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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ahayford" data-source="post: 5711061" data-attributes="member: 6680745">I have frequently used what is sometimes referred to as "reflection" when I DM. Often times, your PC's will start going completely off the rails from what you thought or planned for them to do. They kill an ally, befriend an enemy, completely avoid that lynch pin encounter....or better yet...completely manufacture a threat of out paranoia that you didn't intend.Well....In response, I "reflect" those actions and fears....That ally *was* an enemy trying to eff them over. Now that enemy actually had a heart of gold or was cursed...or whatever you can come up with. I recently planned out a small fire beetle intro encounter, that turned into a beetle swarm from hell that nearly comsumed an entire outpost because the players got super paranoid. And you know what....What they came up with was way more interesting then what I had originally planned. I ran with it and it turned out awesome. The players have to feel like their choices matter or the sense of adventure and free will just vanishes. Its an extremely hard lesson for a DM to learn. Try to think about it as collaborative story telling. Its good to have planned characters and encounters, but try and be flexible about how the events play out. Don't sweat it if your players miss a clue or a key encounter. You can always have that same encounter happen somewhere else. Modify some fluff details to reflect the new situation and you're good to go.In your case, if your players avoid the cyst....I might validate those fears. People start having nightmares, madness starts creeping into people's dreams. Normal creatures start appearing that are corrupted by its influence. Maybe have something contact the heroes that can provide "protection" or a "weapon" to use against it that gives the players confidence that this is something they can tackle. If they choose to ignore it again...well there is only so much you can do <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=":)" /> It was a nice desert <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=":)" />With the ally situation, try to drop hints that these creatures appear non-violent, or at the least non-threatening. Some players are used to the "all npcs are monsters" mindset so this can sometimes be hard to tackle. Set up a situation like Return of the Jedi where the characters fall into a trap and must talk their way out of it....or maybe they encounter the natives being attacked by some obviously evil creature and the heroes can chose to save them. Again...only so much you can do. You can give them a few different opportunities to befriend them, but if not....thats just one choice they chose not to make. As for the spirit, I could go two ways on this. I might turn her into a spirit that was, in fact, trying to fool them. Or, make the players pay for their paranoia by being forced to watch her anguished screams as she is corrupted before their very eyes, turning into a creature of nightmare and pain. Depends how much of a pita they were being <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=":)" />Another great tool to use is "Foreshadowing". When your heroes start to make their way into the city....start to make it abundantly clear that something large, carnivorous, and hungry lives there. Piles of bones....fresh scorch marks....fresh claw marks on the buildings...dragon droppings....you name it. Leave plenty of warnings. Sometimes PC's miss that time you mentioned the dragon lived in the city and not the caves. Giving them warnings like the above without directly stating "HEY THE DRAGON IS IN THE CITY DUMBASS" can help them remember <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=":)" /> And if they go in anyway well.....Dragon's gotta eat.</blockquote>

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