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I just had a situation a player of mine did in a game on the Storm Watch forums that I have never had a player do before. It's not a PB game (it's AD&D 2nd edition). The scenario:

The players just got into a small town after fighting some orcs and helping rescue a werebear. They acquired some items and took them to the local wizard - who is becoming a known contact and an important NPC - to see if any of the items were magical, and if so to get them identified. One of the items is magical, but the cost to get the item identified is far too steep for a 1st level character (the player's handbook states that the material component is a pearl valued at no less than 100 gold pieces). The characters were willing to walk away not knowing what the enchantment on the item was, but the illusionist in the party offered up his own spellbook, with the promise of letting the wizard learn one of the spells therein, as payment.

I have never seen a PC mage so willingly give up one of his own spells to another mage as payment for something. Or to anyone else for anything else. Ever. And when I read that this is what he was doing, my jaw dropped. I have never seen or had a PC do this before. In all my years of gaming. Ever.

Outcome? The wizard accepted and is in the process of identifying the item. The player gets +100 experience points for doing this. I am still in shock.

So I have to ask: What things have your players done - good, bad, ugly, stupid, etc. - that have made you, as a GM, literally have a jaw drop. Something so unbelievable that up til that moment you had never had that happen before.

Severus Snape wrote:So I have to ask: What things have your players done - good, bad, ugly, stupid, etc. - that have made you, as a GM, literally have a jaw drop. Something so unbelievable that up til that moment you had never had that happen before.

I had a "fellow" player rape a zombie. Rape a zombie.

The GM, myself and the other player at the table all had our jaws drop.

Later we fought on who saved him from being eaten by that zombie (it was illusioned to look like a woman).

I won and didn't have to save him.

Severus Snape wrote:I just had a situation a player of mine did in a game on the Storm Watch forums that I have never had a player do before. It's not a PB game (it's AD&D 2nd edition). The scenario:

The players just got into a small town after fighting some orcs and helping rescue a werebear. They acquired some items and took them to the local wizard - who is becoming a known contact and an important NPC - to see if any of the items were magical, and if so to get them identified. One of the items is magical, but the cost to get the item identified is far too steep for a 1st level character (the player's handbook states that the material component is a pearl valued at no less than 100 gold pieces). The characters were willing to walk away not knowing what the enchantment on the item was, but the illusionist in the party offered up his own spellbook, with the promise of letting the wizard learn one of the spells therein, as payment.

I have never seen a PC mage so willingly give up one of his own spells to another mage as payment for something. Or to anyone else for anything else. Ever. And when I read that this is what he was doing, my jaw dropped. I have never seen or had a PC do this before. In all my years of gaming. Ever.

Outcome? The wizard accepted and is in the process of identifying the item. The player gets +100 experience points for doing this. I am still in shock.

So I have to ask: What things have your players done - good, bad, ugly, stupid, etc. - that have made you, as a GM, literally have a jaw drop. Something so unbelievable that up til that moment you had never had that happen before.

This almost sounds like it could be the Night Below campaign. I played in a version converted to 3.X, and one of the players had some stupid deaths. Like finding some smooth descending caves in the Underdark, so he sleds down on his shield, and ends up eaten by ropers

Gazirra wrote:This almost sounds like it could be the Night Below campaign. I played in a version converted to 3.X, and one of the players had some stupid deaths. Like finding some smooth descending caves in the Underdark, so he sleds down on his shield, and ends up eaten by ropers

Funny you should say that. It IS Night Below. My favorite 2nd Ed adventure.

Many to pick from, where to start;

So, high end game, players had invested a huge amount of time into these characters and know I don't pull punches given fair warning (in LoD, I consider fair warning given for being there in the first place). So, a bit ago (like the session before), they get a cache of magic items and where still figuring out who gets what, one of them are a pair of enchanted glasses that can be used to attempt to disarm wards (an ability I offer to Diabolists as a class, but the item let others do it as well). Problem is it's highly chaotic. It's a D20 x 3, generally looking for checks of 40 - 60 for what they where looking at. Meaning you can get a 3 to 60 on the roll. So they where in a prison to a long time NPC who has been both ally and enemy in the past (he's like a demi god in that he has a very weak avatar who can roam around with limitations on what he's allowed to do, so he mostly tries to get others to do his dirty work, but they where in the prison where his core body was held in a stasis). The group had debated long and hard on his motives, and where debating letting him out in hopes to use him for a while against a greater foe (namely choas folks). Without talking to anyone upon realizing it was his prison, he goes about trying to disarm the set of EIGHT wards (any one could have killed him -the groups priest-) to try and release the guy on blind faith. In each attempt, he hit -exactly- the check number needed to disarm each set of wards (the last one only a 20 would do).

Another game I had a jaw drop more of a "Really?" During a game of mostly demi-god power scale characters, at a pyramid on a super nexus during an eclipse. I play out for a bit that magic is currently highly unstable, and even small acts of magic get blown out of proportion, globe of daylights erupted into unstable fireballs threatening the group any time they used it (with a group focused on their magical talents mind you). One player thinks they should figure out what's ahead and attempts to use a magic power letting them scry a few hours into the past and and has their mind blown after witnessing that places entire history for a few thousand years

Dog_O_War wrote:

Severus Snape wrote:So I have to ask: What things have your players done - good, bad, ugly, stupid, etc. - that have made you, as a GM, literally have a jaw drop. Something so unbelievable that up til that moment you had never had that happen before.

I had a "fellow" player rape a zombie. Rape a zombie.

The GM, myself and the other player at the table all had our jaws drop.

Later we fought on who saved him from being eaten by that zombie (it was illusioned to look like a woman).

I won and didn't have to save him.

Reminds me of Super Stupor: http://www.superstupor.com/sust11262007.shtml (warning: not safe for work)

You don't see it on the web site, but in the first printed issue, he used his power on a zombie.

Brian

Severus Snape wrote:

Gazirra wrote:This almost sounds like it could be the Night Below campaign. I played in a version converted to 3.X, and one of the players had some stupid deaths. Like finding some smooth descending caves in the Underdark, so he sleds down on his shield, and ends up eaten by ropers

Funny you should say that. It IS Night Below. My favorite 2nd Ed adventure.

Freakin' AWESOME!

Let's see, when one of my players volunteered to have his character be a deep cover agent that eventually attempted to apprehend the entire party was one. When a player caused his own demise by struggling with the people carrying his stretcher was another. Oh, and when the entire group traipsed back into the realm of one mean necromancer that was about to meet up with Warlord Orloff, braving demons, brainwashed cultists, and hordes of undead just to rescue and NPC that I could have sworn they all hated.

I'm sure there are more, but those are the ones that spring to mind.

BillionSix wrote:

Dog_O_War wrote:

Severus Snape wrote:So I have to ask: What things have your players done - good, bad, ugly, stupid, etc. - that have made you, as a GM, literally have a jaw drop. Something so unbelievable that up til that moment you had never had that happen before.

I had a "fellow" player rape a zombie. Rape a zombie.

The GM, myself and the other player at the table all had our jaws drop.

Later we fought on who saved him from being eaten by that zombie (it was illusioned to look like a woman).

I won and didn't have to save him.

Reminds me of Super Stupor: http://www.superstupor.com/sust11262007.shtml (warning: not safe for work)

You don't see it on the web site, but in the first printed issue, he used his power on a zombie.

Brian

The Character I play is Necromancer (Deathwalker) and she has had several zombies over the years. 2 of her more intelligent zombies fell in love and had a relationship. One of the other Players character walked in whule they were being...Intimate. he was celibate for the rest of the game.

In my games the things that makes jaws drop is the idea of self sacrifice (lets face it, my players are usually bad guys)

In a Star Wars campaign, my friend was playing a jawa (the little guys in brown cloaks) tech. He tried to cut all power to the star destroyer he was on (prisoner at the time). When he was caught, beaten, and thrown into isolation, he goes a little nuts. Upon the timely rescue from prison by the rest of his friends, he grabs the controls for his little freighter and tries to ram into the star destroyer. Sadly, nobody else noticed this in time and he succesfully blew us all to smithereens, not harming the star destroyer in the slightest because he couldn't figure out where the "weak spot" was.

Had a group of 4 characters averaging about 10th level tear into an Algor giant fort following up on a rumor of an Old Kingdom Dragon Coin they were searching for being there. This coin was supposed to have a part of a map inscribed on the back of it. They managed to recruit a few bearmen to help them along the way as well to provide a distraction. After pretty much routing the Algor giants, they search the place and find the lair of the Algor's "pet"; a 50' Ice Dragon! The coin, of course, was in it's hoard.
One of the characters, a 10th level Elf Assassin, was the one that hit me and everyone else with the jaw dropper. He offered the Dragon his Greater Rune Sword in exchange for the coin! There was absolute silence at the table for a good minute before he just looked at us and said "What? I don't want to fight a Dragon today."

Had a jaw dropping experience thanks to dice.

Characters got back from slaying a red dragon only to all be killed by the cook who somehow kept rolling natural 20 and the players kept rolling really low. (can't remember how the fight brok out tho)

Chronicle wrote:Had a jaw dropping experience thanks to dice.

Characters got back from slaying a red dragon only to all be killed by the cook who somehow kept rolling natural 20 and the players kept rolling really low. (can't remember how the fight brok out tho)

Were they on a battleship?

Chronicle wrote:Had a jaw dropping experience thanks to dice.

Characters got back from slaying a red dragon only to all be killed by the cook who somehow kept rolling natural 20 and the players kept rolling really low. (can't remember how the fight brok out tho)

Heh. Reminds me of a player in one my old D&D game's. He was an anti-paladin of around 8th level, and decided not to pay the blacksmith for some work. Blacksmith's apprentice then decided to take matter's into his own hand and picked a fight, using horseshoes! He threw some and used them as a sort of brass knuckles.

The "Horseshoe Kid" nearly killed him before the rest of the party intervened.