.</blockquote>

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