Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Polymorph 09-20-04, 06:40 PM	Well, so what is it that really makes us DMs really all jiggly wiggly happy? :D 1)I love it when there are finally some events that let the PCs have some insight on what is really going on. So they see that all the seemingly random encounters and events are perfectly reasonable and credible!
fistanthius 09-20-04, 06:45 PM	Make an encounter that doesn't end in a couple rounds because the fighter has a 22 str(enchanted by +2), power attack, two handed kopesh and deals 50+ damage on a crit (15% of attacks). Woohoo, I made an encounter challenging for the PCs of 3.x!!!
DougC 09-20-04, 06:56 PM	When we get to the beginnng or end of an adventure and they realize that something that they did two or three adventures ago had a direct effect on what they are doing now or just did. Two examples: When they arrived at the crashed saucer section of an abandoned Federation Starship overrun with alien monsters and realized that it crashed here, on their "medieval planet" because of a rip in the space-time continuem caused when they destroyed the uber-powerful artifact sought by the BBEG. When they had to fight evil versions of themselves, aided by a good version of the BBEG, all created because of actions that they took in the encounter where they finally defeated the BBEG once and for all. :D
Board_Rider 09-20-04, 06:57 PM	I just appreciate it when all PC's, together, pay attention and ultimitley create strategies to overcome problems. No bickering or greed.
kardock 09-20-04, 07:04 PM	When they had to fight evil versions of themselves, aided by a good version of the BBEG, all created because of actions that they took in the encounter where they finally defeated the BBEG once and for all. :D wow that is a great idea man! can you give us more details? i would love to do this :D
Starsword 09-20-04, 07:34 PM	Well, I really enjoyed the time where I was talking about someone else DM'ing, and my players said "I can't really see myself playing with a different DM, the way you do things is just so awesome it'd be lame by comparison" It made me feel so great to think that my DM'ing gave these guys such a fun time.
Sidious 09-20-04, 08:31 PM	Making them care enough about something to really worry, try, and risk for their goal.
tiercel 09-20-04, 09:11 PM	Describing a situation in loving detail and seeing FEAR on players' faces. Seeing players work together to come up wtih a strategy that demolishes an encounter I'd carefully planned -- not because I screwed up on the preparation, not because there was a loophole in the rules -- but because the party came together and used their heads to think of something I (and realistically, the villain) didn't anticipate. Going through an entire session of roleplay without combat and without any player as a result fidgeting with dice. Going through an entire session of Climactic Battle, and seeing the looks of relief on players' faces as their characters stand (barely) triumphant, with no fatalities but fewer than 10 hit points amongst the entire group. Seeing the party flee, routed by intelligent, prepared villains, and as a result having the players want to pull an all-nighter because they are raring for vengeance NOW. Getting a plot line to wrap up in such a way that provokes RL cheering/applause.
StrahdVonZarovich 09-21-04, 12:41 AM	Completely wiping out the players party, to make it clear that you wasn't kiddin' when you said that magical object/item had a huge curse on it.
SnowbearK 09-21-04, 12:50 AM	Find a stable group to game with consisting of excellent role-players.
DougC 09-21-04, 01:47 AM	wow that is a great idea man! can you give us more details? Sure. I'll tell you what I can remember of it. :) The PCs (three players, six PCs and faerie dragon) had encountered the BBEG three times and on the third encounter with him, tied him up, gagged him, and threw him into a valcano. The end of Big, Bad Dartigon! Then they destroyed the uber-powerful artifact that he had been after them for (what had started the whole campaign, actually). What they didn't know was that Dartigon had the Silent Spell and Still Spell feats and teleported out of the volcano before hitting the lava. Their next adventure was the one involving the crashed saucer section of the Federation Starship that I mention in my previous post. After that adventure, their queen asked them if they would attend a charity art auction in her place since she couldn't make it. They agreed and had a lot of fun at the auction, bidding on things. Then, a shrill alarm sounded and they ran out of the auction house to see what was going on and discovered that some thieves had stolen a valuable object from an art collector who lived in town. They chased after the thieves (like good little heroes :D) and followed them through a teleporting portal into the long deserted ruins of a desert castle. As they began searching through the castle, they uncovered what I called the Improved Mirror of Opposition, which was actually two mirrors. I had a long backstory written about how and why it had been created, but I can't remember it all right now, just that it had something to do with invading a castle somewhere, then the two mirrors were lost. The second mirror, the one that the opposites exited from was located in a town between the desert castle and the PCs homeland. As far as they knew, however, it was just an ordinary mirror. They encountered Dartigon here, all of them - the PCs and Dartigon - passing in front of the mirror during the encounter. They also discovered that what the thieves had stolen was the Amulet of the Sphere. The Sphere of Anhilation was also located in these castle ruins and Dartigon wanted to control it, since the PCs had destroyed Obiron's Orb. After a long and intense battle, they managed to defeat Dartigon and throw his body into the Sphere of Anhilation. Now, as all this was going on, approximately 30 or so miles away, six "evil twins" of the PCs were wreaking havoc on a small town and one "good twin" of the BBEG, Dartigon, was trying desperately to stop them. Well, with Dartigon finally destroyed forever ;) and the painting they had come for in their possession (and some other cool art they had bid on and won just because they liked it and it was for charity), they headed back toward their home realm. And planned on bypassing the town altogether! :mad: Now, I had been waiting anxiously for months for them to get to this point in the campaign, so I had to think fast - the Rogue's faerie dragon smelled fresh, hot apple pie coming from the town and zipped off! :devil: Because the Rogue wasn't about to let anything happen to her beloved pet faerie dragon, the other PCs pretty much had no choice but to follow the two of them into the town. One of the first things they saw as they entered the town was Dartigon darting around a building, into an alleyway (he was actually running from their evil twins). The first thing one of them said was, "I disbelieve!" As they walked down a town street, they heard breaking glass and the voice of an old friend of theirs they hadn't seen in a long time (a PC belonging to one of the players who had quit earlier in the campaign). The breaking glass was vials of sovereign glue and the voice was ventriloquism used by the evil versions of themselves to stop them in their tracks - literally. It worked, they turned to see who had called out to them and, upon seeing no one there, stood in place long enough for the glue to set. Then, they began to be bombarded with fireballs and other nasty spells from the rooftops of the surrounding buildings. I was using their favorite tactics against them. :schemes: Then, just as they were beginning to get really worried, Dartigon saved them with a vial of "sovereign glue remover" (I can't remember the real name of the stuff right now) and they teamed up with him to eventually defeat the evil versions of themselves. Even though they came extremely close to dying permanently in this adventure, they still had a lot of fun. However, I think that I had a bit more fun than them this time. :D I apologize for any typos, but I really need to get some sleep. :)
Polymorph 09-21-04, 02:31 AM	When we get to the beginnng or end of an adventure and they realize that something that they did two or three adventures ago had a direct effect on what they are doing now or just did. I like that one too :) When your PC do things you never expected them to do and talk to NPCs you never expected them to meet. Now you gotta create that NPC on the fly and while they are talking with him. During the conversations, the PCs make your task even harder by asking questions about the NPCs past etc and you think "What the hell am i gonna say now??" but pull it off perfectly nevertheless! :D
Ratheus 09-21-04, 02:41 AM	When everybody is having a great time.
Dash Branaghan 09-21-04, 04:19 AM	When everyone is so wrapped up in the game they don't realize how late it is...and even when they do realize it, they don't want to stop. Dash
Zyfax 09-21-04, 05:32 AM	when i can run a session which everyone considers fun without rolling a single dice altogether
davework415 09-21-04, 09:52 AM	When we can all enjoy each others occasional episodes of syupidity as described below. I was so pleased when my players caught me out the other week. We are currently engaged in a conversion of the old basic rules classic module 'Castle Amber' The players approached Richard Amber (Coer de lion) who roars and causes fear and panic before attacking. The barbarian , Wizard , Cleric , Rouge and Ranger ran out of the room , in fear while only the Human Paladin and Dwarven warrior stood facing a battle they could not possibly win. Instead of rettreating and getting the party back to full strength , they slugged it out and it wasn't long before the Paladin was a mess of bloody remains and the Dwarf was struggling. Then a pivotal moment! Richard fumbled an attack and dropped his super golden +3 longsword on the floor. The dwarf picked up the sword , and promptly ran. Richard , being no slouch had an armoured movement speed of 30 while our dwarf was 25 , as such it was only a matter of time before the dwarf was caught (one round to be precise) Anyhow the dwarf ran to the adjoining room where our cowering other players were , I maniacally pointed out that Richard was taking a wonderful attack of opportunity against the dwarfs back , as I described the swing of the sword I was reminded that Richard was not holding a sword , the whole party taking great delight in my foolishness. Rather than fudging I decided that Richard too had forgotten and had simply tried to swat the dwarf with his open hand. The rest of the players joined in and it was over in about 5 rounds with the party victorious although severley damaged. I was not disconcerted by my players catching me out. The number of times I have held my head in my hands in either hysterics or despair at their bizzarre efforts left me feeling happy to be the brunt of the joke. Happily enough the dead Paladin was ressurrected a couple of weeks later and is now in posession of the lovely +3 longsword , The swarf (Runrig) didn't want it himself , he thinks swords are for wimps and preffered to stick to his beloved axe.
pyromage2012 09-25-04, 10:12 PM	My favorite thing is when the regular DM(who lets us DM a few times) goes away for a while and all the players vote for me as the replacement :D
BlueLion 09-25-04, 10:57 PM	A while back, I pitted my three 6th level PC's against an 8th level druid, just for the challenge (this is 3rd Ed). I was a bit sorry when the wizard PC got fried by a Flame Strike, because I know what it's like being the wizard - you die so easily in the beginning. Anyway, I could tell the player was not expecting to die so soon in the campaign. So after the Druid was killed, I let their ranger discover a scroll of Resurrection in the druid's treehouse. Never mind that it's not on the Ranger class list, I fudged it and said he could cast the spell on the wizard's charred corspe. Now, in Resurrection you roll randomly to see what the subject comes back as. In this case, he'd been an Elf in life - but what creature would he come back as? Well, I rolled the d% right there in front of everybody - I had to show them that I was being fair. Guess what? He was resurrected as an Elf! True story. (He later paid gold to have a powerful wizard alter his features so he could look like the same Elf he had been before.)
Kalanth 09-25-04, 11:03 PM	When the players are still talking about parts or the entire campaign years later with people you don't know and say, "That was the greatest piece of DMing I have ever experienced." Happened to me the other night with my new group, plus a friend of 10 years (and fellow gamer) of ten years.
Sssargoth 09-25-04, 11:04 PM	BlueLion, Reincarnation is the spell where you roll a percentile, not Resurrection. Just thought you should know for future refrence. :)
psionichamster 09-26-04, 02:29 AM	when you have a friend come across the country to sit in on your game for 1 night, and that night goes until dawn! this was a fun weekend! the hamster San Diego to New Haven, CT, if you're wondering h
WCH 09-26-04, 03:02 AM	When I get the pary down to single digits of hp totalled between all the PCs, just before they manage to kill the boss. Close finishes absolutely rule. :cool:
BlueLion 09-26-04, 03:52 AM	BlueLion, Reincarnation is the spell where you roll a percentile, not Resurrection. Just thought you should know for future refrence. :) Yep, that's the one. I just got it confused up with the other one. Ah well, you know what I meant. :embarrass
Ertai, sorcerer adept 09-26-04, 11:27 AM	Killing a Dwarven Defender PC on a party of 4 lvl 12 PCs with a lvl 12 orc and 5 fighter4/warrior6 orcs.
Fuzzus 09-26-04, 11:57 AM	Two things for me: First, whenever the players talk about an in-game event with genuine excitement. "Man, remember that time when we were fighting those three bone dragons in a cave on a plateau with a lake of lava at the bottom, and the cleric got pushed over the edge, only for the monk to run and try to catch him, and they ended up hanging from the wall by the cleric's hammer..." etc. Second, when you throw that plot twist you've been cooking up since you started planning the campaign, and as the players sit there in stunned silence, one of them turns to you and slowly says, "You magnificent bastard!"
Luminous Crayon 09-26-04, 05:25 PM	I really love to create NPCs the players can identify with and grow accustomed to, like real people you might meet, not just props for storytelling. The novice guard whose nerves are shattered after his mentor's murder, the shady and disreputable cleric, the expert gambler and sneak who finds herself the PCs' rival... This last was the source of my greatest triumphant moment as a DM. The PCs had decided to track down an elven treasure hunter calling herself Fletch Blackadder, after she had beaten them to a huge jackpot. The two forces squared off several times, things got more violent, and the PCs eventually left Fletch for dead (surprise!) and with a burning desire for vengeance. Fletch was a bard of moderate skill, and was able to track the PCs down several game sessions later, when they were working with a secret resistance group called the Arm of Rayeb, trying to bring down a corrupt baron. Fletch killed the Arm's resident mage, who was supposed to be the PCs' contact within the group, then used disguise self to impersonate him. Claiming she knew a secret way into the baron's manor, she led them into a trap instead. So the PCs fought their way into the manor through the "unguarded" back way, surprised to see and deal with some creepy demonic monsters they'd never seen before. (The baron was dealing with some rather shady infernals.) Beaten and bloodied, they dispatched the monsters, only to hear the mass clicking of crossbows readying their bolts all around them in the shadows of the sewers. The baron made an appearance to gloat, confident in his dozens of guards' ability to keep him safe from pesky adventurers, then remembered to stop and pay his informant. Fletch, still magically disguised, caught the bag of gold he tossed her way, then dispelled the disguise self spell long enough to gloat to the PCs, who were still convinced she was dead. She claimed responsability not only for betraying them to the baron, but for a variety of "random" attacks they had suffered from a variety of different assailants in the past few weeks of game time. The sheer hatred and loathing in my players faces as they listened to her gloating was absolutely marvellous. I was cackling with glee. I thought they were going to chase me from the room. To this day, all I have to say is "hey, remember Fletch Blackadder?" and one of my players starts to snarl involuntarily.
TheDoomBringer 09-26-04, 07:39 PM	When a player gets to make a "Craft(poo)" check. Really. :D When the roleplaying gets deep and detailed. In the process of crafting my own setting, the players contributed their own backstories (several pages worth!) and I'll include their backstories into the story of the local regions on the continent.