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Stitch
Here for a while
(12/16/02 8:28:20 am)
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demonstone
My group is just about to find the demonstone. What happened when your party did? What are some problems/pitfalls that come up? Any advice would be appreciated.
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Andorax
Still here? Wow.
(12/16/02 8:52:42 am)
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Re: demonstone
Andorax's Sunday Night Campaign, Page 7
This is how it went in my group. Prior to that, Fredrick also disrupted discussions with the Water Naga with an Astral Construct, killed off a couple of helpless bugbears, and a few other minor nasty things.
The key things to remember, at least IMO, are:
1) Have a pre-written note to pass to the PC when they fail the will save. Wait a while between the will save and passing the note. Have the note explain what just happened to the PC, and EMPHASIZE that you expect them to role-play this well. Let him know that he does NOT have to act on it before this session is out, and that you'd like to talk to him at length between this session and the next.
2) Make it clear when you talk to the player that it doesn't have to show up as a sudden, radical change of behavior...he can work details of it into his actions, perhaps let it show against enemies first. Also encourage him to understand that becomming suddenly SE (Sadistically Evil) does not mean that he likes the cult of Tharizdun any more than he used to, nor that he has become CS (Chaotic Stuipd). He should be just as cunning, calculating, and brilliant as he was before, just with a distinctly evil and cruel attitude.
3) Encourage the player to think about who, in character, he dislikes the most out of the various party members, and to lay his plans for assaulting the weakest or most-hated PCs first. Work with him to come up with appropriate IC responses that take into account his character, nature, and personality.
4) HELP the player as much as possible to maintain the illusion of someone else being responsible. Pass notes, plan things out ahead of time. If the PC wants to poison someone else, roll the spot/hide checks yourself off to the side and announce the results or call for the save completely independant of any action on the part of the player. If he's a decent OOC actor, he'll look surprised and act accordingly.
5) When things go horribly wrong, and the PC starts dropping his fellows, go out of your way OOC to shift the blame from the player to yourself. You can poison a campaign really quickly if the players resent and distrust each other. Make it clear the player was acting under YOUR orders, doing only what you specifically told him to, and that he bears no blame for what happened in the game.
6) Having transfered the blame to yourself, you now need to get rid of it if the players are ever to trust YOU and show up to another gaming session. For this, I have only one piece of advice...but it is a slogan that's useful for so many parts of this module.
BLAME MONTE!
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
Stitch
Here for a while
(12/16/02 10:38:25 am)
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another query
Useful advice - thanks!
Does the stone detect as evil?
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Stitch
Here for a while
(12/16/02 10:40:16 am)
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and...
Would putting it in a bag of holding prevent it from working?
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Siobharek 
Still here? Wow.
(12/16/02 11:37:31 am)
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Re: and...
The stone would most definitely detect as evil. Putting it in a bag of holding might or might not prevent the stone from working. I think that the consensus on the board is that it will.
One thing that I used - knowing full well that my crew would discover the stone's nature - was to ask the player who took it to hold out his hand. Then I rolled my own hand into a fist, pressed it slightly into the other player's palm and "wriggled" my fist a little to illustrate how the stone snuggled into place.
It's not for everyone, but it worked great, IMC.
Siobharek
...it is a tale
Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury,
Signifying nothing. |
Stitch
Here for a while
(12/16/02 11:43:30 am)
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thanks
You two give great advice. i love having this board for advice. Here's wha I think will happen based on past experience.
1. The party will find the stone.
2. The party will determine that it is magic.
3. The party will shove it in the bag of holding.
4. The party will try to identfy it and will determine that it gives a +1 to saves.
5. They will give it to a deserving character.
6. "Fun" will follow when said character goes bad like 6 week-old cottage cheese!
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Thrommel
Can't leave now (mod)
(12/16/02 12:14:32 pm)
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Be careful
As Andorax has hinted, this item has ended more than one campaign.
It comes up at a time in the module where the players really know each other's strengths and weaknesses. And the party is likely to be run down after fighting the Fire Temple. For that matter, they've probably attracted the attention of Hedrack by now and are having a hard time getting a decent night's rest. Now, more than ever, the party needs to trust each other and work together.
So one restless player who is enchanted with the change of pace offered by being CE can really destroy the party.
As Andorax pointed out, without sufficient explanation, this can cause a lot of hard feelings. And if you have a TPK, your players may just give up on the game.
So handle with care.
-Thrommel, who sometimes has a hard time getting a decent day's rest.
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BarqMulch
Looking around
(12/16/02 12:41:03 pm)
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Re: demonstone
DO NOT allow the evil character to kill fellow PCs while they sleep, despite that being the easiest and smartest way for an underpowered (in my case Gnome Illusionist) character to act.
The campaign almost fell apart...
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Andorax
Still here? Wow.
(12/16/02 1:17:35 pm)
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Re: demonstone
I agree with you BarqMulch, but that goes back to what I've been saying all along...it isn't a "dominate PC and make them kill" item.
The evil is a very sadistic and cruel evil. Just killing the PCs in their sleep? What's the fun in that? Where's the suffering? The tears? The torment?
Tying up the PCs in their sleep, waking them, then torturing them to death one by one while the others watch provides much more sadistic satisfaction (and opportunities to make escape attempts).
This is why it's imperative that the DM have a nice long chat with the affected character's player between sessions and work this all out ahead.
"Whadda ya mean, Orcs get levels too?!?" |
JamesL85
Here for a while
(12/18/02 7:06:34 am)
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Re: demonstone
Luckily for me, that was possibly the only chest they didn't check to make sure the dimensions were true. They were busy trying to find out where Arlainth (the Sorcerer with the Wand of Fireballs) went to do a thorough check. I was wondering how I was going to handle that situation. As I said before, "luckily" I don't have to.
Click here to see the DM Assist. |
Stitch
Here for a while
(12/18/02 7:22:07 am)
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result
The shadowdancer ended up with it. The player is an imaginative guy who is new to the group. This is gonna get UGLY.
God bless you Monte. 
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