PC surprises.

[Kataclysm]

OK, you DMs out there ever have a group of PCs that just blow your mind with stuff?

 

Way back when 3rd edition first came out, I started up a campaign using the starter modules, as all of us had taken a bit of hiatus from tabletop gaming, and d20 was a bit revolutionary at the time. Well, if anyone remembers the Sunless Citadel module, there is a baby white dragon about 1/2 way in that the PCs can deal with in various ways. Everyone had pretty stereotypical classes and generic back stories at this time. Well, they do the deal with the kobolds and go to nab the dragon, I make the mistake of RPing a bit on the dragons behalf, and shouted "I'm not going back, you can't make me!" when they had the guy cornered. Well, instead of knocking out the beast and dragging it back, the PCs flatly refused to follow through with the deal and started brainstorming ways to "get revenge for the dragon"

 

Needless to say, I was stunned. I had to completely free style the back story of the wyrmling and then flesh out much more of the kobolds than i had intended. I scrambled for the next week to come up with something that seemed logical and fit in the story. Cal(the dragon) got a lot more personality in that week, I even made him a character sheet (I found the 3rd ed rules really helped make monster characters easy to make). Over the next few weeks of playing the PCs pushed him more toward the front of the story, they kept asking him what he wanted to do and where he came from, ect.

 

This gave me a fantastic jumping off point for a huge series of adventures that lasted over 3 years of gaming on a weekly basis, Cal was there for the whole thing, slowly growing into a full fledged dragon, i kept his powers in line with the PCs and never let him over shadow anything they could do.

 

Anyone else have stories of NPCs that ended up being more than intended?

[kristof65]

More than a few times.

 

It happened twice in the last iteration of my Iskitaan campaign. The first one started out as a minor NPC, who's mere purpose of existance was to help introduce a new player's PC to the party. He was fated to die, IMO. However, he didn't die as result of the battle, though he was captured, and a huge debate between the PCs as to what fate this NPC should be left to. They let him live, and I turned him into the BBEG's right hand man - a position that was originally supposed to go to an NPC I had crafted specifically to the role.

 

The second time it happened, I introduced a character named Kira to the group, an elf who was supposed to be a guide for a few sessions, and that's pretty much all. During the adventure, in addition to guiding, she was supposed to cause some interparty conflict as well as introduce the PCs to the culture of a race I call the Ricsilv, or Ice Elves. The problem was I made the NPC too alluring, and she wound up becoming a key member of the group, because three of the PCs fell in love with her. Her mere existence in the party caused all sorts of strife and drama that continued way beyond the original, intended adventure - I couldn't help but continue to link to the overall campaign, it was so much fun. I think the reason the PCs took such a shine to her was how I introduced her.

 

Basically, when she walked into the inn the PCs were in, I had everyone make a reaction roll - can't remember what stat it was based on. Those who made the roll, got to see this description:

She's elven, and gorgeous. No, not gorgeous - sexy. About Chantel's height, and Val's age, though with her elven blood, she could be a little older. No, probably is. Sparkling blue eyes twinkle under mussed up shoulder length hair. Her hair is white, with some soft curls. It's obvious that she dies or bleaches her hair, because dark roots are evident, though that doesn't seem to matter to everyone else. A blue tattooed line runs up the front of her neck and cheek to circle her left eye, and back down again into her blouse, seemingly calculated to enhance her beauty by drawing the observer to her best feature - her eyes.. A glittering stone lies nestled in the hollow of her neck, tied there with a fine silver thread, also seemingly calculated to enhance her presence by drawing the viewers eyes there, too.

 

She's wearing all white, even her soft leather boots. Her too tight pants and blouse are made of some sort of suede leather material, bleached or dyed white. The material doesn't look thick enough to keep her warm on a cold night like this, but the cold doesn't seem to bother her. She's lithe and lean, with a dancer's body, and her clothes make the most of what she's got. She's not particularly well endowed, but the plunging neckline of her blouse reveals that she does indeed have just enough cleavage. You can glimpse another blue tattooed line across her neckline, and two more emerging from her sleeves to end on the back of each hand. From the silver belt nestled across her hips hang two long, thin dirks, with bone handles in white leather sheaths. The way they hang tell you she is a professional, and they are not there for looks. No, she is there for looks, the knives are probably to help her ward off those who won't take no for an answer.

 

As she moves across the room, you cannot help but watch her and the reactions of those in the room around you. She is saying hello's to the various bar maids and regular's in the room - "Hello Kira" they call out to her in return. Kira's voice is sultry, sexy and strong, and she speaks with confidence. Despite her attention to her friends, she still has time for everyone, smiling or batting an eyelash at them, men & women alike, including you.

 

As you admire her presence, you can not help but notice every detail about her. It's not her physical beauty that attracts you, indeed, she's no prettier than Chantel, it's simply the way she is. Everything about the woman exudes sensuality - the way she dresses, the way she moves, the way she talks - even her smell is pleasant. She is attractive, and she knows it with out flaunting it. She's confident, moving with strong purpose, and yet with a dancer's grace. Subtly she acknowledges everyone in the room, drawing them into her presence, including you as she passes by on her way to the bar.

 

Those who failed the roll, got this description:

 

She's elven, and gorgeous. About Chantel's height, and Val's age, though with her elven blood, she could be a little older. Sparkling blue eyes twinkle under her tousled shoulder length hair. Her hair is white, with some soft curls. It's obvious that she dies or bleaches her hair, because dark roots are evident, though the contrast seems to enhance her pretty face. A blue tattooed line runs up the front of her neck and cheek to circle her left eye, and back down again into her blouse. A glittering stone lies nestled in the hollow of her neck, tied there with a fine silver thread.

 

She's wearing all white, even her soft leather boots. Her tight pants and blouse are made of some sort of suede leather material, bleached or dyed white. The material doesn't look thick enough to keep her warm on a cold night like this, but the cold doesn't seem to bother her. She's lithe and lean, with a dancer's body, and her clothes show off her every asset. She's not particularly well endowed, but the plunging neckline of her blouse reveals just enough cleavage to tease. You can glimpse another blue tattooed line across her neckline, and two more emerging from her sleeves to end on the back of each hand. From the silver belt nestled across her hips hang two long, thin dirks, with bone handles in white leather sheaths. The way they hang tell you she is a professional, and they are not there for looks.

 

As she moves across the room, it seems as if she is moving straight towards you - teasing you with her eyes, lips, all of her body language - though she isn't speaking to you. She is saying hello's to the various bar maids and regular's in the room - "Hello Kira" they call out to her in return. Kira's voice is sultry, sexy and strong, and she speaks with confidence. Despite her attention to the others, she still has time for you, making sure to give you a small, teasing smile as she locks her eyes to yours while passing by your table on her way to the bar.

 

Everything about the woman exudes sensuality - the way she dresses, the way she moves, the way she talks - even her smell is intoxicating as she passes you.

 

Wouldn't you know it - fully 2/3rds of the party failed their rolls - three of them so badly they were fawning over her. Surprisingly, though, the PC that made the first move on her had not failed her reaction roll and was a female half elf played by one of the two women in the group.

 

In retrospect, I should have known that Kira would become a permanent part of the campaign. I put so much work into making her entrance memorable that there was no way that the players were going to let me set her by the wayside that easily. The players are all true role-players to the core, and the love quadrangle Kira caused added so much role-playing potential, they couldn't let her go - even when she made their lives difficult (like getting knocked up by a demi-god).

[Kataclysm]

Now that's an entrance!

[Warlady]

Oh, it happens to me all the time....

 

I GM for a couple of different games with different groups of people. The one that gives me the most fits is our Savage Worlds group, which is three former co-workers from the engineering firm where I used to work. One is a civil engineer (who is new to RPGs, but getting very into it), one is a CAD engineer, and one is Chaoswarlord, an IT specialist. Those three guys have the most devious brains....we've been playing a pulp-style game that started off set in Shanghai in 1928, and this group has left a trail of destruction that amazes me. So far, amongst other things, they have burned down a nightclub and blown up an ancient temple (and half its island home and innocent villagers with it), but when they had finally acquired the object of their quest and made arrangements to leave Shanghai by ship and return to New York via San Francisco, with their feet on the gangplank, they suddenly turn to me and say, "Is there a train that leaves Shanghai?" What?? "We've decided to take the train instead. It will throw anyone chasing us off the track." Yeah, it will throw your GM off the track, too! They give their boat tickets to some hapless tourists and race off to the train station instead, leaving me scrambling to make up info about cross-China railroads....

 

But the NPC I hadn't expected to become such a hit was Splug the goblin. He was in a packaged 4E D&D adventure that I was using to try out the new system on our D&D group. When the party comes across him, he's been imprisoned by the other goblins for cheating at cards. The party can leave him, rescue him, kill him, whatever they like. Most of the party was either for leaving him in his cell or killing him, since they didn't want an enemy at their backs, but I role-played Splug persuasively enough to have them release him. He came out into the chamber where the PCs have just slaughtered about a dozen other goblins and hobgoblins, body parts and blood everywhere, with one character warning him, "This is what will happen to you if you betray us." Splug looked at the mess and said, "Ohhh, dear...." (in my best dismayed-goblin-voice) and my players all collapsed in hysterical laughter.

 

After that, they insisted that Splug become part of the party.

[shakhak]

A succubus flew by the party, trying to get a magical weapon before them. She was there waiting to use it on them when they caught up. The ceiling was open, making it a perfect place for the flying model to make an escape and eventually turn into the BBEG for the party to seek out. What I didn't expect was for the player who I let play as a Minotaur to roll a natural 20 on a jump check. When I asked why, he said he wanted to try and grab the succubus. After slamming her to the ground she was turned into demonic mince meat. Silly large models jumping and grabbing my NPCs.

 

 

Another memorable one was when they started hearing voices in an abandoned temple. Instead of searching the place and entering the deep catacombs to free the cursed ghosts, they got scared and left the place. After they took a smoke break, they came back in and told me they aren't leaving the temple yet. They began to blast it with everything they had, tearing it down into nothing but rubble and leaving the undead trapped underneath. I think one of them got a peek at my notes and told the others... so I got them back....

Instead of lost souls, I decided the temple was actually an ancient seal holding an ancient demon in limbo. When the place finally collapsed, the demon went free. I was just going to let it fly away, giving them a good scare, but they jumped in to surprise me again.

The minotaur drank potions and they cast every buff spell that they could. The minotaur fly into the air, with the party joining him in the next round. I looked up some stats, and we traded blows for one round. After that the minotaur was plummeting towards the ground unconscious.

Needless to say, they never looked at my notes again.

[Balgin Stondraeg]

But the NPC I hadn't expected to become such a hit was Splug the goblin. He was in a packaged 4E D&D adventure that I was using to try out the new system on our D&D group. When the party comes across him, he's been imprisoned by the other goblins for cheating at cards. The party can leave him, rescue him, kill him, whatever they like. Most of the party was either for leaving him in his cell or killing him, since they didn't want an enemy at their backs, but I role-played Splug persuasively enough to have them release him. He came out into the chamber where the PCs have just slaughtered about a dozen other goblins and hobgoblins, body parts and blood everywhere, with one character warning him, "This is what will happen to you if you betray us." Splug looked at the mess and said, "Ohhh, dear...." (in my best dismayed-goblin-voice) and my players all collapsed in hysterical laughter.

 

After that, they insisted that Splug become part of the party.

 

 

Had they been listenning to the adventure over on www.rpgmp3.com ?

 

There, the party took Splug prisoner. He volunteered to come along and the GM simply invested him with so much personality Splug became a fully fledged party member (at one point the party name became Splug Scavengers). The way Splug would often insult people to their face in a cheery friendly sort of way, or blatantly lie to their face without a clue he wasn't getting away with it (and asking the Tiefling if he could cut off it's tail so he could have a tail too and all sorts of sly pathetic ruses that just caused so much fun). Oh it's a good listen.

 

Splug even ended up multiclassing into cleric after enough conversations with the party priestess had not only shifted his alignment considerably but also drasticaly altered his belief system. The nicknames he gave all th party members were funny too.

 

When listenning to the adventure on Audio there's nothing as funny as hearing the goblin shouting "Evandra, I'm stabbing him in the kidneys!" or listenning at a door and declaring that he can hear "a room, and boxes, anda statue of an elephnent..." and then they open the door and find a passageway with no boxes, no statue, and a violent hobgoblin and Splug complains that it's very difficult to hear boxes and he's only little so sometimes he makes mistakes.

 

A very bloodthirsty little goblin indeed.