Well as the title suggests i'm wondering if anyone else has good plot twists from their DM or as a DM they would like to share? I'll go first where I was planning a campaign as a sourcer and wanted to go for the whole amnesia stick so I told the DM to go ahead and think up of a backstory for me , but don't tell me what it is because I truly wanted to be able to play the role of an amniesic who lost my memory with it be eventually revealed not only was I one a member of the evil royal family but couldn't remember it until I was told it again but I was one of the strongest sorcerers they had. Yeah after that was definitely an awkward family reunion to put it lightly.
I have a campaign in which one of the characters is a were-bear barbarian, and another is a cleric of a holy order. The were-bear is looking for the hunter that killed his mum.
About 7 months ago I gave out some books which they had gotten from the library (I make skyrim-style booklets with bits of lore they asked for alongside other stuff, I enjoy making them!). The were-bear's was "Hunts of the World", where he hoped to find a flying mount. He never read the whole thing.
Cut to a couple of sessions ago and the cleric is trying to persuade a local leader that the barbarian, despite it being a full moon, is not dangerous. The player asks "Do I know much about were-beasts?", and my eyes lit up (not my real ones, I aim for poker-face), and I said "Yes you do - turn to page 13 of "Hunts of the World".
I then watched as the Cleric player read a short story of the Ten-Year Hunt, in which his holy order hunted down the werebeasts in the West of the world and put them to the sword, using silver supplied from his own (recently discovered and reclaimed by the party) family silver mines.
The DM says... "And then you see your beloved pet start to change..."
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Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty. Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers; Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas. Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
Reveal that the antagonist (or antagonist force) have an actual laudable and 'for the good of all people' motive.
It's very difficult to pull off, and necessitates a delicate touch with what can be challenging themes to some folks. If done right however, having the atrocious acts of a villain be explained as being for the legitimate greater good can result in some extremely interesting choices from player characters.
In my case the first tier of play had set up a particular figure who had wiped out a village. The reason this villain wiped out a village was because they had contracted a disease with no apparent cure or remedy (including magics). Of course, this isn't revealed until after the party had been chasing the villain for a while.
Likewise, there's another set up where the apparent villain was being blackmailed into executing a beloved local hero who was obviously not guilty of any crimes. Their motivation was that the real evil guy was holding two dozen villagers hostage and threatening to do awful things. The last time I ran that adventure, the party saved the local hero and executed the town's leader instead. This resulted in them later finding the blackmail letter and heading to the place the hostages were once kept - only to find...well, let's just say 'leftovers'. The party were devastated that they hadn't thought to search the office of the town's leader first, correctly reasoning that if they had they could have saved all those lives.
As I say a delicate touch is required, but if executed well, you can get several 'are we the baddies' moments from your players.
Well as the title suggests i'm wondering if anyone else has good plot twists from their DM or as a DM they would like to share? I'll go first where I was planning a campaign as a sourcer and wanted to go for the whole amnesia stick so I told the DM to go ahead and think up of a backstory for me , but don't tell me what it is because I truly wanted to be able to play the role of an amniesic who lost my memory with it be eventually revealed not only was I one a member of the evil royal family but couldn't remember it until I was told it again but I was one of the strongest sorcerers they had. Yeah after that was definitely an awkward family reunion to put it lightly.
I have a campaign in which one of the characters is a were-bear barbarian, and another is a cleric of a holy order. The were-bear is looking for the hunter that killed his mum.
About 7 months ago I gave out some books which they had gotten from the library (I make skyrim-style booklets with bits of lore they asked for alongside other stuff, I enjoy making them!). The were-bear's was "Hunts of the World", where he hoped to find a flying mount. He never read the whole thing.
Cut to a couple of sessions ago and the cleric is trying to persuade a local leader that the barbarian, despite it being a full moon, is not dangerous. The player asks "Do I know much about were-beasts?", and my eyes lit up (not my real ones, I aim for poker-face), and I said "Yes you do - turn to page 13 of "Hunts of the World".
I then watched as the Cleric player read a short story of the Ten-Year Hunt, in which his holy order hunted down the werebeasts in the West of the world and put them to the sword, using silver supplied from his own (recently discovered and reclaimed by the party) family silver mines.
The best quote:
Cleric: "Did you read this?"
Barbarian: "...no?"
Cleric: "You should have..."
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The DM says... "And then you see your beloved pet start to change..."
Breathe, dragons; sing of the First World, forged out of chaos and painted with beauty.
Sing of Bahamut, the Platinum, molding the shape of the mountains and rivers;
Sing too of Chromatic Tiamat, painting all over the infinite canvas.
Partnered, they woke in the darkness; partnered, they labored in acts of creation.
Reveal that the antagonist (or antagonist force) have an actual laudable and 'for the good of all people' motive.
It's very difficult to pull off, and necessitates a delicate touch with what can be challenging themes to some folks. If done right however, having the atrocious acts of a villain be explained as being for the legitimate greater good can result in some extremely interesting choices from player characters.
In my case the first tier of play had set up a particular figure who had wiped out a village. The reason this villain wiped out a village was because they had contracted a disease with no apparent cure or remedy (including magics). Of course, this isn't revealed until after the party had been chasing the villain for a while.
Likewise, there's another set up where the apparent villain was being blackmailed into executing a beloved local hero who was obviously not guilty of any crimes. Their motivation was that the real evil guy was holding two dozen villagers hostage and threatening to do awful things. The last time I ran that adventure, the party saved the local hero and executed the town's leader instead. This resulted in them later finding the blackmail letter and heading to the place the hostages were once kept - only to find...well, let's just say 'leftovers'. The party were devastated that they hadn't thought to search the office of the town's leader first, correctly reasoning that if they had they could have saved all those lives.
As I say a delicate touch is required, but if executed well, you can get several 'are we the baddies' moments from your players.
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