[caelanarcher]

So I'm a relatively new DM... actually happened upon this campaign by a roll of the dice (it's a long story)... the characters have advanced to level 4, somehow. But here's a brief description of their adventures... see if anything seems wrong to you...

Started out with 1 elven druid, 1 halfling druid, 1 elven monk, 1 half-orc barbarian, soon added 1 human rogue, 1 human ranger.

First, they went into the capital town looking for something to do... they were summoned to the king's palace, lied to him (he caught them in at least a half dozen outright lies), then talked him out of putting them in the dungeons. They then embarked on a quest for the king to the first kingdom to retrieve a piece of a magical artifact. Rather than going to that kingdom's king to ask for the artifact (since the two kingdoms had an alliance, and the king would have gladly given them the piece), they went to a bar, discovered the hiding place of the artifact, and set out to steal it.
They fought 8 ash rats and 2 hell hounds. Total 8 hp damage done to the players (level 2 or 3 by now). Inside a cave system, they solved a puzzle to open a door, stole the artifact, broke down the 4-inch-thick iron door, and took it with them to give to a curious wizard. They then gave the wizard their names.
Needless to say, the king of this kingdom is a bit peeved.

Continuing on to a third kingdom (level 3/4) to retrieve another piece, they happened upon a dire bear that was raging mad because of a few arrows in it. Rather than battle the bear, they calmed it down, and even reasoned with it, promising to seek out and kill the hunter. The elven druid somehow managed to teach the bear "attack" and "heel".
The bear, out of friendship, followed them into the town

Arriving at the town, they were greeted by an icy ruin. Out of the sky swooped a young adult white dragon (CR8). The bear used "Improved grab" to snare the dragon, and 2 of my players took 6 damage apiece before they annihilated the dragon.

They killed my dragon!

Well, by this point, I, as DM, was a bit peeved, so I summoned up the dragon's mate (completely making up everthing, as I had not planned for any of it.) The players also took down this dragon, quite easily. They then cast "entangle" on it, brought it back to 1 hp, and tried talking to it before the elven druid got angry and shot it through the eye with an arrow.

I think my dice are cursed. In one session, my level 3 or 4 players took down 2 young adult white dragons (each CR 8).

Any comments?

[corellon]

lol....
oh my god this happened to me, exept i was the player and my dice were cursed so i had the bad experience....

[dragonhand777]

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First, they went into the capital town looking for something to do...

That's odd, druids need to go into town for something to do. Not unheard of, just kinda odd.

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...Rather than going to that kingdom's king to ask for the artifact (since the two kingdoms had an alliance, and the king would have gladly given them the piece), they went to a bar, discovered the hiding place of the artifact, and set out to steal it...

I guess they're not worried about doing "what's right." So I suppose they are nuetral, or evil(?).

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...they happened upon a dire bear that was raging mad because of a few arrows in it. Rather than battle the bear, they calmed it down, and even reasoned with it, promising to seek out and kill the hunter...

That's just down right funny!!! If I were the DM, I might have had to give some bonus XP for that. Also as someone who enjoys playing ranger and druid types, it sounds like something I'd do (trying to calm it down rather than kill it).

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Well, by this point, I, as DM, was a bit peeved, so I summoned up the dragon's mate (completely making up everthing, as I had not planned for any of it.) The players also took down this dragon, quite easily. They then cast "entangle" on it, brought it back to 1 hp, and tried talking to it before the elven druid got angry and shot it through the eye with an arrow.

Hilarious!!! You might consider re-evaluating the tactics the dragons used. Also, you might go over the rules of combat.

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I think my dice are cursed. In one session, my level 3 or 4 players took down 2 young adult white dragons (each CR 8).

Any comments?

Yeah, you might need new dice. You could increase the CR of your groups encounters (which could be very dangerous).

Over all, it sounds like your players were having fun, which is cool.

With no more info. than you gave, it's hard to tell what exactly went on.

[Silver tears]

A dragon swooped from the sky .... and was killed by a bunch of level 4 ....

It's impossible .... and you know it's not because of the dice .... dices are there for random ... not to boost your creatures .....

Why that dragon did not flew up high ? ...
You also can use a dm screen and cheat some rolls .... to save the storyline ....

Example ... one time I had this really important ennemy ...
Amstranis with 4 of his allies ... he was suppose to cover the retreat of the 4 one and retreat after that ..... I never tought about the feeble mind in the wizards head .... so my Black knight was laying down there ... punched and punched by the crew ....

Also ... think of one thing .... a human ... the most common human have about Int 10 .... and they feel the urge to escape .... it is the same thing for any creature .... nothing is dumb enough to fight till death ....

[Darius]

Silver tears, on Jul 28 2004, 08:42 PM, said:

A dragon swooped from the sky .... and was killed by a bunch of level 4 ....

It's impossible .... and you know it's not because of the dice .... dices are there for random ... not to boost your creatures .....

Why that dragon did not flew up high ? ...
You also can use a dm screen and cheat some rolls .... to save the storyline ....

....

Its not impossible , it all depends on the age of the dragon for number of hit points and you better belive dice can have good or bad luck on a paticular day example - my current campaign "Return to temple of elemental evil" , the moathouse , courtyard and a young blue dragon- the players are in the courtyard discussing what to do and not being paticualy quiet about it , problem is there's a young Blue dragon taken up residence in the hall that opens into the courtyard and it can hear everything their saying - it's decided the rouge in the party will lead the way up the stairs leading to the hall , The dragon waits till it see's the rouge sideling up the stairs and let's rip at the rouge with it breath weapon , the rouge should be toast right? Wrong , rouge makes reflex save and dodges the lightning bolt , Dragon win's the next initiative and charges's out , slashing at the rouge with its claw's , rouge dodge's but it close , close enough I tell her that the Dragons hit her backpack and ripped it off her back and flung her to the side with the force , please make a reflex save to land on your feet and take no damage from the landing , can we guess what happens , yep perfect landing.Ok , the Dragons turns over and now the players , 1st player fighter - critical hit with +1 battle axe =28 points with str bonus and max damage next player , cleric with +1 longsword(dieties prefered weapon) = Critical hit and max damage again = 17 points , next player elf fighter mage weilding 2 +1 longswords , can we guess what happened 2x critical hits and max damage again = 34 points ,next player , remember the rouge? well its her turn and guess where she is in relation to the party and the Dragon , Can you say Backstab (Sneak attack) , Rapier +1 , you guessed it Max damage and Critical hit plus the sneak attack 3d6(5th lvl) and yes another max roll 18 points for a total of 31 points - in all the party did 110 points of damage in 1 round , and the stinking dragon's hp total - 102

it wouldnt have been too bad except everyone else had forgotten their dice and they were useing MINE , do you think I could get them to hit anything let alone the party that session , yet the session the week before I nearly slaughtered the party with the roll's I was making

As for cheating the roll's to save the monster and save the story line ,You dont want to get into that habit as it spoils the game for the player's and yourself . if the player's take out your plot element , too bad, learn from it and come back at them with something sneakyer and readjust the story to deal with it - if all games went A to B to C there would be no fun in them

D

[WoeTheSinner]

the dice are mighty indeed...i have a bard friend who single handedly got us through 4 encounters because his mighty longbow never rolled below a freeking 17!

[Rintaran]

Well, it sounds to me like there's a great bit of role-playing going on. Why do you feel that your campaign's gone down the crapper? Sure, you probably need some new dice (or just need to get them cleansed), but I would be proud if my players spoilled my pre-planned storyline like that. That's how it works. DM works hard and creates a LOOSE storyline. Players have characters do something unexpected causing the DM to rework the storyline. This keeps the DM on his toes and away from boredom. Sure, there were a few too many combat attempts for a campaign of my style, but sometimes those are needed to keep player interest. Everyone's having fun, that's the whole point.

[Silver tears]

....

Do you really think that a dice has magical powers ? or what?

hey wake up its is a solid ! a plastic cube or dodecaed .... and we are ine the REAL world ... there is nothing that will do that your dice is good or bad.... ....

Were are in 2004 ... not 1004.... Statistics and probabilities are the way of the real world .... not curse and cleansing !!!!!!!!!

for those who say that you need to get a loose story line .... it sure is easy for those who play in a campaign setting done by wizard of the coast .... as for myself (I know i'm not the only one) I have to think of all the effect of the players action .... and it is really really not my style to say :"Sorry guys, for the nex day I will have to think so goodbye" ... I will never interrupt a session because of that.... and I can't really Improvise everything ... since I can't look at the FRCS and say ... okay this organisation will do that ....

[Darius]

Silver tears, on Jul 29 2004, 08:39 PM, said:

....

Do you really think that a  dice has magical powers ? or what?

hey wake up its is a solid ! a plastic cube or dodecaed .... and we are ine the REAL world ... there is nothing that will do that your dice is good or bad.... ....

Were are in 2004 ... not 1004.... Statistics and probabilities are the way of the real world .... not curse and cleansing !!!!!!!!!

for those who say that you need to get a loose story line .... it sure is easy for those who play in a campaign setting done by wizard of the coast .... as for myself (I know i'm not the only one) I have to think of all the effect of the players action .... and it is really really not my style to say :"Sorry guys, for the nex day I will have to think so goodbye" ... I will never interrupt a session because of that.... and I can't really Improvise everything ... since I can't look at the FRCS and say ... okay this organisation will do that ....

We shall of course bow to your year's of experience with ,and your logic about, the Dice

I usually create my own campaign's and am running RTOEE at the moment because I liked the story , Ive incorperated it into my world to keep continuity with my player's previous adventures and im already planning things for when they beat the big bad or if they lose and need to run for their lives and warn the world (Their about a third of the way through)

Being able to change direction in mid course while in a game when you player's trash you big encounter or plot line come's with experience.you should have a couple of spare thing's already worked out before hand "Just In Case" ,because If there's one thing Ive learned , player's will alway's do exactly the opposite to what you want and usually at the worst possible time for you as the DM.

D

[Silver tears]

arg common you can disagree with me on anything ... except reality ...

dices are dices ... not artifacts....

[Darius]

Silver tears, on Jul 29 2004, 10:38 PM, said:

arg common you can disagree with me on anything ... except reality ...

dices are dices ... not artifacts....

Ok , explain this one - Ive got a D20 that Ive used constantly for the last 15-16 year's , when I roll it Im Hitting most of the time yet someone will "Borrow" it and roll crap for every roll they try - I'll take it back and Hit first roll - Guaranteed everytime.

I'll pose a question to everyone , how many of you have your "Special" dice and you only play with those ones??

To quote Shakespere(badly) - There are thing's in Heavan and Earth horatio , that cannot be explained with all your philosophy's

D

[Silver tears]

..............

ah well ... think what you want .... but I'll answer your question ....

I got my three sets of dice ... a smoke one (blac translucide), Green and black granit, and a black granit ... these are my three sets....

I admit that sometimes I just say ... Hey this dice sucks....

I admit that in my game ... if the paladin pass his set to any other character the critical chances are higher with his set....

I admit that my white set will never roll what I want .... but that's not what I was trying to say ....

hey ... there is no magic in that .... yup it's weird ... now how can we explain it .... huh ... the faces of the dice are not of equal surfaces, weight, etc.......

I will never understand people that make special ritual with their dices or those who think that their is a magic curse on their dice .....

As for your case well it's luck ... and psychology ... it is sure that you will remember more of the time you hit than of the times you missed.... I can't tell all the blows that my monsters or NPC missed ... except the four "1" rolled by my kuo-toan monitor .... but since you tend to describe more your hit it is just normal that you remember them more ......

*stop and think* .....

but .... sometimes it might get scary and these new age and goth stuff might not be exactly wrong .......

[WoeTheSinner]

this is all fine and well...but dice are alive and they are evil....you better believe theyr magical! thats why you always need to know whether you want to roll low or high

-Woe

PS If you really want to get into the math of it dice are not totaly random it is possible to make a decent guess as to what the roll will come up as if you model the person rolling the way they roll the position of the dice and all that crap...radom only exists in theory and in quantom physics...which in my opinion is jsut crap we are coming up with to make sense of something we don't understand...M-Theory has its merits but meh who knows, I'll stick to my electromagnetism thank you...nice and predictable

[Rintaran]

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I'll pose a question to everyone , how many of you have your "Special" dice and you only play with those ones??

I've a set of frosted dice that have only rolled under the half twice. I've a set of fire dice that have only rolled over the half four time. If I want the PCs to experience a bit of a challenge, I stay frosty. If I want to make sure they make it through the encounter easily because some big surprise is just waiting around the corner, I put a fire to it.

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for those who say that you need to get a loose story line .... it sure is easy for those who play in a campaign setting done by wizard of the coast

Come to think of it, I don't think I've EVER played in a WoTC campaign setting... Maybe I'll try that sometime. But it's alot easier to run a loose storyline in your own campaign world. As you create the world, everything gets stuck in your head so you don't need to look up an organization, you just know what they would do. And if you need a new organization for something, you can easily make something up on the spot and fill in the details later. Also, I've never interrupted a session to think. One of my players smokes, so we take a short 15 minute smoke/bathroom break every couple hours. That 15 minutes is plenty of time for me to unload, grab a drink, and work out a little something to go on for another couple hours. Shortest session to date 4 hrs, average session length 7 hrs 32 minutes (roughly).

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dices are dices ... not artifacts....

Although true of most dice, an ancient bunch of D6s were dug up in egypt that count as archeological artifacts. Just thought that was a fun fact to share. Oh, and the plural of dice are dice. The singular of dice is die. One die, two dice. Sorry, as an English Major, I've a nasty habit of correcting things like that and I just HAVE to do it. Guess I'm just obesessive compulsive in that way.

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Were are in 2004 ... not 1004.... Statistics and probabilities are the way of the real world .... not curse and cleansing !!!!!!!!!

Now, to my comment on cleansing. Dictionary.com defines cleansing as

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To free from dirt, defilement, or guilt; purge or clean

A little bit of dirt on the dice can really throw them off. That's why it's a good idea to clean them once in a while. I don't know about you, but I like having snacks about when I play. You think the cheese from your doritos doesn't rub off onto your dice?

As to the existence of actual magick, karma, etc, that could easily become a heated topic on these boards, and one that I would rather not see divide our nice little community. If you actually follow any religion, then you believe in magick in some form. If not, then you don't. Doesn't mean we should put down each other's beliefs. We're here to talk about DND, D20, and, in this particular topic, dice. Let's leave the proselytizing and belief debates to religious and philosophical sites shall we?

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these new age and goth stuff might not be exactly wrong .......

Just FYI, goth (I assume you aren't referring to Lord Byron goth, but to the black clothing and lipstick goths) is a fashion style and requires no belief in actual magick. Many goths also happen to claim belief in the "new age" stuff (and a some actually do), but it's hardly a requirement.

[Darius]

Rintaran, on Jul 30 2004, 06:56 AM, said:

[

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dices are dices ... not artifacts....

Although true of most dice, an ancient bunch of D6s were dug up in egypt that count as archeological artifacts. Just thought that was a fun fact to share.

Christie's in london had a sale of Roman Artifact's last year and one of the Prize item's for Auction was a D20 that was 2500 years old , look's like gygax didn't invent DnD

D

By the way , the D20 sold for $US72000