Your First Time

[Piratecat]

Details, please!

I really wanted to run Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, a sci-fi/fantasy crossover where the PCs explore a crashed rocket. I was really excited to run this. I'd read and reread the adventure. For players I had my friends Rob and Roger, and Rob's younger brother Jay.

I got them into the rocket okay, but then things went downhill -- fast.

Me: "You see some sort of robot coming down the hall. It's whirring and beeping."

Rob: "A robot? Screw that. We're leaving."

Me: (panicking) "The robot turns around and goes back down the hall the other direction. It's safe for you to explore."

Roger: "No, we're out of here."

Me: "You see something on the floor. It's a laser pistol!" I thought I might be able to bribe them into staying. "It does lots of damage if you can figure out how it works."

Rob: "I don't want to. We don't touch it. We leave."

Me: (desperate now as it falls apart) "You can't! The door cycles shut, and you can't get out! I guess you'll have to explore."

Roger: "No. We wait until the door opens again."

Me: "What if it doesn't?"

Rob: "We wait until it does."

Me: "Uh.. okay."

Jay: "You guys want to go to the beach?"

Rob and Roger: "Yeah!"

Me: "Ummm. Okay. We can adventure more later, right?"

Rob: "Uh, sure. Grab your stuff and we'll go."

As you can imagine, later never happened. I think this is the reason I don't enjoy crossovers like Spelljammer and Dragonstar. I got a lot better at DMing when I started running RPGA modules at cons, but it was an eye-opening way to start.

Coincidentally enough, I was thrilled when Rob got in touch with me last year (through classmates.com.) He's in San Diego now, still gaming, and doesn't remember this incident at all. The fact that I have it vividly imprinted on my psyche is something he considers fairly funny.

 

[The_Gneech]

Sometime in 1983, Falls Church High School, the game was a little quasi-D&D boxed set of miniatures, paints, and map called Crypt of the Sorcerer. It was pretty cheesy by modern standards, but still a lot of fun, and I have a lot of the old materials from it. Still keep touch with one of the players, too...

-The Gneech

 

[shilsen]

I really wanted to run Expedition to the Barrier Peaks, a sci-fi/fantasy crossover where the PCs explore a crashed rocket. I was really excited to run this. I'd read and reread the adventure. For players I had my friends Rob and Roger, and Rob's younger brother Jay.

I got them into the rocket okay, but then things went downhill -- fast.

Me: "You see some sort of robot coming down the hall. It's whirring and beeping."

Rob: "A robot? Screw that. We're leaving."

Me: (panicking) "The robot turns around and goes back down the hall the other direction. It's safe for you to explore."

Roger: "No, we're out of here."

Me: "You see something on the floor. It's a laser pistol!" I thought I might be able to bribe them into staying. "It does lots of damage if you can figure out how it works."

Rob: "I don't want to. We don't touch it. We leave."

Me: (desperate now as it falls apart) "You can't! The door cycles shut, and you can't get out! I guess you'll have to explore."

Roger: "No. We wait until the door opens again."

Me: "What if it doesn't?"

Rob: "We wait until it does."

Me: "Uh.. okay."

Jay: "You guys want to go to the beach?"

Rob and Roger: "Yeah!"

Me: "Ummm. Okay. We can adventure more later, right?"

Rob: "Uh, sure. Grab your stuff and we'll go."

As you can imagine, later never happened. I think this is the reason I don't enjoy crossovers like Spelljammer and Dragonstar. I got a lot better at DMing when I started running RPGA modules at cons, but it was an eye-opening way to start.

Coincidentally enough, I was thrilled when Rob got in touch with me last year (through classmates.com.) He's in San Diego now, still gaming, and doesn't remember this incident at all. The fact that I have it vividly imprinted on my psyche is something he considers fairly funny.

Damn! Tough crowd