thread: 2011-05-11 : The Un-frickin-welcome
On 2011-05-17, Simon R wrote:
I've got two examples of the unwelcome, both many years ago.
I was GMing D&D, and through wild magic, one player transformed himself into a horse, and was teleported off to a random location. That was droll, and only slightly unwelcome.
He spent the rest of the session persuading steppes people that he was intelligent. Eventually, they dug a pit and put the horse in it, and the shaman dispelled magic. He failed his system shock, and his favourite character was dead. Neither of us wanted this at all. That was to us an unbreakable rule - we considered fear of eternal death was essential to the feeling of risk. He never enjoyed playing nearly as much with other characters. A few years ago, we agreed he should come back, nobody minded, and it didn't affect our enjoyment.
Same player, a paladin character. I had a silly but useful rule that if you as a player said the name of an infernal creature at the table, their character had, too, whatever the circumstances. They whisper in your ear, you know. There is a one in twenty chance something will turn up.
So, this guy was said Lolth accidentally, she turned up and they took a couple of sessions hunting her down.
He was tried for demon summoning, and in his trial, he said it again. It really was an accident, and quite funny, but he had to lose his paladinhood. That was unwelcome to everyone. In the end, though, the roleplaying opportunities that provided were worthwhile.
The question is - does the risk of entirely unwelcome things improve the rest of the game? Even if such unwelcome things don't lead to enjoyable play at all?
