Have you ever wanted to railroad your players when they do something really unexpected only to stop yourself and realize later that whatever happened was even better than your plan?
>>47229869
>Have you ever wanted to railroad
No. Also, fuck you.
>>47229869
Yes, fuck me.
>>47229869
Yes.
>Players discover Lich sealed away underground.
>I expect them to do magic ritual to keep him sealed away.
>They try, but one player says "I open the door"
>Initially think I should disallow... but then allow it anyway because I didn't want to just say "No, you can't"
Players now have a Lich to hunt. Turned out better than my original plan for the campaign, so I scrapped that and the rest of the campaign turned into tracking him down, figuring out his plan, and putting together the pieces to stop him.
>>47229869
Yes.
I was in the middle of a stalemate situation. My idea of resolving it was about talking with both parties involved and figure out based on the talk and all the cues in the scenario (my players make a lot of notes about all the things going in the game). I've got prepared lies, I've got false leads, I've got an unbelivable true story. All to make players think really hard.
And suddenly one of them, right when the whole thing was going to happen, started laughing and pass me a note. It said only three words in the original language:
>Check if Moren is a virgin
And suddenly it all clicked in for me too. You see, this was account of feuding feudal siblings. If her story was true, she was used as a sex slave. If her brother's story was true, then she was sealed in a tower at age of 7 and with her virginity intact if she escaped few hours before finding shelter among the PCs.
All players decided to ditch the unreliable interrogation and get the women tested.Her entire sappy story was a massive lie and she just used the PCs for her own goals
>>47230918
Hah. That's actually quite funny. How'd the PC's react?
>>47229869
>Have you ever wanted to railroad your players when they do something really unexpected
Unexpected?
Hell no.
I love that shit.
Monumentally stupid and a colossal waste of time?
Oh, yeah.
Still didn't do it.
>>47230955
Well, players started to laught and different PCs acted accordingly. You see, in the four people group, I've managed to split them during the scenario into supporters of Moren, supporters of Olgierd (her brother) and people generally confused why the hell we are in the middle of this conflict. So the chivalrious sorceror instantly opposed the whole concept of the test since he didn't sense any foul magic anyway, the merc went straight to the medic hut (knowing where it is, as they've had to put their wounded hireling there earlier), the witcher was calmly standing in the doors ready for anything and the ranger who figured out the whole test started to calming down everyone around, before they start fighting over something that will surely be settled very soon while being foul-proof. After all, what Moren should be afraid if she's telling the truth and why Olgierd can't wait few minutes more at this point?
They really did marvelous job with the whole test thing and calming the situation at the castle, so no need for railroading was needed. They've botched the security thou, so when the test turned out Moren is lying, she managed to effortlessly escape, as at this point there was no need for her to disguise as naive and exploited young girl, while her actions took everyone by surprise.
It's funny how such situations often happen to me when I've got some heavy-scripted railroading prepared in advance of fuck-up and players then surprise me with something truly brilliant.
But let me just improvise a scenario or just a scene in it and they suddenly can't do shit and are always completely clueless.
>>47231136
Hah, that's awesome! You sound like like a great GM! Also, the improvised ones might not go as well because they don't drop as many details/hints, as something you have planned out ahead might!
Bumpity bump
>>47229869
No, players are a bunch of retards that I hate. I hate all of them.
>>47233091
Then why you GM for them?
>>47231136
Always satisfying to see a good plan crumble into a thing of beauty.
>>47233220
I enjoy their anguish.
>>47233268
It's called bipolar disorder and we are curing it for like 40 years already.
>>47233325
GM for a college club has made me bitter.
>>47233369
Yes... and?
I'm GM for life and part-time job and I don't bitch at all about it. I'm GMing for the culture centre, local fantasy club and for true oldfags in library (where I work). Had to deal with shitload of awful players over years and guess what - it's still fine and dandy, as long as you handle your players properly, instead of bitching about them.
>>47229869
No. My players have often done things unexpected, but in every instance I can think of offhand, it was a pretty retarded idea, the most vivid (and retarded) being their attempt to burn their way into a wooden building and being surprised that it started an out of control fire.>>47230544
>>47231136
I wish my players were that creative. Most of them constantly have to stop and ask for help when it comes to their own plans.
>>47235901
To be honest, I had to "train" them into this. Whenever they were doing things like
>I use Name Of Skill
I've instantly asked them for description of what exactly they are doing. After a while they were instead going for
>I use Name Of Skill
>And as for the actions, I do...
And after a while, for practical reasons, they were just describing the action, leaving it for me to decide if the dice roll is needed at all and if so, to roll for what I find the most suitable stuff for their description.
>>47229869
>realize later that whatever happened was even better than your plan?
yes, all the time. Players theorizing about what is actually going on is often better than the things i actually came up with in the first place.
Sometimes I steal their own shit talk out from under their noses and make subtle tweaks in the background during 'FUCK thats better' moments.
>>47239510
>Sometimes I steal their own shit talk out from under their noses
I've once reworded an entire campaign on spot upon realising what the players assumed at certain point was faaaar better than my original idea.
They still consider themselves smart for figuring out my plans. Boy, oh boy, if they only knew...
>>47239784
*reworked
