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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Cadfan" data-source="post: 4713195" data-attributes="member: 40961">Read the encounter below. Then open the SBLOCKs, and read the DM's thoughts during the encounter. Make sure to do it in that order. Obviously its not the best encounter in the world. Try not to judge it on that criteria. <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> But the events should be something that's completely plausible from both a sandbox and a player-oriented perspective.  They're a wee bit railroady, but sandboxes don't actually have a problem with the variety of railroading that occurs when NPCs follow through on logical motivations in a way that unavoidably affects the PCs.[sblock]DM, in thoughts: *ok, the players are going to meet with the corrupt, sniveling merchant as he eats dinner. Unbeknownst to them, the evil assassins have put incredibly lethal poison in the merchant's wineglass in an attempt to silence him and frame the PCs. He'll drink some of it, and die. Ok, go.*[/sblock] PC: I stride into the merchant's dining room like I own the place. This guy's a coward, so I'm going to intimidate him into telling us what we need to know. "Good evening, Dog! We know all about your dealings with the Armada! Its fortunate for you that you aren't important enough for us to bother to crush. Your backers are the true threat to the realm. Give us their names, end your arms trading, and we might see fit not to leave you destitute in a ditch, exposed, reviled, and alone!" DM, as Merchant: "You, you...! You can't do this to me! I have friends!"  PC: "You have nothing. We own you now. Talk." To emphasize that I can do anything I want to him, I sit on his table right in front of him, tower over him, and help myself to a long drink of his most expensive wine.[sblock]DM, in thoughts: *oh no! The wine was poisoned! If he drinks it, he'll die! What shall I do? Oh, wait. There's no reason the wine had to be poisoned. Maybe it was the fish. Its not like I'm depriving the players of a believable world if I declare it was the fish. Its never come up before, so there's no way for them to know. There's nothing unbelievable about it being the fish. There are literally zero downsides to this plan. Its exactly as if, instead of planning of the wine to be poisoned, I had just planned for "his dinner," in some abstract sense, to be poisoned. I'm not making the player's decision less meaningful, because he didn't pick the wine based on any concern about poison, nor should he. I'm not mitigating the consequences of rash action, because his action wasn't rash. I'm just choosing X instead of Y, where X and Y are equally believable, and there's no reason to go with X just because it popped into my mind first.[/sblock]Merchant, as DM: "Ok, ok! I'll tell you what you want to know... please, take a seat. In a chair. There's... there's no reason we have to be barbarians. Just keep the wine, please, its yours. Consider it a gift from your good friend. Lets... lets come to an arrangement, shall we? Over dinner?" PC: I take a seat next to him, dropping myself loudly into the chair with casual disregard for the damage my armor and weapons are doing to his furniture. "Talk." DM: He calls his servant, and tells her to bring you food, the finest in the house. With sweat on his brow and a visibly shaking hand, he carefully brings a fork to his mouth and takes a bite of his fish dinner. You can tell that it tastes like sand to him, terrified as he is. He swallows, slowly, audibly, and begins to tell you the truth behind his dealings. ... DM, later: As he has been speaking, you've noticed a bluish tinge growing on his face. You chalk it up to the stress, until he gasps and clutches his chest. "The... fish...!" he croaks out, and then falls face first into his plate, dead. You realize suddenly that you were never served the dinner he had ordered for you. In fact, you haven't seen his servant at all since he sent her to the kitchen. PC: Murder! I tear through the apartment in search of the assassin!</blockquote>

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