Templetroll
Explorer
I started playing D&D in 79 and 5 of the 11 in the extended gaming group had their own worlds. When I wanted to run it was natural to think that I had to create my own world. I didn't play in published scenarios until a few years later.
My motivation? I wanted everyone to laugh and have a good time.
The first encounter I ran for a large bunch of first levels was a wererat pretending to be a druid with a LOT of rats friends. They got past him, since he couldn't take them all on at once, and in the dungeon beneath the tower they almost had their first death to a trapped door. They thought it had to be a door, until they broke the trap and actually found it was just a trap. then they looked for the secet door in the middle of the hall. They killed most of the first bunch of kobolds.... the poor shlub they caught up with who couldn't open the door, because it was stuck, they got drunk and one of the PCs adopted him. The player later asked if he could play the kobold and I said, "Sure, get a 1,000 experience with kobold hits and you can start as a first level whatever you train as." He ended up being a marvelous villian trying to organize the monsters to better fight the heroes.
I had my first TPK a couple of weeks later. Big ol' spiders. In 1e poison was 'save or die'; they didn't save. I did one of the few "it was all a bad dream" the next week and the party never went in that area again.
I named the world N's and years later the characters were talking to a god of knowledge, seeking help to save the world, and he told them a word of power for their world was Joh. "Speak the word with the name of your world and you will know all you need to understand it."
That was something I always enjoyed, having secrets, especially little jokes that the players might be able to find out along the way.
I made a point to describe what the characters saw so that they players could freely misinterpret what was going on.
What he was actually doing....
My motivation? I wanted everyone to laugh and have a good time.
The first encounter I ran for a large bunch of first levels was a wererat pretending to be a druid with a LOT of rats friends. They got past him, since he couldn't take them all on at once, and in the dungeon beneath the tower they almost had their first death to a trapped door. They thought it had to be a door, until they broke the trap and actually found it was just a trap. then they looked for the secet door in the middle of the hall. They killed most of the first bunch of kobolds.... the poor shlub they caught up with who couldn't open the door, because it was stuck, they got drunk and one of the PCs adopted him. The player later asked if he could play the kobold and I said, "Sure, get a 1,000 experience with kobold hits and you can start as a first level whatever you train as." He ended up being a marvelous villian trying to organize the monsters to better fight the heroes.
I had my first TPK a couple of weeks later. Big ol' spiders. In 1e poison was 'save or die'; they didn't save. I did one of the few "it was all a bad dream" the next week and the party never went in that area again.
I named the world N's and years later the characters were talking to a god of knowledge, seeking help to save the world, and he told them a word of power for their world was Joh. "Speak the word with the name of your world and you will know all you need to understand it."
That was something I always enjoyed, having secrets, especially little jokes that the players might be able to find out along the way. I made a point to describe what the characters saw so that they players could freely misinterpret what was going on.
What he was actually doing....
The dwarf was a cleric of Vergadain, the dwarf god of merchants, luck and trickery. A mirror and holy symbol (gold coin) were the components of the Sanctuary spell; I added the somatic gestures. The bandages were to cover up his Cure spells, he had to touch them to have it work but he didn't want folks to know for certain he was casting spells.
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