Monday, September 13, 2010

Lessons I Learned Playing D&D Last Night

I. Pools are evil...

We see, at the fringe of our torchlight, a pool in a chamber.
Me: "I don't like rooms with pools in them; they can hide something big! Is anyone crazy enough to want to investigate this?"

II. If it looks like anything like a dragon assume it's a dragon...

Several deaths later, "yep...that serpentine, six-legged reptile was indeed a dragon!" At least the only non-henchman dead character belonged to the player that wanted to check out the pool...

III. Meta-gaming can always be justified

The DM was dangling a plot hook involving an island; Me: "Islands are trouble; there's always something dangerous on them. Small islands are worse as there's a higher ratio of danger to real estate."
The DM: "Hey...enough with the meta-gaming!"
Me: "My character just paid attention to the legends of Ulysses and Sinbad...he KNOW'S islands are BAD NEWS!"

6 comments:

  1. Metagaming gets a bad rap. If everyone played "in character" all the time, 99% of PCs would retire after their first big score, and the other 1% would have been smart enough not to go in the dungeon in the first place.

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  2. We were playing the other night and the PCs came to a pool, one of my long time players looked up and said, "Hey,I'm not crossing that, bodies of water are never safe."
    I let them SWIM across with no problem. The Vomit Golum was hiding in the ruins on the other side. It's important to keep them guessing.

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  3. More like:

    The DM: "Hey...enough with the avoiding every adventure hook!"

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  5. Another example from session. I put the new words in brackets:

    The DM:"(You can see what looks to be a pillared temple cut into the mountainside across the bay from the village you're in.)"

    Blair:"(Temples cut into mountainside)s are trouble; there's always something dangerous (i)n them. (Cave temple)s are worse as there's (so much) real estate (in there)."
    The DM: "Hey...enough with the avoiding every adventure hook!"
    Blair: "My character just paid attention to the legends of Ulysses and Sinbad...he KNOW'S (temple)s are BAD NEWS!"

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  6. My favorite pool is from the 2nd edition Forgotten Realms box set. There is a rope that leads into an underwater cave. The players typically assume that it is there to guide them through, and thus a good thing. They dive in, swim along the rope, and then it reaches a dead end. The dead end is well past the mid-point of most people's breath holding capacity.

    Clever trap, I thought.

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