| Will O' Wisp; Just realized something... | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Aug 23 2006, 05:30 PM (296 Views) | |
| Hades | Aug 23 2006, 05:30 PM Post #1 |
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Ritual Partaker
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...what player, except the most absolute green, would actually fall for the "bobbing light" trick of the Will O' Wisp? Have you EVER had a player that saw the bobbing lights and went sniffing for them only to fall in a marsh or pit of serpents? |
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| kismetrose | Aug 23 2006, 11:04 PM Post #2 |
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Actually, most of my players know too much, so they have to really work to pretend that their characters don't know much. Sometimes they metagame a little because they can't help it. If your player just plain didn't know what to make of the will o' the wisp, then I'd say that's more a good thing than a bad thing. They got to learn something new. If the player was actually trying to do what their character would do rather than what they would do, even better.
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Kismet's D&D - WoD - SG-1 - FB | |
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| Didge | Aug 24 2006, 12:14 AM Post #3 |
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Residential Alaskan Igloo & Walrus Inspector
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It's all in the description of the creature/effect. See, in my game I mix it up a bit. I know most of my players have read the monster manual (I've got several other DM's in my group). I've flat out told them don't metagame because I will change things up to throw you off. If you metagame you'll likely be in worst shape than if you played your character right in the first place. So for example given above about the will'o'wisp it wouldn't be a blob of light, it may be an illusion of a small boy screaming for help or it could just be eerie sounds. It may even be lights but it all comes down to the description I give the players to ensure they aren't metagaming. I've done things (recently for example) wherein I set up the group to confront a monster that turned creatures to stone. They saw tracks (none of them had tracking) asked me to sketch out what the tracks looked like, and guessed they were bassilisk tracks. They were wrong, but I wasn't about to tell them differently. They followed the tracks back to a cave, and encountered a creature that was half-dragon and half something else. They figured this creature had beaten the bassilisk and had made the cave its new lair. After semi dealing with the creature and returning to fight him multiple times, they soon discovered (to the detrament of two characters) that the lair still held the creature that turned others to stone (a medusa), which had teamed up with this other creature. So yeah, it is all in twisting their knowledge against them if they try to metagame too much. Because of this my players have long since abandoned the idea that a creature description they hear me describe is the same one the Monster Manual does.
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| When you're making an Adventure, remember to ask, "WWMPD" (What Would My Player's Do?) Then tailor your adventure around that. | |
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| Hades | Aug 24 2006, 09:09 AM Post #4 |
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Ritual Partaker
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Well, my current group of players is so paranoid that they would probably shoot arrows at the lights first before they even investigated...especially if they are out in the marsh and know that no one else should be around except for them and some monsters. What I may do is add a mesmerizing affect to the lights so that anyone seeing them must make a Will save or begin trying to get to them. |
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“Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” - Henry Rollins | |
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| DaveReaves | Aug 24 2006, 01:41 PM Post #5 |
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Can't believe its not butter
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I have found that one of the most frustraiting things for a player is loosing control of their character so I use things like mesmerization and Dominate Person very, vary sparingly. If I had to trick my group into this I would use their characters aginst them. Let the wisps resemble something they are looking for. Perhaps an NPC they know and trust is holding a strange blue torch and running into the woods yelling for them to follow. You could also try to pull the PCs away from each other with more personal things, say a lost sister they have been searching for. Something the players can't resit to see in game such as giving the unicorn obsesed player a change to follow a strange glowing unicorn into the shadows would work. |
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| Hades | Aug 25 2006, 10:53 AM Post #6 |
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Ritual Partaker
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You know what's funny? I've never even used a Wisp with any of my players. I've just always thought they were kinda silly but I am thinking about using them during an upcoming game. |
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“Don't do anything by half. If you love someone, love them with all your soul. When you go to work, work your ass off. When you hate someone, hate them until it hurts.” - Henry Rollins | |
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5:44 PM Jul 10