15 replies to this topic

[Menelanna]

I did not see one of these so I thought I would start one. Here is a place where you can share interesting things that has happened to you or your friends in your Dungeons and Dragons campaigns. The funnier or crazier the better. I will start off.

The party consists of Menelanna the elven ranger/wizard (me), Eiblen the human druid, and Sir Fredrick the human paladin. We are hunting drow and are trying to get this evil artifact away from them. (it is broken into 4 pieces). Well...we find out where one of their hidding spots is and that they have some very important papers with info we need. The druid summons a wind elemental to scout a head of us. It goes into the cave, down the trap door in there, into a large common room filled with 20 drow, and past a locked door and find the info we need. Well...we need to think of someway to get in there and get the stuff with out being caught. It is at that point my friend (Eiblen) thinks up of a brillant plan. She hands me two potions. One of invisiblity and one of Spider Climb. she then opens the trap door summons two fire elementals to go 'hug' the locked door. I then drink the potions and climb down invisible and on the ceiling. As all hell breaks loose there, the drow are running back and forth shouting and trying to put out the flames. Well the leader gets the elementals killed, but the door is still burning. He pours water on and opens it. My que to get inside. I just down clear off his desk which has the papers with the needed info, a bunch of spells for me to add to my spell book, and a map that very nicely has all of their hideout marked on it. Well I get back on the ceiling and high tail it out of there as he notices that his stuff is gone. I got out of there found my friends and ran like the denize of hell were after them. (which in a way they were since they did have demons on their side...)
Let me note that I got out of there with only a minute left on my invisibility and that I would have been dead if I had been caught. Was a crazy but fun night.

So lets hear about your stories!

[Kellen]

Well what the hoodles.

In a freeform campaign set in the Forgotten Realms, approximately 15,000 years after the gods have died, the surface has become uninhabitable, and everyone fled to the Underdark.

My Shadow Adept Vrenyr, and Shaelindriel (Shae), an Elven Thief/Mage got into a fight. Both cast a spell, and due to the trouble of mixing those two types of magic the dm had some fun. Vrenyr had cast blind, and Shae had cast Color Spray, well Vrenyr was knocked out and Shae blinded, but her color spray went off to destroy half the street. Then Vrenyr had to be hauled around by our resident Half-Orc Barbarian/Thief Druthi, as we made our escape over the rooftops. Needless to say he wasn't happy when he woke up. And then he had to maneuver his way across the rooftops in his robes.

Edited by Kellen, 02 May 2007 - 12:00 PM.

[berelinde]

This is the transcript of a letter I wrote to the DM of my PnP campaign. It summarizes the experiences of Gavin's first encounters with his most recent gaming party. Sir Barney Dink was kind enough to save the letter. And yes, the campaign was more or less all like this: Gavin tried to be the voice of sanity and reason in a mostly CN party. Fortunately, he was rarely successful. But they did name him party leader, and later, after the town was demolished (by us) and rebuilt, the townspeople elected him mayor because he was 1) generally amusing 2) mostly harmless and 3) couldn't bring himself to raise taxes.

First, the mayor talked to Gavin about a bit of pest control in the crypt. Gavin found out what it was: a vampire. He had a plan for getting rid of it. That was a good thing. B)

Then, Gavin tried to bash it with his mace of disruption when it was just doing its own thing, not really bothering anyone.

Then the party started making plans behind his back and wouldn't tell him what was going on.

Then we all left on a reconnaisance mission to scout out the area. Should have kept us out of trouble for a while. That was a good thing. B)

Then we ran into the flying Nazgul things and Strayer (Sean's character) blew his cover by charging them head on. Not so good.

We killed them. That was good.

Then we went to the town and Grxnya (Carol's character) killed a guard. Gavin was distraught.

But the baron's son was riding out to meet us, so all was good.

So Grxnya blew him to bits, with the horse he rode in on.

But we lived.

And then we came up against his dad.

But we lived. Well, mostly. Dorin (Joe's character) died, and Gavin tried to raise him. He had a 99% chance of system shock survival. He rolled 00.

Then we had to go home and face our boss, the one that sent us out for peaceful negotiations.
He let us live.

In fear.

So now we have to take on the big bad Ultimate Vampire on his own turf.

But we might get help if we can talk to the vampire in line 2, the one Gavin tried to bash with his mace.

Ooh, boy.

Edited by berelinde, 02 May 2007 - 02:44 PM.

[Tempest]

Here are a couple of fun little tales from my own experiences. I'm almost always the DM for my group of friends, so both of these really are my fault, in a way.

Our preferred generic fantasy world (based on the Forgotten Realms) is one where the Nexus (the name for our world) lies at the confluence of the six elemental planes (the standard four, plus sonic and psionic, which we define as elements) and two energy planes. Everything is defined as being aligned with one of the six planes (Air-aligned, Earth-aligned, Fire-Aligned, Water-Aligned, Sonic-Aligned, Psionic-Aligned, Positive-Aligned, or Negative-Aligned), and each alignment grants a variety of powerful innate bonuses and penalties. Anyhow, my friends' adventuring party was in an underground complex belonging to an ancient half-dragon Fire-Aligned sorcerer, and the ground was covered in a strange, viscous liquid, similar to a permanent grease spell over every inch of the complex. The party's wizard took a sample of the goop and analyzed it, discovering it to be powerfully fire and positive-aligned (certain magical things could be dual-aligned). Later on, the group was ambushed by a powerful plant-like creature, and the wizard panicked. My idiot friend cast a fireball, which promptly ignited the goop and caused a massive firestorm that incinerated the entire party. He still hasn't lived that one down.

Another fun time came with a different party (same group of friends, same setting, different characters). The group was hunting an evil tenth-level psion uncarnate that had been wreaking havoc in a nearby kingdom. It had been known to exhibit shapeshifting powers when manifesting itself physically, and displayed an extraordinary fondness for dominating people and animals. Cue the Gulf of Storms. It was the last known area of the uncarnate, and the group found a displacer beast cub. Aylandra, Positive-Aligned half-elven druid, decided that since she had lots of ranks in handle beast, she would attempt to tame the cub, and raise it as the party's own pet displacer beast. It ran when she approached, and she followed. Then the two adult displacer beasts attacked while the cub reverted to the uncarnate's incorporeal form.

[Star Dragonmaiden]

Okay, while I didn't start to actually PLAY DnD until late last year, I do have several stories to tell.

My first campaign was a tournament module. I think it was called "In the Hall of The Dragon King," but the group and I "affectionately" called it "The Campaign of Death," mostly because at least one person would die before the session was over, usually the sorcerer. I was playing with one of the module's pre-made characters, a level ten Ranger/Cleric who couldn't do either class very well. The spell options I had were terrible, my saves weren't all that great, and my arrow selection sucked (I could use either monster bane arrows or +2 arrows. I didn't get +1 arrows until long after the +2 were used up.) Despite my character's short comings, he wasn't killed until my fourth session when he physically dragged the sorcerer out of an acid ooze-like monster that grabbed him. The monster managed to critical me. While that didn't kill me right way, a blow from a second one finished the job. Damn my chivalrous ways.

I have classes to get to, so I'll tell my other stories later.

[Menelanna]

Tempest the mistake your friend made was hailarious! BOOM!

here are a few short ones from my friend and his group:

He was really really tired and not thinking straight. Well his group goes in an the room has black powder in it. The group tell him (the mage) don't cast fire ball. and he goes "Huh? Cast fire ball....okay." BOOOOM

Same group different characters. They have a greater bag of holding filled to the brim with weapons and other sharp pointy things. The mage (this time no my friend) cast a spell the removed all magic in the area. Well the bag of holding then kinda lost its holding powers....and shot swords, spears, daggers, sheilds, and all sorts of other things out and impailed everyone.

Again same group different characters cause they kinda had a lot of TPKs (total party kills). They are fighting another mage. Enemy mage is bouncing a fireball on his hand before he throws it at the party. The mage of this group (a different player again) goes "Hey! I have the staff of the magi! I absorb the fireball with it."
The DM goes, "Uh...how many charges do you have left?"
mage "Um...three"
DM: "Do you know what level spell it take to BOUNCE a FIREBALL on ones hand? It is Delay Fireball, a ninth level spell!"
Entire group: "Oh no"
Well the staff absorbs the spells but since it maxes out...it explodes. Not only killing their enemy and themselves, but destroys the entire city they are in!

[Bluenose]

Here's one moment that people regularly remind me of, as perpetrated by one of my characters.

We'd just won a fight with a group of werewolves in the hills near to a small town in Lapaaliya, and everyone bar my ranger PC was seriously injured and likely to be in need of Cure Disease and other magic to prevent them becoming werewolves themselves. We decided that everyone else would rest while my PC hurried into town to find some clerics willing to heal us.

When Veldan reached town he asked the guards on the gate where he cold find a temple, and one of them gave him directions down a nearby alley. The building din't look like anything special, but when he went in the ladies inside were happy to see him, and especially happy when he told them what he wanted. They were in fact so happy that they agreed to do all the healing necessary in exchange for nothing more than our participation in the services at an important holy day they had coming up. So I took them up on the offer, and Veldan went of with a group of very polite young ladies and their escorts to the place where the rest of the party was waiting. He explained the situation, and everyone got healed, then we set off back into town.

At which point our Paladin got it into his head to Detect Evil. All the nice young ladies set it off, as do the guards. So he asks who they are, and what god they worship.

And then they showed him their holy symbols.



Doesn't Loviatar have some interesting rituals.

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Edited by Bluenose, 03 May 2007 - 07:52 AM.

[Star Dragonmaiden]

Okay, here's another.

I'm playing a paladin of St. Cuthbert in a Temple of Elemental Evil campaign. We're inside the Moathouse and the ranger decided to forgo a Spot and Listen check and sticks his head inside a chimney. A giant tick drops down and latches on to the back of his neck. The ranger throws himself on his back to try and squash to tick, but that didn't work. The monk then tries to kick it (don't ask me why) and kick the ranger in the head instead. The mage uses her turn to roll the ranger on to his back so we can get a better shot. I can up with my Heavy Mace, and line up my shot, telling the ranger not to move. I wind up and swing, knocking the the tick off and splattering it against the wall after rolling a critical. I didn't think that would work. FORE!

[Menelanna]

okay I heard this one from my DM from an old group of his.

they were doing a merchant campaign where they were all trying to sell items. the items they had to sell were extreemly poor quality armor and weapons. (like rusted chainmail or a chipped sword) well one of the guys is playing as a gargoyle and he happens to have really high cha. so mr. gargoyle is actually giving a really good sails pitch and almost has the entire town wanting to buy from them. Then he blew it all by ending the pitch like this, "Buy, so we can take back the world for our kind!"
the gargolye and his party got chased out of town.

[Tempest]

Here's one not half an hour old!

My friends' adventuring team has recently made it to epic levels, and I decided to get the epic campaign off with a bang. As the (primarily CG/CN) adventurers were being presented at a state banquet as heroes for vanquishing a lich that had been masterminding a series of operations to destroy the kingdom, a blackball decided to drop in. It had snuck into the hall, and, within range of the adventurers and the king, it unleashed its vortex ability. Now the heroes all made their reflex saves, but the king did not. However, the king wore boots of solidity (an item that made him utterly immovable if he so chose), and was unaffected.

Then the party's wilder got an idea. The thing was, the king was extreme Lawful Neutral, and ruled the nation with an iron grip. Not an evil reign, but oppressive nevertheless. The wilder was extreme Chaotic Neutral. As the adventurers and the king were the only ones present, she decided to manifest an energy ray, choosing the fire element, at the king's boots. I decided that the enchantment on the boots did not extend to protecting from psionic attack, and the boots suffered severe burn damage (so did the king's feet), and I decided that with the boots abruptly in such poor condition, the king had to roll a reflex save against the blackball's vortex, a save he failed. He went sailing into the blackball, failed his fortitude save, and was disintegrated.

Its mission complete, and there being no other witnesses, the blackball departed, and my friend got away with murdering the king.

[Menelanna]

this was big "OOPS! We are in so much trouble!" moment in my party.

Menelanna (Me), Eiblen (my friend), and Sir Fredrick (the DM's char who was there to keep us alive. we have a small group) were going do underground to kill some drow and demons. All of sudden the paladin stops moving...all together. He is under some hold spell. Then Mene feels something tap her shoulder and discovers a Baalor standing behind her. So the lvl 5 ranger and druid are scared out of their wits end cause there is no way we can kill a devil like this. Well...it want to make a deal with us. We are so scared it will kill us if we say no that we agree. Ends up he want the evil artifact we are seeking to destroy and us agreeing to help him makes out alignment drop. So we go down from being CG and NG to CN and TN. Well when paladin wakes up he is TICKED.

Well we move on, kick drow and demon butt. THen we decided to go redeem ourselves to get out Good stause back and get the paladin happy again. We succeed (mine ending in me getting visited by Shevarash and him asking my char to serve him!! he raise my Dex for that ). Well we continue on and get the artifact and we can't destroy it so we just drop into a portal which is constanly switching which world it leads to. as soon as we drop it in...time stops. We hear a voice "I will teach you to betray me." We both go "Uh oh" and get pushed into the portal.

We are now in the world of Ptolis and found out that there is no way back to Toril unless we get one of this world's gods to send us back. So we are now two women trapped in a unfamilar world. (and the poor druid lost her wolf in the proccess too. But I got to keep my cat!)

Lesson learned. Don't make a deal with the devil!!!!

[Star Dragonmaiden]

In yet another campaign, our party happened upon a Kuo-Toan shrine with a trident on it by a lake in the Underdark. On the altar were a bunch of glowing runes. Our warlock, played by someone well-known for doing dumb things, went up to the altar and read the runes before the warmage had a chance to roll a Knowledge Arcane check. As we all figured they would, they exploded and we fought three spectres. After the battle, the (slightly crispy) warlock asked the DM what the runes had said, guessing that they said, 'I memorized Explosive Runes today,' (Google Order of the Stick if you don't get the reference) to which the DM replied:

"No, it said, 'DUMBASS!'."

[Tempest]

Here's a moment from today's PnP session with my friends. We started a new campaign, and I decided to make it unlike anything we'd ever done before. I had recently bought a copy of Stormwrack (handbook devoted to sea-based and underwater material), and pulled it and unearthed arcana out. We were going to have a completely undersea campaign, and I really enjoyed the looks on my friends' faces when I said that-we'd never had more than two or three underwater battles before, and I was dropping an entire campaign on their heads. They created their aquatic characters, after I sheperded them through the whole "undersea campaign" part.

The campaign started with the adventurers meeting up at a temple of Istishia, who in our campaign is one of the most powerful deities in the Azure Sea. He has put forth a summons for adventurers to stop an ancient evil beginning to awaken in the ocean depths, one he fought and barely contained long ago. As soon as the adventurers hear their quest, the temple comes under attack by sahuagin. The temple's magical dolphin defenders leap to the defense, and this little conversation occured:

"The gray dolphin to the left uses its bardic music to inspire courage, giving the usual +1 bonuses. Meanwhile, the black dolphin on the right casts an acid arrow at the sahuagin in the lead."

"Wait-that's not possible. Bardic music doesn't work underwater, and how the heck does a dolphin use magic?"

"These dolphins are blessed servants of Istishia, and have character class levels. The dolphin has the sunken song feat from Stormwrack, and the dolphin wizard has the surrogate spellcasting feat from Savage Species. "

"Oh..."

[Tempest]

Sorry, but I feel the need to get this off my chest-I had an evilgasm and wanted to share.

For my friends' next PnP adventure, they went ahead and created a scratch team of mid-level characters, about half of which are elves (four of nine characters, you'll see why this is important). The quick-adventure they've signed on for is this: a town has mysteriously fallen silent. No word has been heard of it in several days, and everyone who's gone there to see what the problem is has never been heard from again. The local ruler has offered a great reward to anyone who can find out what's happening and put a stop to it-this is where my friends come in. What they're going to find is a derelict town where everyone seems to have fallen asleep-yet no amount of shaking or disturbing the slumbering people will wake them up, and several of them fell asleep with evidence indicating they were trying to flee or fight back against something, and no amount of searching will turn up anything... until nightfall, when they'll start to see... something. In reality, the town (and my friends' party) is under attack by a new creature known as a dreamfane, specially amped up by the DM [me], which is going to begin stalking the party and start picking them off one by one. To make matters worse, the elves in the party won't be able to see the creature, even with magical aid, as it stalks and attacks the party, feeding off the non-elves, while using its far more subtle psionic powers against the elves (who don't dream, thereby rendering them both immune to its primary attack and unable to see it).

I forsee much fun with this one, since I've altered the creature to become much creepier (and dangerous), and it will be up to my friends' characters to see if they can even figure out what on Toril they're dealing with, let alone what to do about it.

[berelinde]

Probably more fun for the DM than the players, though.

Just to show that there are no truly original ideas under the sun, boyfriend did something similar, but we were all pretty high level, 10-12. We all pretty much got bored and stopped playing. Fiendish plans are fine, but if the solution is too obscure, the players are likely going to get frustrated. In BF's campaign, the only non-elven characters were Gavin, who has absolutely *no* psionic ability, despite a high wisdom, and Dorn, a dwarf, WIS 8, INT 7, CHR 7. The evil character wanted to just propegate a disease that would wipe out the town, and report back that the silence was due to a catastrophic plague, but Gavin wouldn't let her. I think we just said "You know what, they're sleeping. They'll still be sleeping when we figure this out. We'll get back to it." And then we wound up switching games.

You might have invented the creatures, but not the concept. He was calling them the Fey. He probably got the idea from some book.

[Tempest]

Note that I didn't invent the creature, either.

This isn't so much a case of me thinking myself especially clever as it is a DM's delight over the prospect of tormenting my friends-this is just a scratch group of throwaway characters as a break from our main campaign. They don't really expect to survive, which is good, since they probably won't. There are two psionics in the party-a paladin/psionic warrior and a wilder. I'm just having a bit of an evilgasm because I'm going to emphasize the "what the hell is going on?!" aspect of things-the elf and the human who are involved with each other (husband and wife team irl) may go away from the party at night to have some private time, but the human will abruptly start screaming as he's attacked by something his paramour can't even see. It's basically the DnD version of a horror/suspense movie.