Awesome D&D campaign stories

[Babale]

I’ll follow Chimera’s example and tell some of my own D&D tales. Only mine aren’t quite as recent…

Many, many years ago, in a land far, far away, I decided to play a wizard. This was a big deal for me, since I usually liked to hit stuff with a sword. Our DM wanted me to try out a caster, so he helped me roll up a low-level pyromaniacal wizard. I prepared spells like Burning Hands, Scorching Ray, Fireball… (Or was it their 3e equivalent? I don’t remember).

Anyways, this was back in the good-old pre-internet days, when the DM kept the Monster Manual under lock and key. So when I learned that my mission was to go clear an old house of ghosts, I had no idea that fire only had a 50% chance of effecting them, as opposed to, say, magic missile. So I prepared an assortment of firey spells and set off.

I climbed a hill and came upon an old wooden house. I walked in. It was very, very creepy; but nothing was happening. And then, suddenly, dozens of ghosts flew out of the walls straight at me!

I fired off a Scorching Ray, and… did nothing. I dived for cover and shot another ghost with Scorching Ray; nothing. Then I had an idea.

“Ghosts are bound to their place of death, right?” “Yes.” “So, if the thing they’re haunting is destroyed, they cease to exist?” “Erm… Yeah, I guess.” “Great. FIREBALL!”

That’s right. I set the old house on fire and dived out the window. Got rid of a whole bunch of ghosts, and from that day on I loved playing casters.

[Miller]

@Chronos

Eh, obviously tastes differ. While I agree that direct divine intervention is an option available to the DM, I think it cheapens it to use it too often, or when the party had other options available to them. Though, as I said, I agree that they make for good stories.

Isn’t the whole point of a D&D game to tell a good story?

[Babale]

@Miller

Isn’t the whole point of a D&D game to tell a good story?

Yes, but only to a limit. I’m pretty conflicted here… I think rules and story require a delicate balance.

On the one hand, I’m against fudging die rolls to either side, because “it’s the first session and I don’t want a party wipe yet”. On the other hand, I love what SilverClawShift’s DM did in this case. And I do things that aren’t in the rules–for example, if you get hit in the face by a stone giant’s club, you’re gonna go flying. (Which technically IS rules legal now, since I have made a little house ruled system to figure that stuff out, but I used to wing it). So… I’m just not sure who I agree with.

[FinnAgain]

@Miller

Isn’t the whole point of a D&D game to tell a good story?

I thought it was to consume snack foods and quote Monty Python…
(Okay, the last time I played a game I was 14, but still…)

[CandidGamera]

@Miller

Isn’t the whole point of a D&D game to tell a good story?

Well, the point of D&D, like any game, is for all the players (including the GM) to have fun. In D&D’s case, it attracts players who like story, so that’s likely to be a big element of it. For Chronos, the divine intervention schtick may be un-fun, because he likes the idea of the players only having their resources at hand to solve the problem. Divine intervention may spoil his suspension of disbelief.

Different playstyles for different folks.

[glee]

@CandidGamera

Well, the point of D&D, like any game, is for all the players (including the GM) to have fun. In D&D’s case, it attracts players who like story, so that’s likely to be a big element of it. For Chronos, the divine intervention schtick may be un-fun, because he likes the idea of the players only having their resources at hand to solve the problem. Divine intervention may spoil his suspension of disbelief.

Different playstyles for different folks.

I completely agree with this.

With my main group (33 consecutive years and still going ), we play:

• 1st Edition (plus our own printed extension manual)
• each player DM’s in turn
• all die rolls (including the DM) done in public
• the challenge should be solvable by the PCs alone

I run a School group (23 years :), where we play:

• 1st Edition (plus the printed extension manual from above)
• I DM all the time
• player characteristics generated, not rolled (saves envy amongst teenagers)
• all die rolls (including the DM) done in public
• any player may halt the game to ask me for advice or a rule clarification
• any player may try for a ‘Chandelier moment’*

*coming from bar-room brawls, where it was great to imagine somebody swinging across the room.
In practice, this means any pupil who comes up with an imaginative idea that interests me is likely to find either the rules temporarily suspended or a series of improbable events leading to a memorable moment. (They are kids after all!)
For example, one pupil was leaving to go to University and asked for a dramatic farewell for his Hobbit Thief.
So in his final session, the party finally caught up with a major Pirate villain they’d been chasing. The Pirate Captain summoned a Kraken, so the Thief challenged it to single combat (a ‘catchweight contest’!) As the Kraken reared up, a bright light from the heavens shone on the tiny Hobbit - who leapt into the monster’s open mouth, causing it to sink below the waves … and the party then wrapped up the Pirate + his crew with a conventional combat.

[Rich_G7subs]

Holy '80’s! DnD still exists in this world of High Def Graphics and World of Warcraft!? People are still using their minds and imaginations!? Unheard of! I’m impressed! I miss playing, had some great times back in the day!

[CandidGamera]

@Rich_G7subs

People are still using their minds and imaginations!? Unheard of!

Well, some of us do! Others play 4th Edition.

[Chronos]

I guess what it comes down to is this: Every world must operate according to a set of consistent rules. Now, I’m OK with not knowing what all of the rules are (we don’t know all of the rules of the world we live in, after all), but whether you know them or not, the rules are still there, in the background. But in a D&D world, we, the players, do know all the rules, and those rules include things like the range and area of effect of a Bless Water spell. And a character who’s a divine spellcaster probably knows those particular rules pretty well, too. And so when those known and established rules are violated, it’s jarring for me. It can still work fine as a story, because as a story, it’s taken somewhat out of the context of the rules: When I’m reading the Silverclaw Saga, I can imagine that it takes place in a different world, with different rules for how holy water is made. But when I’m actually down in the trenches and playing a game, I need to have some idea already of what the rules are, and keep them in mind, in order to be able to make my decisions.

[Miller]

@Chronos

I guess what it comes down to is this: Every world must operate according to a set of consistent rules. Now, I’m OK with not knowing what all of the rules are (we don’t know all of the rules of the world we live in, after all), but whether you know them or not, the rules are still there, in the background. But in a D&D world, we, the players, do know all the rules, and those rules include things like the range and area of effect of a Bless Water spell. And a character who’s a divine spellcaster probably knows those particular rules pretty well, too. And so when those known and established rules are violated, it’s jarring for me. It can still work fine as a story, because as a story, it’s taken somewhat out of the context of the rules: When I’m reading the Silverclaw Saga, I can imagine that it takes place in a different world, with different rules for how holy water is made. But when I’m actually down in the trenches and playing a game, I need to have some idea already of what the rules are, and keep them in mind, in order to be able to make my decisions.

I come at it from a very different direction. The rules in an RPG aren’t immutable laws of physics, they’re guidelines on how to run an effective simulation. If the guidelines don’t cover a situation you want to simulate, they should be bent or discarded as necessary. In this case, the rules provided a guideline on how to manufacture holy water: clerics create it by using up a spell. In a situation where a player wants to make a whole lot of holy water at once, you shouldn’t look at the rules and say, “Well, there’s only rules for making a little bit at a time, so you can’t make a whole lot.” You should say, “Here’s how the rules handle making a little bit. How can we extrapolate this into making a whole lot?”

[E-Sabbath]

I should point out Holy Rain/Unholy Rain/Lawful Rain/Chaotic Rain are all legit 3.5e spells. In the Spell Compendium. My cleric used to use them for all sorts of interesting things.

[Balance]

@Chronos

I guess what it comes down to is this: Every world must operate according to a set of consistent rules. Now, I’m OK with not knowing what all of the rules are (we don’t know all of the rules of the world we live in, after all), but whether you know them or not, the rules are still there, in the background. But in a D&D world, we, the players, do know all the rules, and those rules include things like the range and area of effect of a Bless Water spell. And a character who’s a divine spellcaster probably knows those particular rules pretty well, too. And so when those known and established rules are violated, it’s jarring for me. It can still work fine as a story, because as a story, it’s taken somewhat out of the context of the rules: When I’m reading the Silverclaw Saga, I can imagine that it takes place in a different world, with different rules for how holy water is made. But when I’m actually down in the trenches and playing a game, I need to have some idea already of what the rules are, and keep them in mind, in order to be able to make my decisions.

All of which is perfectly fine. You seem to prefer a more tactical style of play, while I prefer a more cinematic one. Neither of us would likely enjoy the other’s “perfect” campaign very much, but I feel no need to “convert” you.

My point was simply to show that your characterization of the campaigns as “too easy” was not supported by your example of the DM bending the rules to enable a cinematic moment. It seems to me that your objection to the campaign is not that it was too easy, but that it conflicted with your preferred style of play.