6 Responses

1. Swordgleam  •  May 12, 2009 @5:47 pm

   I’ve had that problem several times. I describe the paladin as holding the sacrifice’s frozen heart after the ritual, and it becomes a central plot point. I make an off-hand comment about how there’s something different about the resurrected fighter’s body, and he turns out to be a sorrowsworn. I tell a player, just for fun, that rolling a 1 on his death save gives him a preview of hell, and five minutes later he’s a tiefling.

   The key with adding color is to do it often or never. Do it often, and they’ll know that most of it is just color. Do it never, and you don’t have that problem.

2. Questing GM  •  May 13, 2009 @12:07 am

   Although I have my fair share of experiences when my players pay attention to the irrelevant details but if that’s what they seem to pick up or remember, I would say as a DM, we have to be prepared for these little sidetracks.

   Improvise what they are clinging onto and try to rework the plot from there. Don’t immediately hand them a deadend or bluntly tell them that it was just a flair. That way, not only would you be able to save your plot from being sidetracked but your players would feel good about themselves for having ’spotted’ that particular detail.

   Although it’s still good to hand them a few dead leads once in a while so your game won’t get too predictable.

3. Ameron  •  May 13, 2009 @9:44 am

   I find I have the same problem whenever I give an NPC a name. As long as he’s Bob the Blacksmith the PCs don’t think twice about purchasing his goods and services. But as soon as he’s Rolnar the Blacksmith who walks with a limp and has a nasty scar on his left arm, the PCs are immediately suspicious.

   So following Swordgleam’s advice from the comment above, I give all NPCs names now, no matter how significant or insignificant they are to the game. It slowed things down at first, but now my guys know that just because an NPC has a D&D sounding name doesn’t mean he’s the major villain.

4. Kasandria Reasoner  •  May 22, 2009 @6:04 am

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5. Bram  •  May 26, 2009 @3:51 am

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6. Mikel  •  June 1, 2009 @9:44 pm

   My best was the story of the bunny. I described a few animals in the forest and mentioned bunnies. They were terrified of the bunnies and wouldn’t step one foot anywhere close to a bunny.

   The worst NPC I ever say a DM play. I was at a convention, playing a game until 4 am. Around 2 am three people had to leave. So we were very short on people. So we got one person who happened to be walking by to join. Then the GM tossed in an NPC.

   Never thought anything of it. That was until the GM had the NPC double cross the remaining members of the party.

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